Push'n Along My Automobile...

Here is a short video I took of Macyn pushing her car that transforms into a ride-on toy ($3 at a garage sale, you can't go wrong)! My favorite part is when she stops in the middle to wave at Buddy. It's kinda hard to see, but she's doing it. I don't think she will be walking anytime soon because she's pretty content with crawling, but it's still exciting!

23 Meals in 24 Hours!

How do you turn this:into this?:by making 23 meals to freeze for later - all in a Saturday afternoon while getting laundry folded and put away. (Ambitious, I know....and I was exhausted!) Before Macyn was born, I froze a couple of meals and soups. I used them up right away and it was super handy to have something you can thrown into the slow cooker and keep it on low all day and have it ready at supper. No mess, no dishes, no slaving away in the kitchen!

There is an official name for this called OAMC (Once A Month Cooking). It is also more cost effective because you can usually buy in bulk, and you can eat out less and at home more. If you watch for sales (like beef, I only buy that when its less than $2 per pound), you can save even more. I picked up a book at the library about it as well, but just decided to try out my own recipes that I know I like, instead of making a whole bunch of new ones that could be questionable. So I thought I would give it a shot.

So first, I get out the ever-so-handy, Josh & Brittany's Cookbook! If you need an idea for a great Christmas gift, a TasteBook is the way to go! You pretty much make your own cook book with your own recipes - you can even customize it with pictures and whatever else you want! They are really easy to make and decently priced (wait until the fall when they have free shipping when you buy 3) They print out all your recipes, includes dividers, and you can always buy extra pages to add to your book. It is also hard covered and the pages have a little bit of shine to them so the ink doesn't run if you spill something on them. You can also browse other TasteBooks or grab recipes from popular websites. It is super easy, and you can choose your cover, text, and all that stuff! Okay, enough with my TasteBook love, and back to the food!Here are the things I made - I ended up using 17 lbs of beef, 4 lbs of chicken, and 3 lbs of sausage, and TONS of other groceries. I spent about $200 which isn't so bad because it also included Gladware Ovenware pans, all freezer bags, most ingredients, and our everyday groceries. If this can get me through the month, the price tag is definitely worth it.

First up-taco meat:Chili Soup:
Taverns:
Side Dish Casserole (not sure of the real name, its just what DH calls it) - It's more or less hashbrowns, beef, sausage, cheese, and topped with french fried onions (that you put on later):
Cavatini:Taco Hot Dish fillings:
Tator Tot Casserole (sans the tator tots):

White Chicken Chili (forgot to take pic, so this is from google):Those are the meals I made with each freezer bag or pan having a single (family size) serving. These can stay frozen for up to 3 months - which puts us into November, so I'm pretty sure our soups will be gone by then! I will see how all this goes, and I might oficially be on the OAMC bandwagon!

Disc Golf with Dad

Our town has recently put in a new disc golf course at Children's park. My DH played this all the time in college with a make-shift course. I, on the other hand, cannot throw a frisbee to save my life. So we decided to walk the 1 block (more like a 1/2 mile one way - its a LONG block!) and try it out. Macyn had a great time riding in the stroller while Dad played. She thought she would help out by being the caddy, and holding his "putter" disc for him.The first hole wasn't so bad:Next one, a little more challenging - the hole is located right between to big evergreen trees:Then, DH misses completely:Throw in a water hazard.........and then DH shows me how its done with style:The sad part is, he can throw better that way than I can do overhand. Maybe I will attempt to play next time, just to humor him. Overall it was fun doing something free, with the family, and some physical activity. I think we will be playing often!

10 Months Old

Macyn is now 10 months old and is learning new skills and getting bigger everyday! I'm not sure how much she weighs (haven't stood on the scale with her) but, all I know is, she loves to eat! She has 5 1/2 teeth now (I say that because the one on the bottom keeps on coming through, and going back down), and loves to eat anything you give her! She eats table food with us along with 2nd and 3rd stage baby foods. She is not a fan of 3rd foods Mac & Cheese but loves spirals (see previous post). She likes bananas, watermelon, crackers, and carrot-apple juice. However, she has made up her mind she no longer likes her sippy cup. You put it in her mouth once and boy does she throw a fit!

This past month she has also figured out crawling. She is quite the speed crawler now. Sometimes when you act like you are going to chase her she tries to crawl away as fast as possible. There isn't anywhere she hasn't gone. Buddy's water dish? check. The dishwasher? check. Sitting herself behind the bathroom door and not move so mom can't get in? check. Since she can get around pretty well crawling, she now pulls up on everything. She cruises around the furniture, table and chairs, and even on the cabinets in the kitchen. There is no stopping her now. Every morning she greets me by standing up in her crib with her arms out to be picked up. (makes mommy's heart melt). One thing that has been nice, is she has figured out how to get into a sitting position from standing. Her new found trick, however, is standing up in the bathtub and plopping back down. She is either going to slip one of these days or hurt her little bottom. I suppose she will get a "smart" bump one of these times.

She can now wave "bye bye", even though it usually comes when your out the door. When I put her into her car seat I wave before I close the door, and sure enough, once the door closes I can see her through the window waving.

She also likes blocks and balls . She likes her dinosaur and tries to put blocks into the ball sections (but that doesn't work so well). She also tries to put books into it, and sometimes her pacifier. Another classic toy she loves are good old stacking cups. (buy them at a dollar store).Besides playing with toys, she also likes to make a mess. How come no one ever told me that a clean house will never last? Case and point:Another thing we have been working on is a bedtime routine, and she pretty much has it down (knock on wood). It consists of turning on her music, cuddling with her blankie, reading Goodnight Moon, drinking a bottle, then laying down in her crib with her teddy bear (the one in her monthly pics) and shes out...for anywhere between 12-13 hours. Super nice! Lets hope she stays on this schedule.

Guess Who?

Guess who ate a whole bowl of oatmeal and spiral macaroni & cheese, with a side of apple-carrot juice in a sippy cup AND a bottle for supper?

This Girl:AND guess who got extremely upset when her oatmeal, mac & cheese, and juice was gone?

Wait for it:

Wait, it's still coming:

There she is:

Gone Crafty!

I hit up a rummage this weekend with lots of stuff, and girl clothes galore! and cheap! I picked up a few things, including this picture frame for $2. (they have this same one at WalMart for $12)!Since I have kinda gone photo crazy in the past few days, and the fact that we have pictures in our dining room, book case, book shelf, and living room; I was trying to figure out what to put in this frame. I decided to get all crafty and such, and picked up a 16x20 print from Walmart for $2.97. Now the print itself isn't exactly super nice, but since I knew I was going to cut it up, I didn't want to spend too much just in case my vision didn't turn out as well as I though it would.So I pretty much traced 4x6" rectangles in the shape of the picture frame I bought. I then cut them out, put them into the frame, and made some pretty cool abstract art. It isn't perfect by any means, but I was pretty proud of myself for making something for under $5. Here is how it turned out:I might just keep my eyes open for cool picture frames, and artwork to use. The best part is, I can change the picture(s) if I want to change colors, etc. I also thought it would be cool to do some Alphabet Photography and put in different frames - but that's another day, and I would need to brush up on my photography skills a little more. AND find time!

Photo Updates

I have been really bad about updating photos, retouching, collages, etc., but I finally made time to make Macyn's 9 month collage:It's nothing super great, but I had a little trouble laying it out to something I liked. This one along with her 3 month and 6 month ones go up on our "family" wall. It's fun to compare how much she has changed in her short 9 months of life so far!Speaking of comparing - I also updated her 12 month photo frame. Its hard to believe there are only 3 more spaces to fill :(And last but not least, I got a 5 opening picture frame for Christmas from my sister and I still haven't added any photos in it - until now! I decided to find Macyn's bath pictures and make them black and white, and isolate the bathtub and toys in color. I hung the frame in my bathroom and I am happy the way it turned out. Here are the photos I used and the final look of them in the bathroom.