Dress-up Day

Today was dress-up day at C-note's school.  It was suggested that they choose a "hero from a book or movie."  He wanted to be Prince Caspian from the Chronicles of Narnia.  The end result of my crafting makes him look more like a medieval knight, but it looks kinda neat, and won him first prize in his grade.  So he's not running-away-from-evil-Uncle-Miraz Caspian, or Voyaging-on-the-Dawntreader Caspian, but perhaps going-to-war-against-the-Telmarines Caspian.

The helm was made of craft foam (inspired by this website), the sword was made of leftover wood bits by Sir, then finished with silver tape and sport tape, his buckler the bottom of a springform pan that was getting rusty anyway, and his "chain-mail" was an open-knit tunic shirt of mine, cinched by a belt from my closet.

Some adjustments were made to the helm after trying it on.  His shoulders kept pushing it up, so I cut off some material.  All in all, a total of $3 was spent to make this costume happen, not including the things found around the house of course!

MY Sandwich!

 Mm, mm, what a yummy grilled cheese and ham sandwich I just snagged!

What are you doing?  Give it back now!

STOP!  It's MINE!*wapwapwap*

You're EATING it!  NO!

 My saaaaaandwich......

You're the worst dad ever!

 Ok, thanks for the crust...sniff...

Potato Bacon Soup

This is a favorite here in the Harseverse.  It's a meal-in-a-bowl!  Warm and delicious, perfect for those chilly winter nights.  Leftovers are even more yummy reheated next day.  Serve with garlic bread or crusty rolls.

Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
6 slices bacon, chopped, plus extra slices for garnish
5-6 large potatoes, cubed
1 liter chicken or vegetable stock
4 stalks celery, sliced
3 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus extra for garnish
1/2 cup chopped chives
freshly ground pepper

Method
Cook chopped bacon and onion together on medium high heat for 5 minutes.  Add potatoes, celery, and stock and bring to a boil.  You want enough stock to come up within an inch of covering the vegetables, but not to cover them entirely because you will be adding milk later.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  While soup is simmering, cook extra bacon slices until crisp, chop them and set aside for garnishing.  Once vegetables are tender, roughly mash with a potato masher.  Don't completely obliterate them - you want some chunkiness.  Add milk (add more for thinner soup, less for thicker soup) and the cheese and half of the chives.  Serve with the remaining chives, crispy bacon, shredded cheese and pepper for toppings.   

Six Months

This past Friday Strawberry turned one half year old.  We celebrated her half-birthday with a cake.  Ok, we didn't really, but we did have cake.  Because it's the holidays.  And holidays = lots of baking.  Ah, who am I kidding, I don't need a reason to bake.  Ever.  The boys enjoy helping and right now they're both home, so baking was on the itinerary a few times!

Little miss S loves to rock herself and bounce off the back of the couch (and her bebePOD - so much that I can't have her on the counter anymore, or she'll scoot it right off the edge.)  She thinks her brothers are the best people ever, and greets all of us with an "Ah."  She loves to sit up, but is still working on keeping herself up.  She still doesn't like tummy time, but she's getting better at it.  She's not in a rush with rolling around either.  She is a little shy around strangers, and has been so since she was four months old.  She prefers to be with her mommy, and mommy doesn't mind at all...