Dec 8, 2010

gift set

A good friend placed an order for this gift set for the new parents of a baby girl.  
I love these fabrics!  
And I really enjoyed making this set.  

Baby Gift Set
Baby Bib, Burp Cloth, Toddler Bib, Washcloth, and appliqued Onesie







This gift was sent directly to the new parents, so it was wrapped and included a card with a message from the sender.

Please contact me if you are interested in a customized gift.
I enjoy creating special items, and will be happy to ship directly to the gift recipient.

Dec 3, 2010

fun, old-fashioned family Christmas

We started our fun, old-fashioned family Christmas this evening with a trip to a local tree farm, Delp Christmas Tree Farm.  It was the first time we had been there and it was a wonderful experience.  (Other than the fact that our "lovely" camera battery was "depleted" before I could capture everything I wanted to - even though it was fully charged when I left the house!)   Here's our story...



Jake left work a little early this evening, moved Ben's car seat into his truck, and the three of us squished together for a thirty minute drive north.  Once we arrived we got our instructions for choosing and cutting our tree and headed out into the fields.  I really underestimated how long it would take to choose our tree.  We kept finding a better one - just a little further down the row...  




When we finally realized it was starting to get dark and we needed to start home, we made a family decision and selected our perfect Christmas tree.  We took a couple of pictures (before the camera died), Jake cut the tree down, and we hopped in our truck to checkout.  Back at the office, a couple of nice guys shook our tree in the Shakee (love the name), wrapped it with the netting machine, and loaded back in the truck.
 


Then we went inside to pay for our tree and have some treats by the fire.  The folks inside were very friendly and visited with us - turns out they actually know the couple that used to run the tree farm in the town where I grew up (less than 2,000 people).  What a small world!


And after our fun, old-fashioned family Christmas tree experience, we headed to our local bar and grill for cheeseburgers & fries, a couple of beers, and time with friends.  We hope to decorate our tree over the weekend, so I look forward to sharing "after" pictures with you soon.
  

Enjoy the weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite things about  
a beautiful sign at the entrance that says
Christmas begins with Christ

Dec 2, 2010

honey-baked chicken & family photos

That's what I made for dinner tonight.

  
It's super easy, budget-friendly, and tasty.  
Which makes it perfect for this time of year! 

Honey-Baked Chicken
from More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre (Excellent cookbook!)

Preheat oven to 350
Arrange in shallow baking pan, skin-side up:
1 - 3lb fryer, cut up (I usually just use thighs and drumstick I've caught on sale - like tonight.)
Combine and pour over
1/3 c margarine or butter, melted (I use butter)
1/3 c honey
2 T prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
Bake 11/4 hour, basting every 15 minutes, until chicken is tender and nicely browned.  Good served with rice
Serves 6

 Ingredients

Chicken coated with combined ingredients

The final product

See!  It's so easy I only needed to show you three pictures.  (Maybe a couple more, but I forgot to take a picture each time I was basting.)  But you get the idea - it really is simple and delicious.  Ben ate the chicken off two of the drumsticks himself.  And I don't personally eat the skin, but the chicken itself is still full of flavor.  Enjoy!

Along with making a yummy dinner, 
I also managed to update some of our photos today.


Love our new pictures from Unruh Photography
The LOVE and family are from Back40Life.
This seemed to be the perfect place our nativity this year.

Dec 1, 2010

giveaway at marigold road

Did you see this new addition to the cotton tree?


Now you can enter to win one over at Marigold Road.


 And while you're there, make sure to take a minute to visit Marigold Road's shop.
Wonderful items!

Things have been super busy around our home since last week.
And I'm really feeling behind on so many things - including this blog.  :)
But I have lots of fun things to write and share over the next couple of weeks - please stick around.
Welcome to December!