Quinoa Butternut Squash Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning squash
• 2 cups quinoa
• 4 cups water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds or sliced almonds
• Juice of 3 large oranges
• Zest of 1 large orange
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:  

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place butternut squash on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss until squash is well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Roast the squash for 30 minutes, turning once, until tender.
2. While the butternut squash is roasting, cook the quinoa. Let cool to room temp.
3. Combine quinoa, butternut squash, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds/almonds.
4. Whisk together the orange juice, zest, olive oil, and honey. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle over quinoa salad. Toss until ingredients and enjoy as a meal or a side.

Toddler Learning: The Color Brown

Last week we focused on the color brown. Seems drab, but the color brown is all around us just waiting to be explored!

Books: 

- Brown Bear, Brown Bear

- Five Little Monkeys 

- In My Jungle (a finger puppet book) 

- In My Forest (a finger puppet book)

Activities: 

- Find and collect brown leaves and pine cones  from outside 

- Put together heads and tails for the Brown Bear characters (link here: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/BrowBearBrownBear.html)

- Act out Five Little Monkeys with finger puppets or printables (you can print monkeys and put them on Popsicle sticks as well) 

Crafts: 

- Use stamps, such as, footballs, bears, and horses and stamp them in the color brown

- Color or paint brown animals 

- Paper Plate Owl Craft (see link: http://easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.com/2012/04/flying-owl-paper-plate-craft.html?m=1) 

Food: 

- Make brownies together 

- Use peanut butter 

- Baked potatoes 

Toddler Learning: Interactive Reading Choices

My toddler NEVER. STOPS. Okay, reality check - no toddler ever stops!

Here are some great options to get your toddler moving and to help them stay engaged while reading (it livens things up for parents too). 

#1 Clap Your Hands by Cauley 

This book is great because it gets kids moving and helps them to follow directions. I would use this book in my elementary classroom to work out wiggles and have a few laughs for even fifth graders, yet it is easy enough for a two year old (or younger) to participate.

#2 Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi 

Based on Raffi's hit song, this is a great book to explore before bed or any other time of day! It gets the whole family moving and laughing. 

#3 Tumble Bumble by Bond 

This was a new one for our family and is quickly becoming a favorite! Follow a tiny bug on a walk, where he meets new friends and gets moving. It is great for getting wiggles out and also teaches about making new friends and trying new things. 

#4 From Head to Toe by Carle

Another great find written by Eric Carle. This one helps your toddler learn the parts of their body, while getting up and moving. A classic favorite in our home.

#5 Don't Push the Button by Cotter

This one is a winner because it plays directly into every toddlers hands: they can't push a button. So, what do you think they want to do the entire book? Push the button. It is terrific for teaching following directions and is just wildly comical to see the look on your child's face when they are allowed to finally touch the button. 

#6 How Loud is a Lion by Beaton

My toddler is obsessed with animals and their silly noises, which makes this book a hit in our home. He loves to make all of the animal sounds and we even get up and move like the animals sometimes. There is also a hidden lion on each page, making for a fun scavenger hunt! 

#7 Jump Frog Jump by Kalan

We made this book into a let's get up and move book. The frog in this book finds himself in several circumstances in which he better escape fast! What does he do to escape? Jump of course! So what do we do each time the frog jumps? We jump like a frog! It is simple and fun! 

#8 Are You Ticklish by Bendon Inc

This book is normally only available used now but it is worth it! Each page has a new animal to tickle (touch and feel book)  and it just cracks my toddler up! He now lives to tickle his little brothers toes and he would tickle the dog as well. Lots of laughs for as young as 10 months. 

#9 Little People Lift and Flap Books by Fisher-Price 

There are so many Little People lift the flap books to choose from and they are all wonderful! They have one for each holiday and their books coordinate with their Little People play sets.  A few of our favorites are:

- The Farm

- Let's Go to the Zoo

- Planes, Cars, Trucks, and Trains

These are great for independent play/reading once they have been explored with a parent. 

#10 Slide and Find by Priddy

Priddy has put together over a dozen slide and find books which are great fun for toddlers! There are holiday themed slide and find books, as well as everyday books (trucks, colors, etc).

They are great learning tools and can be independently played with after introduced by an adult. 

Our Dairy Free Life: Snacking Away

I am a slacker and needed a couple go to snacks that were quick and dairy free. This is what I'm enjoying so far:

- Hummus with peppers, triscuits, or veggie straws

- Chocolate Teddy Graham's or Oreos for a sweet treat fix

- Plain popcorn with flaked coconut or semisweet chocolate chips (Costco has their own Kirkland brand and they are dairy free) 

- Triscuits with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes 

- Nature Valley Oats and Honey bars

- Lots of fruit :) 

- Edamame with sea salt 

Our Dairy Free Life: Recipes Round One

How have we been surviving going dairy free? Pretty well, surprisingly! Here is what our menu looked like last week:

Monday: Chicken kabobs with sweet chili sauce and sweet potatoes with a sprinkle of brown sugar

Tuesday: Sausage, Egg, Spinach, Feta muffins cups 

Wednesday: Paleo Pancakes with strawberries

Thursday: Roasted chicken with butter lettuce, champagne dressing (Gillard's light champagne dressing - very yummy), strawberries, croutons, and sunflower seeds

Friday: Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken (click here for recipe - you can use almond milk instead of coconut milk) and skinny fried rice 

We filled the gaps with scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, salad, and smoothies with just fruit and orange juice. 

Our Dairy Free Life: Getting Started

Just over a week ago we went dairy free. Okay, I went dairy free because my sweet peanut was experience severe reflux symptoms (even with medication). He is now much happier, which may be due to the lack of dairy I have been consuming.

Going dairy free was intimidating, to say the least. It is in EVERYTHING and is hidden under several aliases. You can find the complete list and more details here: http://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-free-grocery-shopping-guide/dairy-ingredient-list-2

So, I started reading labels and had a meltdown. Dressings, breads, all kinds of sweet treats... All contained dairy. I wondered if I could do it. Why not just go to specialized formula, but that is not what I really wanted. I realized I needed to continue my research, so using www.godairyfree.org and Pinterest, I began my dairy free adventure. I also found an amazing dairy free breast feeding group on Facebook. The information and support immediately made my attitude change (search: Dairy Free Diet - breastfeeding and you will find it). 

Here are a couple other links I found helpful while traveling down this new road.

http://www.chop.edu/pages/breastfeeding-baby-food-allergies#.VfoU5373arW

http://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/

Just know it can be done! I will confess... I miss my Reese Pumpkins, but I am losing weight! 

Toddler Learning: The Color Green

Books: 

- Jump Frog Jump

- Why Are Animas Green? 

- Edible Colors 

- All the Colors of Busyland

Activities: 

-Shop for the green food in the play kitchen and sort in a muffin tin

- Find and collect green leaves from outside 

- Dye the bath tub water green and play with green bath toys

- Sort green blocks 

Crafts: 

- Make a green turtle craft (see pic below)

- Paint green animals

Food: 

- Greenbeans

- Green bell peppers 

I used construction paper to cut out the limbs, tail, and head of the turtle. Then I taped them on the plate. I cut up different shades of green construction paper and let my LO glue them on. Then he colored the edges with different green crayons. Super easy and fun! 

Toddler Learning: The Color Yellow

I

Books: 

- Five Little Ducks 

- Edible Colors 

- All the Colors of Busyland

Activities: 

- Find and collect yellow leaves from outside 

- Help make scrambled eggs

- Sort yellow blocks and pegs 

- Watch Five Little Ducks video and play with duck paper plates (find out more here: http://m.lifeovercs.com/fd6skx5/articles/69484/Five-Little-Ducks-on-the-Pond-Gross-Motor-Activity)

Crafts: 

- Use yellow markers to color yellow animals

- Place puffy bumble bee stickers in a bumble bee "jar" and count them

Food: 

- scrambled eggs

- avocado (yellow and green)

Peach Balsamic Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 4 - 6 springs of rosemary
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 3 peaches, sliced
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 - 4 chicken breasts

Instructions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. In a pan saute onion in olive oil or coconut oil until clear, then add rosemary, salt, pepper, and peaches for about five minutes
3. Add honey and balsamic vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes
4. Place chicken in greased baking pan and pour mixture over.
5. Bake for 75 minutes 

Note: Use extra peach sauce as a dressing on spinach and almond salad - delicious

Toddler Learning: The Color Red

Now that baby R is here and everyone is going back to school, I felt it was time B and I had something to focus on each week. So, this fall we will focus on colors first (with a dash of numbers, learning about fall, and farm animals). 

We began with the color red! 

How do I break our week down? 

Books: 

- Ilama Ilama Red Pajama 

- The Little Red Hen

- Edible Colors 

- All the Colors of Busyland

- The Color Red

- Red, Blue, and Yellow Too

Activities: 

-Shop for the red food in the play kitchen and sort in a muffin tin

- Find and collect red leaves from outside 

- Go apple picking 

Crafts: 

- Make a red hen

- Use red ladybug stickers on a coloring page 

Food: 

- Strawberry smoothies 

- Homemade pizza with red sauce, pepperoni, and red peppers 

Next week is the color green! 

Woodland Boy's Room

Jeff and I finally finished B's new big boy room! You will notice the crib has been moved to his new room. It will stay here for about 2 more months and then we plan on transitioning to a toddler bed (which I will paint the same color I painted the dresser). I am so in love with this space and so is B!


















Jeff made a wooden height chart for B's room, but all of our kids will use it. We wanted something we could keep with us no matter where we live down the road. :) I can't wait to put B's first marks on it this week!

A couple months ago I made Beckett's reading tee pee. You can read more about it by clicking here.
The dresser I found on a yardsale site (it is Pottery Barn and retails for $1069 - I paid $100 woo hoo). I repainted it a light blue gray and found the new knobs at Home Depot for less than $3 each. It was a great weekend project for this preggo. :) Nesting is in full swing.. clearly.

I need to give credit to the AMAZING stripes around this room. My husband painted them and it took him hours (literally) to tape it off. He rocks!

I found the above wooden leaf at JoAnn Fabric's (supposed to be used as a wreath for your front door) and decided it would be perfect for pictures of B's adventures with his friends. He loves pointing his friends out.

The birth stats plaque I made. You can find out how here.

The fox, frame and metal B are all from JoAnn's and Michael's craft stores. The arrow basket I found at Home Goods!

Like I said earlier, the crib is temporarily in B's new room (basically until R is ready to move into the nursery). The wooden letters above his crib are from JoAnn's (they get a lot of my business..).

The arrow baskets on the bottom, match the one from the dresser and are also from Home Goods. The cubby system is Pottery Barn, but I found it at a resale furniture shop! There is another cubby system in his closet.

I made the little fox sign and am waiting on an arrow clothing hook to place below (for his PJ's, etc). You can find out how I made the canvas picture here!

This wall is adorned with items I made. You can find the tutorials below!

Linen/Burlap Canvas "boy" sign

Canvas Picture

Wooden Arrow

Chalk Sign

This is the complete wall. Don't forget toddler bed in the same gray as the dresser will replace the crib soon.

Chalk Sign

Like many of us, I am obsessed with chalk signs. Unlike many of my friends, my creative handwriting skills are limited. I found a way around it luckily! :) I downloaded a chalk background and then downloaded the free photo editor (Photoscape). I also found from free chalk fonts and installed them. Now I can make chalk signs to my heart's content! I print them through Snapfish, but you do need to save them using the right pixels (and you still sometimes need to adjust the cropping area in Snapfish).




Here is a pixel cheat sheet when using photo editors:

I love the arrows I have been using in B's room. I found clip art on Etsy and purchased it to use for my signs and crafts.

Linen or Burlap Canvas

I bought a linen canvas at the craft store and knew I wanted to use it, but didn't know how.

I decided to create something for my little boy's room. 

I printed what I wanted on the canvas and then taped it to the inside. I held it to the light and traced it with a pencil. 

Once done with the tracing I went over it with a navy sharpie.

The sharpie can bleed a bit, so I did sections carefully and let it dry for five minutes inbetween. 

I use this same technique when I create burlap banners. 

Painting on wood ...

I really wanted to make a wooden plaque for the nautical nursery and one for the new woodland big boy room.

I bought stencils for the first one and taped them down. I painted directly in the stencils using acrylic paint and it did spread some. Luckily, I was going to sand the letters to look worn, so it turned out okay (not exactly how I envisioned, but good enough). I then hit glued a starfish. It was pretty simple overall! 

I found an unfinished arrow at the craft store and stained it (well my hubby did because I am preggo). This time I used the stencils, but I traced the letters using pen. Then painted using smaller brushes and acrylic paint. I only did one to two coats of paint. Once dry, I lightly sanded the paint. I feel the letters turned out better this time because I did not paint directly in the stencil. I did bro use a foam brush either, just small square brushes. 

Canvas Knock Off

I fell in love with two pictures on Etsy for my son's woodland themed room, but they were way pricey to have printed on canvas. That's when I decided to do it myself. They aren't perfect, but they are great for a kid's room.

You will need:

- canvas in the size of your choice

- printed pictures

- acrylic paint

- foam brushes

- modge podge 

I printed my pictures in 8x10 and  used 8x10 canvas. 

First I painted the edges of the frame gray (choose a color that works for you and your pictures). Once the paint is dry put a layer of modge podge on the top of the canvas and then place your picture on top. 

Let it dry. You may need to trim the edges of the picture with an exacto-knife. 

Then put a layer of modge podge overtop of the picture. While it is wet, take another canvas and place it on top. Press down and the lift up. This gives it the texture and look of a professional canvas. 

Let dry and hang!

Birth Stats Wooden Plaque

I wanted to display B's birth stats in a unique way for his woodland room, so I decided to use a wooden plaque! 

How'd I do it? I created my stats in Microsoft Word and then flipped the image. 

Once flipped, I printed the image and taped it to the plaque. I then lightly wetted the paper and used the back of a sharpie to rub the ink onto the wood. Be gentle, so you don't tear the paper. 

I let it dry for a few minutes before peeling the paper off. It took a few days to dry out. 

Edible Cloud Dough

My little guy has been to the beach, but he was 6 months and then 8 months old. There wasn't a lot of playing going on. So, I decided that I would

Make edible cloud dough on the next rainy day. 

1. It is a great rainy day activity to wear them out.

2. They can taste it without worrying about sand diapers.

3. It is easy to make.

4. You can teach how to play in "sand" won't out worrying about the dough hurting their eyes.

What do you use? 

1/4 cup of vegetable (or canola) oil

Per 2 cups of all purpose flour. You can add oil based food coloring (like for icing/candies - but it is messier - no thanks for me). 

I put a disposable table cloth down and tray (you could make more and use a large plastic bin). You can save it, but I do not at first because it gets yucky when they are putting things in their mouth still.

B had a blast! He played for about 45 minutes and then had a bath. Clean up was easy because I could throw away the materials once I bundled up the table cloth. 

Reading Teepee

My sweet boy is moving into a new room and I wanted to find or create a corner where he could read and play. I thought about a rocking chair or beanbag chair, but that just seemed so boring. Then I ran across some awesome reading tents on Pinterest. They were so cute, but either super complicated or you had to pay $150 (or more) on Etsy. Yeah - not happening.

So I made one! 

For the tent: 

- 3 wooden dowels (I used three unfinished from the outdoor lumber section at HomeDepot)

- quart of  stain in the color of your choice 

- 2 or more yards of rope (can also find a HomeDepot)

- 4 yards of fabric (I used a heavy cotton/linen blend from Joann Fabrics - I wanted a natural look)

- a staple gun

- a glue gun

- one large clear zip tie 

For the decorations: 

- permanent magic marker 

- 2 different pieces of scrap fabric (banner) 

- slice of wood (Joann's had them normally)

- drill 

To make the tent:

- stain the wooden dowels the night before

- tie the dowels with a zip tie (the bottoms should be spaced out evenly about 29 inches apart- I recommend putting tape on the ground because they will move throughout the project) 

Next, take your rope and wrap it around the three dowels until you can no longer see the zip tie. This looks great and also helps the three dowels to remain steady.

Now it is time to use the fabric. Iron it first and then drape it across the back two dowels. Using your staple gun, staple the fabric to the dowels. Pull it tight while stapling (it helps to have an extra pair of hands). 

You will need to cut the fabric across at the bottom (let it be jagged - it is more natural). Then cut on the one draping side (only leave an inch past the staples on the dowels. 

Drape fabric from the back dowel to one on the front (so you will have overlap on both sides of the back poles). I left the staples showing - you could hot glue ribbon over them but no one sees them anyway. 

When you cut the fabric from he back dowel to the front dowel - leave enough to drape (you will cut at an angle - so more fabric is hanging toward the bottom

- it's okay if the edge is jagged). Repeat these steps for the other side of the teepee. 

You will then hot glue front drapes to the dowels (this also covers the staples in the front). It allows the drapes to stay in place and for there to still be privacy in the tent, but without the possibility of tripping mom fabric. 

That's what the drapes look like after hot gluing. 

I then made a fabric banner and fabric pillows to go with it. Great tutorials for those can be found here: 

Banner - http://projectnursery.com/2012/12/diy-chic-pennant-banner/

Envelope Pillows: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJnPEvjdDo

I took the wooden slice and drilled two holes in the top. I used the same rope from the banner and the tip of the teepee and ran it through the holes. Then I took a dark colored Sharpie and made me little sign. 

My little man loves his tent! I can't wait to finish painting his room. It will all go so well together! 

PS - I probably spent about $70 to make everything (pillows, tent, banner, etc). 

Toddler Easter Playgroup

I love our playgroup! It keeps me sane!

I hosted our Easter playgroup and we had a blast! 

I served brunch, which included, feta scrambled eggs, pancake muffins, and fruit! 

The pancake muffins are so easy to make! Here is the recipe: http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2014/06/easy-baked-pancake-muffins.html

The toddlers played of course, but we LOs had wind-up tous to race and bring home (thanks to the Dollar Store). 

We also did an egg hunt- which was more of a grab and go situation. Ha! 

They had a great time and it was so simple! I filled he eggs with yogurt covered raisins, goldfish, Cheerios, mini cars, and sidewalk chalk.