Nursing Cover

Before I had Annie I had great hopes of breastfeeding.  It didn't work. Before Maycie I decided I was going to try even harder to make it work, and once again it didnt work. But before all of that with my hopes high I made a hooter hider, knowing that it was something I would need. My sister-in-law gave me some instruction on how she made hers and I looked on a couple of websites, put it all together and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. So this hooter hider tutorial is a combination of all of the information I gathered. There are probably simpler ways to make one but I tend to make things harder thinking they will work out better. I was very pleased with the result in the end and that's all that matters.

Stuff you need:
Material: 1 1/4 yds (I used 2 different fabrics so it looked finished on both sides. If you choose to do that you will need double the material.)

Ribbon: 1 1/8 yds
Rope: 26"
Cut material to the following measurements:
Measurements of Hooter Hider: 38 1/2" x 27"
Measurements of bag: 21" x 8"

Fold edges on 3 sides(the 2 short sides and one of the long sides) 1/2 inch and press and fold over again, press and sew. You wont sew the other long side now as that is where you put the boning later.

I cut the corners on the long side after pressing so it wouldn't be so bulky and easier to fold and sew.

 

At this point you would measure the width of your boning and fold your material as you did your other 3 sides making sure you leave one of the ends open so the boning can slide in.  Once your boning is in, sew vertical lines on either sides of the boning to keep it in place.

The straps:

I used ribbon so I didn't have to fold and sew straps. I measured how long I wanted the ribbon and doubled it over so the two ends would be next to the boning. The measurement (before folded over) of the long end is 28" and the short end is 10 1/2".

I sewed the ribbon twice next to the boning so it would support the weight of the material. Then you will sew your snaps on. I purchased the kind you hand sew on. I don't know if there is any other kind. On the long strap my snap is at 2 1/4" down from the folded end.

With the short end I sewed one snap where I thought I wanted it to be and then added more above and below it just in case I was wrong. Then sewed it twice next to the boning as shown above, the same as the long end. The measurements of the snaps from the folded end are 1", 1 3/4", 2 1/2", 3 1/4". 

And that's it, hopefully it made a little sense.

Now the bag

Cut out your piece of material at 21" x 8". Fold in half and sew on the 2 longs sides starting at the top on one side and sew all the way down and on the other side start an inch from the top and sew all the way down. This is for the opening for the rope. I also did a zigzag stitch on the outside of my straight stitch to reinforce the sides.

You now fold the top about 1/4 of an inch and press and then fold 1/2 of an inch, press and sew all the way around.

You will have an opening for your rope. Feed the rope through and tie a knot on both ends so it doesn't fray. I also used some liquid stuff you get at the fabric store to put on the ends so it wouldn't fray.

Your finished bag...

Hopefully it all made sense, if not leave a comment and I will try and help as best I can.

Turkey Chili

I seem to have an over abundance of black beans and have no idea what to do with them, so I went online to find a recipe that called for them. I was a little skeptical about this recipe at first because I have never made chili before but it turned out really good.  The best part about this recipe is that the ground turkey melts in your mouth. Which in my opinion makes it way better than any chili with ground beef. We ate ours with rice and sour cream, and with the leftovers Brent had burritos. Its just a pretty delicious recipe!

Turkey Chili

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 lb Ground Turkey
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Dried Oregano Leaves, Crushed
½ tsp Black Pepper
¼ tsp Garlic Powder
1 – 15.5 oz jar Salsa
14 oz can Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 – 16oz can Corn, drained
1 – 15oz can Black Beans, rinsed & drained

Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over med-high heat. Add turkey, onion powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper, and garlic powder. Cook turkey until it is well browned, stirring frequently to break up meat. Stir the broth, salsa, sugar, beans and corn into the saucepan. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally while cooking.

Recipe Source: Swansons

Jello Salad

This is what we had with our sloppy joes the other night. It is so simple and delicious. 

Cottage Cheese Jell-o Salad

1 - 16oz Cottage Cheese
1 - 8oz Cool Whip, Thawed
1 - 3oz pkg. Raspberry Jell-o
2 small cans Mandarin Oranges

Mix cottage cheese with Jell-o until Jell-o dissolves. Fold in thawed cool whip. Fold in drained oranges. Set for 1 hour.

Sloppy Joes

I have quite a few new recipes I have tried making lately and I am going to start posting them. I'll only post the good ones, cause some of them didn't turn out very well. 

This has to be the best sloppy joe recipe that I have ever had, and its really simple.

Sloppy Joes

1 lb Ground Beef
1 cup Ketchup
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp Water
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp Vinegar
2 tsp Mustard
½ tsp Garlic Powder
½ tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Salt

Cook and drain hamburger. Add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Recipe Author Unknown. . . I cant for the life of me remember where I got it.

Our Little Spring Break

We got a chance to get away because Brent had spring break, and even though he probably should've been studying, he decided to treat us to time away. So we decided to go to Zermatt for a few days(thanks to Brents dad who generously let us use it). It was nice to have time together with the girls without any worries.

We saw the ice castles that they had made over the winter. They are in process of melting but were still really huge and amazing to see.

We spent a whole day at the outlets, which was my favorite activity, and we had a great time swimming.

Maycie slept in the car seat the whole time, but I needed a picture of her in her cute swimming suit!

We had a great time, and are so excited about the next trip!

Finally Finished!

I have been working on making letters for Maycie's room for over 3 months now. I started working on them, but I always seem to get side tracked by another project or I have to wait for Brent to get around to helping me. 

I didnt know what I wanted to do at first because I really liked how Annie's turned out and it was so easy to do. I wanted them to be similar which was the challenging part. So this is Annie's name above her bed...

For Maycie's I started out with the same font and got Brent to cut them out of wood, then I painted them the same color as the border on Annie's.

It was all working out until I decided they needed something else...and so I ended up choosing these flowers. (I cut the flowers out on the cricut)

but I needed a hole punch to put a dot in the center. So off to Roberts I went and they didnt have any single hole punches, but I ended up finding this awesome one, which worked out perfectly because I had different sized flowers anyway.

I put the dots on flowers with a glue stick,

decided where to put them on the letters and applied them with Mod Podge.

In the end they hang above Maycie's bed and look like this...

A little bit like they have the chicken pox.

Chocolate Cake

Every Sunday we go to my parents for dinner and I bring dessert. This past Sunday I decided to try a cake recipe I found on kevinandamanda.com/recipes. I needed an occasion because you dont just have cake any day of the week, so my excuse was St. Patricks Day. Pretty pathetic, but I really wanted to try this cake. I apparently am out of the loop because everyone I told about this cake has had it before. But anyway, I think it turned out pretty well. It took me a few tries to get the frosting to stay on the cake(it was too runny and kept sliding down, frosting is obviously not my forte). It did end up turning out and was so delicious!

The BEST Chocolate Cake!

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 package Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips                       

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a VERY large bowl (4 qt), mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. :) It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and vanilla. Add sugar one cup at a time and continue creaming until well blended. Add milk, and mix until light and fluffy.

Recipe Source:  www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes

The First One!

I have been trying to figure out how to do a blog for while and what I wanted to put on it, and now I think I have the basics and some good ideas thanks to a class I went to by Suzanne Blair and her website.  But in reality this is the first time I have had a minute make the first post on this blog. I have been trying to start it for over 3 weeks now and I always seem to find something else to do instead. 

So I am finally making a moment to do it. I decided to start with something funny that happened when we awoke this morning. 

Brent went into Annie's room to check on her and found her bed like this...

And her like this...

Sound asleep on the floor of her closet. 

She didn't come out once last night, and that was obviously because she was busy playing with her princess castle on the floor all night. I found it quite amusing seen as how the previous night she came out of her room about 6 or 7 times!

I am going to start to post things more regularly, hopefully anyway. I have some really delicious recipes, easy cute quilts I am making for my girls and just some other odds and ends you might enjoy seeing, reading about, or trying for yourself. But if nothing else there will always be something funny going on in our family to share.