Role Model

Of course I want to be a great role model for PC. I make sure to eat right around her and give her balanced meals. I wanna make sure I don't say inappropriate things around her. They are sponges after all right? So of course I go to sit down tonight where? Yup the coffee table. Actually it's a very common place for me to sit ask the hubs. I will even sit cross legged up there. I know weird right?!  So of course lil miss PC saw me tonight and this happened.

I better watch out. Also she's super flexible I'm a little jealous. Ha 

I love books!

We started reading to PC almost as soon as she came home.  My parents read to me growing up and there are so many books that I remember and love.  One thing that I wanted to do, at an early age, was tointroduce lil to all of them, old and new.  She will be well versed in Caldecotts.  I hope she will have a love of reading like her father and I do.  Thankfully our local library is stocked full of children's books, saves us some money and rotates the books frequently.  

PC loves turning the pages and she especially loves those touch and feel books and books where you can lift the flap.  There are times when I won't hear anything for a little while, I'll be in the kitchen or in the bedroom and I'll go and look for her and this is what I find...... She will just be quietly sitting there looking through her books. I LOVE THIS KID! LOL....I mean.... I will even if she doesn't love books like we do, but I hope she will.  <3  <3 

Fall Goodies!

It's fall, which means time for some fall treats!

With all the apples we picked at the Orchard the other week I figured I needed to do something with them, use them before they went bad.  I had planned(still planning) on making applesauce because lil miss PC LOOOOVES her some applesauce! However, we still had a bunch, so enter..... apple crisp! MMMM....if only I had some homemade vanilla ice cream, actually any vanilla ice cream would have worked.  I do wish that I hadn't put oatmeal on top, it was initially fine, but when it gets wet it gets that soggy oatmeal quality- Not.a.fan!  I also wish I had sliced the apples thinner, I don't like crunchy apples in my apple crisp, or apple pie. However, that being said, we ate it all.....over the course of a few days ;-)

I also had to make a chicken pot pie.  There is something very comforting about pot pie. I love eating a nice slice of warm pot pie on a brisk fall evening.  I think it may even taste better in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but maybe that's just me :-) 

Dining out is always an Adventure

My little panda cub is loving on Chinese good. Americanized of course. She even has her panda cub bib on!  

Chopstick user in training😊

Favorites of the summer

Summer's over, but......

Here were some of our summer essentials:

1)Re-useable swim diapers- originally I had planned on ordering some of the cute colored/designed ones, but realized that the white swim diapers are better because they pretty much match all the bathing suits
This one is a the iplay diaper which I bought at Target, but you can get some super cute girl ones on Amazon here

 The second swim diaper was ordered from Target, it is Charlie Banana brand, PC is pretty small still so I got the small. What I like about this swim diaper is that there is a draw string inside so that if it's a little big you can tighten it up.

2)Cute sun hats(gotta shield the eyes, head, face and neck)- also a super cute Target purchase

This pink polka dot one goes with her Old Navy bathing suit.

3)Swim Hat(overboard??) I dunno I don't want her white hat to get all water stained, so why not invest in a hat made out of swim material? Purchased from Target, it is Speedo brand and has a UV50+ protection...gotta protect her cute lil cranium.

4)Sunglasses(she's not the biggest fan of these) I'm a little worried she'll pull them back and snap them on her little face.

5)Sunblock-I purchased Neutrogena pure & free baby SPF 60+

6)Baby Pool- which I scored for FREE! BOOOYA!

7) Swim Suit: I originally invested in a super cute pink polka dot one from Old Navy, but realized that a two piece makes more sense because PC will wear the swim diaper on the bottom and then just wear the top, that way it's a lot easier to change her
I purchased this bathing suit from Zulily- a website I love. Such CUTE stuff! It's soo dangerous too, dangerous for the wallet- LOL

8) I also invested in a long sleeve rash guard for PC- We used it a lot this summer! LOVE! Nothing like extra sun protection for precious baby skin

9) This baby floaty from Target, but you can also purchase it on Amazon. They are on super sale right now at Target though. Clearance!

Urban Sandbox

Living in the city, in a row house, we don't exactly have tons of yard space. The nice thing is there are lots of parks. However, sandboxes are not typically part of them, due to germs, bugs and animals. I've seen the turtle sandbox and it is super cute - I'm pretty sure once upon a time I even played in one, but again we just don't have the room. Not to mention that it gets real hot in the backyard and the dogs stink it up(yeah we could remedy that). There are also the relentless mosquitos too(I need a good solution!). A few weeks ago I did score a rejected sand/water table. It's missing a lot of parts including the lid to cover the sandbox part. But..... It was free. I can buy other play toys too and I'll try and DIY a cover for the sand part(will post a pic if when I am successful). It is small and fits nicely on the porch, I would love for her to play there, but the front mosquitos are worse than that backyard mosquitos(maybe we need bats). Thankfully cooler weather is upon us which hopefully means bye bye bugs.

This is what it should look like:

This is what we actually have- haha

We do have an upper deck off the back master bedroom. It does get sun, but bug wise it's pretty good. So, I purchased a 50lb bag of sand and filled one of my under the bed containers. Perfect! It can sit on the back deck on our double beach towel and lil miss PC can play. If it's raining I can just cover it, pick it up(maybe) and carry it downstairs to the kitchen, or maybe it would be easier to drag it over to her room. So it's our indoor/ outdoor urban sandbox. 

Jury is still out whether she will like it or not. Today she touched it with a finger then eventually several fingers but didn't really get into it. Though her mouth may have sampled some- oops.   While I'm not always keen on her putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, I know that  I will also miss the day when she stops.  It's the inquisitive baby/toddler nature- I still don't think of her as a toddler, she's not walking yet, still fits in 6 month clothes and still wears size 2 diapers. She's still my little baby.

"You'll Always be my Baby!"(insert Mariah Carey song)

It's Fall!

We had PURRRRFECT weather yesterday! I mean seriously....cool, sunny....ahhh can you smell it? Fall!

Last year lil miss PC was only about a month old when we went pumpkin picking. It also happened to be the hottest day in October. We were literally sweating through our fun. PC slept through the whole thing, didn't even make a peep. This year she was awake for the whole thing, but she still doesn't understand the concept of pumpkin and apple picking, but at least she had fun! Maybe next year she will be able to pick her own pumpkin out.  

And.... For the last three years we have gone with these wonderful friends. Hopefully sooner than later they will have a little friend for PC to hang with! ;-)  Let me just say, hoisting a pumpkin up in front of your face is no easy task....I'm still waiting for my "mommy muscles" to come in! 

I think we picked the cutest pumpkin, but maybe I'm just biased. 

And of course... Apple picking. Hoping to make apple crisp and applesauce maybe even apple butter! Too bad there were so many ground apples. But at least we found a few! 

Good Eats and Good Times!!

So the hubs and I celebrated 8 years of marriage the other week, June 24th to be exact.  Amazingly it has taken me one whole week to post about it. You'd think I would have TONS of time, this being the summer and not working and all. I have no excuses really. 

We decided to introduce PC to a local "beach." In a couple of weeks we will be spending a whole week at the beach...of course this will be a whole new experience and probably not as relaxing as we are used to.  But....it will be another memory to add to the books, so for that I am definitely excited! PC had her first experience of a "wave." As well as her first taste of sand - blech! I'm hoping that the sand was a negative experience.  

 Sunglass Friends!

" I'm not eating the sand I promise!"

For dinner we decided to eat in, we typically do, usually G makes dinner, but this year we decided to co-make the dinner. I made bruschetta (the appetizer) and dessert (creme brûlée). G made homemade gnocchi with a brown butter sage sauce and grilled asparagus! DELISH!

Brushetta recipe:
2 tomatoes diced up
2 garlic cloves (you can add red onion instead, but I am not a fan)
freshly chopped basil
salt/pepper to taste
1 tbs of EVOO
2 tbs of balsamic vinegar
diced up mozzarella
sliced up and toasted baguette sprinkle with EVOO before toasting

The "snakes" that's what G called them....

 Waiting to be boiled

 Brown Butter flakes sticking to the gnocchi perfectly- I almost licked my bowl clean, but I stayed classy!

 Ohhh and the vino was from our 5 year anniversary trip to Italy- it was amazing(both the trip and the wine...mmmm......)

 See the specks?! Not pepper! Fresh Vanilla bean   

       Topped with white sugar

 Mmm...the sugary crust

Fresh strawberries- shoulda made homemade whipped cream, next time! 

Creme Brûlée for Two!
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean

1) Mix white sugar and egg yolks with whisk until light yellow and creamy
2) bring heavy whipping cream and vanilla bean to a slow boil
3) Add the cream a little at a time stirring continually
4) Pour mixture into two ramekins
5) Place ramekin in a large cake pan, or I used my pyrex casserole dish- pour hot water all around until the water comes up half way
5) Bake @ 325 F degrees for 40-45 minutes until creme brûlée is set, but still trembly in the middle
6) Place in fridge to set 2-3 hours, or overnight
7) Remove from fridge add white sugar to the top spread evenly (I kind of shake the dish around-let sit out for 20 minutes)
8) Broil the creme brulee @ 500 degrees F for 1 1/2- 2 minutes- monitor to avoid burning

Will sleep anywhere!

I may have put my daughter in the basket  of our Uppababy. The basket is so big, I love it! It's great for holding all our stuff and great when we go grocery shopping. So.... I thought it looked perfect for a child, well mine. So I placed her in there. She didn't cry or scream. She sat there touched things played with her lamb, chewed on a bar and then.... 

This happened

Love this little peanut with all my heart. And, of course we didn't wake her. Not sure it was the most comfortable, but also not the worst as testament to her peacefulness. 

A Girl's Best Friend is.......

Well PC found some of mommy's shoes. Let's hope that she ends up with the same size feet as me! I mean double the shoes. Winning right?! Or danger?! You decide. 

Changing Everyday!

When PC was first born you would see small changes but they would happen more gradually than overnight. 

But lately she's been changing a lot. From scooting to crawling to pulling herself up! Today she pulled herself up on the coffee table for the first time. It kinda scared her because it was so high but mama was there to catch her if she fell. 

My coffee table will now stay really clean because the little miss can reach everything!

And.....she's on the move!

Well, PC officially began her four legged adventures a few weeks ago. She originally started with the army crawl, using her arms to move around and kind of dragging her legs behind her. But now! All the things on the floor have had to be picked up....I mean I'm already kind of a clean freak, so now it just requires extra tiding.

We don't really have a storage place for her toys, well I do have some places in mind, but she can't really access them yet. So....I just store all her toys under her exersaucer. I mean they are out of the way and within reach for the little Miss. Win Win right?!

Well, now that she's mobile she can just crawl right over and grab what she wants......or....you can do this.......

But, then this happened............

She can get under there no problem....but that's where the adventure stops.....do you like how my child is crying, but I have to snap a picture....don't wanna miss a sad/happy/excited/frustrated/angry moment EVER! Thank goodness for camera phones!

Tis the season for baking(no, it's not Christmas)

So....I baked about 5 dozen cupcakes the other night. Two types, red velvet with a cream cheese frosting and snickerdoodle with a fluffy vanilla frosting.

I did NOT use a box(not that there is anything wrong with that).  Boxed cakes are great too, really easy to make, less time consuming and usually very moist.  That's the kicker.  I'm not a fan of dry cake!

I also made the icing from scratch- usually if I do end up using a box then I will make the icing from scratch. But....being the overachiever on Monday, I did it all up! Gotta celebrate special co-workers :-)

My Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook and I are besties!
Snickerdoodle:

 I've learned that cracking the eggs into a bowl and then adding them one at a time(as directed) is easier than cracking them on the side(makes more dishes, but prevents any eggshells from getting in the mix).

 The Snickerdoodle mixture

Finished product! 

Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting:  You can't have red velvet cupcakes without the cream cheese frosting. Mmm....

Cream Cheese frosting Recipe:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese at room temp.
4 cups confectioners sugar sifted
3/4 tsp of vanilla extract
1) Beat Butter and cream cheese together until smooth
2) Add 1/2 cup of sifted confectioners

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe:
3 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 lb (4 cups) of confectioners sugar sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1) Using an electric mixture beat the butter until creamy and pale
2) Add confectioners sugar about 1/2 cup at a time
3) Add vanilla- beat until smooth and fluffy