Lavinia May

It's hard to imagine how unique each of your children will be. As Edmund grew and I got to know his personality, it just made sense that he is the way he is. I couldn't imagine how my future children would be different, but Lavinia is very much her own person.


She is much more cuddly and clingy to me than Edmund ever was. Sometimes I am tempted to feel tired or inconvenienced when she wants me and no one else, but then I remind myself that this is such a short time, and how wonderful it is to be loved so deeply by this little girl. Unlike her brother, she is a thumbsucker, especially when she is tired or holding something soft! Several months ago, I bought her a teddy bear "lovey" as a sleep aid, and boy does it work! As soon as she holds the bear, in pops her thumb and she's off in happy land.

Lavinia loves to eat a lot more than Edmund did at this age, too, but she is more picky about her foods. She is still not walking at nearly thirteen months, though Edmund was walking at ten months. She is strongly opinionated about her wants, but at the same time, is deeply sensitive. Douglas or I can tell her, "No, no, Lavinia" in the most gentle tones, and she will take a moment to process it, then purse up her face and burst into tears as if we had brutally wounded her feelings.

Lavinia adores Edmund, and he genuinely loves his little sister, too. Edmund likes to make Lavinia laugh; he talks to her and takes a lot of notice of her. Some of my happiest moments as a mother are seeing the two of them enjoying each other. Other happy times are when Lavinia throws her tiny, soft arms around my neck, or, out of the blue, Edmund says something sweetly thoughtful and beyond his years. Thanks and praise to my Heavenly Father for the chance to be a mama to these two precious individuals.

Pink roses

Make Do and Mend!

Now that I'm laundering and mending for four instead of just one, my pile of mending just grows and grows. I usually just ignore it, but I've developed a plan to try to put a dent in it. I'm going to make it a goal to mend at least one item every Monday (my usual laundry day). Some days the mending job might be pretty complex, and other days it might be as simple as sewing on a button. I'm going to try to share my results here, and I invite you to join me in "Mending Mondays" if you like. :) It is really satisfying to put an unusable piece of clothing back into circulation instead of tossing it or buying a new one.

I am so pleased with my first project. About two years ago, I gave Douglas some linen pants from Old Navy for summer wear, and just this month they developed a rather large hole near the front pocket (where he usually carries his wallet). I also later found a hole on the knee, too. They really do fill a hole (haha) in his wardrobe so I didn't want to just toss them or spend $30-35 on a brand new pair. I decided to try darning them, which I ended up doing by machine.


First I snipped away the fuzzy threads, then cut out a square of muslin which I pinned over the hole, from the inside of the pants. I then hand-basted the muslin in place so I wouldn't be bothered with pins when I was darning. Now, my machine (Bernina Activa 240) actually has a darning program, which I used to go over the hole several times until it was completely covered (I also went beyond the margins of the hole, as I could tell the threads were weak there). My darning program starts the needle at the far left of the foot, stitches straight as far as you want, and then once you press the 'reverse' button, it will move the needle to the right a small amount and backstitch. When it reaches the original starting point, it will change direction again, and so on, until the needle is as far to the right as it can go. Then you can simply lift the presser foot and repeat as needed, until the hole is completely covered! Once that was done, I flipped the pants inside out and trimmed away the excess muslin.

Now, of course I took close-up photos to show you the results, so you can see the mending, but I guarantee you wouldn't notice it at all when my husband is wearing the pants. (I tested this by asking a friend if she could tell where I had mended them!) The thread blends in so well, and I believe that is key -- use a very exact thread match. If your machine doesn't have a darning function, you can still give this a try -- consult this YouTube video which basically uses the same method as mine, only zig-zagging back and forth instead of using the darning program.

Do you have any clothing that could see new life, given the darning treatment?

Violet Cream Cake

Lavinia's birthday cake deserves its own post! I don't consider myself to be an expert baker or anything, but I wanted to create something special for our little girl's first birthday. I had some ideas floating around in my head, and I'm happy to say the end result was beautiful and delicious! Unfortunately, there's only a short time frame in the spring to make this with fresh violets, but you could easily substitute a different kind of filling and decoration at different times of the year. (Or, make violet jelly in the spring to use as the filling, and make or buy sugared violets for the decoration.)


VIOLET CREAM CAKE
FOR THE CAKE (adapted from Treasured Recipes from the Charleston Cake Lady by Teresa Pregnall):

• 2 packages of (18.5 oz.) Duncan Hines white cake mix
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 c. sour cream
• 1 c. vegetable or canola oil
• 8 large eggs

FOR THE FILLING:

• 2 c. of freshly-picked violets from a herbicide-free lawn, stems removed
• 1 c. water
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 3 tbsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch

FOR THE FROSTING:

• 4 c. heavy whipping cream
• powdered sugar, to taste

FOR THE DECORATION:

• around 2 dozen freshly-picked violets from a herbicide-free lawn, stems removed
• other flowers as desired

To make the cake: Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by generously greasing them with butter or shortening. Add a little flour to the pan and tap the pan around until it is evenly coated with flour, then shake the excess out. Trace three circles of wax paper using the bottom of the pan as a guide. Cut out the wax paper circles, then press one circle into the bottom of each pan (they should fit smoothly).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, sugar, flour, sour cream, and oil. Add the eggs and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for four minutes, or until light and fluffy.

Pour 1/4 of the batter into each of the prepared pans (this will leave you with 1/4 of the batter left over, which will make you a dozen cupcakes if you like). Set the oven temperature to 325º F and bake for around 33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire racks. (I baked mine in two batches -- two cake pans in one batch, one cake pan and one muffin tin of cupcakes in the second batch, taking the cupcakes out after about 25 minutes. I have no idea if you could bake them all at once -- like I said, not a baking expert.) :)

To make the violet filling: Combine violets, water, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for two hours. Strain the syrup through a sieve, pressing on the petals to extract all the liquid. Add lemon juice. Mix cornstarch in 1/4 c. cold water. Add to syrup and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently.

To make the frosting: Pour the whipping cream into a large metal bowl that has been chilled in the freezer. Beat on medium-high until the cream becomes thick and spreadable. Add powdered sugar to sweeten to taste.

To assemble the cake: Spread the violet filling onto two of the cakes, half on each. Spread whipped cream over that. Place one of the violet/whipped cream cakes onto the other, then place the plain cake on top of those two. Make sure all three cake layers are centered. Spread whipped cream over the top and sides of all three layers. Decorate with freshly-picked violets by pressing the flowers gently into the whipped cream. Add additional decorative flowers as desired (making sure not to eat them if they are not edible).


I served the cake with homemade blueberry ice cream, which turns out to be the most beautiful shade of purple. I found that both the cake and ice cream are delicious enough that I preferred to enjoy them separately, but it was nice to have an extra punch of purple.

Miss Lavinia turns One

Lavinia's birthday was this past Sunday and we had a day of sweet celebrations. Both sets of grandparents, plus one great-grandmother and an aunt, were able to be with her on her special day. After church, we took a picnic to a nearby park. Some teddy bears of all sizes came along with us.




We had chicken salad on croissants, strawberries and blueberries, crudités and dip, corn salad, and chevré bites. Also, your choice of sparkling white grape juice or pink lemonade!




The skies threatened but the rain held off. After eating, the kids played at the swings with their Grandpa and Grandad.


Back at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Lavinia opened gifts with the help of Daddy and Edmund.


Her favorite gift from Mommy and Daddy was a little baby doll. In the past few months especially, she has been so fascinated by other babies and has loved playing with baby dolls whenever she gets the chance. Now she has one of her very own. The baby's name is Violet.

"Where the nodding violet grows..."

We are having an exceptionally late spring in Nebraska this year -- flowers that have usually come and gone by early May are only just blooming out! It's been hard to wait patiently for warmer weather and the beauty of spring, but there is an upside. :) My sweet Lavinia's first birthday is coming up soon and I plan to bedeck the festivities with as many beautiful blooms as I can!

I found all five of these color variations of violets in our backyard. In previous years, I've only picked violets for small bouquets, but this year I want to try a few culinary endeavors, which means gathering a lot of violets. It's hard to find the time to concentrate on such a task. I thought I could get Edmund involved in picking the violets but his attention span for such an activity doesn't last long. He prefers "mowing" the grass with his toy lawnmower or swinging under the crabapple tree. He did present me with a handful of violets and dandelions, saying, "I picked a posy for you, Mama!" He is so sweet.

Time for tea

Last weekend, my mom and I were the featured speakers at a ladies' tea event at a local church. My mom has plenty of experience with this kind of thing, but I can't recall doing any public speaking before, outside of school. However, it was fun to work together and I felt good about how the presentation went (much easier to speak in public than to sing a solo -- another recent first!!). Since the event was an (indoor) garden tea party, I spoke about tea etiquette, history, and facts, and my mom gave a devotional.

One of my duties included guiding the ladies through the steps of afternoon tea, so I had to do a little research myself! I have to admit, I haven't paid too much attention to tea etiquette in years past, partly because I often come across conflicting advice, and partly because it just doesn't seem that important to me, as a middle-class American in the 21st century, whether I hold my cup "properly" or not. ;-)


[Do not loop your fingers through the teacup handle! How gauche.]
I decided to bake some scones and take some photos with which to better illustrate my instructions on how to eat them. The top photo in this post is the "posh" way of crumbling a scone into bite-size pieces, then adding a dab of cream and jam to each bite. Below are illustrations of the Devon vs. Cornish tea -- i.e. whether the jam or the cream goes on top first. It's delicious either way!



Look at all that tasty cream and jam. And since we got to eat the scones after I made them, it was a win-win situation! My mom and I were both inspired to host a tea party in the near future. Any excuse to consume tea treats is fine by me.