And Then There's American Apparel

It has begun!  The weekend fun is underway! We went to the Fall festival in Atwater Village this afternoon.  It was fun to see all the little kids dressed up in their costumes.  I was pleased to see that there were a few vendors who were giving out items other than candy.  Logan picked up a couple stickers, a toy spider, and a banana! He received many compliments on his costume.  While I think he would have enjoyed watching the magician at the Library, it was packed and because we didn't get there prior to the 'show' beginning, it was too crowded to get a good look.  We watched for a minute and then moved on.  The whole family enjoyed this outing!  As if we didn't have enough on the agenda this weekend, we decided to add a trip to the American Apparel factory.

We went downtown to check out the American Apparel Flea Market.  We went last Saturday but the line was WAY too long to stand in and wait.  Long lines are painful enough with the baby, add my husband to the mix and its a recipe for disaster! So we gave it another shot this evening.  There was no line and I was able to get the rest of my Halloween costume taken care of.  My husband picked up a bunch of shirts.  Had it not been close to the baby's bed time, we probably would have taken more time to check stuff out, but we gave it a quick go around and got what we needed.  The flea market is at their factory downtown.  You can catch a glimpse of how they operate, listen to some dj'd music and even get a bite to eat.  There is still time to check it out.  The market is open until the 31st.

Lets Get Ready to Celebrate

Halloween is growing closer and we are preparing to celebrate Logan's first Halloween!  Halloween marks the beginning of the 'holiday season' in my brain and I just know that from this point until the first of the year time is going to fly by.  We not only have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also Logan's first birthday coming up.  So much to do these next few months.

We have a few fun activities planned over the next few days.  First, we plan to attend the Atwater Village Fall Festival tomorrow.

On Saturday we will be going to Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in West Hollywood.  I had wanted to hit this up earlier (or during the week) but it didn't work out so we will go on the weekend.  We went to a pumpkin patch earlier this month, but I would like to take some photos of Logan in his Halloween costume at the pumpkin patch.

On Sunday, I would like to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to view the Tim Burton Exhibit.  This is the closing weekend for this exhibit and I feel it is the perfect time to check it out.  The museum is extending their hours to accommodate those wanting to check it out.


Finally, On Halloween Day we will be attending stroller strides..... in costume.  Monkey for Logan, 80's workout gear for Mama.  I will not be leaving stroller strides after all.  I can't bring myself to quit.  I enjoy the group and always feel so much better after attending.  I just need to focus a bit more on getting up earlier so that I don't miss it as often.

As I mentioned previously, Logan will not be trick or treating this year but we may take a walk around the neighborhood, as there is one house that is spectacularly decorated and I feel it is acceptable to take a closer look that evening.  I did however, pick up a few small items for Logan and we will be doing a little treating at home!

Halloween Craft Pics

As promised, here are a few of our Halloween Crafts....

styrofoam spider

baby food jar jack-o-lanterns

jack-o-lantern with 2 top teeth
and 2 bottom teeth just like Logan!

Damn Oven

A few weeks ago my oven broke.  Apparently it was the igniter.  We purchased a new one from an appliance store and then, wouldn't you know, on Sunday we were going to make pumpkin squash soup, which is the same thing I was going to make the last time, and it broke again.  Same problem.  Since it was Sunday, the appliance parts stores were closed - I don't know why this is the norm but it is.  So I ordered the part online, paid for overnight shipping and it came today.  When my husband went to put it in the oven, we found that the part was broken into pieces.  I guess someone really doesn't want me to make squash soup.  I never realized how much I rely on the oven until this week.  I have tons of food I want to make but simply can't without the oven.  I also find myself modifying the way I cook things and it just isn't the same.  Steaming rather than roasting....  I sent the item back for a replacement (who knows when that will come).  If it breaks one more time, I am demanding a new stove/oven.

Monday Fun Day ~ Halloween Crafting

Today’s Monday Fun Day Activity is Pumpkin Decorating and Halloween Crafts. We began our pumpkin decorating with a Mr. Potato Head kit for a pumpkin – A Mr. Potato Head Pirate. I picked this kit up at Target for six bucks. This kit is great for the little ones because the pieces are not too small and although mom may need to help push them into the pumpkin, the kids will have fun playing with the parts before and after completion. My son loved this.

We also made a jack-o-lantern today. It had been a few years since I made a jack-o-lantern and was excited to get into it again! Typically I cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds, however this year I decided to cut the hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. You see, depending on how long you have the pumpkin sitting out, it can begin to rot and the opening at the top of the pumpkin starts to look real funky. Cutting the hole in the bottom disguises this a bit. I received a tip of putting Vaseline along the cut edges of the pumpkin to help preserve it a little longer. We shall see how this works. When cutting the hole in the bottom you should use a light rather than candle to illuminate your jack-o-lantern.

The baby is too young to participate in cutting the pumpkin, but I let him feel the pumpkin seeds and goo on the inside of the pumpkin. This he enjoyed! He also played with the pieces that we popped out of the pumpkin while cutting it.

I also wanted to make a special ‘mama’ jack-o-lantern. I purchased a white pumpkin for this and created a design around the pumpkin to illuminate. We placed lights inside the pumpkin and we are ready for dark!

In addition to the pumpkins we crafted other Halloween goodies! There are so many crafts that you can make for the holiday. I chose a couple that are fairly tot friendly.

Styrofoam Spider
For this project I took two Styrofoam balls (one larger and one small) and painted them black. I added pipe cleaners to the large ball for spider legs and glued little eyes on the small ball before combining the two balls to make the body and head of the spider. You may want to paint eyes on or leave them off all together if you are working with a young child. We then took our spider and placed him in our spider web that covers our dining room window. It added excitement to the decoration!

Jack-o-Lantern Jars
If you are like me you have a couple baby food jars sitting around. We took a couple of these and made them into jack-o-lanterns. To do this, fill the jar with something orange. This could be confetti, construction paper, fabric, or cheese puffs! Use your imagination. Glue little black cut outs to the outside of the jar for the face of the jack-o-lantern. You can use a pipe cleaner or construction paper to create the top of the pumpkin by attaching a stem to the top of the jar.

Hand Print Ghosts
This was a cute craft that I came across online. Take some black construction paper and have the child make a white handprint on the paper (so the fingers are facing down). The palm of the hand becomes the head of the ghost that you can then decorate by drawing on a face. Easy and fun!

Paper Jack-O-Lanterns
Cut out some orange pumpkin shapes and black face parts for a jack-o-lantern. Let your little one play around with placing the face parts on the pumpkin. Another easy fun activity!

I didn't get a chance to transfer pictures to my computer today so I will have to post pictures tomorrow.

Grow Kid Grow

This weekend I decided to check out a thrift store that I had heard about in Silver Lake - Grow Kid Grow.  The store is filled with lots of great items at great prices.  I ended up getting Logan two pairs of shoes for around five bucks each!  Earlier in the week I had ordered a couple pairs of shoes online (one pair for $37 and the other for $22).  I decided to opt for one size up from what he is currently wearing, yet when they arrived, wouldn't you know, they were both too small for his fat little feet! I was psyched to find decent shoes at a fantastic price.  I think that I may just try and thrift a bit more often for the little guy.  Baby shoes seem so expensive and the shoes I picked up weren't crap shoes, they were a pair of stride rite shoes and vans.  Good deal. We also walked out with a pair of pants and a couple books.  They had a train set that the baby played with while I shopped.  It was not easy pulling him away from the toys when it was time to leave.

Climb Out Of That Rut

I have been in a bit of a rut this week as you may have noticed from my lack of posting.  Its time to climb out of it and get back to business.  After much contemplation I have come to the conclusion that I need to start my departure from stroller strides.  I love this group and the fitness activity, however, I am finding that we are sleeping a little later in the morning and/or Logan is napping when we are supposed to go.  Rather than feeling guilty every week for not attending enough, I think I will move on from this group and work out on my own, at a different time.  I need more flexibility in my workout schedule.  I will be sad to say goodbye to the wonderful women that I have met, but I have to do what is right for me at this time. I plan to attend for one more month.  After that Logan will be a year old and we may decide to participate in a different play group.  We shall see.  Now that the weather is cooling down I will feel more comfortable climbing up Runyon Canyon as well, providing not only a workout for me, but also the dog!

The children's librarian during
story time at the Fairfax library

Logan- So attentive during story time

There are things that are going right this week.  For the past two nights Logan has slept in his crib.  I still had to get up a lot during the night, but I got to sleep soundly, comfortably in my bed while he was asleep in his crib.  We have managed to make some good food this week as well as attend story time at the Library.  We even managed to do some pumpkin decorating.  The pumpkin decorating activities will continue this weekend.  I can't wait! 

This weekend is about getting back on track with my life.  This includes ( but is not limited to ;) ) the blog, fitness, and focusing on gifts that I receive each day.  

What a Week

So my week is going something like this....
Sunday night my baby was up all night screaming because his top teeth are coming in.  Despite Tylenol and teething drops, he seemed to be in pain.  What made it worse is that he would not nurse.  As you know, I nurse him to sleep and nurse him when he wakes in the middle of the night to get him to go back down.  Well, Sunday night we rocked, and we rocked, and we rocked all night.  Finally at 7am he latched on and fell asleep for a couple hours.  We woke up too late to go to stroller strides, but I don't know if I could have done it even if we had been up.  I was exhausted.  I made it to the grocery store, only to forget the item I went to buy in the first place.  The baby continued to be fussy on Monday.  I gave him Tylenol again in the afternoon and it seemed to help for a while.  We went about our evening routine and I could tell he was feeling more pain.  I fed him and got him to go to sleep for a bit in my arms (because when I tried to put him in his crib he screamed).  So I thought all was going to be ok.  Then it happened.  We were standing in the dining room and I handed him a cheerio.  He was not interested, which is very odd.  All of a sudden he vomited all over me, and himself.  Not just a little either.  We both needed a wardrobe change.  Lucky papa got to clean up the mess on the floor.

So I waited a little while and gave him some Tylenol, hoping that he would not throw it up.  He didn't.  But by this time it was 9 o'clock and he was wide awake.  Wanting to play.  I finally told my husband that I was going to bed (remember I was up all night the night before) and he could bring the baby in when he was ready for bed.  My husband tried rocking the baby to sleep but he became whiny and I told him to bring the baby to me.  I can't sleep when the baby is crying.  Finally, the baby went to sleep next to me and we got a bit more sleep monday night.

I got up yesterday intending to go to my stroller strides class.  The baby was a little fussy but seemed to be feeling better than Monday.  He likes to ride in his stroller so I thought what the heck.  I made some hot cocoa and sat down to check emails while the baby played a little.  He likes to bang on things, including the fish bowl.  I have to stop him from doing this at least a couple times a day.  Well yesterday we had an incident. He banged one more time and the 2 1/2 gallon fish bowl broke.  Fish water was gushing everywhere and I was beside myself.  I ran for towels (as many as I could find) and tried to soak up the water as it ran toward the electronics.  The very expensive, much appreciated electronics.  I then scooped the baby up who was now crying because he was scared and moved him away.  That's when it hit me.  Where was the fish?  The poor thing was flopping on the floor.  I scooped him into another bowl and he is doing just fine.  That fish is so resilient.  He has lived well beyond his life expectancy.  I guess he enjoys being with us.  I think he is going to miss his fish bowl though.  The bowl was still intact; It simply had a hole that the water gushed out of.  Luckily there wasn't a bunch of glass everywhere.  Luckily the baby didn't get hurt.  But there was still the matter of the wood floor and wool rug to address.  I enlisted my husband's help to move the  television, speakers and other electronics so that I could ensure the floor beneath them was dry.  He was less than pleased.  I spent the morning drying the floor, trying to soak up as much water from the rug as I could and trying to get rid of the fish smell. I was not a happy camper.  Yesterday afternoon I walked to the market to pick up rice, the item I forgot the day before, and guess what?  I managed to walk out of the store without it again.  I felt so stupid.  Talk about overtired.

Finally today the baby is feeling better and I am able to do a few things for myself, such as write a blog post.  I have a couple other items to tell you about, but they will have to wait as I have to tend to baby now. We'll talk soon!

Great Pacific Pumpkins

I thought I would share a couple pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch today.  We had a fabulous time.  We visited McGrath Brothers Great Pacific Pumpkins.  They are located in Ventura, CA.  There were plenty of pumpkins to choose from as well as fun activities (a maze, hay rides etc.).  While viewing the animals I missed Logan putting a chunk of dirt in his mouth.  My husband pointed out that he had something in his mouth and as I performed the famous finger sweep, a bunch of mud poured out of his mouth.  It was terrible.  He had mud all over his face, his shirt and of course in his mouth.  We had to go back to the car so that we could rinse his mouth out with water.  In the end it was no big deal, but boy did I feel silly missing that one! After that we decided to pick out a wheel barrow and pick out our pumpkins. I think I know what the Monday Fun Day Activity is going to be!!!

The Clock Is Ticking Again

No beach for us today after all.  My husband needed the vehicle, such is life.  So we stayed in most of the day.  We don't have cable television, so I watch a lot of online programing - Hulu mainly.  That or Netflix.  I happened upon a show that may might be old news to you all but was new to me, called One Born Every Hour.  Its all about the labor and delivery unit at a hospital and each episode shares the birth of three babies.  I am hooked.  I watched it while the baby nursed this afternoon and since he fell asleep in my arms, I decided to watch a second episode as we snuggled on the couch.  It is making me want another  baby very badly.  I know that sounds crazy.... I see all these women going through the worst pain of their lives and it makes me want to go through the same, but the joy, the joy that is felt when it is all said and done, that it what gets me every time. I also think the people in the room with the women are comical.

I didn't want anyone around when I had my son.  We don't have any local family (other than a cousin), so we didn't feel obligated to allow people to share in the delivery experience.  Was this the right decision though? Neither one of us had been through child birth before and it can be pretty scary.  In the end everything worked out well.  His mom came out when the baby was about two weeks old and the rest of the family trickled in throughout the month.  I am not sure what we will do when we have another baby.  We will have to have someone to watch Logan.

There are so many factors to consider when expanding your family.  Its not all that difficult to bring the first baby into your family, provided you have the necessary resources to accommodate a baby.  With baby number two however, it seems you need to be a bit more thoughtful.  It starts with deciding when to have the next baby.  Is it too soon to start trying? How long should I wait? What factors do I need to consider when trying to conceive baby number two?  These are all questions I have asked.  I spoke to my ob-gyn early on about how long one should wait before trying for another baby.  She let me know that physically my body was back to normal.  I wasn't even close to ready at that point.  Speaking candidly, I didn't even really want to have sex at that point as it was painful.  I read lots online and what I found was the popular response to the question was to wait 18 to 24 month before trying to conceive baby number two.  Your body needs time to heal before you put it through another pregnancy.

As my son is approaching his first birthday, I am getting a more intense urge to start trying for another baby.  Yep, the baby bug is wanting to bite! I am not sure if my body is in the same place as my mind though.  I am still breast feeding and my menstrual periods have not returned.  I have heard that it is difficult to get pregnant when this is the case.  A couple people I know have weaned their children from the breast because they are wanting to try for another baby.  I am not ready to stop breast feeding.  It is possible to ovulate even when periods have not returned, however, and I have read that there are a couple things that can increase fertility for women in my position.  Sometimes cutting out one feeding a day or night weaning can help.  I think I might be ok with creating more of a schedule with breast feeding, cutting back on the feeding upon cue.  This could help.

But when is the best time to have baby number two? Do we have the resources to accommodate two babies? I mean, I am not getting any younger, so if I want to have several children, I need to consider this as well.  How will another baby effect our family unit? There is just so much to consider.  For now we are enjoying every minute with our beautiful baby boy. He amazes me everyday.  Love Love Love him!

Fall Or Summer?

I am not a fan of the hot, hot heat.  After having lovely fall weather, the heat is back for a couple days.  Rather than sweating the heat (no pun intended), I have decided to make the best of it.  This morning I took the boys, meaning the baby and dog, to the park for some pre heat exercise.  It was warm but pleasant.  After working out we found a shady place on the grass to play before returning home.  After the dog was apparently finished drinking some water, I let the baby splash the water around in the bowl.  I don't usually let him do this, but I decided to loosen up a little today.  I had a conversation with myself in my head.  "What is the worse that will happen? He will get wet?  Muddy?  I can wash him when we get home.  Its not a big deal.  Let him play. He will love it!" It was such a good move.  I feel like we accomplished something today and it doesn't much matter if we need to spend the rest of the day inside to stay cool.  Now the baby and dog are sound asleep.  Ahhh...

Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day.  I think I am going to skip stroller strides tomorrow and take a trip to the beach.  I never did take Logan to the beach this summer, other than a quick stop while we were along the coast, so the hot day is giving me the opportunity to make it up to him!  Since it is a week day, I figure it will be a little less crowded as people should be working and in school (except for those playing hooky)!  Now I just have to talk my husband into working from home so I don't have to worry about the dog being home alone for hours. I will have to butter him up!

Pre Halloween Rant

I bought my boy his halloween costume today.  Is that weird?  That I am dressing my baby up for his first halloween?  I mean, I know that he won't understand what it is all about, but I think he will have fun with it all.  I am going to have him wear his costume when we go to the pumpkin patch.  He may even wear it a couple times (why not get some use out of it).  I want to be able to take his picture in a costume for his 'first halloween'.  I chose not to get anything too fancy.  I also chose not to make a costume.  There will be plenty of years to come when I will be able to do that.  Years that won't require me to watch the boy's every move, allowing me a little more time to create and sew.  I went with a monkey costume.  It was between the monkey and lion and while I would love to all dress up like wizard of oz characters, the monkey fits my little monkey best!  I will not be taking my little guy trick or treating.  That would be weird.  "umm, hi.  my baby can't speak yet, but would you give him some candy in this bag or pumpkin that he can't yet carry?" "Oh, and I my baby also can't eat candy-he doesn't yet have teeth- but still, will you give him some candy?" "because I want some."  Nope.

I used to eat a lot of candy.  A lot.  It was a better option than cigarettes.  I don't eat much candy anymore- oh, except for those peanut butter cups that they sell at Trader Joes.  Those are the bomb! Yet, I will feel obligated to buy candy for halloween night, even though we have never had a trick or treater in the time I have lived here.  I would feel awful though if someone showed up and I had nothing.  I was thinking about buying a couple of decent candy bars and dressing them up a little (in a Martha Stewart way).  That way, should someone arrive I would have something, but most likely it will be something that I will enjoy eating.  Plus, I like crafty stuff. Yep.  I think this is the ticket!

Small Town Sutter Creek

We made it back from our trip to check out Sutter Creek.  This was the first road trip where the baby fell apart during the last two hours of the drive.  I ended up sitting in the back seat with him so that we could make it without him screaming the whole time.  Once we arrived, we had a pleasant trip.  The town was small.  It catered to an older crowd I would say but was enjoyable to us all the same.  We had a nice breakfast at a local restaurant.  We then walked through the town to check out the musical organ rally.  Later in the afternoon we visited the local pizza joint before going wine tasting!  The whole family was welcome at the wine tasting venue - even the dog! It was later in the day when we went wine tasting and by that time I think everyone was ready for the organ music to be done with.  I felt like I was on a merry-go-round the entire day.  Our trip home was more pleasant as the baby was an angel!

I am glad to be home.  Today was a good day.  I woke up in a good mood, made it to my stroller strides class this morning, stopped by the market on the way home and made dinner for the family this evening!  Pork chop for me, fish for the hubby, along with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

More goodness: I think the probiotics are helping the little guy!  He has consistently been pooping every other day and it doesn't seem to be hurting him as it previously was! Thank goodness we are getting some relief in that department!  It was a rough few months there.

We didn't have a monday fun day activity today.  I did have a chance to look into some halloween activities though and am looking forward to the next couple of weeks.  Lots of fun stuff to come!

There's Always Tomorrow

Why is it that I never complete everything that I set out to do?  I read a lot of forums that seem to excuse moms from keeping a clean house.  I am so conflicted about this.  Should I give myself a break because I have a baby that can't be left alone for more than 30 seconds or should I have higher expectations of myself?  I am not meeting my expectations, so obviously I feel that I should be able to keep a neat, clean home, yet I am not delivering.  My husband even offered to get a maid for me.  I am so crazy that I said no thank you.  No thank you? What is wrong with me?  Yet, that's how I feel.  I want to be able to do it myself.  I get the bare minimum completed (on most days), you know, dishes, laundry, tidying...but things have got to improve.  I am really hoping that having a house with more space will help.  I honestly feel like half of the problem is not having a place to put everything.  Not everything has a home (that works) and therefore, I can't possibly be as organized as I would like.  I guess I use this as an excuse.  Not in a negative way.  In a true way.

Speaking of a new house, we are going on another house hunting adventure this weekend.  We are traveling seven hours in the car to look at what I am really hoping will be our new home.  It is the first home that seems to have true potential.  It is in what seems to be a quaint little community, but at least there is a community.  It is a rather large house on 3.5 acres.  It has internet access (no internet is a deal breaker and some of the homes that we have looked at have no access), and its capable of have cable, not just satellite.  So we are venturing off to take a look.

But thats not all!  What kind of mom would I be if I didn't put some activities on the itinerary?! So I figured we would visit the local farmers market while we are there.  This way we will get a feel for who lives in the area.  I thought we would visit a couple of the shops in the little town.  There is a dog bakery where Murphy will be able to pick out some treats.  He will be stoked to get a special treat after traveling all that way.  I wanted to find a fall festival or halloween festivities, but I couldn't find anything close enough of the dates we will be in town.  We will be stopping by the local airport (my husband will be flying in and out of it if we move so its worth checking out), and if I am lucky we will have time to visit a local winery before dinner.

Wine sounds good.  Now that I got the baby to sleep, for the second time, I think I will treat myself to a glass.  I wanted to pack this evening, but like the dusting and bathroom cleaning, that didn't get done. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  One of the posts I read yesterday really resinated with me.  I can't remember how it went exactly but the point of it all was that babies are not babies forever and you should not feel guilty for slacking in some areas so that you can enjoy the precious moments with your little one.  I appreciate the sentiment.  Ok now that wine. Nighty night!

When It Rains It Pours

While it was raining buckets today, the title of this post is actually in reference to poop.  Gosh, first the baby is constipated and then diarrhea? Really? At least things are flowing.  Its easier to slow things down than speed them up. For us at least.  I think, unfortunately, I passed down the stomach bug I had.  We tried to make the best of the rainy day all the same. I hear parents say all the time that once one person in the house is sick, everyone gets it.  I now understand first hand. On the bright side, the baby got to eat some yummy food that he doesn't normally get to have, like bananas!

The other day we were at stroller strides and the little guy took an interest in crayons and play-doh.  So I pulled both out this morning and decided to give these new activities a try.  The baby was more interested in trying to eat the play-doh than mush it around.  The crayons however, were a hit.  He colored, or scribbled on the coloring page.  He only tried putting the crayon in his mouth once.  We will continue to create with crayons in the future.  The play-doh is put on hold for a while.

We also did some halloween decorating today!  It was a success for the most part.  Logan really liked playing with the gel like decals that we stuck to the windows.  Everything was going well until he tore a few of them apart.  He has such a mighty grip! Tomorrow.....More decorating!

Slow Moving Mama

Oh my gosh, life is so exhausting when I don't feel well.  I feel like I am moving at a snail's pace to get everything done.  My little one is all over the place and it is taking all of my energy to keep up with him.  Of course he didn't want to nap today.  I got him to sleep in my arms and for about forty minutes I just sat there, because at least he was sleeping and I got a break.  I didn't dare move him for fear that I may have to run around more.  Somehow though, mom seems to get it done.  The baby was taken care of, the dog was taken care of, even the dishes were done. Mama however, was not so taken care of.  I am hoping that the baby sleeps well tonight so I can just sit on the couch and watch tv, or maybe even......sleep!

I haven't had much time to sit at my computer.  I am starting to experience withdrawal symptoms! I am very excited to put together my october fun time calendar!  There are so many fall and halloween events to experience.  I would like to attend at least a couple! This evening though, this evening is about rest.

Monday Fun Day ~ Make a Book

This week's Monday Fun Day Activity is making a Lift-A-Flap book! My little one is very into these and loves to read them over and over again. We are making one with photos of people and objects, but this would also work well with a Fall or Halloween Theme. I am listing the steps to complete a book below.

• Choose a book base.  We are using card stock (you can get creative with what you use as a base and/or decorate the base so that it is colorful etc.)
• Choose pictures.  We are using photographs
• Create the shape of book that you want
• Paste a picture to each page (you may want to cut the pictures into nifty shapes)
• On the page opposite each picture write something pertaining to what will be exposed when the flap is lifted.  This can be done in several ways.  For example, the caption might say "I wag my tail and say Woof" or it might be more like peek-a-boo "Where is Mama?  I think I know where"
• Cut shapes to paste on top of the pictures for flaps.  Leave a tab and paste over the picture on each page.  We are decorating the shapes with scrap booking paper.  
• You can write a caption on the under side of the flap such as "Its a dog!" 
• Decorate the cover to your book
• Bind your book.  We are making the base more sturdy by reinforcing it with strips of cardboard.  We are then threading yarn through the base.  Depending on the age of your little one, you could use the stick and rubber band method, staple it, or whatever works best for you. 

Have fun with this!

Even Mama Gets Sick

Mama is not feeling so hot. Therefore, our monday fun day post will be a day late.

Sunday Special ~ Roasted Squash Soup

This evening I was finally able to make Roasted Squash Soup for dinner.  You see, I attended a get together with some friends on Friday evening and I thought that it would be nice to bring some homemade squash soup to share (we were all bringing appetizers).  I made a special trip to the market Friday morning, pre-heated the oven while I cut up items to roast and as I went to put everything in the oven, I found that the oven was cold.  Of course.  It was the first time when I thought, "I am a stay at home mom"..... "I want to bring a proper housewife sort of dish with me".... It had been cloudy and rainy that day so soup seemed an appropriate dish.  Instead I showed up empty handed. I had to just come to accept that it wasn't happening and there is always next time.  Luckily, it was a group of close friends whom I feel comfortable with.

Yesterday we visited a small appliance repair store in one of the interesting parts of town and my husband fixed the oven.  He is such a handy man!  Seriously though, I so appreciate that he is smart and resourceful! It was too late in the evening to start the soup yesterday.  Today however, today I was able to make it!

I chose to use butternut squash.  I love me some butternut squash.  Love, love, love it. In the past we have used acorn squash as well, but this time I used only butternut.  It is quite simple to make.  I just roasted the squash with some onions and garlic.  I put carrots, celery, and some more onion in a pan to cook.  I added vegetable stock, a cinnamon stick, a little nutmeg, salt and pepper and let that simmer for a while.  I then removed the cinnamon stick, added the roasted items to the soup, added additional vegetable stock and pureed the soup to the constancy that I wanted. After pureeing the soup I let it sit on the stove for a while and let all the flavors blend with one another.  Then....Voila! Delicious Roasted Squash Soup! 

I would typically serve this with a maybe a dollop of mascarpone cheese on top, or perhaps with a sage leaf for garnish, some toasted bread served with oil and vinegar, but this evening it was the simple soup and it was still just as satisfying! Did I mention how much I love butternut squash?  I am so happy that fall is here.  Next I think I may make some butternut squash ravioli! Mmmmm.....