My Three daughters & Me

Here is a photo of myself with my 3 daughters. Or do you see only two? Look harder!  I  sometimes can hardly believe it myself, but the Lord is blessing us with our fifth child. It looks like it is going to be another daughter, a perfect playmate for my little baby girl. I feel so blessed at times when I hold her in my arms and feel the little one kicking away inside of me. How could I deserve it? Two babies! Although I must say Victoria is no longer such a small baby anymore, especially when I see her in this photo. Still, I call her my baby. We will be welcoming the little dear in March.

This is taken at the maya ruins we visited with my sisters' family as they were visiting from Canada.I will do another post with more photos soon...

A trip to the lake

One day we decided it was time to take our kids to the lagoon, where we so often went for fun when we were younger. The lake now is not visited nearly as much as it used to be, which makes is all the more a hidden quiet retreat in the jungle to get away to on a lazy Sunday. And to be honest, a little spooky.

  Bad thing, it rained. Good thing, we could eat under this shelter and enjoy it until the rain let up. the lake was much higher than I remember it being.

 Then we heard a howler monkey from the jungle, up close! The kids were super excited to go and find it. 

Except little Vicky of course, she did not think this strange noise was anything to be happy about.

 We wanted to see at least one crocodile in one of the lakes but we had no luck. Maybe next time. They will appear in the night if you go rafting out unto the lake on a full moon night. I am talking from experience, and one I would never ever care to repeat. Whew.

 Here they are inside the green hole. This hole resembles the other ones surrounding the lagoon but for some reason this one does not hold any water.???

 

 Little miss and myself did not go down but watched from above. 

 Climbing out of the hole.

 Going home again. It was a fun visit, but it is always good to be out of the jungle again where we can feel a little safer. Its a beautiful country, but you always cast an extra look over your shoulder in places like these.

Mud puddle fun

Farm Update

What's new on the farm? A bunch of nine cute little baby chicks hatched by our very wise white hen who is good at it.

We love our free range eggs, but have not been eating our own lately. We were running out of the regular brown hens, and what I really wanted was the local colorful hens who lay the goldenest eggs you ever saw. So when our hen stared sitting on her one egg, I quickly bought more to add to her pile and she faithfully sat and sat and sat till her time was up. It amazes me how a mother hen can sit like that with only an occasional quick meal a few times a week.

Nine out of 11 eggs hatched, one chick died, so now we have 8 beauties. I keep hoping that at least half of these will be hens for future egg layers.

 

 To watch a mother hen care for her chicks is amazing. A lovely example of a good mother.

Transformed Butter Cookie Tin

 It makes even more sense to eat those yummy butter cookies, now that you know you can make something this pretty out of the tin.

 Spray paint white, then pink on the bottom piece of tin. Cut out a snowflake pattern that fits the lid, and hold that on the lid as you paint pink over that. That gives you the lacy pattern on the lid.

 Paste a lovely rose in the middle. When dry, spray all over with a clear coat for extra protection and gloss. You can add lace around the bottom piece if preferred. You could also put the lace on, then spray paint with pink just like we did with the lid, and you would have the lace pattern there without needing to use the lace itself. It should definitely last longer that way.

Linked up at:
The shabby Nest

Jessica at her most recent piano recital

More on bottle cutting

I realized I should have included the link when I talked about bottle cutting before. this technique works the best for me so far. I do not have the bottle cutter, but a small cheap tool from the hardware store. I fasten that in a vise, then with a solid grip I turn the bottle around in a circle, letting the cutter cut all around the bottle once or more if needed.

 The piece on the left is a cut cod liver oil bottle, and the glass on the right is from a sprite bottle. (In Belize most sodas still come in glass bottles)

 This can be tricky, and too often I end up with broken bottles.They don't break while cutting, but while pouring the hot or cold water to separate the two pieces.

 Do you see that this bottle is thick in some ares and thin in others? If you have a bottle like this, you just happen to be unfortunate, because they don't want to behave when splitting. I threw away two of these big rum bottles and am thinking they might never work for me.

 I am most successful with the regular wine bottles that I cut at the bottom. These I can turn into wine glasses or candle lanterns, either one.

 If these glasses tip over, they will most likely break. Trust me, I speak from experience! 

And here's what you don't want -- an explosion. Too bad for me, I had to find this one out personally too! Before pouring hot water for the first time, make sure the cap is off! I had a frosted bottle that was supposed to work out well, but since I had forgotten to take the cap off, it exploded into two when pouring the hot water. DON"T do that! No one got hurt, but it still gave me a good scare.

They do make lovely flower vases.

Girls' Rainy Day Tea Party

 

 Last week I decided it was time for another tea party. In Belize the hot dry summer days are over for now, and the rainy humid season has started. During the hot months one does not feel like drinking hot tea, only lots of sweet iced tea.

But, when it is dark and rainy outside, what's better than to light some candles, decorate a table and brew some tea. Invite some friends first, and here's what we will serve:

 

 Homemade cookies dipped in chocolate.

Some Brookside chocolate covered fruit candy. The best!

 

 Happy cow cheese.

 ...and some chips brought by one of the friends completes the perfect tea snack.

 For the centerpiece we used my cut glass bottle.

 Some of our latest teacups that we used:

 

 Dilmah teas...apple cinnamon and blueberry vanilla.

The three happy friends at the party. They loved it!

 

 It is especially rewarding for me to host a party like this and then to hear the remark, "I have never done this before." And then to see the smile on their faces and the sparkle in their eyes, knowing that one of their girlish dreams have probably just come true, is a very fulfilling and rewarding feeling.

Linked up at
the Shabby Nest
and:
Bernideen's Tea Time Blog

Recycled canning lids

For me, the motto often is: better not throw it away; it might come in handy sometime. And when enough time has passed, I often come up with a good idea. You just never know when that will happen.

Take used lids, clean and spray paint any color you prefer. 

Cut out a catalog picture or any other picture you like. A baby food jar lid is a great pattern to hold on the picture and trace around. Paste that into the middle of the lid. Spread glitter around the edge with glue and glitter or glitter glue. When all is dry, spray paint with a clear coat that will give it protection and add that sheen. Stick a magnet on the back, and there is a beautiful magnet.

...I joined the party at:
the Shabby Nest

Victoria Hope is One!

 Jessica baked the cake and helped decorate it. Simple simple, but fun for kiddos.

  I figured some new balls would be a treat. They look so girliesh, don't they? 

And here are some more shots from lately:

 Sweaty face and red cheeks.  Its those sweltering summer days that do it!

 How about some glitter on my foot! That seems to be the excitement here...although nothing came out.

 This is one of her favorite expressions lately. "Kliena frautzerita"!

 We have one outdoorsy little girlie. Now she is big enough to open the doors, walk out, get down the stairs and walk or crawl about outside. She couldn't be happier than when she can be outside.

Vintage Sewing Machine Table

When it comes to old treadle sewing machines, I seem have a magnet in me that draws me to them.  One day I spotted this rusty frame (below) sitting in the rain and sun on someone's yard. I couldn't help but ask about it. For a small fee they let me have it. It is a FARMER sewing machine frame, something I don't recall seeing before.

  I cleaned, scrubbed and sanded the frame quite a bit. I was debating what color to paint it. The original was brown, so since I was in a restoring mood, I went with it.

 An old piece of plywood found in the old shed works well for the tabletop. I took a rosewood colored polyurethane (that was lying around from before) for the finish, and there I have it. A simple yet sturdy little table that could be turned into a sewing machine table again, or just to be used as a coffee table. In this case I have my vintage bowl and pitcher sitting on it.

Plus, it makes a nice place for little feet to play . The kids have fun pushing the pedal up and down. This is one 'sewing machine' they are allowed to do that on as much as they want to!

See you again soon! I've got more fun coming up!