I Should Have Known

this little girl would always keep me on my toes. Her very entrance to the world was a touchy one. Showing up less than an hour after the midwives arrived, being somersaulted out with the cord tightly wrapped around her neck, being bagged to breathe, and then requiring oxygen. What would I do without my Abby?? Her quick wit, active personality and attention to detail; I love her so.....

Happy 6th Birthday, Abigail!!

You Never Know....

it might be a girl....

Just in case, I thought I would make a couple girly items.

A Jamie Jumper made from some fabric found at Jo-Ann's,

and one matching girly diaper, made from the Very Baby Pattern.

The inside filled with super soft bamboo velour and finished with pink snaps, ya' know...., just in case.... ;-)

Hangin' Out Together

I've taken a break from blogging. I'm not sure too many people noticed, but I thought I would pop in and say hi! On top of being busy, our printer broke which contained my memory card reader, so I couldn't do pictures for awhile. I got a new card reader though, so I thought I'd show you what we've been doing:

Just hangin' out together. Trying to take it easy and enjoy each other's company. It's been great! :)

Also, we've been chasing this ornery monsterman down:

He's EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING these days!

Good fun, good fun!

I hope everybody is enjoying their family as much as we are enjoying ours!

Note To Self:

Before preparing dinner and leaving almost 14 month old Josiah, who is prone to climbing, unattended, always check to make sure that his little table and chairs aren't too close to his window.

*groan....*

Cherries and Blueberries

12 of us Macks (Josh had to work) got up bright and early Saturday morning to pick cherries and blueberries. In less than 2 1/2 hours we managed to pick 39 pounds of cherries and 28 pounds of blueberries. Sooooo, what does one do with that much fruit?

Well, we froze over 50 cups of blueberries,

canned 28 quarts of cherries,

made 5 batches of blueberry jam,

2 batches of cherry jam,

and made two blueberry tarts.

So delicious! And so worth all the work! :)

What The Macks Had For Dinner

I decided to try a new recipe for dinner last night and it was SO good! All the mini Macks loved it! (except Molly and Leah, but they don't count because they are at that age where they won't eat meat!!) :) The picture doesn't do it justice, but here it is!

Upside-Down Amish Pizza

Taken from the book, The Simple Life 

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 c. chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

2 c. pizza sauce

Pepperoni slices (if desired)

1 c. chopped green peppers

1 c. chopped mushrooms

16 ounces sour cream

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Ingredients for topping:

2 eggs

1 c. milk

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown the meat and onion in a skillet. Add the salt, pepper, and pizza sauce. Pour into a 9 x 13-inch pan. Layer with pepperoni, green peppers, and mushrooms. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with sour cream and cheese. Set aside. In a bowl, mix all topping ingredients together and put on top of pizza. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

Recipe from: Mrs. Jacob Stutzman

The only changes I made were:

to add sausage to the ground beef

to not add onions

to add olives just before the sour cream

to use some cheddar cheese with the mozzarella

Yum! Soooo good!

A New Baby Hat

Using the Sweet Pea Pilot Cap Tutorial from Sew Liberated, I made a new baby hat!

So cute and tiny!

I decided to make mine reversible:

Now you may be wondering if this means we are having a boy. Nope, it doesn't mean that! We didn't find out what we are having, so the girl version will be coming soon! :)

Wonderful Holiday Weekends

Awww, long holiday weekends....

Wonderful, relaxed days for family time.

We had some yummy food to celebrate the 4th: hot dogs, homemade potato salad, lots of watermelon, and:

white cake with Cool Whip and berries! Yum!

We decided not to spend the money on fireworks this year, and instead roasted marshmallows over our fire pit. (Yes, we had cake and marshmallows in the same evening! It's a holiday, right?) It was delicious and lots of fun!

We hope you had a great 4th of July too!

To Emily

My first daughter, my introduction to the world of girlyness.
So sweet, so happy!
An independent girl who tried to walk to McDonald's by herself, because she knew the way, and said she didn't need me to walk her into pre-school on the very first day.
Beautiful, fun-loving.
I hope you always have somebody to have fun with,
I hope you always walk with God,
I hope all your dreams come true!

Happy 17th Birthday, Emily!!