My Little Dinosaur

Halloween sure is a lot more fun when you have a kid to celebrate it with. We had a great Halloween! We went trick or treating at my dad's work, which was AWESOME, and then we went to our ward's trunk or treat. Zach looked so cute as a little dinosaur. He enjoyed everything, except for Willy Wonka. He especially enjoyed the sucker, Crunch, and Kit Kat he had a taste of. Here are some pictures of our fun Halloween. Check out the Sponge Bob, that's my dad!!











Yes that is chocolate on Zach's face in the last picture. I have him a Crunch bar, with the wrapper on it, for him to play with. He must have really wanted the chocolate because he chewed off the wrapper quite quickly.

Pumpkin Patch

For Family Night this week we went with some friends to a pumpkin patch. We had a great time!

1st Birthday Party

I can't believe I am saying this...Zach is almost one. CRAZY!! This happened way too fast! I guess after they turn one they are considered a pre-toddler which means he will no longer be a baby. I am not ready for that. He will always be my baby!!
Now that I got that out I will share some fun pictures with you. Some of my family came into town this weekend so we decided to celebrate Zach's birthday early and have a family birthday party. It turned out great and Zach seemed to love it!

Here is the birthday cake I made. I have never made a cake before so I was pretty proud of it. I tried to make it look just like Zach's best friend, Panda!



I am not a huge fan of giving Zach sugar but everyone convinced me that since it is his first birthday he needed a HUGE piece of cake. Zach must not be a big fan of sugar either because he was not interested in eating any of the cake. Although, he sure had a great time destroying it. At first he was just picking at it but as soon as I told him it was ok to smash it he went CRAZY!




Here are a few other pictures from the party!





The party was lots of fun and it was great having my family there to share it with us. Ray actually said that it was the most fun he has had a birthday party in a long time. I think he just really enjoyed watching Zach smash the cake!
Happy (almost) Birthday Baby Zachy!

A Few Smiles!

It is funny seeing how Zach's smile keeps changing. His newest smile is him opening his mouth as wide as he can.




He is just too cute!

Recipes

I have already had a request from my friend Ashley for the baby food recipes, so here they are:

Golden Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

1/4 cup golden flax meal
3/4 cup farina (wheat cereal)
1 1/4 cup of flour (I used whole wheat)
1/4 cup or 1/2 cup raw-turbinado sugar (I used 1/4 regular sugar, next time I might add a little more)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (you can use soy milk)
1/4 cup oil (or 1/4 applesauce but the texture will be more springy instead of dense)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup of blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F
Toss all ingredients together and mix until all is moist.
Lightly oil muffin tins or use inserts
Spoon into muffin tins, filling 1/2 way
Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes

Yield – 12-18 muffins depending on size of muffin cups

Baby Cereal Pancakes Recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup baby barley cereal (or other commercial baby cereal)
1 cup formula (or another liquid such as milk)(I used milk)
1/2 cup mashed banana (or fruit of your choice)
1 tbsp melted margarine or butter (unsalted type)
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup baby oatmeal ( commercial baby cereal)
apple juice (about 1/2 cup) or use water if you prefer (I used almost 1 cup, they cooked better when they were thinner)

Add cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla or other flavorings if you wish.

Mix all ingredients together and add enough juice to make pancake consistency. Cook on cook top in frying pan as with "regular" pancakes.

I hope your kids enjoy these, mine sure did. I think my next mission is biter biscuits/cookies. I will let you know how they turn out!
If anyone else has any great recipes that their baby/toddler loves please feel free to send them my way!!
Enjoy!

A Healthy Baby is a Happy Baby!

I have decided that I need to be a good mom and make Zach some healthy finger foods. My first mission was breakfast. Zach was sick of his normal oatmeal, prunes, and a banana since none of those make great finger foods. He no longer lets me feed him so I had to come up with something that he could feed himself. I found a healthy muffin recipe and pancake recipe online that is specifically made for babies. Well it is a good thing I made plenty to freeze because this kid couldn't get enough of them, especially the muffins.

Here are some picture of my hungry boy!



If any one is interested in the recipes let me know and I will post them!

Go Broncos!

Here are my boys watching the Boise State game!!