Monday, February 21, 2011

Baby Hats Everywhere!!

The other baby hats I made for the preemie baby girl.
 I think James thinks "Enough....you need to stop!" I'm kind of addicted!

 This blue one has a flower on it that I also made. It didn't really show up well in the picture though.

 I love this fabric! It looks kind of old ladyish but for a baby!
I also thought a bow would be vintage, cutesy looking!

 Fabric flower and the hat matches...same color green. Didn't show up very well in pictures.

I love this one!! Just because it has a great big knot on it!

I'm so inspired and am hoping to make a few more projects...as soon as I have time! Today Ian was crabby again so he took a nap on me as I worked on computer. I don't know if it's his formula (I just started switching him to half formula/half breast milk) or if he has teeth coming. It might just be that he has days that he's extremely clingy? I don't know. I'm just glad that he doesn't get this way at night when it's time for bed. He might fight the sleep at first but after I have him asleep, he sleeps fine in his crib.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Baby Hats & Hot Cocoa

 Finished little hats! I only got 2 done but so far they turned out really cute!
The flower unattaches and they can switch them out.
Hopefully they will fit when she gets off some of her monitors and stuff.

 We made Mint Hot Cocoa as requested by my brother in law Jason who is Afganistan. I sent them some around Thanksgiving and it was gone in 3 days! They requested we make the same stuff just WAY more!
This is Jenny (his wife).

 Amy (Jason's sister) and two of her kids (Morgan and Chris).

Jenny again and Helen (Jason's mom/my mother in law).
We had alot of fun and made about 100 little single serving pouches. We also made little packets of marshmallows and Andes mint chips to mix in them...so good!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Week 7-Yummy Chicken and Crafties!!

This weeks recipe is called Crispy Onion Chicken and I found it in a Taste of Home (of course!) Ultimate Chicken Cookbook magazine (May 2008). Anyway, it is a really easy recipe and super delish! After last weeks flops I needed something to kick me back into gear and want to cook again. So what would be better than chicken covered in crunchy onions? Apparently not much! We both loved it and James got seconds...poor guy was about starving after the yucks I served him last week! I'm hoping this heats up well and doesn't get soggy. I made a little extra so I could bring some to our friends who just had their baby. The husband really hates cafeteria food, eating out, pretty much anything that's not homemade....picky! Since their daughter was born 12 weeks early and will be in intensive care for about up to her due date, I figured I better bring him some food so he doesn't have to try to stomach the cafeteria food :o( Baby Girl is doing really well and has very proud parents! Congrats Nic and Shirley!

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can (6 oz) cheddar or original french-fried onions, crushed
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I think you could use 6 without using extra ingredients)

Instructions
In a shallow bowl, combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl, add 1/2 cup french-fried onions. Dip chicken in the butter mixture and then coat with onions.

Place in a greased 9-inch square baking dish. Top with remaining onions; drizzle with any remaining butter mixture. Bake, uncovered at 350* for 30-35 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

SO YUMMY AND CRUNCHY!!

Since my friend had a little girl, who is much to small to wear the customary tutu I was going to make, I wanted to make her something. So looking on some blogs yesterday I found some very cute stuff. We couldn't find her tiny hats to wear ('cause the hospital ones aren't cute enough for her to wear 3 months!) so I'm gonna make some today...with the help of my Grandma! I'm hoping they turn out...the idea sounds easy and its not a hard pattern or anything but I've never tried sewing knit before...we'll see. I also was inspired to make some headbands for the other babies in my life. I'm going to put pins on the backs of these so they can be switched out from headband, to hats, to clothes, etc. I know they look alike but for $6 for all my flowers I wanted to experiment...gotta love the dollar stores!

 SO YUMMY AND PRETTY!!

I want one for myself!
 I tried to "try one on Ian"...James caught me and said "NO WOMAN! NO flowers on the baby!"
 He looked so cute though! The big reddish flowers are about as big as Ian's head!

This ones my favorite!

I found the tutorial on how to make these at
I also incorporated elements of another tutorial with the tulle stuff...that can be found here http://samstermommy.blogspot.com/2009/11/no-sew-fabric-scrap-flower.html
These were really fun and easy to make. I am now addicted to making little baby stuff...for girls! If anyone knows of any cute stuff to make for boys let me know...Ian needs stuff too!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Week 6...

My boys snore on the couch together....frequently!
I don't know which one is more handsome!!

 GO PACKERS!!
Superbowl Sunday.
(I couldn't get this picture to turn for the life of me! And now I somehow lost it on my camera..sad face!)

 My recipes this week left much to be desired!!!
This is homemade mac and cheese I made. Apparently, when you are trying new recipes...don't modify them! I was trying to use up some leftover Velveeta so I just used a "tad" extra....horrible! It was pretty much inedible! The next day I had it for leftovers...even worse! I also made some cinnamon rolls this week. FLOP!! I think the recipe is a good one, I just totally screwed it up! I was trying to make a half batch and halved some stuff and used the full amount of others. The rolls were just barely edible...very floury. I will try them again after I pick up yeast. On the bright side, I made my very first pot of homemade Chickie Noodle Soup this week...DELISH! I used a rotisserie chicken I got at Sam's and cut it up and stuck it in freezer (for soup). After the week I had with cooking I'm glad something as easy as soup worked out for me!

 Ian eating BABY cereal!
We had Ian's 4 month check up and shots this week. My boy is gettin' big! 16 pounds! He did great with his shots and developmentally is right on track (maybe even a little ahead...mommy says). He also got some Zantac to start taking for acid reflux, seems to be helping. My mom thinks he has withdrawal from when he was getting all the Zantac I was taking for heartburn when I was preggo!

 Faith, Ava, Ian
I babysat for a friend of mine while she went to an interview. It was just fun to watch the girls play with Ian.

 Ian in his jumper with his favorite toy!!

 James' sisters kids and Ian with their Valentines from Grandma.
There were cupcakes under all that frosting! Typical boys...more interested in the food than taking a nice picture!

 Ian's valentine from my mom.
He took this picture between temper tantrums...gonna be a long day!

I think he's trying to get to the chocolate covered animal crackers inside!!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Week 5-Chris' Bay Area Burger

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I love looking on that site if nothing in my cookbooks "speaks to me." I decided to try a new recipe on the fly that night. We bought a bunch of buns that we needed to use up. James wanted tavern (sloppy joes) and I was really in the mood for a burger. I got on allrecipes while pumping to look for a new hamburger recipe. I found this one and decided it was something we might like...and I had all the ingredients!
James (my handsome hubs) "cooking" the burgers.
I had to snap this one quick while he had the spatula in his hand!
MMM....can you smell them?
They smelled amazing...and were very juicy!!
 Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2-1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

Instructions
Mix together. Make into patties. Grill or fry...EAT!!!

I served with grated provolone and regular hamburger buns. Someone left on a comment on the website that this would be good served with mozzarella and foccacia bread. I think they would be good that way too...with a little preparation!!

OK...I know you can't tell by what I've written already...WE LOVED THESE! James (with a big smile) said "Mmmm...you can DEFINITELY make this again!" I loved them! They were so good I didn't even use any condiments! Easy, delicious....definitely going to be made again.

This is Ian trying to roll over.....
 still trying.....
almost.... 
Nope...not happening today :o(