Sure! I can Shirr!

I’ve been eyeing this ADDORABLE sun suit on Made By Rae. But have been hesitant because it required skills in applying snaps and shirring. After a few helpful tutorials and an evening and afternoon of sewing, this mama churned out THREE shirred outfits. Two sun suits and a dress for Marin.

The best part of shirring? Watching the fabric magically shrink when water and steam are applied (totally neato). ALMOST makes hand winding a bobbin worth it….almost.

Old House Update {Master Bath Shower}

It's here! It's Up! And it's Beautiful!

After so many years of saving and waiting, it feels odd to walk in the bathroom and see a HUGE cultured marble shower in the corner. When giving friends and family the "house progress tour" I won't have to hold my arms out to the side, and spin around saying "and this is where the shower will go" because it's HERE!

Ready for the installation step by step?

Saturday Steven finished the wall prep work. Adalyn and Ricky were his supervisors.

Workers built a form from wood, added a liner and filled it with sakrete.

 

Marble base added.



One wall with the accessory center hole cut.



Both walls up. Only trim is lacking on the right.

TaDa!

The crew from R&D Marble in Willis Texas handled the installation. They'll be back on Monday to install the corner seat. We went back and forth about that seat. Only old people use seats in the shower right? Then I decided that shaving would be easier AND a shower might be more relaxing for my future prego self too. So, corner butt seat it is!

Next step the faucet and then the glass.

HAPPY Valentine's Day Cards

I'd seen last Valentine’s day where these “sucker cards” were made by photographing your child with their fist outstretched. Two simple cuts later, the sucker is inserted and it gives the impression of them handing the receiver a lollipop. I was overcome by how CUTE it was and filed it away in the “maybe I'll do that next year” file. So, the morning I took Marin and Adalyn out for photos I secretly had the idea in the back of my mind. Well, none of the fist pictures turned out right so this is a variation of the idea, which in the end I think I like better. Makes Marin look like the luckiest gal in the world!!!! Lollipops the size of your head! Can you imagine?! (tee hee hee). She chose to give out Dum Dums because they are her favorite candy.

We spent Saturday evening putting these together for her friends. Cutest moment was the first cut with the exacto knife. She was SHOCKED that I was going to cut her!!!! “Oh, Mommy, don't hurt Marin!!!” It took me proceeding with the cuts and inserting a sucker to convince her that she really would like the final product.

Oh, sweet, cute, happy Marin. I love you.

Fluffy Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies {Valentine's Day}

Sorry for the shiny food pictures. I HATE shiny food pictures. NO BODY wants to eat food that's photographed with a glare, not to mention wrapped in saran wrap. BUT, I was desperate. It was 6 a.m. and I had a nine month old supervisor carefully overseeing my efforts from her orange Bumbo seat. My photography time was limited! The project had to be complete, wrapped and ready for its recipient before he got up for the morning.


So, just imagine that the chocolate is smooth and the marshmallow cream is soft and puffy and that the oatmeal cookies (minus the raisins) are browned to perfection.

The recipe is a Paula Deen recipe so yes, the list of ingredients begins with TWO sticks of butter. A decadent valentines day desert for my valentine. Making them heart shaped was my idea. Turned out rather well. Worth all the effort (I think).

What's inside? Melted chocolate morsels, fluffy marshmallow cream and roasted pecans. 

Here is my version of the recipie. You can find it on the Paula Deen website as well:

Ingredients

1 cup butter, about 2 sticks, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
Semi sweet Chocolate morsels melted
Marshmallow creme, as needed (recommended: Fluff)
Chopped roasted pecans (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 or 3 baking sheets or line with silpats.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the egg and the milk and beat until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Gradually add the dry ingredients to butter mixture, beating until incorporated. Stir in the oats. Form the cookies by dropping heaping 2 tablespoonfuls of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet, spacing evenly.

Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, about 11 to 13 minutes. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Spread a small dollop of the fudge on the inside of 6 cookies. Spread a large dollop of the marshmallow creme on the inside of another 6 cookies. Sandwich the cookies together and transfer to a serving platter.

As a special treat for Steven, I added chopped, roasted pecans to the marshmallow cream side of the cookie before sandwiching them together.

Adalyn {Eye Candy Actions}

Encase you didn't know, my husband is wonderful.

For Christmas he bought me a set of PhotoShop actions that I've been eying for a year. Sheye Rosemeyer's Eye Candy Actions. Just wouldn't let myself spend the money. Yep, that's right, he had to find the blog, figure out the name of the set, purchase, download and store the files on my computer. And that's where I found them, on my desktop with a star icon that said "Merry Christmas."

So, since Christmas I've been dying to take photos of Adalyn and Marin in early morning sun. Not easy to do with two little ones to dress (warmly). Here are Adalyn's pics. Marin's will come later. Can you believe my Baby A is almost 9 months old!?

New Releases or Lasting Investments

One evening last week, my newly married sister called to chat. She filled me in on her life and activities while I scurried around the house picking up toys, folding clothes and putting away dinner. She was asking about destination ideas for their anniversary (she's a planner) and that lead to a conversation with me reminiscing about the first seven years of my marriage. (Let's call them the childless years.) Oh, those childless years! Steven and I were on the go! We camped, hiked, traveled and dinned. Boy did we blow some MAJOR money on food and fun. It’s those major activities that I remember so well, but what about the daily life stuff? I found myself saying to my sister “I'm not sure what I did in the evenings before we had kids!” Then I remembered: MOVIES. If there was a new release we would have seen it and most “normal” weekends were spent enjoying dinner and a movie. So I adamantly told her “Watch movies while you can because before you know it, you'll be picking up toys every evening wondering what you once did with your free time.”

That conversation has been on my mind this week.

Working from home full time, I’m here with the girls most days, but I’m working, so I ache to have FUN with them in the evenings. After a grocery store run I pulled up in front of the house and asked Marin “what would you like to do together, that’s FUN?” She contemplated this and to my surprise she asked to make a cake. That request meant that we’d have to return to the store for the ingredients, (with a sleeping baby) but I was so determined to spend a fun evening together, we did just that. Leaving the store for the second time, Marin carried a shopping bag filled with a boxed cake mix, pink icing and sprinkles. For the next hour and a half I walked her through the steps of making cupcakes. We turned the oven to 350 degrees, placed cupcake liners in the cupcake pan, measured out a cup of water and a third cup of oil. She was fascinated and excited about each step and I was having a blast watching her learn. Her enthusiasm about mixing batter, joy from licking the spoon and curiosity with the rising cupcake batter was HANDS DOWN better than any new release movie I watched during the “childless years.”

Watching a new release is still a treat I enjoy today, but investing time in the nurturing of my child or any other human for that matter is an investment with a lasting return.

Old House Update: Daddy's Helper

January first was a fresh start on house work. Nothing much happens to this old house during the months of October, November or December. The holidays are much to fun to spend time painting. However, this year we did have the medicine cabinets professionally stained and I hope to have pictures to post once we get them hung. Just piddling with those is about all we did during the holidays.

That said, January was a VERY productive month. Steven finished ALL of the trim in the room, including the baseboards and as of Sunday, it's all painted. It's sorta shocking to be this close!

These photos of Daddy's little helper were just too cute not to share. Adalyn is the complete oposite of Marin. If there is something dangerous in the room, she goes for that first. Her next item is typically something that will make a HUGE (scary) mess. And despite being continuously told "No, no, Adalyn" she remains cheerfully, persistent!