Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Ahhh.  That was a sigh. Not a scream.  Sometimes that's hard to differentiate in the world of words. But yes, a deeply contented sigh.  We had such a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.  Thursday morning started with a family fun run, in which we created our own turkey trot of sorts.  Ran our own 5K around the neighborhood and felt refreshed.  Then I started baking...

The cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffins turned out pretty good! They have more of a donut consistency to them, which I really liked and there's just something festive about freshly baked muffins in the morning.

After breakfast wrapped up, it was onto the main courses!  My turkey was still a little frozen in the morn but after putting it in cold water for a few hours, it was ready to start cooking at 11.  I used Ina Garten's "Perfect Roasted Turkey" recipe for the second time and for the second time, it turned out quite lovely.

My sister and a few friends came over to celebrate Owen's first Thanksgiving with us and we had a great time hanging out, drinking wine, watching O eat his first full meal and, of course, there was some dinner roll juggling. This has become a Thanksgiving tradition whenever our friend John is around!

The next day it was time to deck the halls....! I told you I was as excited as heck to do this!  It was raining here (which is pretty rare!) so we took our time in the morning, listening to carols and watching the rain fall.  Then we headed to Lowe's where we found an awesome tree and excitedly took it home to decorate it!

And of course there had to be freshly baked cookies to eat while gazing at the tree! I've discovered that I really love baking...

Full both on food and love. Hope you all had an equally lovely weekend!  And although it's bittersweet now that my favorite weekend has come to an end, I'll quote a Thanksgiving card that my grandma sent us: "If you count your blessings often, Thanksgiving can be everyday."  Here's to keeping the spirit of gratitude and wonder going!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

The turkey is in the fridge defrosting, the menu has been set and today I'm going to start doing the little touches to make Owen's first Thanksgiving as special as it feels.

We are hosting a small gathering at our place with my sister and a couple of friends. Everyone is bringing a dish and we're doing the turkey and a few sides too.  I can't resist making the potatoes - both the classic mashed and, my favorite, sweet potato casserole.  I'm also really looking forward to starting a new tradition by making some fresh muffins tomorrow morning. I found an incredibly yummy and simple sounding recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins on Pinterest and I can't wait to try it out!

My garland has been hung since the beginning of the month:

It's a great little project that I found at Paper Source. You buy the kit and assemble it yourself but since everything is already there for you, it took me about 30 minutes to do.

And yesterday I made some foolproof napkin rings.

I have leftover brown paper from my pumpkin party, so I took a piece and cut 1 1/2 inch strips.  I rolled up the napkins, wrote a word of gratitude on the paper and then wrapped them around the napkin, securing it with a piece of double-sided tape. So simple and yet a sweet little way to make the day feel more special.

Today I'll get some cleaning done, tonight I'll make the potatoes but, most of all, on this Thanksgiving Eve I'll say a prayer of thanks. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It doesn't get all the pomp and circumstance of Christmas. In fact, it's often treated as a stepping stone on the way to the Christmas festivities. Don't get me wrong - I'm as excited as heck to put on the Christmas tunes and deck my halls. But Thanksgiving is a chance to be with family and friends, no expectations, except to eat, enjoy each other's company and to reflect on the blessings we've had this year.

And this year has been most blessed.

Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgivings!!

Take it Easy: Delicious French Dip Recipe

Big week coming up with lots of cooking! Sing with me now: "It's the most yummiest time of the year...!"  With turkeys and pies and prepping on the horizon, you might want to take it easy this weekend. Enter the easiest, yummiest crock pot meal of all time...

French Dips!

I discovered this gem when I prepped a bunch of freezer meals for Owen's impending arrival. It was the first real meal I was able to stomach after he was born (I went about a week without being able to really, truly eat because of the surgery/pain/hormones/exhaustion/etc.) so when I cook it, the smell relaxes me. Like taking a deep sigh and finally letting go... But that's just me. You'll probably just think it's yummy. Here is the super easy recipe:

French Dip Crock Pot Recipe

Ingredients:
2-3lb Beef Chuck Roast
2 cans of Beef Consomme
6 club rolls
Mozzarella or Provolone (optional)

Directions:
1. Put roast in crock pot
2. Pour the two cans of beef consomme over the roast.
3. Slow cook in crock pot for 6 to 8 hours.

THAT'S IT!

When the meat is cooked, you can tear it apart with a fork while it's still in the crock pot and put it on the club rolls. Use the juices in the crock pot for your au jus dipping sauce. If you're feeling fiesty, put your sandwich, open-faced with your choice of cheese on top, into the oven at 400 degrees for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese has melted and your bread is slightly toasted.  And enjoy!!

Hope you all are able to relax a bit the next few days before the chaos of the holidays takes over...!

Little buddies and good quotes

This past week at Mommy & Me yoga, Owen made a friend.

His little buddy recently turned two and it was ridiculously cute seeing them play together.

At the end of class, our yoga teacher shared this quote:

Having a child changes you on a cellular level. How you see, feel, and think about everything in your life...your relationships, career, spirituality, success, friendships, love, self...everything shifts. You have joined a club that has a lifetime membership, and you will never be exactly the same "you" as you were before becoming a mother...a parent. Embrace it.  Honor it.  Live it.  Love it.

It spoke to me and thought you guys might enjoy it too.

Hope your weeks are off to good starts! Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving next week?? Can't believe it's already here!

Deal Alert: 15% off Citrus Lane!

Have you guys tried Citrus Lane yet?

A friend gifted us with a three-month subscription when Owen was born. Every month you get a specially curated box of toys and goodies for both baby and mama, based on your child's age. I absolutely loved it because every month, without fail, the toys that arrived became his favorite toys. Teethers, green toys, first solids, burpie cloths...all major brands like Aden+Anais, Green Toys, Happy Baby, Honest Company and more.

Since we loved it so much, I've recommended it to friends and even gifted a few friends with the same subscription. Everyone has loved it as much as us.  And I'm telling you all this because...they are having a friends and family 15% off discount now through November 18th! Perfect time to try it out for yourself or give a great gift for the holidays.  You can purchase a subscription now and still give it as a gift later: the gift-ee activates their account whenever they want, so boxes start arriving on their schedule.  That's part of why I've loved giving it to my mamas-to-be as a shower gift. They can wait until baby is born to start receiving their goodies, which means the party keeps going!

Here is the discount info:

And this is not a sponsored post. This is just something that I think is awesome, so I wanted to share. Plus, who doesn't like getting gifts in the mail every month?? 

Our First Family 5K Together!

If you've liked this blog on Facebook (and if not yet, you're missing out on fun extras...!) then you know that yesterday, Owen, Dan and I ran our first 5K together as a family!!

Peek-a-boo Owen

At the Start Line!

The Run 4 Her 5K is to support ovarian cancer research and awareness and I've run it twice before. Didn't run last year because by the time November rolled around I was six months pregnant and had stopped running in June (when I had learned I was pregnant and it was super hot and I was super tired). And this year, I wasn't sure if I would run it again. I did a little bit of running a couple months after Owen was born but it was more like little jogs around the neighborhood to get the blood flowing...and sometimes to just have a few minutes to myself. But I didn't stick with it. Instead I did workout DVDs and long walks to stay fit and lose some of the baby weight. And then all of a sudden, it was already October and a year and a half had gone by since I had actually ran and the idea of running a 5K sounded truly daunting. Laughable even. 

So I decided I had to.

I told Dan (who is an avid runner but had also taken a bit of a break from it since Owen was born) that I wanted to run the Run For Her 5K...but I wanted us all to run it together. I told him this a month before the race. And we're the kind of people that, for ourselves, running a 5K is exactly that: Running. No walking allowed. So this wasn't an easy request. He said it was going to be hard but if we were dedicated we could do it. So he made us a running schedule, put it on the fridge and we stuck to it.

Running Schedule, Complete!

We started by just running a mile that first day. And it was hard. But we built our way up.  There would be some afternoons that we would be lacing up and I'd grumble, "Who's dumb idea was this? This is the worst idea ever." But by the time the run was done, I'd be glad we had done it. My tune started changing to, "What's ten minutes of our lives?" or "What's twenty minutes?" as the mileage increased, in order to get us pumped for our run. And then the next day I'd go back to cursing it as my hips felt tight or my knee felt sore (ah, the glories of aging). But we had a goal we were working towards so we'd stretch, ice our sore joints and get back out there the next day.

By the time race day rolled around, I was feeling ready.

I pushed Owen the first half of the run and Dan pushed him the second half. Running while pushing forty pounds of baby and jogging stroller is a whole new beast. But we started strong and finished strong. Of the three times I've run this race, this was my fastest time yet.

And it felt important. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to best explain the "why" behind the significance. Maybe it's because in the year leading up to conceiving, I took up running as a way to prepare my body for pregnancy. I wanted to feel strong and have endurance and be in the best shape possible before I started growing a new life. I ran several 5Ks and loved the feeling of finishing a race. But once I got pregnant, I stopped running because it was the best decision for baby and me. Like I said, it was super hot when I found out I was pregnant and it was definitely not a good idea to keep running. And since giving birth, I haven't given running much thought. I didn't think I missed it. But that little nag I felt to run this 5K confirmed that I did miss it, in some way. And when we finished the race yesterday, it felt like starting a new chapter. I felt like my old self, my pre-mom-self, but I also felt stronger than that woman I once was. Becoming a mom has changed me in ways I never saw coming. And melding the old-me with the new-me, felt like a major step in the right direction.

Who knew running a couple miles could do that for a person?

One of those weeks

Monday morning the sniffles started...

happy but sniffle-y baby

It's Thursday now and there's a little cough now and then that makes me hesitant to take him out and around other babies so while we normally would be on our way to yoga right now, Owen's already down for his second nap. He's not acting particularly wimpy but he's not exactly himself. I however am feeling stir-crazy. There's been no play dates, no library readings, no music classes, no movies and now no yoga. And I'm realizing how much I actually get out of the "busy" schedule we've created over the past few months. Sure, he's being stimulated and learning and socializing and that's all great, no doubt. But all our activities are important to me too. I miss seeing Owen interact with other babies and I miss my mommy friends and I miss just getting out in general. This sitting around all day is for the birds.

backyard, hanging with leaves and birds

And the time change this past weekend hasn't helped a bit.  His sleeping schedule is fine. He still naps and goes to bed at the same time.  However, his waking schedule has taken a beating.  He's been waking up this week at 3am and 4am. At three for a diaper change and at four for a bottle. We went to Target together on Tuesday (I needed a change of scenery already and it had only been a day!) and I bought the simplest coffee maker they had. It was on sale and I bought it on impulse and I'm so glad I did. This is the first time we've had a coffee maker in the house in several years. Our last one was a Keurig that died a grisly death, involving the words "roaches" and "infestation." You don't want to know the details...

Here's to hoping this coffee maker lives a much more peaceful life. And that my baby's sniffles clear up soon. And that he realizes that 3am is not the same thing as 6am.  Ah, the good ol' days (of a week ago) when he slept those additional hours...

Pumpkin Turkey Chili Recipe!

When I was growing up, chili on Halloween was a tradition. It still is. Even though all my mama's kids are grown, she still makes chili on Halloween night. And why wouldn't she? It's the perfect grab-when-you-can/eat-when-you-can kind of meal that lends itself well to constant interruptions...like when your doorbell is being rang intermittently by hungry, dressed-up kids wanting candy.

So when I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Chili, I knew I had to make it for Halloween. Clearly, anything "pumpkin" gets my attention.  Someone pinned from the Tater Tots and Jello blog Jen's super yummy sounding recipe.  She says in her post that this baby has won an award and after having made it, I understand why!

This made a TON of chili.  Literally filled my crockpot to the brim.  We were just having two other couples over for Halloween and our babies aren't partaking yet, so I thought there would be plenty leftover to freeze for later. I was wrong. All of it got eaten. Sure, we all went back for seconds (and some of us went for thirds!) so you could probably feed a larger party of people if there are other things around to eat. But if this is the main dish, be prepared for it to not last long. It is that yummy.

I had to make a few changes to her award-winning combination, so please check out her site (which is super fun) and her original recipe to see which one suits your tastes and needs better.  You really can't go wrong.

Here is the way my chili was made!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili
(adapted from Tater Tots and Jello)

Ingredients:

• 1.25 lbs Lean Ground Turkey
• 1 Tbs Olive Oil
• 1 red onion, chopped and diced
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped and diced
• 1 29 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 each of red, green and yellow peppers, chopped and diced
• 1 can green chilis
• 2 Tbs Chili Powder
• 8 oz of pumpkin puree (I used a 15 oz can, added a little more than half of it)

Directions:

• Brown the ground turkey
• Drain any fat and add to your crockpot
• Using the same pan, heat up your olive oil. Add your diced onions and chopped garlic, heating until onions are soft and garlic is roasted.
• Add onions and garlic to your crockpot
• Then add your tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and rinsed beans to the crockpot
• Now add your red, green and yellow peppers, the can of green chilis, 2 Tbs of chili powder and the pumpkin!
• Give it a good stir, mixing everything so that it is evenly distributed
• Set your crockpot on low for 6 hours
• Serve with sour cream and cheese for garnish

And enjoy!! Perfect for Halloween, watching football, pumpkin parties, Thanksgiving appetizers and all related Fall activities!

Happy Halloween!! Plus a DIY Shark Costume Project!

Oh my gosh you guys. I thought holidays were fun before. Now with Owen, holidays have just taken themselves up a notch. I am so excited that the holiday season has officially begun!! But before I start waxing poetic about Thanksgiving, we must talk about Halloween and all of it's festivities!

Thursdays we have Mommy & Me Yoga so we had two costumes for Halloween. It was too hot during the day to get into his final costume, so we started with...Superman! And his two biggest fans, of course.

Only one other mommy/son duo showed up at class so we had a semi-private costume/yoga/pumpkin muffin/dance party.  There was Monster Mash thrown in with our stretches and it was a great way to start the day.

But as the sun started to set and the weather started to cool...a shark came out for feeding...cue Jaws theme...

Attack of the cute!!!

I saw an adorable baby shark costume on Pottery Barn Kids but when I went to order it...all sold out! So we had to improvise, which I think ended up being the way to go. Not only was it less expensive but it felt more special to have made it.  I'm sure as Halloweens progress through the years, I'll change my tune. But this year, it felt good and I think it turned out pretty good too.

Here's the easy DIY of it all!

Easy DIY Baby Shark Costume

Supplies:

Gray Hoodie

Stiff Gray Felt

Stiff White Felt

Regular White Felt

Regular Red Felt

Regular Black Felt

Fabric Glue

Scissors

Safety Pins

Martha Stewart template

Pencil

Foam Paint Brush

I was super lucky and found a Shark Hoodie mixed in with the regular gray hoodies at Target. It didn't have a price tag, it was in Owen's size and there were no others to be found. It already had eyes, gills and four little teeth. Plus the inside of the hood was red. It was clearly a sign. So I embellished an existing shark but using a regular hoodie jacket will work just as well.

1. Print template from Martha's design, cutting out the features.
2. For the teeth and the fin, use the stiff white and stiff gray felts, tracing the template onto felt with pencil. Do two traces of each so that you have two sets of teeth and two fins.
3. For the eyes, follow template instructions.
4. Draw an oval on the soft white felt and cut out.
5. Cut the oval in half so that you can still use the zipper on the jacket once glued onto the belly of the jacket.
6. If the inside of your hoodie is not red, add red felt to the inside for the appearance of a mouth.
7. Using the foam brush, paint the fabric glue along the teeth's edge and adhere to the inside of the hood.
8. Let dry, using pins to hold in place if it starts to curl up at the ends.
9. Do the same thing for the row of teeth on other side.
10. Use leftover red felt to make gills.
11. For the fin, glue the two pieces together, leaving a quarter inch unglued at the bottom. 
12. Once that is dry, you can fold the unglued portion and flatten it against the back of the jacket. This way, if your baby is riding in a stroller, you can take it off if it is bothering them.

 Voila!

And if you and your honey want to get in on the action...you can be your shark's victims! I went down to Venice Beach and grabbed some of those tacky bathing suit covers with bikini/muscle bodies painted on them. Used the foam paint brush and fake blood to add some bite marks and we were officially, "Spring Break Shark Attack":

Which made for fun photos!  And speaking of, if you'd like some more time to kill, here are a few more photos from the evening. Our neighborhood has a big Halloween party so my fellow mamas came over with their families and we took the kiddos over. Then we came back, greeted trick-or-treaters, and ate some delicious pumpkin chili...which I'll tell you all about tomorrow!  Trust me, you want this recipe. Hope you had a great time yesterday too!  And now...let the holiday season...BEGIN!

Mamas and their babes

A Bee, a Shark and a Bear walk into a bar...

The Bee said "No more pictures please"

The whole "First Halloween" Gang

Pumpkin Party! (And the best pumpkin cake recipe ever...)

The fifth annual pumpkin party happened over the weekend and it was another great celebration of the fall season and it's most famous fruit...Pumpkin!  A lot of people have pumpkin parties this time of year but they are usually pumpkin carving parties.  Not this one.  The first year we carved pumpkins.  But then we realized that the best part of the party was the FOOD.  So now instead of carving...we eat. Price of admission is a pumpkin dish and there are so many different kinds you can make.  Pies, pastas, drinks, soups, cakes, breads, dips, salads and on and on and on.  It's a delicious affair.  Also, yes, I had to google to find out if pumpkin was a fruit or veggie. NOW WE KNOW.

• Inspired by Pinterest, I got two pumpkin trick-or-treating pails and put some flowers in them for the doorway.  In the pin I saw, they suggested filling the pail with water, like a vase. So I started to do that...only to realize there is a hole in the bottom of each of them. So I put the flowers in a plastic cup and put that inside the pails. I think it looked better!
• For the food table, I got a roll of brown mailing paper and taped it as a covering. I left out markers and everyone wrote down their name and the name of their dish.
• Forgot to take a picture of the soup station, but my collection of coffee mugs is what we used to eat the pumpkin soup. A true cup of soup!
• Brought in our bistro table from outside and used a festive table cloth to add seating in our cramped apartment.
• Painted a few pumpkins and had a bunch of little pumpkins all around that were all fair game for painting during the party.

Conversation, eating and pumpkin painting!

These kids were still cooking during last year's party

Sisters!

Owen taking it all in.

My first plateful. Notice I said 'first'

It was so much fun having a new world of babies and kids at the party.  This has always been a ladies-only event but this year we had two new babies join the party and a friend had her cousin and her kids visiting, so there were three little boys running around.  We're all growing up, y'all.

Four boys and a door

But the piece-de-resistance that I really wanted to share with you is this...The Pumpkin Dream Cake.

How I spent my Friday night

You saw a slice of it on my plate above (bottom right) and it is what I baked for the party. Ohemgee. This cake is something you have to make if you like to bake.  Rhyming is fun!

Found the recipe via Pinterest and it belongs to The Novice Chef, whose blog is a food lovers dream. The cake is actually called "Pumpkin Dream Cake" and it lives up to it's name.  I found it super easy to make and think that putting the cake pans in the freezer for 45 minutes after removing them from the oven is a stroke of genius.  The cake was moist, fluffy and just delicious.  The icing is sweet without being overpowering and went on perfectly since the cakes were chilled.  And everyone...and I mean everyone...raved about it as they tried it.  I'm not saying all this to pat myself on the back.  I'm patting The Novice Chef on the back because her recipe provided a flawless cake that was a crowd pleaser. I've never seen an entire cake get eaten at a party but I had to quickly hide a slice away for my husband to try when he got home because this cake was GONE by the end.

You can find the PUMPKIN DREAM CAKE recipe by clicking this sentence. It's a dessert that Owen will know well in his life...because I plan on making it for every Thanksgiving here on out. Forget pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake is our new tradition.  

Who am I kidding? There will always be pie too.

Forward-facing Baby Carriers: Yay or Nay?

Owen and I went on our first solo hike of Runyon Canyon yesterday.

On our way back down a woman stopped me and said, "Excuse me, hi, sorry.  I just, I have two kids and I just found out, front carriers are really horrible for babies.  I just wanted to say something in case you hadn't heard, like me. I  mean, I literally just found out."  I said, "Thanks. Yeah, I've actually heard that. But we don't use this that often, so I figure it's ok. Plus, he refuses to face in."  And she was like, "Ok, yeah. Just wanted to say something just in case." "Thanks," I said as we parted ways.

So, of course, I'm still thinking about this exchange. And wondering if I sounded like a totally irresponsible parent.  "Yeah, I heard these things can be dangerous but I laugh in the face of danger...and strap my baby in as I face it!  Mwhahaha!" And then I run down the mountain, cackling wildly. That's probably how that woman pictured me.  I'll have you know, I walked down at a sensible pace.

She was clearly very concerned though so I thought I'd look into it more. I have heard that there can be adverse effects but figured that those consequences applied only to babies who are worn in their carriers for the greater part of the day on a regular basis. If I sat and thought about it, I could probably count the amount of times I've used the carrier. Owen's a nosy baby and doesn't want to face in - ever. Whether he's in a carrier or just being carried, so using the "face-in" option on the carrier never worked for us. And usually the stroller is the way we get around. So I figured the warning of forward-facing carriers being potentially damaging was a moot point for us.

When I did a google search to learn more, I didn't find any sort of news or medical authority website listing the dangers.  What I did find was a bunch of mom blogs expounding the dangers of forward carriers. One was a particularly horrible story from a mom who's daughter has hip dysplasia, has gone through surgeries and will probably always walk with a limp. She admits that this could have developed several ways, including in the womb, but it could also be linked to forward-facing carrier use. Another site I found was a hip dysplasia specific site that discusses hip health for carriers, car seats, swings, walkers and more. I had never thought about car seats being potentially damaging!

The consensus seems to be that babies legs are not properly supported in forward-facing carriers and as a result, their developing limbs could pull out from the joint and cause permanent damage.  I kinda feel that if the risk is that high, forward-facing carriers would be recalled and no longer sold. But it seems to be hard to pinpoint when hip dysplasia actually developed when it is caught later in life. However if the forward-facing carrier can contribute to issues...maybe we should stop using it?  Although this article from an Australian news source says that babies under six months of age are the ones at risk for possible damage. Owen's over that age milestone...so maybe I should keep using it?

So far I've only found opinions and hunches. Is that enough to stop using our carrier completely? Not for me. Will I make sure he's not in the carrier for extended periods of time? Probably. I think this could be a case of 'moderation is key.'

What do you think? Yay or nay to forward-facing baby carriers? Have you heard that they can be risky?