Cowl Love

Anything that makes me look less than the exhausted mother I am is great in my book.  I have always been envious of my husband who can put on clothes and look ready for the day.  I instead must go through a daily beauty routine before I'm presentable.

So here comes my cowls, I ADORE them.  They make me look elegant and well but together, no matter if I'm wearing coat or T-shirt.  That's a big help for all women.  I've been happily making some infinity cowl because I love the way they curl over the top of a coat but are also tucked underneath~~~ hence NO drafts of cold air!

I especially love to make the trim on my cowls.  I try to make it a something a little different.
Thanks for stopping by and leave some feed back!

Kim & Family =)

DIY Gingerbread Houses

I admit I never eat the ACTUAL gingerbread house my children make.  I usually end up throwing it away..after my children have picked all the candy off of it.  It really looks kinda sad.  I also would like to save the expense, silly I know, but all of these dollars do add up when you are saving for a cochlear.

So I found a great tutorial about DIY Gingerbread Houses from Bella Dia: Cereal Box Houses.  So thank you to her and her great idea.

Think of all the possibilities! Stickers, glitter, buttons (maybe not if you have small children), water bottle caps!  So if you are saving for something like my family (and who isn't saving for something?!) Then try this with your boxes, save money, and the planet.

Thank you and more to come!
Kim and Family =)

We love Taylor Swift!

This little one will make sure daddy has lots of practice with music =)  And Taylor Swift is so much fun to listen too!

More to come and thank you!

Kim and Family =)

Favorite colors for Fall

Deaf for the Day:
Our children know sign language, however when I am around they speak all the time.  I wonder which language the children pick in an English/Spanish speaking home?

New Scarves for the Fall!!!  What??!! It's fall again already??? Yep.  And it's so pretty =)

Thank you and more to come!
Kim and Family =)

What's in a Name?

Random deaf knowledge for the day:
When Chris and I found out we were going to be parents he asked that we pick a name that was fairly easy for him to say.  Being deaf means his words are not as clear as a person who can hear.  (You need to be able to hear yourself in order to have clear speech.)  So all of our kids names are (perfect) and easy for him to say.  Which just means they are not long or phonetically hard.  His voice is his voice for me.  Not sure how much it will change after the cochlear but that's not very important to us, his family and friends.

You know what Chris has that's great??  He has the best laugh.  It's deep and loud and his face looks even better when he's laughing.  If we are giving him a hug and we laugh he can feel us laughing too!  

Crochet for the Catholic Mom:
I read somewhere (no use trying to remember where now) that when we pray the rosary to Mary (Jesus' mom if you were uncertain   who I was referring too).  It's like your own children saying your name "Mommy, mommy."  Not in the nagging sense but when you hear that tone and you know they really need something important, or they really want you to know they love you. (And not in that order always!)

Praying the rosary is something I have done pretty much throughout  my adult life.  However praying a long -er, -er prayer with children doesn't often happen.  SO!!  I came up with the {Mom Rosary}

Which only REALLY means.....I need to be able to save my place!!
It looks kinda like those pocket rosaries I used to have but it's crochet.  Of course because it's one of my favorite artistic methods!

It also became a toy to toss back and forth today, so it's good that it's soft.

It has 10 crochet puff stitches which are the Hail Mary's and 5 loops for the 5 decades.  I haven't figured out how to put a crucifix and the 3 rosaries at the beginning but usually if I get interrupted at that point it means I'm starting over from the beginning. 

So if I'm on the 3rd Hail Mary of the 2nd decade then I will place the 2nd loop over the 3rd puff stitch.  Then I will put it somewhere out of reach until I have a few more minutes.

Directions: (I have not had these directions tested so if you find something not right please let me know.)
I'm using US crochet terms. 
Stitches used: chain, single crochet, double crochet, puff stitch.
(youtube has wonderful videos if you are unsure of any of these.)


1.  chain (ch) 20, then slip stitch (sl stch) into 1st ch to make big loop
2.  ch 2
3.  20 double crochet (DC) in ch loop.  Do not join to first DC when finished.  Turn.
4.  sl stch to 2nd DC 
5.  begin first puff stitch in 2nd DC. (I've seen different directions for the puff stitch but I always end my puff stitch in the same hole I started it.)
6.  slip stitch 2 times.  (This means you skip a DC in between each puff stitch)
7.  Begin 2nd puff stitch in 4th DC.  *slip stitch 2 times, puff stitch* repeat 8 more times.  10 total puff stitches when finished.

Now the Hail Mary 'beads' are finished lets make the 5 loops.

8.  ch 45
9.  single crochet (sc) in the 10th ch.  
10.  *ch 5, skip 5 ch, sc in next ch*  repeat 4 more times.  You should now have 5 loops and a little extra chain for moving the loops around.  

Let me know what you think!
More to come, and thank you.
Kim and family =)

PS:  I wouldn't mind at all if you made these for all your family and friends but these directions are my own and protected so please don't cut and paste but rather link back to this blog.  Also these directions are posted for your own personal use I do not give permission to sell these directions or items made from them.  I feel  prayer is for anyone and everyone who wants to pray.  Thank you for respecting this right.

****Update*****
I forgot to mention that as I pray each of the 5 decades I put that loop around my finger so that I know which 'set' I'm on.  And when someone gets a boo-boo or needs a drink I simply take it off my finger and place it around the Hail Mary 'bead' I was praying until I can pick it up again.  Here's a picture to clarify.  Thanks for reading!

New Scarves

Ok I was trying to get ahead of the fall weather.  So I spent many wonderful hours looking at scarves, colors, designs.  Blah blah blah...here's the good stuff that I have been making. =)  Click on pictures for more details about scarves.

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

We celebrated pancake style! 
Baby girl wanted purple....
Big sister wanted green.....so we went with rainbow!
I had fun making them for my favorite mother's day gifts ever. =)

To mix, I used complete pancake mix (just add water).
1/2 cup mix, with generally 1/4 cup of water.  (we like ours a little runny rather than thick.  So just add less water for thicker and more water for thinner pancakes)

I made each color of the rainbow in batches.
Mix batter, add a few drops of food coloring, cook, rinse mixing bowl, and repeat.

Colors of the rainbow

V : Violet
I : Indigo
B : Blue
G : Green
Y : Yellow
O : Orange
R : Red

Mix in small batches unless you want 100 pancakes!

Each batch made 3 - 4 pancakes.

Arrange in order of the rainbow.  Watch out for little fingers =)

Smiles!



Everyone loves to help.

Yum

We had to take a few liberties with colors because the only food coloring I had was neon and a few of the regular primary colors.  Nothing substatues the real red! (ours is neon red)

Egg Carton Sheep: Luke 15: 1-7

I am always looking for ways to help my children understand our faith. So when I read about turning egg cartons into "sheep" I was excited! Sheep are fun! Time to look in the junk drawer for supplies! The junk drawer did not disappoint. =)

 So here is my version of egg carton "sheep" with very few supplies. Hubby is just going to shake his head at the bowl of eggs in the fridge,  because I needed the egg carton n.o.w.....he is used to me.....

Supplies

scissors 

crayons

glue

coke bottle top (I used 2 liter)

paper

bible

Trace circles using bottle top. Draw your best imitation of a sheep's face (I used the color black)

Repeat until you have enough sheep faces.

Trim off sides to make sheep's ears.

Glue faces onto egg cartons.  Place so that your sheep have "legs" Color some wool on your sheep.  Or you could use cotton balls, coloring is just our favorite =)

Read the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15: 1-7

Hide your sheep then find them!

Line your sheep up for counting! (They are also fun to stack)

We talked about Jesus being our Shepard and taking care of us.  He also finds us when we disobey and brings us back.  What else would you teach your child using this story or other Bible passages?
 
You could also color the sheep (practicing your colors) and discuss how everyone is different but God made us all and wants us to love (and pray) for each other.  Discuss different friends and family in your life.  If you are like us you have a lot of "extended" family that are not necessarily related genetically or by marriage.  

We also had to practice our sheep sounds of course!  In truth these little sheep will probably find their way to lots of places around our house.  So search and rescue is not if but when.

Have fun, don't be afraid to make a mess, more to come soon!