Kaleb's Knock Um Down Game

seriously, my son is a genius.

A quick update to waste time and not clean

have so much to write.
I have back logs of post to get up.

I have a life, I really  do... in fact I have barely any time to blog.

(I should be cleaning right now... but I thought I'd ease my blog guilt)

Heres a picture of Kaleb. :D

Can you believe Hes is almost 1?

Holy freaking cow.

Where has the time gone?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I was clearing out our cupboard and found a can of pumpkin leftover from the Holidays and I  just HAD to make these.

They are my favorite cookie, though they taste more like delicious little muffin tops.

Try it!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup pumpkin 
• 1/2 Cup oil 
• 2 Cups flour 
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice) 
• 1 tsp. baking soda 
• 1 Cup chocolate chips 
• 3/4 Cup sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 tsp. milk 
• 1 tsp. vanilla 

Directions 

1. Mix baking soda in milk and set aside. 
2. In a big bowl add pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg then mix. 
3. Add flour, baking powder cinnamon, salt and baking soda mixture. 
4. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla
5. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 
6. Let cool. I think they taste their best a couple hours later, right from the refrigerator. 

makes about a cookie sheet and a half

So bready and delicious.

SO GOOD!

Kaleb is 10 months old!

Can it be? Really?
A whole ten months old?

Heres what hes up to lately

• His two teeth are as sharp as ever
• His crawling skills have reached lightning speeds
• He love eating crunchies and puffs, but his favorite is yogurt
• He can give very sweet very drooly kisses
• Hes a complete water baby thanks to swimming lessons
• He still isn't a fan of the bottle, but Aunty Jillian helped him to drink one and now he'll take a swig every now and then from mommy
• Hes pulling himself up and holding on with one hand
• He can walk wile holding mommy or daddy's hands
• Hes very attached to mommy, but after some time he might give you a hug
• His high fives are the best (Blake is still working on Knucks, we're not quite there yet)
• I think he knows how to say "no" but I dont think he knows what it means.
• He is REALLY into cars and blocks. 
• The only T.V. he'll watch is still Baby Einstein
• He loves cuddling and mommy and daddy love cuddling too.

My sleeper 10 month old guy

Painted Paper Doilies : I Love Our "Us"

I felt crafty.
I was also inspired by all the Pinterest amazingness, I thought I'd try to create my own little project. (though I'm sure someone else somewhere has done something like this)

I used grey, green and brown acrylic paint.
(I just bought the cheapest kind)

I bought regular paper doilies in two sizes and painted with my handy little roller

I tried out different positions for the doilies on my blank 12x12 canvas

I also got large silver letters from the scrap booking aisle at Michael's 

Placed the letters in their position before I stuck them on

I had to tape the large doilies around the corners of the canvas, but used spray adhesive for the rest of them
and used spray Modge Podge to give it a glossy look.

Doesn't it look lovely on our Television cabinet?

Heres a closer look. I let the canvas lay over night on its face, that flattened out any doily curling.

Michaels was having a HUGE canvas sale, packs of 7 and 10 for $15 and less depending on the size. I'm unsure if its still going on, but I also made our kitchen wall canvases with them
(I'll blog about that little project next.)

Homemade Sweet Potato Baby Food created with our Baby Bullet

Tonight I decided to take our Baby Bullet on its maiden voyage!

I was debating between Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes, but opted for the yummier of the two for Kaleb's first "big boy" meal.

Meet our star players. 

To make this most delicious of super food for baby, here is what you'll need:

One sweet potato. Not a yam. 

One baby bullet. We registered for ours when I was pregnant. 

One cup of water.

and a few of these cute little guys. Baby food containers that come with the Baby Bullet.

and most importantly, you will need a hungry baby
 who can sit up with support and knows how to turn his head away when hes done eating. 
(we've been practicing with baby cereal.)

First step is to peal the sweet potato. 

Quick and easy.

I then chopped up the sweet potato in to smallish cubes. 

Let me tell you, that sucker was harder than I thought it would be... granted I used a bread knife...

not quite cubes... more like "bits". 

Then I boiled the bits. You can also steam them, this is supposed to keep the nutrients in, but I found a solution...

I used minimal water

Then used one cup of the boiled sweet potato water to reclaim some vitamins and reuse in the recipe.

 I added my cup of boiled water and my potato bits to the baby bullet.

To activate the bullet, you push down and turn.

after about 3 seconds it had already reached a mushy consistency. But there were still too many lumps for my little one, so I pulsed (pushed down, but didn't lock)  the blender four or five more times.

So after just a few spins, everything had a nice, smooth "baby food" texture. Much more organic and "polished" look when compaired to mass produced, jar baby food.

See? Perfection.

Then I filled up my little baby bullet containers. 

The little containers that come with the baby bullet are awesome because they are tiny little things that are perfect size for baby and they also have a little dial on the lid so you can remember what day of the month the food was made. 

*Baby food will last only 3 days in the refrigerator, but up to 30 days in the freezer*

See the little "1". This baby food was made on the first of this month!

They even have a handy little tray that holds all six of the containers.

I had some food left over, so I put it in the frozen food tray that also comes with the baby bullet.

But now, the ultimate test.

Would he eat it? 

He seems intrigued... 

...wait for it...

SUCESS!

Heres a quick little video of his first bites. He may look like hes not enjoying it sometimes, but he really it. :D

(Does the video look pinkish to anyone else? It looks pinkish to me.)

 I had lots of fun documenting and making my baby his first "big boy" meal.
He took to it much faster then he did baby cereal, which is a good thing, right?

Hes just growing up so fast. And as happy as it makes me to see him grow and learn and become an even bigger little guy, its so bitter sweet.

Ok, I have to go cuddle with my sleeping baby now.

Battleships and Battalions: Our Day in San Diego

This past weekend Jillian, Kyle and the kidlets came down for some family time.

We were able to drive down to San Diego with them (and Becky&Quinn and Mom&Dad) too meet up with Jordan and Freesia and head over to the USS Midway Museum.

It was Kaleb's first big outing and I'm sure he appreciated having some company (aka uncle Quinn and aunty Becky) in the back seat with him for that long drive.

The USS Midway!

There were very cool jets like this all over the ship. Inside and out.

Kaleb and Mommy! (Mommy is listening to the Audio tour and Kaleb is rocking an awesome hat.)

This was one of the prepping rooms for the pilots. 

Kaleb was getting a little fussy (no strollers allowed in most of the ship) so Daddy made him a little cocoon.
Don't you love their matching hats?

This is the officer's living area. It may look cramped, but it is luxurious compared to the enlisted men's living area.

Kaleb and Grandpa Green! It was getting windy outside so we put Kaleb's sweater on him. I love it! It used to be Blake's when he was a baby. :D

 After that we made our way to Old Town San Diego...

Then we had dinner at this cool little place called "The Livingroom". Tasty food and calming ambiance.

After dinner we decided to check out the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. 

It was a lot more enjoyable then I expected. Not that I was expecting it to be boring, but I thought it was just a walk around kind of thing, but they had a cool little show and lots of "hands on" stuff.

*Stolen from Quinn and Becky's blog*
 This is Quinn in full Mormon Battalion gear. 

*Stolen from Quinn and Becky's blog*
We all got to pan for "gold" at the end of the night. 

I am so happy we were able to spend this time with family! We had lots of fun.
I guess the only thing missing was Vance and Melissa!

Kaleb is 5 months old!

My Kaleb is growing and growing!

He is now:

• Rolling over
• Refusing to drink out of a bottle… Mommy's milk only!
• Smiling and cooing at Daddy when he comes home from work.
• Loving it when Daddy wears the baby carrier while he plays video games. (Mario Kart: the lightning and squids make him yell)
• Eating baby cereal (mixed with Mommy's milk only, of course)
• Grabbing his toys and putting them directly in his mouth
• Biting mommy's face to let her know he is hungry
• Sleeping in his crib all night (well, maybe one midnight snack)
• Wobbly sitting up… sort of
• Bouncing in his jumper while watching Baby Mozart at least once a day
• Laughing when Daddy laughs
• Closing his eyes, calming down and smiling when we cover his face with kisses
• Singing himself to sleep at nap-time and bed-time. 
• Making his Mommy and Daddy so happy to have him as their baby. 

He is also getting more and more handsome!

So, the question that has been popping up more and more is : "Who does Kaleb resemble more?"

We've agreed that he looks more like Mommy from the nose down and more like daddy from the nose up, but can't agree who he looks more like over all. 

Care to voice your opinion?

Who does Kaleb resemble more?

Mommy Daddy Perfect mix !

I know who I think he resembles most… but I'll keep that to myself until the votes are in. :D