.baby's first shadowbox.

For today's edition of nap time crafting, I bring to you the shadowbox! The idea came from, of course, Pinterest. I saw, and pinned, two great inspirations. This one, from a frame shop. And this one, from The Mama Dramalogues.

I kept all of the little momentos from the hospital and have had them stored away in a little box just waiting for this project. I used those, her going home dress, and a photo from her first night (I order my photos from Snapfish and love them!). Everything else I got from JoAnn's. I used 3 pieces of scrapbook paper and some scrapbook embellishments, the paper flowers and glitter buttons.

I have to say, I am extremely happy with how this turned out! The great thing about this project is that it is 100% customizable. You can put whatever keepsakes you want in it, whatever pictures, cute little decorations, etc. This is going to look awesome in her nursery!

Also, just a reminder, if you do this project and have a blog you put it on, make sure to blur out any information you don't want the whole world to see on the hospital bracelets and things.

XO!

.one thing crossed off the list.

Thanks to many adorable ideas on different blogs, pinterest, etc, I have about a million things on my to-do list for our new house. We're just renting so it's mostly small things, but there's a million of them none the less. I have officially completely one task from the list and I'm pretty excited about it. We have a small wall right in front of the front door. To the right leads to the dining room, to the left leads to the living room. I thought this little space would make a fantastic frame wall. And it did.

The best part, everything was very easy to do. The man already had the flag, so I simply put it up there with some tape dots on the back. I got the white frame from Home Goods, and put one of my favorite pictures of me and Brian from last November. A friend of the man's gave him the incredible Ranger tab and crest pieces. They are really beautiful pieces carved and then burned for contrast. I got the P and the Welcome from JoAnn's. I painted the Welcome with craft paint and spray painted the P with some spray paint also from JoAnn's. You'll notice the wall is brick, which means no nails. I am in love with the Command No Damage Hanging Strips. They are seriously awesome. I'm not going to put a single nail anywhere in the house!!

So, there it is. Task one, done! Next on my list is the living room and nursery. I'm hoping to finish them up in the next month or so but we will see if that works out, haha. I am doing a couple of cute crafts for the nursery right now though and I will put them up here when I'm done!

XO!

.bacon.

The trainer I was working out with in Georgia told me once "A day without bacon is like a day without sunshine." I agree, but do try to limit our bacon consumption to a little less than once per day. For the last few weeks though, when we wanted a bacon fix this has been my go to side dish, with a few changes depending on what veggies we had in the house. Bacon pretty much goes with every single vegetable I can think of so, go crazy!

Bacon and Brussels Sprouts serves 2

10-15 large Brussels sprouts

3 slices of bacon

1 cup of chopped tomatoes

1 avocado, cubed 

In a non-stick skillet fry up the bacon. While that's cooking peel the outer leaves off the Brussels sprouts and then cut each sprout into fourths. Chop the tomatoes and avocado. 

After the bacon is done remove it from the pan and place it to the side. Now you can leave all or some of the bacon grease in the pan, or take all of it out and replace with a cooking spray or olive oil. It's up to you, we use a portion of the bacon grease. Put the Brussels sprouts and tomatoes in the pan with the grease, stirring occasionally. 

Once the Brussels sprouts are cooked through, roughly 7-8 minutes, place the veggies in a serving platter, mix in the avocado and bacon and serve! 

We have also done this with broccoli and it is equally as delicious. 

XO

.homemade frozen soy yogurt drops.

Store bought baby snack foods are easy. There I said it. They are convenient, they are quick, and they are just plain easy. Because of this we have been reaching for these snacks for Tyler a lot more than I would like to admit. In between the prepping for the move, the move and now getting settled into our new house in Washington, I just didn't have the time or motivation to be making her labor intensive snacks. We try to give her the healthiest things we can, and it helps that she loves fruits and vegetables, but sometimes there is just nothing easier than a handful of cheddar bunnies or Kix cereal, ya know?

The more settled we get, however, the more I try to change this. One thing I've been seeing at the grocery store are yogurt melts. I haven't been able to buy these for her because of her dairy issues but I have found soy yogurt that she loves and that actually gives her some protein instead of all the carb filled snacks that seem to be so popular with the bebes. After seeing the yogurt melts in the store and then seeing this on Pinterest, I knew I just needed to take matters into my own hands!

The soy yogurt my local grocery store has does come in a few flavors (vanilla, peach, blueberry, etc) but these usually have some added processed sugar and we would like to avoid that, so I bought the plain soy yogurt and then added some particularly ripe raspberries. This would also be great with pretty much any fruit, so over time I'm sure I will make them with strawberries, kiwi, peach, blackberry.... maybe even a little bit of honey or peanut butter!

Frozen Soy Yogurt Drops makes multiple snack servings
1 cup of soy yogurt (or regular if your bebe can have it!)
1/4 cup ripe raspberries

Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil or wax paper.

Mash the raspberries and yogurt together until they are completely mixed. If you wanted them to be smoother you could throw it in a food processor, but Tyler doesn't mind the texture. Using a small spoon place drops of the yogurt mixture onto the cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until frozen. Pop the drops off the foil and either place them in a tupperware container to store them in the freezer or eat immediately!

I've got to be honest, these are so tasty that I find myself sneaking them sometimes. I might even have to make some of my own soon with my greek yogurt. Tyler is absolutely loving these and I'm glad I found the soy yogurt so she can finally enjoy stuff like this! She loves it unfrozen with some granola too!

For those of you looking for soy yogurt, I found our's at Fred Meyer in the natural food section. I have never seen it anywhere else but I also have never really looked so it's entirely possible other places have it, especially if they have a natural food area.

XO