Monday, June 25, 2012

2nd Annual Cousins Cookout

Last year we started up a tradition that we will hopefully continue as the years pass! 


2011 at the 1st Annual Cousins Cookout!
Since we (Harper side aka Moms side of the family) no longer get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas we cousins decided that doing a cookout mid year would be the best way to see each other and have a good time! 
2012 2nd Annual Cousins Cookout!

Last year was the start of it and it was just a regular cookout (hot dogs and hamburgers) with all the cousins and our kids!! Talk about a large ginormous group!  This year we did a Hawaiian theme and decided to enjoy ourselves without the kids and it was so much fun an a nice change. 





There was a lot of corn hole, football, limbo, and pool played, as well as, food eaten!! I'm pretty sure I grazed the entire evening!  We had drum sticks marinated in some kind of Hawaiian jerk sauce, pulled pork, chips and dip, fruit kabobs, deviled eggs, nuts, cookie cake, orange and pineapple cake!  Oh and we had pinacoladas and margaritas!!!







Such a fun evening and many memories to look back on! Can't wait until next year!!!!!

Please notice Kyle's face in this picture..... LOL



Totally oblivious!


The guys!

Never a dull moment... of course they couldn't take a serious picture!








Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Baby Food Edition!

This post is going to be strictly on how I make Olivia's baby food.  It may not be how you do it or how you would have done it but it is simply my way! :)  I am just learning as I go and that in itself is a task.  If it is not a romance novel then usually I am not interested in reading it.... Just kidding! 

So it's pretty simple and really doesn't take much time to make 1st foods (I have no clue about 2nd foods FYI).  You just  have to take a little extra time to actually buy, peel, cook, blend, freeze, bag, and then date! 

First things first!
Step # 1
Go to your local farmers market (besides it being organic it's a great way to support local farmers!) and buy the goodies!! Best first foods are usually apples, avocados, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, green beans, peas, peaches, prunes etc.


 I started with things I thought would be tastiest... Apples, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, and then squash.  So far Olivia has tasted all but the squash and I've tasted them too, yes I have.  If you can think past the texture you will taste the difference and wow! the difference!!! I tasted the apples and since it was puree apples you can't help but let it touch every inch of your mouth and it was like a apple explosion went off!!! SERIOUSLY!!!  Delicious doesn't even describe the flavor although I can't say the same about the texture (it takes some serious mind control to block out the mushy puree texture).  So with that being said I was ready to start cooking baby food seriously. 


Step # 2
Wash the vegetable or fruit very well don't hesitate to scrub that sucker! You may not keep the peeling but I just sit and think about all the different hands that touch and squeezed my goodie before I picked it out.... Eeeewwww!  So scrub a dub, dub!

Step # 3
Peel away.... I always end up cutting too much fruit or veggie away when I use a knife so I used a hand held peeler and once I got the hang of it I could peel a sweet potato in record time!  Don't fret if you didn't get all the peeling off because that is where a lot of the nutrients are (take note though in first foods taking most of the peeling off isn't a bad thing because it's harder to swallow and those little ones are just learning to do that so too much peeling = bad)

Step # 4
Cut up into cubed pieces or however the shape or size and throw them into a pot!  Pour water on them just enough to cover them and then cook them until they are soft.  However, be sure you do not cook them too long because if you over cook them more than likely the nutrients will have cooked out. 


Step # 5
Throw them into a blender or food processor.  Sometimes the water they were cooked in will be enough to puree them.  Plus by using the water they were cooked in will replace some of the nutrients that were cooked out. PRESS BLEND!


Step # 6
Pour into ice cub trays or you can buy the breast milk storage bags and measure out in ounces you want to serve your baby at each feeding and freeze!!! What I did was pour the sweet potato into ice trays and froze them.  I will admit that it was a aggravation once they were frozen because the veggie/fruit doesn't just pop out of the trays like ice... They kind of stick so it was a pain in the bum to get them out.  After they were out I bagged them into the breast milk storage bags because they are freezer safe and stored them back in the freezer!

Step # 7
Prepare and serve... I know you're thinking PREPARE??? But once they are frozen they have to be thawed!  So just run the bag of food under hot or warm water or you can just let it thaw in the fridge a few hours before (I've done both btw) and serve at a warm or room temperature.  I will sometimes add infant oatmeal if the fruit or veggie was too juicy; the oatmeal just thickened it up a bit. 



Side Note:::  Frozen baby food only last about 6 weeks in a freezer so don't go over achiever on yourself or you will end up making too much and having to throw it out at the end of 6 weeks!  Good luck and I hope you've found this post.... enlightening some how! :)) Have a great day folks!

Monday, June 18, 2012

My New Favorite Place

We were lucky enough to have these cabins in Lansing, NC as our newest addition to the family!  We now have a little place tucked in the middle of nowhere! Perfect! 

Our cabin named The Big Easy!!



Our cabin is on the Right Josh and Lydia's is on the right you can see a corner of it!


Back porch



This is the back side of Josh and Lydia's Cabin!
The boys were busy put steps in!
Removed overgrowth around the fire pit!
Josh and Lydia's hot tub!
We stayed there for the first time this past weekend and it was the most relaxed I'd been in at least a month.  With it being only two hours away the drive wasn't that bad so we are definitely looking forward to making more weekend trips up! 

This kid loves the water!!

Of course even though it was freezing she still wanted to get in


One of the most exciting things about it is that the cabin is right beside my sister and Josh's cabin! They were sold as a pair so we lucked out there.  The cabins are at most 20 feet off a large Trout fed creek!  Kyle and I went up this weekend to work on it some and Josh came up this weekend as well unfortunately since Lydia was working she had to stay home.  But the guys got a lot accomplished and it looks even better!  Ours needs a little TLC to kick it back into shape but I love it!  I love everything little nook and crannie about this cabin.  I love all the great qualities about it and all the things wrong with it too!  I've got such a good feeling about it and I get a real sense of home (peace) when I stayed there.  When we got home Sunday I stood outside after dark looking up at the sky longing to see the huge star filled sky that I saw just the night before.  I willed the stars to shine as brightly as they had up at the cabin and I know that my heart is starting to uproot itself to Lansing, NC!! 

I could not be more pleased to say that my family will be spending a lot more time in God's country!!!! 


It needs some major and minor updates but in due time....


 




First fish caught!


The mountain air just puts her right to sleep!

Parkway beauty!

I was intrigued with this hotel/resort in the distance...
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