Baby food making

One thing I learned with Riley was the ease of making baby food at home, and how much cheaper it is.  I know not all kids are the same, but both of my girls LOVE to EAT!  Aside from the cost aspect, I was able to spend a few hours on the weekend, and puree it all, start it freezing, and I had a month or more in the freezer, on hand.  Riley came to prefer the homemade food over store bought!  I used this site, Wholesome Baby Food, as my info guide, and Riley and KG's taste do the rest!

I typically make sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, pears, peaches, bananas, and pear pineapple.  I tried beans and peas, but couldn't ever get them smooth enough with the skins with Riley.  Haven't attempted with Katherine.

**I started typing up this blog weeks ago.  I recently did summer yellow squash, zucchini, yukon gold potatoes as well.

I was never smart enough to take pictures and blog it when I made it for Riley, but I did take some pictures a few weeks ago months ago when making more for Katherine. 

Baby carrots, in the steamer, not hard.

I also did peaches this day.  I admit, I buy can peaches, in fruit juice.  Both girls ate them great, and so much cheaper than buying.

Also, I got this food processor for Christmas, and I love it!

Everyone needs a helper in the kitchen!

Pour into ice cube trays, pop into freezer, store in gallon ziplock bags, and done!





 



 



 
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vacation - Washington DC

I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of DC, and Chris took a ton of which I had to pull from.  This was my first trip to DC, and I was totally impressed.  Everything was much larger in scale than what I had anticipated, but very cool to experience. 

Chris is a great photographer, and all of these he took.  Yes, we saw a lot, and not close to half of it is included below.  This is just a sample of our trip.

 Jefferson Memorial at night.  Our first day, we took a night tour, which was really pretty.

 Lincoln Memorial at night.

 This is the ceiling of the capitol.  It is very ornate, and this picture doesn't quite capture just how tall it is.  But the artwork is so beautiful.

 Supreme Court.

That's Chris way up there in the blue shirt!

Arlington National Cemetery:  Kennedy's.

 Ted Kennedy

 Changing of the guards

 Such a great picture

 Another fabulous pictures.

 National Cathedral

 Washington Monument

 Marine One, as it flew over the Washington Monument, right before we went up for the tour.

 View from Washington Monument

 Vietnam Memorial

Vacation - Boston

Not sure if you read the post on Chris's 30th birthday, but his big present was a trip for the two of us to Boston and Washington DC.  He was very adamant he didn't want a big party, just a vacation for us, so I suggested Boston for a couple of days.  The weekend I suggested just so happened to be the Red Sox vs. the Yankees, which is THE GAME to attend, and it was only a couple of weeks after his special day.  After a little research, he suggested a full week and take the train to DC since I'd never been.  Done and Done!

This post is just a few of the pictures that were taken.  Please remember one of Chris's hobbies is photography, so I had my own paparazzi following me along every where I went! :)

Our first night, we did a Ghost and Gravestone's Tour.  It was quite entertaining, and offered some interesting history on this historical city.  Worth the price of admission!



Gravestone of Paul Revere.

I think this is taken from Boston Common, while on our Ghost and Gravestone's tour.  Forgive me if my location is incorrect!

On Sunday, before the big game that night, we took the T, which is the subway, up to Cambridge and visited the campus of MIT and Harvard.  Here is the Stata Center building right in the middle of MIT's version of our Drill Field.  It was quite unique, we saw some very impressive robots from the window view.

Just 2 more stops north on the T, was Harvard.  It was very impressive, and had a beautiful campus.  Sadly, I never came across Matt Damon or Ben Affleck.

The Harvard Library

Now onto Fenway.  Early Saturday morning, before Cambridge, we got tickets for the Fenway Park Batting Practice tour.  It included a brief 20 minute tour of the stadium, history, walk on the field for pictures, and then time on the Green Monster while the Red Sox were having BP.  Although we didn't come home with a ball, it was a great experience, and Chris's highlight of the trip!

His field picture.  Please excuse the shaded face due to ball cap.

Just after BP, still up on the Monster.

Game time! 

Plate meeting of the umpires.

 One of the highlights of the game was getting to see Jonathan Paplebon come out and close the game.  Being a former bulldog, it was quite exciting to cheer him on the field, and the Red Sox won!

Monday and Tuesday we spent touring more of the city, and we have tons, and TONS of pictures, but these are just some highlights.

Here is the finish line of the Boston Marathon painted on the road, just of Copley Square .  They were already setting up this week, as the marathon was the following weekend.

The highlight of Boston for me was seeing Trinity Church.  As some of you may or may not know, I was raised in the Episcopal Church, so being able to see this church, with it's magnificent architecture and history was so impressive. 

Here is the front of the church.

A second church we visited was Old South Church, which is also in Copley Square.  It's a more Roman Gothic design, but still quite magnificent.

We enjoyed lunch on Tuesday at Union Oyster House, which we had the clam chowder, and I'd take more now please!  Delicious!

Boston was fantastic.  Now onto DC...

Katherine - 6 months old

Just like before, rewind back to March 17, which is when Katherine turned 6 months old.  I must admit this picture was taken almost 3 weeks later, but I'm still happy it was taken!  At her 6 month mark, she was in the 95% in height, and down to 50% in weight.  She got her height from Mr. Wayne's side of the family, because none of the rest of us are tall by any means! :)

At 6 months, Katherine LOVES to laugh, and has a special love for chewing on her toes!  She is almost crawling by this point, but not quite yet.  She is truly a joy of a baby, always happy, and loves to EAT!

Riley's first haircut & Sesame Street Live!

Somewhere towards the end of March, we took Riley to get her first haircut.  Please understand, this child was bald (like her mother) at her first birthday, so it took a while until she was due for a haircut.  Finally, she was telling me it was bothering her, so it was time.  She did great, and was more bothered by the hair clips to hold her hair back, than the actual scissors.

Before:

During:

After!!

Dahlia (the same person I use) didn't cut much, because let's face it, she didn't have enough to loose, but she shaped it and it's so cute now.  Riley's hair changes so much during the day, and it's in ringlets by the end of the day.  I hope it stays this way!

That evening, she and I got to go to Sesame Street Live! at the FedEx Forum, and were in the IP box.  At the time the tickets were given to me that week, our VP admin probably didn't know I'd turned in my notice that I'd be leaving IP, but oh well.  Riley had a great time!

 

Chris's 30th birthday

Since Chris was celebrating a big milestone birthday, we already had a trip planned to Boston and DC for his official present.  Our trip wasn't until April, and there will be pictures posted soon, but I wanted his actual birthday to be celebrated.  He was adament he didn't want a party of any sort, so I sorta obliged.  He just wanted his family to come up on Sunday, have some cake, and be very low key.

His parents came up on Saturday to spend a little extra time with us and the girls, so I arranged for dinner at Firebirds, and our friends Cager, Maris, and April to join in (Matt had other commitments).  I made sure to have a cake at the restaurant.  Riley helped daddy with his candles!

So on Sunday, his grandparents and Karan came up to spend the day.  We took the girls to the park in the morning before all going to lunch together.  I think more than the little girls had fun, hehe!



I made sure to have a second cake for the Sunday celebration, and Riley assisted a second time as well!  He was lucky enough to get some money towards his new iPad2, and other accessories for his soon to be toy!

Happy 30th from your wife (whose looking quite rough in the picture below!)