Post 28 - That's why she got quiet...

Yes, those are my pajamas in the toilet being flushed while I was in the shower...

Post 27 - Assembly Line

Here is how I put together my invitations for bug's party....

All of the paper supplies - white card stock, patterned paper, and printed vellum

They read " Spring has sprung and bugs are humming. We're having a party and we hope you're coming!"

White paper cut to 4.5" x 6.25"

patterned paper cut to 4.25" x 6"

vellum cut to 4" x 5.5"

Putting it all together: I used an Elmer's glue pen to attach the patterned paper to the card stock, photo mounting squares to attach the vellum, and the glue stick again to attach the bugs. Finally, I drew in the legs and antennae on the caterpillar with a brown felt tip marker.

The final product with the coordinating pink envelopes!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I've been working on making my family more "green." I originally was going to make online invitations to avoid paper waste, but I just love paper crafting so much I couldn't help myself. I will say that I was trying to "recycle" as best I could by using up more of my old craft supplies instead of buying new paper. Besides the patterned paper and few sheets of coordinating card stock to make the bugs, the white card stock was leftover from invitations I made to my friend's bridal shower and the vellum was leftover from the luminaries we made for our wedding. Also, pictured below are all the "scraps" from the sizes of paper I had to cut to make the invitations. I plan to make use of them all for other decorations and signs for the party:

Post 26 - Invitation Teaser

As promised, here are some photos of the paper and supplies I am working with for bug's party invitations. I will add that these were taken with low lighting in our living room at night so the colors appear a bit darker than they really are.

The "inspiration" paper

My collection of bug punches and the coordinating solid card stock

The matching envelopes I found (on sale!!) with the punched out bugs and white card stock

Post 25 - PB + Bug = Disaster (updated!)

I decided to give bug a "creative" snack this afternoon - apple slices, cheese wedges, and some creamy natural peanut butter. First, all was well and she dipped the apples like a pro. Then she realized, "Hey, this PB feels kinda neat!" and started rubbing it between her fingers. Before I could even utter a feeble and likely to be ignored, "Don't try it...", she smiled and rubbed it all over her face. Oh well, at least she had fun!

Update: Here is the aftermath of the PB incident. I had to strip the bug down and wash her in the kitchen sink (I had just finished scrubbing the bathroom and couldn't bear to deal with sticky PB in the tub). She LOVED this and kept turning the faucet up to full power and then putting her hand under the stream to spray water everywhere. When we were finally done, she insisted on climbing into her booster seat at the table and just kept laughing and saying, "Funny? Yea?!"

Post 24 - Vacation Update!

I must say, this has turned out to be a great week of vacation for me so far (and it's only half over if I count the weekend...). As outlined in my spring cleaning post, I've already accomplished all of my big cleaning goals! Yippee!

In terms of the fun stuff, well, see for yourself! I made the stuff I've done italic

• Take bug to the state museum (tomorrow!)
• Finish my thank you cards from bug's family party (on my way to mail them this afternoon!)
• Make the invitations to bug's kid party in June (started, pics later!)
• Get my bum to the gym every day for at least an hour (in progress...)
• Catch up with as many friends as possible (lunch today with one friend, long phone conversation with another friend yesterday, and hopefully meeting one more friend tomorrow!)
• Go on a "date" with my husband
• Start my party planner for bug's June party
• Read at least 3 issues of Peds in Review for board prep (2 down...)
• Take bug to the playground
• Have BBQ for dinner (yummy blue cheese burgers and sweet potato fries last night!)

Post 23 - Paper

I know this is going to sound ridiculous (although looking silly to my readers has never been a real concern of mine...), but I LOVE paper. I find inspiration in great colors or patterns or textures. In fact, the inspiration for bug's kid party in June came from a package of paper. After everyone voted and helped me pick "Cute as a Bug" as the party theme, I was still at a loss for how to make it happen. Countless times I was drawn to my local craft stores where I prowled the aisles desperate for something to jump out at me as a central organizing point for the party. I wasn't finding anything and was becoming more and more frustrated as the days went on.

Then, one night I took a desperate trip to Michael's as a break after a long day at work. As if it was meant to be, I saw exactly what I was looking for! On the bottom shelf, with a big red clearance sticker on the top, was a package of scrap-booking paper. There were multiple designs (narrow stripes, wide stripes, polka dots, flowers, etc!) on a white background with a fabulous color scheme - light blue, a medium lime green, medium pink, and a dark pink! Four wonderful, springy colors to match the four bug mascots of the party (ladybug, butterfly, dragonfly, and caterpillar)! It was too perfect! I purchased two packages, brought them home, carefully cut a small 2" by 2" square of paper to keep in my wallet for all future shopping experiences, and therein began my quest to purchase party decor and accents matching these colors (I've built up quite the stash, but that's another post for another time...).

Today has me reminiscing about the day I found the paper because I went back to that very same craft store to purchase coordinating cardstock and envelopes to take on one of my very favorite paper crafting events - making the party invitations!

Check back soon as I plan to post pictures as I begin the creative process!

Post 22 - Easter Treats

I know, I'm a few days late. My photographer has a bit of a questionable memory and forgets to download my pics for me...as he apologized and I love him, I suppose I can forgive him this once:-)

I decided to give myself a break and go simple this year. I made chocolate cupcakes (recipe from Baking) with Hershey's chocolate frosting (I double the vanilla in it) topped with sprinkle confetti and little white chocolate bunnies that I molded.

Nothing better than a close-up of that much chocolate:-)

Post 21 - FINALLY!

Today it finally stopped raining and the sun came out! Sure, it was super windy, but I'll take it. The nice sunny weather means I was able to do one of the fun things I was hoping for - to take bug to the playground! We visited the Crossings which is one of my all time favorite places to take bug to play. I love going there because bug can use the equipment (slides, swings, sandbox, etc) and there are many, many scenic places to walk around.

Today we only spent a few minutes on the playground and instead spent most of our time walking down to the pond, watching some older gentlemen sail their miniature sailboats on the water, chasing dogs ("Doggie! I pet!"), and checking out the ducks and fish having a feeding frenzy over some Cheez-its that another little girl was tossing into the water. Overall, a wonderful way to spend a vacation afternoon!

Post 20 - Spring Cleaning

I'm thrilled that I finally made it to one of my coveted vacation weeks, but am totally bummed that the forecast calls for wind and rain EVERY SINGLE DAY! It looks like I'm going to have to make use of all the indoor time by doing some spring cleaning. The obvious tasks everyone probably catches up on when they are free from work include many loads of laundry and sweeping/mopping/vacuuming all the floors. This week I'm also planning to clean out the pantry in the kitchen (done! did it this morning!), remove all the 18 month clothing from bug's drawers to put into storage, change my clothes over to my summer wardrobe, and REALLY clean the bathroom so it's ready for us to re-paint and tile the floors later this spring.

Other actually fun things I hope to do this week:

• Take bug to the state museum
• Finish my thank you cards from bug's family party
• Make the invitations to bug's kid party in June
• Get my bum to the gym every day for at least an hour
• Catch up with as many friends as possible
• Go on a "date" with my husband
• Start my party planner for bug's June party
• Read at least 3 issues of Peds in Review for board prep
• Take bug to the playground
• Have BBQ for dinner (even if we have to eat indoors)

Let's see how far I make it down my list!

Post 19 - Eat Your Veggies!

This April has been a very special month. Not only did my bug turn two, but she has two lovely little cousins who celebrated their very first birthdays as well! Both of these beautiful girls have very health and environmentally conscious mamas so I decided a homemade gift that promotes good nutrition and conservation would be appreciated.

I found the pattern for these gifts during a 0.99 cent Simplicity pattern sale at Joann's Fabrics. I purchased 1 yard pieces of felt in each of the colors I needed, coordinating thread, green embroidery floss, and pillow stuffing to make them.

This was a super fun project that I worked on over the course of a month. I have a tenancy to get super sleepy at night, but used sewing these to keep myself awake while my husband and I watched the first three seasons of Dexter (the most amazing TV show ever!). I made three sets of everything and each tote bag was slightly different for each girl.

Here are some pictures of the set I sent to bug's cousin in Texas...

Pink and ivory "reusable shopping bag" with all the fruits and veggies...

Tomato, carrot, eggplant, and yellow squash

Banana, strawberries, orange, apple, and pumpkin

(for some reason the pumpkin ended up with the fruits instead of the veggies)

Post 18 - Eggs!

First off, Happy Easter! I just had to share this funny story from this morning that just personifies what it's like living with a two year old...

After Bug got up and found her Easter basket this morning (and snuck two Lindt chocolate chicks), it was time for breakfast. I made us cheddar eggs and cinnamon raisin toast. Usually bug loves eggs and devours them, but today she only took one bite and proclaimed, "All done!" We kept her at the table for another ten minutes hoping she would change her mind (as she often does), but she continued to resist. Finally, admitting defeat, I scraped her plate into the trash. As soon as the last piece hit the bag, Bug came running over yelling, "Eggs! Eggs! NO!" She then lifted the trash lid mournfully, looked at me with huge sad eyes, and said, "Eggs?"

Yup, that's how it goes these days...

Post 17 - Craft Night

Bug was asking to paint all evening, so I finally gave in and let her have some fun. While she was painting paper, plates, the table, the window, and herself, I got to work on my thank you notes from her birthday party. Here are a few photos of the fun we had...

Here are my craft supplies: embossing tool and powders, ink pads, stamps, and blank cards

This is not a great picture, but here is the design I stamped and embossed on the cards!

Bug and I enjoying being creative:-)

Post 16 - Healthy stuffed tortillas

I don't want to be insulting and call my made-up quasi-Mexican meal "enchiladas", but that's what I was going for with this simple, relatively healthy, and fresh make ahead meal. The measurements below made 10 stuffed corn tortillas for me. Enjoy if you try it out!

1. To make the sauce, mix one small can of diced tomatoes (or Rotel with green chilies if you want it to be spicy), one small can of tomato sauce (no salt added), 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 pressed clove of garlic, and 1/2 tsp ground coriander in a small saucepan and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
2. The tortillas will be filled with four things: 1 cup (or less) steamed rice, 2 ounces shredded cheddar, 1 stalk chopped green onions, and chicken mixture (see next step).
3. Chicken mixture is about 1 cup of diced chicken (use leftover rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken, baked chicken, boiled chicken, any kind of chicken you want!), 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil or cilantro, 1/4 cup of the sauce you made in Step 1.
4. Prepare a 9 x 13 inch pan for baking these by lining it with aluminum foil and spreading about 2 Tbsp of sauce over the bottom (to prevent the tortillas from sticking).
5. Warm your corn tortillas in the microwave or in a pan over medium-low heat. Assemble as follows: rice, chicken mixture, shredded cheddar, green onions. Roughly roll the tortilla and place it seam side down in your prepared pan. Continue until all of your tortillas are rolled.
6. Finally, pour all of your sauce evenly over the tortillas and top with another stalk of chopped green onions.

It should look about like this before you put it into the fridge overnight...

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375. Pour a small amount of chicken broth (I probably used about 1/4 cup) over the tortillas to keep them from drying out. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. At that time, sprinkle another 2-3 ounces of shredded cheese over the tortillas and bake for 5 more minutes uncovered. Serve with salsa and (if desired) low fat sour cream.

Post 15 - Leftover ham pasta

Ok, so the post title makes it sound far less glamorous than it is, but this is a wonderful recipe that I decided to post as, if your family is like my family, you might be having some leftover ham after Easter this coming weekend. I need to give credit to my mother-in-law as this is based on her recipe for Kluski (which I think is just the Polish word for noodle), but don't want to actually call it her recipe as I think I made some of it up as I was cooking from memory and don't want to insult her if it's not as good:-) This is a great "make ahead" and reheat meal!

1. When you bake your ham, reserve all of the pan drippings to use in the sauce for the pasta.


2. Cook and drain 1/2 box of pasta (I used elbows) al dente and set aside.


3. Dice up the tomatoes from a large can of whole, peeled tomatoes, but reserve all of the juices in the can.


4. In a large pot, saute 1 small diced onion and 1 clove of pressed garlic in olive oil.


5. When onions are soft, add pan drippings, 2 cups diced up leftover ham, diced tomatoes in sauce, one small can of tomato sauce, and 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil.


6. Allow the sauce to simmer for about 10 minutes uncovered.


7. Add the pasta, turn heat to lowest setting, cover, and allow to simmer for 10 more minutes (this allows the pasta to soak up all the flavor from the sauce).


8. Garnish with more fresh basil and Parmesan, if desired.

We tried to grab a shot of Bug's plate, but she couldn't wait...

Post 14 - Quick Casserole

When I was growing up, my mom had a bunch of quick recipes that relied on canned soup to make a fast casserole. The chicken and rice she used to make was one of my favorites. Now that I'm a mom and there is a lot more information out there about processed foods, I worry about everything that enters our mouths. One thing I especially worry about is sodium and all of the canned soups are LOADED with it. I came up with this fairly quick and easy casserole as something that can be made ahead of time and baked later, but is made from scratch with fresh ingredients.

Chicken Pot Pie Pasta (this made enough for two full meals)

• 6oz elbow pasta (cook and drain)
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/3 unbleached flour
• 1 cup organic milk
• Optional crumb topping: 1 tbsp breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 tbsp melted butter

First, cook and drain your pasta and set it aside. Next, place your diced carrots, celery, chicken, peas into a saucepan with the dried spices. Toss to coat. Add 2 cups chicken broth (more if needed to cover). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain the pot over a measuring cup or bowl to reserve the chicken broth. Mix the pasta, veggies, and chicken in your casserole dish.

To make the "sauce", melt the butter in the same saucepan. Add the onions and cook until soft over medium-low heat. Add the flour and stir until you have a thick paste-like goo. Allow butter/flour to cook for just 1 minute. Add the reserved broth and milk and whisk until sauce thickens.

Pour sauce over pasta mixture in the casserole dish and mix until well incorporated. If desired, sprinkle top with Parmesan bread crumbs. If baking right away, place (covered) in oven at 325 for 15 minutes. If storing in fridge to bake later, heat oven to 350 and bake for at least 30 minutes - consider adding an extra 1/4-1/2 cup of broth just before baking to prevent pasta from being too dry.

Post 13 - Big Girl Room

First of all, I can't quite figure out why post 12 published after post 11. Oh well, I'll just go with it...

Anyway, as promised here are the shots of Bug's big girl room. If you want to compare, hop back over to the post titled "The end of an era" to see the nursery and then flip back here to see the new woodland sanctuary.

Bug's toddler bed and baby bed. Note the new owl curtains and cute owl decal on the wall.

Close-up of her bed with her new comforter and owl pillows.

The "reading corner"

Post 11 - Birthday Details!

This is mainly going to be a photo post with pictures of the "special touches" I worked on for bug's birthday party. Enjoy!

As seen in the banner post, this is my centerpiece for the party. Birthday banner and balloons set the stage for the food/dessert table. My husband didn't take any closer-up photos of my treats, but you can kind of see the five glasses across the front of the table. The two on the ends contain my super chocolate-y cake pops (a bunch of simple round ones in coordinating colors to match the party decorations with one owl in the middle) and the other three are the molded owl chocolate lollipops.

My cousin's son asking for someone to please open a cake pop for him! Pops were dipped in light green, orange, pink, and yellow white chocolate or dark chocolate and tied with dark brown ribbon.

Bug's "Guess Whoo's Two!" shirt.

Shirt from Hobby Lobby for less than $3 ( on sale from regular price $2.99), iron-on letters from AC Moore with a 40% off coupon for about $3, and owl iron-on from Michael's for $2.

Bug enjoying a molded chocolate owl pop!

Owl birthday cake made by me!

The owl was crafted using Wilton's mini stand up teddy bear cake pan. I carved out the cake to make the shape I wanted and then decorated it to make it look like an owl. The owl is the same chocolate cake used to make the cake pops (only 1 cup of batter is needed to fill the pan, the rest I baked and crumbed for the pops). The layer cake is a vanilla white cake. All of the frosting is an an adaptation of my mom's decorating icing.

Post 12 - Quirks

Have you ever been doing something and realized that what you are doing is actually probably quite odd to anyone watching you? I had one of these moments when I was last at the supermarket doing my weekly shopping. To explain what I was doing I have to take you way, way back to my childhood...

Rarely did my father ever do the grocery shopping, but I do remember him having a fit when he did about the way in which the baggers handled our groceries. In his early days, my dad worked at the "Old Star Market" (as he always referred to it). From this experience, he learned that bags should be packed properly - cold items with cold items, meat separate, and all bags should be "squared" so that they would sit evenly in the customer's cart.

This is how I always do my shopping. From the moment I start stacking my items on the belt at the register, I separate them carefully according to frozen items, cold items, boxed items, canned items, meat, and produce. I HATE when the cashier or bagger starts haphazardly throwing my groceries into bags after I so carefully lay them out in perfect order.

Does anyone else out there have this quirk as well? Anyone?

Post 10 - "Look at Banner!"

If you are an Arrested Development fan, you probably recognize the post title. If not, just ignore me being quirky early in the morning:-)

Bug's birthday party on Sunday was supposed to be simple, small, and easy so I could focus all my energy on the kid party in June. The thing is though, I'm not good at simple. I get ideas and I HAVE to do them. The first such project was the owl chocolate lollipops that took an insane amount of time to make (we're talking on the order of 40 minutes per batch of two!). This project actually didn't take that long, but probably was unnecessary. Anyway, here's the birthday banner that I made to hang behind the food table...

These banners are extremely popular these days and any number of personalized designs can be purchased from dozens of Etsy shops, but I made this one myself using leftover craft supplies (of which I have a ridiculous collection). I was inspired by this blog, but decided to change it up and use squares instead of circles. Here are simple instructions:

1. Choose a big font you like and print the letters you need. I used a font called Storybook and printed in size 250 from Word.

2. Cut out the letters.

3. Using my Fiskar's paper slicer (one of my best purchases EVER) I then cut 6x6 inch squares out of cardstock and 5.5x5.5 squares out of assorted scrapbooking papers.

4. With the gluestick that bug wasn't using as chapstick, I layered the cardstock, scrapbook paper, and cut out letters.

5. Once dry, I punched holes on either side of the letters and connected them by tying three small snip-its of ribbon through the holes on consecutive letters.

And that's it!

Here's one more shot of the banner

(that I stole from Auntie B, thanks!) with bug and Daddy:-)

Post 9 - Birthday Bug

First of all, I'm changing the title of my posts to numbers rather than days as I still think I can catch up to 30 posts in 30 days...

Anyway, yesterday was bug's SECOND birthday! It was a wonderful day for her (and us!) from start to finish. Unfortunately she woke a little bit early as I was messing around in the kitchen trying to finish dipping my cake pops and to make the frosting for her birthday cake (pics to come soon). As it was her birthday, we threw the rules out the window and she got to eat a cake pop at 8am. Daddy couldn't wait to give her his favorite present, so she got to open her brand new drum shortly thereafter.

The rest of the morning I spent juggling enjoying the bug and getting her cake decorated. As I bake a lot, she's used to the Kitchen-Aid and loves watching it mix up cake, brownies, and especially frosting. Bug's the official taste tester in our house, if it gets an exclamation of "Nummy!" we know we've done a good job. I think she's developing an early interest in cake decorating as she watched me make the owl on her cake with only one (OK, maybe two...) finger swipes at the frosting for a sample.

Once the cake was done, I cooked bug up her favorite breakfast (a cheesy omelet) and we watched videos of her taken in the past few months (another of her favorite things to do). Finally, it was time to get down to business with decorating the house and re-decorating bug's room so bug was whisked off to her Mimi and Pa's house for a few hours of pampering and doting while Daddy and I spot cleaned the bathroom, living room, and kitchen, transformed her nursery into her big girl rooom (pics soon, I promise!), picked up a few dozen balloons, put up her birthday banner, and set the food table!

Then, it was party time! Bug had a great time having all her relatives around to play with her, although she did get so pooped out from lack of a nap that she refused to open any gifts without extreme prodding. We even got to skype with my parents who are vacationing in Florida so everyone got to sing "Happy Birthday" and watch her blow out her candles!

Finally, we ended the night with her favorite type of take-out (wonton soup), read almost a dozen books (up from the usually 5-6), and tucked her into her big girl bed for the first time (which also went extremely well, but more about that in a separate post!).

Overall, it was a great day! Thanks to all our family for celebrating with us.

Much more about all the details (with pictures) once my husband edits them for me:-)