9.20.2012

Busy Times and a Link to a Giveaway

Aria went to the park for the first time today!  It was a lot less exciting than I had imagined it in my head.  We would go and she would love swinging in the swing, with the wind in her little hair and she would squeal and kick her little legs.  Then we would go down the slide a few times and she would clap and point to go up it again.  Then we would run around (with me holding her hands cause that little girl still isn't walking!).  It would be magical.

Instead she sat in the mulch and picked at it (it was rubbery mulch stuff for kids to play on) and she would pick up a piece and pretend like she was going to hand it to me, I would reach for it, and then she quickly clutched it to her chest.  I kept trying to get her to play with the other kids her age.  Nope, she just sat there in the mulch babbling away to herself.  Or she would just sit and stare at the other kids, like a creeper.  She needs some more socializing.  I think we will go to the park again tomorrow.
She did not like the swing, but she liked staring at the kids on the other swings.

Clutching onto her dear mulch

I like the playground, Mom!

Staring at kids, being a baby creeper.

She was wiped out when we got home so I put her down for a nap and got the butternut squash all cut up and into a baking pan so I could make her some baby food.  I am getting pretty tired of making her the same squash meal, so I'm sure she is tired of eating it too.  So I went online and found this awesome website, Weelicoius.com, that has some pretty good recipes on it.  And, lucky me, Ergobaby Blog is giving away a cookbook!  Score!  So, you should check out Ergobaby Blog and Weelicoius and see how easy it is to make homemade baby food.  Plus, Catherine is a pretty awesome name, if I do say so myself.


9.16.2012

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles and big news!

For my birthday, well I guess really for Aria's birthday, but in my mind it was for my birthday, my parents gave her me a Hamilton Beach Fast Pop Maker.  Have you guys seen these or used a similar brand?  It is so flippin sweet! (pun unintended, but I'm keeping it).

I didn't exactly like the recipes that were in the booklet so I made up my own since I had a ton of lemons and a ton of strawberries on hand and wanted to use them.  Please excuse the iPhone pictures, I have been crazy busy cleaning getting the house ready for showings!  That's right!  The big news:  The house is officially up for SALE!!!  Let the offers commence!  (Well, at least in my head they are all vying for the house, even if that isn't true in real life).

Anyway, here is the recipe I made up.

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicle Starter


1.5 cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup water
1 cup sugar (I know I could have used something else here, but I was in a rush and knew I had it on hand)
1 package fresh strawberries, washed and tops cut off
plus some extra cold water

In a saucepan heat the water and sugar and cook until dissolved all the way.  Once the mixture is dissolved, let the pan cool.  After it has cooled, add in the lemon juice.

While the sugar water is cooking, put the strawberries in a processor (I used Aria's baby bullet) and puree them up.

Add both solutions together in a pitcher and add cold water until the pitcher is full (not exact science for this one, the more water you add, the less tart it will be later though).

Let it chill in the fridge.  This works out because the pop maker needs to freeze for 24 hours before making the pops.
juicing an endless sea of lemons

we just made two...at first

waiting 9-11 minutes

Brad releasing the pops from the mold


action shot


Ta Da!  Delicious homemade popsicle!

So as far as the pops go, you just add the juice to the pop maker and let it sit for 9-11 minutes, use the gizmo to pop the popsicle out and voila, strawberry lemonade popsicle!

Brad liked them a lot and asked for some different flavors.  He thought it was a bit too tart, but I liked them the way they were.  The batch will most likely make a ton of popsicles since we have made 4 and it hasn't really made a dent in it.  I will most likely add some more water to the mixture so that Aria doesn't have a pucker face the whole time when we make some for her tomorrow.

One really cool feature with this one is that you can immediately freeze another batch, which of course we had to  try out.  They turned out as delicious as the first!

There are a ton of other maker gizmos out there and are actually quite affordable, especially when they are gifts!  Thanks Mommy and Daddy!

9.06.2012

Link Love: Giveaway at Oops, I Craft My Pants Blog

So Kira over at Oops, I Craft My Pants is hosting an awesome giveaway of a Simple Crocheting book.  (BTW, how awesome is that blog name?).  She makes the original Wizard of Oz bookmarks and came up with this awesome idea for free chip-clips that you've probably seen on Pinterest.  She also makes a lot of really neat altered art from recycled materials and scraps from other projects.  I love all the inking she does with her projects, it really makes me want to get out my alcohol inks and create some awesomeness.  You should most definitely check out her blog.

Anyway, back to the giveaway... Crocheting is probably the last crafting type thing that I have yet to try.  I see all these great pins on Pinterest which makes me really want to try it, but then in real life, I never get the motivation to actually do it because it looks too hard and I have a million other great crafty things I really want to make too, and know how to do. 

Maybe I'll win it and make this awesome bracelet.  Maybe I won't but will still try it out...one day.  I really want to crochet Aria some awesome food for her kitchen, but don't have a lot of motivation to do it because my older sister is making her tons of awesome crocheted food already.  Hmm, crafting decisions...

Anyway, head on over here to enter her giveaway before September 10!  There are three ways to enter!