feeding time (at the zoo)

Meal time been a huge part of our day for some time now. Between the time it takes to prepare the meal, watching Max eat at a snail's pace, and then sweep a gazillion times clean up, it sometimes feels like were spend most of the day in the dining room!

We are fortunate enough to have a very good eater on our hands (when he is feeling well and not teething). Max loooooves to eat. When we bring his plate to him he always lets out a happy little squeal, and if we leave the plate on the table because we forgot to grab something he lets us know how unimpressed he is by losing his bananas. 

Some days I find it SO difficult to figure out what to feed him. I can be hard on myself, always trying to make sure that he has something from all of the food groups... something I need to work on caring less about. I started using plates for his food when he turned 13 months. Before this I used the bowls that suctioned to his tray. Before 13 months he was way to unpredictable with flipping his plates. Now he just does it to tell us when he is done ;)

Every morning Max has a piece of toast with PB on it. Crusts removed and cut into small pieces of course ;). He also always has a handful of plain cheerios and some kind or fruit. Kiwis, blueberries, pear, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, oranges or peach slices (from the can and rinsed) are our staples. On work day mornings I always read books to Max while he eats. This way I feel as though I got to do something fun with him before he gets to spend the day with someone other than me (insert tears).

For lunch he typically has a yogurt (which he is starting to feed himself... m.e.s.s.y) and he almost always has avocado chunks. He LOVES avocado. Some days he will have pasta, or bread with hummus spread. I also once in awhile make scrambled eggs (which he will take or leave depending on the day), or I will warm a can of vegetable soup and then rinse a large spoonful in the colander to remove some of the salt. He will have some form of vegetable (peas, carrots, beans, broccoli, squash) and he'll end with more fruit. 

For dinner he will eat whatever we are having. This could be chicken rice and veg, a pasta dish such as tuna casserole or meatballs and sauce, fish with sweet potato fries, etc. For nights when it is just him and I, and I have worked all day, I will try to have a piece of homemade quiche defrosted, or some form of leftover I can quickly heat up. For dessert.... of course fruit fruit and more fruit. The kid loves his fruit. On Saturdays I always pick us up a spinach and feta twister from the grocery store. Crazy enough, he devours these. This has become our Saturday lunch time tradition.

During the day he will snack on the unsweetened apple sauce cups and goldfish crackers. He loved puffs for the longest time but he has recently developed an aversion to them. Now he sees them more as a toy. He loves to walk around with the canister and shake them, but he wont eat them. He has also started to enjoy my homemade muffins... finally... I was starting to feel pretty offended ;)

It is nice to not have to blend food anymore, but sometimes it is frustrating trying to find something that he will eat on his off days. But have no fear, if Max does not like something Charlie our dog is sure to have a good meal. Our trusty scraps pup is a permanent fixture underneath Max's highchair at mealtime waiting to vacuum up flying toast and fruit that hits the ground with a "splat!!!!" He has also been clunked on the head with Max's sippy cup a few too many times. 

I would love to hear what you feed your babes. I am always looking for new ideas for Max at mealtime :)

 

~ K

 

Dreaming of easter baskets

My memories from last year's Easter are really special. Since Max was born in the middle of winter, and my parents and brother's family live in different towns than us, it was pretty much impossible to get my family together to celebrate his birth and also the birth of my niece who was born six weeks before Max. So last year's Easter was the first time we were all together under one roof. It was so much fun and so cute to see the cousins together.  

 I tend to go a tad overboard when it comes to filling Max's Easter basket. Wait. Let me back up. It all started when I first went a tad overboard when purchasing his Easter basket. It is pretty massive. But it's perfect :) I have a feeling when Max is older to start taking stock, I will bring it down a few notches. I don't want him to be too spoiled. But for now I will continue on with the fun of filling his basket to the brim :)

This year I have lots of fresh ideas for his basket. I love the spring vibe it has. This spring will be so much fun as Max will get to explore outside... a whole new room to him! Whenever a door is open in our home that we typically have closed to keep him out of, he will look around the room with a look on his face as if it is something new and fantastic.

So here is this year's Easter Basket list. Most of these ideas can be good for the little princesses too :)

- rubber boots for puddle jumpin' (from Carters)

- adorable miniature pinwheel to hold in the wind outside during wagon rides (Superstore)

- bubble wand (from Superstore) tested out at by daddy at the dinner table tonight.. it was a HIT

- Sassy Grow with me Cups (Amazon)

- large plastic sailboat for the bath tub/summer pool from Superstore (I have been looking for one of these forever!!!)

- Babiators (amazon)

- super adorable backback to take to daycare (Amazon)

- plastic carrots (dollarama) filled with gold fish crackers

- plastic eggs filled with plain cheerios

- Kinder Egg Bunny (this is the only chocolate he will have in his basket, and I decided to go with something that was thin as opposed to a thick brick of chocolate. I figured this would be easier for him to eat). 

- Melissa and Doug puzzle 

 Yes, I know a little much. But he's just such a good little guy and deserves it all ;) What will you be putting in your little one's Easter Basket that is special and fun? I'd love to know!

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. The first weekend with 'explore outside weather' this year! Oh and my 30th birthday weekend too! Eeks! :)

~ K

Poker and perogies

Tomorrow is my husband's 30th. Since I will be working, most of his celebrations were this weekend, with my fam, his fam and on Friday night with a few of his poker playing buds.

I do not play poker, and I know pretty much nothing about the game. So planning a poker game was interesting to say the least. For awhile now, I have been asking him random sneaky questions to figure out the max. number of guys I could invite, how many chips I would need, etc, etc. I ended up having way to big of a list of guys, so I had to trim it down. I ended up inviting the guys I knew were poker fanatics like my hubby.

One of his fav. junkie foods is perogies. I have never made them homemade, we just buy the ones from the grocery store which are nothing to special. So when I found out about a local business that makes a variety of homemade perogies, a party theme was born; poker and perogies!!!

The business is called OB1 Perogie. I bought three different flavours; Nacho, Pizza and Potato Cheddar. Of course I added some "fixins" ... nothing too special, just some sour cream, hot sauce and bacon bits. They were soooo yummy. The potato cheddar were my fav. We will definitely be buying these again.  We also had pizza from his favourite local family run pizzeria, Giresi's.

Later on in the night I brought out cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes of course, but special poker themed cupcakes ;)

I rented a poker table from the local rent-all, which ended up smelling very strongly of gasoline. But have no fear, hubby called them and we got a discount from the price. Rightfully so, since it stunk up our basement pretty bad. 

  Everyone was able to make it, and by the sounds of their laughter and chatter they all enjoyed themselves. My hubby very much dislikes being the center of attention, and he somewhat cursed me for surprising him with this idea, but when it was all said and done he had fun :)

Happy Dirty Thirty to my love and the best daddy ever!!!

 Super fun birthday lawn decor thanks to Lawn Ninjas!!

~ K

Stylin' in the Springtime

 

 

These past couple of weeks have had me itching for sunshine and warmth. But since I can't control the weather I will set my focus on getting my little man ready for Spring style. One of my favourite places to find stylish duds for Max is Old Navy. Since I order online I also get to look forward to fun mail.. much better then the usual bills.. bills and more bills. I love graphic tees with cute sayings and colour block anything. Any shorts or pants that resemble chinos make me drool. Last year I went a tad overboard and had way more pairs of short than we needed. This year I will keep it simple with a few pairs of neutrals that I can pair with lots of different shirts. Max also has a pair of neutral Toms that will look super cute with any outfit. Max will also be styling a pair of babiators and yellow rubber boots this Spring. But he will have to wait until Easter to get those! ;)

My other fav. store to find springtime clothes for Max is Joe Fresh, oh and also the H&M clearance rack.

So while it is snowing and freeeeeezing outside I will stay inside and dream of Springtime, when I can take Max outside to jump in puddles and turn our faces up towards to sun!! ahhhhh :)

Stay warm everyone!!

~ K

Staying home and baking muffins

Today is Family Day. While we should be thinking about our loved ones and enjoying the company of our family each and every day, this day in particular is a fun day to get out and do family-orientated activities. Enter the emergency room. Last night was our first visit to the ER with Max. The little guy has two ear infections and was prescribed antibiotics. I have to give him props, even when he is feeling crappy he still smiles and laughs through the discomfort. So today, which was planned to be a fun today that included a coffee date with friends of mine I have not seen in awhile, followed by an afternoon swim at the local community center, turned in to a quiet day at home.

This is when the voices in my head start to argue. You see, there is the selfish "it's my world" voice that says, ugh I haven't seen these friends in two months!! I was so looking forward to having a latte and taking Max out on the town in a cute outfit!! Maybe he will be fine, I mean we are only going to be gone for a couple of hours and he seems fine to me, look at him playing over there! And then there is the "mommy loves you" voice saying, it's not fair to Max, he was just in the hospital last night and he just started antibiotics. He can't talk yet so he can't tell you that while he is still playing he is comfortable because he is at home where he feels safe.
So the question is.. which voice do you think won?
Of course, the "mommy loves you" voice won. It wins every time. Do I feel bad for even having the "it's my world voice?" For sure I do. But you know what, I'm human, and I have needs too. Those needs just come after my son's needs, which I am totally okay with. So next year on Family Day, we will do something fun together. But for this family day, I will stay home and bake muffins ... oh and hold this sweet little boy :)

Life has been busy lately to say the least. While it is harder to find times to do things for myself, I know it is important to find time to do these things to keep me feeling grounded. 

 I love to bake. It's my therapy. There is something so satisfying to me about making your own food from scratch... when it turns out of course. My muffins typically turn out pretty good so I think that is one reason why I enjoy making them more over other dishes. There is something comforting to me about muffins... not sure why. I know that the ones you buy in the grocery stores or at the local coffee shop can be equal to eating a doughnut... which is sometimes needed. But when you want a healthy snack I find it helps to make your own, that way you know what exactly you are eating. I also usually take at least one cup of the white flour most recipes ask for, and use whole wheat flour instead. Depending on the recipe, some times I will also throw in a tablespoon of flax seed.

I have tried quite a few muffin recipes over the last year. My go-tos are ones that include oats, apples, zucchini, blueberries, raspberries, bananas and dried cranberries. I am also a sucker for throwing in a handful of chocolate chips as well. I like to use festive muffin liners, snowflakes in the winter, pumpkins in the fall, red and white polka dots for Canada Day, etc. You can always find these at the dollar store each season. I usually leave eight or so out in a sealed tupperware container (which lasts a hot minute once my husband eyeballs them) and then I freeze the rest individually in ziplock bags for the freezer. These make an easy grab-on-the go snack or part of my lunch at work.

 http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/07/30/skinny-raspberry-chocolate-chip-banana-muffins/

These raspberry-banana choc. chips muffins were heavenly. They turned out really moist too.

http://www.savorynotes.com/recipe/zucchini-apple-muffins

I would not have thought the apple and zuchinni flavours would blend well together but these muffins are super yummy. I had to copy her cute picture for my instagram. 

http://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/cranberry-orange-muffins/

I made these muffins around Christmas time. Something about oranges and cranberries seemed to suit the holiday.

http://www.dinner-mom.com/whole-wheat-pumpkin-muffins/

In the fall I took advantage of the canned pumpkin sales. it can be pretty pricey during the rest of the year, so we enjoyed pumpkin loafs and muffins during Thanksgiving and Halloween.

 http://catchmyparty.com/blog/easy-cinnamon-applesauce-muffin-recipe

These muffins had flavour, but were bland enough that you could really add in anything that you enjoy (fruit, nuts, seeds, etc). 

http://www.yellowblissroad.com/zucchini-carrot-oatmeal-muffins/

These are one of my favs. If you are going to try any of these recipes, make sure to try this one first!

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/03/17/skinny-banana-blueberry-muffins/

Check out the picture of these muffins on her blog. They are so pretty.

 Here is one from my own recipe book, given to me by a friend's mother.

Whole Wheat Banana Raspberry Muffins

350 for 20 minutes in the oven (10 minutes prep)

Ingredients:

3/4 c. white flour

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/3 c. oil (I use canola)

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 c. masked ripe bananas (2-3 medium)

1 tbsp. flax seeds

Directions:

1. mash bananas. combine bananas, oil, brown sugar and eggs; beat until mixed.

2. stir dry ingred. together and add to banana mixture

3. fill muffin cups 3/4 full

4. bake 20 min or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

In the next couple of weeks I want to try one of the bran muffin recipes that call for bran flakes, as well as an oats and applesauce muffin that I'm sure Max will enjoy. 

Happy Family Day everyone!

~ K

Our favourite songs

Ever since Max was born I have sang to him. Now, let's get one thing straight first. I am by no means a singer. I would not even say I have a decent singing voice. But I try my best. I am sure the day will come in the next few years where Max will realize this and may even possible take his hand and cover my mouth in attempt to shut me up. But for now, I will continue to sing to him while he lets me ;)

 When Max was first born there were a couple of songs that I sang to him everyday, along with some fun rhymes. These were a couple of our favourites:

The Wheels on the Bus (everybody knows this one) 

Baa Baa Black Sheep

I changed the words to.. one for Max, and one for mommy, and one for our little white puppy named Charlie :)

Bushel and Peck

I love you a bushel and peck
A bushel and peck and a hug around the neck
A hug around the neck

Zoom Zoom Zoom!
 Zoom Zoom Zoom, We're going to the moon.
Zoom Zoom Zoom, We're leaving very soon.
If you want to take a trip, Climb aboard my rocket ship,
Zoom Zoom Zoom, We're going to the moon.
5,4,3,2,1--BLAST OFF!

 Everybody Knows That I Love Your  Toes

Everybody knows I love your toes, everybody knows I love your toes! 

I love your feet, your hands, your mouth and your nose!

And everybody knows that I love your toes! 

Round and Round the Garden 

Round and round the garden

Like a teddy bear

One step, two step

Tickle you under there

Once Max was a bit bigger and not as fragile I started doing more mobile song play with him:

A Smooth Road

Here is a video of how to do this song play with your little one. I promise I look much cooler doing it with Max ;)

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZKkwRseAE

The grand old Duke of York

Oh, The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down.

One day when I took Max to a gross motor play group and they sang this song in circle time. We both loved it and so I added it to our list of favs. 

 Monday Night The Banjo
Monday night the banjo,
playing on the radio, 
I like the radio, and I like “A”.
”A” is for “Avery”, pretty pretty Mary,
 all the children adore her
, give her a kiss good night, 
(kiss, kiss) sleep tight.

Monday night the banjo,
 playing on the radio,
 I like the radio, and I like “M”.
 "M” is for “Max”, handsome handsome Max, all the children adore him
, give him a kiss good night,
 (kiss, kiss) sleep tight.

At night, part of our bedtime routine includes songs as well. I have sang "You are my Sunshine" to Max every night since he was born, along with another song that I will keep close to my heart. 

Singing to Max in my questionable voice and doing song play with him will be one of the best memories I will have of his childhood. These fun songs have allowed us to have many sweet and funny moments together. So if you are like me, don't worry about it. Belt out those tunes because your babe loves hearing your voice!! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are in full Valentine's mode over here... with festive daycare art from Max and yummy snacks.. white chocolate popcorn with a dash of festive sprinkles!! Try it.. it is sooooo good.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~ K

Happy heart month!

I love decorating for Valentine's day. Seeing hearts all over our living and dining room make the spaces even more filled with love!

I like to keep things pretty simple. I have my staples that I always put up and then I usually add one or two new DIY decorations. 

 

This decoration was super easy. I removed the glass from a picture frame that I am not using at the moment, along with some twine and scrap booking paper. I think that it took me about 10min to make, and look how cute it is!

The heart garland is from the dollar store and the LOVE sign was made from scrap felt, glitter tape (from the dollar store) and a piece of card stock.

I am loving the teepee even more now after having the light bulb moment to include it in the decorations. I hung a dollar store decoration off of the top posts. Max's play space needs to be festive too right!? ;)

I always include coloured paper straws in my holiday decor. We drink lots of smoothies so having these out on the table is handy. My mom's friend is a talented quilter. She recently made her a table runner for every holiday! My mom let me borrow this gorgeous runner for the month.

 

This is probably my favourite part of my Valentine's Day decor.  All it took was grey yarn, and pink and red felt!

 

Chalkboards are another staple of my holiday decor. I like having a few chalkboards because I can decorate them differently each year as my tastes change.

 

 Two words... buttons / canvas. BOOM. Cost $2. I have this sitting on an easel, on the ledge just inside our front door to greet visitors.

Highlighting our wedding picture, a heart garland and cinnamon hearts. yum, yum, yum!

Last year I purchased this printable and put it in one of the frames I had lying around. I have included the link!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/175912915/i-mustache-you-to-be-my-valentine?ref=shop_home_active_13

 

At risk of sounding about 40 years older, I love festive dishtowels. There I said it. I may or may not have a tupperware container full of them, and I may or may not have made it my mission on our out-East trip two years ago to find one as a souvenir. (It has a lobster on it.. hehe).

I don't have too many activities planned for V day. I bought Max a package of robot valentines for his daycare friends (Valentine, I'm nuts and bolts about you), and I love this idea of heart shaped fruit kabobs. I am going to wait until next year to make Max a felt envelope to hold his Valentines.

This month will be a busy one for sure. I head back to work full-time on Monday. Max has been enjoying daycare which is a huge relief, and I will be counting down the days to family day. My better half works a 12 hr that day but Max and I are going to visit the local pool for a swim. We have two birthdays to celebrate this month and I will be preparing for my hub's 30th poker party that is happening in early March.. a small gathering of his poker buddies! On a very exciting note, we are also starting basement renos in the next couple of weeks. Max will have his very own playroom and mommy will have.... wait for it... her very own finished laundry room!!! Eeks.. I can't wait to put my Pinterest "laundry room" board to use!! Oh the possibilities!! :)

Happy early Valentine's Day lovers!!!!

~ K