Umm . . . Yes, Please.

Cupcake Wars.  Enough said.  The show, despite the annoying, sarcastic, want-to-seriously-slap-him host, makes me want to don a frilly apron and get to work.  Oh my, I could eat cupcakes all day long.  I went in search of a caramel cupcake and stumbled upon this recipe.  You've got to check out her site-everything looks delicious!

This is a triple salted caramel cupcake.  It is a brown sugar, buttermilk cake with homemade caramel in the center of the cupcake.  Look at that folks- caramel in the cupcake!

And a delicious caramel buttercream frosting with caramel drizzle on top.  OH. MY. WORD!

It's worth it folks.  It is definitely worth it.

Little Women

I loved, loved, loved this book!  I mean, seriously, how did I not read this when I was little?!  It's incredibly sweet, charming and full of wisdom.  Yes, it's a little too sweet at times- did anybody else feel an urge to slap one or more of the characters at some point for being too good?!  No, just me. 

Sigh . . . I always wanted a "Laurie" in my life.

Seriously, it's a great book and full of great pieces of wisdom which are still relevant today.  This is a book I look forward to reading to Coraline or having her read when she can.

I've already put the movie Little Women on my Netflix queue- the one with Christian Bale, because he's the perfect Laurie and I think he's super cute.  And, yes, I know I'm 30.

Quilt Idea

I want to try something a little different quilt-wise.  Obviously, I LOVE the look of quilts.  But sometimes they are a little stiff and unforgiving.  With time and many washes quilts become softer.  But I want to create a quilt/blanket that is soft and cuddly right away.  Right now Coraline doesn't sleep with a blanket, but I would like to have one ready for her when the time is right.

I saw a post about using a flannel blanket as the batting and not quilting the piece together.  I'm not sure how she put it together, but my guess was she did a tie quilt.  I think something like that would create a very movable, soft quilt. 

I think that will be my next project.  My creativity juices are starting to flow again!

The Woman in White

I finished two novels on the BBC list- The Woman in White and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  Both were really good reads. 

I especially liked The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  It was written in 1859.  I was nervous that it would be a long, cumbersome read but it was anything but.  The novel is divided up into different sections and penned by different characters.  It's actually considered one of the first mystery novels.  Naturally, I loved it.

I loved the female character of Marian who was depicted as strong, competent (but plain) woman.  I really disliked the character of Laura who was weak, stupid and beautiful.  Of course, Laura got all the boys. 

Both were fun reads.  I would recommend both!

My little foodie

I can't help but be impressed with my little girl and her eating habits.  She has eaten everything I've offered her!  Absolutely everything.  I really wanted to start her out with a variety of tasty foods so, hopefully, she won't be too picky of an eater as she gets older.

She eats two meals a day- lunch and dinner.  I try to offer her three different things, so she has a little variety.  We also give her a sippy cup so she can get used to drinking water.

Some of the (stranger) things I've given her is grape leaves (Lebanese), tzatziki sauce (with fresh garlic and mint), beets, kale and butternut squash soup, peas and quinoa, meatloaf, chicken casserole and a ton of veges and fruits.  I try to give her a meat or protein and a combination of two veges or fruits at every meal.  I like to add herbs/spices and a fat (olive oil, butter or coconut oil) to the veges. 

Here she is with her sippy cup.

Looking all cute and messy!

Not related to the post- but here I am with my food (probably around 13 or 14 months)!

Snowy days

I believe it has been the snowiest December since I've lived here!  We might even see more snow next week!  Crazy.  The pictures below are when we had about 7 to 8 inches. 

I was not sure how Miss C would do in it, but we had to bundle her up and try.  She did remarkably well.  She didn't freak out at all (she whimpered a bit at first).   I wouldn't say that she loved it, but it certainly was fun to watch her experience something completely new!

I just plopped her right down- unmatching outfit and all!

We had to taste some of it.

Taking it all in.

Reading shall commence once again

Grant got me a Kindle for Christmas this year.  I did not ask for it- he came up with the idea all by himself.  After scoffing about the whole idea of it for a year I am here to publicly eat my words!  I thought the whole thing was ridiculous- really, you can't just read a book.   Well, yes, you can most definitely read a book, but believe it or not the Kindle makes it so much easier to read a book! 

I can't read a book and watch Coraline at the same time.  There is something about holding the book and turning pages that I can't do while on the ground playing or while nursing her.  But the Kindle is flat, so I literally just have to use one hand (or none, just a finger) to read.  The difference it makes is amazing.  It has previously taken me weeks to finish a book (with Coraline here), but now I can finish them in no time (I've read 4 books in the span of 1.5 weeks).

Awesome. 

I think I can work on my Time's and BBC list again.  

If you ever thought about getting one (but just thought it was ridiculous), I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

Merry Christmas

Wow, what a fun filled Christmas this has been for us.  Sorry for the lack of posting- I blame my camera and the length of time to upload photos to blogger!

We had a great time at our church's Christmas service-they did such a fabulous job decorating and making everything fun, worshipful and accessible!  Here is one of the only family shots we got this season (it was way past her bedtime, so Miss C wasn't in the mood to smile).

Having Coraline made Christmas morning so much fun for us this year.  We started the morning with homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting and then let Coraline enjoy her Christmas gifts.

Here she is with her gifts from Santa.  She got a few toys and some outfits.

She found that eating wrapping paper was much more fun than opening the gifts- be careful Grant your finger is almost in the way!

In addition to eating the paper, she found that eating the gifts was much more fun too!

We had so much fun with our families.  We ate like kings.  We got some neat stuff (I got a Kindle- woo hoo- reading has commenced again)!  

I would have uploaded more photos, but I don't have 30 extra minutes to sit and wait!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.  I promise to be a better blogger this year!

Coraline Meets Santa's Beard

I love going back to my Alma mater, Peace College, any time I can.  That place houses so many good memories for me.  So, I jumped at the chance to take Coraline there for a fun, free event-- Christmas story time and a chance to meet Santa himself!  

I love Peace at Christmas!  This is the main building (I lived on the third floor my junior year).

Cute and sweet librarian, Anne, reading the kids two stories- can you spot me (Coraline got covered up by the book page)? 

And Miss C meets the jolly man himself, but was distracted by his beard, which she found quite entertaining! 

Peas and Carrots

Miss C has started solids.  According to her, her world will never be the same!  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably realize that I'm not very traditional.  Well, after reading this book--

I decided to skip the rice cereal route all together and just dive right in to real foods.  And so we did.  She's had bananas, yogurt and cinnamon, kefir, peas, carrots, green beans, pears, apples, white beans and turkey.  All with a little pat of butter or coconut oil and some mild spices.  One of the take home messages from the book that I've really taken to heart- babies like food to taste good too!  If it's bland to you, it will probably be bland for baby.  I haven't pureed the heck out of the food either- a little chunkiness is not harmful. 

(Yum, turkey, peas and carrots)



(She LOVES her food- she has yet to reject anything I've given her)

One of the things I've found extremely helpful in preparing her food is this little workhorse- the Beaba Babycook.  It steams, reheats and chops food.  Sure, you can make baby food without it, but it sure is easier to have one little machine do it all and within 15 minutes or so.