...with a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

...with the sticker attack!

Elena loves penguins.

Elena loves stickers.

This is what happened when she put her love of penguins and stickers together.



Poor penguin. I don't think he stood a chance.

...with the birdseed garland.

Here is the finished birdseed garland I made for my dad for Christmas!

Lovely, isn't it?

I thought about taking it outside to hang on a bush to take the picture, but I was afraid of being attacked by birds!

...with my crafty weekend.

With two kids, I don't have much time to try my hand at crafty projects very often. However, I have been collecting craft ideas over on Pinterest for quite a while now and decided I should get a move on with trying out a few. My goal was to be successful, otherwise I would feel as though it was precious time wasted. I somehow managed to do three...yes, 3....different projects today. Two were a success...the third - well, the third was a failure.

Here's what I did!

Made a birdseed wreath and garland to give for a Christmas gift.
Tutorial here.
Here is a picture of the garland drying....I used a silicone pan for one (hearts was all I had!)and a regular tin muffin pan for the other. Then I put cooking string going from one to the next, so when I pull them out they will create a garland! I had quite a bit of leftovers and didn't want to waste it, so I stuffed a toilet paper tube with the birdseed mixture as well with a string to hang it from a tree, etc.



Made this really cute wreath...mine is Christmas-y themed with red and green fabric.
Tutorial here.



The failure was this project - DIY porch Christmas trees.

I had two tomato cages already, so all we had to pick up from the store was 2 lighted garlands. We bought two, 9-foot garlands (sounds long, right?) for a total of $24. Well, tomato cages are much taller when not buried in dirt, so we ended up having to use both garlands to cover ONE tomato cage and even then it just didn't look right. It didn't have a tree shape to it AND it just wasn't cost effective...one DIY tree would have been $24 each...I could buy 2 of the lighted porch trees at an end-of-season clearance sale for about that price (or cheaper) and it would look nicer than our DIY tree. So, we took it apart, packaged the garland back up and will be returning it to the store :( Bummer, I was really looking forward to having some sort of decor on our front porch.

I have a few more homemade gifts I will be making soon, so stay tuned for more!

...with cloth diaper giveaways galore!

About 40 blogs are hosting a mega-giveaway called Merry Fluffy Christmas. All items are cloth diaper related, but even if you don't cloth diaper there are still great prizes...and wow, some of the prize packages are HUGE.
You have to go to each blog to enter, but entering is eaay (you may have to go "like" a ton of FB pages!) with the new "entry" tool.
The event runs from today (Dec 1st) to Dec. 5th. Good luck!

I know what I'll be doing in my spare time today!

Click on the link below:

...with BIG boy food.

Ya know that feeling when you get a kitten or puppy and you think "oh my gosh, it's so cute and I wish it would stay this size forever and ever and ever", and then you jump up and down and squeal like a schoolgirl?

Yeah, that's how I feel about my kid. Emanuel.

My little sweet pea Emanuel is growing WAY too fast for me!

We started giving him BIG boy food at about 6.5 months (yes, I held off a little longer for selfish reasons). I thought I could stall time so that he wouldn't keep growing, but when that clearly didn't work I broke down and fed him.
Solid food.
Avocados to be exact.
He loved them.
I cried.
Ok, not really.
But I was secretly hoping he would look up at me and say "mom, I want to stay this size forever and ever and be your squishy little boy forever and ever".
But he didn't. (He did look up at me and think "hey, lady, shovel more of that food into my mouth, I am hungry"!)

So life goes on and since it does, I am back in the baby food making business! I dusted off the baby food cookbooks and got to cooking. I am following a similiar "path" as I did with Elena. First up was avocados. Fresh from Puerto Rico, I might add. He loved them. Next, we did the squashes (acorn and butternut), green peas, apples, sweet potatoes and I made some sort of "cereal"...it looks disgusting but he can't get enough of it.
He eats WAY more than Elena did and we thought she was a good eater!
The plan is that on Thanksgiving we will be giving him his first meat....steak.
Just kidding!
It will be turkey :D

Emanuel is also a big fan of those puffed treats. He is really fine tuning his pincer grasp, that's for sure!

I leave you with a picture:

...with a day in the life of us!

A while back I read on another blog about capturing a day in your life in photos. The point was to just capture your every day routine...no need to get the perfect picture.

I decided to give it a whirl. I'll start by saying that both of my kids were feeling rather "blah" the day I decided to do this...so our day was pretty darn boring. The only thing that got us out of the house that day was the fact that I was motivated to take these pictures and NOT have them all be inside our house! I am thinking of doing this a few times a year...it might be fun to look back years from now and see what an ordinary day was like for us......or not!

So here goes:
I heard Elena call for me from her crib when she woke up....so I grabbed my camera to start the day off! Yikes! Talk about a bad case of "bed head"....the poor girl woke up with an afro :(



We watched the morning news in bed and I nursed Emanuel.



My morning tea ;)



Elena helping her brother swing.



After we were all fed and dressed I decided we needed to get out and play(them) and shop (me). Emanuel hates his carseat...here he is telling me all about it!



First stop was the train table at Barnes and Noble. {Side note: This would be the day that is responsible for starting Elena's obsession with trains.}



Look what made it's way into my drink holder! I do believe this was a Salted Caramel Mocha...YUM!



Proof that I was there!



Naptime!



Elena eating lunch. Juggling her milk and some water with a splash of Gatorade ;)



While the kids napped, I folded diapers.



Elena heard daddy's car pull into the driveway, so she ran to meet him at the door!



Daddy!



Bath time for Emanuel.

...with Clark Kent and the butterfly.

Yes, I know it's been a while. Blogger doesn't like me anymore and wasn't letting me add photos to my posts....and I hate posts without photos. I am trying something new, so here's hoping that these pictures actually upload....::crosses fingers and toes::

Halloween has now come and gone, however I can't help but show a few photos of the kids.
Emanuel was Clark Kent. I had wanted to use the same onesie I made for Elena for her first Halloween (she was Super Girl), so instead of dressing Emanuel as Super Man, we did Clark Kent. It was pretty easy....we already had the pants and button down shirt (and the Super Man onesie)....all I had to add were the glasses. Those came from my nephew - they were a pair of the 3D glasses the kids get when they see a movie at the theater.
If I don't say so myself, I think Emanuel pulled off the Clark Kent look very well!



Elena was a monarch butterfly. No reason for a butterfly. I just happened to find the costume at a kids consignment sale and couldn't pass it up. She loved the little gloves but wasn't too keen on the hat. I think she made a pretty cute butterfly!

...when Elena turns TWO!!!

My little baby girl Elena turned 2 years old on the 5th of August. It is so amazing how much she has grown this past year. She's still a small, petite little thing, but she is healthy! At her 2 year well child checkup she was 24 pounds even. Elena is such a smart girl. She loves to talk (in English and Spanish) and is speaking in sentences now.
She's a good listener and repeats anything you say (so you've got to be careful what you say around her!). The funniest things she has said recently are "let's go to Target mommy" and "I want a lolli-POOP" (we are working on potty learning and she gets a lolli-pop as a reward....she obviously combined the two words together!) Today she actually called the lolli-pop a "potty-pop"....haha, too many similiar sounding words for her.
Elena also loves singing. Her current favorite songs are the ABC's, Twinkle Little Star, Wheel's on the Bus and many more.
Elena loves to dance too....her favorite dancing song is Shakira's Loca Loca Loca....she asks for it by name!
I can't even imagine what she will be like next year when she turns 3!

We celebrated Elena's birthday with a luau-style party with family and friends.

...with nature's bounty.

As summertime nears it's end (at least in my neck of the woods!), here's an update on my "farmer's market" habits. I decided to skip the CSA this year and see if I could get nearly all my veggies from farmer's markets and other venues (read: my parents large garden)!

I started the summer out by attending a local farmer's market every Saturday. As we all know, early season market's don't have a ton of produce, but I was able to buy plenty of salad greens and herbs. In addition I was able to buy fresh eggs, pork and even buffalo meat! This particular farmer's market has a great variety and has more than just produce - there are several vendors selling meat and eggs, flowers, honey and baked goods and even homemade caramels and ice cream - yum!

There is a much smaller farmer's market just across the park from our house that I have been to a couple of times as well (on Wednesdays). The selection is much smaller, but the prices are cheaper.

In the last month or so I haven't been to the local market's, as I have been well stocked with produce from my parents ginormous garden. My latest "veggie delivery" from my parents has included zuchinni, yellow squash, green beans, jalapenos, tomatoes (grape and roma) and even acorn squash. They also grew eggplant, but I learned from our CSA last year that we don't enjoy it. I am looking forward to the late summer/early fall produce that my parents will have (pumpkins, apples and more squash varieties). I am also planning on heading back to the local Saturday market so I can get more eggs (we don't go thru eggs very quickly) and maybe try some other fun things too.

Now, this doesn't mean I haven't been buying produce from the grocery store. I still buy most of our fruit at the grocery store, because last time I checked there weren't any banana or mango trees in Wisconsin, and we buy A LOT of bananas and mangos!

...with the easy peasy pizza dip recipe.

**Blogger and my laptop have not been getting along. For unknown reasons, I have been able to write posts but could not publish them or add photos.....don't worry, I haven't forgotton about you blog!**




Who doesn't love pizza? I mean, there's a pizza for everyone. Traditional pizza. Veggie pizza. Fruit pizza. Dessert pizza. Today, I share with you...pizza dip. I think it's meant to be more of an appetizer. As in, take it to a party as your "dish to pass".
Around these parts, we love pizza. So I just made this for dinner one night. Yeah, that's right. I made the pizza dip, toasted a loaf of a french baguette, sat down at the table and told my husband to just start ripping bread apart and lather it up with the dip. That's how we did it ;) I am not ashamed of it either. It was that good. Nothing fancy...but then again, we're not fancy people and I'm not going to pretend we are.


I am pretty sure there are several variations of this recipe floating around the interwebz...here's the one I used:

Pizza Dip

A layered, hot cheesy dip with all of the great pizza flavours including pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, olives and green peppers.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes


Ingredients
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
2 ounces pepperoni, sliced
2 tablespoons green pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons black olives, sliced

Directions
1.Mix the cream cheese, sour cream mayonnaise, mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano and spread it across the bottom of a pie plate.
2.Spread the pizza sauce on top and sprinkle on the cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and olives.
3.Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the cheese has melted, bubbling and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

...with a 12-week online photography course.

I am a mom-with-a-camera(MWAC). Currently, I pretend to know what I am doing when taking photos. But really, I am just playing around and trying to learn. Enter the 12Weeks to Better Photos photography course. It's a 12 week online course to teach you more about using your camera and getting great pics.

I am hoping that by posting each weeks "assignment", I will stick with the course and finish all 12 weeks and then really know what I am doing when I take pics!

Without further ado, here's week one.

Lesson One: Exploring Aperture


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{f/8}


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...with DIY produce bags.

I love DIY projects that are easy. Especially if they don't require any sewing.
I recently came across an online tutorial for making produce bags out of old knit t-shirts. They did require a small amount of sewing....but that's what I have my sister for :) Although, I do think I could have figured this one out if I had my own sewing machine!

It was a fun project and I use my produce bags at the farmer's market every weekend. I have had several people comment on them and I of course love saying "I made them".

Here is one of my produce bags and you can find the tutorial here.

...with recipe catch up.

I have been a cooking maniac lately. I just keep finding more and more recipes online that look so good, so I have been whipping up new things and taking photos (if they are good enough!) to keep for my recipe book project. In case you are looking for something new for your meal plans - check out these recipes.

My most recent favorites are these:
Pacific Pork Kabobs with Pineapple Rice


and Tyler's Mozarella Grilled Cheese Sandwiches I even got my mom hooked on these! I ate one for lunch everyday for a week!


If you need something refreshing and want to save a couple of bucks at your favorite coffee shop, then you should try this:

Recipe for Iced Mocha Frappucinno
Ingredients:

1/2 c instant coffee (adjust to taste)
1 cup sugar
1 cup non-fat dry milk powder (one package)
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1/3 cup baking cocoa (adjust to taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together well

If you like a stronger/weaker coffee or mocha flavor, adjust those two ingredients accordingly.

Stores perfectly in a 1 quart jar for up to a year.

To make a perfect Mocha Frappe:

1 1/2 cup crushed ice

1/3 cup mocha mix

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup milk

Toss crushed ice into food processor first and blend until it looks a bit like snow, add mix & water, process until well blended and then add in milk. Blend just until it's mixed well (7-10 seconds).

...with vintage baby clothes.

I don't know if every parent does it, but my mom did and Ricky's mom did.

What, you ask?

They saved a few outfits that we wore growing up and have now passed them on to us.

What does a person do with baby and kid clothes from 25+ years ago?

Me?

I dress my kids up in them. You betcha. I pulled out the little blue romper outfit that Ricky wore when he was a baby and I put it on Emanuel. It's a good thing I decided to do this when I did, because it was a tight fit on him and wouldn't have fit had I waited any longer. He definitely looked adorable in the outfit.




My mom gave me several dresses that I wore when I was a toddler, a sweater with matching hat (that my grandma knit) and a pair of cowboy boots that I wore. The clothes are all too big for Elena still, but you can bet that once they fit her I will be dressing her up in them and taking pictures.

The cowboy boots fit Elena now. She loves to wear them. She can put them on herself (usually the wrong foot) and I think she especially loves the way they sound when she walks on a hard surface. I will be sad when they don't fit her, because she loves them so much.

So as I was dressing my kids up in our old, musty baby clothes I got to thinking. "What clothes should I keep for them to dress their kids up in some day?" (as if everyone dresses their kids up in old baby clothes!).

I have most of Elena's baby clothes still so I probably ought to pull something aside.

But what?

What was it about these outfits that our mother's decided they should be the ones to be saved?

Handmade? (Yes, in the case of my matching sweater and hat)

Cute? (Cowboy boots...oh yes!)

I'm not sure what I want to set aside at this point (maybe something that was a favorite of mine?).

What do you think? What makes an article of clothing worthy of being shoved in a box for 20+ years, only to be pulled out and given to the child who wore them that many years ago?

...with summertime fun...so far.

Summertime is finally getting into full swing. We've had a few sweltering hot days and even more cloudy, dreary days with threats of thunderstorms. It can be hard to keep a toddler entertained on days when it's too hot to go outside or when it's raining cats and dogs. But, we have managed to squeeze in a little fun here and there.
Here are a few pictures of what Elena has been up to so far this summer!

Stealing snacks from the cupboard!

Going to the zoo to see the elephants (with Daddy).

Playing in the swimming pool!

Playing in her playhouse!

Talking to her brother!

...with Streusel Topped Blueberry Muffins

Back when I was stockpiling food away for my maternity leave I specifically searched for a blueberry muffin recipe that would freeze well. The recipe I decided on came with a bonus...streusel on top! Yum! These muffins are huge...and so yummy. The recipe makes 12 muffins (using a regular size muffin pan....they are just filled very full to make big muffins!). They freeze great and taste wonderful after a quick defrost in the microwave. I have made these muffins about 5 or 6 times now and they will continue to be a recipe I make frequently.
The only downside to this recipe, is that's it's one of those recipes that uses a TON of bowls....you know, "mix these 3 ingredients in this bowl, mix these 4 ingredients in that bowl, wisk this in another bowl and them combine bowl 1, 2 and 3 together in bowl #4". I hate recipes like this....because I hate doing all the dishes afterwards. But, these muffins are worth the extra dishes!

Blueberry Muffins
Streusel Topping:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
pinch table salt
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons (3½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons warm, melted unsalted butter

Muffin Batter:
2 cups (about 10 ounces) frozen blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups (12½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (see note)
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Note: If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.


FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING: Combine all the dry streusel ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle with the warm, melted unsalted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout.

FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray (or use baking liners if you prefer). Bring 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Rinse the remaining cup of berries under cold water and dry well. Toss dried berries in 1 tablespoon of flour and set aside.


Whisk the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle prepared streusel evenly over muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

...with the Chocolate Espresso Cookies.

Oh my...these are my new FAVORITE cookie. I love soft, chewy cookies. I love anything espresso flavored. So combine the two and we have a WINNER.
When I found this recipe in the Sunday paper "mini-magazine" (I have no idea what it's called....something like Parade?!?!) it was simply called Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. But upon reading the ingredient list further, I found the recipe called for espresso powder. I decided to make them to see if they tasted at all "espresso-y". They sure did. Delicious! It makes a small batch, so consider doubling the recipe. These cookies come out so soft and they STAY soft....which is huge for me. I often (ok always) have problems with my cookies getting hard and cripsy after a day or two, and I don't like crispy cookies...I want soft and chewy!
Another bonus is that this recipe can be made in one bowl. So many of my recipes call for half the ingredients to be mixed in one bowl, some more ingredients in another bowl and then you combine them later. I hate that. Too many dirty dishes!

I just made a batch of these yesterday and they are almost gone...yipes! I am thinking of making another (double) batch tomorrow....hmmmmm ;)

...with the Recipe book idea...and Strawberry Honey-Butter.

If you think you've been reading a lot about recipes on my blog lately, that's because you are. I have decided to use my blog as a way to "collect" some of my favorite recipes and when I have plenty of them saved up, I am going to make a photo recipe book. I know I'm not the first person to do this, it's actually something I've thought of doing in the past. Just recently I decided I better finally get around to actually doing it though. You see...I tend to print out a recipe and after I've made the recipe I hang it on my refridgerator to live. We've got about 15 pieces of paper hanging off the door of our refridgerator right now. They have always made my husband batty...and well now, there are so many that it's driving me crazy too! In addition, some recipes tend to walk off from time to time (meaning Elena snags one off the door and runs off with it) and then I have to reprint the recipe.
So there you have it, my goal is to take a picture of each recipe I want included in the photo book (and blog about it!) and once I've collected enough I will "design" the book and have it printed.

Here is my latest recipe. I found this linked online and when I saw the picture I just knew I had to make it. Strawberry honey-butter! Yum. It smells so good and tastes so good....I could have eaten it like ice cream....except that it's butter, and that would NOT be a good thing for one's stomach!
It was easy to make and filled the house with a sweet aroma!
After making it I decided I needed to make something special for it to be eaten with, so I found a simple recipe for Buttermilk Scones (I had a lot of buttermilk that needed to be used up, so I specifically searched for a scone recipe using it!).

Just a note on the strawberry butter...it made enough to fill 3 of my yogurt jars (what you see in the picture) and they each hold about 7-8 fluid ounces. This would make a great gift for someone!

Strawberry Honey Butter Recipe is here, along with picture tutorial.
Buttermilk Scones (aka Coffehouse Scones)

...with the "Due Date"

Today was our estimated due date for Emanuel.
Today he is 17 days old and sleeping away the afternoon on my chest ;)
I am glad he decided to join this great big world early (even if it means my maternity leave will now include 2.5 less weeks of summertime)!
The last 17 days have flown by. We're lacking in the sleep department, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Big sis Elena has been amazing with him. She is gentle and kind. She shares her toys with him, tries to give him drinks from her sippy cup, gives him a million hugs and kisses everyday and covers him up with her baby dolls' blankets. Today, she gave him a high-five. Followed by a low-five! I think they are going to be great friends and that makes me happy!