Pajamas

It is getting warmer (FINALLY!), and as cute as Mr. Eli looks in footie pajamas,

they are simply too hot for him to wear.

Remember his Batman pajamas?

The undershirts I got him came in a pack of 5, so I let him pick out 4 more fabrics... and I made him 4 more pairs of pjs!

I bought fabric and undershirts, 1/2 yard of material is more than enough for shorts and an embellishment on the shirt. Total cost for 5 pairs of pajamas was just over $11.

And Eli had sooo much fun being involved in the creative process...

He is such an artist!

Rhubarb

After all that strawberry-rhubarb jam I made with my sis-in-law a few weeks ago, I am still drowning in rhubarb!

I picked almost all of it, and carted it inside, and have been trying to use it all up...

I found this recipe for rhubarb jam. I was excited to try it, because it is straight-up rhubarb, no extra fruit to buy or pick, only 2 cups of sugar in a batch, and it doesn't use pectin.

The first batch worked out great, but this picture doesn't fully do justice to the awful color of the jam...

So in the second batch, I added a teeny-tiny bit of red food coloring.

I just really have a hard time eating things the color and consistency of baby poop...

Much prettier!

This jam is nice and tart, and goes wonderfully with peanut butter, and after 2 batches, I am about halfway thru my rhubarb pile. I think it's going into the freezer, 'cause I'm sick of jammin.

And for my Momma, here is a picture of a grandchild

to make my blog worth reading. :D

(That's Iris' Marilyn Monroe impression)

Eli the Grouch

We went to some local ponds and went for a walk this past week.

Eli was such a grouch!

The only thing that even kind of cheered him up was finding a feather,

which he brought home intending to stick in his hat and promptly lost.

Grouch.

A Home For Birdies

JoAnn's had little birdhouses for a buck when I was there last week.

Eli was so excited to pick one out.

After we got home, he decided he needed to paint it.

He's such a big boy!

Iris Is Especially Good at Expectorating!

It's a shame she has no swell cleft in her chin...

Batman!

Nah nah nah nah nah nah...

Last week when we were camping near Preston, Idaho (the town made famous by Napoleon Dynamite) we moseyed into town in search of something or other... I've forgotten now what it was, but we ended up going to Deseret Industries there. (It's the SAME DI where Napoleon bought his suit!)

I found a yard of fabric for fifty cents.

Cha-Ching!

I have already demonstrated my son's fondness for superheros.

So what to make? He already has a Batman cape, and he doesn't need another pillowcase...

I decided to make pajama bottoms. The cousin we get hand-me-downs from apparently stopped wearing pajamas around age three, and I love pajamas, so I've been looking for pjs in Eli's size now that the weather is warming up.

Ta-Da!

Now here's the problem. I fully intended these to be pajamas.

I even made a co-ordinating pajama top.

Eli, however thinks that these are pants to be worn around and shown off.

For my next project, I will be making myself a shirt that says "My Child Dressed Himself Today"

Do you think I should use freezer paper stencil, or appliqué?

Elinomics

In an attempt to teach our four year old the value of a dollar, we have been paying Eli for doing chores.

He feeds the rabbits,

Gathers the eggs,

Herds the chickens, (this one is really more for pleasure than profit)

And does a multitude of other chores.

He's such a hard worker; he's about $15.00 away from buying his new bike.