Today was the kids fourth day this month alone being closed due to crazy, crazy, crazy cold weather.
Cold weather like -25 which doesn't sound as cold as the -45 it was earlier this month. Numbers I can't even really comprehend.
On days like today, days where we don't leave the house and hunker down, I like to pull out all the stops.
We stay in our PJ's all day.
We drink Dandelion coffee and hot tea.
We snuggle in under warm blankets and read stories.
Our favorite thing to do together on unexpected days off is cook all of our meals together and work on a project.
This morning we feasted on Sweet potato hash and fried eggs with smoked salt. Using sweet potatoes as hash browns is a really great way to include this wonderful food in an unexpected way at a meal time where you don't usually use it. I like to add curry to it, or cumin, but I always saute with olive oil, minced garlic, and diced onion. I let the kids peel and grate the sweet potatoes, smell the different seasonings and pick which flavor to use for the morning. A nice and hot breakfast to start the day!
We then had our dear friend over for a long morning play date. The kids had a dance party, put together a Lego scene (which my kids have continued working on all afternoon) and do some magic tricks and hide and go seek.
My beautiful friend Inga stayed over where we swapped some recipes, drank coffee and brought out our sewing machines. Perfect day for sewing! She pulled out napkins to work on that had been on her to do list for quite some time. I pulled out a tea set table cloth and napkins that I promised my daughter after I gave her a tea set for Christmas last year.
That's right people, her Christmas gift LAST YEAR! Clearly, you can imagine the pile of back up projects in my craft room. I am really happy with the result and wanted to share. While I worked on the table cloth, I had homemade chicken and potato soup stewing on the stove which just made the house smell wonderful and warmed us up when we ate.
This is a picture of Little last Christmas opening her tea set. I found it online after I was disappointed at only finding pink and purple sets in the stores. I was so thrilled she liked it so much!
I love this photo because yes my little is dressed up as Thor and the crown she is wearing was her homemade Christmas present from her brother. I love my little girl Thor playing with her new tea set. Hilarious Perfection.
Here Little is learning all about her Germany silverware that goes with her set. I found this silverware at an Antique road show over a year ago and just waited till I found the tea set to go with it. So after she fell in love with her tea set, I had it in mind to use some scrap fabric to make little napkins that go along with it and a little table cloth. I figured it was an easy project using two old large quilt squares and some scrap fabric. Little napkins can't be that hard right?
And yet it took me over a year.
Today after lunch I pulled out the fabric and got the table cloth done along with the napkins.
Here is one side of the table cloth. The middle piece was already done when I purchased this fabric over two years ago. I added the border to make it larger for a table cloth.
Here is the other side, a beautiful array of vintage fabric sewn together in scraps. It is far from straight and perfect, but perfect for a little girl and her tea set. Little was excited that she had a colorful side and a quiet side.
Little wanted to celebrate by having a tea party. She filled her pot with water, laid out the table for two and even cut up our banana's. She exclaimed, "Mom it's like a real little party!"
Here is one of the little napkins I made for the set. I made six napkins of varying fabrics. Since most of the little things I make or do for the kids I want as family keepsakes, I decided to embroider her initials in them. When she saw ET, she threw her little arms around me and said they were the best. Best. Response. Ever.
After we enjoyed our tea party, we headed to the kitchen to make Sweet Potato burgers for dinner. With sliced onion, avocado and sliced pickles, they were to die for. We are off to put laundry away, read some more and make sure we are ready for school tomorrow.
Back to a normal day I guess.