layla’s project life!

I am very excited to announce that my daughter has caught the bug! the project life bug! she received a kit (mayfield childhood edition) and an album for her birthday from uncle joe and aunt mary, and has been begging me and begging me for months to order her some pictures to get it going. well, that’s easier said than done, since it involves backtracking and choosing photos from the past, figuring out how they will lay out in the book, etc. etc. (it is SO much easier to print and complete pages in real time! seriously. major motivation to keep up in my own current album!) layla has chosen to start with her 7 year old/second grade year. it is incredibly convenient that her birthday is in the summer, so it falls neatly between two school years. this is like a soothing massage with calamine lotion for chronology obsessed rachel.

so I finally got some pictures organized and ready to be printed, then waited for a good deal. shutterfly came through, and I got them ordered.

she was SO excited to get started when they arrived.

I got her pictures all organized in order, and kind of explained how the system was going to work and she got busy right away.

I put a month’s worth of pictures into the book to get her started, she chose cards and did all the journaling.

it has been so fun, watching her get comfortable with it and give it her own style.

at first, I was a little alarmed by all her little doodles and stuff… but just because it would never EVER occur to me to do that. but then again, I’m not layla. I fill every square millimeter of my cards with words, because that’s just me. layla, from the time she could hold a pencil has been a drawer and a doodler. this is so her and I LOVE it.

Comments

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2! i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical. we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice. allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc. and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it ...

week 33 in pictures

I don’t have a picture for sunday… will have to have one of the kids draw something. monday: here, we have layla, expressing her death-wish. her newfound talent in hula hooping is manifesting itself all over the place, and in odd, and sometimes precarious, positions. here, she’s balanced at the very top of the big, metal slide, which is balanced on top of the little plastic climber, which is on the edge of the deck. maybe the magic wand in her hand has cast some safety spell around her. she lived, but succeeded in giving me a heart attack first. tuesday: layla, micah and I took a picnic to the park. on the way back, micah was determined to carry the cooler. you can’t see it very well in the picture, but it also has 3 filled water bottles clipped to the front of the handle. he didn’t make it very far before he gave it back to me. wednesday: notice what’s going on in the background of this picture: our backyard neighbors were h...

homemaking 101... ponderings, ramblings... the usual.

so i've been analyzing lately (because that's what i do) why i get so frustrated with myself, my shortcomings in the areas of housekeeping and organization, creativity, cooking, etc. it would seem that i'm trying to live up to the expectations of june cleaver, or my grandmother, or something equally unrealistic. no, i don't expect to push the vacuum and baste a turkey in heels and pearls, (besides, i have the roomba , remember?), but i do expect more of myself than i have been giving currently. why? i've been doing what i usually do when i have an issue i want to know more about; i check out every book the library has on the subject (organization problems anyone?). there are a LOT of books out there written by homemakers, for homemakers with a lot of different slants on the whole subject. interestingly enough, the view that disturbs me the most is not the one that suggests that God has decreed it so that women have no other calling than to be wives and mothers (alt...

smoothie-crazy!

I’ve always been into smoothies. but I kind of go in phases with them. there will be times that I have the ALL THE TIME, and then other times when I’ve forgotten about them and don’t have them at all. right now, I’m on a major smoothie kick. I was reminded of their sweet, wonderful yumminess a while back when I read a post on the pioneer woman’s site about smoothies . of course, she’s all photography-savvy and has a clean kitchen and whatnot, and I don’t, but this is my take on smoothies. actually, it’s just today’s take on smoothies. it changes daily, depending on what I have on hand or what I’m in the mood for. as you’ll notice, it’s also a shameless plug for my 3rd favorite kitchen appliance. (the first being my coffeemaker, obviously, and the second being my coffee grinder.) so today’s smoothie consisted of the segments of 1 clementine (I have a 5 lb. box that I need to use up before they are not so good… plus, I figure the vitamin c will not hurt me any.), a BUNCH of frozen raspb...

rachel's continued ramblings

Search This Blog