Suri's hard life.

Suri's having a hard life today.  She informed me at breakfast that she can do whatever she wants.  I said REALLY!!  OK.  Now she's learning there are consequences to doing whatever she wants.  She's pretty stubborn, so I imagine this will last for sometime.  She currently can't eat till lunch, which is at 1:00 pm because she's refused to eat her breakfast sometime around 830ish. So needless to say she's begging me for a snack.  We went outside to play for awhile when she informed she was going to eat her snack anyways.  I said ok, just remember you'll go straight to bed and you won't eat till dinner.  Her standard answer that's fine. HAHAHA!!  I laugh because I know in a couple of hours she'll not be fine.
As I'm writting this she got her playdough taken away.  I think Suri's going to have one LOOOONG day today. HAPPY PARENTING!!!!

 

Happy Day after Christmas, I hope everyone had a wonderful Day!!

 

So I have been hard at work sewing for the girl's Christmas presents. And I thought I'd show off what I've been sewing.  Both girls got a Madam Alexander doll, which I found on ebay for an AMAZING price. Q'Orianka got an 18" Latina doll. And Suri a 19" doll with creamy skin and brown hair. Lucky for me the clothes I made fit both dolls.  Although the clothes are a bit tight for Suri's doll, they still work. 

 

Q'Orianka and I have been reading the American Girl Kirsten Books so I thought I'd make this nightgown and the Apron Dress.  Since Suri's doll came naked I ended up giving the Apron Dress to her.  Q'Orianka asked me to make her a dress just like it so I'll probably be working on that this next week.  I'm not by any means a great seamstress, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy both the nightgown and the dress were to make.  And what's even better I only had to buy the fabric for the apron. :-)

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the Apron Dress without the Apron, isn't it cute!!  And Q'Orianka nightgown.  I made a few modifications just to make it different.  And it made it even easier to make. 

 

 

 

 I made this top today along with the skirt below.  They were on cuff that came from a pair of Q'Orianka's pants that had worn out at the knees and zipper area.  And thanks to pinterest, I decided to turn them into a skirt and top.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  I made the skirt while talking to Amber on the phone.  Not bad for multi tasking.  The shirt took a little more work since I'm not used to "winging it" and I was trying to make the top fit with out cutting into the back.  The strap attaches in the back with velcro at a V and then connects to the shirt with a piece of velcro and I added elastic to the back to make it fit better.

 

 

For the skirt I added a waist band and then elastic inside to gather it.  Quick and easy.

 

 

Here's a close up of the embroidery design on both the skirt and the top. 

Christmas Day

 



Merry Christmas!! 

 

We had a wonderfully relaxing day!! We invited some friends over for Breakfast, since they don't have any family in the area.  So I went all out and made a real American Breakfast.  Pancakes, bacon, sausage, friend potatoes, peaches, O.J., and  hot chocolate. Luis added steak and our friends brought Punche, which is a Mexican drink similar to Wassel.  It was delicious!!  After we sat down to eat I realized I forgot the eggs.  But by then, nobody wanted any since we were getting really really full.  After breakfast we visited for a while, once we left we all took a nice long nap. Which was perfect,  because by the time we'd eaten, cleaned up and visited it was almost 2:00 P.M. 

 

For Dinner, Mama Nina made Seco con Frioles and rice.  It was the ending to a perfect day.  Seco takes a couple of hours to cook, but Prep wise, it was easy, which is what I wanted.  Here is a picture of what what we ate.  I didn't take the picture.  Nevertheless it was delicious!!  I'll post the recipe another day.

 

Here are a few pictures of the girls opening their presents.

 

Suri with her new floor puzzle.  Obviously you can tell she was pulling a Suri face.  Not wanting to smile, probably becaused I asked her too!  Silly girl!!

 

Kiyari and her new xylaphone.   Pulling a typical "cheese" face.

Suri and Q'Orianka with their new Lalaloopsy dolls.

 Kiyari  with her new book and Suri with her new nightgown for her doll.

 Suri gave Q'Orianka her first cross stitch kit.  I'm really excited to teach her to cross stitch.  I'm pretty sure, I was about her age when Aunt Sue bought me my first cross stitch kit.  Suri's nickname is Lady Bug, so she got a Ladybug Girl Book.  We love the the Ladybug Girl Books!!

 Q'Orianka and her new doll nightgown and I her dolls fur coat and hat.  I found it on Craigs List for a steal.  And her doll looks so cute in it.

 Kiyari is oooing  and ahhing over a new jumper she got!!  It was adorable. Suri got 2 new skirts. I could barely get her to keep her in her pants. 

Pasta Twists w/ Broccoli Sauce

After watching the news today and seeing the terrible tragedy in Connecticut.  I had no desire to cook, let alone to cook anything long and complicated.  So I found this recipe at www.momswhothink.com.  Lucky for me it was quick, easy and a huge success by everyone.  So I thought I'd share this great find.  I should also say, that I used rigatoni noodles instead of pasta twists  and it worked out perfectly.


Pasta Twists with Broccoli Sauce

 

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
2 medium stalks broccoli
1 large red bell pepper
¾ pound pasta twists (about 4½ cups)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
¾ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Finely chop the garlic and onion.
3. Separate the broccoli tops from the stems, cut the stems and tops into bite-size pieces. Coarsely chop the red bell pepper.
4. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until Al Dente, 10 to 12 minutes, or chording to package directions.
5. While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet, warm of 1 Tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.
6. Add the garlic onion mixture and stir-fry until browned, about 5 minutes.
7. Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon oil, the broccoli tops and stems, the bell pepper, oregano, salt, and black pepper.
8. Stir fry until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
9. Add the heavy cream and Parmesan and bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat.
10. Cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.
11. Drain the pasta and toss with the vegetables and sauce. Serve with warm Italian bread.

 

 

Dear Santa, 

I think I'm raising a local street artist.  My doors and walls are covered in her beautiful art work. :-)  For Christmas, I'd really love a year supply of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and Clorox Wipes.  Santa, I love her art work, I'd just prefer if it was not on my wall.  I've attached a copy of her beautiful.

Sincerely,

Aprill

Football Season

School is in and that means the beginning of High School Football. Luis and Q'Orianka have started a tradition of attending the game every Friday. Here is a fun picture of the going to Friday's game. Q'Orianka is wearing one of the players jersey. She was a hugh success. Everyone wanted to take her pictures. She had her picture taken with the player who's jersey this belonged to. I should be getting that picture this week.

New Discovery

I love it when children take an interest in something new. Today, Q'Orianka found a "new" book to look at. Its called 'Active Labor' I was watching her flip through the pages, to see what she would do. The next thing I know, she's showing me a picture, with a concerned look on her face. "Mom", she said, why is she sitting on her baby". A woman in active labor in the squating position, with a baby half out. I told her she wasn't sitting on the baby, she was having a baby. She said no mom, she sitting on the baby. So ask her where the baby was, she said her bum. I told her that's how the baby comes out. She's been fascinated with the book all day. When Luis woke she showed him the picture and told him how the baby comes out. We then explained that the baby doesn't come out of your bum, and where it comes out of. She took this new information really good. Which made me very happy. I was wondering when she would get around to asking how the baby comes out. The pictures were in black and white and probably from the 70's or 80's and not really very clear, but it gave her an understanding about how our baby will be come out of my tummy. I pulled out another book for her tomorrow, 'Spiritual Midwifery' which has more pictures of woman having babies. She liked to see the pictures when the new mom was holding the baby and smiling. One picture, had the mom, delivering a baby, with her mouth open like she was saying Oh, Oh, Oh,....Q'Orianka asked why she made that face. So I asked her what she says when Luis has a surprise for her. Her eyes lit up and she said OH,OH, Oh. I said that is that's what she's saying, having the baby is like having a special surprise. She looked at the picture and said ok.

Now I need to follow her example and decide how much information to give her. If she shows interest tomorrow will talk about it again. Then maybe, maybe, I'll look for some non-graphic, non-hysterical women having babies on youtube to show her. I'll play that one by ear, I don't want to bombard her with more information than she is ready for.



By the time, she had to go to bed, she had Suri looking at the book with her. So I had them sing a couple of songs to our new baby, then say goodnight and give him a kiss. It was really cute!! I might have war over the new baby, both girls will want to always be holding him. Q'Orianka still tries to hold Suri. And Suri usually fights back, because she doesn't want her too.