Giveaway Day - Fabric

Update:  The giveaway is now closed. 

Congratulations to commenter #145 - Kathy.

Thanks to everyone who entered to win.  It was so much fun to have my inbox filled with blog comments.  Hope you all have a great Christmas.

Welcome new comers!!

Twice a year there is a Giveaway Day hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew.  Over the past 3 years I have won 2 different things, so I thought I would have my own giveaway.  You can click on the picture above to find many more giveaways - go click now!!  (Just a warning, it may consume your entire day...)

So today, up for grabs, are 4 pieces of fabric from my stash. (edit: I know the one on the top right looks orange-ish, but it is actually pinks. This is what I get for taking the pictures on a horribly dreary rainy day.)

The first is a yard from Midwest Modern by Amy Butler.  The other 3 are fat quarters.  I'm not sure what 2 of them are, but one is from Boutique by Chez Moi - that is the one with the pink background.

To win the fabric you only need to leave a comment.  You can tell me about your favorite winter past time, but it's really not a requirement.  I'll choose a winner at random at the close of the giveaway.

The giveaway will be open until 8pm EST on December 16th.  I'll announce the winner shortly after that.  Please make sure that there is a way for me to contact you if you win.  And I will ship internationally.

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy browsing all the other great giveaways this week!!

Oh - and my favorite winter past time - sitting with a hot beverage (tea, coffee, hot chocolate - I'm not picky) and reading a book with the snow falling outside, that's if I'm alone.  With the kids - I love watching them stomp around in the snow and building all sorts of snow creatures with them.

Our Babies Look Alike

More baby comparisons.

Top is Katherine at around 4 months. Middle is Ohlen at around 3 months. Bottom is Noah at around 4 months.  They definitely all share some similar features. And I love that the boys had more hair at 3/4 months than Katherine does.

Berry Cream Coffee Cake

There is a particular coffee cake that my mom would make every summer when we were on vacation. (Yes, our vacations involved cooking every meal ourselves)  I made some this summer for breakfast during our family campout. (That was held right next door. It was so hard getting there... :))  I apologize for the lack of better pictures - and no final product picture.  I must have gotten distracted by the camp out festivities. :)

Berry Cream Coffee Cake

3 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 c butter
2 C biscuit mix (I used a homemade mix - work just fine)
1/3 C Milk
1/2 C preserves (Strawberry and Raspberry are my favorite, but you could use any.)
1 C sifted Powdered Sugar
3 Tbs Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Cut Cream Cheese and Butter into Biscuit Mix until crumbly.  Blend in the 1/3 C milk.  Turn onto floured surface.  Knead 8-10 strokes.
On wax paper, roll dough into a 12"x8" rectangle.  Turn on to greased baking sheet, remove paper.  Spread preserves down center of dough.  Make 2 1/2" cuts in 1" intervals on long side. (see picture)  Fold strips over filling.  Bake at 425 F for 12 - 15 minutes.  For glaze combine Powdered Sugar, 3 Tbsp Milk and Vanilla.  Drizzle over top of hot pastry.

Late Night

Why am I still up at 12:15am?

Started this morning around 930.  Went to the neighbor's house.(who happen to be my husband's aunt and uncle)   We cut up, cooked, and strained 5 bushels of apples. (3 were for his aunt and cousins - 2 were for us)

We use Cortland apples.  I really love the taste - we don't even add sugar to ours.  Plus, at our local orchard, a bushel of "seconds" (the not so pretty apples) are only $11.  So for $22 I got 38 quarts of applesauce.  Well, $22 and a whole day of work.  (And the cost of lids - so maybe an extra $5.) Still less than a dollar a quart, which I find to be pretty amazing.  And it's supporting a great local business.  All in all a day well spent.

I'm dead tired, and just set the final time for the last jars to be canned.  So, if I'm lucky, I'll be in bed by 1...  And up again around 7am.  No sleeping in for this Mommy.

On a side note.  If you can avoid watching episodes of shows on thewb.com, do so.  I am trying to watch Fringe - and they have the first 10 episodes of season 1.  I was trying to watch an episode and it would keep stopping and playing a minute of ads - and then it would try to start playing the next episode.  So I would have to click on the other episode, so it would play a minute of ads - then I would click to where in the episode I was - another minute of ads...  Arg!!  This happened probably 4 times, at least.  And the best part?  Most of the time it was the same ad - back to back.... I really, really wish this series was streaming on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon....

Second Honeymoon Dreaming

So every once in a while I think about the second honeymoon trip my husband and I are hoping to go on next year.

I say "hoping to" because, well, you never know what life will toss you. (I try not to make statements about things we are going to definitely do anymore, because I sometimes end up eating my words, because life is just crazy that way)

It is such a gargantuan task!

Our general idea for our trip is tropical beach bum vacation.  Sounds great right?  Our actual honeymoon was at a city close to home for only a couple nights.  We got married in the middle of college and were pretty broke.  We came home the Tuesday after we were married and started working pretty much right away at our crazy factory summer jobs.  Next year will be our 10 year (10??  where has time gone??) anniversary and so we want to go on a nice vacation all by ourselves.

Found on flickr
Maldives - definitely out of the price range - but so incredibly beautiful

But it is not easy.  Do you know how many tropical beach bum vacation options there are?  And how many options within each option.  Makes my head spin.  Do we want to go to an all inclusive place, and not leave the place the entire time we are there.  Do we want to rent a car to do some touring? Do we just want to go on a cruise instead?  Do we want to just get a regular hotel? A resort?  A private rental property?  Do we want to go to Mexico, somewhere in the Caribbean, Hawaii? How much do we want to spend?

Found on Flickr
Kauai Hawaiian Island - probably the island I would want most to visit there.  Although, I would love to geek out at all the Lost filming locations on Oahu.

Really, we wanted to go to England.  That would have been amazing.  The more we thought about it, the more we realized that we would want to go for at least 2 weeks.  And that is completely out of the budget for the trip next year.  And we wouldn't want to leave the kids for that long.  So that trip is a dream for another year.  Maybe for the 20 year anniversary. :)

Found on Flickr
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico  Some friends where here last year and loved it.

My thoughts right now are all inclusive with no rental car.  I would love to go to Hawaii, but I think that is someplace I would definitely want to explore - and will probably be out of our budget, unless we got a pretty great deal.

Found on Flickr
St. Lucia

Cruises intrigue me.  I have heard really great things about them.  However, I'm not sure how I would do confined with a large crowd.  I think I do really well traveling in general - but I'm not great with huge crowds (think amusement park situations)  Stresses me out for whatever reason.  But cruises seem to be pretty economical, which will be a big part of the final decision.

Found on Flickr
Punta Cana

In any event, I'm not even sure what time of year we are going to go.  Probably spring or fall of next year.  Who knows, maybe we will just say heck with it and head to Anna Maria Island again.  Although, I really do want to go some place different.  So maybe Sarasota. :)  (It's not too far from Anna Maria.)

Found on Flickr
Anna Maria Island

Any suggestions?  Would love to hear about any and all experiences with cruises and all inclusives. Pros - cons.

Click on through to any of the links below the pictures to find some more wonderfully inviting beach pictures.

Blink

Somewhere in time I blinked and my first baby grew up on me.

Ohlen is now 5.

Crazy.

Butterfly

We brought a couple caterpillars inside this year.  The first one to make its cocoon made it on the bottom of the jar.  I wasn't sure it would make it.  I used some super glue, cardboard, and a small clothespin that is technically for scrapbooking to hang the cocoon.  One side of the cocoon was flattened.  Happily, early last week the cocoon turned black.  Ohlen was sure that meant it had died, but I assured him that it just meant that the butterfly would emerge soon.  Luckily I was near the jar when the butterfly came out and was able to call the boys in.  We waited a while before we attempted to "hold" it.  We put it outside, and the next day it was still hanging around.  Ohlen found it a few times and walked around with it on his finger.  Such a great learning experience for them too.  We have another cocoon that will hopefully be ready soon.  I'm hoping to get some pictures as it is coming out. 

Sappiness

So confession.  Every time I hear Chris Brown's Forever, I cry.  Yep. Big tears.  Every time.  (Granted I don't really hear it all that often, but anyways.)

I blame The Office.  They used the song for Jim and Pam's wedding.  And, for whatever reason, turns me into a huge sap.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/101187/the-office-forever

And if you haven't seen the source for The Office version - I'll post that too.

Seriously though, so much emotion for a fake couple (Jim and Pam)...  Although I have cried over books too, that were fiction. :)  Anyone else have any sappy confessions?? :)

Another Conversation with Noah

Me, after noticing a small mark on Noah's stomach:  What happened to your belly?
Noah: Bite me.
Me: What bit you?
Noah: 'Nake
Me: A snake?
Noah: Yah
Me: Where?
Noah: Outside
Me: Outside?
Noah: Uh-huh
Me: Where outside?
Noah: Flyin'
Me: Flying??
Noah: Yep
Me:...  A flying snake bit you outside....
Noah: YAH!

1. 2 year olds are awesome
2. Noah's vocabulary and imagination are blossoming crazy fast
3. I hope I never see a flying snake.

4. To not leave Ohlen out, yesterday morning he came in our room.  I forget what Jonathan asked him, but he answered: As a matter of fact...    (I really wish I could remember the rest of the conversation, but hey, I had just woken up.)  I couldn't stop giggling.  I can't help it, the kid just really cracks me up sometimes.

5.. Completely unrelated, but my last post was my 200th post.  For those that have been around for most of them... bless you for sticking around. :)

Cherry Delight

Just a quick post to share one of my favorite desserts - Cherry Delight.  It combines three of my favorite sweets.  Graham cracker crust - cream cheese + whipped cream middle - and wonderful cherry pie filling top.

It is extremely simple to make - and to customize.  Use any fruit filling of your choice - or kick some of the sugar for a fresh fruit topping.  (Yikes there is a whole lot of sugar in this one... but so good.)  I also leave out most of the powdered sugar.  I'm pretty sure it's purpose is to make the middle "stand" up better, so yeah, if I especially don't care how it ends up looking, I leave it out all together.

I'm never sure about the whole graham cracker amount.  Is one cracker a sheet of 4 or just one of the fourths..  I think it means the whole sheet.  This last time I made it I kind of just winged it with the crust and I think I made it a bit too thick.

Anyways, on to the recipe and pictures.  The recipe shown is for an 8x8 pan.  I usually double and put in a 9x13. I know it isn't quite right, but it works.

I've had several different posts rolling around in my head.  Hopefully I will actually get them from head to screen soon.

On a completely different note - if you've never been to the drive in - I completely recommend going.  The picture quality isn't the greatest, but it is so much fun.  My best friend and I went last week.  It was so much fun to be able to talk during the movie and just hang out.  She lives about 6 hours away, so we don't get a whole lot of time together.  And we do enjoy watching movies together. :)  Oh, and for the record we saw Cowboys and Aliens and Harry Potter.  I enjoyed both.  (We had both seen HP already, so we really got to discuss during that one.)  The only problem with both of the movies was that they are pretty dark (as in lighting), so it was a little hard to see the action at times.  Still so very worth it.  It was $5 a person - for two just released movies.  We got popcorn and drinks, and those weren't too expensive either.  So, yeah, if you are close to a drive in, definitely check it out.

Wow - that was supposed to be a small 1 -2 sentence aside.  Oh well.