Daybook

FOR TODAY


Outside my window...it is a beautiful cold, clear winter's day.
I am thinking...even if it is cold, I should spend some time outside.

I am thankful for...a warm house.

From the kitchen...yesterday I made blueberry muffins for breakfast (yummy)! Tonight I am making tuna patties, oven fries, and carrots.

I am wearing...maternity jeans (no I am not pregnant but they are comfy), a t-shirt, and a nice warm sweater.

I am creating...ornaments for our Jesse Tree.

I am going...to help out at a pancake breakfast at the girls school tomorrow morning.

I am reading...a book by Debbie Macomber.

I am hoping...no one else in our family gets sick.  Sky was sick on Tuesday.  She's all better now and hopefully no one else gets it.

I am hearing...it is pretty quiet right now. LK is napping and there is some soft music in the background.

Around the house...the living room needs to be tidied yet again.  LK gets into everything now and it is hard to keep it looking nice.

One of my favorite things...music.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  We are heading to the city for the weekend. We will be staying at Grandma's and celebrating Sky's 7th birthday.  I am also hoping to get a bunch of my Christmas shopping done.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Our house still has the original windows and frost builds up on them.  But we are enjoying the beautiful designs the frost makes.

Homemade Baby Food

I have been making most of LK's food myself.  I have made fruit, vegetable, and meat purees.  Now he is slowing moving on to table food but I still feed him purees sometimes, particularly when the meal we are having isn't very baby friendly.  Now I always thought making the purees was a lot of work, but when you just get down and do it, it doesn't take very long.  And because babies don't eat a whole lot it will last for a long time.  I freeze the purees in ice cube trays, then pop them out and keep the frozen cubes in ziploc bags.  While I did start LK on commercial rice cereal I have quickly moved on to making my own baby cereal.  Usually I make oatmeal or barley cereal. 

Now I don't always use homemade baby food.  I have picked up some store bought commercial baby food when it goes on sale and I use that when I am away from home.  For example I will be packing some this weekend when we travel to Grandma's and will be using it if I need to.  As with so many things it doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation.  You just do what you can and when you can't you do the next best thing.

There is so much information and lots of recipes out there for homemade baby food.  If you are at all interested in homemade baby food check out:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ and http://www.nurturebaby.com/.

There is also a new movement (which is really just going back to the old ways before blenders)  known as baby led weaning which skips the purees altogether and goes straight to serving the baby table food.

You can find more out about that here http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ and wholesomebabyfood.com has a page on baby led weaning as well.

However, you choose to feed your baby enjoy the process and relish those smiling, messy faces.

LK snacking on some pears.

Menu Plan Monday

I am very late in getting this posted.  So without further ado this is our menu for the week.

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Oven omelet, fruit salad.

Wednesday:  Lasagna, broccoli, potato rolls

Thursday: Tuna patties, oven fries, carrot raisin salad.

Friday: We are headed out of town for the weekend so we will clean up the leftovers or grab a quick sandwich before hitting the road.

I hope you are all having a great week.  For menu ideas head over to orgjunkie.com.

First Haircut

Today LK had his first haircut.  It was getting really long and needed to be done.  But let me say this, "Cutting a nine month old's hair is not easy."  He kept trying to grab the scissors.  When I held his hands down, he kept turning his head trying to see what daddy was doing.  Holding his head still was nigh near impossible.  So we gave him some snacks and tried to quickly clip while he was distracted.  He wasn't distracted long.  So it wasn't the best haircut but I still think he looks really cute.  With a few days growth I don't think it will look bad at all.

Here is LK before haircut (and yes combs are really yummy).

And here is the "after" picture.

Random Act of Culture: Hallelujah Chorus

In my blog surfing today I came across this video and thought it was really cool.

This past weekend, shoppers at the the Macy's in Philadelphia were surprised when over 600 choristers who were there mingling with regular shoppers suddenly burst into Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. It's pretty awesome.


The Opera Company of Philadelphia was instrumental in bringing it together to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "1000 Random Acts of Culture" which they'll be doing over the next three years across the country. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the singers burst into song at exactly noon.

Check it out.

Daybook

FOR TODAY


Outside my window...it is overcast and few large snowflakes are slowly drifting down.  It is cold out.  Winter is here.

I am thinking...that my son is a handful as he is currently pulling papers out of the garbage.

I am thankful for...being able to stay home and spend time with him.

From the kitchen... I have potato rolls rising on my counter and will making some BBQ beef to go along side for supper.

I am wearing...jeans, t-shirt, and a zip up sweater.

I am creating...some Christmas planning sheets.

I am going...to have to clean up my kitchen later.

I am reading...A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot.

I am hoping...to fit in some exercise later today.

I am hearing...music playing in the background and LK's jabbering as he is trying to reach the computer mouse.

Around the house...there is lot's to be done as usual.  A vacuum and mopping of the floors is on the agenda.

One of my favorite things...reading.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  I have parent teacher interviews on Friday, the girls have skating, and then I think we will be having some company for the weekend.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing

Winter means bundled up babies but he doesn't seem to mind.

Visit a Simple Women's Daybook to see more daybooks.

Homemade Toys

When it comes to young kids homemade toys are often just as good or better than store bought and they are much more frugal.  We all know that at a child's first Birthday or Christmas they seem to enjoy the paper and box that the toy came in more than the actual toy itself.  Below are two things I made for LK.  The smaller bottle is a shaker made from an old plastic spice container.  I filled it with some beans and lentils from my kitchen and taped the lid closed.  Simple and easy.  Of all the rattles and shakers we have this one is his favorite.  He can see the things inside and he enjoys shaking it around. 

The coke bottle I filled half full with water and put a couple drops of blue food colouring in it.  Then I put about 1/3 cup of oil in.  This one even the girls enjoy playing with as they shake it around and then watch the oil and water separate.  It has spawned some science discussion as they ask why the oil and water do not mix.  (Although the answer is beyond even me, it has something to do with water being charged positively on the oxygen end, and negatively on the hydrogen end. Oil does not have a charge (it's neutral), so the oil does not mix with the water.)

So there you go.  Some simple homemade toys that cost pennies to make.

Menu Plan Monday

Well another week is here and so it is time again to think about what we will be eating this week. 

Monday:  The girls have skating today so a quick and easy supper is on the menu.  Whole wheat oatmeal pancakes, bacon, and apple sauce.

Tuesday: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas.

Wednesday: Golden potato rolls, leftover roast beef, raw veggies.

Thursday: We will either have leftovers or I will make some sort of egg dish.

Friday:  The girls have skating again so I will make some lasagna ahead of time and have it baking in the oven to come home to.  I hope to make two and freeze one for a future skating night.

Saturday: Homemade pizza

Sunday:  Something simple, maybe soup and sandwiches.

There that's my menu for the week and one thing I can cross off my to do list.  For more menus check out orgjunkie.com.

Simple Womans Daybook

I have come across a number of blogs who participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook and I enjoyed the posts.  So I have decided to participate.  Here is my daybook for today.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...it is cool and cloudy.  The trees are bare of all leaves.  Winter is arriving.

I am thinking...about my husband traveling on the roads today.  I hope they are not too icy.

I am thankful for...my family and my nice warm house.

From the kitchen...today I am baking bread.  I am also making some cinnamon buns with the bread dough.  Mmmm good.

I am wearing...grey sweatpants with a T-shirt and a zip-up sweater.

I am creating...a crochet scarf (to be a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law).

I am going...nowhere today and it is nice to be home.

I am reading...Remembered by Tamera Alexander.

I am hoping...for a relaxing evening.

I am hearing...some music from VBS playing on the computer.

Around the house...Star is working on some needle point, Sky is doing a craft with stickers, and LK is trying to help me type.

One of my favorite things... fresh bread.  My loaves are ready to go in the oven.

A few plans for the rest of the week: We are butchering a beef this weekend.  Time to restock the freezer.  Also on Friday the girls don't have school and I plan to take them skating.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing
 

9 Months Old and Getting Into Everything

LK with his elephant at 9 months old.

LK is now 9 months old.  Wow does time fly.  He is a very proficient crawler and can zoom across a room in no time.  He can also pull himself to standing and cruise along the furniture and walls so nothing is safe from him anymore.  We have strategically placed our coffee table and infant rocker in front of our entertainment unit to try and keep him away from all the fun buttons that there is to push there.  And remotes?  What is it with kids and remotes?  You cannot leave them anywhere below waist high or he will have them in 15 seconds flat.  He likes to grab them, push all the buttons messing the TV, satellite dish, PlayStation, etc. completely up and then bang the remotes violently on the floor so that even if we knew how to fix up the mess he made; we cannot as he has now damaged the remote beyond repair.

At his 9 month check up we discovered that he now weighs 22 lbs and is 29 inches tall.  This is exactly the upper limit on the infant carrier car seat we have.  So I had to purchase a new convertible carseat for him to ride in.  I got the True Fit  for a good price from Zellers and so far we are liking it.  I like that you can adjust the harness height without rethreading it. 

So that's whats new with LK.  He is still breastfeeding 4 times a day and continues to eat more and more solid food.  He sleeps through the night most of the time.  In general he has been a fairly happy, active baby.  He does like a lot of attention though which is making it harder to get everything I want to done but I am enjoying him and trying to learn to be flexible.

LK getting into trouble under the computer desk.

Menu Plan Monday

Well, it has been a while since I last posted.  I have been keeping busy with the kiddo's and their activities.  As well this past weekend we had a large birthday party for my father-in-law who turned 70.  We served supper to about 50 people  (Not me by myself, it was a group effort and I really did very little).  So I had a bunch of company for the weekend and I have a bunch of turkey I need to use up.  Here is the menu plan for this week.

Monday: Chicken (turkey) stuffing casserole.

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday:  This will be my bread making day so we will have BBQ turkey sandwiches on fresh bread.

Thursday: Beef Teriyaki and mixed vegetables.

Friday: Fettuccine Alfredo

Saturday: Not sure yet probably something simple like cheese bread and raw veggies.