Monday, April 29, 2013

Pinspiration Monday

Here are my fave pins from the week!

Vintage toolbox with mason jars and fresh flowers. So pretty! Wish I had somewhere to put something like this. My house is way too cluttered with a 2-year-old around.
Source: etsy.com via Kelsey on Pinterest


I love oatmeal and this looks delish!


Fitted sheet as a kiddie pool cover! Great idea.


Tomato and green olive salsa. Yum!
Source: delish.com via Kelsey on Pinterest


DIY mason jar straw covers. It looks easy enough!


This looks heavenly.


These are on my list to make for lunch later this week! Love fruit salsas and these look super easy once the salsa is made!


You can follow me on Pinterest HERE!

33 weeks

I guess I have gotten into the habit of doing these on Monday. Mostly because I forget to/don't take a picture until Friday or Saturday and then I have other things I'd rather do on the Saturday and Sunday! :)

How far along?: 33 weeks 4 days
How big is baby?:About 4 lbs and over 17 inches long
Weight gain?: Stayed the same from last week.
Stretch marks?: Sadly, I noticed that some of them are expanding since I am carrying a little higher this time. Tear.
Maternity clothes?: Yep.
Sleep?: Not bad.
Best moment this week?: At church on Sunday, Levi was being his usual busy-body self. He doesn't know how to use a quiet voice yet, so we are constantly shhh!-ing him. At one point, when we stood up for a prayer, Paul picked up Levi and he points at my belly and says clear as day "Mommy baby in 'ere. Baby in 'ere." Had to laugh, well smile, as we hushed him!
Food cravings?: Chocolate. Dark chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate chips on ice cream, yum.
Gender?: Girl!
Movement?: Yep!
Belly button?: Same as last week.
What I miss?: Bending over, not getting out of breath so easily, etc.
Labor signs?: Nope, just some Braxton Hicks.
What I'm looking forward to?: Another ultrasound at my 34 week check-up, to make sure baby girl is head down and to see how big she is!


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Fudge Revel Bars

I was in the mood for baking the other day, and craving some chocolate (what's new). So I scrounged through my collection of trusty church cookbooks looking for something that a) fit into the category above to curb my craving, and b) I had all the ingredients for (or thought I did). I have had these bars many times before but had never made them myself. I got started while Levi napped, and as I gathered the ingredients for the next step in the recipe, I realized that I didn't have a can of sweetened condensed milk in the cupboard like I thought I did. Whoops. Thank goodness that it was Sunday and Paul was home, he (being the wonderful husband he is) ran up to the convenience store and got some for me. I did a couple things differently that I will make note of following the recipe, but I wanted to give the recipe in it's original form. They turned out great and satisfied my chocolate craving! :)


Fudge Revel Bars

1 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick oatmeal
1 (12 oz) pkg milk chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp margarine or butter
2 tsp vanilla

Cream together 1 cup margarine and 2 cups brown sugar. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla, mix. Add the soda, salt, flour and oatmeal. Mix well and spread 2/3 into jelly roll pan. Melt together chocolate chips, condensed milk, margarine and vanilla. Stir until melted. Pour over crust in pan. With fingers crumble remaining crust on top and spread over chocolate mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Notes:
- I used a 9x13 pan because I wanted them to be thicker, and because of that I needed to add about 10 minutes to the baking time.
- I used semi-sweet chocolate chips just because I like them better.
- I found out the hard way that these should cool completely before digging in, otherwise they are pretty melty.
  
Hope you enjoy them! 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Pinspiration Monday

Today I thought I would share a pin that I tried along with a couple of my favorite pins from the week.

Levi likes 'noonles' aka Easy Mac for lunch sometimes, and when i came across this pin, I knew I had to give it a try. Well today was the day. I was out of Easy Mac so I decided to try it. The pin led to spam, so I googled it to find actual directions besides just the ingredients. I didn't have macaroni pasta, so I used rotini.
 Verdict? It was alright. Took a little bit longer than the Easy Mac, but I think if I would have used smaller noodles like the macaroni or small shells, it would have been better. Definitely not as creamy as I was hoping, it stayed a little thin so if I did it again I might reduce the milk a tiny bit. Levi decided he would rather have a hot dog so I ended up eating it anyway. I did like the taste much better than the Easy Mac, but it had a little bit of that grainy texture. Every time I have tried making regular homemade mac and cheese with cheddar I get that too. I would try it again.




And here are a few pins from the week!

Love the look of this! I'm trying to figure out somewhere in my yard I could put it this summer...


Something on my to-do list before the baby comes is to freeze a bunch of meals ahead of time. There are some good ones in this pin. Hopefully I can get that done soon! Along with the many other things on my to-do list....


I love this sandbox. Paul is planning on making one for Levi this summer to replace his turtle one, but I love that this one has a cover! It says that it doesn't keep out the water, but there are a few cats that wander around our neighborhood and I've seen them use our garden as a litter box. I would rather not find any buried treasures in Levi's sandbox, if you know what I mean.


You can follow me on Pinterest HERE or click the link in the sidebar!

32 weeks

How far along?: 32 weeks 4 days
How big is baby?:About 4 lbs and 17 inches long
Weight gain?: 27 total according to the scale at the doctor on Thursday.
Stretch marks?: Same.
Maternity clothes?: Yep.
Sleep?: Can't complain!
Best moment this week?: Good checkup at the doctor :)
Food cravings?: Nothing in particular.
Gender?: Girl!
Movement?: Yep! It's funny though, how her movements are so different than Levi's when I was pregnant with him. He kicked and had more sharp movements, with her it's more just pushing and rolling, with some good kicks every once in awhile.
Belly button?: Same as last week.
What I miss?:I am looking forward to being able to move around easier and get off the floor and couch without so much effort!
Labor signs?: Nope.
What I'm looking forward to?: Levi and I have a busy week, so it should be fun. His two-year pictures are on Thursday and I am soooo excited! I also decided to do a few maternity pics..


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Levi is 2!

This past Sunday was Levi's 2nd birthday, and we celebrated by having family over for brunch and to open presents, then have cake! That morning, Levi was so excited while we were getting everything ready. He kept saying "pahty!". And when everyone got to our house, oh man, he was on excitement overload! At one point he was running from the living room into the kitchen and back, just screaming with excitement! "Agghhhhhh!!" Back and forth! It was pretty hilarious. He gets excited anytime someone comes to his house, so he was just having a blast!

After everyone had something to eat, we opened presents. Levi had a few helpers! They all tend to 'help' on each others' birthdays, so that is nothing new! Levi didn't mind!



He got lots of fun stuff! He loved his trike from Grandpa and Grandma Staples, and the doctor kit was another hit. The barn that was handmade by Great-grandpa Jim and painted by Great-grandma Karen just for him is sure to be a treasured keepsake for many years to come! Levi loved everything he got and didn't know what to play with first!

If you read my Pinterest post about what I was going to try and get done, I actually did everything except for the ice cream in muffin cups. Paul pointed out that it would probably be more work to do that than to just scoop it out on Sunday. :) Anyways, the number two I drew onto a piece of tagboard and then cut out with my x-acto knife because it was too thick for the scissors. I knew I didn't want to do all buttons like the original pin I saw, so I just found some patterned paper that somewhat matched my color scheme and went with it. I love how it turned out, and I love the addition of the buttons. The two on the cake in sprinkles was a little tougher, but it turned out cute non-the-less. For the banner, I cut out the letters on my Silhouette and attached them to a piece of bakers twine from my scrapbook stash and then tied that onto wooden skewers. I didn't get a picture of the balloon pinatas, but those were harder than they looked too! I mean, not really hard to do, but it was tough to get the balloon over the end of the bottle to get the candy in, and the only candy I could find to fit in the hole of the bottle was smarties. My nieces thought those were pretty cool.

Levi did great at blowing his candles out! He wanted to keep doing it, ha! So Paul lit them for him a couple times to blow out. After that he was over the cake though, back to the toys!

And just a quick picture of our family! 

One more of the birthday boy with his balloons! He was not thrilled with having his picture taken, or with me wanting him to stand in one place! His adorable shirt was made by my mom. It matches the invites that I sent out!

I still can't believe I have a two-year-old, but he is just so much fun right now! He's got such a little personality. I haven't taken any 'nice' two-year pics of him since we can't get outside because of the weather. (BOO!) But hopefully I can get some decent ones soon, and his check-up is tomorrow (again, weather permitting!) so I'll have his up-to-date stats after that!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Pinspiration Monday

I almost forgot that it was Monday! I got my 31 week update up earlier and totally forgot about doing this post until I was about to start scrolling through Pinterest just now! So here are my faves from this week! :)

Loving this crib skirt. Looks pretty easy to put together, it just velcros/ties onto the sides.


If we get a nice enough day this week to grill, I might have to give these a try!


I would really like to try doing this with Levi sometime. Looks easy and I think he would like it!


These are on my wishlist. I have been wanting a cute tennis shoe just for everyday, like around town or going shopping, and these would be cute for this summer.
Source: zappos.com via Kelsey on Pinterest


Supposed to be the best stain remover. It would be interesting to give it a try!



You can follow me on Pinterest HERE, or click the button in the sidebar!

(Hoping to have some pics from Levi's b-day up in the next couple days too!)

31 weeks

 How far along?: 31 weeks 4 days (it was a busy weekend!)
How big is baby?: Measuring just over 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 lbs.
Weight gain?: 25 lbs gain so far, hoping I can keep my total weight gain around 30-35 in the next 9 (almost 8) weeks!
Stretch marks?: Same. 
Maternity clothes?: Yep!
Sleep?: Not bad, but I was sick part of this week so that was no fun.
Best moment this week?: Last week is a blur right now so nothing is coming to mind in particular.
Food cravings?: Nothing really.
Gender?: Girl!
Movement?: Oh yeah, getting stronger.
Belly button?: Strange looking.
What I miss?: Energy. Is this like the 3rd week that I've put this answer? The list is getting longer the closer to the end I get.
Labor signs?: Nothing besides a few braxton hicks contractions here and there.
What I'm looking forward to?: Check up on Thursday I guess.
Milestone? Hmmm..



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

More Easter

We celebrated Easter again this past weekend with my family on Sunday. I wanted to make sure and get a few pictures of our family since I didn't get any last week! Levi's tie is from zulily, he looked so cute in it!
My two boys! 
 Me and my little man!
 So handsome!
 My sister is due a month after I am!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Pinspiration Monday

It's Pinspiration Monday: Second Birthday Edition!

These are some of the ideas that I had pinned to my Two board for Levi's birthday party this weekend.

I thought these would be a fun way for the kids to get a little treat. I haven't decided where I'll hang them yet! The idea is that once you get the little candies in there, you blow up the balloon and then the kids can pop them with a toothpick. With a grown-up's help of course for the littler ones.


I am going to try and combine the next two pins for Levi's cake. I want to do the sprinkled number 2 using the sprinkle colors to match the invite for his party. I was planning on doing multi-color like the picture, but then looking through my closet I found separate colors I can combine for a custom sprinkle mix!


Then I thought it would be fun to make a little cut-out banner like this one with his name on it too!


I would like to see if I can get something like this done. Maybe not with the buttons, but some sort of big number 2 to hang somewhere.
Source: hwtm.com via Kelsey on Pinterest


And I thought I would give this a try. Scooping the ice cream into individual muffin cups before-hand, then freezing until hard again, to make things easier when it comes to serving the cake! And cute! :)


So we'll see how many of these ideas I can follow through on! Levi's birthday party is on Sunday morning this weekend, so I'll share some pictures most likely next week!

You can follow me on Pinterest HERE! (Or click the link in the sidebar!)

Saturday, April 6, 2013

30 wks

I had a doctor appointment this week, and everything went well. Baby girl was measuring right on schedule and her heartbeat was strong in the 140's. From now on I'll go every other week until 36 weeks, then every week after that. Yikes! It's coming fast!

How far along?: 30 weeks 2 days
How big is baby?: About 15.7 inches long and weighs almost 3 lbs.
Weight gain?: At home I was about the same as last week, at the dr. I had gained about 3 1/2 lbs since last month, which I didn't think was bad at all. So I am at about a 22-24 lb total gain depending if I go by my home scale or at the dr.
Stretch marks?: Same.
Maternity clothes?: Yep!
Sleep?: Not too bad.
Best moment this week?: Hearing baby girl's heartbeat. She kicked right when Dr. M was looking for it, ha.
Food cravings?: Nothing really this week.
Gender?: Girl!
Movement?: Yep! More and more, sometimes she pushes in the weirdest places and it will hurt.
Belly button?: Turning into an outie. Weird..
What I miss?: Energy.
Labor signs?: Thankfully nothing yet. I was on bedrest for a week with Levi at 36 weeks, so at my appt., Dr. M just told me to let her know if I did show any signs of labor. I'm not worried since I ended up going over with Levi anyways.
What I'm looking forward to?: Seeing my family on Sunday to celebrate Easter.
Milestone? 30 weeks! Only 10 short weeks left.


Monday, April 1, 2013

Easter

Ok, last post for today! Just wanted to share some Easter pictures from this past weekend.

We went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the school on Saturday, which Levi loved! It didn't take him long to catch on to picking up the eggs and candy and putting them into his bucket! I am always surprised at how many kids we have in our small town...the gym was FULL! But that just makes it all the more fun! The local 4-H club puts this egg hunt on every year.



 The kids each also get a 'prize', so that is fun for them too! Levi lucked out and got some fun sand toys that he was excited about!


On Sunday, we went to the early service at church. Which ended up working out great since someone decided to wake up at 5:00 a.m. for the day... When we got home, Levi found that the Easter bunny had been to our house while we were gone! He had fun picking up more eggs and loved his Easter basket! He looked so handsome in his little suit!



Then later that morning, we went out to Paul's brother and his wife's house to celebrate Easter, along with our niece's 8th birthday. Hard to believe she is that old already! Madison got lots of nice gifts from everyone, seems like everyone had the same idea...clothes and books! :) 
 Allie was right by Madison's side the whole time she was opening gifts, and we all had to laugh when she would thank everyone for getting Madison a present! So cute!


So that was our busy weekend! We have a few of those coming up. Next weekend we will be celebrating Easter with my family, and the weekend after that is Levi's birthday party! Sure to be fun times though!