Friday Favorites - Wagon Rides

My friend, Dawn (also a mother of twins, 5-year-olds Aidan & Alyssa), is letting us borrow their wagon for awhile. Well, the girls absolutely LOVE it and beg to go for wagon rides every day!

We also love homemade popsicles! I found these great toddler friendly popsicle molds on Amazon! Find them here. They are the perfect size and easy to hold with little hands. Add yogurt fruit (and sometimes some veggies) and you've got a healthy snack anytime!

Friday Favorites - Water Table

Nana (my mother-in-law) recently gave the girls a great gift...a water table! This is/has been great for those summer days (the few we've had) when we just don't feel like leaving the house. The girls love to splash in it, play with the animal squirters and even put their snack in the water (YUCK...don't worry, I don't let them eat it).

I'm sure we'll get good use out of the table for awhile!

Friday Favorites - Jellycat Bunnies

My girls received some Jellycat brand bunnies from my mom (grandma) for their birthday. Ellerie received a light brown one, and Esme a white one. They have become a favorite in our house, and the little bunnies are already looking very loved. The girls sleep with them for every nap and all night long. They are drug around the house, snuggled with and drooled on. I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep them clean, but they're not supposed to be machine washed. Anyone have any tips besides just wiping them with a cloth?

Even though the bunnies are always present wherever the girls are in the house, I don't have very many pictures. I'll have to take some more, but until then, here is one of Ellerie snuggling Esme's bunny at the house (now, they are pretty set on having "their" bunny), another is of Ellerie from their one-year photo shoot (I've shown this photo before, but It's just too stinkin' cute!) and the other is from their birthday. Ok, so I don't have a picture of Esme with her bunny. I'll have to work on that and update this post with a photo!

Friday Favorites...Playmates

I've not been so consistent with my "Friday Favorites." I know some of you come and look for them. I'm sorry! I'm trying to get one written up every week, but I may miss one here and there. We've had a lot going on around here. I have a lot I want to share, including a trip to the zoo and strawberry picking. Those will come soon! With that being said, here is this week's favorite...

I have several friends with kids, but most of them are much older than my girls. My friend, Whitney, however, has a little girl, Lily, who is just 7 weeks younger than my girls. We try to get together about once a week for play dates. I'm never very good about getting pictures of the three girls because I'm often too busy chasing my girls in two different directions.

A few weeks ago, Whitney caught all three girls together with her phone camera. I just love this picture and had to share it.



Here's one more of the girls that I captured a couple months ago when Lily spent the day at my house while her mommy worked.

Friday Favorites - "Green Eggs"

My girls love to eat green scrambled eggs! The eggs are not green because they are artificially colored. To make these green scrambled eggs, I throw in some steamed and pureed spinach and kale before cooking. The end result is green eggs packed full of healthy leafy veggies. Serve with some whole grain cereal, milk/dairy of choice (or sprinkle some cheese on the eggs) and some vitamin C rich fruit (to help with iron absorption) and you have a complete breakfast (or lunch or dinner) meal.

These pictures were taken about a month (or more) ago...so, a little "outdated," but they still love their green eggs!

Esme

Ellerie

Friday Favorites - Cardboard Box

A while back, we moved the girls out of their infant car seats and into convertible car seats. Instead of throwing out the boxes, we decided to keep them. With one of the boxes, my husband made a little "play house" with small windows and a door. It's nothing fancy, but the girls LOVE it and play with it every day. They love to hide inside, peek out and say "ear I ah" (here I am) or "eek-ah-oo" (peek-a-boo). They will tip it over and hide underneath, stash all their balls inside, read books inside or just sit in there together and "have a conversation."

The box has held up well the past several months. It's been a great toy and we're keeping the second box as a back up in the garage. Maybe we'll make something new with the other box.

I know I have some great videos of the girls having fun with the box. I'll have to go through and find one. For now, enjoy a few photos...

Friday Favorites (Oops!)...Nature

I know, I know! I totally missed last "Friday Favorites" and now it's Monday. We've been quite busy around here. My husband (Jonathan) has had the past week off work (great for family time, but not so great for the bank), and we've been busy with family time, organizing the house and getting ready for the girls' one-year photo shoot (finally...it was yesterday).

I have a little time right now because I was up at 5 am tending to Ellerie and, after getting her back down, I couldn't go back to sleep. The girls have minor colds/coughs and it wakes them up a couple times a night. So, here I sit...in a peaceful house. I know I'll be tired later, but I have to say that this quiet time is quite nice.

I have a few posts in my head, but for now I just want to share with you a few pictures I took while on a nature walk with my family. We were out looking for places to have our girls' one-year photo shoot and came across this beautiful place. It's called Camassia Natural Area, and it's located not too far from us in West Linn, Oregon. It is literally located right in the midst of a residential area, and right off the major freeway, but while walking through the beautiful wildflowers, you'd never know it! It's beautiful!

These pictures were taken with my phone camera, but they turned out ok. It's amazing what it will do when your subject isn't moving!! Pictures of the girls are always so blurry. It was a cloudy/off-and-on rainy day on Friday when I took these pictures, but fortunately the sun decided to arrive just in time for the girls' pictures yesterday!

Friday Favorites - "Thank you!"

Esme and Ellerie have been learning all kinds of words and signs. Lately, their favorite words to say, and sign, over and over are "thank you." They, however, don't fully understand the meaning of the words quite yet. They say "thank you" when they bring you something. They say "thank you" when they sit down in the bath tub (after being told to because it's not safe to stand) or for a quick snack when their not strapped in their high chairs. They also say "thank you" when we ask them to say it because someone shared a toy, played with them, etc.

It's so much fun to watch, and hear, their language expanding every day...and I am thankful for the manner words they are learning (even if they don't quite have their use totally figured out).

And, because every post is better with a picture, here is a picture of my girls intently watching a squirrel eat the food from our new bird feeder.

Friday Favorites - My First Crayola

I've been trying to incorporate some "art" for my girls. My challenge has been in finding activities that are safe if anything goes into the mouth. I don't have to worry as much with Ellerie, but Esme is extremely oral and everything goes into the mouth immediately.

We've done some hand and foot prints, as well as a few other messy and non-messy projects. I really wanted to have some basic crayons/markers around for a quick go-to activity, but I was hesitant because I didn't want bites out of crayons, or marker drawings all over the house.

I came across these products a couple months ago at Target. They are made by Crayola and are designed for little toddler hands. We have several of them now and they are great! We received a couple for their birthday and I picked up a few more with coupons I had. Esme still puts them straight to her mouth, but she's getting better now that she is finally understanding what happens when she puts them to paper. The crayons work well and the marker is truly "mess free" as it only works on the paper it comes with. There are colored washable markers too, but I'm not brave enough to try those yet.

Here are a few pictures of the products and of the girls' artwork (I apologize, some of them are phone pics)...

Esme

Ellerie

Friday Favorites - New Tunnel

We're kind of all a bunch of walking sleepy heads this morning. Ellerie is finally working on cutting through her top two teeth! One came through last Saturday (April 7th) and the other (tooth #4) is on its way...along with #5 and #6 (Esme still has no teeth). We are pretty sure it was teething that kept waking her up, screaming, every hour throughout the night. I finally just brought her to bed with us so we could all just get a little sleep!

Back to Friday Favorites...The girls love climbing into things and going through things. So, when we saw this tunnel at Ikea, we had to get it! The girls love it and play time is always full of giggles and smiles. It's great, because it folds up small enough to tuck away when not in use.

Ellerie

Esme

Friday Favorites - Packages in the Mail

I love receiving packages in the mail! Yesterday, we had two arrive at our house. Even more exciting...they were both for the girls!

One contained a couple suction type plates to hopefully make mealtime a little less messy when they eat from their own plate/bowl with a spoon. If the plate/bowl stays in place, it'll be easier for them to "scoop and eat."

The other package came in a fairly good sized box. When I saw that it was from my Aunt Suzi, I knew it would be full of wonderful handmade goodies. The girls and I opened it together and discovered some adorable dolls and cozy quilts she made for the girls! At first, the girls were more excited about the cardboard box...they quickly emptied its contents (seemingly unaware of what they were removing as they were so focused on the box) and climbed inside. After about 5 minutes of smiles and giggles with the box they moved onto their dollies, giving them all kinds of snuggles and kisses. With the quilts, they had fun hiding each other and mommy. Ellerie also gave the quilts lots of snuggles...she has a thing for soft blankets!!

This morning, they have been carrying the dolls all around...while doing puzzles, looking at books, etc.

Thank you Aunt Suzi!!

Here are a few pictures of the girls and their goodies! Sorry...they were taken on my phone and are a tad blurry. The girls move too fast for the slow phone camera! I'll try to get some more with my other camera and add them to this post.

Friday Favorites - 1st Birthday Cake/Cupcakes

For the girls' first birthday I made some special cupcakes. They loved them...and still love them! They are a healthier version of your typical cupcake and make a great snack for on-the-go. They freeze well too!

For their birthday, I topped them with some lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting (I'll include this recipe below too).

Here is the recipe for the girls' favorite cupcakes!

"Going Bananas Cupcakes" (Thanks, Whitney, for the fun name!)

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray (I like the "baking" spray for baked goods, but any cooking spray is fine)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 whole egg
1 egg white
2 cups banana puree (can substitute 1/2 cup with another veggie such as cauliflower, sweet potato, etc.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin/cupcake pan with cooking spray. In a bowl, mix flours with baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix agave nectar and applesauce with egg, egg white, banana (or banana + veggie) puree, and vanilla. Add flour mixture until just combined.

Pour batter into muffin/cupcake pan (filling only to about 2/3 full). Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (it will only be relatively clean as the applesauce and banana make them quite moist), about 25-35 minutes (every oven varies, so check your first batch often). Let them cool, remove from pan and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting - Play around with this recipe to find a result you prefer. You can substitute some brown sugar for some of the agave if you prefer.

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (totally optional...I've made with and without)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoon agave nectar

Melt butter, then mix all ingredients in an electric mixer until "light and fluffy." Spread on cupcakes however you choose! Enjoy!

Instead of baking the cupcakes in liners (which you could also do), I set them inside of the liners after they were baked. I like the look better and it makes them easier to eat.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you like them (or how your kids/babies like them). If you make adaptations/changes, let me know how those turned out!

Friday Favorites - Socks!

I'm nearly finished with a post on the girls' Sock Monkey birthday, but while they nap is really the only time I have to work on posts/uploading pictures (and cleaning the house), and they haven't been the best nappers the last few days. They are in between the 1-2 naps/day phase.

I, however, thought I'd start something new on this blog...something a little more regular and consistent, but something that doesn't take me very long to type up.

On Fridays, I thought I would start sharing some of my "favorites" with you. This may mean a favorite product, toy, book, recipe, activity, etc. It may be mommy/kid related, home related or anything really!

To start things off, I want to share with you a favorite baby clothing item...

Robeez brand kickproof socks!!!

I've tried all kinds of socks on my girls and these socks truly hold up to their namesake...kickproof! Other brands fall off constantly. I've lost all kinds of socks in stores, around the house, etc. We received our first set of Robeez socks as a baby shower gift before the girls were born. I knew about the Robeez shoes, but had never heard about the company making socks. I thought they were cute and packed them away in the hospital bag for the girls to wear home. The socks (sized 0-6 months) were little big, but they never fell off.

I say that they are truly "kickproof," but this doesn't mean that your child won't pull them off once they learn how. This is Ellerie's favorite thing to do! This picture, below, was taken several months ago, but I love it!

We had no luck with other brands we tried in the beginning, so I have purchased only Robeez brand socks up until recently. Unfortunately, they only make socks sized up to 12-24 months, and they do run a tad small (they shrink up in the dryer). This size still fits my girls, but Ellerie is getting close to needing bigger sizes so I have been exploring some other brands...none of which I like so far. I think we'll make the Robeez socks fit as long as possible!

So, if you're expecting a little one, have a new little one or attending a baby shower in the near future, keep a look out for these socks! Some Stride Rite and Nordstrom stores carry them, but I've had my best luck online.