Homemade Gifts for Baby

I had a baby shower this last weekend. Sometimes I struggle with what to do for baby showers. I normally am wonderfully satisfied with heading to Target...ahh Target how I heart thee...but this time I decided I wanted to whip out something homemade.

At first I was just going to make these bibs...ya know the ones from this tutorial.  

Then one of the fishy on the first bib caught my eye and I thought "hmmm wouldn't it be super cute to make a little stuffed fishy to go with it".

So I did!

Glub, glub, glub. So cute.

TUTORIAL for Mr. Fishy coming tomorrow.

Also-I did make on adjustment to the original bib tutorial. This time around I sewed on velcro for the closure. SO much easier. 

Our Week in a Nutshell: Minute to Win it

This week was my first full week back in the ranks of Momma since being back from paradise. Although I was EXHAUSTED all week, it was a great week.

I spent a lot of time with our little men just playing and only a little time crafting...just as it should be.

One of my favorite moments this week was the boys and their Minute to Win it mini game.

My little men LOVE Minute to Win it. The spend tons of time coming up with their own versions of minute games. In fact, we the smart parents have even used "You've got a minute to win it" to get them to clean up. It works marvelously.

After catching up on our recorded episodes, the boys decided that they just had to do one specific game: Don't blow the Joker.

They have only seen it done twice on the show and both times the contestant couldn't do it. They decided they would gather up supplies from our house and give it a whirl.

To play they used:

an IKEA kids' cup

stack of instect flash cards

Their objective:

Don't blow the tarantula...that is the bug Oldest Little Man decided on.

They gave it a whirl. 

After a couple of attempts came victory!

Then Middle Little Man gave it a try (with a smaller deck) and on his first attempt... Victory!

They have played several times since. PLUS they played the Cookie Face one...I was not home so I didn't get photos. They both rocked that one too. I am waiting for them to ask me to make them all the fixings to do the junk in the trunk one. If we do that maybe I will have to post a video! Man did these boys make my week.

It is good to be a Momma.

Sour Cream Apple Bars

I heart apples. I heart Fall. I heart dessert. I HEART Fallish apple desserts. I originally wanted to do a whole week of apple dessert goodies, but then I remembered I just got back from a vacation where I am pretty sure I ate enough to add on to the circumference of my waist...so I decided I would just pick one...okay maybe two (one for next week too).

These are SO yummy. The filling is divine. The topping is DEE-vine.

Sour Cream Apple Bars

adapted from Leigh Anne with Your Homebased Mom

Crust/topping:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 cups uncooked quick cooking oats

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

Filling:

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoon flour

1 egg

2 medium (about 2 cups) apples, unpeeled, shredded...I used honeycrisp, yes the picture shows granny smith and that is what Leigh Anne used.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until creamy.  Add  remaining crust ingredients and beat until well mixed.

Press a little over half, about 2/3  of crust mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

While crust is baking combine the filling ingredients; mix well.  Gently pour the filling over the hot, partially baked crust.  Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fill and press down lightly.

Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set.  Cool.  Cut into bars. Eat. Eat some more. Give away the extras or if you have any will power,  store them in the fridge.

I am currently trying to ignore these yummy bars calling to me from the fridge...I DO not need these for breakfast...but they have apples in them and apples are good for breakfast...NO I can say NO!  Maybe...

Halloween Costumes

It is that time of year. The time that months and months of planning and sketching and designing all are supposed to come to fruition.

Halloween Costume Time!

I have the theme for my little men's costume set in my mind for months...but don't worry I always wait for October to roll around until I finally get them together.

I love pulling together costumes. They are always a mixture of store bought, hand made, glued, sewn, help from someone else, and recycled. 

Here is what I have started for this year. Can you guess what the family theme is this year?

Here are some themes we have done in the past.

Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat

Monkey: store bought

Man in Yellow Hat: craft foam (before I found the glory of felt), sewing genius of best friends's mom

Batman and Robin

Walmart sweats and t-shirts, heat and bond, and some sewing

Shooting Star 

that went with

Alien and Astronaut

Sewing, Walmart sweats, hotglue, foam, spray paint...oh you name it I used it.

I love themed Halloweens and unique costumes. My favorite was Batman and Robin. What have been your favorite costumes? I would love to see or hear about them.

Now back to sewing I go!

Back to Life...

Back to reality...

Sing it with me...Back to life, back to reality

Back to life, back to reality...

The sad thing is that I am neither back to life OR back to reality. Haha.

It has literally taken me four days to get this written and posted. It is hard to put in words just how glorious, marvelous, relaxing, and all together yummy (talking about the food people) Hawaii is.

We had a great time and are now almost-kinda-sorta Hawaii professionals now...at least for Oahu.

So here is a list of our FAVORITES in Oahu...things that we think are must do's and since I am making the list...OF COURSE there are photos...

1. go to the beach

Obviously there are TONS of beaches. Spend some time there. Swim in the ocean. Sunbathe. We preferred that less crowded beaches.

2. find somewhere tropical and take a hike/walk/romantic stroll

We went to a botanical garden, it was really beautiful...a little over priced, but isn't everything in Hawaii.

3. THE DOLE WHIP...with accompanying fresh pineapple

Ummm...yummy. Do I need to say more? Oh the pineapple. Go to the Dole plant...skip the tour, just eat the Dole Whip.


4. drive along the coast

There are some great places to get out and take a picture of. SO beautiful. This was taken on the east side of the island.


5 The Polynesian Culture Center.

Offers lots of cultural enlightenment and entertainment...'nuff said...hehehe (insert girly giggle here)


6. the north shore

The North Shore was by far where we went back to again and again. This is where we hiked. This is where we snorkeled. We liked these beaches the best. AND this is where KONO's was.

Kono's. I dream of you fortnightly. WE LOVED this restaurant. I mean LOVED it. I later found some of their BBQ sauce on my bathing suit and it made me sad there was no longer a sandwich with the sauce.

It was by far the BEST thing we ate while in Hawaii.


7. try something new

Hubby tried paddleboarding...if you are unaware, as I was, of what this is...it is standing on a surf board and paddling yourself across the surface of the ocean. It looks pretty cool. It was a lot harder than it looked, so after watching Hubby try something new, I decided I would just support him trying something new.


7. shaved ice

This was at the North Shore...I have already told you about my love affair with the North Shore...Hawaiian shaved ice...just one more thing to LOVE that is food.

8. making a fool of yourself on a catamaran boat

A catamaran tour is a splurge. The whole purpose is to go find some dolphins and swim with them. There might be a sea turtle along the way as well...but obviously it isn't guaranteed. We did see dolphins, I even heard them in the water, but they were a little shy the day we went. So with all that sun and not that many dolphins...

The karaoke mic came out and singing was forced on one and all. Yes that is hubby shoving the mic in my face. It was still a really good time.


9. SNORKELING

We did this several times. Our favorite spot was a less busy spot on the North Shore...yes there it is again, called Sharks' Cove. PS the picture is not the less busy beach...this was the way crowded place...just the only picture we had.  We rented our gear for the whole week and I wish we would have snorkled more. It was grand just to float and see all the fish.

10. yogurtland

Just behind eating at Kono's was eating at this place. AH yogurtland. Pretty much the best part of Waikiki (not my favorite place). We went there 3 times. They have 16 different flavors of frozen yogurt. 16!!! The little bubble type things were hubby's favorite topping...mango boba...if any of you know how and where I can get a hold of these I will owe you FOREVER.

So there it is Hawaii in a nutshell. We had a wonderful time!! I promise this is the only post about Hawaii, after all I don't want to rub it in your face bore you.

ALOHA!