First and foremost...

I saw this on Beth's blog the other day and thought it would be fun!

1. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning.

I check to see if Carson is awake yet.  Next I check my phone.  After that I brush my teeth.  I can't stand the feeling of un-brushed teeth in the morning! 

2. First thing you reach for when you open the fridge.

Juice!  I have 3 different kinds in my fridge right now and I love drinking juice on the rocks.  (That sounds so much cooler than 'with ice'.)  I think it makes my alcohol free drinks seem a little more exciting!

3. First thing you do when you go to the gym.

Probably look around and wonder how the heck I ended up there because I don't go to the gym!

4. First thing you do you when you get home from work?

I would usually figure out what was for dinner, check the mail, change out of my work clothes, wash Carson's bottles, etc.  Now that I'm staying at home, I'm "working" all day! ;)  When Nick gets home from work the first thing I do is give him a kiss/hug and fill him in on the delicious gourmet dinner I've prepared.  (aka whatever new recipe I decided to try from Pinterest!)

5. First car.

1990 Ford Probe.  Pretty much a racecar.  Did I mention it was red with red (maroon) interior?  

6. First car accident / traffic violation.

My first traffic violation was a speeding ticket.  I was hanging out with my boyfriend and left around the time I was supposed to be home.  I was obviously going to be late so I decided to speed.  I got pulled over by the meanest lady cop ever and she insisted on following me home since it was after the city curfew.  Let's just say my dad was a little less than thrilled!

As far as my first accident, I got hit by another high school kid while I was driving my awesome Probe through a neighborhood.  He pulled out of a court without looking and t-boned me.  Luckily there was minimal damage but my cool pop-up headlights were winking for a while, ha!

7. First thing you wanted to be when you grew up.

I always wanted to be a teacher and a mom.  See kids, dreams DO come true! :)  My mom has a little video from my kindergarten graduation with me walking up to the front with my little graduation cap saying "I want to be a teach-uh"!   Apparently I was from Boston.

8. First choice beverage.

Juice, duh.  I also like ice water.  Crushed ice is preferable.

9. First choice breakfast.

Cookies.  That's allowed, right?  Get the recipe for these peanut butter cookies here.

10. First choice dessert.

Anything with oreos!  I'm not super picky about my desserts, but if it has Oreo, I may or may not have self control.

11. First song that comes to mind…

Are you ready for this?  Baby Beluga.  Carson LOVES that song right now so I play it all. the. time.  In case you're wondering, I sing it too....off key and everything.

12. First major purchase?

My red Probe (from #5) I guess.  After that I would say my college (18 years old) and then my house (19 years old)!  Still paying for those! :)

13. First job:

My first job was working for my aunt at her diner.  They had ice cream (soft serve and hand dipped) as well as diner food like burgers, hot dogs, fries, etc.  It was pretty fun but I never got the hang of making a perfect soft serve.  I worked there at 14, but only on the weekends.  At 15 (almost 16) I got my first job at Tim Hortons.  I worked there until I was 17 and later ended up working at corporate for almost 5 years! 

  

14. First time you flew on a plane.

I actually don't know how old I was, I think elementary school?  I feel like I flew to Chicago, but I honestly don't remember.  I do know for sure that I flew to Florida in 7th grade to go to Disney. 

Peanut Butter Brownie Deliciousness

This week I'm linking up with Katie & Stephanie with a delicious dessert I made for Thanksgiving!  You might have seen it in my Thanksgiving recap post. Here is the original recipe.  I changed to make it a little easier and it was still amazing.  Sorry about the awful picture.  I was a little busy prepping for Thanksgiving at our house!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle This trifle is basically 4 layers that repeat: brownies, chocolate pudding, peanut butter filling, and whipped cream.   What You Need:

• Brownies + ingredients required to prepare them (usually eggs and vegetable oil)
• Chocolate pudding + milk to prepare
• Cool Whip (I used about 3/4 of a large tub)
• Creamy Peanut Butter (1 cup)
• Cream Cheese, softenened (8oz)
• Powdered Sugar (1 cup)
• Milk (2 Tbsp.)
• Reese's Pieces to garnish

How To:

1. Prepare your brownies according to the directions on the box.  Or if you're Betty Crocker, make brownies from scratch.  
2. While your brownies are baking, make sure your cool whip and cream cheese are setting out to soften.
3. Prepare your chocolate instant pudding according to directions on package.  Stick it in the fridge to "set".  
4. Prepare your peanut butter filling:
• Beat 1 cup peanut butter with 8oz of [softened] cream cheese until creamy.
• Add 1 cup powdered sugar and mix well.
• Add 2 Tbsp. of milk and mix until blended.
• Fold in about 1 cup of whipped cream until desired consistency is reached.
5. Once your brownies are finished, cut them into little cubes.  
6. Cover the bottom of your trifle dish with a layer of brownies.  Cover the brownies with a layer of your chocolate pudding.  Cover the pudding with the peanut butter filling.  Cover the peanut butter deliciousness with whipped cream.  
7. Repeat step #6 one time.
8. Cover your dish and refrigerate until ready to serve.
9. Set your Reese's Pieces out with your trifle for guests to sprinkle on top.  I think they added a great crunch factor!

Here is the original pin:

Source: enchantedmommy.com via Emily on Pinterest

Wedded Bliss Wednesday!

I'm linking up with Allie and Kay again for Wedded Bliss Wednesday!  Click the button below to check out the other entries and link up yourself!

This week the questions are about your man's style....or lack there of!  :)

What is your husband's style? I asked Nick just now "What do you think your style is?"  His answer?  "Casual Cool."  HA!  I think that's actually pretty cute and accurate.  He definitely dresses for comfort.  When it's cool you'll find him in jeans and when it's warm you'll find him in khaki cargo shorts.  The only time this changes is for work (he wears khakis or gray slacks EVERY day) or for a special event when he has to dress up.  As far as tops, he used to live in polo shirts, but now he's more into t-shirts and sweaters.  I LOVE the Mossimo athletic fit shirts from Target b/c they fit his thinner athletic frame so well!

What is your LEAST favorite piece(s) of his wardrobe? I buy most of his clothes so I like most of them!  He does have some really old stuff that I don't care for but I'm working on donating those pieces one by one, hahaha! Shhhh....

If you have a picture show us!!

Dressy attire at Carson's baptism.  Nick owns probably 5-7 ties total and refuses to buy  more since he only wears them a few times a year.  I love him in a tie though!

Typical warm weather gear: t-shirt and khaki cargos! 

Also, you'll rarely catch him without these sunglasses.  He even wears them inside.  Too cool.

If he isn't in a t-shirt, it's a polo!

In the fall, OSU gear is a MUST!  He also rocks the 5 o'clock shadow quite often because his beard grows about an inch per minute.  Seriously.

Summer uniform again.

What would you love for your man to wear? I would LOVE if he had to wear a tie every day to work!  The only time he wears ties is for weddings and he hates them, but I love how he looks in a tie!  I would also love if he would wear some tan/brown/argyle/anything-but-white socks to work.  He honestly wears white athletic socks with his brown work shoes and khakis....SO stylish!  Casual Cool, remember?!  :)

Thanksgiving Re-Cap [Tasty Tuesday]

Last week I posed my Thanksgiving menu since we were hosting.  This week I decided to review a couple of the recipes since they were new to me!  Here's our spread:

Like my free printables?  Find them on my Pinterest!

Here's our table all set with our china and crystal which I LOVE to use!

I wanted to do little place cards for everyone, but I ended up running out of time (and creativity).  I decided to make some delicious smelling Christmas ornaments as little "favors" instead.  These are SO easy and they made my house smell delicious while they were baking!  You mix equal parts cinnamon and applesauce (I used about 1.5 cups of each).  Once the mixture starts to look like cookie dough, roll it out and use a cookie cutter to cut your shapes.  Bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours.  I was in a rush and I think I rolled my dough a bit too thin, but they still smelled delicious and looked decent.

Decent, right?  They smelled better than they looked!

The most important part of Thanksgiving is the turkey, right?  Well the recipe I found from Taste of Home for Moist Turkey Breast did NOT disappoint!  It was my first turkey [breast] and I got a lot of compliments on how moist and flavorful it was.  Not going to lie, I felt pretty awesome since I've had some pretty dry turkey before!  The recipe was super easy, too and since I made a turkey breast, it only took about 3 hours to cook!

I also made the Scalloped Potatoes from Food.com.  I've never made scalloped potatoes (except boxed) and I was pretty pleased with how easy these were!  I made politely asked Nick to peel the potatoes for me while I played with Carson for a bit.  I have a julienne food slicer very similar to this one and it worked perfectly (and quickly) for slicing my potatoes nice and thin.  I was excited that this recipe called for paprika and cayenne pepper because I thought it would give the potatoes a little kick.  However, once baked, I could barely taste the seasonings.  I was a little disappointed, but they still tasted like cheesy potatoes which was obviously delicious!  Who doesn't love cheese and carbs?!

I also made Skinny Taste's Cranberry Pear Sauce.  I'm usually not a fan of cranberry sauce.  I'm not sure why b/c I could live on cranberry juice!  I picked this recipe because I love pears so I thought it might make the cranberry sauce taste better to me.  The sauce was tasty but it wasn't something I'll make again.  It did look pretty though so if you want to add some color to an otherwise beige meal, this is perfect for that!

The last new recipe I tried was the Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle.  By the way, why do some people call this a truffle?!  It drives me crazy.  Almost as crazy as I get when I try to figure out the difference between sweet potatoes and yams.  Seriously.  Anyway, the trifle was UH-mazing.  I made boxed brownies for the brownie layer (easy way out).  For the whipped cream, I was lazy smart again and used Cool Whip [insert Stewie Griffin voice].  I almost used vanilla pudding instead of chocolate, but I'm glad I went with the chocolate.  That peanut butter layer is DELISH.  I also omitted the Reese's Cups from the top.  Crazy, I know.  I set a bowl of Reese's Pieces next to the trifle as a little topping and I liked the added crunch!

Glitter Ornament

I'm linking up again with another DIY Pinterest project!  (By now I think it's fairly obvious that I'm totally addicted to Pinterest.)  Click the button to head over to I Love You More Than Carrots and check out the other gals (and guys?) who linked up!

I've been eyeing baby's first Christmas ornaments on Etsy for a while now.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to order something with his birth stats or just with the year and his name.  I decided I like the idea of birth stats and I can make an annual ornament!  (For anyone still needing to buy me a gift, I decided I want this!  When I order it I might request different colors...I haven't decided yet!) Anyway, since I'm so indecisive, I decided to make a cheap ornament for Carson myself.  It was SO fast and easy and I love the final result! What You Need Pledge Floor Cleaner or Mop'n'Glo (I used Mop'n'Glo because it was on sale)   Clear glass or plastic ornament Glitter Letter/Number stickers *Optional: Funnel or piece of paper to create funnel  How-To

1. Take the "cap" off of your ornament and squirt some floor cleaner inside.  Move the ornament around so that the floor cleaner coats the inside of your ornament.  Do not shake the ornament - you don't want any bubbles!
2. Poor in your glitter and turn the ornament around to evenly distribute the glitter.  I didn't use a funnel because my glitter came in a skinny (read: easy to pour) tube.  I poured the glitter in a little bit at a time so I wouldn't waste any.  
3. Put the "cap" back on your ornament.
4. Slap on those stickers to personalize your ornament!  (This is a great time to let the kids get involved!)

Just so you know, you only use a TINY bit of the floor cleaner and it's not necessarily cheap so be prepared to make more ornaments or clean.  Obviously I'm choosing to make more ornaments.  :) Here is the finished product.  

Here is the original pin:

Source: thegreenbeanscrafterole.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

DIY: Butternut Squash Baby Food

 If you're a new reader and want to check out my other baby food posts, go here.  I made butternut squash a while ago, but haven't had time to share!  I'm not a huge fan of squash myself.  Ok, let's be honest....I don't like it at all.  Honestly, when I went to the store, I didn't even know which one was butternut squash.  Embarrassing?  Probably.  This is the squash I ended up with.  Baby led weaning, right?  Ha!

The first thing you want to do is cut your squash in half lengthwise.

 Next you'll want to remove the seeds and goop just like you would with a pumpkin.  In case you're wondering, goop is the technical official term.

 Next stick your squash face down in a baking dish with about 1" or so of water.

Stick the squash in your oven at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes.  Your squash will come out wrinkly.  Appetizing and not at all phallic!

Next you're going to scoop the "meat" out and stick it in your food processor. If your puree needs thinned out, you can use the water from the baking dish!  This step is very similar to making sweet potatoes.  I had to  process for about 3-5 minutes to get the desired consistency.

Finally you're going to spoon your squash into ice cube trays.  Wrap the trays in plastic wrap and freeze overnight.  Pop those squash cubes out and store in a labeled freezer bag for up to 3 months!

Carson LOVED the squash!

A Thanksgiving Craft!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today I'm thankful for my wonderful family!  We're going to host Thanksgiving at our house with Carson's two grandmas and his Aunt Shannon.  Tomorrow we're going out to dinner with our family and my sister will be our server.  Saturday we'll be watching the BIG Ohio State-Michigan game and then going to my Dad's house for a family soup dinner!  
Here's a craft for your little turkeys...........
What You'll Need Craft or Acrylic Paint (brown, reds, oranges) Paintbrush (I used a foam brush and the small Crayola brush that came with my craft paints) Black pen/marker Paper Scissors Tape/Adhesive Optional: Frame How-To

1. Get your child to sit still (HA!) and get your paper ready.
2. Paint your child's palm and thumb brown.  Let this dry and give your poor kid a break!
3. Paint your child's fingers the colors you want for the turkey's feathers.  I used reds and oranges.  Let this dry and give your child a prize for being so good.  Poor Carson had to do this quiet a few times because I'm a perfectionist we kept messing up!
4. Once the turkey dries, add details (legs, feet, eye, gobbler, date, etc.)  
5. After your painting is finished, decide how you want to display it.  I decided to mount mine on different papers and frame it in a cheapie frame. 

Here is the finished product:

Close-up!

Proudly displayed on our mantel!

And here's Carson showing just how excited he was that his hand was featured on the blog.  (He's totally unimpressed, ha!)

Here are some of the pins from Pinterest:  

Source: meetthedubiens.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

Carson Anthony: 6 Months!

I can't believe Carson is a half year old.  Crazy.  I used to HATE when people say things like "They grow SO fast" and "Don't blink or they'll be a year".  It's so true, though.  It makes me sad.  I LOVE watching him grow and develop BUT I miss having a teeny tiny newborn, too!

Here is Carson at his first doctor's visit (4 days old):

 Here he is at his 6 month appointment on Monday (6 months, 1 day):

Here's Carson at a glance at 6 months!

Weight: 18lbs 4.8oz!

Height: 27.5"

Hair: Carson's hair is light brown (much lighter than that dark brown hair he was born with)!  We got it cut last month a few days after his 5 month birthday.  You can see his big boy hair coming in like peach fuzz but he still has a ton of his baby hair, too!

Eyes: Carson's eyes change all the time (just like Mommy)!  They're cool and very pretty.  I would say they're closest to a hazel, but sometimes they look like a dark denim blue and sometimes they look light brown with a greenish blue center.

Diapers: Size 3.

Clothes: Carson is wearing 6-9 month clothes (9 months in Carter's).  I've finally given up on trying to squeeze him into his 6 month onesies.

Eating: Carson is such a great eater!  He's still nursing about 5-6 times a day.  We have introduced a variety of solids, too!  We started with cereals (rice and oatmeal) at about 4.5 months.  After C turned 5 months, we introduced purees.  This is the order we introduced: sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, butternut squash, and apples.  He currently has oatmeal for lunch and a fruit or veggie for dinner.  I would say his favs are squash and bananas.  He's NOT a fan of green beans at all!

Sleeping: We're very lucky.  Carson has been sleeping through the night for a while now!!  Occasionally he'll wake up once in the middle of the night, but he's usually easily soothed and goes right back to sleep.  [We're very thankful!]  He sleeps in his crib or the pack'n'play.  He sometimes fights sleep when we try to put him down, but he's been getting better.  We have a routine we try to do each night to keep it consistent for him: heartbeat sound on his projection mobile, lullaby CD, rock in the glider with Mom or Dad.  This usually gets him pretty sleepy and we can put him to bed fairly easily (most nights).

Nicknames: Cars, C, buddy, Snickers, Snickerdoodle, Stinker, etc.

Favorite Toys: He loves his jumperoo and has finally started to jump in it!  Carson also loves sitting up and playing piano on his playmat.  He likes anything crinkly (he has a giraffe and some crinkle books).  He's starting to get more into his ring stacker, but right now he just loves the rattle ring that goes on top!  He also loves a little cell phone that his Grammy bought for him...we keep it on his carseat handle.  While I get his meals ready, he sits in his highchair and plays with the toy that suctions to the tray.  He also still loves his monkey bouncer.  He also LOVES Mommy's cell phone and any TV remote!  Tech geek like Daddy already. :)

Milestones: Carson is developing like crazy!  He rolls both ways and can roll across the room!  (Check out the video below of him rolling to get a toy.)  He pulls toys toward him and has even figured out if they're on the same blanket as him, he can pull the blanket and it will bring the toy closer!  Such a smart boy!  He also sits unsupported.  He does great with tummy time.  He doesn't quite get up on all fours yet, but if we put him in that position, he kind of rocks around before going back into push-up stance.  Carson loves peekaboo and he even plays with us!  Check out the 2nd video below, it's one of my favorites!  Carson has been able to bear weight on his legs for a while, but on his 6 month birthday, he stood while holding onto his jumperoo!  He does a lot of talking and blowing raspberries.  He has started to say more consonants like m, b, d, etc.  His m's sometimes can sound like "mom".  Even though I know he's not saying "mom" or "momma" yet, it still melts my heart!

Here's another video to prove he doesn't always wear those yellow duck jammies!  (Although they are super  soft and cozy.)