a mothers muse’s photostream

a mothers muse’s photostream on Flickr.

A Mother’s Day Gift

This is a scarf I made for my mom for Mother’s Day. One side is a piece of linen that I’ve had in my stash and the other is organic cotton from the Moda birch line.

When dinner is in doubt, which it often is in this house, melt cheese. The day started off well. The sun was shining, I had some new, shiny, doggie pants whipped up for Eero by 10am and there hadn’t been too many tears. We took a walk to the Co-op to pick up some eggs and coffee. We escaped with our loot in tact. No tears, no complaining. They were perfect. As I charged back up the hill towards our house with one on my back and one in the stroller, it seemed as if everyone was going to take a nice nap. It seemed…

Two hours later, two very tired, cranky tots were still awake and their mama was at wit’s end. Just as the littlest dropped her heavy lids, a surprise out-of-town-cousin-to-my-mother decided to drop by. Quietly, I shut the door to the bedroom. Naptime is sacred time in my house and when one is in the middle of closing the deal with the two under two, one does not invite in visitors for their observation. But this visitor was determined. He, yelled for awhile (waking the newly sleeping baby) and then charged right for the bedroom door. Withholding verbal abuse, I pointed out that there was no coffee yet. No problem was the basic response but after a bit of ignoring, the unwelcome guest took his leave muttering something about not being invited. PUHLEASE!

Fast forward two more hours, eldest poor little babe finally sleeping with tear-stained face. Littlest babe resisting it but giving in to this mama’s much practiced stand up and rock style. A skateboarder flies off of his board and hits the pavement. I run outside, (with baby 2 in tow) call 911, ambulance pulls up. Super grim, the poor kid is pretty disoriented and bleeding but conscious. It seems like he’ll be ok. I hope, I hope.

I run back inside to check on baby 1. He is crying and disoriented. Still tired. And the Sleep Sheep is broken.

The hubs comes home awhile later while I am feeding a hard boiled egg to baby 1. Time for music class, huzzah. Baby 2 wakes up and now she’s really mad. We are low on dinner supplies to boot and although we do have coffee, not everyone in this family can subsist on caffeine alone. Hmmm… perhaps this has something to do with why nursing baby 2 can’t sleep…

But we have to eat! What to do? Enchilada pie… Here’s the recipe for the dish. It’s quick, cheap and the perfect fixer upper for a humdinger of a day. We ate the whole pan.

Enchilada Pie

You will need: 12 or so corn tortillas, 1 can black beans, 2 cans enchilada sauce (or salsa or something similar), 4 eggs, 3/4 cup sour cream, as much cheese as you like (you’ll add it in every layer – 4 total), a couple of tablespoons of milk, cumin and pepper. Other add-ins might include jalapenos, chipotle peppers would be divine, roasted poblano peppers or diced onions.

Cut 9 tortillas in half and nestle the first three into your rectangular baking dish. Use one of the whole tortillas to cover the middle.
Spread 1/2 of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas, followed by all of the sour cream, then 1/2 of the black beans and 1/3 of the cheese.
Add the next layer of tortillas. Spread the second helping of first the enchilada sauce, then the black beans and cheese.
Add the final layer of tortillas.
Whisk the milk and eggs together in one of the cans that the beans or the enchilada sauce came in. Pour the eggs and milk over the tortillas. Top with the rest of the cheese. Add pepper and cumin to taste plus any other toppings.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20.

What’s Using You Up?

I ran across this concept here: http://rhythmofthehome.com/spring-2011/rhythm-of-friendship-blogging/ the other night.

What is using me up indeed… Sick kids, homework, no time to sew.

But then, I ran across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8K9s7_k3TM&feature=player_embedded

Spring Reading

Eero loves books. Hiver too. Reading books helps us to chart our days, the seasons and our moods. They are the ultimate equalizer and sedative. Have tantrum? Read a book.

I am always combing the blogs to find out what moms are reading to their little ones. I rotate our books according to the seasons and in order to keep them fresh for we the readers.

Right now, here’s a list of what we’re reading:

ABC Bunny – a mama favorite. A Minnesota author and cool illustrations

 I am a Bunny

 All the World – beautiful pictures and a truly beautiful message.

Springtime Celebrating

The Ambulator

Since he started walking seven days after his sister was born, he has been on the move. A new pair of mama made pants seemed like just the thing to help us celebrate.

The pattern I used is Annia Maria Horner’s

“Quick Change Trousers” from: Handmade Beginnings. The fabric is some heavier weight denim that I’ve had and Michael Miller’s “Bicycles in Gray.

From Grandpa Sweater to Big Brother Sweater

This is a shrunken (felted) JCrew sweater that my dad had. I cut apart a hand me down sweatshirt to make a pattern, cut the peices out and sewed the peices together with a wide zigzag stitch. I’m pretty pleased with the result. The neck is weird but he likes it because it’s nice and roomy. They appliques are just hearts that I cut out of scrap fabric freehand and sewed on before I seamed the whole works together.

challah

Moving Day?

After two six month stints in our tent followed by five years living in our tiny abode sans indoor plumbing, it sounds like we’re moving to town… Our family is growing rapidly (we’ll soon be joining the ranks of those who have proudly borne two under two) and daily chores like boiling water for dishes, baths and doggy puncture wounds have lost their shine. And it seems a little dangerous. Although we think that it’s important to keep our family on a conservative path when it comes to consumption of resources, it’s time to stretch out a little bit.