Thursday, June 30, 2011

What The Macks Had For Dinner

Homemade Pizza!
And it was sooooo yummy!

I used the pizza dough recipe found here. It was easy and delicious!
In fact, somebody couldn't wait to start sampling as soon as it came out of the oven! :)

I made two batches of dough which yielded 4 large pizzas and:
a baby pizza for the mini-est of the mini Macks!
When we were eating I heard:
"This is the best pizza in the universe!" ~Ethan
and
"Mommy, you make the goodest pizza!" ~Molly

I think we will definitely have this again! :)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Cheaper By The Dozen?

This week has been another busy one!
  • 30 pounds of strawberries were made into 24 batches of strawberry jam
  • College preparations were worked on for my oldest
  • Lots of yardwork was done
  • The last items were planted in the garden
annnnnd....
  • We got our first glimpse at the newest mini Mack

Yes, we are expecting our 12th in November, and we are all so excited!

Now, are they really cheaper by the dozen? I doubt it, but that's ok with us! :)
Guess it's time for some baby sewing!! :)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Making Jam

The mini Macks and I spent the first half of today making strawberry freezer jam. Mmmmmm.... it's so good! So far we have 12 batches done, and we aren't even halfway through the 30 pounds of strawberries!
The mini Macks were a big help! Especially when it came time to lick the spoons and bowls! :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Peek Into The Amish Life

My daughter, Megan, had the incredible opportunity to spend a week living with the Amish, as I mentioned first here. She returned home less than a week ago, her life forever changed from her experience! Here is a glimpse of what she did and saw:
She got to see some of the countryside,
and do some shopping. (I want some of that watermelon!)
She fell in love with this giant Whoopie Pie! Yum!
She toured a pretzel factory.
She rode in an Amish buggy,
and on an Amish scooter! (Which she LOVED!)
The family she stayed with had a dairy, so she got to know their cows,
and help feed the calves.
She was lovingly accepted by the whole family and the little Amish girls made her a bracelet.
She even got to dress Amish!

Megan had a wonderful time getting to know her Amish "family". She loved their devotion to God through their life and their innocent (and sometimes ornery) fun! I'm so thankful for the love she received and the relationships she formed. It was worth every penny!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Gymboree Knock-Off Shirt

This past February, my daughter, Molly, received an outfit from Gymboree for her birthday. It was super cute and comfortable! Unfortunately, she outgrew the shirt length-wise already. So I decided to try and copy it, and here's what I got!

The Gymboree Knock-Off Shirt


Here's what the original Gymboree shirt looked like:
It fit her tiny frame great, except for length! So, I started with a traced t-shirt pattern, like the one I did here.
I used a t-shirt from the discard pile and cut out the back normal, lining up the bottom edge of the pattern with the hemmed edge of the shirt to take advantage of the hem.
For the front, I cut out the pieces like this: The main front piece was placed an inch or two away from the fold to make it wider then the back and cut straight across the top where the bottom curve of the neck is. The shoulder pieces were cut using the armhole edges, but were made striaght down the neck edges and were longer to attach to the front piece. The sleeves I cut off the shirt and left as is. I also cut a 1" piece across the width of the shirt to use as single fold bias tape. Whew! I hope that makes sense!
First, I sewed the shoulder seams and ironed the seams towards the back.
Next, I serged across the top straight edge of the front piece and ironed it down about 3/8". The serging probably isn't necessary, but the original had it, so I did it too!
With right sides together, I sewed the 1" strip to the neck edge of the back and shoulders using a stretch stitch at 1/4" seam allowance. An almost straight zig-zag can also be used!
Then ironed the unsewn edge to the middle and folded it again to the inside and sewed it down. Just like applying single fold bias tape to finish the edge. Again, use a stretch stitch or almost straight zig-zag.
Using elastic thread in the bobbin, I shirred 8 rows, 1/4" apart and 1/4" from the top through the folded over edge and then steamed them to get them to shrink up tight.
Matching up bottom hems and armholes, I sewed the front main piece onto the shoulder pieces, sewing at the top line of shirring.
I gathered the top 6" of the sleeves and sewed them to the body of the shirt.
Since I used the sleeves directly from the old t-shirt, they were already hemmed. So I sewed a little bit up from the edge to create a casing for some 1/4" elastic. I threaded 8" of elastic for each sleeve and secured the ends.
Then I sewed up the side seams! Shirt done, but it needed some detail. The original had a ribbon bow with hanging daisies.
For my shirt I made a yellow rick-rack flower and secured it with a button center.
Gymboree Knock-Off Shirt finished!

It even matches the leggings that she wore with the original! Yay!
Cute puffy sleeves!
Definitely long enough for her!
This is the strawberry she's been eyeing. :)
(Try to ignore the gum in her mouth! I forgot to make her spit it out!)
I think we love this shirt! :)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Graduation

Josh returned home from his senior trip to Disneyland Friday. Just in time to graduate high school on Saturday! 

He was one of three valedictorians and gave a great speech!
Sorry the picture isn't the best! Terrible lighting!


How did he grow up so quickly?

We gave him a small graduation party complete with a special cake made by his grandma,:
A lion because he was the Cowardly Lion as his last role.

some yummy food, and a graduation banner:
I cut out graduation caps and letters on my Silhouette SD and glued them together!
Here's a close-up:
Nothing too fancy, but got the message across!

We are so proud of you, Josh!! Congratulations!

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Ballet Recital

Sarah had her ballet recital this past weekend. She danced beautifully! The pictures truly speak for themselves! :)
and my favorite:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

You Know....

sometimes you wonder why you bother with all the play equipment when they'd rather practice their "rock climbing" on the fence....
Silly monkeys!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Shorts For Two

My son, Seth, prefers wearing shorts to bed. So that means when I find cheap men's sleep pants, I buy them and cut off the legs and hem them up. That leaves me with these:
Pant legs! (Which I should have ironed before I took the picture, not after!)
Since plaid shorts are so popular for boys right now, I figured I would use the pant legs to make Josiah a pair!
I cut open the inner seam and decided how long I wanted the shorts. Using my favorite pants pattern, the BBB Pants Pattern from Made By Rae, I folded up the extra length and lined up the folded edge with the finished hem of the pant leg. I centered the pattern over the existing outer side seam.
Then I just sewed them up per the pattern instructions, except for hemming them because that was already done for me!

So cute!
Love that diaper cover peeking out as Josiah "helps" with the dishes!
The gusset in the back means a perfect fit for a cloth diapered bum!
He just *might* have been totally captivated by the Wiggles so I could take pictures! :)

Two pairs of shorts for the price of one?
That makes three of us happy!!
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