My Fabulous Husband

David and I did not get each other anything for Christmas this year, but while I was out of town, David made some modifications to a room in our house that I enjoy spending a lot of time in: my kitchen! He bought me a nice chef's knife that he found for a good deal at TJ Max --- mine just put a dent in tomatoes!! (He has also been researching the "correct" way to cut with a knife....I didn't even know there was a "correct" way!!!) He also bought me a knife block for $3 at a thrift store to keep on top of the fridge! (We had been keeping the knives in a casserole dish in a locked cabinet after Jessica came running at me with the chef's knife one day wanting a piece of cheese!!!!) I am not sure if I was more excited about his thoughtfulness or his shopping skills! And.....drum roll please.......he built me this gorgeous spice rack!!!!!!!!!!!

It is made of oak. I have never liked oak, but I love this spice rack. He used linseed oil to finish it. I think I just don't like stains on oak because it makes the grain "pop" out. This has a softer, more natural look.

Previously, my spices had been sitting on top of the upper kitchen cabinets (because Jessica enjoyed opening and dumping my spices all over the counter top)! I am so excited about all of the surprise improvements me made to the kitchen while I was gone!!!!!! I love practical gifts that show that the giver is really paying attention! :-)

Homemade Baby Food

I made all of Jessica's baby food when she was little, and now that John is 6 months old (or will be in a few days), I am making baby food again. I have five reasons for doing this: 1) I make most of our food from scratch so why wouldn't I make the baby's food from scratch? 2) It is cheaper to puree up a bit of our dinner before adding the seasonings than buying a jar of baby food. 3) I know what's in it! 4) I have learned a lot about how to cook different types of vegetables that I don't typically use! 5)I have heard some people report that children are more likely to be good eaters if they have been introduced to the huge variety of foods/textures that you can create when you make your own baby food --- I am not entirely certain that is accurate, but Jessica has been an excellent eater, so I am going with it!

I have started both kids out teething on carrot (and sometimes celery) sticks. Jessica went straight to rice mixed with breastmilk and loved it! John was a little uncertain of the texture (I am guessing), so we switched gears and started him on carrots since he was already familiar with the taste. He LOVES it!!! After having a couple successful meals of carrots, then we will try adding the carrots to the rice and see if we can't get past the odd texture! My absolute favorite resource for making baby food is www.wholesomebabyfood.com It has all kinds of information on how to cook all types of vegetables, at what age different foods will be comfortable for baby's sensitive tummy, and even how to make baby cereal! For the most part it has followed very closely to the recommendations I have gotten from pediatricians and nutritionists. On a side note: I do try to make sure I give my babies Poly-Vi-Sol at this age to make sure they are getting enough iron since I do not use the fortified, prepackaged cereals.

John's meals for the next however long it takes him!! :-)

One of the things most people wonder is "Do you need any special equipment to do this?" The answer is no. That being said, I do LOVE my magic bullet, but you don't need anything. You can use a fork or potato masher, which is what I do when I go to a restaurant. We often pack a bowl with a banana and avocado to mash up in the restaurant! You can see in the picture that I have some special baby food freezer containers that my mom bought me. You don't have to have those either. I like having them for the first couple months before they start eating much, but once they start eating more, I just use regular freezer containers! I enjoy cooking tasty, healthy meals for my family, and it is fun for me to be able to provide homemade "first meals" for my little ones!

Need Dinner Ideas

Most people talk about being tired when they are pregnant, but when I am pregnant, I seem to get dehydrated and land myself in the ER if I so much as get off the couch! (Ok that's a bit of an exaggeration....but not by much!) At any rate, there are times in life (like for an entire year when I was pregnant with John) that you need very quick and easy dinner ideas....and hopefully low mess.....we're talking the "heat and serve" type of dinner here! Short-term you can pack your freezer with casseroles and what not, but when you are talking about an entire year, you really gotta get to know the local grocery store a little better! Unfortunately, I am absolutely spoiled rotten! I grew up eating almost all from scratch cooking, and I actually do not like the taste of most prepackaged foods! Add that my husband is a slightly picky eater and that I have never really had enough prepackaged foods to know what IS good....and we have a problem! So....I need some new ideas....

Here are some of our current favorites:

Shrimp Pasta
Spaghetti (using this homemade sauce mix)
Tombstone Frozen Pizzas (cheap, but still filling and tastes pretty good)
Ravioli (using the same homemade sauce mix)
Country Crock sides (most of the others taste like melted plastic to me)

And that's about it on the quick and easy.....sad I know!

We did a lot of Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Stir Fry for a while, but David got burned out on that. We've also done Audra's Sloppy Joe's when we have buns. We've also done meats with different marinades: barbeque sauce, soy sauce, etc.

What are your favorite quick and easy dinner ideas??? (and remember: preferably low mess and no advanced prep work)

Glassware

After me and my siblings broke a significant number of Mom's glassware, she switched over to Mason Jars because 1) They were less inclined to break when we dropped them 2) They are more difficult to tip over at the dinner table and 3) You can frequently find them for pretty cheap...especially if you find them at a yard sale! Slowly but surely, I am loosing more and more of my drinking glasses. Eventually I plan switch completely over to Mason Jars as well. For little ones, I plan to switch over to tall baby food jars! Aren't they cute??? Mini-Mason Jars!!!


One of the things that has been problematic with teaching Jessica to drink out of a glass is that her mouth is too small for many of the glasses. She started using glasses periodically at about 18 months old; however, I may start John out using a glass much earlier. Technically you could hold a glass for your child and completely avoid the sippy cup entirely. However, I must say I enjoy being able to give my kids sippy cups when I don't feel like getting juice stains out of clothes, when we are not at home, or when I would like them to feed themselves so I can do some other things! The only problem is that I don't buy baby food. I make my own. So....I am going to have to find someone to give me some more tall baby food jars.....

Grocery Shopping, Concerned Strangers, and No Naps....Oh My!

Today was grocery day. It started out so well....I got everything I needed for $55.94, saved $9.04, and only bought whole foods for some yummy from scratch cooking (including shrimp one night and steak another!!!). I finished my shopping in less than an hour with both kiddos. I did conclude that next week I should start going to two different stores again (on two different days) so I can get certain types of items for a better price.

It was what happened while I was grocery shopping that bugged me. A woman in the grocery store saw me wearing John in the Moby Wrap and was very concerned that I was smothering him. I tried to explain that he was perfectly safe, but she didn't seem to be listening and eventually walked off. This has happened before about the same thing! I had the kids at an outdoor festival, and John was in the black swim wrap because it is very thin and breathable. Two ladies standing maybe 3 feet away from me were staring and pointing at me with obvious concern that I was smothering him or that he would get heat stroke. I have also had concerned strangers look at Jessica strangely when she doesn't talk to them. I have to admit I find it rather annoying and upsetting to hear/see strangers "concerned" about what I am doing as a parent. Parenting is hard enough without random strangers being critical of what you are doing! Maybe I need some sort of sign or t-shirt....

Finally this afternoon neither of the kids really napped. John took some cat naps, but I was really hoping for a little time away from everyone to decompress! On the brightside Jessica has started giving herself reading time when she doesn't nap....but I am still nervous that she will come up with something destructive to do that I haven't thought of as long as she is awake!

Grocery Day!

Today was my first grocery shopping trip since having John in which I am trying to cook almost completely from scratch and stick to our budget (if not under cut our budget)! Cooking from scratch to me means using only whole foods (carrots, potatoes, milk, chicken, etc). Most of the time I get them as fresh and unprocessed as possible; however, this time I did purchase a few frozen veggies and pre-cut chicken pieces as well as a couple pre-packaged items for convenience while we have friends and family in town. Our budget has waffled between $100 and $400 a month for all household expenses depending on our economic and medical situation. Currently, it is on the books at $300, but I frequently under cut that and can do it on $200 a month.

Thoughts on my grocery trip: I usually go to two different stores, but since I had both of the kids with me, I only went to Publix because 1) They had about half of the items I needed on sale. 2) They have much better looking produce than the local Wal-mart. and 3) As a mom taking 2 kids to the grocery I appreciate getting help out to the car and free cookies in the deli! On the whole it was a very pleasant shopping experience, and I finished in less than an hour!! I was a little disappointed with the amount I spent: $101.93. (I did save $21) However, considering we will have friends and family over this week and will need more food and a little more convenience (and I didn't get to plant a garden this spring), I really did pretty well! Next week though I am hoping for a much lower bill and even more from scratch cooking (although most people wouldn't consider what I bought this week to be convenience food). Everyone in our house is happy to see that my energy has returned with the birth of baby John and with it the return of the healthy, from scratch, home cookin' we all like so much!!

First Day of Preschool!

Well, today was our first day of our neighborhood preschool using our own curriculum! I will admit I had very low expectations of how this was going to go! I expected Jessica's best friend to enjoy it, but I was very surprised at how much Jessica enjoyed it!! Many of her friends are very verbal, and Jessica is not. We do not find this surprising, since both David and I are also very spatially oriented; however, it does bother me when people comment on it or think there is something wrong with her because she is not terribly verbal. As a mother, it is always great to see your child excel at something, but it is even better when you have already seen at such a young age just how much differences can bother people. Not only did Jessica seem to enjoy the experience, but her mother received a much needed dose of confidence! Here is more about what we actually did:

It's a little empty now, but that will change over time! See the paper doll with her hat, coat, pants, gloves, and scarf I placed on the picture for January?

This is a picture of the vinyl shade I had David install in our dining room to use as our "focus wall!" The awesome part is that this can be used for years to come with multiple groups of children and multiple academic levels! I bought the shade, some foam letters and numbers (because they were on sale), and some stick on velcro. I printed out a calendar, used a picture from an old calendar, cut out some paper dolls I found for free on the internet, and cut out a circle using some extra foam sheets we had from another project. Overall, very low cost but very high durability! Also the shade can be rolled up once you un-velcro all the pieces! This was our lesson plan for the day:

Time	Activity
9:15-9:30	Calendar, Dress Paper doll, Introduce Letter A, box of A things
9:30-9:45	Letter A Rubbing with Sandpaper
9:45-10:00	Snack Time: apples and letter A cookies
10:00-10:15	Story about Trains, Poster for Types of Transportation
10:15-10:30	Sing Wheels on the Bus, play with electric train
10:30-10:45	Sorting circles by color
10:45-11:00	Cut and paste wheels on a roller skate

I went over the calendar as well as what the paper doll was wearing today. Then I showed them the letter A, and we explored a box of things that start with the letter A: alligator, anteater, ape, airplane, apple, avocado, angel, apron, and a letter A. We also took letter A's cut out of sandpaper and made letter A rubbings (Jessica really got into that)! Then we had a snack of apples and letter A cookies! I made the cookies using a recipe of my great-great-grandmother's for Tea Cakes. They are really good for using with small children because they are low sugar but high fat, which is great for developing brains! Click on the picture below to enlarge the recipe. I am guessing the recipe is older than that and was brought by my family to the New World from England.


Next it was my kindergarten teacher friend's turn to teach. First we talked about things that go, and she let the kids place pictures of different types of transportation on a poster of a landscape. Jessica insisted that all transportation belonged in the sky (We moved it later)! I told my husband we may have a budding Aerospace Engineer on our hands!


Next we sang the Wheels on the Bus song, and played with an electric train set! Finally we played a math game and created a math craft! My friend handed out colored circles to everyone and before she could tell everyone what to do, Jessica was already sorting the shapes! Next we did a cut and paste worksheet. I cut out the circles, but Jessica made sure to cut fringe around the edge of the page! (She is very into scissors right now!) Then without anyone telling her what to do, she took the circles and placed them exactly where they were supposed to go! I put the glue on the page and let her press them into place (I did not want any more mess than we already had!)

A picture from her first time using scissors!

I am teaching early reading for the rest of the month, and my friend is teaching math for the rest of the month. Tuesday we are going to see the Blue Angels practice! Friday we will have class again, and next week we are planning to go to a train museum! It should be fun!!! Sorry there weren't any pictures of the kids this time! We were a little busy figuring out how this was going to work!! Hopefully next time!