A Baby Shower

Wow, I get a baby shower for this baby too!? I got some really cute little things, and we all had a lot of fun.
MMMM rice krispy treats...
and "Bootie Cake", so yummy!! Thanks Jen.

Whoa look at that belly, and we still have 4 weeks to grow!!!

Did I ever show you my... house?

(If you live here, this post will bore you to tears.) I have been wanting to share some pictures of our house for everyone that will never get to see it in person :( We were really blessed to find this house about a year ago. It has been fun trying to decorate it, and since I am in hyper nest mode, it has been getting extra attention.



My bamboo chair where I sit and blow bubbles, I made the cushions myself.

More of the porch, an abandoned bird cage. I am thinking about painting it... And some cilantro plants that are now dead. I have no gardening talent, and Micah keeps wistfully mentioning a garden.

Front door, my little sign I did and some of our window shelves.


When you walk in there are some photos and pictures to the right. Picture of Eliza, a Chinese New Year's card from 7 years ago (year of the chicken?), a Thai orchid, nondescript tree, thrift store lamp and a family photo that predates Ashley, wow that is one old picture because Ashley is getting up there!!!
Little tray with lone living houseplant.

And some shots of some shelves in our windows. One special thing about this house. Some of the windows have little shelves in them. This is my 4th house in Thailand, and we have never had such a luxury

Thrift store birds.

Orphaned deer, used to be Christopher and Asia's. We took her in, she's a peach.

Little bowls. More house pictures coming soon.

Some Toys

Just finished this for Eliza. I am going to put it in her bag for when we are at the hospital and she stays with friends. I made a little envelope shaped bag for all the pieces too, but I didn't get a picture. (I also have a little felt board that is felt mounted on heavy cardboard. It is from another little playset we had already.)The model here is showing off this season's latest swimwear, and in Thailand you need a good suit all year long.

Evening and formal wear (one is a very loose copy of Cinderella's gown)

Different hairstyles, and a variety of colors, we are soo PC.


Shirts...
Acessories
Shorts, skirts and pants (the belt is detachable)

This is a little cow for the baby. I still need to stitch on the collar, I saw a cow like this at a toy shop here for $20! can you believe it? So I loved it so much I tried to make one myself. It definitely has a lot of, "handmade charm," but it came out well in the end.


And last week Eliza said her baby needed a tutu. This only took about 5 minutes. I have made tons of these. You don't have to sew it. I just used a piece of elastic the size of the baby's waist and cut long strips of tulle, folded them in half around the elastic and knotted it. Of course once I made it, she said the baby didn't want it, and I have been picking it up off the floor ever since. I guess that's a three-year old for you.

Pants to Patch

More hand me down clothes that I had to recover. I love these little pants but they had lots of spots, so I covered them up with new spots.

Baby Shower for Bethany

I just wanted to post some pictures because I got to make most of the stuff for the shower, it constitutes as a craft post I suppose. I got this idea from Martha Stewart. I made two, but I forgot to take a picture of both because I gave one to Bethany for the baby's room.
An easy little banner, caught in the air conditioner draft.
Bethany looks great! She is all baby, still so tiny.
I have been wanting to make a fruit bouquet for a long time. Fruit is sooo cheap here, it really needs to be done more often.
Some snacks.
I made this for the baby's room. They are naming her McKenzie.
A blanket I made.
And my contribution to the bitty bootie craze. I actually made these last year, but right before my Mom passed away, so yeah, I totally forgot about them, and found them a few weeks ago.
I hadn't decorated the yet, so I did the flowers last week.

Recipes to Share (some of these things are not good to eat)

I have been needing to post the recipes/directions for some of our projects so here are the ones I used:

Bath Crayons:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/779453/how_to_make_the_best_homemade_bath.html?cat=24

Here is the recipe I used. I didn’t use ivory like they call for because I can’t get it here, so I just took two bars of white soap and grated it with my cheese grater. I also added TONS of food coloring. The crayons come out dark, but show up better in the tub that way. I also put them in the freezer for a few hours in their molds, and let them dry out for a few days on top of the fridge. I feel like they turned out pretty well. They aren't as smooth as a commercial crayon, but they served their purpose of dying the water and turning Eliza's belly blue.


Fingerpaint:
3 Tbs. sugar
1/2 C. sugar
Medium saucepan
2 cups cold water
Muffin tin or small cups
spoon
food coloring
soap flakes of liquid dishwashing detergent

Directions:
Mix sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add cold water and continue stirring until the mixture is thick. Remove from heat. Divide the mixture into the four or five portions, spooning them into the sections of a muffin tin or small cups. Add a drop or two of food coloring and a pinch of soap flakes or a drop of liquid dishwashing detergent to each portion. Use a different color for each cup. Stri and let cool. Store covered in an airtight container.

I have made this a few times now. And I think the trick to make sure it doesn't get too thick is to remove the mixture from heat AS SOON as it starts to thicken. Because it still thickens even after you remove it from heat. My other advice it to keep it in the fridge. One reason is the paint starts to thicken after a few days, if you leave it at room temperature. And if you live here it will start to mold after a few days thanks to the tropical humidity. Once again it isn't QUITE the same consistency as store bought, but I think it makes a good enough substitute, and I also have no other option so...


Mini Brownie Bites
1/3 C. butter
2-1 oz. squares of unsweetened chocolate
3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C. cup flour
1/2 C. mini M&M's

Directions
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees
-Ina saucepan, melt butter or margarine with chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly witha wooden spoon. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and 1/4 cup of the candies. Add chocolate mixture and whisk to blend.
-Using a spoon, fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Using 1/2 of the remaining candies, sprinkle on top of batter in each filled muffin cup.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes. Remove brownies from pan and cool thoroughly.
Makes 24 brownies.
(I actually used chocolate chips instead of M&Ms, except I topped one batch with M&Ms. But I wanted chocolate chips in them instead. Sometimes a candy shell gets in the way of what's really important [chocolate.])