hair today, gone tomorrow

i'll be gone for a few days...some friends and i are headed to vegas for a photography convention. we are really excited. four days kid-free! which only makes me love them (the kids) more, of course. oh, and learning about photography might be fun too ;)

until i return, here's a little hint as to what i now look like (oh, yes i did):



yes, i have wavy hair. it gets curlier after each child. after #3 i should look like a poodle. and, yes, the hair will make a lovely wig for a deserving cancer patient. i'm so philanthropic ;) 


em says i look like a mom now (i think that's supposed to be a good thing) and not a twelve-year old.

speaking of twelve-year olds, 

this is what i don't look like. of course, even at twelve i didn't look like this. well, maybe that one time i got talked into a rhinestoned pair of knock-offs during pregnancy #1, but you can you blame a pregnant girl for wanting to "look good" and for taking some bad advice? (i'm glad i'm not the only one that feels this way about those kind of jeans).

irish soda bread

i remember eating irish soda bread as a kid. fresh out of the oven with butter slathered all over it. melting and soaking in. later we'd toast it and slather it with...butter. it's great on it's own, but there's something about that butter...salty + sweet. i took a loaf as a gift to my first-grade teacher and she loved it. she even asked for the recipe (which i, at the time must have thought was really neat, since i still remember it).


that was when we lived at 5036 harvest lane, gibsonia, pa. we rode bikes in the "dirt hills" across the street. that's where i first had reese's pieces on my daddy-daughter date to E.T. i wore pink chuck taylors and a side pony-tail. it's where we used to walk around with a little radio singing "bomb in the U.S.A." we drank root beer out of baby bottles because we thought it was cool (i can still remember the way the taste of the root beer mixed with the latex bottle nipples). it's where i hid under the rocking chair (sobbing) because they were taking harry away and how could they do that? where emilie wore winter boots in the summer. with twinkly eyes and a diaper. where jessica, whose mother gave us this recipe, lived. i can still remember how she smelled. three of us shared a room; elizabeth (i was still elizabeth back then), emilie, and andy bob. don't ask me how. we also fit in a volkswagen rabbit and mom swears we didn't fight that much. i got my ears pierced there and i remember twisting the green stones as i got off the school bus, just like they told me to do, thinking i was pretty grown-up. i remember our easter dresses and picnics in the side yard in the spring. afternoons where mom would make us take naps while she watched 'little house on the prairie." and i was usually pretending to be asleep-i thought i was so convincing. where santa delivered a new, special crayon set one night. it fell from the sky and landed on our porch-just in time for scripture coloring. its where i learned to ride a banana-seat bike. and crashed into a boat and got my first black eye. it's where i stole a piece of grape bubble gum and was so terrified at what i'd done that i hid it in the downstairs bathroom hamper. until mom found it and made me take it back. to the store where she used to leave us in the car while she'd run in for a quick few items. which led to my having nightmares about the car starting on it's own. i would have to drive it and save my siblings. that was a heavy weight. it's where we'd take little family trips to crooked creek and sing mares eat oats and let's go catch their underwears while we drove along the windy road. and it's where em and i swear we saw a boy with a backward bottom. there was the blue bookmobile. shirts with ice cream cones, hearts, and rainbows on them. seersucker. and the smell of a little shop where my mom bought her wheat to grind for homemade bread.

back to bread.

i don't know why i thought of this the other day, but i pulled out the recipe and whipped up a loaf. it's been a long time since i've had it. but, wow, it's even better than i remembered...it's amazing what a loaf of bread can stir up.



Irish Soda Bread

Mix: 4 c. all-purpose flour
        1/2 c. granulated sugar
        1 t. salt
        1 t. baking powder
Cut In : 1/4 c. butter
             1 c. raisins
Mix & Add: 1 1/2 c. buttermilk*
                     1 t. baking soda
                     1 egg


Knead batter with hands until well mixed. Grease & flour round loaf pan (7" souffle)**. Shape loaf and place in pan, making sure it's compact. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hr + 15-30 minutes***. Done when toothpick inserted comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan. 


*I rarely, if ever, have buttermilk on hand and I'm all about substitutes. Try this: 1 1/2 c. milk + 1 1/2 t. white vinegar. Mix first and allow to sit while you start mixing the rest of the batter. Then measure out 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use in the recipe. 
**I also don't have a round loaf or souffle pan, so i used a round glass casserole and it worked just fine. 
***Not sure if it was the pan or the altitude, but I only had to bake for about an hour. 


and please excuse the terrible photos, bad light + no contacts + lumpy bread  = really weird focusing

house updates, part 2: our bedroom

our bedroom is finally done. i need to scrounge up the "before" pictures because you would die. it was horrible. when we moved in the walls were pink, the carpet was blue (and disgusting), and the room is just tiny. that right there stopped me in my tracks for way too long. we re-carpeted the weekend we moved in, replaced the light fixture with a ceiling fan, and eventually painted the walls tan. a color i would never choose, but one which we had on hand from the previous owners. the bed was under the windows, covered in dark green silk bedding, and not a thing graced the walls. dingy. i hated this room. i never came in here unless i was going to bed. the majority of my clothes was strewn on the floor at any given moment because i was so quick to escape this 'room of doom'. my children's closets are organized and perfect, and it's been no secret that doing this for myself was at the bottom of my priority list. but now? now that the room is finished? rearranged and functional (and cute)? my clothes are right where they belong at all times. my bed is made and the blinds are opened before i'm even out of jammies (wait, that's still a problem-i stay in my jammies till lunch!). i am one step closer to total organization. just months before we move. go figure.

p.s. do you see nash's drawing, framed and displayed? oh, i love love love it. i cannot get enough of it.

today

the boy is all bundled and playing with trucks in the backyard. the booger catcher still in full force, still coughing. but he's happy.

haves is sleeping (she's been doing that a lot lately. sleeping and singing.).

the crocuses are peeking up. the tulip tree's buds are swelling. i'm dreaming up my backyard garden,

baking bread, cleaning, reading.

the sun is shining. we can leave the back door open and it will stay light till after dinner.

spring is coming...



p.s. sending good vibes out for b.f.f lisset who is having a baby right this very moment!

man stuff

nash may enjoy make-up, dolls and playing kitchen, but he is beginning to dabble in man-stuff. his new favorite show is "mighty machines" (if you have netflix instant play, check it out, you will regret it!). and yesterday the city began tearing out our sidewalks. nash watched from the window for an hour or so, every so often exclaiming, "mama, this is so amazing." and, "wow, those are great machines!"

here he is catching boogers with his tongue while watching the machines:



and here he is making machine sounds. all boy, i tell ya.



as i was posting these photos i noticed how much more copper there is in his left eye than the right. i asked him to come in here so i could look at his eyes and he said "but they're all blue so i can be booiful." so maybe he's a pretty boy. 

happy valentine's day

we started our morning with heart-shaped pink chocolate chip pancakes and milk. nash said that valentine's day is about treats and making treat bags. i think it's about treats, love and an acceptable time to put pink and red together.

we're making chicken tikka masala tonight for the very first time (vegetable for me, of course. i don't know why i feel i have to keep reassuring you that i'm not eating meat, except for that one time when i sampled steve's steak fajita and he busted me for it on the internets. seriously, it was like 1/10th of an ounce.) wish us luck!

hope you are all having a happy valentine's day. staying warm, snuggling in bed and eating yummy food, too!

photos from last year: chocolate dipped newman-O's. 

mullet-free

i caved. the mullet is no longer. bye bye pig tails. but hello super cute and classy haven! doesn't she look preppy in her little ruffled cardi and plaid barrette? we still need stacy to fix it up because i didn't do such a great job and, in her words, "i can't do everything." i'm thinking i'll have her cut some layers so that it stacks in the back and can grow out into a little a-line. what do you think?

valentine party

the kids went to a fun little valentine party at shiloh's house this week. nash worships shiloh. every time they hang out he talks about her for days. she's such a cutie. they started out by decorating valentine boxes. this was serious business (my kids may or may not have been the only ones eating fighting over glue and other supplies).




next, they frosted, decorated, and devoured sugar cookes. haven did more devouring than she did frosting or decorating.

nash and shiloh shared some hugs. haven tried to get in on the action with shiloh but her silent pleading did her no good. she doesn't like to talk around strangers, unless she's screaming.

next was valentine distribution. nash passed out fun-dip and haven passed out tootsie pops. i was really creative;) finally, the kids watched through the window as the garbage man picked up the trash. the perfect ending to a perfect party.

and isn't haven's little valentine dress the cutest thing you've ever seen?! thanks, mom!

a few not-so-recent projects

i have slacked on project posting, so i thought i'd post a few tonight since i just came across the photos. first up, i recovered this car seat for hollie and baby capri. it was quite a project, the hardest part being completely taking apart the seat cover and canopy that came with the car seat. oh, and then maybe sewing the edging with bias tape (i hate that stuff). and the slits for the seat belts. the canopy was fun, though. i really like how it turned out. i also sewed a car seat tent in coordinating fabric and a little "taggie" blanket too. i forgot to take pictures of those and probably will never get around to it. i also meant to make little strap covers with the striped material and just now realized that i never did that-i guess i burned out.


second, two days before christmas i changed my gifting plans for the kids. i like to keep it simple and this year money was really tight. i had figured since the kids are still so small and get presents from all their family members that they would be fine with nothing from us. plus my parents did a great job of covering all the regular bases (something to wear, something to read, something to play with). at the last minute i felt sad that they'd get nothing from us, so i thought of one thing that each of them would absolutely love. haven's was a baby doll. i bought the only one in all of five stores that i thought had a relatively cute face (why do doll-makers think little girls want alien children?) with the intention to sew a bunch of clothes and cloth diapers and things. of course, this was two days before christmas, so i had to come up with something fast and put the rest on the backburner (where it still sits). since this doll's clothes are not removable (and are ugly, imo) i decided to make a little swaddler (if you have a real baby and don't have one of these, run don't walk). and no baby girl should have a bare head, so i whipped up a cute little headband to match. i used leftover fabric from the car seat and bought some soft flannel fabric for the swaddler's lining and the flower. i think she's pretty darn cute:


{before}

{the handmade goodies}

{the cutest baby on the block. probably the only baby on the block- i don't think drug dealers and widowers have baby dolls. what, you don't live in the ghetto yet? want to buy my house? it's for sale!}

and then we wrapped her up with a bottle and a blanket. haven opened her up on christmas morning and put the bottle straight to her lips. a natural. and she's barely touched the baby since. go figure...

for missie miss

we could use a third...




emmy and i had a high-schoolesque sleepover last night. shopping, facials, and a LOT of fun with photobooth. this may be all we are willing to share-last night's footage was a leeeetle scary (think gangy gets a face-lift scary). and if you're wondering what i'm saying, i don't know either!

inspiration

we also woke up really early and got all gussied up for this. a photo shoot for a photographer shooting stock images.

can you find us?