Family Halloween 2013 (pt 4/6)

Sean was the creative one who designed her trick or treat box. While wondering around the Spirit Halloween store, I saw a plastic Thomas the Tankengine box and Sean saw he could make something like that pretty cheap. 

He got a small box and industrial cardboard tube from work, and a small rope left over from a Boy Scout activity. 

He then thought of the characteristics of those In the Frankenstein family and found it to be the green face, scar and hair for Frankenstein's monster and the hair with white streaks for bride of Frankenstein. He then designed the box using scented markers. 

The trick or treat treasury receptacle impressed every house we went to.

Family Halloween 2013 (pt 3/6)

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

To do the hair for my costume I used hair bonding glue to stick a car wash sponge I had cut in half, to the top of my head. Then I used Bobby pins to hold up my hair after gently running a little gel through with my fingers. I then used spray on. white temporary hair color for the streaks. What would I do differently? I'd use less hair glue and let it set before pinning my hair up, I would try to find a softer sponge to stick the bobby pins in, I would have looked for "sharper" bobby pins or something else so that I wouldn't kill my fingers of have my hubby do that part for me.

I took a pair of tights and cut out finger holes in the toes to be like gloves and then stitched on strips of white cloth like bandages. I don't know how that was an effective use of my time but it worked well enough. I think I would just find white ace bandage wraps in the medical section if I was to do anything different, but they worked.

The rest of mine was easy. (since I already had the dress from being princess lea one year. It was a dress my mom helped me make when I was trying to learn to sew and didn't have the patience.) I then wore white shoes.

Family Halloween 2013 (pt 2/6)

FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER

I'm not a make-up person, never really wear it myself, so to do Sean's makeup, I had to watch 5 different YouTube videos and read up on tips. I'm pretty impressed with how well it turned out. Not professional but passable for Halloween.

To bulk out his shoulders I took fiberfill and then stitched fabric over it kind of like weird shaped shoulder pads. I forgot to take a picture though before removing them.

The rest of his costume is just a cheap suit, that doesn't match perfectly, from a thrift store, hair dyed black and then spiked with gel and a pair of black shoes he already owned. Oh, and a black shirt under the suit.

Differently? I would've used a darker fabric to bulk out the shoulders and I would have taken more pictures of him by himself.

 

Family Halloween 2013 (pt 1/6)

BABY OF FRANKENSTEIN 

or 

BABY BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Augustina's was the most complicated, mostly because of the hat. I just learned the basics of crocheting from my sister in July. (Another thing my mother tried to teach me when I was younger that I lacked the patience for.) I can follow a basic pattern an I can make simple baby hats. I searched online for a pattern for the hair for bride of Frankenstein and found nothing. My husband was really proud of my new skill and wanted me to try making a crochet version even though my original plan was to make a simple felt hat like this mother did.  Infant/Toddler Bride of Frankenstein

So I created my own pattern. I made a baby hat and then just kept going until I thought it was long enough.

Then I made a smaller hat to go inside and fit the baby's head. 

I created the squiggled from looking at this picture Bride of Frankenstein and using a variety of double crochets, single crochets, decreasing and random made up stuff. I used white yarn to stitch the squiggles to the hat, filled the main hat with the stiffer fiberfill, inserted the smaller hat and stitched it on. 

When making the hats I added button holes to the base so that I could make a chin strap and sew buttons on to keep the hat from falling off. 

I sewed a rounded button on top of the entire hat because there was a small hole, to fulfill my perfectionist needs of hiding the fiberfill but I see now it was unnecessary. 

Differently? I would learn embroydery or something cool for the squiggles and I would put in a second set of button holes higher up to make the chin strap adjustable. But, it worked. The hat stayed on her head and it wasn't too heavy since she was already holding her own head up strong. 

She rarely tried to take it off and even fell asleep while wearing it or crawled around, adorable.

Her dress was a baby gift, I'm not that good. I put tights on over her arms for both costume effect and warmth and she wore a second pair of tights the normal way also for effect and warmth.

I tried putting white shoes on her but she wouldn't keep them on and hates them. Differently? I would try something else for her arms and hands, and I would get her some white socks.

Pumpkin soup for augustina

Our garden produced only one pumpkin this growing season, the second pumpkin was eaten up by bugs. I had planned it for Halloween but we ended up not making jack-o-lanterns this year and I didn't want to waste our one good pumpkin. 

Today was baby food making day, so I figured I'd try a pumpkin recipe. Originally I was going to simply mix pumpkin with steamed apples until I saw this "creamy pumpkin soup" recipe from the wholesome baby foods website. I'm always up for trying something new to see what Auggie will and will not eat.

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/pumpkin-babyfood-recipes.htm#.UoL-8nm9Kc0

First I cut the pumpkin into 4ths and used the small scooper from pampered chef to scoop out all of the insides.

Thencut up the quarters of pumpkin into smaller sizes so they would fit in my small rice cooker/food steamer.

They steamed for 15 minutes and came out a very tiny bit tough, not mushy soft (an extra 5-10 min would make them much softer), but I wanted to lose as little pumpkin flavor as possible and steaming can steal away flavor.

After letting the pumpkin cool a few minutes, I was able to peel the meat off the rind with ease into the magic bullet blender. (I have not been as impressed with this product as I thought I would be. The motor isn't that strong, but for baby food it works great.)

I veered from the recipe by cooking the onion and carrots in a tiny bit of oil first. Then I continued with adding the broth and such.

The soup was then poured into the blender and puréed with some of the pumpkin, then returned to the pot. The rest of the pumpkin was blended with the evaporated milk. I only used one 12oz can instead of the 2 cups in the recipe. The soup came out silky smooth, with no lumps. 

I filled 2 bowls for the fridge, 2 bowls for the freezer and then used this nifty pouch system Augustina's grandma bought for us. Thanks mom.

The soup was a little too smooth, creamy and thin. It didn't work as well as other combinations I've used and made a mess. It seems this soup is only best for bowls.

I didn't label my baby foods when I first used the system, figuring that it was obvious what foods I'd made. Plus I usually have one day where I make a huge batch of baby food, so dating would be pointless, right? Wrong. 

1) After a few days I'd look at the colors in the pouches and realize I forgot what I'd just made. 

2) Sometimes when making my next set of batches I'd still have left overs and the dates would get mixed up. 

3) And lastly, I have easily forgotten what date I made them in the first place. It's better all around to not skip this step.

Augustina thought the soup was too thin as well. It could be because I didn't add the sour cream or 

It could be that she just likes her foods thicker. Either way, the problem was solved by adding a small amount of baby rice cereal. After that, she was in baby heaven.

Leftover Fabulous - chicken and rice quesadillas

Went to the Veterans Day Parade in Antioch. Super fun but afterwards we were all tired and hungry. Augustina fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep. We had 50 minutes before Sean had to lead some boyscouts out on an orientiering course. With both Sean and baby napping I searched the fridge and cupboards and found one chicken breast  soaking in lemon herb marinade left over from dinner. (A crockpot meal where I place raw chicken breast in a crockpot covered in the marinade for a day and then slow cooked for 7 hours on low yum.) I found a mostly empty box of minute rice a friend gave me when her family moved and a tupper of green beans also from dinner. 

So I chopped up the chicken and green beans (pampered chef manual food processor makes the process fast, painless, and cuts pretty small) poured the 2 cups marinade, chopped chicken and green beans in a pot and brought to a boil. (I measured the marinade so I'd know how much rice to add, but typically, measuring is not my thing.) Added the rice and put a lid on. My first time using minute rice, evidently it's ready in 5 minutes.

That gave me time to set out the griddle, pre-heat at 325-350 and pull out tortillas, cheese, mayonayse, oil, small bowl, pastry brush and a serving dish.

I then started cutting cheese only to learn a valuable lesson. Freezing cheese is great, it makes it last longer, but when freezing block cheese, it no longer slices. Instead you end up with cheese crumbles. Perfect for quesadillas.

I spread a very light layer of mayonayse. I love mayo and even though I can not cut it from my diet, or do the "light" stuff, I can portion control it...usually.

Crumble on the cheese.

Scoop up some chicken and rice mix. 

Use the basting pastry brush to lightly oil the now hot griddle. This too is pampered chef and is made to withstand high temperatures. (Though I do not sell the products and don't want to own everything, pampered chef does have some nice stuff) I almost always use butter but have found that when I feed my 9 month old something that has been cooked in butter (like pasta, grilled cheese etc) she ends up with a red rash on her arm and face. Now I don't know if it's an allergy to butter or if it's because she keeps rubbing it in her eyes while eating and it irritates. Either way, I decided on brushing oil.

Made four quesadillas and folded in half to lay on the griddle.

Brushed the top half with oil. 

Made four more while waiting. Flipped over in between. 

Wow they came out gorgeous. I ended up making 17 out of one chicken breast.

I did make 3 plain cheese to use up the last of the cheese and tortillas.

There is a restaurant in napa that is known for their burgers cooked with the cheese hanging over and crispy. Guess that makes these quesadillas extra special on accident.

Serve with sour cream and salsa. Ready with 5 minutes left for hubby to eat before running out the door. These would also be good with guacamole, fresh made refried beans, and such but I didn't have those. 

45 minutes to lunch, not bad. And I got high reviews from not only hubby but from baby as well.

Augustina for Christmas

So many people have sent me messages asking what augustina would like for Christmas. Rather than answer individually, I figured I'd post a one time message and pass the link on.

If anyone would like to avoid duplicate gifts, you can let me know what you are getting her and I'll mark it as claimed.

As far as clothes go, I'd recommend anything 12-18 month sizes. Especially sleepers. She could also use socks. She only has 2 pair that fit, or I've heard there are special crawler shoes that are more like socks, but I don't know where you'd find those.

Baby board books are always a win. If you have a favorite book that you feel augustina MUST own, she would love it. Reading is one of her favorite things. Here is a picture of the current books she owns.

Augustina is standing and walking around while holding on to stuff so any push toys used to walk around the house, she would love. Here are some example pics to give you an idea without giving an exact item.

At 'first 5' she hated the rocking horses but loved the dolphin with wheels. So toys like these are a win. If it wasn't $160, the Eco Friendly Dragon would be my favorite for her. The link should show you what I'm talking about. While fixing the link, i found it for only $100 through Diapers.com Cheaper Puff Dragon

While in Wisconsin, augustina loved playing with her cousins alphabet blocks. I know they say 2+ but she was learning to stack and carefully take one off the top. Though her favorite was playing "baby Godzilla" and knocking them all down. 

Not wanting to get the "wooden" blocks, she played with these foam blocks at a play date and had a blast. They are the same as the wooden set but a softer material.

MAGNETS!!! She has discovered and gained a fondness for these things. Any baby magnets or letters or such!!

Augustina still loves looking at herself in the mirror so a baby safe floor mirror or one that could attach to her crib would keep her entertained.

We went to a children's museum while in Wisconsin and Auggie loved playing with the baby puzzles, similar to these.

Because she's standing, a fun play table that is safe for her size would give her fun entertainment while helping her build her muscles. Here are a couple examples.

Non-toy choices for those who want to look at more practical or daily options:

Her bottle stage has passed, she never liked her pacifier and her sippy cup time was brief. What she loves most are cups with straws. There a many options out there, cups that flip the straw in when not in use for travel or the fancy character ones. Currently she only has two such cups and could definitely use a few more. She could also use some "her size" regular cups, as I am trying to teach her to drink out of a cup the regular way, but all we mostly own are glass and ceramic.

Easy clean bibs. I didn't think about that and she has cloth bibs that don't travel well and stain so quick that they never really look nice. I never realized the variety available. There are even ones that look like nurse, fireman or policeman uniforms.

She has outgrown her baby bathtub and now uses her blowup duck. But soon she won't even be using that. A spout cover can help protect her head while my mobile child is bathing.

Going along with bath time, a nice safe place to keep her bath toys would be nice to keep them organized. Any type of organization style works, the pic is just kinda an idea. Oh and the ducks just looked like a great idea for a useful toy that can also rinse her head.

Lastly, larger hooded towels. She is outgrowing her infant ones and only has one bigger one. Most any style or character is acceptable except pink princess ones. Please no princess or super pink.

(This may change, since a friend is giving me a similar one that has never been in an accident and has not expired yet.)

The car seat gift has already been claimed, you know who you are. This pic is to let you know the car seat she liked the best after talking with a specialist about what would be safest and best for her.

Anyone who wants to get stuff from babies r us let me know and I can add it to my registry (yes my baby registry still works and gives me a one year return policy instead of the 90 days and I don't need a receipt)

Hope this isn't too wordy and helps those who are wanting to spoil my child.

As for me: I like crocheting but prefer the softer yarn-medium grade, would love a sewing machine, digital piano or e-books(I usually use my kindle app) or iTunes so I can buy digital movies or seasons or such. Mostly things that have a use, nothing that just sits around collecting dust. 

Sean: only wants a green BSA (Boy Scouts of America) jacket and a portrait session of Amy Gendreau without the baby.