As soon as we laid out our big blanket on the sand Creamie started taking off clothes to get in the water.  Her little skirt was off in no time flat and it was all I could do to keep her underwear on her.  I was glad I found these little boy shorts for her a few days before we left.  I didn’t much mind her walking around in these undiepants.

I found a small bucket of beach toys for $5 before we left and it was one of my best buys.  She was in heaven.  I think she played here in the sand for 3 straight hours.  I took more than 300 pictures, but I’ll spare you the full photo journal.

This was the first of many picnics on this trip.  I can’t count the number of sandwiches I ate.  But I was really glad we took our big picnic blanket.  I used it almost everyday.  It was perfect.  (This is the quilt I made for Scott last year from his dad’s clothes, that post here.)

She was burying her dad’s feet.  And doing a wonderful job of it.  Also, I think I have about 50 pictures of her from this trip with her toungue out.  Beaching is serious concentrating business!

After she fell in the water a few times she got cold and we put her swimming suit on her.  And then she got cold again and we traded a swimming suit for jeans and a fleece jacket.  Going to the beach requires a LOT of stuff.  Especially for us.  At the end of the pier on Seal Beach is a really great restaurant called Ruby’s Diner.  It’s another California favorite.

I love this girl.  Also, I finally found a pair of sunglasses that was under $20 that doesn’t hurt my head when I wear them for more than 10 minutes.  These aren’t them.  I am not letting my new one’s out of my sight ever.  They were too hard to come by!

Most of our time in California it was pretty cold.  Her little fleece jacket got a LOT of use this trip.  So I was glad we went to the beach when we did, it was such perfect weather.  For February.  She has been asking me all morning if she can go to the beach after lunch today.  She sure loved it.

Also, I should point out that I don’t get in the water.  I do the beach in pants and a jacket and stay on the dry sand.  I did walk down to the water to talk to those two while they were playing, but I try to keep my toes out of the surf.  I am a total beach woosie.  But these two?  They’d get in the water if it was 45 degrees.  And they have.  Crazies.

But today my little girl turned three.  And this is what we had for lunch.  We had a real party last weekend for her with our family, the morning after my sisters wedding.  I had 27 people in my house.  My very small house.  But it was wonderful. And now I’m back to mostly normal, I slept a full 10 hours last night and I hope that in the next few days our computer will be recoverd enough so I can get to all my photos and my camera software and photoshop and blah blah blah.  I’ll be back soon.  I have a lot of things to share!

We made Raspberry Orange popsicles.  And wow.  So good.  I am sure that I am going to start an entire pinboard just for zokupop recipes.  (UPDATE: I made one.) Because I kind of want to eat them after every single meal they are that good.  And since we are going on day four of over 55 degree weather (IN JANUARY!) popsicles were a great idea for today.

So, the Zoku maker goes in the freezer overnight, you pour in the juice/popsicle mix and then let it sit for 10 minutes and you have popsicles.  Easiest thing ever.

She was in heaven.  Except she kept getting irritated that she was getting popsicles on her face.  Thanks dad for a great present!

PS. She is wearing a 6-9 month shirt and just graduated to 4T pants.  She’ll be three in two weeks.  I grow ‘em tall and skinny ’round these parts.

Every year at church we set up an angel tree to help the families in our neighborhood that need it the most. (You pick a tag off the tree and buy a gift for “Adult Male” or “6 month old girl” or whatever.)  In the past Scott and I have always taken a few tags and returned our anonymous gifts.  It’s part of what Christmas is all about anyway and we feel strongly about helping people who live right by us.  But this year we just couldn’t do it.  Instead, I helped make stockings for these angel tree kids.  I could at least do that.  But one day at church I was sitting there in class, the angel tree set up right in front of me.  And I noticed a new little tag.  A family had been added at the last minute.  And right there in the center was one tag that I couldn’t stop staring at.  It said “Girl, age 7. Want: doll”.

I stared at it for the entire 45 minute class.  I have absolutely zero idea what the teacher was talking about.  But my heart was racing, knowing what I was going to do.  Then while I very impatiently waited for class to end (I did have the presence of mind to realize that it would be rude to stand up in the middle of the teachers lesson and walk right up to the front of the room…) I had a minor anxiety attack thinking of the possibility that when class was over someone else might get to it first.  I KNEW this little tag was for me.  As soon as the closing prayer was over, the “Amen” still hanging in the air, I maybe climbed over the empty row of chairs in front of me and snatched the tag as quick as I could.  Maybe.  But I made it.  And that’s all that matters.

We didn’t have any money for Christmas, but I have enough craft supplies to circle the planet, twice over.  And I knew I could make a beautiful doll without spending any money.  But one that this little girl’s parents could never hope of buying.  There was only a few days until these gifts were supposed to be returned so they could be delivered.  But I talked to the woman in charge and told her I would never make it in four days.  But I’d have it done and wrapped and at her house by the 22nd of December.  Then I got to work.

I combined two different patterns to make this doll.  She is part Poppy Doll (from Fiona Dalton at hop.skip.jump) and part Little Red (from Larissa Holland at mmmcrafts).  I’d never made either of them before, but after I looked at the pattern pieces I knew I could combine my favorite parts of both to make this Christmas Doll.  I did end up buying about 6″ of brown felt for her hair and braids.  I just couldn’t make her hair jet black (I saved that for her shoes), or gray.  And those were the only options in my stash.  After I made my doll I started pulling out fabric scraps for her wardrobe.

And then I decided that I was going to go all out.  Because little girls need dresses, and shoes, and a school bag.  And it was Christmas. She just just wouldn’t have been right without them.  Her shoes took a few tries to get right.  They are black felt with a working button closure.  Her school bag is purple felt with a vintage button clasp.

As soon as the bag was finished Creamie declared it “so baby cute” and then informed me that she needed keys and a phone and a chapstick and a notebook to go inside.  But I thought I should probably make her some pants before I worked on minature chapstick.  I tucked an extra set of hair ribbons and a silver heart necklace (a gift from a highschool boyfriends parents.  I never even wore it)  into her bag instead.  I did have to make her pants twice because the first ones just didn’t come on and off easily enough.  And the rest of her wardrobe pattern drafting went surprisingly well.  I think I had my own little angel watching me, making sure i didn’t screw anything up too much because there just wasn’t the time. This little blue shirt has buttons up the back, and is fully reversible. The other side is a cute tealish blue gingham.  I had plans to make her a pair of jeans and another shirt or two.  But it just didn’t work out.

Because it was December, and I couldn’t very well send a little girl out in a little sleeveless shirt, I drafted a pattern for a wool coat too.  The Little Red Riding Hood pattern has a beautiful red wool cape, but I didn’t have any red wool.  And a Little Green Riding Hood just isn’t the same.  I used the hood as a starting point and in much less time than I anticipated I had this cute green coat with wood buttons ready to go.  See, that was the sewing angel watching out for me again.  I kind of wish she’d stay around all the time.

Of course that wasn’t all, because she also needed some flannel jammies.  So I drafted that pattern too.  I had the perfect pink polka dot left over from making this blanket and amazingly the perfect color of ribbon trim.  A small miracle.  And I think adding 1.25 inches of 1/16″ elastic to the bottom of the long sleeves was one of the most frustrating things of the whole doll making procedure.  Sheesh!  I ended up threading it through with a needle because I didn’t have a saftey pin small enough to do the job.  Those 2.5 inches of elastic were enough to drive me to eat up all my chocolate stash.  True story.

And last of all, with just a few alterations to the jammies pattern I was able to make her a party dress.  Because little girls need dresses as much as they need coats and bags and jammies and cutie little shoes.  I finished tacking down the lining by hand while in the car on our anniversary lunch date the afternoon of the 22nd, and when I got home I added button holes and the sash.  But I made it.  Kind of. (I ended up cutting the drop off kind of close.  But I was NOT letting her go out the door without getting a few pictures.)  Santa was already loading his sleigh when I arrived, box in hand, smile in my heart.  It was something I’ll never forget.  I don’t know which little girl opened her on Christmas morning.  But I hope she likes her.  I hope she wasn’t wishing for a Barbie, or a Bratz doll or something lame like that.  All Christmas morning I kept thinking about my little 7 year old girl, hoping she wouldn’t be disappointed.

I will make this doll again.  I thankfully made (and kept!) my labeled paper pattern pieces so I won’t have to start over next time.  I think next year I’ll make one for Creamie.  And a little boy to go with her.  (I already have a huge list of clothes I can make. ) While I was working on making this Angel Doll she asked me a few times who it was for.  And I told her it was for a little girl who didn’t have any presents for Christmas.  She probably didn’t understand, but she accepted the fact that it wasn’t for her.  And she was totally OK with that.  She gave this Angel Doll a lot of hugs and rockabyes before she was finished, and was happy to help me wrap up all her clothes in tissue paper and put everything in one big box.  I can’t wait to do it again next year.

OK, so  a few days ago we went to pick up my moms tree because she doesn’t have a car big enough to handle a Christmas tree very well.  We stopped by my  favorite tree lot after I picked up Creamie from her dance class.  It was cold, but I came prepared with boots and gloves and and a hat.  I just didn’t come prepared for how adorable she would be flouncing through the rows of trees playing hide and seek.

When we found the right tree she very happily offered to help the tree guy carry it to the car.  She is so helpful.  And I was so thankful that tree guy humored her and let her help him.  See, people really are good at heart.

Today this arrived, an early Christmas present from my Dad.  Mickey’s Christmas Carol was one of my favorite Christmas movies growing up.  I like it about a million times better than the Muppetts version.  It has been a happy afternoon watching this with Creamie.  But now I’m off to make dinner.  Porkchops with Bean and Butternut Chili and homemade cornbread.  Because it’s one of my favorite things ever.

Also, I am really in love with my little reindeer necklace.  It was my souvenir from our trip this fall.  I found it at a teensy little shop in a teensy little town about 100 miles from the nearest grocery store.  But, I did a quick search on etsy for a silver reindeer necklace and there are a few similar ones. It is going to be my new go to holiday item this season I think.  That and this silver stripey shirt.  I got it free with purchase of a dress last Christmas and yesterday was the first time I’ve worn it.   See, I used to be scared of wearing things with stripes… what if no one recognized me?  (Which has happened.  And it was my sister who didn’t recognize me beacuse I was wearing a striped shirt instead of my standard solid color. Which is a post all by itself. Ha!) Be back soon.  And with real photographs.  I swear.  Also, I did an interview over at MessyLa for her blogiversary, go here to check it out.

I haven’t made an apple pie for years, but a few weeks ago I picked something like 10 boxes of apples off of a friends tree and I still have apples stacked up in my pantry waiting for me to get to them.  I used 5 different kinds for this pie, and it might be the best one I’ve ever made.

Creamie was helping me too.  She worked on this little pie, and we had just enough filling to pack it full of apple cinnamon goodness.  I scooped the last few bits of apple into my mouth after I filled up both pies and oh my goodness they were good.  It might be the best apple pie I’ve ever made.

Creamie can hardly wait for her little pie to cool off enough to eat.  As soon as I pulled it out of the oven she pulled out a plate and a fork and told me she was ready to eat it.  This little one turned out so cute I think next time I make pie I’ll just make 7 or 8 of these instead (or you know, 30 of these teeny tiny ones!)  Because everything is cuter when it’s nice and tiny!

And in case any of our friends aren’t apple pie lovers (I’ll forgive them I suppose) I made some vanilla pudding and made it into my moms fabulous banana cream pie.   Because everyone should have a few options when it comes to pie you know.  It’s a good thing I’m out of time or I probably would have made a pumpkin pie too!  Now my house smells like pie and I think that is the perfect way to start any weekend.

I was so excited for the clouds to lift so I could see the peaks.  Mountain peaks covered with snow are one of my very very favorite things to look at.  But 2.5 hours later when I went to pick her up the clouds that had started to break and lift had changed their minds.

October 6, 2011 11:33 am.  The same view of the street.  It was snowing hard.  And it’s probably not cold enough for it to stick around for very long, but it sure is beautiful.

I should point out that last Friday it was 91 degrees (33 C).  It was so hot it broke records for this time of year.  And today it smells like winter and it just might warm up to 50 (10C).  Maybe.  It kind of feels like it is about to the freezing point out there, but I bet that is partly due to that nice wet snow that is dusting everything.  Quite a change for just 7 days.  It smells like winter outside and I can’t wait for the first hard frost that will kill all these pesky plants I am allergic to.  I woke up to snow and had the AC on last night because there is so many floaties in the air I am allergic to I can’t open the windows even a crack.  That right there? Totally Lame.  Hope your Thursday is fantastic, even if there is no snow.

PS- Out last snowstorm was on April 30th. I love that we can have snow for 7 months of the year.  And this year I don’t think all the snow completely melted out of the mountains.  I love it.  Also, thanks to a $60 antibiotic Creamie is finally well enough to go to school.  Which I also love.  And so does she.

Anyway, here are a few posts from last fall if you weren’t here a year ago.  Because they are still good ones.

Cinnamon Chips and Pumpkin Dip

Stuffed Fall Pumpkin with free pattern

Fall Leaf Accent Pillows

This last tutorial, the accent pillows are made from Walmart placemats.  Tonight I was at Walmart and saw that they have them again this year, in brown, a much more fallish green and orange.  I maybe bought a few more to add to my leafy collection.  I also bought a whole bunch of canned pumpkin.  And pumpkin dip is going on my list of treats to make this week.  See you soon.

The large pink gooseberry bowl in the back has been on my dream list for a long time.  It is the largest of a set of four (whole set pic here).  This round shape is called a Cinderella bowl, it is by far my favorite shape for Pyrex.  The small white one on the right is the smallest of that set.  I am just missing the two middle pieces.  I paid a little more for the big bowl than I normally would for  piece of Pyrex.  But I figured the rest of my pink pieces have come at amazing deals that I could totally justify spending $18 for the big bowl.  Besides, a big glass bowl (it is 4 quarts) that size at Target would be $18 anyway.  And it wouldn’t be pink.  Or old.  Or on my dreamlist.  The three small bowls I found for ten cents each, I got one of the pink pie plates in a trade and the other was from my dear friend Amylouwho who I met in real life this summer.

I posted an Instagram pic a few days ago with a few of these. All of these came to me in one week.  It was amazing.  I found the Butterprint (white and turquoise) piece at Savers and besides the pink bowl, all the others were from one trip to DI (Deseret Industries, a Mormon church owned thrift chain of 45 stores in 7 states in the West.)  Last year I took a picture of my Pyrex collection on January 1st, and since then I’ve added something like 13 new pieces.  I don’t buy every piece I see.  If I see one in poor condition, or a pattern that I don’t love, or I feel like it is overpriced (you know, for a thrift store) I’ll pass on it.  If it’s pink I buy it. I think that could actually be spread across a lot of my life and be an accurate description of my shopping habits…

This is last year’s.  Next year I might have to find a new place to set them all up.  I don’t know how many more my desk will hold…  Also, in my next house I am definitely going to need a china cabinet in the kitchen so I can see these all the time.

I have also been picking up vintage sheets and fabric.  Still not sure what I am going to do with my ever growing stack, but I sure do like buying them.  I have plans for a few of them, but the space under my desk has been taken over by stacks of these old pretties.  I really do need to figure out something productive to do with them.  But until I figure it out I am happy to get my retail shopping fix at a large thrift store picking up stacks of old dishes and old sheets and vintage sewing patterns.  And jewelry… I’ve been really lucky in the jewelry department lately.  I’ll save that for another post.

Creamie has had a cold for the past week.  I really hope that these next two days are the end of it.  Because I am so ready for a break.  Be back soon, I hope your Wednesday is lovely.

I’ve been eating peaches all week.  Sunday was peach pie, yesterday was peaches and ice cream and this morning I had a peach smoothie for breakfast.  It was heaven.

I have a lot of work to do.  I’ve got four boxes (which is two bushels) of peaches to wash and slice and put into jars before tomorrow night.  I’m going to be busy.  But I absolutely LOVE having those jars of peaches all winter.  I think I’ll freeze some too so I can make another peach pie.  It was so good me and my mom sat down and finished the whole thing.  I mean, Scott and Creamie had some too.  But some things just don’t keep in the fridge overnight.  Peach pie is one of them.

For my smoothie I put 3 peeled chopped peaches in the blender with some vanilla ice cream, a little milk and a big spoonful of brown sugar. Tomorrow maybe I’ll try adding oatmeal to the mix…. I’ll let you know how it goes.