Fresh Food for us and for Mr. Luke!

Drew and I have really been enjoying grilling out.  It is so easy and the food tastes awesome!  We went to Sprouts Farmer's Market, which is located just down the street a couple of miles from our house, on Sunday and picked up a lot of fresh produce and meats.  I spent a couple of hours making a lot of fresh foods for Luke Sunday afternoon (see explanation a little later in this post) and then we prepared some delicious food for us as well.  For dinner, we grilled some salmon, chicken, Corn on the Cob, green beans and even some sliced peaches mixed with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  YUMMY!

Luke got to sit down with us at the table while we ate, and he sampled some of the freshly cooked items that I made for him to eat over the next few weeks.  At dinner, he sampled a chicken and apple dish, some butternut squash, and some sweet potatoes.  He ate every bite!  I am glad he enjoyed each of these, because he will be munching on these, along with some other items for the next month!

For those of you with a little one who have been interested in making your own baby food, but weren't sure how it all worked--let me tell you--it is very easy, makes a nutritious meal for your little one, and will save you a lot of money (I made the equivalent of 40 jars for less than $5).  Not only that, there are many other benefits as well.  For example, store-bought baby food does not come seasoned.  By making it yourself, you can play around with various seasonings.  Also, store-bought food does not provide a lot of variety.  By making your own, you can make your own combos and try things not available in the jars--like asparagus, broccoli, beets, etc.

It is simple to prepare.  Just pick whatever foods (veggie, meat, fruit) you would like to make, grab some ice trays (one ice cube slot equates to about 2 oz of food-there are 4 oz in a typical baby food jar) and your food processor.  I love the food processor/blender that we received as a wedding gift from my friends Missy and Danna.  I never knew I would be using it to make baby food!

There are some great charts on the internet that recommend different foods dependent on your child's age.
 

I'll share the chicken and apples dish below. 

Ingredients

• 1  6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast half
• 1  medium (5 to 6 ounces) apple, peeled, cored and cut up
• 2  teaspoons unsweetened apple juice

Directions 1. In a small saucepan, cook chicken breast half in enough boiling water to cover for 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (internal temperature should be 170°F). Remove from saucepan; cool. Reserve the water the chicken was cooked in. Cut up cooked chicken into small pieces
2. Meanwhile, grind apple in a food mill or mini food processor with the apple juice until the consistency of applesauce; set aside.
3. Grind chicken in a food mill or mini food processor. Mix ground chicken and applesauce together. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons reserved cooking liquid for the consistency your child likes. Use within 1 day, or freeze up to 1 month.

To Freeze: Spoon finished food into ice cube trays. Cover with waxed paper and freeze until firm. When ice cubes are frozen, remove cubes from tray and store in a resealable plastic freezer bag or freezer container. Label package with contents and date. Use within 1 month. Before serving, let thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

It's pretty simple.  :-)

Our New Patio

Our house is on a corner lot, and is ideally set in reference to the sun---except that the back of the house gets the nice, hot, West sun.  Because we would love to spend a lot of time in the future in our backyard, we decided to add a patio cover to our house.  Our house already had a pretty nice paved patio, but was missing the cover to protect us from the hot summers and the fall rain.

Here is a picture of our house before the patio cover.

We decided that we wanted the cover to look like it was built originally with the house.  Therefore, we decided we didn't want a "shed-style" cover.   Here is a picture of the cover in the process of being built.

And here are some pictures of the finished result.  Doesn't it seem like any time you do a home remodel project, the simple project leads to other purchases?    Because we wanted to enjoy the cover and use it frequently, along with the patio cover purchase came the purchase of new patio furniture and a new grill.  But, I must say, we have already gotten a lot of use out of both additional purchases.

As you walk out our back door:

Of course, there is still some cleanup that needs to occur around the patio, but you get the picture.

Luke's First Time in the Big Pool

Luke is getting so big!  He turned 8 months old on this past Friday--we can't believe it.  On Memorial Day, we decided to take him to the big boy pool in our neighborhood.  So, Daddy blew up his frog float toy, we gathered all of our pool things together, and headed to the pool.

I guess Memorial Day was a very popular day to do this.   The pool was pretty busy, but it wasn't so busy that it discouraged us from jumping in.  I let Drew and Luke have the first try, while I sat back and snapped some photos of the first time Luke swam in the big pool.

Luke truly enjoyed his first time in the pool.  He eventually began splashing and then kicking his legs around to try to make his frog move.  It was pretty cute.

Then, they blew the whistle for adult swim, so we had to get out of the pool.  But, although Luke LOVED being in the pool, I think he enjoyed people watching even more.  He just loves watching people.  I am pretty sure he is an extrovert.  Here are a couple of picture of Luke drying off and "people watching."

Memorial Day Weekend

My side of the family visited us during Memorial day weekend.  A caravan of 8 adults (Luke's Grandma, Grandpa and Aunts & Uncles (Emily/Jason, Brandy/Jeremy, Holly/Ryan) and 5 kids (Luke's cousins, Brody, Kaylee, Traber, Lilly & Linnea) came down from Oklahoma, arriving late Friday night.

We did lots of shopping on Saturday, and then visited the Zilker botanical garden on Sunday.  Then, later on Sunday, we grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs on our patio.  We had so much fun with everyone!  When everyone left on Monday, Luke looked so sad that everyone had gone.  We miss our house full of family. 

It was so much fun to see Luke interact with so many kids.  He tended to observe most of the time--I think they were so entertaining to him. 

We already miss having everyone over, and are looking forward to the next visit!  Here are some pics from this weekend:

Our Weekend in Sugar Land

We spent some time with in Sugar Land, TX last weekend visiting Luke's Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, Mimi & Papa from Drew's side of the family.  Luke had a good time with everyone and really enjoyed this swing at Erica & Andy's house:

Later, we celebrated Mimi's birthday at the Sugar Country Club.  It was a warm, but beautiful sunny day! Happy Birthday Mimi!

Then, Mitchell spent the night with us at Mimi and Papa's.  Luke really enjoyed spending some quality boy-time with him. Here they are watching Star Wars:

Luke says goodbye to Papa.

Is that Drew or Justin Bieber?

So, I just discovered Justin Bieber the other day.  I recorded an episode of Oprah when she hosted him as one of her guests.  I can't believe the reactions he gets by girls--crying, screaming--I just don't get how a kid who sings some songs can get that type of reaction out of girls.  I know--some of your are thinking, "Heather, you grew up in the New Kids on the Block Era--didn't you act similarly when you were that age?"  No, actually, I never understood that then either.

However, I must say, he was pretty charming; and, I will admit that he is talented.  But, I think what drew me in a little bit was how similarly he reminded me of Drew.  I have seen some videos of Drew from when he was around the same age as Justin Bieber; I have seen pictures of Drew from that age range as well.  Justin is so polite, has a high-pitch voice, and, as I said before, is very charming--he truly reminded me of Drew from that age

For those of you who missed the episode of Oprah I am referring to, or if you have no idea who I am talking about, here is the video:  Justin Bieber Oprah Video

When I first told Drew this the other day, his response was, "Who is Justin Bieber?"  Then he asked, "Why do you say he looks like me--does he look nerdy?"  So, I showed him the Oprah youtube video of his performance and video.  He amazingly enough also saw a resemblance.  Then, he showed me his dancing skills and I changed my mind (j/k).  :-)

Here's a side by side of Drew and Justin.  Does anyone else agree?

Luke has Two Teeth!

So, our little guy officially has some teeth.  It seems he has been teething for several months.  I think when he was about 4-5 months old, I thought he was going to have a tooth pop through his gums very soon.  However, the drooling and putting everything in the mouth went on for a few months.  Then, a few weeks ago, I could really tell something was different.  I could also see what looked like a little tooth just below the gums.  Then, about a week or so later, another one popped through.  Poor little guy--I know that has to hurt.

Luke decided to model his new teeth for the camera.  Here is their first appearance before the internet world: