Harvest Pumpkin Muffins

The kids and I made these super yummy muffins today.  What's better is both Lincoln and Payton ate them.  Yay!  I got this recipe from Jillian's Website or from HungryGirl.com, I can't remember.

Harvest Pumpkin Muffins.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 butter, softened
3/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin, packed solidly
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until light; beat in honey, egg, and pumpkin.  Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until just blended; stir in walnuts.

Spoon into 12 greased or paper-lined 2 1/2 inch muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick insterted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan to wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Because I don't do much baking, I did not have some of the ingredients an so did not add them.  I did not have the ginger, nutmeg, or walnuts.  The muffins were still super yummy.

Memory Game

I have a lot of very talented friends. Many of them I really look up to and enjoy learning from. Well, this Christmas my friend Jessica made the mojority, if not all, of her Christmas presents. She is always coming up with or finding these neat crafty ideas of things to make. One of the projects that she did was making a memory game for her daughter Sadie.

Well, I decided that they didn't look too hard to make and that they would be a great idea for a Christmas present for Payton, Caeden, and Ethan. I think they turned out quite nicely.

This was just one of the sets that I made. I made three! It was super easy and a fun way to spend some time with my grandma, she helped. Anyway, check out Jessica's memory game tutorial and make one for your self.

The only thing I did that I am not sure she did was put a layer of modge podge over top of the paper. I figured they would last longer that way.

Nursing Cover

So along the same lines as the baby sling post, I signed up to make a nursing cover at the class offered at the Super Saturday activity at church. I decided that I wanted a nursing cover that was a little more gender neutral. :o)


However, after actually making the baby sling and realizing how much time it took to do I realized I wouldn't be able to teach the sling class and then take the nursing cover one. So I decided that I would go ahead and make it anyway at one the the craft nights that my Gilroy friends and I do once a month. Suprisingly I was able to finish it and didn't even use a pattern. This is one of those sewing projects I was really excited about when I was done with it.

There are a couple of things I would recommend when making a nursing cover.

1) Always make it bigger than what the pattern says. Mine is 26 inches by 38 inches. The nursing cover I bought from Target when I had Payton was way too small I felt like my back was always hanging out because it wasn't wide enough or that Payton was always throwing it around because it was just too short. I think this was the size I did Jennifer's nursing cover when I made hers and she loved the bigger size.

2) Don't be talking to anyone when you are cutting the material. You know that saying, "measure twice and cut once". Well I measured a bunch of times but when it came time to cut I looked at the numbers going down the side of the cutting mat instead of the bottom. I ended up cutting the material about 6 - 8 inches too short. Fortunately, I was doing this project with a few of my friends that are great at sewing and they suggested making the backside of the cover the reverse of the front side. See I was planning on doubling the material on the cover anyway. A print on the front and a solid on the back. Now I have a print with a strip of solid on the front and a solid with a strip of print on the back. I think it looks better than it would have if I wouldn't have messed up. LOL

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I do.

Baby Sling

For those of you who know me well, you know that I have the best intentions when it comes to sewing projects but am not a seamstress. I have made a few things and have actually been very pround of myself when I was done, probably because of the struggle I had in making it. LOL

Well, when Dave and I moved to San Jose with his parents we also moved into the church ward he grew up in. It so happened that the Relief Society was getting ready to hold a Super Saturday activity. During the activity they hold a bunch of classes and you can pick and choose the one or ones you would like to attend. Well, with the number of ladies in the ward having babies they had a nursing cover class already planned and wanted to hold a baby sling class as well but couldn't find anyone to teach the class. When the organizer of the activity talked to my mother in law she was excited to hear that I had made a sling before and was anxious to ask if I would be willing to teach the class.

I said "sure" then set about scrambling to try and figure out how I was supposed to teach this class since the sling I had made before was just something I tried to do on my own and didn't have a pattern for.

In the ward that Dave and I had just moved from in Gilroy they held a Fabulous Friday (Same idea as the Super Saturday) and had both the nursing cover and baby sling class. So I called the insructor of the baby sling class and got all of the information she used.

She used the Maya Sling tutorial that you can view and print from online. It was super easy to do, unless you like to make things hard like I do. Let's just say I spent many an hour picking out a seam I had put in because I didn't think it was straight enough. I also decided to use two pieces of fabric because I couldn't find any double sided fabric. :o) In the end, I love the way it turned out. Oh, and I also order the rings from this sling rings website.

Nursing Cover Clips

I made these Nursing Cover Clips as gifts for a group baby shower that I went to. I was surprised at how big of a hit they were. They are super easy to make, I even made one for myself. :o)

You will need the following:

1 - 3/4 inch vest buckle
2 - 1 inch suspender/mitten clips
1 - 30 inch long piece of 7/8 inch ribbon of your choice (I used 100% Polyester, ribbed ribbon)
1 - 1 inch pieces of 1/2 inch thick Velcro

Step 1 - Cut about 30 inches of ribbon

Step 2 - Loop the ribbon (right side out) through the center of the vest buckle and sew in place. I used a zig zag stitch on my machine.

Step 3 - Thread ribbon through one of the suspender/mitten clips. (Thread material right side out from back to front of the clip)

Step 4 - Thread ribbon back through the vest buckle.

Step 5 - Pin Velcro pieces about 6 - 7 inches apart on the back side of the ribbon.

Step 6 - Sew around edges of Velcro pieces and then at least one stitch cross ways across the Velcro (I used a zig zag stitch)

Step 7 - Thread ribbon through the second suspender/mitten clip (ribbon right side up, thread from front to back of clip) and connect Velcro pieces together.

Step 8 - Secure second suspender/mitten clip by stitching it in place.

Step 9 - Pat yourself on the back, you are done!

You can use the Nursing Cover Clips for the following and more:

• Turn any blanket into a nursing cover.
• Turn any napkin or burp cloth into a bib.
• Tether blankets, toys, etc. to the stroller or car seat.

Ball Pit

So in my effort to keep Payton entertained all day, I stumbled accross an email from Baby Center with a list of summer boredom busters. To take a look at the list for yourself look here. It is really cool, you can enter your child's age and it will give you age appropriate activities.

I plan on trying a few of these but the first one I started with was the ball pit. I decided to use balloons instead of trying to find little balls to fill the inflatable pool. However, if I do it again I would use water balloon sized ballons instead, the bigger ones just seemed a little too big. Payton still had fun.

Pampers - Love It

I am sure that my husband and I were not the only ones that went through several brands of diapers before finding the perfect one for us. With Huggies Payton woke up each morning in a puddle, with Luvs poop came out the back and legs of the diaper, with the Costco brand the same type of thing, I could go on and on. The only diaper we have consistantly liked is the Pampers brand.

Great things about Pampers Swaddlers...
1) They smell great! Baby powder fresh.
2) They are soft.
3) The inner mesh lining that pulls the poop away from the baby.
4) I have never had a leak (pee) with Pampers.

Words of wisdom for Pampers users. Make sure to use the right size. Say a Size 2 diaper fits a baby from 12 - 18 pounds and the size 2 - 3 diapers fits a baby 14 - 22 pounds, move your baby to the next size up when they hit 14 or 15 pounds. As a first time mom I thought that Payton would wear a size 2 until she was 18 pounds because that is what the diaper said. WRONG!!! If you move them up sooner you will not have the blow outs.