Baby food - www.wholesomebabyfood.com

"Solid food stage."


Are there any words more exciting or more terrifying to a mommy than these? Well, potty training and teething come to mind so I guess there are... ;) But for the sake of this post - let's just stick with the awe surrounding the solid food stage, shall we?


What do I feed my baby, how much, when do I feed them, how often, what's healthy, what's not.... and the list goes on. As mommies, we are so excited to see our little ones grow - but ooohhh, the messy road of nutrition we must travel to reach each new milestone. Let's face it - we want our babies to learn and become independent one day, so they are going to need proper nutrients to get there! Fortunately - there are wonderful people out there (bless you, wonderful people!) who are happy to help and even design websites to guide us (so we can spend those precious minutes we saved by not having to search for all this info online - to wipe up faces, clean off trays, wash fingers, mop the floor, and then get ready to start the process all over again).


http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ is one of those awesome sites! It is absolutely full of wonderful information, advice, how to cook and store your own baby food, nutrition information, feeding suggestions, RECIPES - hey, they even have a few menu ideas and schedules! Talk about doing the legwork for you! :)


Not convinced - okay, here is an example. Click on one of their fruits and veggies - like asparagus. It lets you know when it is recommended that a baby try asparagus (including suggestions for babies with digestive issues), gives you nutritional information about asparagus, what to look for in good asparagus when you are purchasing it in a store, suggestions on how to cook and store asparagus for your baby, piles of recipes for your baby with asparagus being in them, and even suggestions for foods good to mix with asparagus!


I don't know about you - but I am SOLD on this website. Definitely a "bookmarker"... :)


Stay tuned for more posts later this week regarding more fun food sites for your baby or tot! :)

Joining the C---- Camp - A Girl Baby Shower/Sip-N-See

Despite a couple of setbacks in the planned launch of our maternity t-shirts in our Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/natureofgrace?ref=si_shop, we have not given up nor have we been idle as you will see in this post... :)

One morning recently, I sat down with a couple of ladies from our church and proceeded to help plan a baby shower - now that doesn't sound unusual, does it - except that this celebration was to take place in less than a week! A bit daunting - yes! But along with some other ladies, I rose to the fun challenge and we managed to throw an adorable shower! Given that this baby shower/sip-n-see had to be planned AND executed in less than a week - I think it turned out beautifully! :) And now for the details...


Theme:
CAMPING... I arrived at this idea for a theme when considering the family who had just welcomed a sweet baby girl into their lives. They are wonderful, fun, and share a love of the outdoors, camping, and many sports/activities. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be long before this little baby "joined" right in! Thus, I came up with the theme idea of "Joining the C------ Camp. Welcome Morgan K..." and although it was very camping oriented, I wanted to "girl" it up with feminine sweetness. Enter pink, pink, pink and lace!!! :)


Food:

The ladies of the church provided the edibles which consisted of piles of yummy finger foods and, in keeping with the camping spirit, a Make-Yer-Own-Smores Bar. (Suggested possible toppings for anyone else wanting to do this: peanut butter, butterscotch chips, coconut, fruit, jam, white chocolate, caramel pieces, etc.).

The cake was made by one of the talented ladies of the church - an adorable camping trailer pulled by a "Morgan" car (apparently she carved these out of rice krispie treats) on its way to the campsite. Didn't she do an incredible job?

Decor and Activities:

Painted faux wooden signs showed guests the way to the "campsite". Outside, these signs also acted as guides for activities for children who attended the shower. A small campsite had been set up with items for the children to enjoy while the adults ate and chatted. A "Camping To Do List" offered suggestions for the children - make a tent (sheet had been set out for this purpose), cook food (play dishes had been placed near a faux campfire), go fishing (fishing hole consisted of blue fabric, paper fish with paper clips attached to them, and magnetic fishing rods), etc. They could also choose to go on a nature walk. Lists of animals to look for on the nature walk were provided for the children as well (pictures of these animals had been placed around the yard for the children to search for and find on their "hike").

A pink sign inside the hosting family's home pointed the way to the "Camp Munchies" which were set out on a table draped with a garland of pinecones, twigs, flowers, and lace. I found this adorable idea from another camping shower here - http://www.jesihaackweddingsblog.com/2011/02/camping-baby-shower/ (and I just added the flowers and lace).

Wanting to portray a rustic feel to the meal without losing feminine charm, I settled on using mason jars and tin cans as vases for beautiful miniature pale pink roses and white flowers (mimicking little white wildflowers one might find on a hike). I dolled these up with lace, jute twine, and pale pink ribbon and added a small sign warning the "campers" not to feed the bears. I also scattered pine cones around the bases of some of the jars/cans but this was after I took the pictures above. (I wish I had thought to wait to take pictures until after I had placed the pine cones because they really added a cute "camp" touch to the table).

A sign in the background spelled out the baby's name using twigs and sticks on a pink background with a pink ribbon bow accent on top.

Over the hosting family's fireplace mantel, I nestled a paddle that I had painted pink (adding the baby's monogram in a darker shade of rose) and tied with pink ribbon and lace. Leaning against the handle are large letters made from twigs/sticks - the baby's initials - and accented with a little bit of lace and ribbon as well. A real camping lantern graced the coffee table where small dishes of nuts had been placed for the guests. A small pink tent was also set up in one corner of the room under which presents were placed.

Another cute idea (which I did not get to) was to place stuffed teddy bears around the area (perhaps near the sign warning against feeding bears). Could also have had a little bear stuffing station where children/families could make-n-take stuffed bears.

Favors:

Before leaving, guests were invited to "take something for the long hike home...". The "something" consisted of rolls of toilet paper wrapped in pink ribbon with a twine bow and trail mix (complete with pink malt balls - or you could use pink m&m's) labeled "Morgan's Mix" in individual clear bags tied with more pink ribbon and twine.

Please feel free to "snag" any of these ideas and add some creative flair for your own shower! If you would like to post this shower or pictures on your blog - please feel free to do so - I just ask that you mention where the ideas and pics came from! Thanks a bunch - hope you had fun looking and leave with some inspiration of your own! :)

Michelle

Joining the "Camp" - Girl Baby Shower (Sip - N - See)

In between organizing and participating in the production of some of our maternity t-shirts for our Etsy shop, I recently had the fun opportunity of helping to plan a baby shower/sip-n-see for a baby girl in our church. And had less than a week to get it all together! Very short notice on this one, but I was up for the challenge and I think it turned out well considering how little time there was to prepare! The ladies of the church did an awesome job with providing food, cake, location, etc. and it grew from the idea stage into such a charming shower!

The family who had just welcomed this precious baby girl into their midst is very "into" the outdoors, camping, and different kinds of sports/activities. Thus I thought up the theme of "Joining the C------ Camp. Welcome Morgan!" and worked to incorporate a camping theme, lush with pink and feminine touches of course! :) I will post more details in the days to come but hope you enjoy the sneak preview above.... :)

Michelle :)

What will it BEE party "HEADS UP!"

For anyone wanting to throw their own "Bee" party - just wanted to give you a heads up! Lots and lots of bee items/decor now available at Hobby Lobby! :)

The Perfect Blend - a Tenth Anniversary Event

Parties are so much more exciting to plan when a theme is involved, but there seemed precious little out there in the party world when it came to finding a theme for a tenth anniversary celebration. So I put on my creative thinking cap and came up with my own idea! Celebrating ten years of marriage is an awesome achievement, and I wanted to focus on the idea of two unique personalities and tastes "blending" into one fun couple - thus - "The Perfect Blend" began to take shape.

The invitations announced that this was to be an evening of cocktails & appetizers, coffee & desserts. In addition to this concept of "blending", I also wanted to incorporate the traditional colors (silver and blue) and anniversary gift/themes (tin, aluminum, diamonds) involved in a tenth anniversary, so you will see many of these sprinkled throughout the decor, activities, favors, etc.


The Invitations:

The invitations were sent in round "tins" tied with blue gray ribbons. I wanted to include something special with the invitations to help build excitement before the event so I made simple stemware charms for each couple (the letters corresponded to the initial of each couple's last name). They were instructed to bring these to the party for the purpose of helping distinguish whose cocktail glass belonged to whom.




The invitation itself was in a circular booklet form, tied together with more blue gray ribbon. It announced the theme and the purpose of the evening - celebrating two unique personalities blending into one "zesty" couple! Details (date, time, etc.) were included as well of course.





(Tins were purchased at Walmart and most of the pieces/charms for the stemware were purchased at Hobby Lobby).


The Decorations:
As I mentioned before, the colors were a mixture of blues and silver in honor of the traditional tenth anniversary colors. Tin/Aluminum/"diamond" accents were used in many different aspects of the decorations as well.

Tin cans were one of the items that served a purpose not only as a decoration (because I just had to dress them up a bit for the occasion - after all, it is not often a tin can gets to be part of such an auspicious event) but for activities as well.



The menu cards were printed with the anniversary couple's official wedding date on the top and bottom of each (note this date differed from the actual party date as they were traveling during that time and decided to celebrate later in the year). Look closely and you will also see a very faint monogram of the couple's last name printed on the background of each card. The cards were then wrapped with ribbon in two different shades of blue and accented with tiny rhinestones (symbolizing diamonds).





Even the menu card holders played a part in the festivities - I found some of these made from aluminum that were a light blue in color. You'd better believe I snapped those babies right up!! :) And they were amazingly inexpensive - see for yourself (this link is for the medium ones - whereas I purchased the small ones): http://www.etsy.com/listing/61215462/10-pack-light-blue-mini-medium-wire.

In place of a regular tablecloth, I draped the table with a dark blue fabric and used chalk to write "his" and "hers" in free hand different style fonts on opposite sides of the table (thus creating a "his" and a "hers" side for food items). Items that marked "his" tastes were place on that side of the table and the same was done for the "hers" side.

Instead of a fabric runner down the middle of the table, I used aluminum foil (thus incorporating more of the traditional aluminum theme). I drew the couple's monogram lightly into the foil up and down the "runner" using a toothpick. I also wrapped small glass votives with aluminum foil and cut out hearts in each one and set these on the foil runner.

In the center of the runner, I placed the "blend" cards. These were suggestions for blending the food items on the "his" side with ones on the "hers" side of the table to come up with different culinary concoctions. For example: he likes rib eye and she likes blue cheese and port. His side held rib eye skewers (called slenders) and her side held a plate of blue cheese with port sauce in a separate vessel. One of the blend cards suggested pairing these two for a new taste: rib eye with blue cheese and port wine sauce.

Likewise, the cocktail area had a simple sign posted showing "his" and "hers" beverages of choice and then a blend of the two creating different types of cocktails.

The Activities:

This particular couple was not a "games" type so I kept it simple with two main activities:

A "tin" of reasons why we like this couple... was an activity offering guests the opportunity to list reasons why they enjoy the anniversary pair so much. They could then slip these into one of those double duty tin cans I mentioned above for the anniversary couple to read and enjoy later on. :)

How well do YOU know YOUR spouse... was an activity checking how well each member of a couple really knew his/her spouse. Each husband/wife would answer a set of questions related to their marriage or spouse and then at the bottom list their own responses to the same set of questions. Later in the evening, they switched with their spouse and checked to see if their responses matched those of their spouse.

The Food:

As I mentioned before, this was an evening of cocktails and appetizers/coffee and desserts. Individual tastes were respected as well as combined for a new twist. For instance - a running joke with the couple is that when she pulls out some chocolate for dessert and offers her husband some, he might refuse, point to his beer and say he is already having his dessert. Young's Double Chocolate Stout is apparently one type of beer he really enjoys so when I found a recipe for chocolate stout cake, I just knew what had to be done for "his" side of the dessert table. Yep, you guessed it - a yummy chocolate stout cake using Young's and which he now claims is his favorite cake.

And for the "hers" side, a mixture of dark chocolates. Combine the two desserts and you have "Chocolate Decadence"...Mmmmm!!!

The coffee served with dessert was also a combination of the pair. A French roast for him with hints of dark chocolate for her and named "Never Summer" blend (both enjoy the cooler autumn and winter months). Want to try some? Here's a link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/62287548/1-lb-never-summer-blend-whole-bean?ref=sr_list_1&ga_search_query=never%2Bsummer%2Bblend&ga_search_type=handmade Mandy of Homesteading Roasters was SOOO great - loved doing business with her!!! :)

The Favors:

Recipe Cards and Cookie Cutter: Near the cocktail service, I placed a cookie tin/sheet with small recipe cards for "Ten Fulfilling Years of Marriage" and attached heart cookie cutters to each card. Every guest couple took one of these home.

Monogram cookies: So much fun to decorate with swirls of blue/gray frosting surrounding a white "F" for the couple's last name!

"Tins": Each contained the same coffee that was paired with the evening's desserts (see "The Food" for a description). Circular emblems emblazoned with the evening's theme and peppered with rhinestones (diamonds) were attached to the tins which were tied with silver/gray ribbon. (Ribbon was purchased at Walmart. Tins were purchased at Michaels.)

Stemware charms: Each couple also took home the stemware charms they had received in their invitations and brought for use during the party.

So there you have it - in somewhat of a nutshell - the makings and trappings of a tenth anniversary party. I hope this leaves you with a smile and some inspiration of your own... :)

Michelle

The Perfect Blend - A Tenth Anniversary Party

The party is over! So now I just need to post the pictures and details. Stay tuned for more in the next couple of days...

Monogram cookies

Extra cookies from another party, whip up some icing, experiment with decorating tubes and tips and voila! Monogram cookies! Not professional by any means - but not bad. Think we'll use them for the upcoming tenth anniversary party we are designing - throw them in with the other party favor items as an extra...