Happy 2nd Birthday, Cutie Pie

14 Oct


Yep, my baby is no longer a baby. She turned 2.

She likes to be a baby and sit in a “baby chair” and drink a “milky” and snuggle in her blanket. She wakes up at least once a night and climbs out of her crib and comes down the hall to get in bed with Mommy.

She loves her “dollie” that Grandma gave her for her birthday.

She loves to watch Dora the Explorer and yell “Syper, no Sypee.”

She loves to color and has very advanced fine motor skills. She just learned how to kick a ball–so her gross motor skills are a wee bit behind. That’s my girl.

She loves to look at books about farm animals and have everyone make the sounds. Moo-Cows are her favorite. She likes to wear overalls like Grandpa and call “So Boss” to the cows. She likes to play pretend cooking more than any other of my children did at 2.

She loves to see pictures of her cousins. Especially the babies, Heath and Georgie and Wyatt and Henry.

Her favorite foods are cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, milk, yogurt, and Macaroni and cheese. She also likes beans.

Her favorite computer game is http://www.helpkidzlearn.com check it out!

Her favorite other game is empty bottles of stuff on the carpet upstairs. I think I finally have everything put away high enough. In the last 2 months, I have cleaned the following out of the carpet: liquid and mineral powder foundation, face moisturizer, mascara, lipstick, shampoo, arm&hammer foaming shower cleaner, milk, urine, hair detangler spray, bubble gum, playdough, and soggy graham crackers.

She is very excited each day when the big kids get home from school. I don’t know what we’ll do next year when Peach Pie goes off to Kindergarten. Cutie Pie and I will be quite lonely, I think.

Tutorial: how to shorten the rise in your 6 year old’s pants

12 Oct

Recently I pulled out all the rubber maid tubs with winter/school clothing in them. This is almost as good as Christmas for the kids (and me.) I went through and pulled out all the jeans. Everyone was well supplied except Pumpkin Pie. There were 6 pair of long pants that fit her in the waist and the legs were more or less the correct length. However, the rise each pair was so long that the crotch was hanging down near her knees. Obviously this wouldn’t do.

After thinking about it, I decided to try and shorten the rise myself–since if I ruined the pants, nothing was lost–she couldn’t wear them anyway.

If these were homemade pants, I could just cut off the waist. But these pants had little pockets and fake flies sewn in, so cutting inches off the top wouldn’t work. I googled around and couldn’t find anyone who had done this (and blogged about it).

So here is what I did. My first try, I cut too much and sewed more than would have been necessary and then took out too much fabric and created leggings. Pumpkin Pie refused to wear them. You get the benefit of version 2.0. Yay for you 🙂

#1 Start with a pair of pants/jeans that do fit properly. Lucky for me we had one. They were GAP jeans in a size 6 regular.

Here is a comparison of the khaki’s I’m modifying and the GAP jeans. You can see the difference in rise length.

#2 Turn the good fitting jeans inside out and fold them in half so you can see the curve of the back crotch/rise seam. Fold them as close as you can on the seam lines. Lay the pants on a piece of heavy paper and trace around them. I had brown paper this time. My favorite paper to use is wrapping paper that has the grid lines on the wrong side. I used an orange crayon to trace around them. You want to get as accurately as possible the waistline, crotch curve, and hip line of the pants, as well as the taper from the curve to the legs.

#3 Fold the jeans in half the other way to get the front crotch curve. Trace as in step 2.

#4 cut out the two pattern pieces you just created. label them front and back, although the back is the one with the larger curve–if you forgot to label. 🙂

#5 Take the pants to be altered and turn them wrong side out. Trim off the inseam from about the knees up. Trust me, you do not want to be trying to match the bottom hem and fixing the crotch. (version 1.0, remember) If the pants you are altering already have fairly narrow legs, you may want to unpick the seam instead of trimming it off. Your call.

#6 Fold the pants in half so that the front rise is on one side. I took a pin and placed it in the side seam to keep the pants from shifting because of the elastic waistband. Match your homemade pattern to the side seam and trace a new crotch seam onto the pants with your orange crayon. ***Do not be tempted to match up the crotch and trace a new side seam.*** (version 1.o, remember?)

Plus at the super cool Fashion Incubator Blog you can see a great explanation of why that won’t work. Don’t blame me if you loose a couple hours there reading all about why jeans don’t fit anymore. Loved that blog!!

****note: I found that this resulted in taking about an inch out of the waistband as well. Just follow the line up to the top and don’t worry about it. I didn’t cut the waistband until after I had re-sewn the line.

Back to Pumpkin Pie’s Pants

#7 LEAVING A SEAM ALLOWANCE OF 1/4-1/2 inch, trim off the excess crotch fabric–don’t cut through the waistband yet, either. Put the pants in your sewing machine and sew the new crotch seam on the crayon line you traced. Sew it again for reinforcement. Now you can trim off the extra waistband material.

#8 Fold the pants so that the front crotch is out. Line your front pattern up with the side seams and draw your new crotch. I found on the pants I was doing, all I needed to do was take off the end and taper the legs in. So I didn’t have to resew the front rise. That was good because the fake fly probably would have gotten in the way.

#9 Open up the pants and line up the opening in the inseam. Pin this carefully. If one side is longer than the other, check your crotch lines and trim a bit.

#10 Sew up the inseam and reinforce–I used a serger-like stitch on my machine.

Rejoice in your thriftyness and have your child try on her new and improved pants. 🙂

Okay, they could have been taken up even a little more. Next time I be more careful in the pattern tracing stage. Let it be a lesson to you.

Here is a comparison of the two pants after Altering the khaki pair.

Meeting New Friends at the Park

29 Sep

I took my kids to the park this evening and there was another woman pushing her kids in the swings next to me. Her kids had dark hair and eyes, like mine do and she said,
Her: So you are a white girl married to a Hispanic, too?

Me: ….(pause while I wrap my head around the question. I have never thought of myself in this way before. Probably because I define myself by who my family is, not by my race and my husband was born in the US and doesn’t refer to himself as Hispanic.)

…umm, yeah. I guess, I mean his mom is Mexican, but he doesn’t even speak Spanish. I think it would be nice if he did. Then our kids would learn Spanish.
Her: My husband and I, we both speak Spanish and English, so do our kids. You can put your kids in the Spanish class at the elementary school and they will teach them.

Me: There is a Spanish class at the elementary?
Her: Yes, it is called ES….something..

Me: ESL (English as a Second Language. My husband taught that in the high school for mostly HMONG kids. It is for teaching English, not Spanish.)
Her: Did you see on the morning show today, they were talking about the wives of Hispanics?

Me: No, I didn’t.
Her: Well, they were complaining about how white women marry Hispanics and then when they get deported, the women go on government aid. They didn’t even mention those of us who don’t.

Me: Oh? (???)
Her: Like my husband has been deported 3 times and I never asked for government help once! His friends just helped me out until he was able to get back.

Me: … uuhhh, That’s good. (what!!!!!?????)
Her: Obama said he was going to give everyone work visas, and he hasn’t done nothing.

Me: You’re right, he hasn’t. (It must be awful to live in fear that your husband will die trying to get back across the border.)
Her: We are all going to Mexico to visit soon. I’m kind of nervous because of what happened there on the border, you know? Like did you see that movie “Blood_something___” where they lured white women over the border and then chop them up and put pieces of them on crosses?

Me: No, I missed that one (thank goodness)
Her: We just got a bunch of them movies. There is this one, “Sin Nombre” it will make you cry. The man gets shot crossing the border. He doesn’t make it.

*******
Then she ran off to catch her son because he was headed for the road. And I had to leave to get my son to Cub Scouts on time.

Here’s the thing. I googled, trying to find the news program she was talking about. I couldn’t find it. I have questions though.

1. Is “white” synonymous to “citizen” where you live?

2. Is “Hispanic” synonymous with “illegal” where you live?

3. Why should an American Citizen who is married to an illegal alien have less rights than any other American Citizen? What makes her worse than any other American Citizen who applies for government aid?

4. Can’t this guy get a green card? He is married to an American Citizen.

5. Why can’t we just give everyone a green card? Then no one would be illegal and we would know who is here and they wouldn’t have to live in fear or be exploited by the bad guys.

Camping Check List

27 Sep


The Man of the House didn’t have to go to work Friday night, so he said, “Let’s go camping!” We threw everything in the car and headed north to a state park we hadn’t tried yet.

I forgot a few things–like a can opener 😦 mmmm, no fruit cobbler for dinner– and I didn’t take many pictures because I was too busy having fun. I forgot the first aid kit, so we were lucky no one got hurt.

But all in all it was a great trip and a great way to get back in the camping mode. We do not camp in the heat of summer unless it is required for a family reunion or something. We camp all fall until it gets below freezing. Then the Man of the House has to camp by himself.

On the way home, Saturday, I made a list of the things I had forgotten and wished I had. Then I listed the things I remembered-so I don’t forget then next time. Here is my list–So I can find it, and perhaps you may find it useful as well.


List of stuff to bring when Car Camping w/Family

Cash to pay for campsite

First Aid Kit: bandages antibiotic ointment, bug spray, sunscreen, IB Profin, chapstick, eyedrops

camera/batteries

matches
oven mitt
can opener
pancake turner
salad tongs (for moving charcoal around on the dutch oven)
big metal spoon
duct tape
trash bags
salt&pepper
paper towels
wet wipes
Toilet paper
paper plates
plastic forks
foam cups
aluminum foil
kettle (for heating water)
paring knife
peeler
cutting mat
dutch oven
dutch oven lid hook
table cloth
charcoal
pocket knife
hatchet
hammer
lantern
propane fuel for lantern
new mantles for lantern

camp stove *wishlist
frying pan *wishlist

tent
stakes
ground tarp
sleeping bags
sleeping pads/air mattress for wimpy mom (closely related to super mom, but at the end of her magic rope)
1 or 2 extra fleece blankets
1 or 2 flat sheets
camping pillows (I plan on making these half size pillows soon)
camp chairs

hats
jackets
warm pj’s
1 change clothing
hiking shoes
flip flops (because otherwise the kids WILL go barefoot in camp)
baby backpack
water bottles

toothbrushes
toothpaste
bar of soap
hand sanitizer
2 hand towels
ponytail holders
comb
shampoo *if camping more than one night
diapers for baby
wipes
dirty laundry bag

glow sticks 🙂 fun
camping games *we don’t need these yet, our kids are still in the run everywhere and explore it stage. When they are all teenagers we may want card games in camp. Electronics of all kinds are considered blasphemous and are banned.

*************************

We camped by a lake, but there was no way to get down to the lake from our campsite and the “beach” was closed for winter. So we might as well have camped somewhere else without a lake. I think our favorite place to camp so far has been Osage Hills State Park in Bartlesville, OK.

I really hate camping with a crawling age baby. They don’t like staying in the pack-n-play and if you put them on the ground, they eat everything gross. SO I’m glad Cutie Pie is out of that stage.

Mindy Gledhill – Anchor

11 Sep

Thanks for sharing, Sarah. I am loving this song. I am also loving her red lipsick. Maybe I should go blonde….

Empire State Building Biscuits

7 Sep

A magazine that I now wish to subscribe to is “Cooks Illustrated.”

I picked up a copy at my mother-in-law’s and read a delightful article all about the science of the perfect fluffy biscuit. Cook’s Illustrated was refreshingly free of advertising. No attempting to read a small article sandwiched between columns of ads. No scavenger hunt at the back of the magazine to find the second half of the recipe. (Take that, “Cooking Light!” I bite my thumb at thee.) Just recipes and a few good kitchen gadget reviews. I loved the process the author went through trying to discover the perfect biscuit. I learned a lot! I have tried this recipe 3 times and been rewarded with tall, fluffy, soft, and moist biscuits each time–even though I subbed whole wheat flour in for 1/2 of the flour called for.

2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 whole wheat and 1 all purpose)
1 Tablespoon double acting baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk

1. Place dry ingredients in a food processor and blend until mixed (about 6 one second pulses.)

2. Scatter butter cubes over the dry ingredients and pulse eight to 10 pulses until the mixture looks like pebbly coarse corn meal.

3. Transfer to a bowl and stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until just blended.

4. Sprinkle 1 cup flour on a cookie sheet. Use cooking spray to coat a round 9″ cake pan and a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Scoop level dough with measuring cup and drop onto floured baking sheet. With floured hands, gently shape into a ball, shake off excess flour and place in pan. Fill the pan around the edges and then place the last 3 biscuits in the center of the ring.

5. Brush the biscuits with butter (or be lazy and just put a little pat on top of each one like I did.)

Bake at 500 degrees for 5 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 450 and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven, cool 2 minutes, invert on a cloth and break apart. Turn biscuits right side up and let cool 5 more minutes.

These biscuits are not flaky. They are tall and soft, similar to KFC biscuits, but not as dry. Flaky biscuits require different ingredients and a different technique. I have to go read “Cooks Illustrated” to find out how.

Job Chart, DONE!

20 Aug

All my friends made cute job charts this summer. here and here. Everyone else in blogland made one too. I was very jealous and wanted my own. I dreamed of it all summer. What would be best for our family? What system would work?

But think of all the time and brain power to figure out jobs for the kids and me.

Then I had a GENIUS epiphany! I already had a whole system of chores written down from that one time when I got really excited about FlyLady. (I’m still going to get back on track with that, I mean it…)

So I just whipped out (searched under piles of things for a whole day to find) my handy control journal. In it I had already mapped out a system of weekly chores, and assigned them a day. I also had the whole house divided into 5 zones (one zone for each week of the month) and a list of chores that needed to happen monthly in each zone.

Brilliant! I really do love FlyLady.

I just transfered the weekly chores to cards and put them in the pockets. One pocket for each day. Lest you freak out, the Sunday pocket lists ideas for Sunday appropriate activities, not chores. I did not make out lists for each zone of the house. I just wrote “Spend 15 minutes cleaning in the zone.” We can check the control journal for what zone to be in and what to do specifically. Now the kids and I can divy up the jobs each morning/after school and voila! clean house, happy Mom. The kids are excited about getting to choose their jobs. They are excited about working with me instead of alone. AND…They are also excited about getting treats out of the treasure box for a week of completing all their tasks. (Oh yes, I do believe in bribery.)

To make this job chart, I used a cork board that I found at the thrift store for $3. I covered it with a yard of fabric that I bought 2 years ago. I love this fabric, but could never find a sewing project that seemed right for it. Now I get to see it every day 🙂 By covering, I mean that I cut the fabric the right size and tacked it down with thumb tacks all around the edge. The pockets are 3×5 note cards that I stapled onto the cork. high tech, I know.

Maybe sometime I’ll get into a scrapbooking store and find some 3×5 cards that match my fabric. But it isn’t high on the priority list.

I also made a quilt medallion square this week. Isn’t it lovely? I wish I was keeping it, but it goes on to someone else now. Part of a fun challenge that my quilting guild is doing.

I love Dallas!!!

12 Aug



Family Fun in the Summer

10 Aug

I should be canning apples. But I’m too tired. So I should go to bed. But here I sit.

We all took a day trip to Arkansas last month. So fun. Except the part where I was crushed in the back seat of a van with 5 small childrens.

These are all of my parent’s grandkids, minus 3

THere was room to spread out when we got to the Cousin’s house.

Not everyone loved the swing.

Everyone did love Badminton, except those who got whacked.

Everyone loved the Gogurts–Great Grandpa Bennion’s favorite treat

Then we had a Bennion Family Reunion

You may not know this, but I come from a family of super heros!

Insect-i-boy = Blueberry Pie


Lava Girl = Cherry Pie

Worry Wort (whose super power is that whatever she worries about never comes true) = Grannie

Also capable of eating a whole pie all by herself!!

Sand Woman–who turns stuff into sand

Katy-Didn’t (who’s super power is that it is never her fault.)

Bat-Boy

Hank the Tank

I can’t remember these 2’s super hero names. Jungle boy and Incredi-boy?

Ladybug Girl and Bumble-Bee Baby

Super Luke

Amazing Hot Dog Man = Sammy

There is no picture of my super-woman alter-ego: The Rememberizer (super power–helps mothers remember where they put stuff.)

Happy 6th Birthday, Pumpkin Pie

8 Jul

Pumpkin Pie is 6. She loves to take care of babies. She loves pretty things like painted nails and fake sparkly tatoos. She writes little love notes to me often. Her favorite games are animal charades and “Guess Who.”

For her birthday, I made her a little Jolly Postman set. I was inspired by this post and this one.

I used heavyweight pellon and random fabric scraps. The pellon was easy to write on with a ball-point pen. The “stamps” are all attached with velcro and can be swapped around. I used adhesive velcro, not sew-on. I skipped the mail bag because there are already enough bags in the dress-up box, but I might take one of them and add a “Mail” label to it. I really love these envelopes. I need to make some of them.

For some time I have wanted to make a family mailbox. My mother made a family mailbox when I was about 13. It was one long banner of double-knit polyester. Each of us had a pocket on the banner with our initial appliqued in the middle. My sisters and brothers wrote each other all kinds of notes. I even published a family newspaper, “Hansen Happenings” using an old manual typewriter. I have a copy of the first edition, including installment one of the “Storie Special: The Magic Rope” a fairy tale written by my sister, Amanda, and me. It featured a strong young woman and her adventures on the way to rescue her true love. We were girl-power feminists and we never knew it. The newspaper also inclues a “Lost & Found” column, a “Dear Jane” column and several announcements of summer camp plans and new clubs various family members were forming. There were 7 kids then and we lived way out in the country. We had to entertain ourselves!

The DH has also been busy. Here he proudly displays the fruits of his faith and labor.

I was the nay-sayer who thought carrots were too hard to grow. He has also been to South Dakota with his guard unit, for Operation Golden Coyote, to help the National Forest Service.




There he is driving a dozer. (Usually, he just supervises the work since he is the officer. This is me bragging. My DH is a sexy lieutenant. brag. brag.)

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