Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sarah's First Tastes

Last week Bekah came down with strep throat and Sarah has had a stuffy nose. Now my camera is giving me problems. Thankfully, Bekah is on medicine and is feeling much better and Sarah seems to be on the mend. Unfortunately, Nathan worked on my camera last night and then started looking at new cameras on ebay.....not a good sign! =)

We've also had some big moments around here. Sarah had her first taste of food yesterday. Thankfully the video function on my camera worked!

She's growing up so fast!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Airplane Snack


Here's a cute snack Bekah had during our transportation week. She absolutely loved it and gobbled it up!

All we needed was a banana, round cookie (which I broke in half), chocolate graham crackers (you can use regular), and we used some whipped cream for the clouds. Simple!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

stART - Bear Snores On




One of our favorite authors is Karma Wilson. Bekah just loves her books! Bekah loves having Bear Snores On read to her, so when I saw this book and craft at Army Angels I made a mental note to do it soon.

I had cut 2 circles for the head, 2 ovals for the body, 2 shapes for the arms, and 2 for the legs. Then, Bekah set to work on the bears face. She added googly eyes, small circles for the ears, and drew a face on him.

I stapled around the two ovals and the two circles until they were just about closed all the way around. I was going to use cotton balls to stuff him, but realized we had a big bag of shredded papers to use (go recycling!). So, we stuffed his body and his head. She loved this part!

Then we enjoyed reading The Bear Snores On.
I'm linking to stART at a Mommy's Adventures as well as Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttercream Frosting


One day last week Bekah insisted it was one of her stuffed animals birthday. She used some scraps of wrapping paper to wrap them a (recycled) gift and wanted to make them a birthday cake. I had to admit, cake sounded pretty good to me and I had just seen this awesome buttercream frosting recipe on Good Cheap Eats. So, we set off to make these homemade chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting.
The chocolate cake/cupcake recipe doesn't have any eggs in it, so I didn't feel a bit guilty letting Bekah lick the beaters. (I know they say since they eggs are pasterised, they won't hurt you, but I still worry).


Bekah had a great time adding the sprinkles!

These were so much easier than I thought they would be and so delicious. My husband claimed they were his favorite part of dinner that night and he is not a big sweets eater!
Now for the recipes:

No Egg Devil’s Food Cake

Mix together:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp. cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Add:
3/4 cup oil
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups cold water

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes.

Homemade Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 Tablespoons milk or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla

In large mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add three cups sugar, 1 Tablespoon milk, and vanilla. Beat until combined and fluffy. Adjust with more sugar or milk, depending on what consistency you’re looking for.