Sewing Projects Completed

Allison and I have been learning how to sew with knits. I've been sewing for quite some time, but nowadays, most of my kids prefer knit clothing over traditional cotton woven. Here's a sample of what we've done so far.

 Genevieve is wearing a dress that Allison made from Little Ragamuffin called the Vegas Sundress. It was a free pattern and fit her to a T.

 A trio of shirts all made by Allison. Her shirt is a Raglan from Ellie and Mac. The little girls shirts are Discoverer Tees from the same company.

Charlotte is wearing a raglan from Ellie and Mac that I made.

 This pretty outfit has Charlotte wearing a Tiny Tulip from Patterns for Pirates and leggings from Made for Mermaids. I made them both.

Mimi wearing a lovely raglan from Ellie and Mac, with leggings from Made for mermaids.

Allison wearing the Raglan tunic with cowl from Ellie and Mac.

This is a Be Rad Hoodie from Ellie and Mac with leggings from Made for Mermaids.

Matchy-matchy girls! Allison and I made these so the girls could match. They love them!



Blessings,

How to Eat Whole Foods with a Large Family on a Budget

I decided to take a grocery challenge for this week. The Inspired Bloggers Network issued the challenge. Could I build a menu, including three meals and two snacks for each day, with only $25 per person for an entire week?

Groceries are the bane of my existence. lol I have a total of 11 people in my family: 5 adults and 6 children(two of them are nursing babies). Having two adults on the Trim Healthy Mama diet, two on special allergy diets, and a budget of only $300 a week for food, diapers, and toiletries can make for some serious number crunching each menu planning day! I try to serve at least two veggies with each dinner meal, one grain for the littles, and sometimes need to make up to 4 different meals for dinner each night. So, without further ado, here's my menu for this week...

Breakfast:

Pancakes, Eggs, Oatmeal, and Muffins

Pancakes are one of the cheapest meals I can make my kids. With just two eggs and two cups of flour, I can feed the whole bunch. Normally, we eat them with no sugar jam, or a sprinkle of non-dairy, nut-free chocolate chips.

For the THM-ers, I made refrigerator oatmeal to take and go.


Lunch:

We make turkey sandwiches, mac and cheese, salads, homemade bread, hardboiled eggs, and roasted veggies from the garden.

My dh buys a salad at work each day and brings leftovers to eat with it.

Dinner:


Sat.: Breakfast for dinner! We had omelets and my oldest dd had a Italian Cream Cakein a Mug THM style.
Sunday: 2 chickens roasted, rice, roasted broccoli, carrots
Mon: Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes, Chicken Nuggets, French fries, broccoli, salad
Tues: Chicken Crockpot Chili, mac and cheese, salad
Wed: spicy black bean soup and turkey sandwiches
Thurs: Chicken spaghetti, pasta carb, salad
Fri: Pork roast, salad, green beans, potatoes, sauerkraut

For my total this week, I spent $250 for all our groceries, including toiletries and diapers. Snacks for us are usually cheese sticks, crackers, popcorn, or fruit.



I hope this helps!




Blessings,

An Update of the Baby Kind....

Charlotte Rose 3.5 months old already!



She is soooo sweet, and squishy, and all around wonderful. :)


Don't you just want to eat her up?lol


I am so blessed.


Blessings,

Gluten Free/Peanut Free/Dairy Free Edible Playdough

Here's my recipe for GF/DF/PF Edible Playdough...



1/2 cup soynut butter or sunflower butter
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp potato starch (you could probably use corn starch too.)
1/4 cup sugar
About 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar, just keep adding until a dough forms.



Mix the first 4 ingredients together first. Then knead in powdered sugar until it's doughy. :)

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Peanut Free-Dairy Free Edible Playdough.

Ok. so, life in my family is quite interesting.lol We have a million allergies, some even life-threatening. I have been watching other people with envy for YEARS as they play with edible playdough. How fair is it that the two main ingredients are milk and peanuts? We are allergic to both! For years, I've just thought this was something that we would never get to do. I even looked on Pinterest!lol

Well, today I decided to experiment and find a recipe that we could have.

Here are the stars of the show...


And is was success!



And it even tastes good.lol



Here's the recipe...

1/2 cup any nut or seed butter, you could even use Biscoff Spread. I used a forlorn jar of soynut butter that no one would eat.lol

1 package of pudding mix, any flavor. (Jello brand are dairy free, just cornstarch and sugar.) We used vanilla, but I think we'll go with chocolate next time.

About 1 tbsp potato starch. (I think I'll skip this next time.)

Mix in enough powdered sugar to make it a dough. It was about 1/2 cup. I just kept mixing until it wasn't sticky. :)

So there! A dairy free, peanut free playdough that you can eat!


Blessings,

Montessori Language Object and Card...

Here is a sample of what I am working on...



I'll be making (with a swap group) 2"x2" object cards with the name tag on the control photo. Then I'll cut the name off of the second one for matching against the object or the name.

This has many uses in a Montessori homeschool.

For the younger set, they can match the object to the photo...


They can match the starting letter to the object...



Or to the photo...


And as they learn, they can then match the Letter to the object, photo, and word..


Finally, they'll be able to spell the word (I wonder how many will notice my mistake in this photo...lol)


So, that's what I'm up to.lol

Blessings,

Empowering our young ones...

I'm a big fan of things that help our little ones do "Big People" things. :)



Sometimes, it's as simple as a knife that won't cut fingers off.lol



And confidence is accomplished...



a job well done is enough to make anyone proud.




Blessings,

Snack Bins for Hubby and Son...



A few weeks ago, I started making snack bins for the two older men. They are both trying to lose weight and Jon thought, "What if we had snacks already prepared that were under 200 Calories each?" Then we could just choose different combos for the day and never eat too many calories. Pinterest to the rescue! I searched for low calorie snack ideas and snacks for under 200 Calories. This website popped up and was a huge help in the snack department.



photo of Eric's box in progress



1. They wanted no more than 1000 calories during the day, not including breakfast or dinner.

2. They could divide up the calories however they choose.

3. Everything would be grab and go. That way, dh could take them to work and not worry about messes.

So, here's what I've come up with...

Choose 3 of these per day in your box:

1. Turkey Sandwich Thin (3oz of turkey, one sandwich thin, lettuce, tomato, and mustard) 200 calories

2. Muffin Pizza (100 Calorie English muffin, 1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, 3 turkey pepperonis, green peppers) 200 calories

3. Bagel Thin w/laughing cow cream cheese wedge 145 calories

4. 2 hard boiled eggs w/ 1tbsp reduced fat mayo and mustard 161 calories

5. Triscuits and Babybell cheese 170 calories

6. Veggie Pita thin w/hummus 150 calories + veggies

Choose 4 of these per day in your box:

1. Cottage cheese, flavored 90 calories

2. Apple and cheese stick 141 calories

3. Greek yogurt 140 Calories

4. 100 Calorie Pop Corn

5. 90 Calorie Granola bar

6. Carrots and low-fat ranch 52 Calories

7. 100 Calories of fruit (1 piece or 1 cup)

8. 70 calorie Italian ice (Obviously this one is for weekends. :)


They really come together quickly and the guys really love them. Now to work on one for the younger ones. :)

Blessings,