Making Memories

Here's random rundown of current kid happenings.

• I'm in the midst of putting together Deane's 3rd birthday party for this Sunday.  We will have a Cars theme and I hope he will really enjoy the way we've organized it.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pinterest and use it daily to collect ideas.  I guess I'm a visual person and saving images rather than favorites is great for me.  Here's the board I made for Deane's Birthday.

• This weekend Deane walked up to me and said "Eat Orange".  He's never eaten an orange before and when I've offered even mandarin oranges in syrup, he wants nothing to do with the.  I cut an orange in half and gave him a piece.  He tasted it and mostly sucked on it.  I gave him the rest of the half which he proceeded to play with but not actually eat.  Who knows where this stuff comes from?

• Deane was also walking up to our fake plant and saying "smell the leaves" and then "ewwww".  This is huge because he understands the concept of smell to some extent!
• Deane is into marching and the other night he came to get me to march with him.  Then, he grabbed a toy drum to carry along.  We were a marching band!  Again, very exciting that he is picking this concept up and wanting to pretend. (Note: the hat was added by Deane to my already highly attractive ensemble.)

• We tried out the new Mexican restaurant, Los Charros, in my hometown and it was pretty good.  I mention this because Deane wore his new Hawkeye hat and I thought he was looking cute.

• And finally Kate is everywhere!  She is intrigued by everything Deane does or has.  She would love to drink his sippy cup or eat the snacks in his snack cup.  Last week I caught her as she moved in to give Deane a little love and take his cup.

Dimensional Framing Idea & Special Print

I acquired this print awhile back (ummm, August 2010!) with the intention of hanging it above my desk in the mud room.  I knew I didn't want to pay to custom frame it and eventually decided I needed a less conventional way to present it.

I liked the idea of "floating" a frame over the print and found an old frame at the Vintage Button.  I cleaned it and painted it to match our woodwork.  I used Ceramcoat in Light Ivory Opaque 02401, found at JoAnn's Fabrics.  It took three coats.

   

 I decided to mount the print with double sided adhesive foam like this so that the print was about a 1/4 inch off of the wall.

 

The frame had a couple of screws from a previous use on each end.

Chris used picture hangers with the original screws to give it that dimension out from the wall.  I hung it to optimize the image versus to be centered over the print.

I'm really happy with the final look and to finally have my print where I can see it everyday.

I'll leave the mess that surrounds it for another day and completely ignore the irony of the "Simplify" sign on my shelf.

About the print:  I purchased this because it reminded me of Deane and myself.  I was rather pregnant with Kate and probably clinging to some of that worry that my focus on my first child would dissipate a lot with a new baby (guess I didn't need to worry about that!).  I suppose any brunette mom with a little blond boy could see themselves in his print.  It came from this Etsy shop.  In recent months as I planned to frame it, it has brought tears to my eyes several times. To me, it now represents my leading Deane into the world, a place that is confusing and frustrating to him.  Little by little, he is less secluded as he gets more comfortable communicating with and engaging others.  I feel certain he knows I will always go before him and protect him.

I'm linking up with these linky parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tip Junkie, At Home with K, Not Just a Housewife

Homemade Baby Food

With Deane I used canned baby food, usually Earth's Best, but I was considering making Kate's food.  I read a lot of great testimonials of other moms about the satisfaction they got from doing this and of course the money they saved.   I researched several baby food machines to help make this process easier and decided on Baby Brezza

It's very easy to use, makes a decent size batch, is fairly easy to clean.  From all the reviews I've read, I believe that areas with hard water will have more trouble keeping the machine clean.  I clean with soap and water every time I use, but then I go through the suggested process of using vinegar to remove residue every week or two.

Using fresh fruits is pretty self-explanatory in that you just peel, chop and throw it in.  I think vegetables are much more work because they seem to require more steps to get to the "meat" so to speak.  The first time I made green beans, I (thougth I) had to rinse, trim, boil, and grind. 

I know this looks delicious :)

Then, I read other were using frozen peas and green beans and life looked much easier.  I thought this was a good compromise on nutrients, cost, and time.

I have made butternut squash, summer squash (very runny/watery), carrots, green beas, sweet peas, bananas, pears, apples, peaches, plums, and sweet potatoes.  Kate hasn't met a fruit or vegetable she doesn't like as evidenced by this enthusiasm.

I do buy some package fruits and veggies as backups when I don't have small container already defrosted to go somewhere or if we get low.  I just started introducing Sprout Organic Meals to her that you can purchase at Wal-Mart.  So far, the fruits and veggies are bigger hits.

I use Fresh N Freeze containers (although they were better portion size intially, around 6 months), Fresh Baby trays, empty baby food jars, and empty dairy products containers mainly.

I think the investment in Baby Brezza (approximately $100 from Toys R Us*) was worthy to save money on baby food, know exactly what I'm serving her, and fulfill my desire to "cook" for her.  I also buy fruits that are on sale (<$1.50/lb.) and generic veggies when they are on sale to help keep the overall cost down.

This is my favorite website about making homemade baby food.  It has a lot of great information what foods are appropriate at what age. 

Next up on our agenda is making baby food out of our meals to introduce more seasoning, textures, and flavors.

* I used those Toys R Us mailer offers where you buy 2 boxes of diapers and get a $20 gift card or whatever the deal might be to pay for part of the Baby Brezza getting something I needed anyway and saving on another.

Sister

 Today, my sister, Nicole, is 21!  She's a very special woman and I pray that her life today and always is filled with all the things she deserves and desires.

I could go on about how I remember "Coley" when she was cute and little, but you see, my sister is still cute and little. Sheis one of those lucky people who could look as young as she would like.  She'll appreciate this someday. 

At the same time, she is beautiful and fashion forward.  She can certainly look older than her age if she chooses too.  She makes everything she wears more special.

She grew up dealing with siblings nearly 10 years older.  I know I have been a mom to her more than the sister and friend she wanted.  The latter two parts of our relationship are getting stronger as we get older and it's a privilege to be her friend.

Although most young adults her age are preoccupied with their own lives, she genuinely misses her niece and nephew and is excited to see them each time.  They certainly think she's special too.  Deane love his "Tia Coltey". 

 

She's busy this week handling recruitment at her sorority at the University of Iowa so she won't have the uninterrupted focus on this milestone that most young people enjoy, but I'm sure that her friends there will recognize her for how special she is.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful sister (inside and out), Cole Baby Sister!
I wish I had the eloquency to write the tribute she deserves, but in the meantime, this video will have to serve as a explanation to what's like to have a sister like mine.



School Step 2

We have decided to continue the process of considering services through school.  At this point, I don't intend to send Deane to a full day program because I'm not sure he's prepared emotionally or that it would be as beneficial as the one on one services he's receiving for the coming year.

The second step for us after observing the classrooms, was a "Domain" meeting where all of the staff and service providers met with me to see what evaluations and reports are currently available, what evaluations/observations they need to do and get my permission to move forward on those items. 

I found our local "team" very welcoming and open in this initial meeting.  Those present included the principal, social worker, school speech therapist, school psychologist, external contracted occupational therapist, general education preschool teacher, and special education preschool teacher. 

I agreed to move forward with all of the necessary evaluations because I believe it's important to understand how this district will work now or for future years.  It's really the primary opportunity to "shop" the school to find out if this is right for Deane.  Next week the evaluations will begin.

During this process, I've been referring to two books in addition to consulting some very helpful people.  Those books are:

The Complete IEP Guide
How to Compromise with your School District without Compromising your Child

Poor Man's Beef Wellington

One of my favorite dishes is Beef Wellington, but it's hard to find in restaurants near here and somewhat expensive to make at home.  It was actually our anniversary meal in Kenmare in Southern Ireland at Mulcahy's Restaurant in 2007 (4th anniversary).  I developed a craving lately and knowing that a 3lb. beef tenderloin isn't in my grocery budget, so I've developed my Poor Man's Beef Wellington.  Chris and I both gave it a 10 so I promise it was delicious.   Here's the best rated recipe on the web with the original ingredients.
Chris doesn't like mushrooms, but they are one of my favorite foods.  In this case I skipped them and amped up the onions.  And here's a photo of my finished product:

Annie's Version:
Ingredients:
2 small yellow onions, minced
2 T. minced garlic
1 T. butter
2 T. olive oil (amount just for onion mixture; some additional needed for meat)
1.5-2 lbs. sirloin (or other inexpensive cut beef that is mostly rectangular or oval cut)
1/4 lbs. deli or packaged ham
dijon mustard
2 8pk crescent rolls
1 egg

Directions:
Warm butter and olive oil in large pan.  Add onions and garlic for about 10 minutes on medium, stirring and carmelizing slightly.  Add salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool.

Season both sides of meat with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side in a large pan (could use same pan the onion were previously cooked in).  Set aside to cool slightly.  Cover both sides with a thin coat of dijon mustard.

Lay out plastic wrap and arrange pieces of ham in shape of rectangle overlapping that is large enough to mostly surround your piece of beef (don't move beef yet).  Then cover the ham with a layer of the onion mixture.  Place the beef on top of the onion mixture and wrap the smothered ham around the beef along with the plastic wrap.  Once the meat is surrounded and covered, transfer to a plate and cool in fridge for half hour.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

On a large jelly pan, dust with flour and roll out crescent rolls to form the crust.  It took sort of piece and weaving from sides and around the top to fully cover, but I think it added to the appearance. 

Whisk egg in small bowl and use a pastry brush or plastic spatula or cover lightly the top and sides of your rolls with the egg wash.  This will give the appearnce of crispier pastry dough used in the traditional recipe.  Place in oven for approximately 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.  Monitor so the rolls don't get burnt.  We found the bottom stays a little doughy, but we like that.

We each had a small slice and a half, shared another big slice with my brother, and had enough for each to have a piece for lunch.  I would say the meat was medium rare when I put it in the oven and medium when it came out.

We ate ours with some pears and bleu cheese.  This photo shows the pretty part of our table with cloth napkins, etc.

And this photo shows the rest of our crazy table :)  Deane never ended up ending anything but his grapes at the table.  Kate tried Pasta Lentil Bolognese (from Tyler Florence's baby food line, Sprout) and it was the first "entree" she really liked.  She also had some freshly made pears that my Mom made while babysitting in the afternoon.

And my favorite part of any good homemade meal...happy husband! 

I estimate with my deal shopping that I spent less than $8 on this entree, much better than likely $30-40 original recipe price tag.  As a disclaimer, I had these ingredients available from previous shopping where I utilized coupons and bought sale or discounted meat.

I'm linking up with these linky parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tip Junkie, At Home with K, Not Just a Housewife, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Seven Thirty Three, Shabby Creek Cottage,

Countdown to end of private swimming

My parents are moving at the end of the month.  Saturday afternoon, after being trapped at home in the morning, we went over to Aledo.  The guys were just done moving furniture so Chris and I made a final sweep to get some photos of things to list on Craigslist and inspected the new trailer, we wanted to get in some swimming.

We've been blessed to have acces to my parent's swimming pool since I was a freshman in high school at the last house (next door) and this one that they have lived in since 2004.  This summer Deane has just become a fish.  He's so independent and I'm so happy for him that he loves it so much.

He loves to countdown from 10 and say "Blast Off" and this time has started adding "To the Moon".  He's wearing a little Hannah Anderson bathing suit that's probaly for about 18-24 months, but it's so cute and he's so skinny that I couldn't resist.  Kate was already sleeping when this swimming was happening so she missed out, but Mom, Dad and I watched from poolside while the boys wore themselves out.  Since the beds were moved earlier in the day, we had to wake up Sissy to take her home.  I'm hoping we get to swim at least a couple more times before their close.

Kate 10 Months

Kate - You are 10 months old today!  I can't believe it's gone so fast.  Recently you have started initiating "conversation".  You like to mimic noises.  You are also doing an open mouth laugh that makes anyone around you pay attention and laugh.  In the last couple weeks, we keep saying what a ham you are and that you might just be class clown.  You certainly like attention.  And at the same time, you are sweet and willing to lay on the floor and drink your bottle.  If you are eating, you don't like any pause in the food delivery.  I try to multi-task while you are contained in your seat, but you let me know that is frustrating.  We love you so much, sweet girl!

You sit up from laying.  You love to "army" crawl and are starting to try to pull up on thing, but just to your knees so far.

Yummy Meat Sauce & Mommy Time

I was inspired to make some meat sauce from scratch for my Grandpa Deane's birthday (which is actually tomorrow).  He loves to can tomatoes, salsa, etc. so I hoped he would like my meat sauce.  I made enough for us to keep some too.  Chris was helping my parents move so we (the kids and I) had a laid back morning that involved a bit more TV than usual, but allowed me to get the sauce made.  This is the first time I've made with fresh tomatoes.  I use the sauce from this recipe (which is delicious lasagna).

 This was after I had scooped most of it out.  For the process to prepare the tomatoes, I referred to this website.

 I ate it yesterday over mozzerela, today over a leftover stuffed chicken breast, and Chris ate it over some frozen meatballs.  I promise it delicious.

My reference to Mommy time was just being able to make something yummy while seeing part of the Khloe & Omar wedding episode (guilty pleasure) and burning my Lilac candle from the Vintage Button.

I think this sauce will make for more yummy gifts in the future.  I hope Grandpa enjoys his!