Kitchen Reveal

I never, ever realized how difficult it would be to live in a home while it's undergoing remodeling. Now add a 9-1/2 month old + two [crazy] dogs into the mix... talk about a rude-awakening. The place we called home was a construction-zone for three weeks straight; everything piled-up in our living room. While I thought we'd surely never survive, we did (insert violin music here).

I grabbed this before-before picture of the kitchen from when it was for sale back in 2011. This is how it looked when we purchased the home - salmon colored cabinets and all (barf). Luckily for us (trying to stay positive here), the previous owners decided to take with them all the door knobs and light fixtures, so this faded gold handle you see here was one of the very few left behind... and later ended up in the garbage, in case you were wondering. 

This is our kitchen before the actual remodel took place. Fresh coat of paint, new microwave & dishwasher, breakfast area light fixture and door knobs were added (and the excessive amount of fake, dusty plants - is that still a thing?).

Let the remodel begin! We were beyond thrilled to say good-bye to the super-white-counters-that-show-every-single-crumb. :)

And this is pretty much how we lived for three weeks. Including lots of ordered-in pizza + wine in solo cups. #classy

This is our kitchen now! It underwent a complete face lift - from paint to tile, and I could not be happier. I love how clean and bright the white cabinets and back-splash make the kitchen appear, while the granite just pulls everything together (and hides those little messes). Cleaning dishes just got a whole lot better.

Dinner Party

It's been about a month since we had our kitchen remodeled (post coming soon!), so what better way to celebrate than by having our best friends over for dinner!? It's been a while since we hosted any type of party at our place, so I was really looking forward to having everyone over.

As usual, I decide on the menu and my personal chef husband executes it. :) Have I mentioned how thankful I am for him?? Anyways, this get together I thought a family-style dinner on the patio would be perfect.

We ended up going with homemade lasagna, tossed Italian salad, garlic bread, and root beer floats for dessert (which were a total hit).

First time to cook homemade lasagna, and he totally nailed it.

The weather was perfect, a bit chilly, but nothing a fire pit couldn't solve. I had way too much fun planning, setting up the patio table & chairs, and spicing everything up with some fall flowers and themed table cloth. It was such a great evening. Even if we ended staying up until 4:00 a.m. :)

I can't wait to host the next party... which looks like it'll be our handsome little guy's first birthday. Where did the time go?!

Bye-Bye Purees! Hello, Finger Foods.

Over the past several months, probably since baby B was 3 or 4 months old, I was reading heavily into Baby Led Weaning (BLW) and was anxious to try it with my guy. We decided to give it a shot, seeing majority of the things I read on it resulted in positive outcomes, but every attempted bite he would take... mama couldn't deal. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact - regardless of how much I read - how a baby with no teeth could chomp up an entire thing of broccoli, or carrots, or MEAT. You get the point.

So, I decided to do things my way and make up a combination of pureed foods + chunkier bites for him to get used to different textures. I'd dice up some banana, avocado and/or cheese, something I knew he'd be able to chomp without choking, and mix it with some of his pureed stuff. At first he'd shoot me funky faces like, "What the heck is this lumpy stuff you're feeding me, woman?" But, I felt like this way worked best for me us.

Our BLW try! Most of this food ended up on the floor, anyways.

His daily meals would consist of:
Breakfast - Oatmeal + Banana/Apple chunky puree
Lunch - Avocado + Sweet Potato or Squash chunky puree
Snack - Yogurt + puffs
Dinner - Earth's Best Stage 3 Dinners (Veggie Beef Pilaf was a favorite of his) + diced cheese

I'd shoot to always have something on his tray for him to experiment with; learning how to pick food up and put it in his mouth. Cheese cubes, bananas, and puffs are some of his faves.

When my guy was about 8-1/2 months old, I felt that would be a great opportunity to try transitioning him to finger foods! Starting slowly with dinners, this is how our first week went:

Day 1 looked a little something like this: shredded cheese, broccoli, carrots, and a rice/chicken/cheese/carrot/cauliflower mixture I made previously, which was chilled and rolled into small bite-sized balls (easier for him to pick up that way).

At first he wasn't totally sure that all this food was meant for eating. For the first few bites, I'd have to put a piece on my hand and hold it out in front of him, in which he'd pick it up off my hand and into his mouth. He quickly got the idea and went to town!

Here's the aftermath. Surprisingly, majority of it he ate! I still gave him some jarred baby food because I knew the amount on his tray wouldn't quite fill him up.

Day 2 was a total bust. Someone was battling another visit from the teething monster, and wasn't in any mood to deal with feeding himself. One jar of his favorite veggie beef pilaf and a bottle for my hurting little guy, then he called it a night.

Day 3's menu consisted of salmon, potatoes, and avocado. In order to make this ready for B's dinner time (which is about an hour before we eat), the hubs just separated a little bit of our dinner from the night before. Everything was pretty much cooked the same as ours, except no salt or butter was added. So, all I had to do was cut an avocado and lightly heat up the potatoes and salmon.

He wasn't as interested in feeding himself as he was the first night, so I basically fed it to him, and he pretty much ate everything.

Being the pasta lover that I am, I was overly excited for Day 4's dinner! We made organic whole-wheat spiral pasta with organic tomato sauce and lean ground turkey. Added a side of cheese and broccoli, and little man enjoyed every bit of it! Again, I had to help him with the feeding part... but he thoroughly enjoyed smearing the pasta everywhere, as well as eating it.

Pasta nights totally require a bath. Pasta. Was. Everywhere (horrible picture quality - doesn't do justice, trust me). But that's all part of the fun... for him. :)

Day 5 he had sliced sauteed chicken (which I ended up cutting into smaller, bite sized pieces), green-beans, and puffs. This was his first time having green-beans and he really seemed to love them.

Day 6 & 7 mornings, the hubs scrambled up some plain eggs, while I cut up an avocado. We served that with a side of cheese and some yogurt drops. I was a tiny bit nervous because of the egg allergy thing, but so far, so good - no allergy. Hopefully he won't mind that it's back to oatmeal & fruit during the week. :)

It's been about two weeks since we started this transition and I can say that I'm really loving this stage; getting to experiment different tastes/foods with my guy is so much fun. So far, he's been such a wonderful, non-picky eater. Over the weekend, baby B had his first Mexican feast (bite-sized beef fajita, cheese, beans, rice, tortilla, and by accident, a lime) and backyard burgers (ground burger meat, cheese, and tomato).

I did a lot of searching before starting the transition to get some good age appropriate dinner ideas, but everything I found was either too extravagant preparation-wise (come'on, we're both working parents here!) or included crazy ingredients (as much as I'd love for my guy to have a fancy dinner, we need to use what we have), so I really hope this helps anyone that might be in the same boat as I was.

Fabulous Fall + Weekend Recap

It's the best time of year again, Fall! And here we are in humid, dreary, rainy Texas. Hopefully this rain brings on a cold front for a couple of days -- I'm dying to open a window and let that crisp cool air fill my house. Last week I pulled out my fall decor, and over the weekend I got around to putting it up. I just love how cozy a few pumpkins, autumn colored leaves, and a seasonal candle can make the house feel.

Over the weekend we hit up the grocery store hoping to find some pumpkins, but we only found the wanna-be squash section. Maybe we'll be able to hunt down some pumpkins this weekend!  

Saturday morning we bitter-sweetly shopped for a new washer & dryer. Our dryer went out after a good six years of drying... that dryer will be missed (considering the set was only $200 total!). We, surprisingly, didn't spend too much time shopping for the set - kind of picked the first reasonable set we saw and we both liked it. I think I spent more time "driving" baby B around Lowe's like NASCAR while he screamed "DADADADA" and clapped than the actual shopping part. I do love our new set though... like I said, bitter-sweet. 

Then, later that evening our friends stopped by for the A&M/Arkansas game. The hubs threw together some buffalo-chicken blue-cheese-stuffed meatballs and my girlfriend made some hot pizza dip. We, appropriately, stuffed our faces during the game, then afterwards played a few games of darts and corn hole. Not to toot my own horn, but my dart game was on point. :)

Sunday was spent running some other errands, watching more football, and playing endlessly with our little man - which is always the best way to spend our weekends. 

And because it's Monday again, here's a print for you to enjoy. And I hope your Monday is in fact, just what this print says!

I hope y'all had a great weekend, and have a wonderful week ahead.

Weekend Happenin's

This weekend was jam packed with football! And appropriately so, I (finally) decided to update the chalkboard, which doesn't get much love anymore.

Saturday I hit the grocery store bright & early with my little shopping buddy. It was my first time as the 'Crazy Coupon Lady'... I think I upset a couple of people in line behind me, and I probably should've been more organized, but it felt pretty damn good to save $10! I'm already getting excited for next week's grocery trip... What can I say, this girl loves a good deal / savings!

Later that day, one of my very best friends stopped by just to hang out. We did a little grilling, a little drinking, and a lot of catching up. We were even hoping for a better game than last week for the hogs... but not this time.

Sunday we ate pancakes & bacon for breakfast lunch, lounged around, and - you guessed it - watched more football! For the second week in a row, the Cowboys nearly gave my husband a heart attack, but they made it out with the most penalties I feel like I've ever witnessed in one game and a win. Surprisingly, baby B doesn't have much Cowboys gear... I have yet to find an infant onesie/shirt that isn't totally lame-o, so if you've seen any cute ones, then let me know!!

Overall, it was a pretty laid back weekend at our house... except for when 3:00am rolls around. That's when a certain someone decides to wake up and party in his crib. Every. Single. Night. For the past few nights. I feel like another teething monster may be making an appearance soon. Pray for us.

So, this morning I'm thoroughly enjoying my Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato. Happy Monday, everyone!

Pinterest Foodie

Now that the hubs and I are able to have a sit down dinner (most nights), we decided it is easiest to plan out our dinners and shop for those specific meals weekly. We used to grocery shop for two weeks, but we ended up throwing a lot of stuff away since nothing was really planned out and found ourselves eating-out or ordering-in more. Our weekly dinner plan looks a little something like this:

Monday - Fish
Tuesday - Pork, steak, or beef
Wednesday - Pasta
Thursday - Chicken
Friday - Pizza and wine
Saturday & Sunday - We'll probably grab lunch or dinner somewhere on Saturday just to get out and about & eat leftovers, and Sunday we'll grill or make finger foods for easy all-day-long snacking :)

Instead of doing the same dish on the same day each week, we only do the same protein (except for Tuesday - that tends to switch up) and figure out which meal we want to do with that protein. This allows for us to still have a plan, but with some variety. So, before we head out to the grocery store, we figure out what meals we want with which protein. Easy-peasy!

I've turned to Pinterest for some (OK, a lot of...) help on new, creative dinner ideas since I don't cook - I just provide the menu. ;)

Most recently, we made these french dip crescents (with horseradish sauce) on Sunday, which were surprisingly really tasting given how easy they were. The hubs actually liked them "a little bit more" than my pizza balls! Monday night (a.k.a. fish night) the hubs made this pesto salmon and Italian veggies (with asparagus & mushroom rice), and omgdelicious!! And just as a plus, the clean-up was super easy because everything is cooked together - minus the rice - in foil.

There are quite a few recipes we've found via Pinterest - not going to share them all, but if you want to check out my Delish Dishes & Such board for some ideas, be sure to follow me - that were all so good, and we now try to incorporate them into our dinner plans!

I'm always on the lookout for something new to try to help spruce up our weekly dinner plan. Share your favorite Pinterest recipes with me!

Crafting for Grandparents Day

Even though we celebrate Grandparents Day all year long (what would we do with out them), this past Sunday was National Grandparents Day. Being the hubs' and my parent's first Grandparents Day with baby B, I wanted to make sure they each got a little something special.

Since my guy is still a baby, it was so easy to figure out what we wanted to make for his grandparents -- something personalized with his tiny, adorable hand prints!

First, I picked up some plain white platters (you can use cups, plates, bowls, whatever your heart desires) and enamel paint. You want to make sure you take off any stickers on the glassware and wipe it down with some rubbing alcohol getting any grime off the dish you're about to paint.

Second, when the best idea quickly turned into the what the hell was I thinking idea... Paint your child's hand. (Note: Lots, and I mean LOTS, of paper towels and deep breaths will be needed.) It took us a few tries and red paint everywhere, but we finally got it!

You'll want to let that paint dry before you begin painting your art. Can you tell which animals these little hand prints are going to be?

My in-laws are huge Razorback fans, so it was obvious we would do something hog related, and the monkey was just adorable, so we couldn't not do that one.

Once you've finished painting your art, you'll want to let the paint dry completely. I suggest waiting a few days to be extra sure. Then you'll want to put it in the oven at 275 degrees for about 30 minutes - this sets the paint so it doesn't peel off. *Be sure you put the dish in the oven prior to turning it on/off. It needs to heat up and cool down with the oven to avoid the dish from breaking.*

Hope the grandparents love their new platters! (I should've made an extra one for me, because I love them that much!)