Crayon on the Wall and I don't care!

So my son is very artistic. He has crayons. Many, many, many crayons. Also chalk. I have beautiful white walls. A perfect canvas for a creative little dude with a nack for drawing circles. Do I care? NOPE!! I LOVE the fact that my son can draw to his little hearts desire on a surface that easily wipes clean with water and a rag and a teeny bit of elbow grease. Sometimes I draw on the walls with him. Daddy also draws on the walls with him. I think its adorable. Many of my friends are "shocked" and say "you are so relaxed!". Basically they think I am nuts. Haha. He knows not to draw anywhere but our house though, he's never tried drawing on walls at anyone else's house. I will say the time he got a hold of the brown crayon and drew what looked like poo piles all over wasn't too pretty. HA! I like the blues and greens and purples that adorn my walls right this moment better.

Going Back to Work & Starting College with a Toddler!

Recently I have started college again & I also have acquired a part time job. I don't want to work, but for right now, it is what is needed. My son is doing great with me working & taking classes. I was really worried about being away from him, after all, I spent 15 months hardly away from his side! I think it might be harder for me than him, since he gets lots of Granny, Auntie, Daddy, and Grandpa time now. He enjoys it I think. I am secretly glad that he is ALWAYS ready for MOMMY time when I get home. He really is a mommy's boy and I am not ashamed to say I covet that! Working is hard, I got so used to being a SAHM (stay at home mom) that returning to work takes a toll on me mentally. I feel like I have two jobs now! I have my full time mommy job and then my part time waitress job. Ironically both jobs involve taking care of people. Gosh. I can't complain too much though, the wages I am making are helping us out and I know this is the right decision for right now. I am also excited for continuing my education and I SHOULD be an RN in about 3 1/2 years...FINGERS CROSSED! That will be GREAT also, since that is a good paying job for where I am. Its all for my family! You have to make sacrifices for your family and I am glad I was able to stay home for the first year of my son's life and then some. I never missed out on anything and I am very thankful for that. I saw every milestone <3

Cheddar Buttons with Pictures & Recipe!!

Recently I took on the task of making my toddler some healthy snacks. I was tired of spending so much money on cheese snacks that I was a little leery of to begin with. SO! I found a super simple and yummy recipe for Cheddar Buttons (or goldfish, I like the buttons because I didn't have a goldfish cookie cutter HA!). It was easy peasy and yielded great results! Though, I will tell you, I burned my last batch because my husband came home and I forgot they were in the oven! Oops!! Haha.

I don't have a food processor so I do it the old fashioned way :)

This is the cheddar dough!

After I rolled it out I used a tip to an icing decorator to make the circles aka "buttons".

All nicely laid out on wax paper ready for the oven!

Cooked to perfection! I was very proud of myself! 

Here is the recipe for any who are interested!! The great thing about this is that the recipe can EASILY be added or changed in MANY different ways! I added broccoli and brussel sprouts to some of the dough (you will need to add a little more flour since the veg is watery!). You could also use any number of cheeses, I used Mild Cheddar, but I think Swiss or Monterey Jack would be interesting! I want to try those next! 

Cheddar Buttons 

Ingredients:

8 ounces Cheddar Cheese, Fine Shredded 4 Tablespoons Butter, Cut Into Cubes Softened 1 cup Flour ¾ teaspoons Salt 2 Tablespoons Cold Water

 Instructions:

Pulse everything (except water) together in the food processor until the dough resembles coarse sand. Pulse in water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove dough from the processor, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. You can use a toothpick to make the eyes and smile if desired. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or until crispy. Makes approximately 7 dozen crackers

ENJOY!!!!!

Belly buttons are fascinating!

This week my son has discovered his belly button, he takes every chance to stick his fingers in there! I he's in a two piece outfit he pulls up his shirt and walks around touching his navel. It's so funny and cute. I did have to slather him up with Vaseline because he touched it a little too vigorously and his belly button was a bit red. It so cool to see him discover things and he wonder his face when he does !  Even though half the time he makes his "stink" face and scrunches his face up and hisses when new stuff happens. Haha that's really cute too though. He is he cutest baby ever, but I might just be biased! ;) I have to say he's more toddler than baby now though, the last 14 1/2 months have been a flash. They have gone by much too fast. Babies don't stay babies very long, so always enjoy every day!

Late night Scrooge!!!

Goodness gracious! My normally easy going toddler has turned into a screaming crying and kicking hell'yun at bed time. I'm not sure what's gotten into him but I take him to lie down on the bed and he crys and screams and gets off the bed and goes to the door and beats on it wanting out. It's so crazy! Last night he didn't go to bed until 5am! I'm not sure why he's suddenly decided he hates bedtime, but it's wearing mommy down! This is the fourth day in a row like this, and of course Christmas! I actually got him to bed at 2:30am after him screaming and crying. I had my husband try rocking him and hold him and then our son decided he wanted me and laid down and nursed right to sleep. So now I'm lying here awake, go me! I'm thinkng it must be developmental? I'm not quite sure but I'm hoping it passes soon and I get my nice bedtime toddler back lol. Maybe he's just so busy he doesn't want to miss out on toys or play times?? Fingers crossed tomorrow night won't be a ginormous fight also. Eep!

Our Christmas Tree

When I first envisioned our first Christmas with a toddler it was full of fun decorating days, a beautiful shining tree perfectly decorated, wrapped presents under the tree... Yeah freaking right! It's more like half decorated tree ( decorated from the point he can't reach up) plastic ornaments, shredded paper under the tree, crabbing and destruction of the topper bow... Weeee! We also have a screaming Santa photo to commemorate the season. Oh and a garland strung throughout the house. I have decided NOT to put the presents under the tree until the night before Xmas, I feel like they will be destroyed if they are out under before hand. Last year he was only a couple months old so his "first" Christmas was easy. Goodness how toddlers can make a mess! He he's ahold of forbidden objects SO fast, it's amazing! He also decided that all the jingle bell ornaments we got for the tree are HIS and do not belong on the tree. He helpfully ripped all the ribbon ties off of them to prove his point. Ha. Baby 1, mommy 0!

Christmas time with a toddler!

This year won't be my sons first Christmas, but last year he was only 11ish weeks old so he didn't really help open prezzies or anything. Heehee. I hope this year will be much more fun :) that being said I am worried about our tree! I come from a family that ALWAYS has a real tree and I would rather have no tree than a fake tree...sooo real tree it is. But my question is, HOW do you decorate for a toddler safe tree? I have been thinking about it a lot lately since the weather has turned cold, today it didn't get above 38 degrees! Brrrr. Soon we will see our first flurries and then hopefully have a white Christmas!! So, I'm thinking obviously NO tinsel, glass ornaments, sharp ornaments, basically anything super fragile lol. So what do you put on it? Plastic balls and child friendly ornaments lol. Cloth ornaments for sure! I am thinking of making some red birds and reindeer out of felt for the tree. I need to find his stocking and finish it, I started it November of last year and it's still not completely done! Oh the projects that get left behind when you have a baby! Goodness. So, plastic ball tree with cloth ornaments heehee :) I am so excited to decorate for the holidays. I love it. I honestly want to decorate NOW but I am being GOOD and waiting for December 1st. I am so happy we have a tree again it from and even a bush now! Christmas liiiiights!!!! Yeeeehaw! Maybe I will even decorate my MAILBOX this year. I am so giddy :) First holidays in our new house! Yay! I'm not too worried about the whole pulling the tree over thing, I'm constantly watching him and I am betting he won't like the prickles that much! He hides from daddy's no-shave-November beard so I'm sure the tree won't be a hit lol. I do wonder how many of his toys he will "decorate" the tree with :) I bet it will be SO cute!