Make Your Own Homemade Pop Tarts

So you love pop tarts? Well homemade ones are so super yummy that you'll never go back to the box. They are really very simple too.

First thing you need is pie crust dough. 

You can make your own or buy the premade rolls from the dairy section of your grocery store. 

Next you need to cut them to size. We did 3" by 6". 

We used a ruler and a pizza cutter to get nice cuts.

Next you'll want to place half your pieces on a nonstick cookie sheet 

(we use nonstick aluminum foil to make cleanup a breeze). 

Choose your filling. 

We used strawberry preserves but you could use just about any jam or jelly or even diced fruit. 

Measure out about 2 TBS and spread on each slice.

Now place your remaining sheets on top and press down around the edges to make a light seal.

With a fork press down to "tighten" the seal all the way around each pocket and pierce the top a few times to make steam vents. 

Take 1 egg yolk and 1 TBS water and mix together to make an egg wash and brush over the tops of all the pockets.

Now bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Lastly give a good sprinkle of powdered sugar and enjoy!

Now and then I forget some things

So much has been going on the last few weeks. Where to start... Well, both girls ended up coming down with strep throat but Gideon, Hubbs and I all made it thru unscathed. Still counting my blessings on that one. Gideon's last labs where great. Crit of 32 and retic of 1.7. So great he was officially released from the care of his hematologist. I'm over the moon. We're finally done with all the isoimmunization issues! He's even on the curve for weight and height for his actual age now! This month has been great for him.

I picked up a part time job a while back and have been working a ton. I wish I could continue to be a full time stay at home mom but it's just not in the cards for us right now since we have big plans. Really big plans. We're going to buy our first home this spring (if everything goes right). We feel like it's finally the right time. Hubbs got a promotion and a huge raise last week. Granted to most people making 29k a year is laughable, to us it's a 6k a year raise. That's enough that after we finish saving our down payment for the house I should be able to quit working and stay home full time again. xx Fingers crossed xx.

The one big problem I'm having with working is I've just about lost all my gusto in caring for our home and schooling the girls. I go to work as soon as hubbs gets home and usually get home after 10. Then I work 10-11 hours a day on Sat and Sun each. I put so much energy into doing a good job and working hard that I've basically got nothing left for my family. I'm overwhelmed. I've been so cranky from not getting enough sleep that I've even been yelling at the girls again. That's not a part of myself I want the girls to deal with. I want to have time to do everything I need and want and get enough rest and it's just not happening.

There's lots of other stuff I wanted to talk about but this post has jumped around enough as is. I'll wait for another spare moment and update again. Hopefully soon.

Updates and snippits from our holiday season

First off, an update on Gideon. He has not needed another blood transfusion and his retic is in hyperdrive at 7.9! And 2 weeks ago we got the news that not only is he increasing his hematocrit on his own now, they where finally able to type his blood! He's been filled with so much donor blood that he has always typed as O- but hubbs is +/+ so we knew he had to be positive blood type but we didn't know if he would be type O or B and he is O+ just like his biggest sister. I know that's probably not big news to most people but for us it's a minor miracle. In other Giddy news - he was diagnosed with sever plagiocephaly and has been fitted for a helmet, which he has been in for about 3 weeks now. He's doing great with it and his head shape is already changing. It's amazing the progress you can see on a daily basis.

Make a Yarn Scrap Bowl

So for Christmas our extended family decided to draw names for the adults presents since quite a few of us are on very limited budgets. My husband and I are super excited as we drew the 2 people in the family that understand our lifestyle the best. We got my husbands mother and grandmother. YAY! We feel like we can let our craftiness fly free! We made each of them some lavender room spray (super simple to make), some sandalwood soap (as you saw in a previous post), crocheted washcloths and for Grandma I got a hand-stamped pendant of all her great grandchildrens names. I have no metal work skills so I had to purchase it off etsy. Then for my MIL we did a 8x10 print with all the grandchildrens names and birthdays. Again we had to do etsy as we don't have a color printer and I wasn't sure how we could get it done otherwise. I plan on stopping at our local chocolate store to get a few truffles to finish off their gifts. I usually do our gifts in baskets cause it looks prettier than in a bag but didn't want to spend the money on something they probably wouldn't keep so I decided to make my own from scrap yarn. So here is how you can do it too.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. While water is heating whisk together half a cup flour and 2 cups cold water. Whisk into boiling water. Add 2 tbs of sugar, mix well and remove from heat. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Chose a bowl the size you want your yarn bowl to be. Cover the outside in cling wrap and set it on some foil or cardboard.

Cut or select some yarn scraps.

Dip the yarn into the liquid and squeeze out the excess. Wrap your yarn around the bowl in any design you chose. I went with a whimsy kinda thrown together pattern. Make sure to cover the bottom very well if you intend to place stuff inside once it's done.

Once dried (mine took about 3 days) remove the cling wrap from the bowl then peel it out of the yarn bowl.  Find something cool to fill it with and enjoy!

I'm trying to catch up

So I had planned to make a few posts this past weekend about things we've been doing these past few weeks but after the Connecticut tragedy it just feels like it would be in bad taste. Even updating on Gideons current health feels wrong. Tonight I get to kiss my three babies goodnight and knowing that somewhere in my part of the world there are 20 families that will never have that privilege again breaks my heart. While I know it doesn't really affect me it just matters so much. I've cried and prayed a lot and have tried really hard to appreciate every moment I'm blessed with. That part is the hardest for me. I've always been so quick to jump to frustration turned anger at the antics of my girls. Sometimes it might have been deserved, sometimes I'm sure it was not. Well Friday was a wake up call for me. While it will be hard to change my bad habits I have promised myself that each day I'll be a better parent than the day before. I'll take a deep breath or walk away to try and stop my anger from welling up. I'll pray more. I'll pray to find peace and calmness in my mind and to truly appreciate my beautiful children for who they are, not who I hope they will be.

And on that note - I wish nothing but peace to the Connecticut familys in this dark hour. I know your beautiful babies are now angels in heaven watching over you. My thoughts and prayers will be with you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving (a smidge early)! I hope everyone has all their preparations done and is able to have a wonderful day. We'll actually be busier than we used to be. We always spend holidays at hubbs parents since they have plenty of space (compared to our tiny 1000 sqft townhouse) and they only live 5 miles away so it's not too much of a pain to pack the kids up to travel there. We will be joined this year by hubbs sister and brother in law and their 2 boys and hubbs grandparents and uncle. Even with a big house it does feel a bit cramped with 9 adults, 5 kids, 3 dogs and a cat. But back to why we'll be busier - this year we've been asked to make all the veggies for our meal. Every year I make mashed potatoes (they are my father in laws favorite) but we're also gonna do mac and cheese, green beans and corn. I'll post the potato recipe soon (it's so very yummy). The in laws are doing the turkey and stuffing and everyone else is bringing bread and sweets. This is the first year they have delegated tasks out and I'm glad they did. Now they can enjoy more time with everyone (outside of the kitchen that is).

And now for a little update on Gideon. He had his fourth transfusion on Friday  He did well with it. The few tests they ran came back with nothing new. We did run an antibody titer on him and his Anti-D came back at 1:256. That explains why his transfusions aren't lasting very long. We're looking at doing some IVIG transfusions to try and dilute the concentration of antibodies in his blood so his transfusions last longer and we can give his bone marrow time to start working on it's own. His retic is up to 0.3 now. It's only a 10th of a point but I'll take any increase no matter how small.

On Monday we had to go back to the hematologist for a follow up CBC and while in the waiting room a sweet young girl asked to talk to Gideon and wanted to hold his hand. I was happy to say yes. While the kids were "talking" her mom and I shared with each other why we were there. Her sweet little girl was there for chemo. When we ended our brief conversation I had tears in my eyes. I feel very humbled. I had been feeling like Gideon's struggle was as bad as it gets. And while it is bad for the condition he has - it's nothing compared to what other children are faced with every day. I'm grateful to that little girl for sharing her joy with my little boy and thankful to her mom for showing me that even when faced with something devastating you can still have joy and peace and love in your heart.

I'm so very thankful for the love I have to share and the love that is shared with me every day.
I hope you all have something wonderful to be thankful for today.

Prayers for Gideon

So Gideon's hematocrit was down to 24 on Friday and his hemogloben was down to 7 but his reticulocyte is up to 0.2. It's still a far cry from the 3-5 he should be at but at this point I'll take any increase no matter how small. We go today to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital to meet with a pediatric hematologist. He wants to run some tests to make sure we're not dealing with any other illnesses that can slow or stop bone marrow production. He will also run his crit again and if it's down any more we'll be checking in to the hospital for another blood transfusion. He even said during our phone consult to pack our overnight bag because we probably wouldn't be leaving for a bit.

Please add Gideon to your prayers. We're praying that it is anemia that he is dealing with and not the C word. We're praying that this next transfusion is his last and that his bone marrow will start to function and work as it should and that our sweet baby boy can finally start to heal.

Thank you.