Banana "Ice Cream"

Peanut Butter Banana, Strawberry Banana, Cocoa Banana

Peanut Butter Banana

2 ripe bananas (frozen)

1 tbsp  flax seed

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

Strawberry Banana

2 ripe bananas (frozen)

1 tbsp  flax seed

1/2 cup strawberries

Coco Banana

2 ripe bananas (frozen)

1 tbsp  flax seed

1 tsp cocoa powder

Peel and chop frozen bananas,

Grinds flax seeds,

Put everything in a food processor,

and process until smooth.

Pop it back in the freezer for about 30 min. before serving.

This is not my own idea. It came from here.

Unsure of why he's been given ice cream. 

The kids really didn't know the difference between this and ice cream,

and Liam was asking for more the next day. 

Jesse's conclusion:

"Hmm, its actually pretty good."

The cocoa version was definitely the biggest hit.

I hate bananas, so of course I didn't like it.

But I did get the satisfaction of making a wholesome treat for my family.

Daddy's not the only one that makes faces when he eats.

You really couldn't tell that it had flax seed in it. In fact next time I think I'll double it.

The peanut butter and cocoa versions were quite scoopable the next day. The strawberry version was a little hard the next day, but just fine after a couple minutes on the counter.

Granny Square Hooded Scarf

A Christmas gift for Gabrielle.

These squares came from the same blanket as the squares used for Angie's shoulder bag. 

It is quite a simple project. 

Scarf

11 x 6" squares 

Add a round of single crochet(Sc)

(3 or 5sc in each corner, whatever looks best)

to each square before joining.

Join together with slip stitch(ss).

Hood

Sc back and forth along the edge of the centre three squares for approx. 4",

 or whatever you need to make the hood fit.

Do not break yarn.

Fold the flat hood piece in half and join the two halves together with a ss.

Picot Edging

Round 1:

Join yarn in any stitch. 

Chain(ch) 1, Sc around,

Sc 3 or 5 in each outside corner, whatever looks best. 

Sc2together before and after each inside corner.(-2 stitches)

Join with ss to begining ch.

Round 2:

Ch 1, *sc2, 1 picot* repeat from *to* around,

As in round 1, sc2tog before and after each inside corner.(-2 stitches)

Join with ss to begining ch. 

1 picot = sc, ch3, ss into 1st of 3ch.

Here's a good video demonstration.

***On round 2 I did not add any stitches to the outside corners,

however if you look closely at the picture you can see that the outside corners curl a little bit.

Next time, I would +2 stitches to each, for a total of 3 stitches in each outside corner.

Busy Blanket

This is a Christmas gift for "Baby Jade" as Liam calls her.

It is simply a denim/flannel rag quilt with a plethora of random things on it that might catch a baby's attention for a minute. It's intended for that stage when they're curious about everything and wanting to explore, but they're not yet able to get around very well. The idea is that you'd plunk the baby right in the middle, and it would keep her busy for a while.





 A closer look.



The blue ruffly thing is the collar from a shirt that Jesse had when he was young.
The purple ribbon has a big button on it that can be tucked into the red plaid pocket.
The pink granny square is from the blanket mentioned in the "Granny Square Shoulder Bag" post. Made by Jade's Great Grandmother. It is sewn on only three sides so that it becomes a pocket.
There are three large buttons that can be pushed around inside the doily.
The brown floral patch also has buttons inside of it.
The purple embroidery beside it is a maze.

The apron strings are not fully attached, so they can be fiddled with. Also, the skirt of the apron is sewn in such a way that it cannot be smoothed out. An accident, but a fiddler none the less.

The orange ring slides back and forth on the ribbons.

The purple granny square type thing is only attached in the middle. The rest of the buttons can be undone.

The "picnic blanket" under the football is only attached at the edges of the football. And of course the football can be unzipped to reveal three buttons that are sewn down, one that is on a ribbon, and a little round "bag" of buttons.



The mouse is my favourite part of this blanket. I like it so much I might just make a whole blanket of them. The tail is a piece of t-shirt yarn, and is free to be fiddled with.

Last summer's flip flop got reused. The "sole" is corduroy.



Elias insisted on having his picture taken with the blanket.



A picture of Jade exploring her blanket. Stolen from Angie's blog.











The Granny Square Shoulder Bag

When Jesse was young his grandmother made a granny square blanket for each of the siblings in his family. Jesse's was damaged and had been sitting in our closet for a long time. I had been meaning to fix it for quite some time, but when I mentioned it to Jesse I found out that he wasn't actually very fond of the blanket. He felt like he should keep it because his grandma gave it to him, but he didn't actually like it much. So I decided to take it apart and reuse the squares. He liked this idea.

I tossed around a few ideas, and this is what I came up with.

 It is a Christmas gift for Angie. I think she'll appreciate the sentiment.



The other side.

   It could easily be lined, but it was nice this way too, so I left it. Angie's a great seamstress, so I know it won't be much trouble for her to line it if she wants to.

How Its Made.

As you can see from the pictures, you need 13 granny squares. One "+" (5squares) on each side, plus three squares that join the two sides. Connect the squares with single crochet(on the inside of the bag).

Border:

Round 1:

Attach yarn anywhere along the top of the bag.Ch(chain)1, Sc(single crochet) around, in the valleys skip the bottom space, at the peaks 2sc in the top space, join with slip stich.

Round 2:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

When coming up to a valley: Sc until there are two stiches before the bottom, crochet 2 together, twice, continue sc around.

When coming up to a peak: Sc until there is one stich before the top, 2sc in each of next 2 stiches, continue sc around.

Join.

Round 3:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

Valleys: same as round 2.

Peaks: Sc until there is one stich before the last increase(2 stiches before the top), 2sc in next stich, sc in each of next 2, 2sc in next stich, continue sc around.

Join.

Round 4:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

Valleys: same as round 2.

Peaks: Sc until there is one stich before the last increase(3 stiches before the top), 2sc in next stich, sc in each of next 4, 2sc in next stich, continue sc around.

Join and break yarn.

Handle(Make 2):

Ch5, sc in second ch from hook, sc in next 3, *ch1, turn, sc4 across, repeat from * until desired legth.

Sew the handles to the flat spots at the tops of the peaks.

Sc arround entire border and handles for two more rounds. (There will be 3 separate areas to crochet arround. The outside of the left handle, between the handles, and the outside of the right handle.)



The closure is simply two wooden buttons conected by an old hair elastic.
 Just pop it through the hole at the bottom of the V on both sides.



Christmas Morning

Checking out the stockings. Liam found the chocolate right away, Elias doesn't yet realize he has one too.

Still a little dopey, and not sure what to think about all of this. When we woke the boys up Liam was out of bed in a flash.  Elias on the other hand scowled at me, grabbed his blanket out of my hand, threw his head back on the pillow with the blanket pulled up to his chin and said "No!" quite sternly.

Dad bugging Liam with the "Grumpy Birds" from the stockings. Thanks to Angie, who made one of these for Suzie's Birthday, which is where I got the idea. The boys are loving these, but now I need to make some pigs to go with them.

I got the patterns here, but I used felt instead fleece.

We had to turn out the lights so we could check out the laser fingers. They are just little flashlights  with an elastic on them so that they can be strapped to your finger. Genius idea, and cheap too. I think I paid $2 for 10 of them.

Veggie Tales galore.

Dad likes Lego too ;)

As usual I didn't get many good pictures on Christmas Day. I am always disappointed about this after the fact, but I just miss too much if I'm focused on picture taking.

Elias loving his Bed Bugs Game. (Not sure what's up with the lighting....)

"Grumpy Birds" with Nana and Papa.

Tea Party

Jesse caught the boys having a tea party. Sadly the dryer is running.....

For some reason, my videos keep showing up much darker here than they do on my camera. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. 

ChristmasTree

Elias' first year helping decorate the tree.

Desperately trying to hook it on the branch.

A little unfamiliar with the phrase "Put your arm around your brother".

Very familiar with a "Goofy Picture"

Angry Birds Ornaments

"Patterns" came from the same site as the Angry Bird toy.