Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday was a special day for me. It was my third Mother's Day, but it was the first one that I have gotten to spend with my mom since becoming a mother myself. Our day was pretty relaxed. There were no flowers, fancy cards or dinners, but it was a good day.

 

Being a mom is hard work, something that I did not realize before I became one myself. Some nights I just fall into bed exhausted! However, I am more proud of this beautiful little girl than I am of anything else in life. She is truly a blessing.

 

I hope all you Moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

 

Works in Progress

It has been a busy sewing week around here. There has be lots of  wind, so Miss O and I are pretty confined to the house in order to not make our seasonal allergies any worse.

Wow my cutting table is starting to look ruff in this last picture! Just to make things clear, that is kinda what my brain looks like at the moment. It is all cluttered up with ideas and projects, and color combinations. Some of these projects are just in the planning phase, but I will share the finished projects when I am done with them.

Beef Stew

I know that the weather is warming up, and in some places it is just flat out hot already, but the other day, I had a craving for beef stew. I have a beef stew fall back recipe, but I  wanted to try something different.

This recipe came from The Homemade Pantry 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying &Start Making by Alana Chernila. If you have never checked out this cookbook, then you should. I have a few regular things I make from it, and there is a bunch more that I want to try, so you will be hearing more about it in the future. The recipe for the beef stew calls for it to be cooked in the oven, but because of the warm weather, I cooked it stovetop. It turned out great and very tender. I will make this again for sure! Well maybe when it cools off again.

 

My Little Helper

Miss O slept in the other morning, so I decided to start on a little sewing project. I had not used my machine in a couple of week, and I was really getting into my work when she woke up. After breakfast Miss O seemed to be cooperative so I returned to my work, however I had some help this time around.

I loved that Miss O wanted to sit on my sewing desk and hang out in my work area with me. She usually is too involved with her own games, so this was a big treat for me.

However Miss O started to make this space her own.

And before I knew it, my workspace looked like this!

Now this project should not have taken me very long, but because I had a cute helper I finished it some time in the late afternoon.

I love this combination of yellow and orange with the denim. All of these materials with the exception of the orange are thrifted. I really wanted to use this denim fabric, so I found this bag in a book called Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan. The basic design looks like hers, but I am not so great with following directions, so I did not follow the pattern and only used this book as a guideline. I am so pleased with how it turned out.

What a great day it was to sew!

This Week In My Garden

                                     Here is a picture from my garden last week April 29

Here is a picture from this morning May 6.

Our baby corn is not going to be babies for long. They need to be thinned a little but both me and my dad are too proud of them to do so just yet.

This is that one tomatillo plant that I got just to try out. It is getting so big so fast. I will have to stake it up this week.

I love marigolds. They add color to the garden, they keep bugs away, and you can eat them!

And the most exciting garden news of all........we now have some tomatoes making an appearance on a couple of the tomato plants!!

 

This week has been a busy and exciting week in the garden. You can't see any of the work that was done in the pictures, but I did get the garden chores that I mentioned last week done. ( with the help of my dad of course) Some of that work included replanting watermelon seeds, because ours never sprouted. I also staked up the peas, however we have a plant that I just don't think is going to make it. It got blown over in a wind, and I think damaged too much.

 

The exciting things taking place in the garden this week is the quail family that likes to live in my yard in the spring time is back. There is a mom, dad, and about 8 of the cutest baby birds ever! These guys as far as I can tell are not bothering any of the plants in my garden, but they do like to roll around in the dirt, so there are little bird indention in the garden. This next thing is both exciting and frustrating. Something is eating my radishes. I do like radishes, but their main purpose was to be a sacrificial plant in the garden. Well, it is working something is eating the ones I planted by the tomatoes, but the tomatoes look great.

 

Things are really starting to take off in this small garden of mine. Stay tuned for more progress.

Also, if you have any garden stories or photos you would like to share leave a comment with a link. I would love to see those.

Happy Birthday Miss O!!

Miss O turned two recently, so this weekend  we celebrated with a small birthday party. It was just a few of her friends, their parents, and of course me and mom. We wanted her to know that her birthday is special, but did not want to have a giant blowout for a 2year old. It turned out to be a blast!

What a big girl! I can't believe my baby is 2 already!

So my Elmo cupcake cake was not as pretty as the ones I found on pinterest, but I was proud of it, and the kids knew who it was.

Mom and I made all the food while Miss O was taking a nap. Baked Beans, Potato salad, and hot dogs. Yum Yum

All the kids looked like clowns with that red icing around their mouths.

Presents!!

 

 

All the kids had so much fun. I just don't know if there is anything cuter than a herd of 2 year olds running around together. Happy Birthday my love!

A May Day Suprise

Around mid morning yesterday Miss O and I were heading out the door to run some errands, and we found a cute surprise waiting on our door step. Inside was a hand written note that said Happy May Day, but it did not say who it was from. This surprise was a cute basket made from cardstock, and inside were some handmade toys to improve hand eye coordination, color recognition, and just some other fun stuff.

I managed to get pictures before Miss O torn into all the fun.

Here is a little flower pot with some seeds, a felt toy and some water beads for sensory play.

Of course Duke had to sniff everything out.

I love the cloths line! The Beads will help with hand eye coordination

This is pretty clever as well. This is to help with colors!

 

Well it took me most of the day yesterday, but I think I figured out who sent it! Miss O has been having so much fun playing with her surprise. I hope you all had a Happy May Day!