Emma is in sister heaven. 🙂
Cheese Torellini and Spinach in Marinara
I’ve been surviving on this for my lunches for about…a week now. And I’m not tired of it- it’s that yummy.
Simply combined cheese tortellini, favorite jarred tomato sauce and frozen spinach. Let me know which combo’s you make!
Turkey Day
Emma and her teacher. She loves her so much and am so thankful for the neat relationship she has with her.
Baby Shower
Here are some baby shower pictures. It was a co-ed shower and Travis was behind the camera for most of it. I had an amazing creative friend host it for me, look at those pom poms! Gorgeous!
Emma had a blast helping me open presents. She squealed at everything- even binkies. lol She’s already the most amazing big sister.
I don’t like chocolate so a friend, who is known for being an amazing cookie maker, made me pumpkin raisin cookies. They were amazing. Besides that we had caramel ed apples, popcorn with pink chocolate drizzled over popcorn, veggies and plenty of cheese trays. (cheese is my chocolate!)
As it is, I have a little less than a month left and I can’t wait till she’s out! Not because I don’t like being pregnant- I do! I just want to hear her little snorts and noises instead of imagining that. And seeing what she’ll look like, hair color?! At our latest ultra sound the tech said, ‘wow! look at that hair!’ And I was SHOCKED and excited!
But I got my bag, boppy, car seat cover ready. Now to just put in the car seat. lol
DYI: paint
This is another Pinterest blog post. I saw a picture claiming you could easily make your own paint with what you already have in the kitchen and SO cost effective.
Well, I tried it and it’s not horrible. I just won’t be doing it again. It was a bit of a let down and until I find something else, I’m sticking with Crayola paint. Yes, it was super cheap using only 4 ingredients I happen to have in the kitchen.
Paint- 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1 c water, food coloring.
However, when I mixed it it became this really thick…. almost too thick pancake mix. Nothing like paint. I had to add tons more water and eventually it was OK to paint with. However, we were using paint brushes not squeezing them out of bottles like the original post did. One nice thing is I didn’t have to worry when Emma used the red paint for lipstick,. lol I knew nothing in it would hurt her, except for the oh so yummy salt flavor it probably had.
Here is the link I used and followed. I’m glad I tried it. It was either get off my tush and do something interactive with Emma or let her watch TV. So I’m glad we did what we did. Now to find a cool thing to do with her pumpkin panting!
Weekend
Hope your weekend is full of lazy-ing around
Crock Pot Apple Cake
I haven’t been up to blogging recently, mostly because I’m 9 months pregnant and just sorta obsessed with getting things ready before she arrives. 🙂 HOWEVER…..I have been ‘needing’ to satisfy a sweet tooth that has developed overnight so I have been looking for semi-healthy (because really healthy treats don’t really satisfy) treats to have throughout the day.
This is made in 2 hrs. in my little crock pot. I’m starting to get to like it more and more. But this recipe- oh man. Use ANY fruit you like, the recipe calls for apples but I am dreaming of making this with plums.
When I made it, I had my 4 1/2 yr old daughter help me, which turned out pretty well. That is how easy this recipe is. Promise. Just know that when pouring the batter into the pot, it will be super duper thick. Besides that, it’s easy peesy.
(Original recipe is from her)
I am a little weird and think mostly all apple desserts taste better cold. Including pies, tarts or cakes. So you can eat this warm, but I prefer it chilled. 🙂 You can leave it plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar or do what I did and put some whipped cream on top.
Crock pot Apple Cake:
1 C flour
3/4 C brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large apples, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
I mixed the 2 eggs first then added the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl. Mix, pour into GREASED crock pot and put on high. Forget for 2 hrs then done!
Again, this is a pretty basic recipe, feel free to take it and put your own spin on it. Happy eating!
Chocolate dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Emma started school last week and besides having a blast with new friends, we found out she has a little bit of a hard time sitting in her seat. Neither the teacher or us are very concerned, it’s her first experience with a more structured time frame so she’ll get into the grove soon. But why not help a little bit from home?!
Emma and I both work best off a ‘reward system’ rather than a ‘punishment system’. But really who doesn’t?! I promised peanut butter cookies if she stayed in her seat more. Not all the time or suddenly switch- but for ANY improvement. After explaining to the teacher (and reinforcing ANY improvement, not perfection) I came to pick her up with a great review!
Peanut Butter cookies were in our future.
Recipe is crazy easy.
1C Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1C Sugar
Cook for 10min at 350′. Couldn’t be easier and tastier.
I dipped them in chocolate because she loves cocoa so much. But saved a few for myself without the chocolate.
Meal Plan
*boring for you, necessity for me*
Friday: Spaghetti Factory! FAVORITE!
Saturday: Bean and Rice Mexican Burritos
Sunday: Zurek Soup w/ Crunchy bread
Monday: Dinner with friends
Tuesday: Hamburger and Fries
Wednesday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato soup
Thursday: Taco Night
Friday: Meatball Sandwiches
Saturday: Left over night
Sunday: Fancy Tuna Melts
Monday: BBQ Pizza
Tuesday: Breakfast Night, Pancakes, Eggs and Fruit
Wednesday: Chicken Stir fry with Brown Rice
Thursday: Mexican Pizzas
Friday: Chicken/Apple/Carrot/Onion bake w/ biscuits
Saturday: Left over night
Sunday: Dinner @ friends house
Pre-K
Emma’s first day of school was today. I must say I was super proud of her. She was open enough to tell me her fears (other kids being mean to her) and we did our best to talk it out during breakfast.
As we entered the classroom, which was filled with kids and parents we looked for her seat and cubby. She then went to play with a girl who was playing house. Perfect. She was so excited that a new girl wanted to play with her she beamed up at me and I melted. Almost lost it then.
But all in all it went well. She told me the names of the kids who didn’t listen to the teacher and how she disciplined them. Her favorite part of the day (only 3hrs) was doing a craft. My favorite part of her being in school was enjoying a quiet lunch all by myself and not having her ask me to share . Afterwards we celebrated the big 1st day of school with ice cream cones.
I think we’re both liking this school thing. 🙂