Salt dough ornaments

My very least favorite part of winter is how early it gets dark outside!! Gone are our evening walks to the park and hello to more time in the house. It can really make a person feel cooped up and it's easy for a toddler to get bored and antsy.  So I decided it would help to have a few activities. As I was thinking of things to include doing with our advent calendar ornaments seemed perfect. Enter ... salt dough ornaments.

I used the recipe from Mommypotamus which simply consists of flour, salt and water. It comes together quickly and easily and is fun for the little ones in your life. 

I ended up giving Emersyn her own bowl with flour and water in it to stir and play with and she happily made a giant mess :)  We made the dough and baked them one day and then completed them the next day with glittery paint. Emy's favorite part!

Happy toddler Christmas crafting!! 

Toddler friendly advent calendar

'Tis the Christmas season!

Emy is finally old enough to get excited about a Christmas tree, opening presents, etc. Last year was fun but at 2 years old this year she definitely gets it a little bit more this year. I was always so excited for holidays with kids, it's just that much more enjoyable when you can see them having so much fun and I have such good memories growing up that I couldn't wait to partake in all the merriment with my own kids. I just never clicked when we first had Emersyn that it would be a few years before they can actually participate, ha. So this year ... I wanted to do something she could find fun in an thus, a hunt for a toddler friendly advent calendar. 

I wracked my brain and looked on Pinterest (of course) and I found one where someone had used paper lunch bags to open each day and I knew it would be perfect for Emy. First, I numbered them all and she got to decorate them:

My plan originally was to fill them all with something and then hang them up by the tree but it turns out I wasn't nearly organized enough to have them all pre filled. So I'm not gonna lie, they are all hanging up empty and I simply fill the bag for the day that day. She doesn't know any different ;)

I also write down some simple Bible verses for each day of advent. She doesn't quite get yet what we're reading but we're doing it anyways!

The next step was to think of a months worth of simple toddler friendly activities/treats, etc. For the first half of the month we've had:

1. Decorate the tree
2. Christmas stickers to play with
3. Watch the Caillou holiday movie
4. Drink hot apple cider
5. Make salt dough ornaments
6. Paint the salt dough ornaments
7. New Christmas jammies
8. Make Christmas cookies
9. Read Christmas books
10. A $1 reindeer headband I found at Target with candy
11. Played with some red and green balloons
12. Watched Arthur Christmas

Basically ... I tried to think of simple and cheap ideas that she would have fun with that wouldn't be too much work for mom because mom is busy with a 3 month old as well :) If the particular activity doesn't fit in the bag I put in a "clue" such as a cookie cutter for the cookies or some kind of candy/treat that she opens

More to come!

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy day after Thanksgiving!!

We went to Erik's mom's place for Thanksgiving, aka "Nana's" house.  Erik and I even got to sneak away and go to see the movie Creed. (We love Rocky!)

I'm now ready for all things Christmas!!! Warm cider/tea, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas movies, etc etc etc. I'm planning to make an toddler friendly advent "calendar" since Emersyn is old enough to understand and appreciate things a little bit more this year.  

Here's to the start of "the most wonderful tiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeear" :p 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... everywhere you go.

This holiday season has really snuck up on me with a newborn and a toddler. The whole "days are long but the years are short" saying is proving to be so true!! Seems like just a few months ago Erik was staying up late on Christmas Eve putting Emersyn's kitchen set together and yet here we are at Thanksgiving with another kid!

We've been living in KC the past month or so while my awesome husband works on the latest project, Komatsu.  Amazing ramen coming at you soon!!!

Annnnyways, I plan to take full advantage of being in KC for the holidays and that will include many visits to Union Station to let 2 year old run around and get out energy while we bask in the Christmas delight, ha. Or something like that. Because dark at 5pm, people. Hashtag stir crazy.

Yesterday it was 60 degrees outside so I couldn't resist going outside to take full advantage of nice weather before it's too cold. We walked to the park and of course Emersyn was thrilled, as always, with "running" and playing outside!

Thanksgiving and Christmas ... here we come!

Back in Action

And we're baaaaack!

At least in some form.  Two kids, two restaurants and much more later, I've decided to come back to the blog world at least a little bit. Now that I'm getting settled in to life with two kids I miss the creative outlet it allows. 

I've tried my hand at having a kid related blog and a food blog and that obviously didn't work either. So here we are back at The Purple Carrot, where everything I feel like posting will be found. Kids, food, family, life, whatever ... Looking back, one of my favorite things about blogging is to be able to look to past years and remember what was going on and having a record of fun memories and different seasons of life.

So here's to another era of The Purple Carrot, whatever it may look like!

Emersyn's 2nd birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to Emersyn!

We are so blessed to be the parents of this sweetheart! She's a handful and has always given us a run for our money mostly in the realm of sleeping. Or more like not sleeping. But she also has the most beautiful smile and personality around! 

Happy 2nd birthday, Emy!!

Long time no blog

Long time no blog! I probably have about 0 readers at this point but that’s okay.  Life has been full and is always busy with a 1 year old.  I’m not sure why but they don’t appreciate when mom sits on her computer instead of playing ; ) I find most of my “updating” happens via Instagram because it’s nice and quick.
So … what’s new?

• Our restaurant, il Lazzarone, has been open now about 7 months and Emersyn and I are enjoying our fill of pizza just about every day! Erik is working hard in his role as owner/pizzaioli and things are going well! We’ve been featured in many news outlets the most recent of which being The Pitch (Article can be found riiiiiight here)

Follow us on Facebook for updates!
 

• Emersyn has been growing like a weed! She’s 15 months old now and getting smarter and smarter each day! We were able to go on a family vacation to New York City a few months ago and we’re excited to spend our second Christmas holiday as a family of three!

   
May this be the beginning of a blog renaissance, ha.
Lesley

Emersyn's first birthday

Well, I'm practically not a blogger anymore, ha.  But one of these days perhaps I'll start up again on a more consistent basis.  For now ... a little recap of our sweet little girl's first birthday.  It's hard to believe how fast time has gone by and how big she has gotten.

I wanted to keep things simple while using up some of my garden bounty so I made a few appetizers inspired from Pinterest.

First up, caprese kabobs featuring cherry tomatoes sliced and topped with basil and mozzarella cheese sitting in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next, toast bites which consisted of petite toasts topped with spreadable cream cheese, arugala, chives, salt, pepper and drizzle of olive oil.

Next up, I utilized some of my many zucchini by slicing it up and topping it with sun dried tomatoes, green onion, feta cheese, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Along with that, I had some hummus and pita chips, chocolate chip cookies and of course … cake!

All were very tasty!





Next up ... the infamous smash cake! She didn't love solids for awhile so I wasn't sure how she would take to her "smash cake" but it turns out it was a big hit! I used a recipe inspired from here which had no added sugar sweetened with bananas and apple sauce.  The frosting simple consisted of cream cheese and apple juice concentrate.

Like I said ... Emy loved it, lol.

It was a very blessed day for sure! Happy 1st birthday, Emy!!

Easter 2014

Easter 2014

8 Months

8 months

My little girl is 8 months!! We love you, sweet Emy

Eight Months 

Eating: Besides our normal nursing, you've begun to actually "chew" on solids and maybe even like them. So far your favorites are mushed up ground beef or chicken, yogurt, and sometimes banana.

Sleeping: Uh, yeah, last month still complete it applies :p

Sleeping this month hasn't been your forte, ha. Nighttime is pretty hit and miss these days. You're waking up on average three times a night and haven't had more than a 5 hour spurt at all this month. You're still napping about twice a day for 45 mins to an hour. Your favorite place to nap is still on mom but you have napped in the stroller and car seat a little now too.

Clothes: Pretty much all 12 months with some lingering 9 months left. Mom has had a very hard time staying away from cute summer clothes. Hello, cute baby girl rompers!

Favorite Activities: Grabbing ahold of anything and everything Mom is holding onto

Least Favorite Activities: This month, sleeping "good"

Big moments/firsts:

- You had a modeling gig at Hallmark and got to go with mom to a live cooking segment. At Hallmark you were an awesome model and everyone on set of KC Live loved you!

- Babies first Easter