Halloween 2010

This is being posted late because I never got around to it, but here are the Halloween costumes and outfits.

I only made the 2 Flairies and Batman. Cayden & Mia brought their own costumes and our friend of course brought hers as well.

For the Flairies I made tutu's, Fun Fur Jackets (to keep them warm) and painted their faces. I'm pretty sure this isn't what a "Flairy" looks like but I did what they wanted. Batman is a costume I made for Cayden last year. There are a few pieces missing ie: Batman's belt and arm bands, but Traver didn't care and he looked SO cute. We had to cut the sleeves off the costume just so lil chunker could get his arms in LOL

Trick or Treating was on Saturday in Magrath. Since the "real" Halloween is on Sunday, I made the kids all matching outfits for church. They are going to look back and hate me for this when they are older, but it's still cute to me and I can get away with it :)

Preemie Blankie

My used-to-be visiting teacher was pregnant and due about 2 weeks before me. I didn't even realize she was pregnant until a little while ago and then right after I found out, she had the baby. So I thought I would do her up this special little blanket - because preemie babies are just a teensy bit more special.

Pink Lemonade Pants

I knit up a pair of newborn longies out of plain old boring white.

I thought I would give ruffles a shot. There isn't instructions for them on the pattern so I made them up. First of all, I put in a couple pearl rows to make it easier to pick up stitches.

Then I used these instructions to add some ruffles. I decided not to do the 3rd row and the second ruffle covers the pearl row so all is well.

Then I mixed up my Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid.

And let it soak.

Then Ta Da! Pink Pants with Ruffles. (For next time I will definitely dye the yarn FIRST so it gives it a more even look).

Keira's First Official Birthday Party Preparations

Keira is turning 5 on November 10th. She's also in Kindergarten so I thought this would be a good time to start doing the 'real' birthday parties - you know, the ones with all the screaming kids, colored icing all over my carpets, and treat bags!

I just did up her Hannah Montana party invitations that she will write her friend's names on when she gets home from school. Then I thought I better get the treat bags together now or its not going to happen.

So here's what we got in the bags:

Candy Necklace

Lollipop

Playdoh

Mini Pad of Paper

Crayons

Bouncy Ball

Noise Maker

It was a little tricky trying to not spend more money than I needed on gender specific stuff. Luckily the Dollarstore split most things in packages the amount I needed. One little boy is going to get a Tinkerbell pad of paper though but he will have Spiderman crayons.

Weezie's Famous Lasagna Revealed!

Ok ...you guys are in for a real treat. I make a pretty mean lasagna and my friends and I are doing a Freezer Meal Swap tomorrow so I've just spent the afternoon making my first batch of freezer lasagna's. (I'm making my second batch as I type this. Unfortunately I don't have pots big enough to do it all at once).

So here is my recipe...in a way...but full of pictures. This makes FOUR lasagna's. One for dinner, three for the freezer. Please feel free to leave comments if you loved it or hated it. Of course, if you hated it, it's probably because you substituted something (ie. Canned Spaghetti sauce for the real thing *gasp), so let us know what you did to screw up ;)

First of all...here's what you need to grab from the grocery store (don't forget to check the dollar store, that's where I get my tomatoes and tomato paste and dry spices).

1/2 Family Sized package of Ground Beef

2 Boxes of Lasagna Noodles (don't cheap out on NoName...it's NOT WORTH IT! and PLEASE no OVEN READY yuck! I'm warning you now.)

4 Cans of Diced Tomatoes

8 Cans of Tomato Paste

1 Costco sized Brick of Mozzarella

1-2 Large Cottage Cheese

4 Green Peppers

4 Red Peppers

24 Mushrooms

2 Onions

1 Big Bag of Spinach Leaves

Fresh Cilantro

Fresh Basil

Dry Oregano

Salt & Pepper

Let's get started. First you need a large frying pan to brown all that meat! Don't forget to do something with the other half of the meat. I usually like to just brown mine and put it in a few Ziploc bags. It's always a good idea to have pre-cooked ground beef on hand for those busy nights.

Next add 1/4 cup of some healthy filler. In this example I'm using some Organic Red River (minus the red) type cereal. You could also use ground oatmeal, flax, even whole wheat crackers. Remember...it's not just a filler, because it really doesn't NEED it...it's to get that extra kick of nutrition in there undetected by little children (or husbands).

Add 4 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic and brown the meat....oooo it's smelling so good now. Don't forget to drain out the fat after - this is very important. Greasy Food = Bad.

Now mince up 2 onions and add to browned meat. Note: Food Processor is a must! I would not even TRY to do up this many Lasagnas with this much to cut and grate without my trusty Kitchen Aid!

While you are doing all that, have some noodles cooking in a pot - or do it after, like I do because I'm not co-ordinated enough and my pots are so big and I don't like my stove top crowded. You will need to cook 36 noodles. I usually add in a few extra in case some break. Don't forget to add oil to the water. Pulling apart 36 stuck together noodles is not fun!

Ok, now dump your meat stuff into a big giant bowl. Now comes the fun part. Opening 12 cans with a hand can opener. Add the 8 cans of Tomato Paste to the bowl with the meat. Then add 4 cans of Diced Tomatoes (I pulse mine for a second in my Kitchen Aid because I don't like chunks and for some reason Crushed Tomatoes taste yucky).

Next dice up all the Peppers & Mushrooms and throw them in. Mince up the fresh herbs. I use 4 big Basil Leaves and about the equivalent amount of Cilantro.

Then add in about THIS much Oregano and some Salt and Pepper and make sure to mix it up REALLY well so you don't get salty spots.

Now it's time to put it all together. I like to line everything up on the table so it's all easily accessible. Oh...don't forget to put the noodles in cold water. It's not fun reaching into a pot of boiling water to get noodles. Been there, done that.

LAYER ONE: 3 Noodles, A bunch of spinach to cover the noodles. 1/4 tub of Cottage cheese. A handful of grated Mozza (really only a handful, the next layer is where it's at). On top of that spread 1.5 cups of Sauce. I actually use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to dump the sauce in. I find it way easier than a spoon and that way I know I'm not going to run out before the Lasagna's are put together.

LAYER TWO: 3 Noodles (I sometimes like to mix it up and put different kinds in. In this example I put a Spinach Noodle layer). 2 cups Sauce and a nice thick layer of Grated Mozza

LAYER THREE: Same thing, 3 noodles, 2 cups of Sauce and whatever Mozza you have left. Then I sprinkle it with Oregano.

Now pop one in the oven on 350F for 45-60 min and cover the other 3 with Tin Foil, label and put in the freezer. From frozen I'm guessing they will take about 1.5 hours but I never really time it. When it's hot all the way through it's done. It will need to sit for about 10 min when it comes out of the oven so it soaks all the juices back up.

Enjoy!

Wool Diaper Boosters

The kids have been in disposables for night time for quite a while now because they grew out of the cloth diapers last year and I never got around to making more. There is no way I'd get them in diapers now so I have been working with a design for cloth pull-ups. With baby on the way and so much to do for the baby, I haven't had a lot of time, so it was suggested on my Cloth Diaper Group that the Tinkle Time Overnight Trainer was a great pattern to use. Yes, I BOUGHT a pattern. I'll do up a post on that in a bit. I did find though that the kids are still leaking through and I think it's just an absorbency issue. Here is my solution -

WOOL Diaper Boosters!! Why not right? If back when they wore diapers with wool covers to bed and I never had leaks, why not put a wool barrier between the soaker and the cover. I googled this to see if such a thing existed and sure enough, it does.

Now I was in search for some wool I could use. I have an old Bay blanket - the one with the red, green & yellow stripe. I was HOPING this was going to be wool because then we could have fun dying it with Koo-laid. So I did a burn test and was disappointed that this thing went up in flames really easily and was hard to blow out. Boo for polyester! I had another blanket that I've had for years that is slightly scratchy so not used much and it's a nice blue so I did the burn test on it as well (even though I knew it was wool) and sure enough it hardly caught flame and smelled like I was blow drying a sheep.

I cut out 10 liners and then lanolized them so they will hopefully be all ready to use tonight. Here is the picture breakdown:

STEP ONE: I put all the liners in the sink with lukewarm/warm water with a little bit of baby shampoo and gently swished them around.

STEP TWO: Add a little bit of Lanolin to a small cup of hot water, stir to dissolve.

STEP THREE: Pour in the wash water. Swish around some more.

STEP FOUR: Lay them out on a towel and pat them dry. Roll up in towel to squeeze out excess water and lay flat to dry.