First Foods

Elsie has started real food!!  I can't believe it's time for that already.  She is doing great, too.  She was so ready.  Our family (attempts) to follow the Paleo diet way of life so we didn't want to start her on (or really ever give her) the traditional cereals.  Instead her first food was fresh avocado, full of wonderfully healthy fat and one of my favorite foods!  I was determined to have someone else in my house who likes avocado and Elsie loves them.  She has since also had banana and will have squash soon, all freshly mashed by me (or her dad)!  Big sister Ava loves to help mash the food and feed Elsie a few spoonfuls.  And here are the pictures...

 Her first smell...

 Opening up...

 Feels a little funny...

 Getting more...

Avocado face!!!

In doing some "babies first foods" research I was happy to find that more and more parents are giving things other than cereal as babies first food.  AND it is now being recommended by many that meats be started as early as 7 months.  I keep ending up at this site when doing my research but there are others out there that share similar information!

 

Big.Fat.Fail!!!

I only blogged ONCE in July.

And now August is almost over.

I failed!!!

Must.Get.Back.To.Blogging!!!!

I hate I've been MIA so long!!!  We've been out of town on vacation across the country and have also had my parents in town.  Just wanted everyone to know that I haven't forgotten about the blog and will have some new and exciting posts coming soon.

Here's a picture to hold you (the grandparents :-P) over...

They change so fast!!!

Our youngest daughter is quickly approaching 4 months and I really, really, REALLY just need for all of the growing to just slow down for a bit!!!  I feel like lately every morning I go in to get her out of her crib I catch myself saying, "My, you're getting sooooo big!!!" To which she smiles and giggles and every morning I have to remind her that it's not very funny to me :-)  With our oldest it's not that I didn't enjoy every moment but I couldn't wait for her to get to the next point..."You smiled now let's hear a laugh...you rolled over now let's see you crawl."  This time I know all of those things will come AND go much to quickly and I'm really trying to enjoy every stage to.the.fullest!  Here are a few snapshots from the last few months.  ENJOY!!!

 Finally in my arms...March 6, 2011.

 Tummy time usually ends with a sleeping or at least sleepy baby!!

 She LOVES her play mats!!  The picture on the right is the first time she really noticed and focused on the toys hanging from her carseat.

 Two of my best friends from college also had babies at the same time.  These 3 kiddos were born within 11 weeks of each other!!!

Play date at the park :-)

 Two special days in her life...Aunt Angie putting the bracelet on her that she made for her dedication and meeting Great Grampie!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our growing baby!!!  I'll have to do another post just about her dedication.  I can't even begin to describe just how special the dedication services for both my girls have been to me!!!

And I'll leave you with this precious video ;-)

Sleepover, Please!!!!

My oldest daughter has really started to enjoy sleeping over, whether it's at Grandma's or with Nana and Papa.  She just loves it!!  A while back she asked if her cousin could spend the night.  Being the cool mom that I am ;-) I said "Sure!!".  She and her cousin did the usual sleepover thing; they stayed up late, watched a movie, ate popcorn, and then FINALLY went to bed!!  Unfortunately with a 3 year old it doesn't usually matter how late they go to bed they are still up at the same (early) time.  So when they woke up I sent them into the playroom while I got their surprise breakfast underway.  I really enjoyed doing this for the girls and I think they had fun, too!!  Evidence follows...

 The table is ready!!  Breakfast included pancakes with a nice cold glass of milk topped with SPRINKLES :-)  Notice the special guest, Barbie, who joined us.  They really got a kick out of that.

This face made it all worth it!!!  She's noticed her personalized "A" pancake to get her started.

 Digging into the pancakes and then trying out the "fancy" milk.

I had SOOOO much fun entertaining the girls and I can't wait to do it again!!  I've already started looking into new fun things and ideas we can try out next time :-)

Happy Father's Day!!

I'm blessed to have two wonderful Daddy's in my life.  The first is my Daddy!!!  He's taught me a lot about a lot of things throughout my life and I am so blessed to say I am still learning from him.  One of the best things about my dad is that he's not afraid to say he's still learning himself.  He knows he's not perfect and isn't afraid to keep trying and improving every day (even though he's great the way he is)!  Here's a picture of us from my wedding day...

I LOVE YOU, DADDY!!!

 

The second is the father of my two girls.  From day 1 I couldn't have asked for a better man to help me raise our girls.  From the VERY beginning he has changed diapers, burped the baby, brought me anything I needed when nursing.  He plays with them, disciplines the oldest when needed, makes them laugh, and LOVES them so so much.  He does just as much as I do with and for the girls and I just want him to know that I realize just how blessed I am!!!  There are a lot of men that don't jump in, poopy diapers and all, to help out but he does every.day!!!

Your 3 girls love you VERY much!!

DIY Sidewalk Paint

My preschooler LOVES to paint but I HATE the clean up that comes with the painting territory!!  She also thoroughly enjoys being outside.  I came across something recently that satisfies both her painting and outdoor obsessions...SIDEWALK PAINT!!!  And the best part about it is there is hardly any cleanup on my end.  That makes for one happy momma :-)  Here's how it works...

Gather your supplies.

• Corn Starch
• Water
• Food Coloring
• Small Bowl
• Muffin Tin
• Foam Paint Brushes

 Make a thin mixture with the corn starch and water.

 Pour mixture into a muffin tin and add food coloring.

 STIR!!

 Head outside and PAINT!!!

It's hard to tell in this picture but she really enjoyed splattering the paint all over the driveway...something new she was able to try since we were OUTSIDE!

And guess what!  It rained during her nap and washed it all away.  Thank you mother nature for cleaning up the mess for us!  Just so you know I found this "recipe" here.

The Beginners Rainbow Cake

My niece recently had a birthday.  We were blessed to be able to spend most of the weekend with her.  She even spent the night with us for my 3 year olds first real sleepover (more on that later).  Just before her birthday I had seen a really neat cake that I wanted to try making so I asked my niece and her mom if they minded if I made her birthday cake this year.  We don't try not to have cake in the house so I was glad for the opportunity to try this fun cake and share it so it didn't stay around our house!!!  I hate we didn't get any pictures of the process of making the cake (it's soooo easy) but here are some pictures of the finished product.

Birthday girl holding the cake.

Cutting the first piece.  She was very surprised at what the inside looked like!!

 The Rainbow Cake!!!

And one more.  I wasn't too happy with the "purple" color.  It turned out more brown as you can see.  I'll have to work on that.  Here's a link to a good tutorial for this cake.  If I can do it so can you.  Have fun!!!

Edited:  My husband helped me make this cake while the girls were napping.  I guess I can't take full credit for how it turned out!

"I wanna PEENT!!!"

Over the last several months my 3 year old has really gotten into painting.  There is hardly ever a day that goes by without me hearing, "Mommy, can I 'peent' pleeeeeaassssse???"  She would be fine with just some paint and paper every time.  Not even a paintbrush is necessary.  She uses her fingers quite well ;-)  On the other hand I got a little tired of always pulling out the same supplies and ending up with pretty much the same pictures.  (Am I a bad mom because I got tired of my daughters paintings???)  We got a package in the mail one day and I got an idea!!!

And here's the evidence...

Bubble wrap painting.  I cut some bubble wrap into different shapes.  You can't tell from the pictures but to begin with there was a red bubble wrap square, a green bubble wrap triangle, and a blue bubble wrap circle.

 

She picked out the colors...Looks like Christmas!

And the messy hands means this new activity was a hit!!

Daddy can add COLOR , too!!!

Lately our oldest daughter is really hating to have to say goodbye to Daddy on mornings he has to go to work. I think Daddy equally hates AND loves to hear her say, "Daddy, don't go. Please stay with us!!" He hates she's so upset but loves that she misses him so much. I can't say I blame him...sometimes I feel she only gets tired of me and never misses me :-P
During dinner we've started casually counting down the days until Daddy gets to stay home with us for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!! on the weekends. It's fun and I feel like we're teaching her some mathematics in the process. I love to see her giant smile when she knows the weekend is getting close.

Here are a few pictures from how Daddy added a little color to a normal Saturday morning...

"Mommy, look at me!!"

Adding some FLAVOR.

They were delicious!!

SUMMERTIME!!!!!!!

I CANNOT begin to express just how excited I am that summer is finally here!!! Ok, so not technically but the weather has been perfect for getting outside and doing all those fun summer things I remember from when I was a kid. The day just seems to go by so much faster when we are able to spend a significant amount of time outside. I now declare Vitamin D my favorite vitamin :-)

Here are a few pictures from one of our outdoor activities...

Ice Cold Juice.

Blowing dandelions.

Cantaloupe = Summer Food!!