Wednesday, September 17, 2008

hmmmm, not sure what to put here

how's about a list?

1. i'm obsessed with facebook these days. in the past two weeks i have found (or they have found me) two roommates from slippery rock. one i had totally lost contact with. the other reads this blog regularly (hi carrie!) and has a hard time replying to emails (*wink*) so it's great to be able to see what's up in her life with her and her FOUR kiddo's! it's no wonder she doesn't have time to email! glad we're back in touch!

2. i cleaned out my knitting stash. it wasn't totally overwhelming or anything but nothing was organized and i had patterns just strewn all through my knitting basket in the living room, lost in the half dozen totes that i use to transport my knitting. needles were out of their cases and just not organized at all. i put everything into ziplocks and now it somehow takes up half the space as it did before. yay! i also logged all of my needles on ravelry and printed out the little needle chart to put into my purse so that i don't buy duplicate needles AGAIN....

3. i've stalled out on feb lady sweater. i think my lack of organization was contributing to that... i need to sit down with her again. i'm making a date with her tonight! i hope i stick to it! it's nearing sweater weather and really i could have used her these past few mornings.... i need to get knitting.

4. max had a cold last week.... i had thought it was allergies but now that andy is a cranky pants with a boggerific runny nose, i'm now convinced i was wrong. sorry if we made anyone sick at playdates... it's apparently a very slow moving cold since it's been a week and a half since max started to show symptoms. and andy is just today showing signs of this cold. poor kid starts to cry before his little butt even touches the carpet when i go to set him down... ugh... i have yet to get it and same with chris.... which totally sucks because even if i would have caught it prior to andy then i could at least be giving him some antibodies through nursing and his go at it might be a little bit better but... what can ya do?

5. coffee. i'm obsessed! i don't know why i never realized this before but coffee can make a totally shitty day (read: cranky kids makes a cranky mama) turn into sunshine and puppydogs! i'm serious! i've found that most days by mid afternoon, i'm totally done with being a mom. my kids make me crazy and i have considered running away (ok, we all know i won't follow through so don't report me). but if i have some coffee, i'm a completely different person! i have energy to deal with whining and crying and multple shitty diapers within an hour! it's great! it doesn't seem to mess with andy and his sleeping either so that's a great thing! i've been on this iced hazelnut latte kick! i have hazelnut coffee, i brew an entire pot, use some of it that day then save the rest in the fridge for the rest of the week. i pour it over a lot of ice, mix in a bit of milk and hazelnut syrup and i swear it tastes just like i've stopped at my local coffee shop and spent $4 for the same thing! but really i've spent about $.30! woooo!!!

ok, i'm off to clean up the kitchen aka disaster area and do a little bit of photo work.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

makin' baby food

ok, so the title of this post is cracking me up and really could be taken a FEW different ways....
1. makin' baby food - bow chicka bow wow... i guess this would be maybe strawberries, whipped cream and champagne maybe some dark chocolate syrup, cherries... ok, you catch my drift right?
2. makin' baby food - not a pretty picture here but making food out of babies... you know the kind of babies that you could just eat up because of their cuteness right? err....
3. makin' baby food - just what it says. making baby food. food for babies!

this post will be about option number three :)

i've ventured into the rhealm of making baby food, heehee.... i didn't make pureed foods for max, i just bought jarred and felt the convenience was priceless. one it was easy to crack open a jar, feed the kid and even make an outing out of going to the grocery store on a weekly basis for more jarred foods (we could only fit one weeks of jarred foods in our cupboard). well, these days running to the store every week with two babies for jarred baby food isn't so convenient. so i've opted to just keep a small stash of jars on hand for out of the house feedings but make my own and freeze it from fresh veggies from our garden, farmers markets and the grocery store.

wowee is it fun! i documented my last batch "P Dub style" for your viewing pleasure. this batch is carrots, i've done sweet potatoes, zuchinni and sumer squash too. but carrots are soooo pretty and i just really wanted to catch their beauty and share it with you. so enjoy!

i purchased these carrots (with their pretty green tops on i might add) from the ambridge farmers market. they were a $1 a bunch and for whatever reason i only got one bunch.... while chopping i tasted a raw piece, i stopped dead in my tracks, turned to andy and told him, "andy, you are ONE lucky baby, these are the best damn carrots mommy has ever tasted!" i plan on heading back to the farmers market next week to try to score some more of these.... they were just fantastic! and really were how carrots are supposed to taste! no further text is needed, this is how it's done folks!


once into the ice cube trays, i wrap in saranwrap and freeze then i pop them out of the tray and into a ziplock. this will be about 5 meals... sadly. i really should have picked up more than one bunch. also for a ratio tip, i learned that one large sweet potato makes up one tray as well. next time i'll be doing two at a time...

also, i have found the greatest invention of our time, the mesh feeder! ha! with max i saw these things in the stores and immediate thought, yuck, what a mess this would be, who would use one of those? well, this time around, i thought what the heck and threw caution to the wind and bought one so that andy can enjoy some farmers market cantaloupe on his own. he LOVES it! i do too! it's more than a way for him to "eat" or suck on something but it's a fun toy! i filled this with a nice juicy piece of fruit for him, put him in his high chair in the kitchen and made his baby food and he was happy as a little clam the entire time! impressive! look how cute he is:

happy (belated) birthday little man


i'm soooo behind!!!! i can't believe that a week and a half have already passed since my little man turned TWO! yay max! you're TWO! he can say two, in fact he knows one, two and three and can hold up that many fingers when asked! (but only when he feels like it). he's also learning his letters and knows a handful, mostly m, a & x but also knows d (for daddy of course).

he's growing like crazy too, he's into larger sneakers and has almost grown out of his summer sandals. thank god because they are quite stinky these days....

we had a small party for him, it was just family. his big gift from us was a really cool train set. the kind with the wooden tracks and the little magnetic cars. he loves to play with it and was super excited when he opened it. he loves choo choo's :)


i also ordered a YUMMY cake from my neighbor who bakes cakes as a side business. she brought us cupcakes when andy was born and man oh man were they outstanding!!!! so i ordered the same chocolate batter and buttercream icing for max's cake and was NOT disappointed. i had her put curious george on it for max since he LOVES his "georgie".

max got some fun new toys to play with, one new itemis play-doh. we had a few tubs already but when we tried to play with it about 6 months ago, max was still wanting to just eat it. so i put it away... well, we got the new stuff out the other day and this is what we did:


so much fun! i haven't played with play-doh in forEVER! max enjoyed it too, i got some cookie cutters out and we made stars and snowmen and kitty cats and moon's and all sorts of fun things, then i built an actual snow man and then pink worm. max likes to watch me work the play-doh, he's not quite into doing it all himself yet.... but that's soon to come i'm sure! his favorite thing to do is to get it out of the tub and then put it back in. over and over and over again...

overall it was a nice day, i took it easy food wise, i ordered a sandwich ring and made two salads, an Asian coleslaw salad from annie's cookbook and a fruit salad with all sorts of fresh summer fruits in it. everything was tasty and super easy! which is how i like everything these days :)