Safe From the Fire

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a creative gift suggestion to my sister. As always, my suggestions become my projects; this was no different! My sister is dating a wonderful man, and wanted to surprise him with a picture (taken by her) of her two children for his birthday. I thought it'd be much more personal if she had a custom, homespun frame to go along with her beautiful picture. Ha!

The project became a group ordeal. My kids got thrown into the mix, and benefited too! What kind of mom comes up with these crazy ideas, anyway?!?

Everything started off well. Greenware was chosen by all without too many tears; paints were selected, and with brushes in hand, we - I mean, they - were ready to begin!

I was amazed to see the maturity that has come with a couple years of growth. All four children were so focused on their projects. Each one took such pride in their project, and they were able to slow down and take their time painting; no more racing to the finish line -- looking for something else to do!

Finlay-Rose and Zeph (my sister's two) were so patient with me. They allowed me to borrow their sweet little fingers. Each one chose a different fingerprint creature, and left their stamp of life on "Mr. Jeff's" picture frame. They were so adorable and full of excitement, as they knew this was going to be a special gift!

The kids finished their individual critters within the one hour time slot, and we managed to escape paint flinging, water spills, broken pieces, and most of all... fights! We accomplished a peaceful group outing!! Our afternoon at the pottery studio couldn't have been more fun!

As we left the studio we were told that our pottery was going to take two weeks for the firing process. Apparently one of the two kilns had broken down, and they were running behind in firing. No problem! We weren't in a hurry!

One week later:

I was standing in our afternoon carpool when one of my friends came over to me. She asked if I'd "heard about the fire at Dish It Out?". What?!?!?!? The studio caught on fire! It just so happened that I'd been there the afternoon before the fire. Our pieces were ready ahead of schedule, so I went in and picked up the ones that my boys had done. I also just so happened to take a picture of the frame (for my blog, of course!)! My sister was planning on going in the same evening to pick up her kids' things -- along with the frame, but never made it into the studio! Now, what??

Well, the end of the story goes something like this:

My sister is one very blessed girl! The frame was not damaged by the (second!) fire. It was spared. My sister's children's critters survived too. Although the frame's delivery timing was delayed - due to unforeseen circumstances, it will still become a treasure to Jeff; a belated birthday present with quite a story behind it's creation!

http://www.dishitout.net/

Kid-Friendly Strawberry Jam

Freezer Strawberry Jam

2 cups washed, crushed strawberries

4 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

1 box powdered fruit pectin (1 3/4 oz.)

Place crushed berries into a large bowl. Add sugar to fruit, mix well, and let stand for 10 minutes. Mix water and pectin in small saucepan, bring mixture to a boil, and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir pectin into fruit. Continue stirring for 3 minutes. Ladle quickly into sterilized freezable jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Seal immediately. Let jars stand at room temperature until the jam is set. Freeze. Makes 5 to 6 8-ounce jars.

Sweet Angel

Please pray for the Freeman family. Their beautiful baby girl is now an angel in heaven.

Potato Bake?

I'm not sure as to the "real" name of this recipe. My friend Yvette passed it along, and it was an easy success, so I figured I'd share it with you!

Potato Bake

1 (30 oz.) bag of OreIda Shredded Hash Browns (Country Style)

8 oz. Sour Cream

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 c. Chopped Onion

Salt and Pepper

2 c. Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1 1/4 c. shredded cheese with all other ingredients in 13x9 baking dish (until moist. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake additional 5 minutes.

** I served this with BBQ baby back ribs, and a mixed spring salad... it was a really nice combination, and VERY easy! I'll post the recipe for the EASIEST, fall off the bone, ribs - ever!!**

I'm a Happy Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, all! Or, y'all!

This might wind up being one of my more lengthy posts. I've got so many things to share with you about my Mother's Day weekend. Yes, I did say "weekend". Friday night was the start of a wonderful three days centered around me!

I went to my first wine glass painting party on Friday night. It was soooo much fun. The time with just girls, doing girlie things, talking girlie talk, and not having to worry about a single "mommy" thing was priceless. My sister (a mother of two) was sweet enough to give up her Friday night for me. She came over, and spent the evening with my boys; all for the price of a slice of pizza. Doesn't get much better than that!

Saturday I was given the chance to SLEEP IN! My boys were angelic. They got their own breakfast, and enjoyed hanging out with some cartoons. As I was waking up, Conor came into my room with a box in his hand. Tulips; a dozen beautiful, multi-colored, my favorite! What a nice surprise. :)

The boys decided to spend the afternoon at our local farm, picking strawberries. I still haven't quite figured out the math on the price of our berries, but need to do so. Twenty cents per pound is what we were quoted. I walked away with $24 of strawberries. Doesn't that seem like a lot of berries??? Three buckets (see pictures). What was the actual weight? It must have been quite substantial. Sean and I made 12 (8 ounce) jars of freezer jam, and still had a ton of berries left over!

This morning was a lot like yesterday... nice, very nice. I slept until 9:00! The boys were so well behaved. A little energetic, but I did leave chocolate creme donuts out for them! We went to church, and then enjoyed an outdoor lunch at my favorite Greek restaurant. Afterward, the boys asked if they could go "look at the puppies" in a pet store nearby. No, we didn't come home with a puppy; but, we did come home with another pet. A parakeet. What?!?!? I don't know, I guess I gave in to the pressure. After all, what's another family member on Mother's Day? He - or she, is so very sweet. So far, it's been a good experience. I'll let you know how I really feel three weeks from now when the reality of the maintenance sets in! I might be informing you of an additional bird by tomorrow, as Conor's heartbroken over the fact that Sean (he paid for half) has his own bird, and he doesn't. It was a tearful afternoon. We'll see!! Do they offer PHD's in motherhood?? If so, I'm still waiting for mine; after all, I've earned it -- I think!

My day ended with a celebration of my own mother. Conor and I took a twenty minute drive, and went to deliver gifts to my Mom. There aren't any gifts that could come close to expressing my gratitude for all of the sacrifices my Mom made in raising me. She's got a mother's heart, so I know she did it all selflessly. Regardless, she owns my honor and unconditional love.

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him." Psalms 127:3