Fall Decor

If you walk into my house you will smell farts pumpkin and apple. Not because I'm cooking a ton, but because I have a glade plug in with those scents.....

I love Fall because it means cooler weather, no more bugs, and I can finally decorate my house with leaves and pumpkins!

Ignore the disgruntled toddler 

John was too excited to stay out of these photos...

This will be short lived because Halloween decorations are next! 

Apple Sauce

I finally got around to making something with the shit load large amount of apples we picked! John loves apple sauce so I figured this was a perfect recipe to try. We had pork tenderloin for dinner so the pairing was delicious.

The recipe is from The Pioneer Woman
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/homemade-applesauce/

Ingredients:
6 pounds apples peeled, cored, cut into slices ( I used 8 large apples)
1 cup apple juice or apple cider
Juice of 1 lemon ( I didn't use this)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
optional spices to add: nutmeg, syrup, allspice, butter ( I added 1 tbsp butter)

I used a crock pot instead of a pot over the stove, so my directions are a bit different than The Pioneer Woman's.

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on High for 4 hours
Transfer apple mixture to a food processor or blender and mix

John enjoyed the applesauce! 

Apple Picking

We had a great time apple picking at 

County Line Orchard. The weather was really freakin hot perfect and the apples were aplenty!

Stay tuned for homemade apple sauce, pie, and whatever else I can google whip up in the kitchen!

Fall Tree Activity

This is where I found this idea: http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2015/09/easy-fall-tree-activity-for-toddlers.html

After collecting a few items from JoAnn Fabrics (their fall and Halloween stuff is AMAZING right now) I constructed this pain in the ass cute little Fall tree.

Supplies:

Fabric fall leaves

Contact Paper

Brown paper

Kim Crawford

Brown fabric

Scissors

Tape

-Cut out a circle with the contact paper and tape it to the wall (sticky side out!)

*I didn’t want to put clear tape on my walls (blue painters tape only in this house!) so I put the contact paper on a piece of light brown paper.

-Make a tree trunk with the brown fabric and tape to the wall.

-Stick the fabric leaves onto the contact paper!

If you judge me on the uneven circle...you are dead to me.

John had fun putting the leaves on, taking them off, etc. We counted them, threw them around, made piles, and talked about the different colors.

This is after he got his hair stuck to the contact paper....

This is a fun and easy activity to do with toddlers!  You can switch if up for different holidays/seasons too. It can be a Christmas tree with ornaments, a winter tree with snowflakes, or a summer tree with butterflies! I love any activity that allows me to drink wine get a few things done while John is occupied!

Happy Crafting!

Fall

Happy Fall Y'all

 

Leggings, pumpkins, apples, Halloween, Uggs, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Greys Anatomy returning....these are a few of my favorite things! 

Find me on Instagram at Playtimeorpinot

I'm not smart enough to know how to link that yet...

Bookshelves

Our family room has beautiful custom built bookshelves surrounding the fireplace. My father in law designed and built them and we love them! The house had nasty old brick and needed an update badly.

Obviously I cleaned up for the photo op. Normally there are non photogenic items like chewed books, banana peels, and the dreaded rotten milk sippy's found behind the couch.

Book shelves are fairly easy to decorate (if not filling with actual books) because picture frames go a long way. The decorative items were purchased at Home Goods, my Mom’s basement, Hobby Lobby, and Target.

A few tips when decorating a bookshelf:

1) Don't overdo it. A few pieces can catch the eye, but a lot of busy pieces will look overdone.

2) Make it look like your style.  Photos of my kid, peppy sayings, and splashes of color kind of speak to me!

3) Layer the decor. The stacked books, the signs in back and front...

4) Make it seasonal. This is what my bookshelves look like during the off season. During any holiday (except lame ones like Arbor Day) I like to decorate the mantel and add festive items to the shelves.

Glad to share some of my home decor with everyone! I'm no expert, but I enjoy faking it trying to put stuff together to make it work! 

 

Pork Tenderloin

I love Costco and all the big ass wonderful things inside. I am a big fan of bulk. Goldfish, wine, leggings, frozen waffles...you name it! The pork tenderloin at Costco is always delicious. The two pack has two loins (did anybody else giggle?) in each pack so there is plenty to go around.

This is just a simple/easy recipe to cook a pork tenderloin in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Drizzle a casserole dish with olive oil

Place pork tenderloins in dish

Drizzle the pork with olive oil and season with salt, oregano, and thyme

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes

Pair with any wine vegetable and rice or potato…voila! John actually hates pork so Bryan and I enjoy the pork while John dines on one of his main food groups: mac and cheese, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets.

Bone Apple Tea! 

How Bout Dem Apples?

It's beginning to look a lot like ....Apples! Pumpkins will come soon enough. Apple's don't get enough attention. 

We are going apple picking next weekend and I can't wait to bake a shitty delicious pie! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'm a mom so my weekend feels like every other day!

Letters

As a former preschool teacher, I take educational learning to the extreme. We have a scheduled time where we sit down and review letters, numbers, shapes, and colors.

Ha! Just kidding! I just want to make sure my toddler can recognize something other than the Dunkin Donuts sign.

However, I do like to make sure there are plenty of things around the house to aid in his learning. The fancy educational term is Environmental Print. So it might be embarrassing that my son says “Do-Do!” every time we pass Dunkin Donuts, but I’m proud that he’s absorbing his environmental print.

A few things that we have around the house are

1)  Art easel (little tikes) 

We love to use outdoor colored chalk and draw on the art easel. Frequently in my search engine: “Is Chalk non-toxic?" We practice name writing, letters, numbers, etc. on the easel. 

2)  Letter cling ons (Purchased at the greatest spot-Target’s dollar section) 

       Please ignore the dirty window behind the letters, the ripped letters, and the letters with a bite taken out of them. I like to have these on the window so John can have the letters to look at during meal time. I don’t get out the pointer and spell words, but having the letters at eye level helps John with his letter recognition.

3)  Magnet letters and a cookie sheet (Dollar store purchase) 

Aside from baking cookies on them (ignore the scorched cookie marks), cookie sheets are fun to use with any kind of magnet. If your refrigerator is stainless steel and can’t hold magnets then this is a great option. (THANK GOD ours is stainless-my husband has some questionable ones that remain in the garage.) 

4)  Alphabet/number mat (Buy Buy Baby) 

This was a baby shower gift and we’ve had it set up since John was born! The soft mat is great for babies to lay on and eventually toddlers to play on. We put the furniture on it so our hardwood floors don’t get scratched. Again, this is just about having the letters shown so John can look at them. 

Eventually we’ll do different activities and I’ll post more teacher created ideas. This is just what is in my house at the time being! We’re focusing on having letters at his eye level and providing him with a few fun things to do with the letters.

Stay tuned for Fall/Halloween crap glued on paper crafts and activities!

*Please bare with me as I learn how to blog properly! I will try to post something once a day to keep you liking me interested! 

Carrot Zucchini Muffins

If your toddler is anything like mine (Lord help us) then they hate vegetables. My two-year-old still eats baby food just so I feel like a good mom know he’s eating a vegetable.

This was him trying avocado:

This recipe was a lifesaver when I was a brand new mom, and it continues to be a lifesaver! My Mother in law made a huge batch for me when John was first born and we ate them until I was back to myself (aka not crying from hormones and sleep deprivation.)

Needless to say, this is my Mother in laws recipe and we love it in this house!

Carrot Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups finely grated zucchini (skin on)

2 cups finely grated carrots

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Prepare/Grease 2 loaf pans with waxed paper, 24 muffins, or 48 mini muffins

Blend oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and vegetables

Mix dry ingredients and add to the blended mixture

Pour into prepared pans

Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes (loaf pans)

40 minutes (regular size muffin)

20 minutes (mini muffin)

Jokes on you kid! There's vegetables in there!