Please Excuse Lack of Posts....

We are busy seeing some of this.....

Cucumber

A great thing about baby led weaning/solids is the fact it makes dining out EASY PEASY! This is def not a lie it is soooo nice to go into almost any place to eat and find something that you can hand over to the baby to nibble on and keep them content! We were out at an Indian place in England and we happened to get cucumber on our plates so I figured why not?! Lainey again was content and happy licking and nibbling at her bit of sliced cucumber (of course sticks would be ideal but she did just find with the slice!) I also have a crinkle cutter at home which I will use to cut up some fruits and veggies for her with to give her extra grip.

Pros: Easy to prep in a variety of ways! Pretty much a clean food doesn't really require stripping baby down or a bib! Cucumbers prob feel great on soothing gums of teething babe! Great source of vitamins A,C, and K along with potassium (of course with the peel on makes it the most nutritious)

Cons: none!

Apples

Miss Lainey like a lot of 6 month olds is teething so anything cool on the gums makes for good munching! I gave Lainey some raw wedged apple while we ate dinner the other night and boy did she tuck in! Gnawing away and just cooing happily as she did so. What I forgot is that apples can leave nasty brown stains! (I am behind on the book and read the bit about the apples leaving stains AFTER the fact of course haha!). But minus the staining incident Lainey really truly enjoyed her first tastes of an apple and now we cannot wait to bring her on our annual orchard trip to pick apples and pumpkins :D

Pros: Super easy to prepare and can be prepped in a bazillion ways! High in fiber and vitamin C

Cons: they stain! Other than that no real cons that I could think of!

Throwback Thursday Challenge

Thanks to Emma over at My Creative Time for doing these challenges each Thursday! This weeks challenge was to go way back before having a cricut and make a card.....I went super simple like silly simple here folks (hey I am flying out to England today and I have a crazy cold right now so that's my excuse and I am sticking with it!).

So here it is.....

a little solid card stock, some patterned paper, a stamp, and some brads and voila! A simple yet cute card :) Again I realized just how much I need glitter in my life.....the Martha Stewart glitter sets are high up on my wishlist for when we return from England as well as a gypsy!!!!

Quick Boy Cards

I whipped up a couple "boy" cards tonight based off the Dino-mite card pictured in the Create a Critter cartridge booklet. Super cute and easy card to create for any occasion! I need to try these in smaller format though as I have no envelopes right now to fit these 6x8 cards.

wish I would have added a little something to the red.....maybe stamped it or something....but anywayyy here is another very similar in style....

For both cards I used the Indie Art cartridge (that and create a critter really are faves!) The patterned paper is from a Rock stack (and I am too lazy to go downstairs to find out the make right now sorrryyyyy).

Bananas first attempt

Well Miss Lainey was not sure what to think of banana....she wasn't very hungry though and we were not sitting as a family eating (which I think is truly a key step to baby led solids!) So here is take one of bananas

I left peel on at first to make it easier for her to hold...she just kept sucking on peel though LOL

then we gave it a whirl without peel and she held on just fine!

just didn't seem too keen overall but she did keep licking at it so we will try again perhaps tonight!

Pros: Super easy to prep! Can be given with lots of other foods to make some great tasting blends, great texture for a first food, good source of fiber, good source of potassium, both helps with constipation and also for the runs! Magical!

Cons:none really except she didn't seem a fan on first try....

A little bit of a Scrappy Saturday

I decided to take part in a challenge over on My Creative Time....the challenge was to use an older cricut cartridge and do a card or scrapbook page. I chose to do a scrapbook page and here it is...

I used Indie Art to cut the birds at 3", Walk in my Garden to do the sign at 5", and the "Special Delivery" I believe was on Create a Critter and I cut it at 1"

I then needed to throw together a belated birthday card for the hubby's uncle so I did this super simple one....

Thanks for looking and thanks for the challenge!

It's the Weekend!

Always a happy time for our family and I am sure for many others out there! I am trying to figure out what will be accomplished this weekend…cleaning is NOT on the list I am happy to report since the hubbster has vowed to clean Monday and Tuesday so that our home is clean before we travel (and so that we can come home to hopefully a clean house which is always a good feeling after travels!).

So that leaves me pretty free (besides being at the beck and call to Miss Lainey). Tonight I have to stop at the store on way home to pick up a few things (here’s hoping Meijer has glossy accents that can hop into my cart as I am dying to play with that stuff!). Then hubbster and I have plans to catch up on the show The Gates (think we are just 2 episodes behind).

Saturday morning Gabby and I are heading out to a couple stores to get some travel needs and then I have the rest of the day (to craft?! Here’s hoping!) then I am volunteering to work at the local Irish Festival with one of my besties.

Sunday will be crafting and the starting of packing! Feels so surreal that we are going to be in England next week! Should be a nice vacation hopefulllyyyyyy…..

So here’s to having some goodies to show you all Sunday after hopefully a successful crafting weekend! I know there are for sure a couple challenges I want to enter!

Stay tuned and toodle loo….

I am naked

Well my blog is anyway ;) Please be patient as I try to find me a new look that loads quickly!

How do you find your balance?

I am really trying to find the balance lately...you know the one that allows me to be a full time working out of the home mama who also prepares great healthy meals, makes amazing crafts and scrapbooks, matches up coupons with sales to get the best deals, blogs, enters giveaways, cleans, nurses the 6 month old, spends quality time with the 8 year old, spends quality time with the hubby, and still has a little time leftover to watch some favorite shows!

So give me some tips here people cause as of right now I am not feeling like I have it down at ALL....I will say it seems to be getting better as I get more rest but wowsa....

P.S. we leave for England in one week!

1st Ever Blog Award!

Thank you so much Kenna over at Our Crazy Little Life for presenting me with the following blog award....

Now here are the rules to accepting the award!

 1. Accept the award.

(Post it on your blog with the name of the person 

who has granted the award and his or her blog link.)

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they’ve been chosen.

{In no particular order}

• Love is in the Details
• Shannon's Sharings
• Life of a Slightly Crunchy SAHM of Drama Queens
• Adeventures in Solid Food
• Anyone Other Than Us
• Living Well Spending Less
• The ABCD Diaries
• Crazy House
• Songberries
• Paisley Passions
• Organic Girl
• My Life with Rats and More
• Mommy Has to Work
• Made by Momo
• Karlee's Krafts

Thanks to all these wonderful blogs for inspiring me whether it be saving money, meal ideas, craft ideas, and more!

Menu Monday

Ok I have already given up on the formatting for meal planning...mainly because this was my last meal planning session before we leave for England so I had to be cheap and wanted things that were easy since I am working later than normal several nights to make up for some doc appointment time (have to save all my paid leave for England!). So we won't be eating the healthiest but here is what is on the agenda for next week and a half in no order.....many I don't have sides figured out yet usually a veg though

1. Homemade meatball subs (had this last night yum)
2. Frozen pasta meal (not sure what one I grabbed think it has chicken in it and a creamy tomato red pepper sauce)
3. Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes and veg (def one of those quick meals that isn't very healthy but one we rarely do)
4. Sausages on buns and prob fries for hubby
5. Turkey Burgers
6. Pasta with creamy tomato alfredo sauce (so happy I found this again as we love it! It's by Classico)
7. Hotdogs
8. General Tsos Chicken over brown rice
9. A hamburger tomato rice hot dish (one of my now fall back recipes for sure!)
10. Quickie enchiladas but I bought chimichangas to do it with this time

Think that is about it....we have other things in freezer and pantry for me to be creative with if need be :) I won't be doing a menu Monday next week since we will be leaving for across the pond next Thursday which is why I just included next weeks on this post as well since I have no idea what we will end up eating on what night :)

Happy Monday All!!! Looking forward to meeting some new followers from some Monday blog hops!

Scrappy Sunday

Not much accomplished today but I plan on scrapping during the week this coming week (we shall see how that goes...)
First off had to help Gabby decorate her writing journal for school, here is what she chose out to do to it :)

real simple yet those layers took 4 ever! Paperdoll cut from Once upon a princess all at 5" poodle from create a critter I believe cut at 4" (need to start writing down!). Her name is cut from Once upon a Princess as well at I think 2". We put a layer of mod podge over it all to hopefully make it last the school year!

Then in honor of Grandparents Day today I made a Grandparents layout for Lainey's album

used some old SEI Grannys Kitchen I had laying around and then cut the corner accents from Home Accents, the flowers off of Once upon a princess as well as my title. Easy peasy!

WOW where is time going?!

Hang on to your hats folks it is time for some random blogging!

Gosh time is escaping me lately! Do you ever have those moments in life when you just want to hit the pause or slow down button?! This is one of those times! Lainey is 6 months already! (blog for that coming soon!) Gabby is in 3rd grade and doing great so far and seems really excited about learning this year (THANK GOD) and we are headed to England in less than two weeks!!!! EEEPPPP.

Gabby's passport arrived today so that was a HUGE sigh of relief! I did the Making Strides breast cancer walk this morning in the rain mind you! It felt great and was for a great cause! We raised over $40,000 at this event so that was really cool too!

Gabby and I also went to a hula hoop meet up this past week which was super fun! I forgot what a great cardio workout it is! I made the mistake of using my 2 pound hoop almost the entire hour though and I now have brusies on hips and knees from it hitting the pressure spots OUCHIE!

I am a bit obsessed with entering giveaways lately which has consumed my time I would have otherwise spent on facebook LMAO. At least this hobby is paying off! Just this past week I have won....a prize pack from Durex condoms (pretty funny and I knew houseparty would choose me for that one when I am really wanting the hummus party! hahaha), a free membership to a Halloween store online (doesn't do much really, small discounts), a case of olives (YUM Gabby and I will both enjoy that!), and today a $120 swimsuit! (shall see if I can squeeze into it by next summer!).

Well that is all my rambling for now will toss a few pics into this post to make it a little bit more exciting for you all...

Toodles!

Avocado- we have a winner!

Lainey got to try avocado and we could not believe how well she tucked in! One thing though is that this was the first time we offered her food around a normal nursing time. The other couple of attempts she nursed around an hour or so beforehand so prob was not very hungry. This time we offered the avocado while we were eating our dinner and then I bathed her THEN nursed her. And here is how it went....

ok what u gonna toss at me now?

hmm looks interesting

she grabbed a piece of pizza crust first and of course loved it...how could you not?

mommy decided to hold the piece of avocado so she could easily taste it

ok now THIS is good!

mmmmmm

trying to eat the piece that slipped out of her hand onto her bib haha

and a video of Lainey bear enjoying her avocado

Pros: Fat free; saturated fat free; very low sodium; cholesterol free; high in vitamin A; high in vitamin C; good source of folate. Lainey loved it! Great texture!

Cons: can be difficult to pick out (I chose ones that were almost black and they taste great!), slippery and messy, don't last long in fridge storage (maybe a day or two once cut)

6 months!? Happy 1/2 Birthday to our Lainey Bear Cub

Cannot believe it...I know I say that every month but it seems each month comes quicker than the last!

• You are "talking" soooo much! Especially from 2am on.....at least you aren't fussing but we sure would rather you would sleep through the night again!
• still not crawling but you can get around a room QUICKLY! You do various moves to get where you want to go (rolling, launching, half crawling, etc..)
• You seem to be enjoying our slow start into Baby led solids! I think it is even more fun for mommy and daddy ;)
• You are wearing mostly 6 to 9 month clothes 
• Mommy loves the times when daddy changes you then brings you into me to nurse in bed in the mornings on the weekends
• You have your first passport! Leaving for England this month to meet Nana England and rest of the fam!
• You thoroughly enjoy teething on the dogs legs....Bruno pretty much tolerates it but will get up and move after a little while

gosh you are gorgeous baby girl!

Cantaloupe take one

Lainey didn't seem to like the taste of cantaloupe on her first go....but I do have to say that it is at the end of it's season here so this wasn't a particularly tasty one and was in fact quite bland. I offered her a chunk on it's own and also a chunk in a mesh feeder. Don't think she took in any of it to be honest and here is a look at how it went down....

ok now what?

like this right?

oohhh no no noooo

umm let's try it this way

YUCKO!

forget it ma!

my tray tastes nice though!

Bruno says he will try it next!

Pros: easy to prep, fat free; saturated fat free; very low sodium; cholesterol free; high in vitamin A; high in vitamin C; good source of folate.

Cons: none really! Well except the fact Lainey did not approve of it quite yet