Lazy Day

Today was a slow day of playing around.  I did manage to get one thing done though.  I seasoned my cast iron skillet!!!  I know what you are thinking..."big whoop."  Well, I am very sorry to say that I let my skillet get horrible.  There were even a couple small rust spots.  No excuses here.  But now....it looks B-E-A-U-TIFUL.

 Thanks to my mother-in-law, I remembered how.  So if any of you need to.... just coat your pan all over with oil.  I poured some of my canola oil into the pan and then took a paper towel and rubbed the pan top to bottom.  When you are done, soak up the excess inside with another paper towel.  It doesnt have to be perfect, but if there is a lot then it will make your house stink pretty bad when you put it in the oven.  Set your oven to about 300 degrees and put your pan in there for about an hour.  I set a baking sheet on the rack underneath so oil can drip onto it if needed.  After I pulled it out, I wiped the skillet with a paper towel, and it looks magnificent!  I set an old rag in the cabinet under the skillet just to soak up any oil still left.

**There is still a slight odor of burning oil as it bakes, so I would turn on the vent and/or leave a window open.

 I really should have taken a before pic.  It was very sad.

 We also went through a whole bag of apples today.  I peeled and cored one for my sweet little guy and he went crazy!  You can't blame him.  They may be a little more pricey than others, but Honeycrisp apples are so delicious.

 The girls ate them all day.  Blake would have, but he only has his 4 little teeth so I had to keep a very close eye on him. 

Heaven forbid you take the apple away.  And how can you?

FHE: Testimony

This post is a little late, and unfortunately....I have no pics.  There was some great stuff on the church website.  You can go HERE for a list of articles, pictures, or activities from the Friend.

We needed to have this specific lesson, because Sadie (4 years) bore her testimony last month.  She was dying to do it all by herself and she did surprisingly amazing and was very sincere and didn't say all the usual kid stuff.  However, her testimony was a little more like a prayer than a testimony.  So...we decided that for this week, we would talk to her and remind her of what a testimony really is and it's importance.  Especially since this Sunday is fast Sunday. 

Have a great family night!

"COOKIE" Dough-Boy

Uh...oh......   Someone got busted!  I had just made some cookie dough so I could bake some cookies a little later.  Unfortunately, I shouldn't have left him alone with his 2-year-old sister (who can open the refrigerator).  It's sad when you can't even use the bathroom without there being destruction somewhere else in the house.  But....I love it!!!  (hence, the need to pause and take pictures)  :)

I hope that all of us moms out there can laugh a little more this new year and not worry about the small stuff.  I know that I won't always be smiling when messes happen, but today....it's okay.

GQ

We interrupt all of these girl pictures to bring you....THE BOY!!  My, my, ain't he handsome?? 

 He already knows how to do precious posses for his Momma!  Oh, I love him sooo much.  Just looking at these makes me want to wake him up and hug and kiss him. 

10-minute fix and tutorial

Now, if you are like me, then before/after Christmas brings a need to organize.  For us, we go through toys before and after.  One of the big problems we have are STUFFED ANIMALS.....dum, dum, dummmmm.  They take up so much room and for many kids (like mine), they are rarely played with.  That said, we do not just throw away all of these, because some are sentimental.  There are grandparents that my children dont see very often and they like to send their grandchildren adorable stuffed animals to love. 

So...we went to every store and looked in almost every section and could not find one of those animal nets!  Anyway, I had some extra jersey knit lying around doing nothing and decided to make one.  It literally took me about 10 minutes and didnt cost me a penny.  You can even omit some of my steps.

You start with a triangle.  It does NOT have to be measured perfect by any means, because you cant tell at all when it is filled and the distance of each end changes things as well. 
My "net" is about 3 feet long on the front side that faces out.  You can make it however big or small you want.

After my triangle, I cut 3 strips of knit about 1 inch wide and 11 inches long. You can adjust the measurements if you prefer to have shorter straps. I then folded the strips in half and did a zigzag stitch down it. I mostly did this to make it look a little better and be a little more durable. This is one of the steps that you can omit. 
Next, I took the strips to each corner and folded the corner down like I was going to hem it.
Fold the corner once more....
and then move the strip back to the outside. Pin in place so you can stitch it together.
Sew two lines across the top and bottom of the hem. Folding it over and stitching it this way is also another way to make it a little more durable. :) Can't beat that with little monkeys running around. 
This is what you will then have at all three corners:
Now it's time to hang it up! I used these handy little guys that came out of my tool pouch.
I then put all the animals in it and decided to tie some ribbon, that I had a ton of, to the ends to make it look a little more girly since my knit was blue.  Now...I did not do any other hemming on this, because it was jersey knit.  If the fabric that you have on hand frays, you can choose to hem or not to hem.  A hem would be a great detail, but you can also argue that you arent going to be washing this every weekend so perhaps you may feel that there is no need to hem.   Either is awesome!  It would look adorable coordinated with their room. 

**update:  This has been up for over a year now, and has still held up.  I may make another one with cuter fabric, though.