Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Surprise! Its a Baby Shower

All the Moms and Kiddos--Hey, you try to get 7 kids to look at a camera and smile at the same time!
So, on Monday I told you that I was able to help host two baby showers recently. The second baby shower was actually a surprise for the mom-to-be. The best part about this surprise shower? We hosted it at her house!!  Becky's first child is already in Peachy's playgroup, but soon her second child will be joining us. 
My Decoration Contribution--a Cricut Made Garland
Even though it is her second, we wanted to show her some love and throw her a surprise shower. The only problem is that she is out of town a lot and we didn't want her missing her own shower. So, we decided that the next time she hosted playgroup we would bring the shower to her.

We all showed up and went into the house like nothing was going on. Once we were all there one of the moms "realized that she forgot something in her car."
We like any excuse to make and eat yummy food!
Another mom went out to help her and they brought in the party supplies and presents from all of our cars. Becky didn't suspect a thing until they came in with the balloons and yelled, "Surprise!"
I had the moms bring baby pictures of themselves and their child and we tried to guess who was who.
We then took over the house, tossing up party decor and laying out food in the kitchen. After we all had our first helping of the yummy food, we started in with the games and opening of presents. We had such a great time!
The Cute, Cute, Cute Favors!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday: Hip Mama Diaper Bag Pt. 2

Diaper Bag Outside
Four months ago I posted pictures of the Hip Mama Diaper Bag that I had made for myself following this tutorial. When my sister-in-law saw it, she said that it was just what she was looking for in a diaper bag. This, my friends, was music to my ears. Now I would get to make the diaper bag again AND I now knew what I would give my sister-in-law as a baby gift. Perfect. After discussing fabric selections, I ordered some light-weight upholstery fabric from Fabric.com and got to work. (I also ordered coordinating cotton and flannel for a few accessories.) I was so happy with the final results, and I think my sister-in-law was as well.
Diaper Bag Inside
Coordinating Terry and Flannel Burp Cloths
Coordinating Rubber-Backed Flannel Changing Pads

Coordinating Diaper and Wipes Case



The Girl CreativeSumo Sweet Stuff



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Monday, August 23, 2010

Not Your Ordinary Baby Shower

I have been blessed to help "throw" two baby showers over the past few weeks. Both were a bit non-traditional and both were lots of fun. The first shower was for my brother-in-law and his wife. Unfortunately our family is so spread out it is hard for us all to get together. When I had Peachy, the sister-in-laws through a shower via the mail for us. We decided to go the same route this time. I mailed out "invites" to family members asking for a contribution to a few larger items off of their registry. Included with the invite was an index card and a request for parenting words of wisdom. The cards will all be assembled and and sent to the parents-to-be. If you are ever unable to gather those who are near and dear for a shower, I would definitely encourage you to go this route. It is a wonderful way to show that you all care even if you can't be there.
(I'll fill you in on the other shower later this week.)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Foodie Friday: Refrigerator Dill Pickles

This is being posted late in the day. I would like to say that it is because I have been busy helping with this,

but that would be a great exaggeration. Instead it is because I have been taking care of this,
Do you like her hair? It is her first pony!!!
Back to Foodie Friday. I made these pickles last week. They are quick and easy. And they got Mr. Cherry's stamp of approval. I was a little nervous since he has fond memories of his grandmother's refrigerator dill recipe. They are a tad on the sweet side for me. I absolutely love DILL pickles. Not bread and butter or any other variety. I am a strictly dill kind of gal. These are on the verge of sweet, but just made the cut for me.
Ingredients:
-1 c white vinegar
-1 T salt
-2 c white sugar
-2 bay leaves
-2 t ground mustard

-fresh dill
-garlic cloves, smashed
-hot pepper, sliced
-cucumbers (We didn't grow cucumbers this year, so I got mine from the farmer's market. Since they were so large, I ended up slicing them. I tried to use my Pampered Chef crinkle cutter, but it was a bit dull, so we got standard slices.)

Some of my jars turned out red because I ran out of salt and had to substitute season salt! They still taste good!
Directions:
1. Combine vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaves, and mustard in sauce pan. Bring to boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat when the salt and sugar are completely dissolved into the vinegar.
2. Prepare pint jars by thoroughly washing and drying.
3. Stuff each jar with cucumbers, 2-3 cloves garlic, a few pepper slices, and several heads fresh dill.
4. Pour liquid over the contents of each jar. Place lid on each jar and put in refrigerator. May be eaten after 24 hours in the fridge.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Baby Blankets Complete

Here are the baby blankets I wrote about earlier this week that I created following Elisabeth's tutorial at Growing Your Home. They were so much fun to make and I love how they turned out. I used jumbo ric-rac, which was supper fun and maybe a little easier since you don't have to be quite so precise.
The first one is for a new baby who is due at the end of September. They aren't finding out the gender, so I went with a more neutral cotton fabric for the top and a black flannel for the back.
(Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was a dark and stormy day!)
The other is for a girl. I choose a pink polka dot for the front and a brown flannel for the back with a fun fuchsia ric-rac.
Ah, that's better. Now the sun is shinning.




Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Peachy is such a little imitator these days. When I am frustrated I often make this grunting/groaning sound. Guess who also makes this sound now? I guess it is better than a naughty word. Here is a picture of Peachy during a recent playgroup.

Where do you think she picked this up?

Tutorial Tuesday: Baby Blanket with Ric Rac

Have I ever expressed to you my love of ric rac? Take something a little bit ordinary, add some ric rac, and you've got extraordinary! (I am really sorry. I will stop using these corny sayings any day now.) Elisabeth at Growing Your Home has a baby blanket tutorial posted that uses ric rac. It is so easy, but yet so darling. When I came across it yesterday I just knew I had to give it a whirl. However, I only got through steps one and two before I called it a night last night. I will definitely be posting the pictures when I am all done, but for now here are some of Elisabeth's.
Aren't they just darling? I can't wait to finish mine up!

Monday, August 16, 2010

From Drab, To Fab!

Okay, so this picnic table was never really drab, just in need of some TLC in the form of a can of paint, but I have always wanted to use that saying! Remember when I wrote about this pink wonder that I picked up off the side of the road? After sanding, priming and painting it is sporting quite a new look and Little Peachy loves it! (Okay, Peachy could care less what color her picnic table is at this point. She just liked having a table to sit at, or, to sit at and get off and want to sit at again. She is into up and down these days. However, her parents, this one in particular, are happy to have the Pepto Bismal Pink replaced with a lovely Cranberry Red. I even bought enough paint to paint the front door, but we need to purchase a storm door first, says Mr. Cherry. Something about doing it the "right way." Engineers! I tell you!






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Friday, August 13, 2010

Foodie Friday: Pizza Paninis

I decided to use a few fresh ingredients from the garden for a recent supper. Here are the results.

Ingredients:
-French bread, sliced
-pizza sauce
-fresh basil leaves
-sliced peppers (from our pepper pot)
-Mozzarella cheese (sliced)
-sliced pepperoni
-olive oil
-garlic powder

Directions:
1. Spread one side of bread slices with pizza sauce. Top with basil, peppers, cheese, and pepperoni. Place another slice of bread on top.
2. Drizzle top of sandwich with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder and cook in a panini press.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

All Hands On Deck

When we had our home built two years ago we opted out of the deck option. It was a way for us to save money at the time and it is also something that we knew we* could do on our own down the road. Well this summer is the summer to build the deck.
*(Please note my use of the word we here does not by any means denote an equal partnership. Instead it is more like 99% Mr. Cherry and 1% me.)
The first step was to decide what we wanted in a deck and design it. We opted to go with a fairly simple and small deck. Mr. Cherry was able to use his computer designing skills to draw out the plan via the computer.
After presenting our plan to the city inspector, the next step would be to dig the footings for the structure. Since half of our year here is spent under a blanket of snow, we have to go 5 feet deep on our footings. Mr. Cherry was determined to dig the 8 footings on his own with a post hole digger. (If you haven't been reading this blog for two years, you may not remember that Mr. Cherry also graded our yard pulling a railroad timber contraption around behind him.) And not only did he succeed in a weekend, he also found a sledge hammer buried in the yard in the process. Bonus!
This past weekend found him pouring the footings. (That is after he used the shop vac to drain the ground water that had seeped in over the week.)

After many hours of hot sweaty work, so many trips to Menards that Peachy even recognizes the place, 34 bags of cement at 60 pounds each, and 3 we have 8 cement filled holes in the ground.