Gourmet Dinner For All

I decided to finally make Tatiana some homemade baby food since I got an awesome food processor for Christmas. Now I have two amazing Kitchen Aid gadgets...my stand mixer and the food processor.  I didn't make a ton of food this time, just six containers worth. I used fresh sweet potatoes and fresh broccoli. Then I loaded it into Gerber baby food containers I had saved.

Bjorn fed Tatiana her dinner of fresh broccoli and sweet potatoes.

Believe it or not...even though her daddy won't touch broccoli with a 10 foot pole...Tatiana loved it.

She even managed to get it on her feet.

Our dinner was a little more solid to say the least...

Skinless Chicken Thighs with Shallots in Red Wine Vinegar...or since it's a French dish, if you prefer to say it the French way, Poulet Au Vinaigre. The recipe comes from SkinnyTaste.com.

And with it...and I apologize because the pictures does NOT nearly do these rolls justice...Honey Yeast Rolls from this blog, Annies-Eats.com. These are quite simply the best rolls I have ever had. My whole kitchen smelled A-mazing. We put butter and a little extra honey on them when we ate them, and it was ridiculously good. Bjorn had three, which I don't even understand, because they are huge and filling, but I guess they were just that good...

And with all this cooking...comes all this...

Yes, we have a dishwasher...there it is in the photo...but I'm pretty picky about a lot of things being hand washed. Basically, if its not an everyday plate, bowl, spoon, fork, glass, mug, Tupperware, etc... it's a hand wash item.

Did I mention Baby T is most likely teething? She constantly chews air (just moves her jaw up and down), chews her hands or anything in sight, and has been super fussy and clingy today. We can't wait for that tooth to finally cut through her gum! I feel horrible seeing her cry in pain from it...luckily a little bit of Tylenol and Orajel goes a long way.

Baby's First Christmas

Of course I have to start off the post by showing off T's outfits...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day...her onesie says, 'Best Gift Ever.'

And now...a very small sampling of the mountain of gifts Tatiana received.

A teacup and sugar dish from Imperial Porcelain, made in Russia. The porcelain factory was started in 1744 by Empress Elizaveta of Russia. I hope one day she will treasure it as being a gift from her very first Christmas. I also picked it out because Tatiana is named after a Russian princess, and this porcelain line was what the Imperial family used.

For now it will sit on a little shelf in her room.

Next up...a blanket I made her. This is the front, the back is soft minky fabric in a black and white scroll pattern (also seen in two big rectangles in the middle of the front of the blanket).

I had to embroider her name and the event she received the blanket for on it as well. :)

Tatiana received her second handmade quilt from Nana (Bjorn's mom). It is beautiful and one of the fabrics she used in it is also the same fabric I used to make the valance in Tatiana's room.

Tatiana also received a mountain of toys and clothes from Nana and Papa as well as a jumper for our house.

I don't have pictures of what she received from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents). But what they gave Baby T and us is pretty amazing. With the gift card to Babies 'R Us from my parents and cash my brother gave us we should be able to purchase a convertible car seat for Bjorn's car and mine. Tatiana received some clothes and toys from Grandma and Grandpa as well...and best of all a savings account for college and her future already started off with a generous amount of money. We couldn't be more thrilled with everything we received this year for our little family from everyone!

Just to name a few gifts...I got a NookCOLOR from Bjorn and his mom, a big Kitchen Aid food processor from my parents, and a necklace from myself. ;) Oh and I've already polished off 1 1/2 books on my new Nook, and it's great for web browsing too. I call it "iPad lite."

The day after Christmas my parents came over and helped us get A LOT done around the house. Miscellaneous unfinished projects...hanging some stuff in Tatiana's room, finishing removing the headboard from our bedroom wall so I could finish painting, going to Home Depot to help buy and bring home a new snow blower, raking snow off the roof, etc... The next day we headed to Ikea, which was extremely busy...now that our living room is being completely taken over by a big jumper and play gym it was time to find some organization for the miscellaneous toys laying all over.We got exactly what we needed for a very reasonable price.

Already filling up with new toys from Christmas!

Tomorrow Tatiana has a play date with Kaden, the 5 month old son of two of Bjorn's coworkers. So I guess we have a play date too. :)

5 Month Photos

I lied. I didn't post Tatiana's 5 month photos when I said I would. Well I didn't really lie...I had all the intention of posting them, but then a great friend was back in town and so we headed out for a fab dinner that night and thus went my blogging time out the window.

More Christmas Baking

Why I decided to take on an almost 6 hour baking project while having a 5 month old to take care of at the same time I have no clue. It started out with making the dough in the morning, letting it chill in the refrigerator,  then rolling out the dough, cutting out the cookies, baking them in the oven, letting them cool, making frosting, and then frosting all of them. It ended up being a lot of work, and I still have a messy kitchen to clean up. But according to my husband and best friend they do taste delicious. I used a basic sugar cookie recipe but added the zest of one medium sized lemon to the dough, and then a basic glaze frosting with almond extract, and a butter cream frosting. Oh and I own zero Christmas themed cookie cutters, so hearts and fleur de lis it is!

My frosting mess after wards.

Oh and when you have a 5 month old...it takes a lot to keep them entertained while baking, so I pretty much ended up hauling everything in the kitchen. So between modern day baby entertainers and a good 2 hour nap my little lady let me start and finish my baking project.

Last week I made a friend, whose baby is only 11 days younger than Tatiana, another blanket for her adorable little girl. Even though it's fairly simple it's one of my favorites so far. The colors are so pretty. It's super soft polar fleece, and it's a high quality fleece, so it doesn't pill when you wash it. At some point I will also post one of Tatiana's Christmas presents, a big blanket I made for her.

And tomorrow...Tatiana's 5 month old photos! Here's a small sneak peak!

Snowmageddon 2010

We got 15.2" of snow today...and there's still some flurries goin' on out there. So what does that mean for our little Fab Five? A day of hibernation. But this isn't something to be sad about, instead you make the best of it, and that's exactly what we did.

The dogs weren't too happy to be greeted by this site when they woke up.

  Staying in = time to prepare a gourmet breakfast!

Staying in = Bonding time with my stand mixer.

Russian tea cakes (or Mexican wedding cakes) ready to go in the oven.

My lil baking helper.

 Russian tea cakes all done...Bjorn's favorite cookie ever.

 Peanut butter brownies.

 Bjorn shoveling the deck and an area in the grass for the dogs. He also borrowed the neighbors snow blower and took care of our driveway (more than one time!) and the neighbors. The neighbors were so happy that when they returned from Pizza Hut they gave us their left overs. Perfect! The kitchen was still a baking disaster and I really didn't feel like making dinner at this point.

Baby T laying back and relaxing during Snowmageddon 2010.


Oh and on Thursday I got to give Carter (Tatiana's second cousin), who is about a month and a half younger than Tatiana, his hand emrboidered Christmas ornament I made him. I'm making one for Tatiana too, but haven't gotten around to finishing hers yet, but here's Carter's ornament!



 

Happy Snowmageddon!

DARN YOU Baby Gap!

Baby Gap has me tangled in its clutches of evil, albeit very adorable clutches.GOSH DARN you Baby Gap, quit designing the sweetest little baby clothes ever...I say no..no don't do it! And then you give me coupons and have tempting sales that scream "Buy one, get the other 60% off...the WHOLE store!" While I won't complain that my daughter looks screamingly adorable in your clothes (Helloooo Thanksgiving LBD, that's code for little black dress for those who aren't up on their trendy fashion terms), my bank account will continue to give me the judgmental side eye...what's your problem bank account!? I'm just trying to make my 5 month almost 5 month old look runway ready!

All of our my favorite clothes for little T come from Baby Gap...and her dedication dress she will wear in February is my favorite...it's dusty rose and the top is satin and the bottom is asymmetrical cut tulle. Lets see what my husband doesn't know I bought today what my husband will disapprovingly see when he gets home! While I know my dear dear dear *batting eyelashes* husband still won't be jumping with joy, I do always shop at this sinful store with coupons or great sales going on....and I adore the clearance rack.

 These are 6 - 12, so we won't be seeing her in these for a little bit yet.

Perhaps an Easter outfit...that dress is to die for, it's satin, and has adorable little old fashioned shiny buttons on the back.

And I'll close it out with some photos from earlier this week...and why yes, her onesie is from Baby Gap.