Fruit Leather

I decided to be a little adventures today and try my hand at making fruit leather aka fruit roll ups. Growing up this was always the best treat at school. My mom never really brought fruit roll ups when we were kids. So I was excited when I discovered the recipe on Weelicious.com. It is a super simple recipe, all you need is strawberries and honey.

First you take 3 cups of strawberries and cut the tops off. That is if you don't have a little toddler beside you wanting to steal all your strawberries. Don't ask me how to tell how much 3 cups of strawberries are. I watched the video and it seemed like it was about to the top of the blender. So I filled my blender to the top with strawberries and then I added 1 tablespoon of honey. Next you blend the two ingredients together in a blender. It took the woman in the video like a second to blend her strawberries. I believe I must have had operator error or I have a weak blender. It took me awhile to get the soup like texture she mentions. I had to stop and lift the lid up and push the strawberries down. But eventually I got the right blend. Just the soup like mix of strawberries and honey by itself was so yummy.

Once you have your strawberries blended you are suppose to pour the mixture over a  cooking pan lined with parchment paper. Then spread the mixture into a even layered square so it cooks even. I had a lot of liquid so I believe my square was thick. The woman in the video says it takes 2 to 3 hours to cook and then you are suppose to let it cool for 2 to 3 hours or over night. I let mine cook for 3 hours. I believe I should have only cooked it for 2 hours and maybe it would have set up while cooling. But I ended up burning the whole outside of my fruit leather. The inside was yummy and delicious.

I believe I will try this recipe again and watch the oven a little closer. Overall it is a super simple recipe and the end product tastes great. You just have to be patient because it does take a long time to cook and then a long time to cool.

We have a farmer on our hands

Today was our big outing to Patterson Farms with the Central Piedmont Mommies. First off, we had to make a quick pit stop at the South Branch Rowan Library. I had googled the address in advance and I felt confident that I wouldn't get lost. I should have known better since my track record is not perfect on following directions. Turns out that the address Google had for the library was actually the old address that is now the Rowan County Sheriff's Training Branch. So just imagine how silly Virginia and I looked walking in to ask for directions. Luckily, the woman was kind and I believe she may get lost mommies in there a lot looking for the library. At least that is what I would like to think. I finally found the library and grabbed a couple of free adult passes for the farm and was on my way.

Lately, I have really not been loving my GPS system. Either it doesn't have the address or maybe operator error. Or like today it tells me I have reached my destination, but in reality I still have to go a good mile or so down the road to get to my destination. We finally got to the farm and met up with all the mommies.

We had a great turn out. It was about 20 total moms and kids. We all got our wrist band and headed up to the barn following the cutest old man ever, wearing his overalls and straw hat. We all gathered in this huge barn that had benches half way up the walls. It was extremely hot in the barn. We stayed in there and we all got baskets and some feed for the goats.

Feeding the goats was the highlight of the whole trip. Virginia was so excited when all the goats came running up to eat out of her little cup. She giggled and laughed and ran back to our bucket to get more feed. I believe I need to find another local petting zoo type place. It was a big hit for Virginia.

The rest of the tour was fun, but Virginia really needed to be a little older to fully enjoy it. The rest of the tour was little stops where the kids could pick different fake produce that at the end of the tour they could turn in for ice cream or a toy. The stops consisted of a small bee hive nest behind glass that the kids could us a magnifying glass to see the bees closer. Then a butterfly garden, which Virginia didn't want anything to do with the butterflies. It was somewhat silly. Then we were off to pick fake eggs, milk a fake cow, and get some pumpkin seeds to plant at home.

Overall, we had a great time even if we almost melted from the heat. By the end, we were both wiped out and needed a nap.

Not a Toilet

So since I have had multiple comments about the toilet picture and how I should have given warning to such a picture. I decided to not leave you guys looking at the inside of my nasty toilet, but post some cute pictures of Virginia til we go to Patterson Farms tomorrow. I am hoping then I will have lots of cute pictures of Virginia patting farm animals to post. Til then enjoy some pictures of Virginia flashing everyone her belly. Because that is what proper young ladies do.

Super Human Strength

Yes I am crazy enough to post a picture of the inside of my toilet for the world to see!

Just as I thought I was done with dealing with the apartment maintenance guys, my super human strength gets the best of me. Well at least I like to think that; most likely I just have a bad toilet. Tuesday afternoon as I go to flush the toilet, the handle on the outside breaks and cracks just a little. Then I look on the inside of the toilet to find that the plastic arm that connects to the chain has completely broken off from the knob. So now when I need to flush my toilet I have to open the tank and stick my hand into the nasty water to pull the chain up myself. So here I am waiting on the mainetance guys to come fix the toilet. I promise this time I will be showered and fully clothed before they ring my door.

On to a different topic, I have decided to start taking Virginia to the pool once or twice a day. It is a nice break and both of us need some time out of the apartment. So this morning I decided to get her dressed and load up the diaper bag and head to the pool at 9:00 a.m. It was overcast with a light breeze in the air. Virginia always enjoys walking beside me holding my hand. She is getting to be such a big kid.

Once we get to the pool we just had to wait a few minutes while one of the maintenance guys finishes blowing off the debris from around the pool. It took long enough for Virginia and I both to get lathered up with sun block, since both of us are pasty white. Hopefully by the end of the summer, we may actually have a decent tan going on.

I decided to take one of her rubber balls with us to the pool this trip. It was a huge success. Virginia loved sitting on the top step and throwing the ball at me. I think Virginia is really starting to love the pool and playing in the water. Also, it is some nice exercise and break from our routine for both of us.

We even met two new women at the pool. I believe it was a mom and daughter. The daughter looked like she was in her 20's. They had just moved in yesterday. The daughter exclaimed to me that they had moved up from Texas to start going to The Fire School. It is a ministry school up here. The girl said that she is studying to become a pastor and hopes to go over to Asia to do ministry. Both women were super nice and thought Virginia was the cutest thing on earth.

Virginia and I spent about two hours at the pool. Then I decided that it was getting to be really hot and that both of us had taken in enough sun. Also, it was past Virginia's nap time. Lets just say Virginia was not feeling the same way I was. Enter the Terrible Two tantrum. She pitched a fit the whole way home. I ended up carrying her the whole way back to the apartment. You would have thought I was killing the child. I kept saying out loud that we would go back to the pool later tonight just so people knew that I was not abusing my child, but that she was really not happy about leaving the pool. Once we got inside I tried giving her a bath and that lasted about one minute and I decided to just dry her off. Put a diaper on her and set her in her crib for a much needed nap.

She is going on 2 hours of napping so far. So I guess our pool adventure was a success at least in letting her get out and play and have a good time. Now we just need to work on our exit.

It's a bird, It's a plane.....

It's a plane, it's a bird, no it's SUPERMOM! Able to leap mounds of laundry and dishes with one leap. Able to clean a whole living room full of toys in one fell swoop. Changes diapers in less then sixty seconds flat. SUPERMOM to the rescue, wherever there is a dirty kitchen, messy bathroom, or a wild toddler to wrangler. She is the woman to call when in need.

Ok so maybe I am not SUPERMOM, but I think if I had a theme song it would make me a lot more excited to get up on Monday and clean house. Oh, and I would love an awesome cape and outfit to go along with my theme song. Then I would clean my kitchen and living room with a smile on my face.

Unfortunately, my SUPERMOM costume is still at the dry cleaners. But the kitchen and living room still needed a good cleaning. I have been really lazy this past week being a little sick and all. I was determined to be a good stay at home mom today. So I got all the dishes put away and cleaned up all the counter tops. I even cleaned off the dining room table, a.k.a the landing pad for all things, mail and loose items. I also got almost all the laundry done. Then I rounded up all of Virginia's toys that have executed a master plan to take over the entire living room. To finish off my perfect day I even vacuumed the kitchen and living room.

Yes, yes please hold down your applause. Thank You, thank you. I would like to thank my mom for being such a clean example for me. Wait, wait. Sorry, I got a little side tracked. I may not win the SUPERMOM award of the year. I mean, I have not smashed a spider with my bare hand that was on my child (Laura). But I have high hopes of reaching that level of SUPERMOM one day. Till then I will focus on just keeping my little apartment clean and changing out of my red gym shorts every now and again for my loving husband, Reiggin.

Lesson Learned

I learned my lesson the hard way. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided it would be a great idea to take Virginia to a play group that also was a charity event. Let me explain better.

The CPM's were having a play group at a ladies house and while the kids are playing the moms were going to be stuffing bags for homeless people. The charity that we were working with is called Help Bags. They bag items for homeless people and then pass them out at local shelters. Items like crackers, band-aids, mens socks, and hand warmers are just a few of the items that get placed in the bags.

The ladies house was about a twenty minute drive for us. It was out near the town of Locust. The drive was nice and we got to see some beautiful country. The ladies house was gorgeous. It was at the very back of a new development. In the front of her yard she had a huge pond and on the side of her house she had another huge pond. Her house was also surrounded by trees. If I had a dream location for my house this would be a very close match. We were a little late getting there since I forgot how far grocery stores are in the country. I needed to stop and pick up a snack for the get together.

Once we got to the house and pulled into the drive I got a little nervous at the site of all the moms in a circle talking. But once Brandy one of the moms said hey Kathy I felt better. It is always great when someone remembers you. I was also a little disappointed because there was only one child that came and it was a 3 year old boy. Virginia didn't want much to do with the little boy.

Virginia did entertain herself for a little while with the ladies magnetic v-tech game. But that didn't last for very long. As we are all sitting in a circle feeling bags. Virginia kept getting in the middle of the circle wanting me to follow her into the kitchen. She was super whiny and wanting my full attention though out the whole party. The owner's big dog Max entertained her for a bit, but I knew that we were going to need to leave soon. Overall I did not have a great time, Virginia wore me out chasing her around the house trying to keep her happy and quiet. The best part about the whole get together other then helping out a charity was putting faces to some of the moms that I have talked with on the forum.

But like I said I learned my lesson the hard way. Don't expect a almost 2 year old to entertain herself while you try to hang out with adults. Also I learned a laundry lesson yesterday as well. Don't dry your clothes at a high heat level for an hour. Holes will form and sadly my Avett Brothers shirt was the victim. Luckily it is still wearable.

Saturday Adventures

Luckily, Saturday morning I woke up feeling a lot better.  I decided to go ahead and go out to breakfast with the moms from Central Piedmont Moms. Virginia and I got all dressed up and yes, Lisa, I even took a bath. We met the moms and their kids at this small place just up the road called Zak's Place.

This restaurant had just recently opened up from what I heard. It reminded me of RO's or really any mom and pop type restaurant you can think of. Once we got in, we met two moms and their kids and got seated at the table in the back. It was already Virginia's nap time. So I knew I was most likely in for a little struggle keeping her in her seat and happy.

I sat her right beside me and beside this 5 year old boy on the other side. The little boy was so sweet and tried to get Virginia to play with his stuffed dog. Virginia was a little too shy and decided to ditch her own chair to climb into my lap. I didn't mind, I was just trying to keep her happy. She was climbing all over me. Luckily one of the other moms came to my rescue.

She handed me her iPhone that had this awesome app called Baby Piano on it. She said, "Let her play with this, if you don't mind." Virginia grabbed that phone and in an instant it was like the angels from up above sang out and she was a quiet peaceful baby for the rest of the breakfast.

I ordered some pancakes, hash browns, and bacon. Oh my gosh, it had been a while since I have had a good breakfast. At least one that didn't consist of small bites from Virginia's left over waffle. I started to eat my pancake when I noticed a little mouth wide open with puppy dog eyes looking at me. Surprise! Virginia loves her some pancakes. She ate almost two whole pancakes by herself. I didn't complain at all. Lately it has been hit and miss with what she likes to eat.

It was great having dinner with the moms. Having adult conversation is always nice and I don't always get enough of it. By the end of the breakfast, we were all just sitting around chatting and letting the kids walk around the table and play. I usually don't allow Virginia to leave the table or my side. But this restaurant was very small and at the time, there was only one table in the restaurant. Also, the owners were super nice and told us that the kids could play and walk around.

I figured Virginia would just stay right beside my leg. One little girl came up and was so cute. She was just kind of patting Virginia on her head and back. I guess trying to say, "Hey, come play and dance with me." Virginia quickly took a liking to this little girl and her green frog rain boots. I couldn't help but giggle as Virginia and this girl started chasing each other around the table. I know, not very good parenting skills letting your child run around a restaurant table giggling and screaming like a little girl.
But like I said, this is a one time only experience. I am sure I will pay for it when we go out some where else and Virginia wants down to play. The girls were just too cute.

I had my camera and was all ready to be that dork that asked for a group shot, so I would have a great photo for my blog. But I decided to be cool and considering it was my first time meeting these moms, I just took a picture of the building. Maybe next time I will let my Dork Flag fly and ask for a group shot.

Virginia was super tired by the time we got back to the apartment and took a nice long nap. During her nap, Reiggin cooked some Mexican food for lunch. Oh, it was so yummy and I can't say enough how lucky I am to have married a man that knows how to cook. We also watched "The A-Team" movie. I was a little unsure this movie was going to be good. But I was wrong; the movie was great. It made me laugh and it kept me guessing.

After Virginia's nap and lunch, we decided to try again to take our adventure to the pool. So we all got dressed and made the walk up to the pool. There were about 7 kids already playing in the pool. Luckily, they were staying in the deep end for the most part. I sprayed Virginia down with sunscreen and put her life vest on. I was expecting her to be a little scared of going in the pool. But she just stepped right in with me. For the most part, she loved the water. She may just be a fish like her mother. She did enjoy running around the pool a little more then swimming in it. But for her first adventure to the pool, I would say it was a success.

One thing that did shock me about the pool was how many kids were there under the age of 13 with no adult supervision. Call me a over protective mother, but I would never let my child swim alone with a bunch of other kids. Then to add to my shock, a mom come into the pool area to check on her child and asked another girl that was only 13 to watch her child swim while she went back to her apartment. My mouth was just wide open in shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I just wanted to step up and say, "Are you crazy?" But I decided I didn't want a big black woman cursing me out and telling me to mind my own business.

We decided to pack up since all of us were getting pretty tired. I forgot how much exercise swimming can be. We headed back to the apartment for some dinner and some much needed down-time watching some Nick Jr. cartoons. Virginia went to sleep that night with no problems!

When Virginia was first born, I found myself tip toeing into her room to make sure she was still breathing and sleeping fine. I still find myself doing this same thing every night before I go to bed. There is nothing more peaceful and cute then a little child sleeping. Some nights it is just too funny to see what position Virginia is sleeping in. Last night I had to cover my mouth from laughing out loud. I even had to go get Reiggin to show him. Reiggin grabbed the camera and took some pictures. She just had one little leg propped up on the back wall and her mouth was wide open. She was so cute and looked so peaceful.  It made for the perfect ending to a perfect day