For the Mamas!

Happy Mother's Day! I get to talk in church--aren't you jealous? My hubby has to talk, too, so that makes me feel better. But then he has to work right after, so no Mother's Day break for me! Oh well.
Anyways, we are big fans of Hilary Weeks's music in this house. She lived in Fox's mission area, and he became a huge fan and has several of her CDs, which I have come to love.

Here is a little ditty she did that is definitely good to play to anyone who has ever asked, "What does a stay-at-home mom do?"



This always make me smile!

And so does my Mama! I still can't believe she had 6 children under the age of 8 and no TV. She amazes me. I love you, Mom!

Pancakes!

I am so super happy right now, because I finally have a pancake griddle! I have made pancakes at least three times a week since Cash started finger foods about 2 1/2 years ago. We ate pancakes a ton in Japan, since there was only one kind of cereal on the market (Frosted Flakes at $4.50 a box. No thanks!).

Each time I made pancakes, it took me almost 2 hours, since I had to cook them one at a time on my cast-iron skillet. I did it and loved it, because I love making pancakes for my family. Well, my dear sweet Mother, who was in Utah this weekend, decided to get me an early birthday present of the griddle shown above, and I am so thrilled. Mom, I have already made 3 batches of pancakes in 3 days. I'm that excited! I can't believe I can make a whole batch in 15 minutes.

(Yes, wow--you'd think I would have just paid the $20 for a griddle years ago. But I have a really hard time buying something when I can get away with not having it. I also just bought an umbrella stroller for my daughter, and she is almost 18 months. I used the excuse that I didn't need a stroller, because I have two good arms to carry her..and now wrist pain, too. Ack--money issues here, people!)

Anyways, I wanted to share some of my favorite pancake recipes. I rotate between several recipes, but here are my top 3 right now:

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes (from the cookbook Veganomicon)
These are great! They have a good crunch and are good for a snack later in the day, too. I often leave the blueberries out and double up on the lemon zest. Yum!

Makes 8-10

3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 1/4 cups plain soy milk
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 cup blueberries

DIrections: Sift dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients separately. Add wet mixture to dry, mixing until just combined. Then, fold in blueberries. Cook in 1/4 cup scoops.

Banana Pancakes
So yummy! Make sure the bananas are pretty ripe to get a good flavor.
Makes about 6

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. oil
2 bananas--1 mashed, 1 sliced into thin rounds

Combine sugar, baking powder, flour and salt. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, oil, and bananas. Stir flour into wet mixture. Batter will be lumpy. Heat lightly oiled griddle and scoop 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes (adapted from Mom's famous buttermilk pancakes)
This recipe is just like my mom's famous buttermilk pancakes but with whole wheat flour and one less egg to make it fluffy. We love these pancakes and freeze them in batches to toast for later!

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. sugar (optional--we use 2 Tbsp. brown sugar)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil in a bowl and whisk until frothy. Put dry ingredients in sifter (or mix with fork) and add to wet ingredients. Combine with a few strokes. Batter will be lumpy. Place batter onto very hot, well-greased griddle. Flip pancakes when bubbles start to appear on the surface.


If you have any good pancake recipes, I would love to know, so I can keep using my awesome griddle! No pumpkin pancake recipes, though. I have made way too many of those this year, so we're taking a little break from them.

P.S. I just saw the Oatmeal Pancakes recipe on my sidebar from Smitten Kitchen, so I will have to give those a try!

My Favorite Quote from Conference

LDS General Conference was a couple of weekends ago. With my kids running around, I don't always get to pay attention to the speakers. So, I usually go online and read a talk each night until I have caught up with the most recent session. (And...sshh!...it is kind of a nice break from my slow plodding through the Old Testament!).

From this session, Julie Beck's talk, "And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit", really stuck out to me.
This quote, in particular:

"A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently.

Revelation can come hour by hour and moment by moment as we do the right things. When women nurture as Christ nurtured, a power and peace can descend to guide when help is needed. For instance, mothers can feel help from the Spirit even when tired, noisy children are clamoring for attention, but they can be distanced from the Spirit if they lose their temper with children. Being in the right places allows us to receive guidance. It requires a conscious effort to diminish distractions, but having the Spirit of revelation makes it possible to prevail over opposition and persist in faith through difficult days and essential routine tasks. Personal revelation gives us the understanding of what to do every day to increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek those who need our help. Because personal revelation is a constantly renewable source of strength, it is possible to feel bathed in help even during turbulent times."

&hearts I really loved this whole session, but this talk is exactly what I needed to hear. &hearts

 
 

 



 

Owie Dolls

A while ago, I saw these Owie Dolls on Ikat Bag (my favorite sewing blog. This woman is super talented and sews mainly fun stuff for her kids) and quickly became obsessed with how cute they were. Handmade cloth dolls! Using special cloth that would allow doll bandages to attach with velcro without snagging the fabric! Eye patches! Reversible hospital gown/ play clothes! I was so excited when a pattern came out. I snatched it up right away and quickly went to work on making these dolls for the Disney Give a Day program. After a couple of months of working on these guys, they are finally done and on their way to Karing for Utah Kids, a local nonprofit for needy kids.

It was such a fun project. I love softies! Here are the sick kiddos:


And all healed and ready to play!

Spring, Come Quickly

After playing outside with my kids today, I came inside frustrated that, after two days of warmth (okay, 50 degrees but we got to play outside for a few hours!!), we got hailed on in the middle of a sunny day. This happens alot in Utah. Anyways, trying to stay positive, I noticed outside the roiling storm clouds on the horizon against a bright blue sky, sunshine, and pellets of hail. It was a really neat effect. I thought of how my mom often says "How can you see a sunset and not believe in the gospel?"

And I found this wonderful quote:

"Can any man who has walked beneath the stars at night, can anyone who has seen the touch of spring upon the land doubt the hand of divinity in creation? So observing the beauties of the earth, one is want to speak as did the Psalmist: 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork.' All of the beauty of the earth bears the fingerprint of the Master Creator."

-Gordon B. Hinckley


I tried to find a good image of springtime online and just pulled up one I took in Japan at the height of cherry blossom season:



This picture makes me so happy. For two weeks, during cherry blossom season, everyone flocks to parks to relax under the blossoming trees and celebrate nature. You bring a lunch or buy a candied apple nearby and just enjoy springtime. America needs to adopt this.

So, Spring--please come quickly and stop teasing me. I can only try to stay positive for so long! I need some sunshine!

Table Love!

We got this new table at Ikea, and I love it! Both sides can fold down, so you can stow it away, but ours usually looks like this:

I am just so thrilled that there is that fold-out leaf, because that means I can keep my sewing machine out all the time! My sewing machine is an old, heavy metal one. I hated lugging it out of the closet and then having to put it away whenever we ate. Sometimes it would sit on our table for days in the middle of unfinished projects, and we would have to eat on the couch--no fun. Now, I can keep it out and just prop the other leaf up when we need to eat. It makes me so happy, because sewing is not an ordeal anymore. I have gotten so much done, and I just love being able to sit down and sew a little bit throughout the day. It is the next best thing to having my own actual sewing/cutting table. Hooray! Oh, the six super deep storage drawers are really nice, too! We've got the "notions" side and the "playdough and accessories" side for quick fun!

P.S. Here is a recent sewing project: a reversible cape (pattern is here) for Cash with Superwhy and of course, Batman. Very fun and easy!

Cloth Diapers

...or crap wrappers... oh how I love you! One day my little brother was visiting and came up with his own brand of cloth diaper:

The Turd Turban: Treat your bottom like a Sultan

(makes me laugh everyday!)

I wish someone would have told me about modern cloth diapering when I had my first baby. It seemed like I pushed the stroller over to our neighborhood grocery store a few times a week for yet another package of diapers so scented that my baby would get rashes up his legs.

I wish someone would have let me in on the cloth diapering secret that your baby will never have blow-outs, since diaper covers have gussets and elastic waists, as I threw another cute (stained!) baby outfit in the trash.
(Then again, I am kind of glad I never cloth diapered my son, as he produced what my hubby called "Satan's buttercream frosting" several times a day. Soo glad that's over!)

Ah, life lessons!
The basics:
Cons: A few extra loads of laundry a week, some dye/scent free detergent purchasing, potential "zoo-butt" (cloth diapers aren't scented like regular diapers), and a bit more diaper changing, as it's not cool to keep your baby in the same cloth for 6 hours. Also, cloth diaper booty (big ol' bottom which sometimes requires a size up in pants).

Pros: Cheaper (you can save hundreds of dollars a year), no blowouts, proven quicker potty training, less diaper rash, more environmentally friendly (yes, trash is more polluting than water waste), you can use the same diapers for your other kids...and, get this---the same diapers for your baby and toddler!

Observe:

 
Here are Cash (age 2) and Cosette (age 7 months) wearing the same diaper, a Coolababy One-Size Diaper. The "Cool" thing about these is that they fit from baby to 35 pounds and you can stuff it with more cloth to make it more absorbent. We like ours, although I am a little sad about the fact that they are made in China.

Everyone has a different system, but I use the old-fashioned prefold ones (like Grandma used) just folded in thirds and laid in a Thirsties or Bummis SuperBrite cover (the only ones with good gussets or leg elastics). At night, I put two prefolds in one cover, and that lasts over twelve hours. When I change diapers, I put the used ones in a garbage pail with a tight lid lined with a waterproof liner (called a wet bag or pail liner). #2s of course get tossed down the toilet, and the dipes rinsed out if needed and then in the pail, too. You can also just use flushable liners. I wash every 2 or 3 days with a cycle of rinse first, warm wash with good detergent, final rinse and then dry on low heat. We have no stains, and I have used the same diapers on Cosette for over 9 months!

That is all I am going to say about cloth diapers. We use them. We love them. We can't imagine ever going back to disposables for any of our kids. There is almost too much information about them out there, so here are some good links:

The Basics of Cloth Diapering: The Facts, What You Need, How to Use the Different Types of Diapers

The Diaper Jungle: Everything cloth diapers, patterns to make your own, reviews, and getting started

 Little Lions: Good prefolds for a great price
 
 Cheeky Diapers: Diaper Patterns Galore!

Diaper Swappers: the ultimate cloth diaper forum. There are over 40,000 moms on here making, buying, selling, and trading cloth diapers, clothes, craft supplies, etc. I buy all my covers here (and also all my fabric!) for very cheap. The site is confusing at first, though.

Jillian's Drawers has a Changing Diapers, Changing Minds program that allows you to try several different types of diapers for 3 weeks for just $10. I did this and really loved trying out the different dipes!

The Cloth Diaper Foundation provides free cloth diapers for needy families. We got a big box from them when Coco was born, and it was amazing!

 

Too much information, right? I'm done now. Let me know if you want even more info. :)