That Time I Tried to Paint Something

We got a bookshelf/toy box from our nanny who's Dad made it for her grandkids, his great grandkids. I didn't think Baby Fox would want something that said Karna's Toys...so what else to do, but paint it and make it more ours. With the nanny's permission of course.

The Before:

 

Baby Fox and I went to Home Depot and got the paint*, I wanted a blue color, I picked out a color swatch, it had three colors on it, and Baby Fox picked the one he liked best, which happened to be the lightest color, Behr Ultra in eggshell. I went home and sanded and started painting. I forgot to take pictures, bad blogger!

* I got a primer and paint in one, so I didn't have to buy two things. It took two coats to cover everything.

For the letters I bought high gloss paint from Hobby Lobby, came in the craft section and was $1.99. I then used my Cricut to cut out the letters, and then I taped them down to the box and painted, it didn't work out quite like I thought, but it was better then I could have done free hand. I think if I had to do it again, I would have waited longer to paint the second coat, I painted the first and second coat within a few minutes of each other. I think that is what made the paint spill under the letters.

We brought it in and Baby Fox had a lot of fun crawling in and out of the box.

 

Baby Fox loved climbing through the box, he figured out the hard way that he has to duck before getting out.

Don't worry, he was fine, I had no idea I had taken this picture until I downloaded them

We had these wall decals from Baby Fox's 1st birthday party, I had no idea what I was going to do with them when we were done, I thought the toy box was the PERFECT thing to put them on. He LOVES the movie Cars, so why not?

Can you tell which ones he placed?

Enough decals, more play time!

Maybe take a nap in there?

That cookie you see there is fake...in case you couldn't gather by the perfectly lined up chocolate chips. Didn't want you thinking I let my toddler store his cookies on the ground, couch yes, floor no.

We felt bad, so we threw him a blanket, you know cause we're nice like that.

We finally got the hundreds of stuffed animals off our couch! Finally a place to put them!

And now everything has a place. This is making my life so much better! Yep we keep this in our family room, he mostly plays in the family room, so why not. I love the organization and that everything has a place now. So when he gets something out he knows where to put it away.

And there you have it, what I did while on my 17 days  of vacation. If I can repaint this in a couple of days, so can you!

So Random Wednesday

My first pair of skinny jeans people! They're from Ann Taylor Loft  and they're curvy! You know for those of us that have a little more on the backside then we'd like. I have NEVER found jeans that fit this great! I knew that they had to be out there, all those designers couldn't be designing for those skinny tweens that seem to be buying everything up. I want to buy stuff up too! So if you a little more curvy, or those hips just didn't go back after the baby came, go check out the curvy jeans at Ann Taylor Loft!



Shanna

This whole outfit is from Ann Taylor Loft, I just love that store! I am telling you all about this out of the goodness of my heart and wanting to spread the knowledge and if we buy them, they'll keep making them, Ann Taylor Loft has no idea I exisit or how much I love their jeans. Thank You ATL for giving me the skinny jeans I've always wanted.

Some Random things swirling around in my head:

Making a batch of cookies and then rolling some of the dough into balls and freezing them was the BEST IDEA EVER! Now I can make homemade hot cookies any time I want, take out of freezer, put in oven and there ya go. I have no self control and I'm doing this every night, probably not the best idea, considering I just bought skinny jeans.

Recipe coming soon!

I went to the doctors the other day and got some blood drawn and guess what it says? I'm low on vitamin D, really? I live in one of the most sunniest places and I'm low on Vitamin D. Bottom line I need to start taking vitamin D suppliements, but for the life of me, I can never remember to take them. I have to take 6 stupid pills a day to get the amount I need in for the day. Why for the life of me can I remember to eat three meals a day, but I can't for the life of me remember to take some pills with my food. I hope to get better because I'm supposed to go back in 5 months for some more tests to make sure my levels are good. This is definitely a test I don't want to fail. I've added two reminders at work to take those stupid little things, at least I'll get in 4 pills every work day, now the weekend is a different story.

I want to put more artwork up around the house. We've lived here for three years and we have art sitting on the mantel here and there, and then there is a LOT of blank wall...I think this year, I'm going to try and find some pieces that I love and start putting some holes in those walls. Like these:

 
This actually gives me anxiety because of how much work we did on the house when we moved in, we spent so much time fixing the holes in the walls, and now I want to make more...yikes! I can do this! But why do they have to be so darn expensive?! Both of these are from Z Gallery

What have you been randomly thinking about?

Linking up with Shanna at Because Shanna Said So for So Random Wednesday
And The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday

It Was Painful

That game last night was brutal! Well unless your a Bama fan, in that case I'll put my best sportsman like conduct face on and say Congratulations.

My dad is probably the biggest ND fan you can get. He goes back to South Bend at least once a year to watch a game. He has two autographed footballs from Lou Holtz, and a ton of shits and ND things. Such as this, I made this quilt with all of the ND shirts he's collected over the years. I put the fronts of the shirts on the front of the quilt and the back of the shirts on the back of the quilt.

I made this for him as a thank you for throwing us a wedding

 
So you can imagine how he was feeling after the first 3 minutes! He called us at half time and said, don't let Baby Fox watch any more, it might scar him too much.

In any case we were ready to watch the game with the cutest ND fan ever!

That's his "cheese" face, imagine him saying "CHEESE!"

Yep we all had an ND shirt on - Really the only time you'll see me in a t-shirt like this (I borrowed it from Mr.)

Better luck next year ND, let's not let another 19 years go by before we get here again!

My Second Week off In Review

So here's my second week off of work. I have to say, it was SUPER hard to hug Baby Fox good night last night, knowing that I was going to work today and wasn't going to be the one getting him up in the morning and making him breakfast, sniff, sniff...maybe one day.

So our second week consisted of lots of train play. And what do you do when you are playing train with your son for hours on end? You make up your own little games. Like the picture below, see the bridge? Yep there's the obligatory bum that I put there, because you know, all bums live under a bridge by the train track right? Baby Fox thought it was hilarious, and put all of the people under there.

New Years Eve, we were watching Happy Feet before Baby Fox had to head to bed

I snuck into Baby Fox's room at midnight, passed out. For those that don't know, that's a sleep sack that our Nanny made for Baby Fox because she found out how much a sleep sack costs, yay for her knowing how to be crafty and saving us money! Bonus, Baby Fox got to pick out the fabric, so know he's excited to wear them.

New Year's Day, Baby Fox wanted to dress up in his dragon costume and go to the park. Totally normal. Our thinking, why not, it's a really warm out fit and it's somewhat cold outside. He's getting brave and jumping off of higher things...

Contemplating this jump. He did eventually jump off of it.

I also went to a baby shower for my cousin, it was nice, it was just family. We never are able to get together with just the women folk without kids or husbands. It was 3.5 hours of awesomeness. Plus who doesn't love cute little baby clothes to ohh and aww over?

Finally had a playdate with this little lady, after her family went through the rounds of being sick, they were finally healthy enough to have a little playdate. Here' they are playing, pretend to sleep and wake up!

How cute is her little arm around Baby Fox??

Each wanted their own blankie, yep we brought Baby Fox's

 Then yesterday was pretty low key, playing, train...of course. Baby Fox wanted to eat breakfast with all of his trucks, I was making his breakfast and I look up and I see all of his truck on the table. Usually we only allow 3 toys to eat with him, but I made an exception, how could I pass this up?

Now I'm back at work and trying to get out of vacation mode, and remember passwords...Whether it's your first day back or just after a weekend, hope you have a great day!

Linking up with

Sami at Sami's Shenanigan's 

and Leeann at Join the Gossip

for "Weekend Update"

and

Megan at The Mrs. 

Sarah at The Not Quite Military Wife,

and Jenni at Marine Wife, Mommy & Life

for Mommy Moments Blog Hop

Veggie Stock

I figured that since Baby Fox is hopefully maybe starting to like other foods than pureed foods, I would show you guys what I've been making him for the past 18 months...well, more like 16, since he didn't really start eating food until 8 months old. This was his FAVORITE puree, so we'll start with that. Plus it's the base to most everything else.

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I know there is a ton of information out there and websites with recipes, but I found them to be sort of boring and nothing that you can't think of yourself. I found a great baby and toddler cookbook from William Sonoma, it really is a great book, I highly reccomend it and is where I get all of my recipes from. So let's get started!

note: In my opinion you really don't need one of this.  I use an immersian blender, they are under $50 but you can use it in daily cooking too, like making soups, so it's not just another kitchen gadget with one purporse and it works just as good. Bottom line, you can use your own steaming basket and pot and water, and mix yourself, you don't need a machine to do that for you. I won't, however, hold it again someone who does want the baby food maker, we just wanted to save some money, since we had gotten the immersian blender as a gift a few years back.

Okay now let's really get started, easiest recipe ever! This is on page 53 of the Baby and Toddler Cookbook, Veggie Stock

Ingredients*:

1 yam, peeled and cut into chunks**
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks**
1 leek, cut lengthwise, rinse thoroughly and sliced crosswise**
2 fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley sprigs (I omit this because I would only use it for this recipe and then end up throwing most of it away, so I save money and omit)

* I always double recipe, since the veggie stock can make several other things, and I'm not having to make this every third day.

** I try to always use organic ingredients


Makes about 3 cups of Stock

What to do:

Sometimes I use more than 1 yam per recipe, depending on how big they are and sometimes I just want it to be yam heavy.

Step 1: Peel and cut yams and carrots

Step 2: Cut Leeks length wise

Step 3: Wash Leeks

If you didn't know leeks are really dirty, so you have to separate each leaf from each other to make sure you wash all that dirt out.

Step 4: Cut Leeks

Step 5: Put everything in large stock pot and add 5 cups of cold water

Step 6: Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to low, cover and simmer gently until the veggies are very soft and the cooking liquid is lightly flavored and colored, 35-45 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool

the last picture above is everything all done

Step 7: Drain

After it's done cooking, using a fine mesh sieve, strain stock into a bowl

Step 8: Save

Save the broth that you just pour out for future use, I wouldn't let it sit longer then a few days to a week, depending on your fridge

Step 9: Blend away!

Using your immersian blender, blend to desired consistancy of what your baby likes.

I start freezing these in this, each "puck" is about 1/4 cup, so you know exactly how much your baby/toddler is getting. I only have one and then just wait for the first batch to freeze and then remove and start over.

And that's it, super easy right?

So Random Wednesday

Hope everyone is getting back into the swing of things, I am still on vacation for another 4 days, woo hoo! It's going to be SOOOO hard to go back to work.

Anyway, since I haven't done an outfit post in a LONG while I figured the new year would be a good way to start, here's my outfit from Christmas eve.

I got this jacket from my husband for Christmas, I absolutely love it.




Jacket - Via Spiga, Dress - White House Black Market (old), Shoes - Jessica Simpson (old)
 

Belt - White House Black Market, Necklace - Swarovski, Bracelets - Forever 21

Some Random things swirling around in my head:

Baby Fox has decided to boycott food (just keep reminding myself, he won't let himself starve)...just when you think you have things figured out, they change it on you and you have to figure out what they are willing to eat, all over again. Joy. On a brighter note, he ate a hotdog for the very first time last night...so maybe he's starting to like real food...keeping fingers crossed we can move on from the pureed food I make him.

I think I like time off of work way too much, I think I never want to go back, although I would miss the extra money from two incomes, so I guess I will go back on Monday.

I cleaned up the entire house yesterday, Christmas decorations are gone! I felt so accomplished yesterday, and ready to begin the new year fresh and with a clean house!

Happy New Year once again let this year be the best year yet! I know I'm looking forward to what's in store for this little family!

Linking up Because Shanna Said So for Random Wednesday

My First Week Off In Review

Hey there!

Hope everyone is doing well, and not to hung over from last night! I know our night was low key. We've done so much this past week off, so here it is, I'll try to keep the pictures to a minimum.

Baby Fox got a train set from his nanny, best gift EVER, he won't stop playing with it!

Baby Fox helped me with some last minute shopping

We played a lot outside, yep this is a pool toy that he wanted to ride

We have spent every waking moment together...and we're still happy.

We celebrated Christmas with just us on Christmas Eve Day, this is Baby Fox seeing the tree for the first time.

And then there were more gifts downstairs waiting for him

Then we headed up to my parents house and met them at church

Baby Fox got birthday celebration #1 with just us and Uncle Matt, Aunt Carolyn and Auntie Cole.

Christmas morning, we offically have a two year old! This is birthday tree at Nana and Grandpa's.

Grandpa was SO excited to give him this GINORMOUS airplane! Baby Fox was too!

Had a great Christmas/birthday celebration with extended family.

The "kids" table is offically bigger than the adult table!

Adult table

Birthday celebration #2

The next day we relaxed with Grandpa and watched the Lion King.

Back at home we ate Baby Fox's favorite dinner, spaghetti (which he calls alligator, we have NO idea why)

Then I painted this toy chest for Baby Fox, big reveal coming soon.

And we've gone on a few bike rides

Mr. is headed back to work, so Baby Fox and I will see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into this week.

Linking up with these fab people

 

Sarah at The Not quite Military Wife

and Megan at The Mrs.
and Jennifer from The Adventures of the Scott Family

for "Mommy Moments Blog Hop"