October / 4 Month Favorites

Left to right
Top: Sophie / Sweater / Kitty Booties
Bottom: Teether / Shaker / Fringe Booties

At the end of the month, my little one is turning 5 months! I cannot believe that much time has gone by! We are constantly trying to find things that she loves. Here is our list of favorites this month, although it does change very often!

We love Sophie... our love affair really started a few months ago. However, in the last few weeks she is become slightly more in love with her. It is great to chew on and hold!

The teether and shaker are both new! We received them in our Citrus Lane box that came this month. The teether is great because it is very light weight and bendable. She got it a few days ago is constantly holding it. The shaker is suppose to be for 12 months or older but that is because the design is a little hard to hold. She did at first struggle with it but now has the hang of it! I love it because the sound isn't super loud like every other toy that she has and it is rather light.

As the weather here in Chicago has finally gotten cooler there is a need to start dressing warmer. I love this sweater and booties we got from Carters. The sweater is super soft, warm and versatile. The booties just scream Halloween! Although I am not much of a cat person I love them! She also has a black kitty hat we got from Carters as well! I love dressing her up for the holidays!

The fringe boots are a staple in our family. Every since even I was little we got moccasins every summer at my lake house in Northern Wisconsin. She was to little to go up this year, so my parents brought them back for her (and a cute pair for me as well!) They are still a little big but I love them!

Fall Theme ... part yum

When thinking about the food that goes with a fall theme, I could not help but think about comfort food. That is what the menu consisted of:

Pulled Pork

Fried Chicken

Top-your-own chili bar

Mac and cheese

Pasta Salad

Corn Bread

Garden Salad

Corn Fritters

Majority of the food was home made! I made the most of it with the help of my mom. My cousin made the amazing mac and cheese. We cater the chicken because there was no way I can deep fry 70 pieces of chicken. Lucky for us, the place threw in the corn fritters (think funnel cake  with a kernel of corn in the middle).

However, what I feel our family is most known for is our desserts. Although I love to bake, I could not of done it all without the help of family. Between my mother and I, and then my husband's aunts  and mother, we had a killer spread of desserts!

Whenever I host a party, I always like to label things, probably the teacher in me. My husband use to make fun of me for it but after all the positive comments we received on it, he now encourages me. Of course, as I throw more parties the labels get more extravagant.

Fall Themes...

       I don't know about everyone else, but I love a party with a theme. Now that I have a daughter, I am so excited about all the parties that I get to throw and of course with themes! This past weekend we had my daughter christened. When I was talking about the plans with my mother and telling her about the theme, she was confused. She was like isn't the theme, the christening. I said absolutely not! I am having a fall themed christening.

      I worked my butt off to make it as nice as I possibly could. It is hard to do this with a very limited budget, an infant and a only a backyard but I think that I pulled it off.  Of course, we had pumpkins and acorns in some the centerpieces that surrounded mason jars with flowers but others were made of white birch logs that I drilled holes to hold tea lights. In my mind it I would light all of the fall scented tea lights and it would smell like fall... However the wind did not cooperate and kept blowing them out!

 

      For some reason, when I thought fall, my mind kept going to mason jars. I am not sure if this is because of the fall harvest or the fact that they are everywhere! So of course we had to have them with fall colored paper straws. We made homemade lemonade for the kids and for the adults Honey Crisp Apple Sangria! It was a huge hit.

 

 More later on the food!

What's in a name...

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other would smell as sweet...

 - Shakespeare

         When we first found out we were pregnant, for some reason I thought we were going to have a boy. A boy. I could imagine our lives with a little boy and my husband and I agreed on a name very quickly. However, whenever we discussed girl names we could not agree and he would walk away and say that it doesn't matter because we are having a boy. (To his defense the doctor at 12 weeks said that he thought it maybe a boy.) Then came our 20 week ultrasound... needless to say the doctor was wrong at 12 weeks, it was a girl. We had two different people check. 

        Now we were stuck and stuck for a long time! I want to say months. He would not even discuss it, until one night at 3 a.m. He said he made up his mind after researching for hours and there are four names that he likes. Being so surprised that he did this, I quickly asked him what they were. He informed me that he likes Leila, Cora, Violet and Tessa. I was very taken back by these choices. However, I told him that I would think about them. Out of all the names to pick from, he decided that these are the ones that he like. It then took me a while to feel them out. To me, having a baby was the easy part, the hard part was picking her name. This is the name that she will have for the rest of her life. For some reason, I felt as if it was a lot of pressure. However, I am happy to say we did name her and on May 31st we welcomed Violet Grace Schreiber to the world!

Nursery for Baby Girl

Fabric

We are happy to announce that my husband and I are expecting our first child at the end of May!

 Even more exciting is that it is a little girl! Once we knew what we were having I immediately started planning the nursery! All I could focus on is it being super girly! As I started looking in stores, I could not find bedding that I liked, so I decided to make it my own! It was hard to decide but we went with the multicolor flower as our main fabric. I wanted to the room to be able to grow with my daughter.  With this fabric we made a valence, two quilts, a pillow and upholstered the inside of a bookcase. There is still a bow board in the works, but I have slowly run out of steam! 

The things that I haven't made I have purchased in the stores mainly Pottery Barn Kids. From there we got out crib skirt and sheets! 

The finished nursery

Easter

Our Welcome Sign

Happy Easter

I think that I finally have recovered from Easter. I do not know what I am going to do when I actually have kids to worry about, maybe then I will delegate better and not try to do it all myself! This year I had 23 people for a Easter dinner which is our usual number for holidays. I always struggle with what to make for dinner especially when I have to cook for that many people. I always want to make food that I know everyone will like, even my picky eaters. This year I made turkey, ham, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, a sweet potato souffle, and a spinach salad.

 However, this year I decided to focus most of my attention on dessert. Which is not hard to do because I can get lost for hours in baking. I 

decided on pecan nut cups, carrot cake and chocolate cream pie.

Dessert

Surf 'n Turf Paella

Surf 'n Turf Paella (adapted from Food Network)

I originally found this recipe on Food Network and it was good, however I made some changes. I make this for my husband, it is one of his favorites. The best part of it is healthy and only 370 calories per serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups uncooked basmati brown rice, rinsed
• 9 oz boneless strip steak
• salt/pepper
• cooking spray
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 medium sweet onion (halved and sliced)
• 1 bell pepper (seeded and chopped)
• 2 plum tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/2 cup broken whole-wheat spaghetti
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp saffron threads (crushed)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 tbsp sliced black olives

 Directions:

1. cook rice in a large pot of salted water like you would pasta (about 30 mins)
2. Season steak with salt & pepper and then spray each side with cooking spray
3. Cook steak on a large skillet on medium-high and flip ... about 10 minutes for Medium, then let rest.
4. Heat oil in same skillet on medium-high heat and add garlic, onion, bell peppers... cooked covered and stir occasionally until onions are soft
5. Stir in tomatoes, broken spaghetti, chicken broth and saffron until pasta is cooked
6. Drain rice and add to pot with peas until warm
7. Add shrimp and cover until shrimp is pink
8. While shrimp is cooking, slice steak against grain into small strips and lay over paella
9. Sprinkle with olives.

Enjoy!!!