Big girl bed!

Saturday night was our little girl's first night in her not-so-little-girl bed. Nick and I were curious what would happen if we went ahead and converted her crib into the toddler bed, so we just went for it. And... the first night was a little bumpy. She fell out twice. I knew she rolled around a lot (as in, A LOT) in her sleep so I was somewhat prepared for this. But I can't say I believe it's all her doing, because I think this makes kind of a weird toddler bed. I mean, who thought having that huge gap in the middle was a good idea?!?

Since then, she has fallen out 1-2 more times... but one of them was during "naptime" when she was trying to do a flip in her bed. (This new bed is so EXCITING, you see!!)

But ohhhhh boy, is it comfortable!



It's also a GREAT bed for reading.



Actually, Mommy may have started a bad habit... I thought it would be fun to climb in bed with her and read her bedtime stories. And it is ever so sweet! It's becoming a nightly ritual. Instead of sitting in the glider, she requests either Nick or me to climb in bed with her, she'll gather up 2-3 of her "bee"s [blankets], and she'll say, "I way on you tummy?" Then she snuggles into us with her head on our chest and we read stories. It's so cozy and warm... all the way to my heart :)

Hopefully, she'll get the hang of her big girl bed soon... but when she does, it'll just be another sign telling me what I'm refusing to acknowledge--that she's growing up much too quickly!!

Felt animal board

Shhh... Shiloh hasn't seen this yet!



Here's to hoping the girl gets a kick out of it. :)

Chai Apple Pie Coffee Cake

Yes, I realize the name is quite a mouthful... and so is this tasty treat!



I stumbled across this interesting recipe here, which was an adaptation of the original recipe from here. I went with the adapted recipe, of course, because it added streusel. I've yet to meet a streusel treat I didn't like!

Cake:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup chai tea latte concentrate (recommended: Oregon Chai™ Tea Latte, Original; however, I used Tazo because it's all I could find at Meijer)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Streusel:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Apple Topping:
2 cups of apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chai tea latte concentrate
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch baking dish, 9-inch cake pan or a small bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add butter and mix until crumbly, with your fingers or a pastry blender. In a separate bowl, mix together chai concentrate, egg and vanilla. Blend into flour mixture, spoon the mixture into the pan, and spread it with a spatula or knife.
3. For the streusel, place 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons butter in a small bowl. Pinch together with your fingers until crumbly. Set aside.
4. To make the apple topping, sauté apples in 2 tablespoons butter for approximately 2 minutes in a small saucepan. Add chai concentrate, cover and continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Spread the streusel on the batter. Spoon apples over the top, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brown sugar.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool cake on wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Beautiful Bernheim

A Day in Photos:

Creative Musician

This is how Mommy tries teaching me to play the piano:


But I'd rather play like this:


Or... even better! Like this:

School is in session!

... or a very brief version of it, anyway!



We're putting Shi's school desk to use and loosely following this curriculum (which I modified to include a Bible verse instead of a vocab word) to do some "learning activities." The website also gives some good ideas for activities to do and books to read related to the weekly theme. Now I am on the hunt for some good craft websites, but I'm not too creative on that front! But it is probably Shi's favorite part of doing "school."

Now if only my little scholar's attention span were a bit longer... ha! (I know, I know... she's a toddler!) :D

All things girly

Well, here's my first attempt at some bows and clippies. I'm ready for another trip to the fabric store for more ribbon. :)



How am I doing?
Also, does anyone know of any good online tutorials for different types of bows?

"Mommy, You Home!!!"

Maybe it's the look of pure joy on her face when she says it. Or maybe it's the sound of her sweet, excited voice while she's saying it. Or maybe it's her preciously incorrect use of grammar. It most definitely has something to do with the fact that she most certainly will run up and give me a big hug once the words have left her lips.

"Mommy, you home!!"

She declares this not only when I come home from work and she and Nick are waiting for me, but most of the time it's when we are away from home and she sees me again after we've been apart for even a couple of hours... picking her up from Mrs. Allison's house ... or even the church nursery (2 hours, tops!). I think what's most precious about this declaration is the meaning I finally discovered behind it.

Mommy, we're together again!

And so I always return her hug and add a kiss on the cheek while I agree, "Yes baby, I'm home."

"The World's Largest Halloween party!"

... or so they say. This year Nick and I found this cute little ladybug to take with us.



Mommy put this little ladybug's costume together using a plain red tutu and fairy wings, and modified a $1 Halloween headband from Target with spider antennae. Oh, I did splurge and get the ladybug wand from here.



The night I showed her the costume... she ran around proclaiming, "My fying, Mommy! My fying!! [I'm flying] "




Wands are for eating, right??


The only princess she would pose with... and this is as close as she was willing to get.


It's a bird... it's a plane... no! It's Super Shiloh!!


It was a bit late, and this was also the same day we had gone to Huber's, so our little ladybug began to get tired.




She found Nemo again.






Isn't she a cute little ladybug?

Annual Huber's trip

You know the drill, because we all do this! We took our annual trip to Huber's a couple of weekends ago with Nick's mom. We had a great time picking pumpkins, apples, and (for the first time) eating in the restaurant. I won't bore you with all the details, but here are some of my favorite photos from the day:



"Hurry, Mom... these little guys are STARVIN'!!"




Checking out the animals with MawMaw:




Nope. Too big. Need a smaller one...


You have to test them out by sitting on them, you know.






Daddy gives her a lift to reach some of the good apples


As she would say, "Ta-tey and wishous" [tasty and delicious]!


Oh I'm ever so rude... did you want a bite as well??