Baby Footprint Ornaments

I made imprints on Stella's feet months ago.  I used this recipe to make the dough. I kind of feel bad because I don't even remember how old she was when we did it. I wanted to write on the back how many weeks/months she was, but I honestly have no clue.  In that case, we are just putting the year. Close enough and it will have to do.  

My original plan was to leave them as is. Just put the name and year, glue a ribbon on and be done. But as you can see below, some of the imprints got a little too dark around the edges when baking and didn't all look the same. And I wanted them to.  To fix it and make myself happy, I looked through the paint I had on hand and found this peachy pink color and went with that.  

I let them dry, wrote her name and the year on the back with a black Sharpie and hot glued cream colored ribbon to the back for hanging.  Here is the finished product.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I wish the imprint was a bit more noticeable, but overall, it was success. And I know the grandparents, great grandparents and other family will love and cherish it.

Mistletoes 2013

As a new mom around the Holidays, I feel like I'm one of Santa's newest Elves.  I'm sure most mothers feel this way during this time of year.  Not only are you running around getting gifts for the usual's on the list, now you have to think of what to get baby, plus gifts "from" the baby to the grandparents and such.  Thanks to my good friend, Pinterest, I have tons of ideas. Thanks to Stella's adorable feet and this photo, along with many others very similar online, we have a very cute gift that is also a keepsake.  

I used construction paper, tempera paint, what are listed at Terra Cotta markers (but I'm sure a Sharpie would work) and of course, her feet.  I stamped as many as she would let me do.  I was by myself which makes things a little more difficult.  I ended up with four sets of footprints.  I drew on the string, but if you have a good hand when it comes to painting (I don't), then you could do that as well.

I then took an empty cardboard toilet paper roll and painted the ends and used it as a stamp for little whimsical circles. I thought about filling them in with paint or putting little polka dots here and there, but I thought it best to keep it simple.  I have one for us to keep, 2 of each set of grandparents and I'll most likely give one to my brother and his girlfriend. I'm thinking I'll laminate the one we keep and use it as a placemat when she gets older.  Even if we don't use it for that, it will keep a lot longer that way.  

Cork Christmas Tree and Flower

This is another super quick and simple craft project. These guys here are my inspiration.  I may go back and paint some of the ends and add a star, but at this point I'm undecided. I think I'll make two of them when I have enough to do so. I really like the idea of having this one up in my kitchen year round. I feel if I paint it and put "ornaments" on it along with a star, then it will look too Christmasy.  I didn't even take photos as I was doing this because it's so self explanatory.  I just hot glued the 3 corks at the bottom. Then I glued the next 5 together. I then glued the bottom 3 to the 5. And repeated until I reached the 1 remaining cork up top.  I then glued a mini terra cotta pot to the bottom. Done!

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I made this cork flower a few years ago. I'm pretty sure it was before I even knew what Pinterest was. I was making a cork board and had some leftover corks. I saw the "B" and really like the various shades of pink and purple from the wine on the ends of the corks. Since "B" is the initial of my last name I thought it would be cute to make a flower.  I display it on our bookshelf in front of one of my favorite wedding photographs.

Christmas Card "Corkboard"

I've been saving corks since the beginning of time. Ok, so it hasn't really been that long, but many, many years. Funny thing is, I don't even drink corked products. My husband drinks wine so we save what he drinks.  And my mama does, although she doesn't add to the cork bucket too much since she's a fan of boxed wine, but no judgement there.  She does steal them for me to add to my collection. I also snag them from random places when I know their destiny is the trash.  

This is such an easy project.  Basically you need three things to make this craft: yard stick, corks, hot glue gun.  Add push pins and the Christmas cards that your mailbox is being ambushed with this time of year and the total reaches a whopping five things.   If you want to add newspaper comics, then the total reaches six items. I save the comics each week for projects like this around the house where I don't want to risk messing up the table, counter or butcher block. I also sometimes wrap children's gifts in comics.  It's easy to be green.

My yard stick came from either a yard sale or Goodwill. It has a tiny hole in it at the top which now I see isn't really visible in the picture. This is what I used to nail it into the wall.   Just put a small line of hot glue down on the yard stick and press the cork onto it. Repeat until the stick is full.  The remarkable thing about my "corkboard" is that none of the corks were repeated. I feel that is impressive because our family drinks a lot of Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joes) and Rex Goliath.

So I happened to see this while gluing.  It says, "Merry Christmas" on the other side of the yardstick. How funny!

I decided to put it in the doorway from our living room into our kitchen. 

I put the non photo cards underneath with pins.

And then laid the photo cards on top. Wow, that's a crooked picture. You get the idea though. It's cheap, recycled/up-cycled (not sure of the difference, but I see both a lot), easy and quick. All things I like.

This is my first year as a Mommy and I must tell you, just that is the perfect Christmas gift. I sent out personalized photo Christmas cards for the first year.  Our card isn't on the corkboard.  It's on the fridge instead. I had two yardsticks and truly need them for all the cards we've received this year, but I didn't have enough corks. I guess next year, we'll add two "corkboards" for all of the cards. What a blessing to be running out of room for Christmas cards. Merry Everything and Happy Always! 

Stella, meet Santa

We took Stella to meet Santa Claus on Thursday. I met Donald at the mall to do pictures and for lunch.  I have friends who have posted their fearful, screaming, red-faced, mouth wide open look of "why are you doing this to me?" I'm not gonna lie, I wanted that!  I think the pictures are hilarious. I wanted to have a photo to submit to Ellen on Instagram.  The girls tell you to approach Santa with the child looking at you instead of him so the kids don't freak out.  By them saying this line, it proves that kids have Santa induced meltdowns all the time. 

Sidenote: The girls were not dressed like elves or Santa's helpers.  I was so hoping for a chick dressed in red and white striped leggings, a green crushed velvet jacket, elf shoes with the curled toe topped with a jngle bell, definitely a hat of some sort and possibly, and this is a big hope, but elf ears.  I basically just described Santa's helper from Home Alone when Kevin visits Santa to ask for his family back.  I know it's a huge wish for myself, but it is Christmas. Disappointment swept over my face as I approached and realized my wish was not coming true. Hopefully it wasn't too obvious. 

So instead for the Santa screamer, we got the cute, adorable, happy, smiling girl seen here.

I love this one of her checking him out. I thought she'd go straight for yanking on his beard, but she seemed pretty mesmerized. 

We have been handing Stella off to family and friends as much as possible since day one, so I guess that with stranger anxiety. We didn't want a baby who wouldn't go to anyone.  I've been told the red-faced holiday horror photo I so desperately want will happen if I sit and wait patiently for a few years.  It might even happy as early as next Christmas when she's 18 months.  I've got my fingers crossed! 

Zucchini & Scallion Corncakes

I love Manager's Special deals at Kroger and frequently challenge myself see if I can get what we need by finding veggies, fruit, cheese, milk and meat on manager's special. I purchased a few tubs of Alouette Garlic & Herb cheese and popped them in the freezer. Whenever I want to use one, I'll take it out that morning and since it's soft spreadable cheese, it'll thaw in a few hours. On the inside of the label, I saw a recipe for Cheesy Pancake Bites.  It consisted of eight ingredients that I had on hand and was super easy to make. I needed an appetizer for a Christmas dinner we were attending and I decided to make these. I wanted to jazz them up and little and found a zucchini in the crisper drawer.  I also love the mouth feel and taste of cornmeal, so I tweaked the recipe a bit to include it.

I just realized I never took a picture of the finished product.  Here is the original recipe if you prefer to use it and you can also see a photo of these guys.

Zucchini & Scallion Corncakes

1 (6.5 oz) container of Aloutte Garlic & Herb cheese, divided in half

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup self rising cornmeal

3/4 cup water

2 scallions, finely chopped (1 is to put in the pancakes, 1 is for garnishing)

1/2 zucchini, grated

1 egg or 3 tbsp of Egg Beaters All Whites ( I used this because I didn't have any whole eggs, but I always have egg whites)

salt & pepper

oil of your choice for skillet/griddle

Beat egg with half of the cheese spread. Stir in flour, cornmeal, water, scallions, zucchini and s&p.  Let batter sit for 10 minutes.  Heat skillet/griddle to medium heat & coat with oil. Using a mini cookie scoop, place batter on griddle and cook for 2-3 min until golden brown. Flip and cook for another minute or so.  Top the corncakes with a dollop or spread of the remaining 1/2 of the cheese and garnish with scallions.  I think these are quite tasty right off the griddle, but were also yummy at room temperature which is a huge plus. 

Thankfulness

During the month of November, a lot of folks do a daily post on Facebook of what they're thankful for. I don't participate in this, not because I'm not thankful, but because I try to make a conscious effort to be thankful year round. I actually download a "thankful" app on my iPhone so wherever I am, I can record whatever it is that I'm thankful for at that moment. Sometimes I go weeks between posts, other times it get a few in in a week. It just depends on when I remember to post them. I decided  to make a list of things that I'm thankful for. I thinknit will be nice to look back over them in the years to come. To see what may have changed and what's remained the same.

I'm thankful.....

• To be a stay-at-home mama. Being a mom is the one true thing I've wanted to be my entire life. 
• My husband has a career he enjoys and works for such a great company. They truly care about their employees and their families which unfortunately is rare.  Next August he'll have been there 10 years. 
• To have a husband who supports me in more ways than one to make the above possible.
• That buns are "in" right now. Between Stella grabbing at everything and me not really having the time or care to fix my hair, it's nice to feel somewhat fashionable and yet effortless at the same time.
• Baby girl loves being outdoors. I can always count on her calming down when I walk outside if she's upset.
• That we can almost start feeding Stella actual food very soon. I wanted to wait until she is 6 months since we are going to do the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) method. She's had some purees, but nothing that really counts. Food is such a huge part of our lives and we want her to have a healthy relationship with it. I was very picky as a child and we don't want her to be that way.
• For awesome girlfriends in Atlanta. I've always had more guy friends that girl friends growing up, but as I've gotten older I realize a girl needs to have the chance to talk, bond and bitch with her girls. I'm so lucky that the men found such wonderful ladies.
• That our friends have kids and continue to add to the group. I love the idea of the babies all being great friends like we all are.
• Donald is a great cook. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal when Stella was a newborn instead of junk or fast food all the time.
• He also cleans up the kitchen and doesn't mind.
• I have a smart husband.  Growing up I didn't truly understand why women always listed "smart" as a quality they'd like to have in a man. Not that I wanted a dummy, but I thought, "Of all the things to want, this is what you've narrowed it down to?" Now, I totally get it. He is so incredibly smart and it's such a turn on. It's also nice that he knows how to fix things or can at least figure it out and we don't have to pay to have certain things done around the house. 
• I have a smart daughter. The doctor tells us she's advanced for her age every time we see her. People everywhere point out how advanced she seems for her age.  What a beautiful thing to hear.  Every parent wants better for their children. I'm so happy she was born healthy and will have every opportunity to advance herself as much as she wants. 
• For parents and in-laws who don't mind stepping in to help out.
• That Stella has great-grandparents in her life. 
• We don't have to travel long distances for Thanksgiving or really any holiday.
• Our families live in the same town. We don't have to alternate holidays or drive far to celebrate. This was great when we were dating and even better now that we have a child.
• I know how to cook and clean and take care of our home along with the people in it.  "Common sense is a flower that doesn't grow in everyone's garden."  Thank goodness it grows in mine!
• For days when Stella and I just hang out in our PJ's.  I like getting out and about with her, especially now that she can sit in the cart and goes longer between feedings, but it's so nice not to have anywhere to be.  
• For listening to Donald and Mother-in-Law when it came to what type of chair should go in the nursery. I only wanted my great grandmother's rocking chair because I wanted to be that mother.   They both said La-Z Boy.  They were both right.  We got a beautiful leather one that really is quite nice looking (most look frumpy and old person-ish) and it's soooo comfy.  Miss Priss had quite the appetite the first two months and fed very often.  My Boppy fits perfectly in it.  I also ended up sleeping in it a good bit the first month or so and I still nap in it a few times a week with Stella on my chest (Can we agree a sleepy baby heart to heart with you is THE BEST FEELING EVER?!) The rocking chair resides in our room and is great for brief rockings and nice to look at, but that's it.  
• That both my parents and in-laws are retired so they can visit whenever.
• We have a fenced in yard. 32 temp, 20+ mph winds and snow/ice on the ground definitely doesn't make me want to be out walking puppies.
• Stella loves animals, especially doggies.
• My Daddy doesn't have to be out working in this harsh winter weather anymore.
• For a nice warm mug of Apple cider. 
• Stella is such a great sleeper at night (typically).
• We have such a laid back and happy baby.  
• Rainy day cuddles and snoozing in my lap. Especially when Stella hasn't fallen asleep while nursing during the day in quite some time.
• For early morning snuggles.  When I was pregnant I told Donald the thing I look forward to the most was putting the baby in bed with us and cuddling and  playing.  For the past month or so, if Stella wakes up after 5:30 am, instead of feeding her in the La-Z Boy in her nursery, I'll just go get her and put her in bed with us to nurse.  We both usually go back to sleep and then she wakes us up with soft hard thwacks on the face, chest or back and baby babbling.  It's one of my favorite times of day because we are all together as a family.  And she always wakes up in a good mood. 

Christmas Traditions for Stella

As Stella approaches the six month mark (What?! Where has the time gone?) and the Holidays are around the corner, I can't help but think of all the stuff I can't wait to do with her around this time of year.  She'll only get to do a few of these things this year, but I love dreaming about the days when we can do all of this together.

• Ride Priscilla The Pink Pig in Macy's at Lenox Square Mall.
• Have her picture taken with Santa (most likely screaming).
• Drive around looking at Christmas lights.
• New Christmas pj's each year.
• Watch Christmas movies together around a crackling fire electric fireplace.
• Decorate the house and Christmas tree.
• Sip hot cocoa or apple cider together while we pick out a Christmas tree.
• Get an Elf on the Shelf.
• Take her to see The Atlanta Ballet's The Nutcracker at The Fox Theatre.
• Donate clothes and toys to those in need.
• Play in the snow (if we're lucky): build a snowman, sled, make snow angels, catch snowflakes in our eyelashes and on our tongue 
• Ice skate at an outdoor ice rink.
• Christmas Eve Mass/Church service (depending on the family).
• Make gingerbread men.
• Make cookies for Santa.
• Make Reindeer food.
• Read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.
• Start a Christmas Book Advent
• Have Mommy & Daughter Tea at Mable's Tea Room.
• Sing Christmas Carols.
• See a holiday lights show.

This Christmas should be very interesting. I think she might be crawling at that point. She's already into everything and I'm sure she'll be just as interested in our presents, wrapping paper, bows, etc...  I think next year she might "get it", but who knows?  We aren't really planning on getting her too much. She doesn't need  anything.  She has a ton of clothes, plenty of toys and already has our hearts.