Beautiful sights on my commute to town, Covered bridges, Oak trees, blue skies, snow dusted mountain tops, moss covered granite boulders

I am very lucky to have such a beautiful commute. Here are a few pictures I took the other day on my way to town to pick the kiddos up at school.

I have a little bit of a commute to town. I thought I might share some pictures of what I see everyday on my commute to town. At times I wish that I did not live so far out of town. Then I think if I lived in town, I would miss out on these beautiful sights that I take in every day on my way up and down the hill to town. As I drive these mountain roads I listen to NPR, national public radio. NPR is the perfect pairing for my scenic drive.

The Covered Bridge off highway 168

I have always thought it would be cool to have this as the entrance to my drive way. I wonder how many other covered bridges are in Fresno County?

Beautiful blue sky through a majestic Pine tree.

Huge granite out croppings make the landscape around here very interesting.

Green Pasture with several different Oak tree species.

This Oak tree is just one of many I pass on my drive to town. I think Oak trees are wonderfully interesting with their curved and twisted branches.

Below you can see the moss covered Granite boulders amidst the dormant poison oak. YIKES! I will stay out of there!

I can almost imagine little forest fairies living in here.

I hope you enjoyed my little photo adventure today. I will be adding more later, so check back!

Father - Daughter Dance: 50's sock hop, custom made poodle skirts, car hop costume and more!

Flashback to the 1950's....Our school hosts a Father - Daughter Dance every year. This year's theme was a 1950's Sock Hop. Naturally, I had to custom make outfits for my 2 girls.

Katiana chose the traditional poodle skirt, with a twist....She wanted a Cat on her skirt instead of a Poodle! I always tell my children, "It's okay to be different, everyone is an individual", so Katiana's skirt was appliqued with a black kitty cat instead of a poodle.

Kambria chose a 50's "Car-Hop" costume complete with black and white checkered hat and matching collared shirt. Kambria wore one of her pettiskirts underneath the full-circle pink satin skirt. To complete her outfit I added a cute little apron complete with pink and white poodle applique.

I also had the opportunity to create matching Mother and Daughter poodle skirts for my friend Sharla and her adorable daughter Gigi.


I made their poodle skirts out of hot pink satin. I think the color is perfect for this fun loving family.

I made several different Poodle Skirts for other girls at the school. I had so much fun creating these skirts. I will most definitely offer these Poodle skirts on Etsy and Ebay, especially once I start with Halloween 2009 costumes.

Are you interested in a custom created outfit for a portrait or pageant???

Please contact me, I just love creating custom outfits.

More pictures of custom outfits by "Mistletoe Ranch Kids" coming soon!

Blackberry Mickey Mouse Waffles: Breakfast for the Mistletoe Ranch Kids

Well, it is the weekend again, and that means spending time with family at a nice relaxing breakfast. This past Saturday we enjoyed "Blackberry Mickey Mouse Waffles" with a fair amount of whipped cream, it is the weekend after all!

I have learned from experience that a four year old will need the dietary guidance of an adult when powdered sugar and whipped cream are involved. In this instance, the resident "Dad" at the Mistletoe Ranch does not qualify as an adult. He must also have assistance when preparing a waffle, to prevent the over use of whipped cream! See example below!

This is how our waffles looked, smiling up at us from the plate just before they were covered in yummy whipped cream, blackberries, fresh homemade blackberry syrup, and powdered sugar.

First we began with a little whipped cream....

okay, maybe just a little more whipped cream...

Maybe a tiny bit more whipped cream so the berries will stay put....

Ooooh, don't these Blackberries look delicious. I purchase these at Trader Joe's, they always have the best fresh fruit.
You have to have someone sample the berries, to make sure they are ripe... Oh, here is a lucky volunteer!

This little volunteer taster, needs to go have her hair put up in a ponytail, and I think she will need a bib too!

That is much better! It makes the clean up easier after breakfast. We won't have to use the power washer!

Yummy!

Sunday Morning!!!

Sunday morning we had scones.

I baked a fresh batch of "Orange infused Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones" This recipe was inspired by my love of dark chocolate. This is definitely a weekend recipe, since I could not feed my kiddos chocolate then send them to school.

This delicious adventure began with an oatmeal scone recipe....I like to think that a recipe is just a guide line. I like to change things up in recipes a bit, to suit my tastes. This recipe made 16 scones......

And then there were none!

I still need to work a bit on this recipe before I release it here. I want you to have the best possible result if you decide to give any of my recipes a try in your kitchen.

Finally, I am working on several sewing projects that I hope to feature here in the near future....hmmmm, maybe midweek......