Elf Shoe Ornaments

Are these little thingees cute, or what? Every year I make or (the past few years) buy one ornament for each of my kids. It was fine when I only had two, three or four, but with seven, well... I'm a little busy, ya know? So I thought I would get a head start this year and try to make them. When I found how quickly these things sewed up I was able to do them while helping Cassidy with her work. No-thinking and can be put down and picked up without having to worry about losing my place. I got the free pattern from Allsorts Blog... see my side-bar. She has some adorable things on her blog - go take a peek!

Peach Jam & Buttermilk Bisquits

I was a busy bee on Sunday, making up this yummy Peach Jam. Pair the jam together with Buttermilk Bisquits and a cup of tea and you have a delicious breakfast or snack. Here are my favorite recipes for both:

Peach Jam
1 quart or so of chopped, pitted, cored, peeled peaches
7-1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 pouch liquid pectin
Mix water and sugar in bottom of saucepan, add peaches and bring slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally. Here, I also mush up the peaches with a potato masher. Stir in liquid pectin and return to a boil; boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 8 half pints

Buttermilk Bisquits
Stir together in a bowl:
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
Cut in until crumbly:
6 tbsp. shortening
Combine and then stir into mixture:
1 egg, beaten with fork
1-1/3 cups buttermilk or nearly 1-1/3 cup milk with 1 tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar
...if using mixture, let sit for five minutes
Knead a bit. Roll into 1/2" thickness and cut with bisquit cutter. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes
Makes 24 bisquits
Taken from Mennonite Country Style Recipes

Noah's Ark BOM

Here are two completed blocks from the past two months of the Noah's Ark Block of the Month. These little blocks are so much fun. I wait in anticipation for the new block to come out at the beginning of each month to see what I will be stitching. They don't take long at all and it's a nice way of visiting a project, completing that tiny bit and then forgetting about it until next month. This month's square is very easy... I'll stitch that up as soon as I get a quiet couple hours. If you're curious or interested, click on my side-bar of the pic of the Ark and it will take you to where all the fun is!

FiveStones Game

Remember playing Jax as a kid? How 'bout playing it with your kids? I always liked that game and seem to buy it every now and then for my own kiddoes. Well here's the Chinese version with a little more pizzazz... It's quite fun as I had to try it out before I tucked it away in my Christmas gift basket. This one will go into Cassidy's stocking. If you'd like to make the game you can go to:
http://blog.zakka.com/make-your-own-five-stones-a-traditional-game.html
She has a great tutorial! I also made a draw-string bag to go with it but did that one on my own. The directions for playing the game can be found here:
http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_194_2005-01-07.html

Happy Birthday, Tasha Tudor!

We had a wonderful celebration today! The girls dressed in Tasha-Style complete with head-coverings, for as long as they would stay on- long dresses and for the most part bare feet. They picked veggies out of the garden and had lunch and tea in the garden, too! I read a few childrens Tasha Tudor books to them and we looked at a few of my Tasha Tudor adult books as well. What a fun way to celebrate!

YIKES! It's the First Day of School!

Can you believe it? The first day of our homeschool started today! We began bright and early this morning and I got the little ones done by noon. Kaleigh finished up soon after lunch and Casey, well... he's still working. Hopefully he'll be done soon. As you can see, we're a bit informal here. The older kids can do their work standing on their head if they can...as long as it's done and it's done right! I like to have the younger ones use a desk since they're still learning how to write correctly. It's a beautiful afternoon so I'm whisking away to enjoy the outdoors!

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary!

Today we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it's been that many years! We've had our ups and downs, good times and hard times, but through the years our love has grown stronger. We have seven children and have lost six through miscarriage... These are the things that bring two people closer than ever...
We had a lovely dinner out, just the two of us, and when we came home we had a beautiful cake and a CLEAN house (Kaleigh, above went through it like a tornado). She also gave the littlies a bath...
Yes, we had a wonderful day. When I look back over the years I wouldn't change a thing... I love that hunk-of-a-man more than ever!