I can’t really remember where I saw this idea, but I thought it was a great and easy way to display cards, my son’s art, or other items we want to display. It was very easy to make. Here is how I did it! Continue reading “chicken wire display”
Tag: easy
cute summer wreath
While we were away, we welcomed a new member to our family! I am now a mom of an infant and a toddler (wow!). I am learning to adjust to the lack of sleep again, but enjoying the extra time with my family while on maternity leave. Continue reading “cute summer wreath”
toddler room ideas
Recently my son turned 3 years old and we decided it was time for him to move to a big boy room. We were hoping the room would get him excited about moving out of the old room to make way for our new baby. We have a new baby coming this Spring and we needed to move my son down the hall. So, for his birthday we decided to give him a room makeover! We used a lot of items that we already had and bought the rest from IKEA or Amazon.
We already had a twin bed, dresser, and nightstand (these were mine as a child) plus a few other items we used for decor. So the picture above shows many of the items we purchased from IKEA (I know it looks like a mess!).
We decided to do a Lion Guard themed room since that is my son’s favorite show right now. He got a Lion Guard bedding set from my parents for his birthday, plus my husband found some great wall appliques on Amazon.
Here is the finished product:
His bed with the appliques on the wall. He already had Kion and Simba stuffed animals. Plus we had a green throw to add to the bed and the lamp (from IKEA) for the night stand.
All of the bins were from the Dollar Tree. I love their bins! They have so many colors and, of course, everything is a dollar. 🙂
The shelf ($34.99, but we purchased during a sale) for his books and toys is from IKEA and so are the tables ($7.99) I used to make a train/play table. To hold his books that are on the wall, we used IKEA spice racks ($3.99)! We got his stool ($7.99) and stool cushion ($4.99) from IKEA as well. We already had the car track rug and tent (both from IKEA).
The rocking chair was a hand-me-down from my mother.
I added a number and alphabet banner to the wall, which we already had (purchased from the Target Bullseye Playground). The lamp on his dresser is also from IKEA and was in his old room. We added a few of his toys around the room because we were hoping he would want to play in his room more often. We are thinking that when the baby arrives we might need to spend more time upstairs and we wanted him to actually want to be in his room.
He LOVED the room and slept in it the first night. Since our son is an early riser, we have discovered that he will even play in his room by himself in the morning until we get up and dressed. He never wanted to do that before and always wanted to come watch TV in our room.
I am so happy with how the room turned out! My son said “I LOVE my new room” and he walked down the hall and said “That’s the baby room now” to his old room. It all worked out perfectly! 🙂
❤ Kia
make your own baby food
When my son was a baby, I liked to prep meals for him as well. I pretty much made all of his baby food, except when we were traveling. He LOVED to eat and I made his food from the beginning. I plan to do the same thing with our next child. One of my shower gifts was a Baby Bullet and I definitely put it to work. It is easier than you might think to prepare healthy meals for your baby and you don’t have to own a Baby Bullet to do it.
My husband and I like to eat organic as much as possible, so we wanted our son to eat organic as well. As many of you know, organic baby food can be pretty pricey, but making your own food makes it very affordable.
We started with a brown rice cereal and then moved on to avocado, bananas, peas, pears, apples, squash, sweet potatoes, and zucchini. All of these foods are great foods to start your baby’s eating journey.
As they grow older you can try asparagus, carrots, green beans, white potatoes, oatmeal, and peaches, as well as other veggies and meats. You want to stay away from honey, peanut butter, citrus fruits, raw berries (strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries), egg whites, whole milk, and shellfish/crustaceans.
To make your foods you need either a good blender, food processor, or some sort of food grinder/masher. For my son, we usually did a brown rice cereal mixed with a fruit and/or veggie. To make brown rice cereal you will grind the rice up into a fine powder with your blender and then cook, similar to regular rice, with water on the stove (1/2 cup rice to 4 cups water). You can add more or less water to change the consistency.
I liked to make big batches of the food to last for a few weeks. Fresh food in the fridge will last for about 3 days, but food in the freezer will last about a month. To store my food I used my Baby Bullet containers, but since I made such large batches I also use ice cube trays. These are a great way to store exactly one serving of food. Plus once your baby begins to eat more you can give them different foods at one meal, such as a fruit and a veggie cube. I liked to make two fruits and two veggies, plus rice cereal at one time. That way and I could mix up different flavors and my son didn’t have to eat the same food everyday.
Here are some recipes for beginning foods:
Bananas – 1 banana to 1/4 cup water (blend)
Sweet Potatoes – 1 peeled, steamed potato to 1 cup water (I used the water leftover after steaming since it has some of the nutrients from the veggies in it).
Zucchini – 1 steamed zucchini to 1/4 cup water
Pears – 1 steamed, peeled pear to 1/4 cup water
Peas – 1 steamed cup peas to 1/4 cup water
Squash – 1 steamed squash (remove tips) to 1/4 cup water
Apples – 1 steamed, peeled apple to 1/4 cup water
Avocado – 1 peeled and pitted avocado to 1/4 cup water
(Note: for all foods you can add more or less water to change the consistency)
With all of these foods you will add them to your blender and then blend until they are smooth.
Do you have any favorite baby food recipes?
❤ K
mason jar solar lights
As you know, I love mason jars so when my mom mentioned she saw, on pinterest, a way to make solar lights out of the jars I thought I would give it a try. I didn’t really have specific directions to follow for the lights, so I tried different things until I got something that worked. Continue reading “mason jar solar lights”
office on a budget
Since we moved into our new place, I have been wanting to update my office/work space. I wanted it to look more organized, fun, and have a more cohesive look. I didn’t want to spend too much on the updates so I tried to mostly work with what I already owned. Continue reading “office on a budget”
easy sports award display
In that last few years I have started running and participating in races. At each race I typically get a bib and a medal. The medals were starting to stack up and I had nowhere to display them. Scrolling through Pinterest (as I do all too frequently), I saw this idea from someone displaying karate belts. Continue reading “easy sports award display”
getting a little crafty
Since we moved into a new place, I have been working on decorating and getting the house organized. I wanted to add some plants outside and needed a couple pots. I couldn’t really find anything I liked so I decided to make what I needed.
