The Power of Cheese

Papa: Soph, how did you get such strong muscles?

Sophia (without skipping a beat): Because I ate a lot of cheese!

The Mom Diet

Let me make something very clear. I love to eat.

My children are my diet plan. My kids were born with a sixth sense... the food sense. Every time (EV.ER.Y.TIME) I fix myself a snack, a meal, a morsel, my children's sixth sense kicks in and they appear out of nowhere to devour my food and after every crumb is obliterated, they vanish just as quickly as they appeared.

I figure that I actually only consume about 1/4 of whatever I take. So when I get overly excited and take too much, I still only eat a small portion. This works pretty well for all of us. I imagine someday this will not happen, and then I will actually have to control my own portions. But for now, I suppose am glad to share.

July 25th

This is not a post I particularly want to write, but I am forcing myself to.

Today is July 25th. A date that will be permenantly engraved in my mind.

I have been grimacing at my calendar for the past month, watching this day approach. I have cringed every time I see the date, slowly bringing me one day closer to this one.

One year ago today was one of the most difficult days of my life. I lost my precious baby to a miscarriage. We named that baby Flynn Vidal (Full of life!), and we buried him in our front garden. I am grateful for the brief life he had growing inside of me, and rejoice knowing that our sweet baby is in his forever-home in heaven now. That he is in Jesus' presence. That he is not experiencing the pain of this world, but instead marveling in God's love and mercy.

But I also mourn the life we missed out on. Flynn would have been 4 months old now. It is a difficult thing to bury your child, no matter how small.

Here is a video we made last year, when we had a "Celebration of Life" in honor of Flynn.

Celtic Knot Headband

I found a tutorial on Pinterest for this Celtic Knot Headband, and decided to give it a shot! I made my own tutorial, so that you all can give it a try too. It took less than 10 minutes, and there is no sewing. My kind of project!

Find some jersey stretch material. Old t-shirts work really well. I used an old jersey sheet.

Cut 1-inch strips as long as you need to fit around your head with plenty extra to tie it.  If you want to make an infant headband, only use two strips. If you want a thicker headband, cut four to six strips.

Stretch the strips tightly.

The jagged edges will curl up.

Ok, ready to start knotting. I doubled up two strips for added bulk. This becomes Strip #1. Lay strip #1 as shown below, making sure the RIGHT side of the strip is on top.

Lay Strip #2 on top of Strip #1 as shown.

Pull the RIGHT tail of Strip #1 OVER Strip #2

Pull the LEFT tail of Strip #2 UNDER the loop of Strip #1

Ok, this is the trickiest part. Pull the RIGHT tail of Strip #2 OVER the loop of Strip #1, and UNDER the tail of Strip #2.

This is how it will look.

Now grab all the tails, and slowly pull to tighten the knot.

Voila!

Now, you can stop there, but if you want a bigger knot, just throw in a regular knot on each end to enlarge the knotted area.

Like so.

Then, find an adorable kid like this one, and tie it on!

Or, for a little boho flare, tie it on yourself!

First Harvest

Zucchini Invasion 2012 has begun!