Tuesday, September 3, 2013

In house artist (in the making)

Here is a quick look at Malias coloring skills! She's really coming along, Coloring in the lines!

 

And connecting the dots! Pretty impressive for 3!

I haven't let Ella try coloring or painting yet....she would just eat the art supplies, painting her mouth rather than paper! She's not quite to that stage yet!

 

Monday, September 2, 2013

A whole year old!

 

I'm only a month behind on this! But, better late than never!

 

Ella, 1 year old

Likes:

-sisters toys

-milk

-eating things off the floor

-playing peek-a-boo

-blankie

Dis-likes:

-sister taking toys away

-diaper changing/clothes changing

-waiting for meals/milk

-mommy being productive

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Peek-a-boo!

 

This is just my littlest lady being silly!

She's growing so fast, as little ones do. She's standing, taking a few steps here and there. I'm sure full-on walking is just around the corner!

 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Homemade ice cream...in a bag

I've heard if this before...ice cream in a bag, but never thought to try it. Thank you Pinterest once again!

Malia is at an age where she really enjoys this kind of thing.

We chose chocolate milk to make into our ice cream. You can see Malia is very intrigued. Ella is not so sure!

Pour the chocolate milk into the bag...

Test chocolate milk for freshness

Add ice and salt

Put chocolate milk bag into container of ice

Shake...or in Malias case, shake once then hand it to mom.

 

Eat! Ella looks a little jealous! Just wait little lady, you can't have ice cream until your first birthday!

It was delicious! I'm sure we will do this again!

 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Musicians in the making

Having a little fun with the girls. Malia has been asking for instruments lately, with her being 3 it might be a bit early to invest in a real one. But that doesn't mean she can't have fun practicing! At this age it doesn't take much to please! This is nothing you all haven't seen before. Just a shoe box and some rubber bands and we're off!

 
 
You can see Malia is a bit unsure of my plan. Ella is usually up for whatever is going on.
 
Once it was made the was only fun to be had! Malia has been playing with it non stop. Ella bobs her head to the beat (she really does!)
 

 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Taco night

It's been nice out lately! It's nice to see spring coming around. I need to get out in the garden before its too late! It's a little hard to do with 2 kiddos ;) ill get around to it at some point!

Tonight I made some rather delicious tacos. Still going the vegan route this was hard because what's Mexican food without sour cream and cheese?!?! But I faired ok I think!

Above is a Mexican corn salad. It consists of corn, cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper, garlic, cilantro, rice and white vinegar. It's really good. Very flavorful and bright! I really like it.

For the tacos I made beans in the crock pot, then used corn tortillas, put them in a pan with coconut oil, put some beans on the tortilla, folded it in half, let it cook a few then flipped. Added salsa and avocado to the inside. Delicious! (Coconut oil is becoming a staple for me! It really makes everything so delicious!!) I did miss the sour cream and cheese, but I think I'll be ok! (I got these recipes on the 21 day vegan kick start app!)

 

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Yep...still vegan

5 days in, still going strong. I don't miss cheese, milk and mayo as much as I thought I would. But I DO miss it a little. I've been slack on taking pics of all the food I've made! But I did manage to snap a pic of burrito night. This was a big challenge for me because I LOVE to smother everything in sour cream and cheese! Not to mention slaw soaked in mayo! Yum!!

 

So here's what I came up with:

 

Not quite the same but still delicious. The slaw has a little honey (which I later read in not so vegan, but...) and rice vinegar, dill and pepper. I put extra avocado to give that soft cheesy texture. They were still oh so good.

I've started making my tortilla shells with coconut oil instead of crisco. The shells turn out so much better with the coconut oil! They are so good I eat them plain!

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

21 days of being vegan

It all started with "hungry for change" then "forks over knives". My viewpoint of food has drastically changed. I never in a million years could see myself giving up meat, let alone any animal byproduct.

But after watching the documentaries, I really got to thinking. Diabetes runs in my family, I do have the mid morning crash, and my cravings for bad foods was something I could not deny. I love food! That's a fact!

I thought it would be a nice challenge to try going vegan for a week. Easy enough! Until I saw an app on my phone for "21 day vegan kick start". And so it began, my 21 day challenge...David is not 100% on board, but is very supportive! He eats what I cook but might add cheese or ranch to it ;)

Day one: apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast. (Failed to snap a pic)

Lunch: carrot and roasted red pepper soup with couscous confetti salad (so good)

 

Snack: apple butter with bananas on whole grain bread.

Dinner: hoppin' johns salad and confetti couscous.

Day one complete. Not so bad!

 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Time to brighten things up a bit

I've bee growing tired of our decor.. Thanks to Pinterest, I find myself looking at everything wondering what I could change about it. The truth is, we have never really "decorated" our house. It's always been on the back burner.

Well, I wanted to brighten up the living room on the cheap so I decided that pillow covers may be the way to go. Decorator pillows can get expensive so I decided I would make my own. So off the the cloth store I went.

Here are my color choices. The light blue/purple didn't make the cut. I love that fabric but I didn't have enough :( it was in my stash of leftovers.

Here are the first 2. Also a fabric from my stash

I love this yellow with flowers! It's happy and reminds me of spring.

Here is my finished product! They were so easy to make and for under $15, not too shabby!

Thanks Pinterest for all the inspiration ;)

 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Mommies helper

If you didn't know, Malia is almost 3 now which makes her a big girl! And being a big girl means taking on big girl responsibilities! She's tall enough to reach the door handle and just recently learned how to OPEN the door! Very exciting milestone for her. I wonder how long it will be before she tries to open her bedroom door to escape nap time, or bed time....

Today she wanted to help me clean up. So, with Ella down for her morning nap, together we tackled the kitchen. Here she's taking the recycles to the laundry room...

Time to open that door

........

All done! What a big helper!

Now on to the dishes. She likes to help mommy and daddy with this a lot...and when I say help, I mean she likes to play in the water.

Here she's actually helping by putting the plates in the drying rack...really to hurry me along so she can have cups and bowls to play with.

She did it right!! She's growing so quickly!

Notice the apron ;)

 

Friday, February 22, 2013

Time for an apron

Ive been talking about making an apron for Malia for some time. In an effort to be better about doing the things I want rather than just talk about them, I decided today that I'd just do it! Stop waiting for the perfect conditions. I put the house work aside and during the girls nap time, I started on her apron.

I have collected quite a bit of fabric over the last few years since I started this hobby, So I had everything I needed. I really like this fabric. It's a cheerful color. And I believe they are apples, but I'm not 100% on that. This fabric has also been used in some sun bonnets.

As usual I got very into my sewing and failed to take pics as I went. Ah well, what ya gonna do?

Here is my little model! She wasn't in the mood for taking pictures as you can see, but she went with it anyway! I made it reversible so she can choose what color she feels like wearing (for a toddler, making her own decisions is a big deal!) so above is the green side...

And here is the pink/yellow side! Again, she looks so thrilled!

Here it is in use! She's helping daddy make western casserole :)

 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

The artist within

 

Her artwork is really coming along. It's neat to see her creativity come out more and more!