52 Project Week 4

I had an easy task this week-picking the picture. For a moment I considered picking one of Stella under The Arch at UGA on her first trip to Athens Friday, but none compared to this picture. 

Last Saturday we drove up to Calhoun to get a rug for Stella's nursery. This was her rolling around on the floor for the first time Wednesday morning after we put it down Tuesday night. I love everything about this photograph, her unicorn pigtail, the whispy hairs falling around her face, her cleft chin, her half smile, that perfect button nose, the look in her eyes like she can see straight into my soul. Goodness I love this child of mine.

52 Project Week 3

It was so hard to choose a favorite photo for this week. I've taken a lot this week because we've been at home so much. Today we took Bandit to the dog park. There's a human, person regular park next to it with a playground. We've never taken her to a playground and let me tell you-she loved the swings. We have a Fisher Price swing on our back porch that she loves, but this one is completely different.  Here she is swinging by herself like a big girl.

Swinging with mama

First trip down the slide.

I love this photo. Love the light coming through.

Here she is doing a little rock climbing!! Ha!

And that is how we spent our Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day. Great memories. Thanks to Daddy for catching it all.

Busy in the kitchen

I've been super busy in the kitchen this week.  As of the 2014, I'm in charge of hospitality in our garden club that meets once a month. It meets the second Monday of each month, so starting Sunday, I began making a bunch of things for that.  I want to do different themes each month. Since it's a new year, I wanted to do healthy recipes since most try to switch their eating habits this time of year.  So what did I make?  

I tried a recipe similar to this for Baked Broccoli and Cheese Patties. I can't find the original one I used, but this turned out great.  All gone.

I tried this  recipe for Honey Cinnamon Chickpeas.  Hmm...what can I say? Huge fail comes to mind!  Yeah, they went straight in the trash after cooling. 

I made these Ham and Cheese Pinwheels. Not so healthy (stupid cresent rolls) although I did use 2% shredded cheese, but simple, easy and delicious. And also devoured.

To stick with the healthy and also the southern new year tradition of eating black eyed peas, I made Redneck Caviar served with tortilla chips. We had this at our wedding and it was a hit. I made a ton of it so we'd have some leftover because Donald loves this stuff.

I despise celery, don't care for peanut butter and really don't eat raisins unless they are baked into something, but I made Ants on a Log.  They were also gone.  Even though I'm not into them, I get it.  The crunchy celery, the smooth (although I used crunchy peanut butter) and salty peanut butter and the sweet raisins. Oh and it's healthy. I'm glad I didn't have to bring any back home.  

I had to do something sweet.  In sticking with my healthy theme, I decided to do the Pineapple Angel Food Cake that has only those two ingredients. It's wildly popular on Pinterest. It's so easy to make. You literally open the mix and open the can of pineapple, dump it in a bowl, mix and pour into a greased cake pan and bake.  It comes out super moist and fluffy.  I've made this several times before and can pretty much devour it in one sitting.  I wanted to really make it super tasty, so I grabbed a tub of whipped cream.  I toasted up some coconut while the cake baked and zested a lime. In the past I've used the Duncan Hines and Aldi brand of angel food cake mix.  All I had on hand was the Aldi brand.  I'm guessing they must have changed the packaging because it came with two pouches instead of one. Apparently this packaging makes a difference because it did not rise.  Ugh, now what to do?!

Thankfully, I had another can of cresent rolls on hand. I decided to whip up a batch of Apple Dumplings.  Many of the recipes on Pinterest call for a ton of butter and sugar, but I just think it's unnecessary.  So, I tweaked mine a bit. I used a Granny Smith apple, added the zest of an orange as well as nutmeg. And I used Sprite. I also used maybe a 1/4 cup of sugar. I think what the recipe calls for is way too much.  These baked up nicely, smelled delicious and once again, a huge hit.      

So all of that was for Garden Club-January.  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of any of the food. I was really just trying to focus on seeing what I could get done since this was my first month.  Stella didn't sleep good over the weekend and Sunday night, I barely got any rest. I may have slept for two hours. I was exhausted all day. Hopefully in the coming months I can get photos of the food and decor to share.

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Both Monday and Tuesday we walked for about an hour. Monday we walked in the late morning. Stella was fussy and I couldn't listen to it. She LOVES the outdoors, so I put her on my back and headed out the door with Bandit.  Tuesday, we walked in the late afternoon with a friend who lives a few streets down.  She has two adorable kiddies. They got to ride in their wagon and Stella rode in her stroller.  

Here she is playing Peek-a-Boo with her hat.

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Wednesday, I had full intentions of taking Stella to story time at the library. It starts at 10 am. We've only been once, before the holidays and she seemed to like it.  They took about a month break around the holidays since a lot of people are out of town and it had started back the week prior.  This got thrown to the side when I woke up with a huge waffle craving. 

 So I made waffles and she absolutely LOVED them!  She ate HALF of an entire waffle. I couldn't believe it!  Yay, happy Mommy!

We left the house at 10:45 to run errands. This is what happened last time I went shopping with her.  She started out in here, but then got sleepy and wanted to be held. 

I couldn't do what I really needed to do holding her, so I laid her down in the basket.

Unfortunately that didn't last long, so I ended up picking her back up. She immediately fell back asleep and I just walked around aimlessly while she slept.  

Since August or September, I've really gotten into baby wearing.  In the beginning, Stella didn't care to be worn much and I got a little discouraged. But it was hot this summer, our air was out for about 6 weeks and she had THE hottest little baby body I'd ever felt! I wouldn't want to be wrapped up either if I were her. Now, thanks to the lovely ladies at Babywearers International of Atlanta, I know I have different options. I can find what's best for both of us.  Now, I can wear Stella when I'm out and about, busy around the house or when she's fussy/sleepy and wants to be held. Sometimes I wear her up front and other times I wear her on my back. She doesn't care. She's comfy, I'm comfy and she'll fall asleep in either position.  

Here she is at my Aunt Katha's cabin on my back. My cute little monkey.

Because it was nap time, I ended up wearing her that morning in K-Mart so she could get in a little nap. 

I didn't expect to be away from the house as long as we were and I got hungry. I made the decision to go sit down somewhere and eat with her. I could have just went through a drive-thru, but she's really into eating real food and since we weren't rushed for time, decided to go for it. It was great. We ate at Five Guys. She had a few fries, some of the hamburger meat and a pickle chip.  Oh and also some puffs.  Then we walked over to Target to finish our errands. I threw her on and continued shopping.  Again, it was nap time so she snoozed, I did what I needed to do, then browsed until she woke up.

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After being gone most of the day on Wednesday, I thought it best to stay in all day Thursday.  We had no reason to leave. That afternoon, I put a Cran-Apple Ginger crisp in the slow cooker.  It was the dessert to our hamburger steak with mushroom gravy, rice and white acre pea dinner.  This entire meal was wonderful.

I forgot to take an "after" picture, but it really didn't look much different from this.  The only thing I'd change is not adding the granola before cooking. There was no crisp to this crisp. I made this before minus the cranberries and actually made a crisp topping with flour, oats, butter, etc. It actually got somewhat crunchy.  This time I used gingerbread flavored granola (yum) and it just got soggy. I'm big into texture and this dessert was big on flavor, but desperately lacking in the texture department. I would recommend adding the granola after spooning it into bowl and topping it with whipped cream.

Stella slept really good Thursday night. Like amazing. How she used to. It was lovely. She passed out at 7:30. We went to bed at 9:30 and she didn't wake me up until 7 am!  

Once again, Friday, we stayed at home all day and I made use of my slow cooker by cooking spaghetti sauce in it.  I also used a boxed herb foccacia mix to go with our pasta.  

I'm so happy I got to make new recipes this week. Making a new recipe each week was a New Years Resolution I had back in 2010. I did it good until the week of St. Patty's Day. Donald and I both came down with a horrible stomach bug. We couldn't eat right for about two weeks. Then my job at the time took a turn for the worse after that. I was miserable, plus we were planning our wedding. I had too much going on. I'm glad to be picking it back up. 

52 Project Week 2

Stella has been very fussy, restless and sleepless this weekend. I'm not sure what's going on. Donald and I both hope it doesn't continue for long.  I took this picture on Monday or Tuesday when it was super cold out and she was napping.  It's nice to be reminded that she does sleep and when she does, she looks like an angel doing it.  

Modifications on Stella's Nursery

Well, we finally have everything like we want it in Stella's room.  Yes, she's seven months now, but it took some time to order photos and figure out the placement of everything.  

Plus, with the holidays, my mind was focusing on that instead.  

Here it is.

We moved the butterfly down and put a framed photo collage in it's place.  

I wanted newborn pictures taken of Stella, but it didn't work out.  So instead, I did two months photos. Danielle McAdams of Dolce Amore Photography met me on The Marietta Square the day after Stella turned two months old.  She was smiling and showing off her budding personality and I'm so very happy with them.  

I found two 11 X 14 frames at Goodwill a while back. Each one was less than $3. 

When Danielle sent me the pictures, she sent some in color and some in black and white. 

I chose to do one collage in color and one in black and white. 

I order my photographs from Snapfish, but the largest photo size they do is an 8 X 10.  

Since I couldn't just choose one photo for her room and I had a two 11 X 14 frames, you can do what they call a photo collage. I did that and I'm pleased with the results.

I put the frame with the B & W photos in our living room.

A great friend of the family, Sarah McCrary gave me this frame.  I was finally able to get the handprint I've been wanting. 

This birth day shadow box is something I'm so proud of.  I saw this pin on Pinterest which gave me the inspiration I needed. We didn't do birth announcements so I chose to put in my wrist band her her ankle band with our names on it, plus the two hats the nurses dressed her in, her teeny weenie shirt and a one of my favorite photographs from her birth day.  The traditional pink and blue striped hat is what she was put in immediately after being born. I love that they take two striped hats, cut two slits in one and feed the other one through it to make a bow for the girls. So freaking cute.  I was told the green knitted hat was handmade by ladies in a local church group.  Stella was dressed in it that afternoon after her first bath.  We took home about four or five of the standard blankets.  We were told to take everything because you'll get charged for it regardless, so we did. I cut up one to make the background for the shadowbox.    

I found a cross-stitching of "Now I lay me down to sleep" framed at Goodwill for less than $3. Also on it are pairs of animals and Noah's Ark.  

It's seriously one of my favorite finds. 

I love the colors and that it says "Guide me safely through the night" instead of the scary version "If I die before I wake." 

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jessica got Stella this adorable height chart and gave it to her after her Baptism.  It has picture slots in it so you can personalize it.   I have a feeling we'll be able to put it to use in a few months when she can stand on her own.

I've said this before, but I absolutely love all of the color in here. 

I'm a bright and sunny person and wanted her room to feel that way. 

What we want for her is in her nursery: happiness, growth, a love of food, learning and reading, to love and respect nature and to be a colorful and unique individual.  

When she gets older, I think she'll see how much love and thought we put into her room.

Pineapple-Mango Fruit Puree

If your a big a fan of Greek yogurt as me, then you'll love this.  I've been buying the 2-32 oz tubs of Greek yogurt from Costco for years. I usually top it will fresh fruit and granola, but sometimes I don't always have fresh fruit. I love almost all of the flavors of  Mueller Corner yogurt and that inspired this post.  I decided to make a pineapple and mango puree. But I'm too much of a fresh fruit snob to make it from fresh fruit. If I have fresh fruit, it's going straight in my mouth or on the yogurt. I'm definitely not spending the time to puree it.  So in decided to use dried fruit.  It's economical and pretty quick to do.  You could do with whatever dried fruit you have on hand, cherries and apricots would be tasty.  This puree has only three ingredients also, which makes it even better.

Pineapple-Mango Puree

dried pineapple

dried mango

mango juice

Using kitchen shears, cut fruit into smaller chunks over a saucepan.  

Add juice to cover fruit about halfway.  

Simmer over medium heat until fruit is softened.  

Let cool a bit, then transfer to a food processor.

Puree to your liking.  I wanted a bit of texture in mine so it's not completely smooth.  

I chose to have mine a thick jam-like consistency. 

Tip: Do not try to use an immersion blender with this. I love mine and have used it many times for many different applications. This is not one of them. 

Well, unless your goal is to splatter it everywhere!

I added my puree to Greek yogurt, but it would be delicious topped on an English Muffin, plain bagel, waffles or pancakes. 

Christmas Spirit

Our sweet baby girl turned 7 months old yesterday. 

It's so cliche, but time is really moving so quickly.  I started this post before Christmas but never finished it. We've been very busy since the 22nd of December. We left that Sunday evening around 5:30 to drive down to Sylvester. On the 23rd, I realized Donald and I had been together twelve years. We celebrated via text since I was at my parents and he was at his. We stayed in Worth County until the Saturday after Christmas. We rang in the new year cozy and comfy in our house, then New Years Day, we went over to Justin and JP's like we've been doing for years. We have a ton of pork, collards, black-eyed peas and cornbread and everyone watches football while they nurse their hangover. Well, almost everybody. I left for my Aunt's cabin in Blue Ridge the next day and returned around lunch on Saturday.  

Side note: I found these socks at one of my favorite stores, Love Street way before I was even pregnant, or talking about being pregnant or possibly even engaged/married.  They were on clearance and I couldn't pass them up. 

Prior to Thanksgiving, I had been thinking about what to get Stella for her first Christmas.
She would be 6 1/2 months old for Santa Claus so I knew she'd only be mildly interested.  My thought was that she'd mostly just be into the wrapping paper and boxes like any kid's first and probably second Christmas.  I didn't want to overwhelm her with gifts for that reason, plus the truth is, she doesn't need anything.  She didn't need clothes because we've been so blessed with not only new clothes received at my baby showers, but a vast selection of gently used hand-me-downs from from friends and family.  She also didn't need toys since my mom got quite the stash at a yard sale back in September and she's fine playing with the minimal toys she does have. Really, just give her Sophie the Giraffe and something wooden to chew on and she's fine.  

I read this story in the December issue of Family Circle and instantly fell in love with the idea.  Basically, the mom would get overwhelmed around the holidays trying to do everything and she decided to simplify gift giving with her kids.  She told them to make a list of four things: 

• Something you want  
• Something you need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

 I've heard of some families only giving their children three gifts since that's all little baby Jesus received, which is a great idea too.  I just think some kids these days get so much for birthdays and Christmas and they really have no idea what they got.  They end up  playing with a few items and everything else is forgotten.  My mom mentioned when I was little she would take up some of my gifts and hide them for a little while.  A few weeks or months down the road when I got bored with whatever I was playing with, she'd present "new"ones.  Another reason why I think this is a perfect way to do Christmas for Stella is it's not like the four things we give her will be the only thing she'll receive.  Basically, I just want to keep things simple with us because I know she'll be flooded with thoughtful gifts from aunts, uncles, grandparents and our friends for many Christmases to come (she's the first grandchild as well as the first great grandchild on my side of the family).

Something You Want/Need
Since Stella wasn't able to verbalize her wish list, I decided to combine the first two things into one.  In November, I noticed Stella was really getting into bouncing. I thought an Exersaucer that bounces would be the perfect thing for her.  We have a small house and something big and permanent is a turn off when it comes to her toys.  I wanted something I could easily move from her room, to the living room, to the kitchen, to our back screened porch and even outside if I wanted.  I decided to look on Craigslist to see if anyone was trying to sell a gently used one before looking for something new.  I found the perfect one for $25.  

It was blue and green and the seat was a frog. It had other bug details (butterflies, bees, dragonflies, etc) on it which would go perfect with her nursery theme (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and could be reused again if we have a boy the second time around.  The family was also getting rid of a musical walker-type toy for $5. 
I"m not sure what it retailed for, but the Exersaucer retailed for almost $90, so I'd say I got a great deal.  It looked brand new so I was very excited about my find. I'm so happy Santa was able to deliver this present early (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) because she really enjoys it. It has three height settings and even with it on the lowest setting she can just barely reach the bottom. We put a pillow under her feet and now she can bounce like mad. The butterfly/dragonfly thing is her favorite part of the Exersaucer.  She is obsessed with gnawing on it.  It must feel good on those two front teeth she got just before Christmas.

























Over Christmas, Nini and Grandaddy introduced her to puffs.  She fell in love.  The Exersaucer has what I can only assume is a snack holder on it.  I just ordered a 6 pack of puffs from Amazon which arrived today (love Amazon Prime!) and I put a handful in here for her to feed herself. Pure bliss!  That may become her new favorite part since my little piggy loves to feed herself. 

Something to Wear
As mentioned above, she absolutely didn't need any clothes, but I thought her tootsies could use some covering up. I got the cutest pair of fake brown Uggs at Goodwill before she was born, but due to her having huge feet one velcro panel on the heel of her foot they don't stay on good.  They seem to fit fine without socks, but this makes it easier for her to yank them off.  She's also figured out how to pull off socks pretty well so sometimes her poor little piggies are cold.  She has a pair of black 'boots with the furs" my best friend gave her, but due to the same Velcro issue, off they come. I cannot squeeze her feet into the fake Uggs with socks on so I knew she'd need something for the upcoming cold months.  Turns out this was a great idea since the Polar Vortex decided to move in for a few days and blanket most of the US in snow, ice and brutally cold temperatures. Interesting side note: Today, I heard on The Today Show where on Tuesday, somewhere in all 50 states experienced freezing or below with temperatures.  And now, we're back on topic. We have a K-Mart down the road that was having a "buy one, get the second pair of shoes for $1" sale so I was all over that.  I got another pair of camel brown Ugg-type boots which has two Velcro flaps on either side, plus a light brown pair of these furry lined moccasin type slip ons. So freaking cute!  I got them in a bigger size so hopefully she can fit in them until it starts warming up.

I love her face in both of these pictures. She all "Oooohh" with her lips.

Something to Read
I'm very into reusing and recycling so I headed to a favorite used book store down the road, The Book House.  I knew I had a credit from bringing in previous books, plus I had a few more I wanted to turn in for credit. She has a great selection of books and a cute children's section.  I found a book called Clap Your Hands. It's an interactive book that's very cutely illustrated.  It turned out to be the perfect find since I'd just discovered if Stella is upset, all I have to do is start singing,"If You're Happy and You Know It" and she calms down and start laughing.  I also found a book called Nursery Rhythms for a One Year Old and snagged it.  I later decided instead of giving it to her for Christmas, I'll wait until her 1st birthday. 

I mentioned doing a Christmas Book Advent in this previous blog post about starting new Christmas traditions with Stella.  She won't get this idea for a while so I have some time to build up the supply of Christmas books.  While browsing the children's section, I noticed she'd carved out a holiday section.  There, I found The Nutcracker and Moostletoe to add to the Christmas collection. While in K-mart, I also found a kids version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Kate Toms. We have another book by her, Itsy Bitsy Spider and it's just adorable.  The illustrations are my favorite.  Christmas Eve I sat her on my bed in my old room and read this book. The story is a bit different from the traditional one. It's sort of 'Twas the Night met Rudolph the Reindeer. I like it and it's cute, but I also googled the original version and read it to her when we finished the book.  I love that we coincidentally  had on reindeer attire.  Me, with my reindeer socks and Stella in her Reindeer footie PJ's from Grammy.

Christmas Morning

I got adult sized footie PJ's. Yay, now Stella and Mommy match. Donald said he'll probably leave for work and I'll be in these and he'll return and I'll still be in them.  So excited!

This is one of my favorite photographs from Christmas!

Stella's first Christmas was great and, as I suspected, she was gifted wonderful things such as clothes for the present and future, a stuffed Snoopy dog from Great Aunt Peggy since Stella has such a deep love for puppies), baby dolls  (one from each Grandmother; Nini gave one that's soft and rattles and Grammy gave her one that sings "I'm a Little Teapot") and electronic toys (Alphasaurus, Play and Learn Tambourine and a Fisher Price Laugh & Learn i-phone teddy bear), rubber ducky bathtub, plus a few items from Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jessica that can be put to use such as her first toothbrush, eating accessories and a chewy necklace type toy.

She was also given money from Grammy and Grampy and both Great Grandparents (which I think is a wonderful gift for a person of any age) that was deposited into the savings account I opened shortly after her Baptism.  

Photo recap of the week and gifts below:  

Of course, she did love playing with the tissue paper.

Grammy's handheld mirror ended up being one of the things she was most content with. It was covered in hand prints when we left, but if I have to guess, they are probably still there.

Nina and Stella with her singing "Teapot" doll

Stella and Silver hanging out by the fire.

 On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we celebrated out at Don and Wanda's.  Here is Stella with Mema and Papa.

And here's the whole family below.

 On the left is Stella and Bandit in front our partially decorated tree. And the right is Stella in front of Grammy and Grampy's tree on Christmas morning. Can you tell she loves to suck her thumb?!

Sunday night when we got into town, we stopped by DQ and grabbed the must have burger and I tried a pumpkin pie blizzard. O.M.G. Delicious! Then we visited with some family friends down the road from my parents. I sat Stella in front of their tree and snapped away. I thought she looked so pretty in front of the lights. Of course, she was obsessing over this piece of ribbon and refused to look up at me. The snowflakes and twinkling lights is the Auto Awesome photo option on Google Plus. Love that it does cute stuff like this.

In front of the fireplace at Grammy and Grampy's.

Our first family Christmas photo!  My shirt says, "Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal." Home Alone is one of my favorites. I was so excited to find this online!

Michael, Nina and me

Awkward family photo time!

Bandit got a new bed for Christmas, but Stella decided it looked comfy enough for her.

Daddy caught him a good reindeer!

Me and Bandit, my first child

Nothing like an Christmas afternoon nap on the couch with my best girl on my chest. At one point Donald was asleep with his head on my shoulder. Beautiful family moment right there.