Fruit – It’s What’s for Breakfast

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Hey, guys! Cinnamon over at Eat Pray Tri is hosting a weekly photography lesson and assignment called Snap To It. A photography assigment is right up my alley, so I am excited to play along.

The theme this week is The Basics. This theme suited me. With two little ones it’s hard to find the time to go out and just play with my camera. I used to lug Cupcake around while I shoot and she gets very antsy-pantsy, so I haven’t even attempted to do it with both girls. So taking a picture of something basic, but not boring works great for me since it forces me to think inside my ~~box~~ house.

Breakfast. Berries leftover from the birthday party. When Cupcake saw me taking pictures she had to run and get her camera and then she asked for a bowl of fruit. She’s a funny girl.

Here were my other snaps for consideration.

The library book I’m currently reading. Don’t be fooled by the bookmark being that far down in the book. The book is upside down. I’ve only just started.

And a petal on a flag plant in our back yard. I love the purple!!!

So there you have it! My submission for the first Snap To It assignment! Want to play too? Head over to Cinnamon’s blog to get the details! You’ve got until midnight tonight to get in on this week’s assignment. Or you can wait until Wednesday to see the next assignment.

A Whale of a Good Time – Cupcake’s Whale Party

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

If you follow me over on Facebook you saw a few sneak peeks of Cupcake’s 3rd birthday whale party that we had on Saturday. When I started thinking about a theme for her birthday party I of course went straight to Pinterest and started looking around. I thought about a garden party, or a fairy party, but the theme Under the Sea seemed like the winner. But as I started planning (and kept in mind her interests) it became clear that the theme couldn’t be under the sea. It had to be narrowed down even further to whales. This girl is obsessed with whales. She has two whale bathtub toys that she takes with her almost everywhere she goes. And you can often hear her making whale calls from the backseat of the car. Ah-ooooo-ah!!!!

It all started with the invites, which I created in Stampin’ Up!‘s My Digital Studio. (And it might end with similar looking thank you’s.)

I went with blue and orange for our colors. I absolutely adore Riley Blake’s fabric so I was so excited to use some to make her party dress. I also made Pumpkin a coordinating romper using this tutorial from Make It & Love It.

One of her requests for her party was that she have a party hat. I couldn’t find any coordinating party hats, so I had to make one. I unassembled a paper party hat, covered it with fabric, glued it back together, attached a thicker piece of elastic, added some trim and a pom pom and she had herself a party hat.

We had a midday party so we had some light refreshments. Chicken salad and croissants, whale PB&Js for the kids, chips, crackers, salsa, fruit and not pictured veggies and cheese.

I was pretty excited when I found these whale crackers in the dollar section at Target!

The whale shaped PB&J sandwiches were a hit with the kids. I used a cookie cutter from Sweet Estelle’s Baking Supply on Etsy. It was the perfect size for cutting two whales from each sandwich.

Dessert! My favorite part. I ruffled the streamers and hung them the whole length of the wall and added the balloons down the side (because I ran out of streamers). We had cookies and cake this year. And I also put the goody bags on this table.

And there are a few plush whales scattered about. Those were from Oriental Trading Company and there was one for each kid in their goody bag.

I used some leftover fabric to stitch up a drawstring goody bag for each of the kids who came to the party. I also took some white fabric and stenciled their first initial on it and stitched it to the front of the bag. That P right there in front? That one is for Sweetey Petey.

I made cut out cookies with the whale cookie cutter and a scalloped square cutter and decorated them with royal icing. The cookies are always a hit. There were very few leftover (and now they’re all gone!).

This is my first tiered cake! I could have gotten away with a smaller cake (we have a lot of leftovers!) but I was really eager to try my hand at a tiered one. I went with the messy frosting technique since I wanted it to look like water. I used leftover royal icing from the cookies and a leaf tip to make the seaweed. I piped it onto wax paper a few days ahead of time and let it dry. I had to carefully pry them off the wax paper to attach them to the cake. I’m glad I made way more than I thought I would need because I broke quite a few along the way. I then used some Sixlet Pearls I found at HomeGoods as my bubbles. I added a whale bathtub squirt toy to the top and some brown sugar around the bottom. I was so happy with how it turned out. And it’s a good thing, too, since I waited until the morning of the party to decorate it and I was the only one home with a fussy baby at the time (luckily I put her on my back in the woven wrap and she slept the whole time!).

The kids had fun playing with balloons, playing on the swingset, chasing the bubbles that came out of the bubble machine and with a pullstring pinata. Another of Cupcake’s requests was a pinata, so I figured I’d have to make one because the chance of finding a whale pinata would be nil, but I lucked out and found this pullstring pinata at Celebrate Express. It was perfect! I was worried that 3 year olds would have a hard time opening a regular pinata, so this was just what we needed. It was filled with jelly bracelets, bouncy balls, whale squirt toys (also from Celebrate Express and the same as what was used on top of the cake), and of course candy! The kids used their goody bags to collect their pinata finds.

Of course we sang Happy Birthday. Pumpkin must have thought we were singing to her because she absolutely lit up when everyone started singing. Cupcake got all bashful. The big girl made a wish and blew out her candle and we all dived in to the cake and ice cream. She opened all her wonderful gifts and spent more time with family and friends who were so great for taking time out of their day (or weekend!) to celebrate.

The party turned out great. Cupcake said it was the best birthday party she’d ever seen. And that just melts my heart.

Happy 3rd birthday, Cupcake!

Disclaimer: Links in this post are not affiliate links.

Chewy Fruit and Nut Granola Bars

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Cupcake loves granola and granola bars. I’ve been trying to get her to eat hot oatmeal, which I usually make with a squirt of honey and a handful of dried cherries, but she just won’t try it. She always sees the oats and knows that granola bars are made with them, so I’ve been making a lot of granola bars lately. This one is my new favorite!

Chewy Fruit and Nut Granola Bars

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups quick oats
1 cup rice cereal
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar with the honey and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Add the oats, rice cereal, cherries and pecans to the saucepan and fold the ingredients to evenly coat with the sauce. Transfer the granola mixture to a 9-by-13-inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly to evenly fill. Let the granola mixture set until firm. Cut into bars.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://whatdoesshedoallday.com/chewy-fruit-and-nut-granola-bars/

These bars are sweet. Honey sweet. And chewy. I like my granola bars chewy. This recipe is a keeper!

*Recipe adapted from Rachel Ray

This is where I link up!

She’s Three!!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Today my Cupcake is 3 years old! And suddenly she seems so grown up!! When did she become a big kid?

I spent the last year trying to get her to tell me she was two. Every time you asked her how old she was she would say “I’m Corinne.” She also gives the same response when you ask her how she’s doing. But today when asked she says “I’m three.” And proudly (and slowly) shows you 3 fingers.

She’s such a bubbly girl. She has so much energy. Some times too much energy! She keeps me on my toes! She loves to read, loves to do puzzles, loves to do art projects and so desperately wants to go to school. (She’s registered to start in the fall.)

She wants me to take her picture, yet doesn’t want me to take her picture at the same time. Stinker. Indecisive is her constant state these days. “Do you want milk?” “No milk.” “OK, how about some water?” “I want milk!”

She’s so smart! She knows more Spanish than me! She talks so well and I love having conversations with her. She says the funniest things, but of course you knew that already.

It’s just been a low key day at home so far. Pancakes with sprinkles for breakfast. Playing. Enjoying the beautiful weather. Decorating cookies for her party this weekend. Nap time. There might be a bike ride on the agenda this afternoon. Or at least a walk.

The big bash is on Saturday! She’s so excited for her friends and family to come and celebrate. We’ve got whales, whales, and more whales coming!

And I’ve got baking, cleaning, and decorating to do!!!

Burgers and Beer

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

On May 1 I was lucky enough to attend an event at our local Smashburger. Burgers and beer presented by Smashburger and Great Lakes Brewing Company. Lucky that we were able to find a babysitter for the night. Lucky that I love burgers. Lucky that hubby loves beer. Lucky to have found a group of local bloggers who started a Facebook page to connect and share with each other (which is how I ended up at this fun event).

Smashburger is teaming up with local breweries to create burger and beer pairings to please your palate. Here in Ohio that partnership is with Great Lakes Brewing Company. Tom Ryan, founder of Smashburger gave us all the details about this history of his restaurant, introduced us to the samplings for the night and taught us a very important lesson in the kitchen.

And it all started with the sides.

Smashfries, sweet potato Smashfries, onion straws, fried pickles, roasted veggies, fried banana peppers, Ranch dressing and another tangy sauce I don’t remember the name of but was so good for dipping. We had 7 burger and beer samplings coming, but we could not resist digging into all the delicious sides (I ate almost the whole basket of fried pickles myself!). Hey, did you know they had sweet potato Smashfries? Oh. Em. Gee. They were to die for! I know what side I’m ordering from now on!

Those were our pairings. Yeah, we sampled 7 burger and beer pairings. We were given a quarter of each burger to taste, so in total it was almost 2 burgers! That’s a lot of food!!! Plus beer. Plus the sides we munched on before the sampling started.

Classic Smash and Dortmunger Gold. Of the 7 sample burgers I’ve only ever tried two before, so it was fun to try new burgers. And of the beer I had only tried one before. I loved the BBQ, Bacon & Cheddar Burger, and the Spicy Black Bean Burger was delish! My favorite (and what I usually order) is the Avocado Chicken Club. And even though I’ve lived in Ohio now for 10 years (whoa! has it really been 10 years?!?!?!) I was not a fan of the Buckeye Burger.
There it sits in the reject pile. I think they need to make a Boilermaker burger………

And as if we didn’t eat enough there was also dessert. Samplings of their milkshakes.

The Oreo shake is fantastic!

The ~~icing on the cake~~ whipped cream on the shake was getting to smash a burger! Complete with lessons from Mr. Smashburger himself.

You gotta smash that thing for 10 seconds. That’s a way to work your guns!

While it’s cooking for a minute or so you chat about important things like what kind of car you drive and do you have a dog.

Flipping is harder than you think. That sucker was searing on the grill and you want all that crunchy goodness to come with it. It takes some finesse. And practice. Next time I’ll do better.

It was a fun night! I’m glad I wore a dress because my pants would have been TIGHT after all that food! I love the partnership between the big guy (burger company) and the little guy (beer company). So, if you’re a fan of burgers and beer be sure to check out your local Smashburger and see what pairings they’re offering up!

*I was not compensated for this post (other than the free food and drink) and all opinions are my own.

Have a (Window) Seat

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

One of the things we loved the most about this house when we first looked at it were the windows. There are lots of them!! And some fun ones. Skylights in both upstairs bathrooms, a cute little round window in the master bedroom and a window seat in the front room. The previous owners had cushions for the window seat, but they were custom made and matched the fabric on the dining room chairs, and even though I doubt they bought a house with the exact same size window seat they took the cushions with them.

We lived without cushions for 3 or so years, but it wasn’t a big deal because we didn’t use the room much. Though, maybe if I had a comfy place to sit I would have used the room a bit more. One day, though I was still quite the beginner when it came to sewing, I finally got up the courage to make some cushions!

You can see them looking all sad in the old before room. I was pretty impressed with myself at the time. So much so I took on the job of making some for a friend’s house, too!

With the redo of the front room into a playroom it was time to update the cushions, too. They served us well for the last 6 years, but they don’t work in the new room.

I had a plan!

I found these gorgeous table clothes on clearance at Target after Easter and picked them up for half price. $12.99 total for a lot of fabric! I couldn’t have gotten a better deal at the fabric store. The color is perfect. I love the print. I originally thought about using them for Cupcake’s birthday party this weekend, but decided I didn’t want to chance getting a stain on them, so I started sewing!

I decided I wanted some contrast piping on them this time so they would look more polished. The key to piping is to use a 1/4″ seam allowance and baste your piping on the right side of the fabric lining up the edges. Sew along the stitch lines on the piping. Use contrasting thread on your bobbin so when you go to sew your fabrics together you can just go over your basting line.

My cushions measure 41″ x 22″ x 3″, so for each cushion I cut 2 each of 41.5″ x 22.5″ for the top and bottom, 41.5″ x 3.5″ for the long sides, and 22.5″ x 3.5″ for the short sides. I only applied piping to the top and bottom pieces. I needed 1.5 packs of piping for each piece, so I had to piece some piping together. Here’s how you do that.

Use your seam ripper to open up the piping to expose the string inside.

Snip the string back without cutting the outer fabric.

Fold the fabric under, slide your new piece of piping under the fabric and butt it up against the snipped piece of string.

Lay the fabric down over the new piece of piping and sew. Do the same when you reach the end of your piping (So when you start basting the piping don’t start at the very end. You need to be able to put the fabric under the beginning). Also, if you notice in the picture above the corner of my fabric. You’re going to curve the piping around the corner of your fabric, so make two little slits in the fabric (don’t cut too far!) so you can “bend” the piping around the corner. Make sense?

Once you’ve sewn the piping around the outside of your top and bottom pieces you can sew all your pieces together, leaving one short end open to slide your batting-covered piece of foam into the cover. I prefer to attach all my side pieces together on the short ends first and then sew the whole thing on, but you could also so each individual piece to your top, then attach them all at the corners. Whatever you’re most comfortable with!

And then you get this!!

Doesn’t it look so much better with the piping!?!?

You can see on the old cushion I whipstitched around the end to close it off after I inserted my cushion, but this time around I used an invisible closure. It’s a cleaner look! Though with the old cushions that was always the underside so you really didn’t see it any way.

There’s my new seat!

I love the lighter color in there! The old cushions were quite dark (and so was the old wall color!).

The lighter color, the geometric pattern, the sunlight coming through the big windows all make me happy. What would make me even more happy would be something to cushion my back when I lean up against the wall.

Wait, what’s that? A pillow!!! I still had a good bit of fabric left (I only cut one piece from the second table cloth), so I picked up two pillows and some more piping to add a little more comfort to my seat.

Don’t you just want to grab a book, put your feet up and enjoy the sunshine? I look forward to curling up with my girls and reading our favorite books or snuggling with my pup and people watching, or watching my girls play together on the floor while sipping on my ice water.

And did you notice the pink something or another up above? I also hung a new lantern in there! We didn’t have any overhead lighting (the switch controls a plug to the left of the window) so I bought a Vate lantern at IKEA and a Hemma cord and hung it in the center of the room. It give the room a fun, pink glow. Cupcake loves it!

I would like to replace the blinds in here, but it’s not in the budget right now. There is also a cafe rod already installed, so I’m thinking of adding some simple curtains to soften up the window a bit more (and because it’s silly to have an empty rod up there!).

There are a few more things I want to do in there (hello naked walls!) but for now I’m enjoying my new comfy seat!

This is where I link up!

Kids’ Reads: Ducks Don’t Wear Socks

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Remember when I went to the library booksale two weeks ago? I was so excited to pick up some more Mo Willems books and a few books I’ve never read before, but I was so super excited to find Ducks Don’t Wear Socks!!! This is a book we had checked out from the library once or twice before and we are big fans. And when hubby had seen that we scored a great book he was excited, too!!

It seemed the perfect choice for this month’s Kids’ Reads share. Have I ever mentioned Cupcake’s comfort toy is a duck? So, yeah, we kinda like ducks around here.

Ducks Don’t Wear Socks is a story about Emily, a very serious girl. And Duck, a very not serious duck. Emily tries to tell Duck that ducks don’t wear socks, but does he listen? Can Duck get Emily to stop being so serious?

I would find it hard to be serious if I saw a duck in underwear!

If you are looking for a funny story this one is kid, mom and dad approved!

Do you have any book recommendations? If so link up below and share with us! I’ll leave the link up open for 1 week, so feel free to pop in any time before then!

Disclosure: Post may contain affiliate links.

Thrift Gift Facelift Upcycled Jewelry Box

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Have I got a fun treat for you today! Joanna and I are teaming up to bring you a new challenge! Thrift Gift Facelift! Here’s the deal.

1. Partner up.
2. Hit up the thrift store in search for an item to gift to your partner. Your partner will do the same.
3. Give the item a facelift.
4. Post your reveals on reveal day!

So, welcome to the first Thrift Gift Facelift! This month we’ll show off our facelift projects and in the future we invite you to play along.

Let’s get started. Joanna found this little cutie for me!

Perfect for a mom of two little girls right? And for the bargain price of $5.99.

Good bones. In good shape. A little dirty.

Perfect for a Pinterest Challenge!!! Sherry from Young House Love and her crew issued a Pinterest Challenge and I’m always up for a challenge! Wait, is it cheating to combine two challenges? Nah, as half of the Thrift Gift Facelift team I say no.

Of course I thought this little jewelry box needed some paint. And then I stumbled across these gorgeous little jewelry boxes on Happy Day Vintage and I realized it didn’t just need paint. It needed flair! I was ready to upcycle my jewelry box!!!

First things first. Primer and an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix.

And check out this beauty now!

Ain’t she cute?

Oh, what’s that? A little surprise up top?

A little stencil action going on there! Though considering this lives on the new Expedit in the playroom and Cupcake is just over 3 feet tall she can’t really see the cute little heart. Yet. She’ll get taller.

Wanna see the inside?

Peek-a-boo!

I gave the inside a good cleaning. I took the necklace hook off to paint. Man was that tricky. And then post painting I had to put it back on. Man was that tricky. But it was the only way to get in there to paint. I opted not to paint the hook, though, as it was plastic, I couldn’t unassemble it and I thought painting it without unassembling would “glue” it in place so it wouldn’t spin any more.

But it’s perfect for holding little girls’ necklaces. And the drawers are perfect for little bracelets.

Speaking of drawers, they got the stencil treatment, too. It was a little tricky working around the knobs, but momma figured it out.

I would have liked to give the knobs a bit more of an upgrade, but they were permanently attached, so I had to work with what I had, so they got some contrasting white paint. And the jewelry box was done!

Cupcake loves her new upcycled jewelry box! She has never played with her jewelry as much as she has the last few days since the jewelry box has taken it’s place in the playroom.

I love that it goes with the color scheme I have planned for the room. Want to know the colors? Of course you do.

Simply Aqua and Hint of Cherry, both by Valspar, but color matched with Glidden since I happened to be at Home Depot returning something else, had the color swatches in my purse, and had just finished painting the room gray and was ready to bring some color in!

OK, now I’m rambling. So, what do you think? If you were an almost 3 year old girl would you be playing dress up more often, too?

And what do you think of the Thrift Gift Facelift challenge? Are you in?

Don’t forget to head over to Joanna’s blog Midwestern Bite and see her Facelift project, too!

Linking Up!

Pumpkin is 7 Months Old!

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

We’re over halfway to 1 year now! She’s getting so big. Well, not really. She’s still a tiny little thing. She still wears 6 months size clothes. But she’s double the size she was when she was born! It’s so fun to look back at her monthly photos. To see how her little chicken legs have filled out, how her hair has gotten longer and lighter, and that her personality shines through. She’s such a happy girl. Quick with a smile. Squeals with delight.

You can’t see it in the picture but she sprouted her first tooth and the second one is right behind it. They’re just barely poking through, so our gummy smile days are just about over. She seems more bothered by it than Cupcake was. Her pacifier is almost a permanent fixture in her mouth lately.

She sits up so well now. She loves to sit and play. And she’s taken a ride in a shopping cart seat when momma forgot the Ergo wasn’t in the car and we had to make a Target run. She’s also working on her guns.

Feel the burn!!!

Big sister thinks that Pumpkin needs a ponytail every now and then. It’s cute to see the little sprout on top of her head. Her hair is so long on the sides, but not the back. She has a reverse mullet. It’s often OC (outta control) but so adorable.

At 6 months I swore she was about to crawl at any second, but she gave up on it. She figured out she’s a really good roller and for a while there she stopped even getting up on all fours. She does like to lay on her belly, left her arms and legs Superman style and growl as if that’s going to propel her forward. Just in the last week or so she’s started getting back up on all fours and rocking. She’s pushed off a few times, hit her forehead on the floor, gotten mad and given up.

We were on a good sleeping stretch there for a while. Only waking up once or sleeping all the way through the night, but lately we’re back to every 3-4 hours. I really should stop getting excited when she sleeps long stretches because I know it’s not going to last.

I love those big blue eyes and those squishy cheeks. She pinches me when she nurses. She doesn’t eat solid food every day, but when I give her something to eat she has a ball smooshing and tasting. She takes a bottle again so I’ve been able to get out on my own every now and then. She’s got the grabby hands. My hair being her favorite pull toy. She doesn’t babble, but she would win a raspberry blowing contest easy. Little stinker. I love her.

p.s. I’ve been having some issues with commenting. Can you comment?

Munching Munchkins

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

My munchkins are always munching. The big one is big on snacks still. I convinced her to eat some guacamole. She wanted a chip. I held them hostage, only giving them to her with “dip” on them. She ate it. She ate something green. I was shocked. And I have photographic evidence to prove to her she likes it. Well, that doesn’t actually work. I tried showing her a picture of herself eating soup when she was younger. It did not convince her to eat soup for dinner that night.

We’ve jumped back on the apple slices with peanut butter and raisins (no, wait in this picture it’s currants) wagon for lunch. I love peanut butter smiles.

And I though maybe, just maybe being more invovled in cooking would help convince her to eat. She usually just stirs dried beans in her play pot next to me, but I let her make sweet and sour sauce for baked sweet and sour chicken the other day. She loves mixing ingredients. She voluntarily ate her obligatory piece, but was done. So it didn’t really work, though she did eat all of her sister’s super softly steamed carrots. I then had to steam more for Pumpkin, but I really couldn’t be mad at Cupcake for eating veggies.

Looking back at pictures of Pumpkin’s eatings one might think I only feed her orange food. She devoured sweet potatoes.

She’s also a big fan of butternut squash.

I think she’s been eating carrots. I know she’s been feeding them to the dog.

She loved bananas, but just like big sister they gave her a rash.

We just started her on some pears, which is what she’ll be munching on tomorrow! She’s not yet 7 months old, so she’s still not getting solid food on a regular basis. I am having so much fun watching her explore new foods! She’s taken to eating much better than big sister, so I’m hoping she’ll be less of a picky eater.