8 Months

6/15/11

My little angel is 8 months already! Time is really flying now. I feel like the past couple months have been a new world of fun with her. I love seeing her play and learn. There is barely any crying and sleep is going great. She is in the fun stage of exploring and all.

There are so many things she's doing now! She can crawl (and she's getting fast!), pull herself and stand up, walk with me holding her hands, say "momma" and "dadda", make a fishy face with her lips, and so much more. I think the biggest thing is maneuvering around. I can't believe she can stand, and sitting up from any position is a piece of cake for her! She loves books too. I read at least 6-10 books a day to her cause she loves them so much. We biked to the library and got new books because of how much I repeat them. While at the library I signed up for a reading contest thing. So we are committed to reading 100 books by the end of next month. You get a prize at the end if you complete your goal. So that's part of my life. I love being a mom to Abigail :)

Here she is standing. She loves that cube. She can push it now so she walks with it. What a doll.

This is when we were at the Memorial Day Parade. She liked it a lot.

I can't believe how much I love this child :)

Success

6/13/11

I have been very busy lately but I wanted to write a short post. This last weekend I completed my goal of making cake and brownies without box mixes. I haven't bought any box mixes in a long time and had found good cake/cupcake recipes that I have been using, but didn't know how to make brownies. I feel like I was brainwashed (almost) to think that brownies could only come from a box and had no clue of how to make them myself! Ha. Anyways, they turned out quite fabulous. I know it's a dessert but it's healthier than processed mix. It's super easy too. Wahoo for no more processed desserts! If you raid my cupboards you won't find any. That's my post today. My girl will be 8 months in a couple days so I will be posting again soon :)

Garden time!

5/24/11

Yesterday I went shopping at one of the local organic stores that I don't go to very often but I'm glad I did! I got a few great deals on organic produce that didn't cost me more than non-organic produce...love. I got bag of potatoes for $2.50, bananas for $.69 a pound, and a bag of 5 sweet peppers for $3.79. Did read that right? FIVE peppers...that's a great deal not being organic. I spent right about $8 and was thrilled. It is possible to shop healthy for decent prices. I did some dealin' yesterday cause I went to Hobby Lobby and got cute stuff for the basement, all 66% off. I paid less than $4 an item...will show later when it's complete.

Here's a pic of the peppers cause I thought the bag was so cute.

Now on to the garden. I decided to plant my veggies in the landscaping out back because we just weren't finding time to go get the supplies for a new box (I gave away my box prematurely so it's gone...I regretted it as it was being carried away...note to self, never do that again!). So we improvised and stuck it out back. I did want the plants close by to keep an eye on them, so it works out. Here's a pic...doesn't look the "prettiest" at the moment. I have to put up the tomato cages Kyle's aunt Pam gave me tonight. These are things I've planted, Roma and cherry tomatoes, peppers (Pino something is the name), mini yellow peppers, carrots, spinach, Italian oregano, basil, cilantro, and a raspberry bush (not in pic)! I'm going to make salsa with all my ingredients (with Aunt Pam). I had this salsa that my sis (Jenner) made with friends and it was amazing! She has graciously gotten the recipe and given to me. Wahoo! Excited for my stuff to come up!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

So I have been on this quest to make a good homemade pancake. I am done with buying boxed items (which I talked about recently) so this was a tough one to get rid of. I have tried several recipes and the last one was the best, thanks to Kylie's Blog post. But then I was looking at one of my favorite blogs, How Sweet it is, and she posted a recipe for apple and bacon pancakes. So as I was making them on Saturday, I had this sudden burst, apple cinnamon pancakes!! Yum. So I combined a little and tweaked it to my own version. So, enjoy :)

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes: serves about 4 pancakes

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1 egg white

1/2 tbsp honey

1/2 cup milk (plus or minus so don't add all at once)

1 tsp cinnamon

about 1/2 apple shredded (I used a fine shredder)

Mix ingredients together and cook on a griddle. Serve with pure maple syrup! Some apple and strawberry pieces with greek yogurt would be yummy along side this :)

Gardening Update and Card Creations

5/13/11

So this post is full of pictures...beware! But for my gardening update. I went with my Aunt (Kyle's aunt, really, but now she's mine too!) to a couple of farms and she talked me into doing a box or two for a garden this year. Sooooooo....I am. I got Roma Tomatoes, Peppers, mini yellow peppers, Cilantro, and Oregano. My aunt Pam gave me Basil, Spinach, Carrots, and a Raspberry bush also! Pretty good crop :) Obviously my plan has been thrown out the window. We plan to make salsa and tomato/spaghetti sauce. Fun!

Now, on to the cards I have created. I decided to do some scrap-booking and got into making a few new cards. Here they are :)

I like this thank-you card.

Here's a card for a new baby girl.

Here's a couple wedding cards.

Here's my signature stamp :)

Here's a preview of Abigail's scrapbook I'm working on!!!

Also, I got a pool for Abigail. Oh she went in it today with her friend, Jack. They had fun. Jack had fun at first then was done with it. Abigail just played with toys and chilled. It was cute.

Here she is in her swimsuit!

Last one of her on her knees (she's pretty much a pro). Ok, all done. I still have that pancake recipe to post...I will do it later!

Being a mom...Mothers Day

5/10/11

Sunday was Mothers Day. Many exciting things happened with this day. First off, it was my very first Mothers Day of being a MOM!!! My hubby was amazing and wrote me little notes for me to read when I woke up along with a gift card to Crazy 8, my brother got me a huge bouquet of flowers, my dad got me a flower also...amazing generosity! Second, we dedicated Abigail to the Lord at church :) I got a little emotional...it's a big thing! But I held back the tears. Third, we went to Redamak's for lunch with my parents (yummy!). Fourth, we had a birthday party for my nephew, Will, in the evening. Big day!

Being a mom is fun. It's not fun every second but I try to make it that way. I feel like the Lord has given me such perspective on cherishing each moment. We have SO MUCH to be thankful for. I don't want to be a mom that gets frustrated about little things that I will probably miss someday. So whether Abigail is waking up during the night, crying because I walked away for 2 seconds, gets a cute outfit dirty; I try to not get upset or annoyed because someday my child or future children will be grown. Right now I just love cuddling with her, nursing her, seeing her achieve big steps, and just enjoy being around her 24/7.

On Mothers Day Kyle had to play music in all 3 services. So that meant he had to be at church really early. What did that mean? No pampering for me. For about 20 seconds I thought, "bummer" and "aren't I supposed to be waited on hand and foot?!" But then I thought about why we celebrate our moms and then God gave me a gentle reminder that I was being selfish. I feel like Mothers Day is a day that celebrates moms who do the work without feeling the need or demanding pampering. We do it because we love our children and our families. Who am I to insist on being served breakfast on a silver platter? God has given me life and came to serve, like I'm supposed to do. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 comes to mind for me, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful...." I am so glad God checked my attitude at the door that day because instead of being frustrated or having pity on myself, I enjoyed and cherished the day (I certainly am not perfect and don't always have a good attitude, for sure! It was God's doing). It was a fantastic day! I just love my family :)

Gardening

So last year I did one garden box in my backyard. I posted pics of it several times and it was mostly successful. This year I am not doing a garden and I was settled with it until yesterday when my sister-in-law found out and started asking me questions ;)

Now I'm thinking to myself, "Why aren't you doing one, crazy?!" Ha ha. But I am still not this year because of several reasons. One is time. I have my cookbook and another certification to work on, plus the class aspect of FFL that has just taken off. Then of course there's my wonderful daughter who loves to learn and needs lots of stimulation....it's just a lot of stuff to take on. I know gardening saves money, and I am biking more, which at this point saves a ton of money. But the biggest reason I am not gardening this year is lack of knowledge. I want to do my garden right and I want it to be Organic. So this means I need different stuff to keep it that way. I need to know the best places to get plants and seeds. There are just a lot of things you need to know. I learned last year about replenishing nutrients in the soil so you get the best quality of stuff (which I still don't know how to do that the best way) and I want to make sauces/salsas but don't want to ruin batches while learning the process.

FINALLY, I have a solution to all of it! Kyle's aunt (now my aunt) is pretty much an expert gardener. She uses all Organic things for her gardens and has been doing it a long time. So what I have done is called her and am going to learn/shadow her all this year to see how she does things. She is totally willing to help me and said, "Well this will be great for you cause you don't have to make all my mistakes. You can just start from the ones I do now." lol. But I am excited cause we are meeting next week and I will meet some of her other gardening friends. This is going to be like a whole "pool" of knowledge for me!

Gardening is not over for me, it's just beginning. I still have my gardening binder and it will be filled with many tips and instructions this year for me. I can't wait to do this with Abigail next year!!!!!