Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Save on Baby Products

Looking for some baby/kid products but don't want to break the bank, or at least dull the blow? See the deals below:

Over at Baby Earth you can save 20-30% on their 'Open Box' items.  See some specials below, many more can be found online

·         phil & teds Sport Stroller Buggy in Green: $291.59 with free shipping (lists for $404.99)
·         Puj Tub: $31.99 (lists for $39.99)
And over at the Land of Nod you can save up to 40% on some great brands & get free shipping with code RETMENOT
·         Sleep Sacks by Aden + Anais: $23.95 (20% off)
·         Diaper Bags by Petunia Picklebottom: 20% off to 40% off
Over in our house we heart Carters and right now they're having a semi-annual sale where you can save up to 50%.  You can get an additional 25% off by using the code FRIENDSHIP.
Do you love Crazy8?  We sure do, and we found great deals earlier this year on some of Addie’s summer clothes like this outfit.

Adorbs!  I absolutely love Crazy8, not only are their clothes incredibly cute and stylish they’re an awesome price.  Crazy8’s sale runs 9/8-9/11

Remember to check back later this week for an announcement!

Wordless Wednesday: Last Year

Last year at this time, this was my view

Akumal, Mexico


PS.  Stay tuned for a special post tomorrow!  You just may love it!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Easiest Baby Food to Make Yourself – Pumpkin


One of the items we picked up at our recent Farmers Market trip was a pie pumpkin.  These pumpkins are meant for eating whereas the others are meant for carving!  As soon as I spotted the little guy I knew I want him for Adalyn.   


She’s yet to eat pumpkin and I was in such the autumn mood.  So when we got home I began my preparation.  Here’s how you make your own pumpkin baby food:

Step 1:  Cut top off of pumpkin. Just like you do at Halloween.
Step 2:  Cut the pumpkin in half.  Remove the seeds and guts.  (note: if you like pumpkin seeds this is where you would save those seeds for roasting)
Step 3:  Cut the halves into strips about 3 inches wide.  Place them face down in a pan.
Step 4:  Fill the pan about an inch full of water.
Step 5:  Bake in 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.
Step 6:  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. 
Step 7:  Use a pair of rubber tongs and pick up each slice over another bowl.  The skin should fall right off the good stuff.  Do this for each piece.
Step 8:  Use a spoon to mix around in the bowl.  I didn’t need to use any of the water left in the roasting pan because the pumpkin had enough but you could always add this to yours.


 At this point it’s ready for baby to eat.  Since Adalyn has had cinnamon and seems to enjoy it, I added a good amount to the mix.  You can freeze or refrigerate the mix and you can use for yourself for cooking or baking.  The pumpkin cost me $2 and I was able to make over 30 ounces of pumpkin so on top of being very easy to make it’s also incredibly inexpensive.  Don’t be intimidated!  

I used some of the leftover for my knock off version of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spiced Latte.  I cannot wait for Autumn!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Adalyn’s First Farmers Market Trip


One of my favorite times of year is fall.  Besides my beloved Buckeye’s playing football down at Ohio Stadium every Saturday, I love apple picking, pumpkin picking, the perfect weather, the leaves changing.  I could go on and on, it’s just so beautiful this time of year in Ohio.  So when I got the email from our favorite farm saying they’d just opened their new Farmers Market building for the year I knew we had to check it out.  

Here are a few snapshots of our trip

Lynd's Fruit Farm - Love




Adalyn still sleeping


View of the market

Amish baked goods

The juiciest peaches I've ever eaten

Corn on the cob - another friend o mine

The beauty awakes just in time for a picture in the over sized chair

One of very few shots of Adalyn & I (momma is the photographer)

Here's our loot:

Watermelon $4
Canary Yellow Melon $2.50
6 Ears Corn $2.50
Pumpkin $2
Peaches $2.53
Peach Bread $2.75
Fry Pies $1.85 each
Total $19.98

Watch for a post tomorrow on what I made for Adalyn out of our purchase.


Weekend Recap


If you remember from Friday I had quite a healthy list of items to accomplish so let’s see how I did.

Friday
Pot flower in my Mother's Day planter
Columbus Food Truck & Cart Festival


Saturday
Weed garden
Meal plan for week
Make grocery list
Wash linens
Wash couch covers
Put away Adalyn's swing and other items she no longer uses
Mass


Sunday
Scrub floors
Clean bathrooms

Put Martha Stewarts cleaning lists into an easily readable excel doc to keep us cleaning around the house on a daily basis
Visit my parents

Not bad, but if you’ll notice from last weekend, I failed again this weekend weeding the garden.  So yes, it’s in bad shape and yes, it’ll be on this Friday’s list of things to accomplish.  :)
 
How’d you do this weekend?  Any fun trips?


Friday, August 26, 2011

I Love Giggle's

Do you? I love baby giggles, they are the best!  But that's not the type of giggle I'm talking about .  I'm talking about Giggle, the online store for every parent, new and existing. 

giggle isn't just a baby store: it's a new parent store. When stocking a nursery, there's a lot to take into account, and the choices can be overwhelming. Our goal is to make your job a whole lot easier — not by offering everything out there, but by offering the best of everything out there.

Giggle now offers a daily deal through their site called giggleDEALS where you can save up to 75% on products.  You can sign up here.
Today's awesome deal is Radio Flyer.


Weekend Planning Blog Hop

Happy Friday to my followers.  Just like last Friday I'm linking up to another fabulous blog hop hosted by Molly over at My Happy House.  Please link up with her if you'd like to participate and leave her a comment letting her know you found her through My Messmerized Life.  Much like last Friday, here is my list of things I hope to accomplish:

Friday
Pot flower in my Mother's Day planter
Columbus Food Truck & Cart Festival

Saturday
Weed garden
Meal plan for week
Make grocery list
Wash linens
Wash couch covers
Put away Adalyn's swing and other items she no longer uses
Mass

Sunday
Scrub floors
Clean bathrooms
Put Martha Stewarts cleaning lists into an easily readable excel doc to keep us cleaning around the house on a daily basis
Visit my parents

Unlike last week, I hope I get a little more accomplished this weekend.  Last night we had our good friends Mary & Rob over for enchiladas so I did some quick cleaning before they arrived.  The house still needs a serious scrub down since I had a itty bitty baby during spring cleaning time. 

Got any fun plans of your own?

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Tasty Thursday - Super Easy No Bake Cookies

I made these on Monday and forgot to take a picture so I apologize for not providing my own shot.  I love no bake cookies. They're delicious and so easy.  If you're not a baker or get intimidated by baking, this is your cookie.  So simple and took about 5 minutes to concoct. 


via

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies
1/2 C Butter
2 C Sugar
1/2 C Milk
4 Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 C Peanut Butter
3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
2 tsp. Vanilla

Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Marshalls, How I Love You!

A couple weeks back Rick noticed a rather large hole in our sheet set.  Who knows how this basketball sized hole was made in the sheets after we washed them but we had to buy a new set.  Rick is a deal shopper.  He will spend hours upon hours searching to find the best value for your dollar.  So when he knew we needed sheets, he went straight to the internet to do research.  After reading through reviews and price shopping he purchased “white” satin sheets.  I had no idea he was purchasing satin.  I said please just buy white sheets.  Being that it was an online purchase you never really know the color until it arrives.  Oh what a disaster that was.  These “white” satin sheets…not white.  More of a creamy beige color.  And the satin!  He never told me they would be satin.  They looked like porn star sheets.  I knew they wouldn’t work out as soon as I walked into our room and saw them on the bed but we had to give them a try.  That night I spent most of the night try to get comfortable.  My head was sliding off the pillow all night, the sheets trapped in the heat and it was just plain uncomfortable.  The next morning we both looked at each other and agreed we had to buy different sheets, the porn star sheets were not cutting it.
Off to Marshalls we went.  Marshalls is one of my favorite stores.  The fact that they have items in their stores that look like they belong in model homes for a great price is amazing.  I’m in heaven every time I walk into that store.  I spend most of my time shopping thinking, if only I made twice as much as I do now, I’d buy half the store out.  Another thing about Rick, when he’s shopping in a store he spends a lot of time comparing the sizes, price, quantity, etc before making a purchase so I knew he’d spend a lot of time in the sheet  section.  I took that opportunity to do my own wish list shopping.  I stumbled upon some lovely finds to share with you:
The Chair – I die a thousand times!  I love this chair, the pattern would go with almost anything so I could change my living room around as much as I want and not fear the chair would disrupt the style.  This is one of my larger wish list items at $399. 
The Yellow Pillows – Our room is gray with dark/almost black furniture along with touches of whites and creams so I knew a yellow pillow would look fab in the room.  I’ve been on a hunt to find some accent pillows for the bed.  I loved these at $24.99 and have had regrets in not purchasing them every since. 

The Teal Pillows – I’m a sucker for teal or turquoise, anything in this family shade and I probably love it so when I walked towards these babies my heart sang a little song to me.  I was so in love I forgot to check the price.
The Sassy Pillow – Love this!  I really wanted to buy this as well but it wouldn’t quite go with the yellow pillows I’m searching for.  I also was distracted by the beauty that I forgot to catch the price. 
The Cute Lamp – I’m always searching for fun items for Adalyn’s room so when I walked through the children’s section my eye was immediately drawn to this adorable lamp at $19.99.
The Fun Chair – I saw this and thought it was ridiculously cute for Adalyn.  My dad has been building and painting his new Adirondacks for the dock at his pond and I thought this would be super cute with Adalyn’s legs dangling to reach the ground.  At just $12 on clearance, this was another buy I was regretting not making.  I doubt it’s still in the store but I should make a follow up trip purchase this one for sure.

After all that shopping, Rick had narrowed his sheet choice down to 3; cream, gray, and blue.  We went with gray.  Gray is a new color favorite of mine rising quickly to meet up with my teal/turquoise obsession.  I didn’t snap a shot of the sheets.  Once I finally purchase those yellow accent pillows and get our room organized I’ll take picture to share with you all.  As for Marshalls, I imagine I’ll be seeing the store soon for another walk through.  Love!

Wordless Wednesday: New Favorite Place to Play

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Adalyn Month Seven

On Sunday, August 21st, you turned 7 months.  You’re another month closer to your first birth and another month has passed since the day you were born.  I still remember that day like it was yesterday.  You’re learning so much so fast this month.

 Stats: You haven’t been to the doctor since your 6 month well check.  We imagine you’re about 20 lbs so you’re having no troubles gaining extra cute baby rolls every place imaginable.
 
 Sleep Schedule:  You have regressed and mommy is having a hard time keeping up with your sleep schedule.  You used to sleep 5-6 hours, eat, and then sleep another 2-3 hours, almost to the minute.  Lately you’ve been sleeping 2-3 hours, waking while mommy tries to soothe you back to sleep via your soothie, returning to sleep, waking another 2 hours, eat, sleeping another 1-2 hours.  Every night while I’m feeding you I’m thinking about the day you will sleep a solid 8 hours so mommy can get a solid nights sleep.  Your naps vary throughout the day.  You usually take a long 2 hour nap in the morning about 3 hours after waking up.  You take another mid-day nap which is 45 minutes to an hour.  Another nap late afternoon about the same amount of time.  Occasionally you also take a nap just before bed.  You don’t yet have a scheduled bedtime but you typically go to sleep around 8:30 or 9 o’clock.
 
 Foods:  You are eating approximately 30-36 ounces of milk every day.  It seems you’re starting to scale that number back.  You get about an ounce of water a day which you haven’t figured out how to drink out of the sippy cup.  You enjoy chewing on the straw part and letting the water spill all over yourself.  You eat about an ounce of rice cereal a day and about another 2 ounces of fruits or veggies a day.  My instincts tell me you’ll enjoy eating more ‘adult-like’ food that’s not pureed.  You prefer feeding yourself but you’re not very good at this.  You oftentimes grab the spoon and guide it into your mouthyou’re your death grip is hard to break!  
 You’ve now had Cereal (5), Blueberries (6), carrots (6), peas (6), squash (6), zucchini (7), cantaloupe (7), grapes (7), lemon (7), bread (7), pears (7), pumpkin (7).  Your new foods this month were zucchini, cantaloupe, grapes, lemon, bread, pears, and pumpkin.  You do not care for zucchini or pears, mostly the pears.  You love bread.  I pull off a small piece from rolls and let you gum it.  You had pumpkin on your 7 month birthday after a trip to the Lynd’s Fruit Farm Farmers Market.  You seemed to love it which I’m excited about!
 
 Firsts:  Besides the new foods I’ve mentioned above, you had your first trip to the Ohio State Fair (twice), your first trip to Lynd’s Fruit Farm Farmers Market, your first sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa’s house (with mommy).  You’re now scooting backwards on your tummy and have pulled yourself to all fours and are rocking back and forth.  One day, while very cranky, I was holding you while you were crying and you made out your first word…mama.  Though I don’t think you knew what you were saying it was nice for mama to hear.  You haven’t said it again and now make what sounds to your dad like dada, though to me it sounds like blah, blah. The day before your 7 month birthday, mommy spotted what appears to be your first tooth breaking through…this could explain your weird sleep schedule and your recent chewing on everything including your own clothing.
 Favorite Toys:   Sophie, Sophie, and Sophie.  It’s amazing because just a few months back, when I bought that ridiculously expensive toy because every mommy I talked to raved about it, you had zero interest.  I was really kicking myself for buying her for you.  Your daddy gave me a lot of heat.  Now, you love her.  You love to chew her nose and hooves and you’ve figured out how to make her squeak.  This drives all the dogs crazy but she’s been one of the best things for your teething.  You still play with your rings that link up to one another and can attach to other toys.  You also enjoy your crinkle book.  You still love your jumperoo but can still only handle it in spurts.
 
You still love to swing outside, play in the grass and stare at and play with any plants/flowers/trees/leaves, you still love water and really enjoy your baths.  You know Chloe very well.  When I walk with you down the hallway and Chloe follows us you look over my shoulder at Chloe and coo at her while kicking your feet.  You love to play with your own hair while drifting to sleep and sometimes when I’m standing over you in your crib while you’re screaming your head off you reach your chubby little hand towards me.  This is your way of telling me you want to play with my hair to comfort you to sleep.  I love this moment.  That you need and want me so much, that I’m the best person in the world to calm you when you’re upset.  I hope I continue to be that person to you for years to come.


 This month you’ve learned so much I cannot imagine what you’ll be doing next month.  I imagine you’ll have a tooth (or two) and will probably be crawling.  I hope you’ll be sleeping better because mommy needs a break!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Men Who Baby Wear

I love that there are men out there confident enough to rock the baby wear.  And boy can this one rock it.

Not only is he HOT! he baby wears.  This melts my heart :)

Weekend Recap

It's Monday (boo!) which means it is time for me to recap my weekend and see how I did with my weekend planning from Friday.  Green was succesful, red not so much...

Friday:
Bridesmaid Dress Shopping
Run 1 load of laundry
Vaccuum house
 
Saturday:
Clean bed linens
Mop floors
Clean bathrooms
Clean fridge/freezer
Weed flower beds
Dinner with parents
 
Sunday:
Attend Mass
Dust living room
Meal plan for the week
 
I have to say I was about 50% successful.  I have a lot that still needs done around the house and it's driving me insane that I haven't accomplished much.  Saturday night when we were out with my parents the Union County Airport was hosting a balloon show so around 6:30 about 15-20 balloons took flight right over the restaurant we were eating at on the patio.  It was fun to watch, Addie showed no interest!  On Saturday I also noticed Addie has her first tooth making a presence.  I still need to catch a picture of it though the girl hates when I try to look in her mouth.
 
Sunday I added a few things to my list that we weren't expecting to do.  There's a family farm about 15 minutes east of us that grows apples, peaches, squash, pumpkin, raspberries, etc.  Each week I receive their newsletter via email and each week I read it and say I really want to go and check out the new Farmers Market so this was the day to do it.  I'll post pictures about it later as well as a little surprise baby food making from one of the items I picked up.  I also took Addie's 7 month pictures which reminds me I need to do a monthly recap and post. 
 
Looks like I have a full plate of posts that need written today.  What about you?  What did you do this weekend?  Any Farmers Market trips? 

Friday, August 19, 2011

I Love Blog Hops

As the title would suggest, I love blog hops!  Seriously, connecting through other blogs via hops is probably the best way to get more followers.  I only hop with topics I enjoy (Tasty Thursday, Wordless Wednesday, etc) and you connect with other blogs you are interested in.  So when I stumbled upon Molly at My Happy House's new blog hop, Weekend Planning, I knew this was one I wanted to participate in.  You see, I have all of these ideas, lists, and in general things to do in my head but oftentimes it's nice to actually list those out so I can visual see and check off what I've accomplished.  It feels great to mark a line through my lists.  You can connect through Molly's hop and link up with other blogs here.

So without further adieu, here's my list:
 
Friday:
Bridesmaid Dress Shopping
Run 1 load of laundry
Vaccuum house
 
Saturday:
Clean bed linens
Mop floors
Clean bathrooms
Clean fridge/freezer
Weed flower beds
Dinner with parents
 
Sunday:
Attend Mass
Dust living room
Meal plan for the week
 
Thank you to Molly for getting this going.  I'm thinking this will help me to get motivated and start doing more around the house.  A clean house is a happy house!

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