Thursday, June 10, 2010

Oh My Stars (and Garters) II

Okay Sonja and Nikki, here is the Graham Cracker recipe... obviously, I was too lazy to actually type it out! But first a picture of the finished product... in stars... those seem to be the easiest for little hands to hold, and they're just so darn cute!


Cooking for me is a labor of love... my kitchen is small... and this is what it looked like on Sunday, while I slaved over dinner...notice the stack of pancakes. The babies ate them all, by themselves, no Bing help.



Usually, I try and bake while the little ones are asleep, so there is only Mr. M and Bing with me, but sometimes that is not an option!
Oh, I almost forgot, here is the recipe... if you need translation, let me know...



And the changes I made this time? Instead of honey, I used sugar-free maple syrup (because that is what was in the cupboard). I used 3/4 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup oatmeal instead of 1 1/2 cups white flour. I also used 1/2 a stick of real butter and 1 stick of light margarine. I didn't include cinnamon (it was an accident). These turned out much better than the applesauce version last time, which were more cookie-like. As a note, the dough was very hard when I first took it out of the fridge... but it warmed up pretty quickly and came together just fine! The crackers are, yet again, a hit, and Miss M keeps 'mmmmm'-ing at me every time she sees the bag come out... and we are on Day 1... good thing this batch made over 100 little stars!!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Sylvie

Two weeks ago, I took everyone to the library for story time (yes, we got a lot of comments about how "brave" I am... it gets old really fast!)... anyway, the story-reader read a book entitled Sylvie (by Jennifer Gordon Sattler), about a flamingo who starts eating all sorts of different "foods" in order to turn different colors (since pink shrimp maker her a pink color). We immediately placed a hold on Sylvie (since both copies were checked out) and Morgan daily asked me if I had gotten an e-mail informing us that the book was ready ("No, Morgan")... we even checked the hold bin on a different trip "just in case". Today, we went to the library and the same story reader was there helping kids sign up for the summer reading program. Morgan started telling her about the Sylvie book... I translated, end result, she checked in her copy and Morgan rode in the stroller the entire way back, gazing at Sylvie. I have now read Sylvie twice, and he is snuggled on the couch with the book now.

This past weekend, we went to the Topeka Zoo (with mom, Sonja, and Tate), we saw all the normal animals... monkey's, giraffe's, elephant's etc... but wouldn't you know it, that kid picked out the picture of the flamingo on the map, and "guided" us in the correct direction. As soon as we opened the doors (and wheeled three strollers in) there were the flamingo's, on the path, not caged. Morgan was excited and scared and shy all at once, we managed to get a picture or two. I suppose I'll have to stick this book in my Amazon cart and get it next time I place an order...
I love that boy!

Niece-to-Be


Well, the last quilt is done (well, for now anyway)... and this one is for Reily Joyce, due at the beginning of August. The shower is, of course, the same day as the babies' birthday party, but I will send the quilt with Grandma to deliver for us. I hope baby Reily can snuggle with this quilt and enjoy it too!!! This past weekend we saw my mom and Sonja (and Tate)... I was able to deliver her new quilt and she oohed and ahhed over it appropriately!!! My practice has been, when I remember, to pray for these babies, their mama's, daddy's, and siblings as I stitch... God bless these little and big ones and shelter them with his wings!

In other news, I bought (on "accident") the softest flannel to make little lap blankets (oh, 20 x 20 or so) for the girls! I picked pink (naturally) for Miriam. I had planned on getting purple for Blythe, but then I saw the blue and I quickly amended my plans! J simply laughed when I told him of my purchases... at least I had forewarned him, since I had first seen the fabric the week before. I plan on using Grandmother's Flower Garden as my "square" it will be my first try with this... but years ago (before I started quilting) Grandma Mac gave me some flower "squares" she had found at a garage sale. I have no idea where those are now, but I'm going to attempt this now, in memory of those long-lost pieces!