15 Minutes

Yep, that is all it took to remove the basting and add some top stitching to this outfit. It has sat on the sewing table for weeks! Oh, bother:)This outfit was commissioned by P3. I made one exactly like it for a pal of hers. They love to match and call each other before evening programs on Sundays to compare notes. Anyone recognize the top? I need to find a wholesale supplier for elastic! I lengthened the top a bit as both girls have long torsos. I used Simplicity 4206. I love these sweet and simple patterns.

Birthday Season Has Begun

Borko birthday season begins with a triple birthday in August. My mom and C6 share a birthday and my sister's takes place a week before. We had the whole gang over for a birthday bash. There was food, cake and laughing. My mom loves coconut cake and had been eyeing this one over at Martha Stewart. We did the best we could to compete.



It was super yummy and vanished quickly. J's parents came over and celebrated later on in the week with a smaller cake!



C6 turned two AND there is not another baby coming. It has been a lot harder on this mama than I ever expected. I am trying to embrace the feelings and cry when I want or just sit and enjoy her when I know I "should" be doing something else. At first I tried to deny/suppress the grieving feelings. Things like:

"Give me a break Eva you do have SIX kids!!! What's your problem?"

"What are you some kind of baby nut!!! Won't it be great to not have a diaper bag?"

"You will have lots of grand babies to hold. Just wait."

"You can always work in the nursery!."

had been running through my head. I have never made it to a two year old birthday without a baby on the way. And this whole process of letting go bites.



::Before the curls came in




::My brown eyed girl




::Cool baby,cool



::Not so easy being two



::"Horsie!!!"

Sigh . . . Now I'll be gearing up for P3's birthday this month, with ones following in October, November and December. We get January off before The Boy's birthday in February! Going to search for more cute cakes!

Swimming Lessons

Lately, I have been in a major cooking rut. OK, maybe the truth is something closer to a life rut!My nose barely above water, as I tread for the longest time. Not really getting anywhere but wore out and cranky. My days off,just being me, a lovely visit with a dear friend, an encouraging conversation with an emerging kindred spirit, realization of the awesome community of women surrounding me and a boost in the arm (yesterday) that these kids are my calling . . . these things have me swimming again. I am not going for the full out around the world swim but I am going to try and make it across the lake. When I am down , in a rut, the first thing to go is cooking. My dear J doesn't mind so much but a few of the older children have a hard time eating frozen foods. I fear the younger ones will come to think of me cooking as a special treat! Today I was feeling mighty fine and decided to test the waters in the kitchen. I pulled out two of my favorite cookbooks and started in with some help from my kitchen side kick. She resembles the Red Hen quite a bit, in that she is really into tasting everything and not so into the helping part. Lots of people love the Moosewood cookbooks for all their yummy vegetarian recipes. In our house we do have a couple favorite entrees and salads but the most used sections of my Moosewood cookbooks are the deserts! So we whipped up some blueberry muffins. Trust me these count as a desert, my J compares the batter to cookie dough. We also made brownies but I do not have a picture of those. They were eaten right out of the pan. And there is nothing left to take a picture of except contented tummies! It feels grand to be swimming along again. Very grand indeed.