Thoughtful Tuesday - Random

So as I sit here going hmmmm what is my brain thinking of, what thoughts does it contain? I am, yup, coming up blank. Apparently having a toddler, an infant and a mini schnauzer who all want your attention leaves you a little thoughtless at the end of the day.

So really thinking about what is going on in my head its trying to figure out how to manage my time. Really really need to get back into the groove of crafting again, I know it will help me keep my sanity on those days when the toddler is trying my last nerve and baby boy just wants to be held. I mean I love cuddles but sometimes its like goodness! let me put you down for just a moment. It seems I will be left with nap time, the few hours hubs is home before I hit the hay and whatever I can steal during weekends. But I know everyone can be amazed at what they can do when they are determined. And I am determined.

In other news, or next random thought really, excited to see how things go with hubs and his transition back into an office (not in the field) and if he will be able to have a touch more family time. I mean his 6-6:30 hours are great and all BUT it'd be nice on him to get some extra sleep and we'd sure love to have him home earlier. ..... In case you didn't know my hubbie works in construction, no he does not build things, he studied to become a civil engineer and frankly I have no idea what he does so bare with me. Only thing I know is that by moving back into an office office it means no more working Saturdays, not that it happened often but it's lame when it does.

I am thinking I will leave it at that for now, my brain is fried and I am back with a vengeance to do this blog thing right. Look for more posts from me later this week, hopefully some fun stuff will pop up ;)

Blueberries

Wednesday we tackled a new adventure: Blueberry Pickin'!!!

Yup, that is right the whole family went out and picked blueberries as our morning activity. Its quite the perfect activity for us, only 1.5 miles away from our house, we all LOVE blueberries and its CHEAP! Yeah at $2/lb there was no concern on picking too many and the beautiful thing is we know we would eat them all! Only challenge we knew going in to this was to make sure the toddler didn't eat them all as opposed to gather.

(Okay you may be wondering why I did the weird photo edit, lets just say I am a paranoid mama and don't want anyone stealing legit pics of my babies, enough said)

But isn't he cute holding the old tin coffee can, by its handle of course, walking down the field hand in hand with daddy about to go pick some blueberries!

So the toddler did end up picking quite a few before he realized Wait! These are nummies!!!! Then it was more damage control as we both didn't mind him eating a few but he was going to town on these bushes. Needless to say for the majority of our stay in the fields he rode on daddy's shoulders high above the blueberries where it was safe. Now I can't really blame the kid, everyone else there was eating away so of course he thought he should be too, but I don't want him to learn that bad habit. Sure eat a few to make sure they really are sweet but not by the handfuls like he was doing.

Okay this pic didn't turn out as well, but it was one of the few sweet moments I could capture on my phone of him ACTUALLY picking blueberries and helping out daddy.

We ended up with 4.25lbs that day, not too shabby. The flat of blueberries sits in our fridge and every time one of us opens the fridge you can bet we pop about 10 in our mouth and then move on. They are super sweet and husbands favorite part, no squished mushy ones!!!! Yeah I think this might end up being a weekend thing for our family unless I feel inclined to tackle the fields with both kids by myself, no worries not that crazy yet ;)

So of course you can bet next week's foodie post will probably include a blueberry recipe as well I have maybe 3.5lbs of blueberries left to do something with hmmm..... If you have any ideas on what I should make comment below and maybe I'll be inspired enough to make it!

Changes

So as you all know, last I spoke we were expecting a new little addition to be joining our family. Well he arrived! July 9th to be exact. He didn't come into the world as I had hoped but it was perfect still the same. He is doing wonderfully, sleeping at night perfectly between feedings, eats like a champ and tolerates his older brother better than I expected. Now his older brother is still adjusting and we are working with him on how to better express his feelings but its tough being 22 months old and suddenly your world goes changes in a BIG way. Thankfully my wonderful husband has been home for the last 2 weeks and he will be home with us one more week before he returns to work. His company is quite awesome I do have to say, all this PAID paternity leave and then they still send us cookie basket welcoming our new addition in, pretty awesome if I do say so.

Pretty awesome huh? And they don't taste half bad though I am going to be a good girl and pace myself, maybe throw a few in the freezer so I can't get into too much trouble.

So anyways the family is adjusting I think pretty well, getting back into our daily routine and guess what I have even started crafting again! *gasp* Yup that is right, starting to work on stocking Lollipop's Boutique for the Grand Opening. Looks like that will be around early August at the rate I am going, I really wasn't expecting to have a baby at 41 weeks so that has put me a touch behind.

So with the grand opening approaching and the family getting settled into a routine there are some changes I want to make to this blog, changes I hope for the better. As it stands now I post whenever I get a moment, write about whatever is on my mind and so on. I want to get myself into a routine, a schedule of sorts, a more regular posting about specific topics. It might take me a bit to fully get the routine down but here is what I am tentatively thinking:

* Monday : Make it Mondays -- Here is where I share any DIY projects I have been up to
* Tuesday : Thoughtful Tuesday -- Thoughts on the week, anything, even completely random off the wall inside my brain scariness :)
* Wednesday : Workin' for it Wednesday -- Get the 411 on everything Lollipop's Boutique, anything from sales to new items to giveaways
* Thursday : Thankful Thursday -- A day to write a review of sorts of products, companies, groups, etc I am thankful to have in my life
* Friday : Feed me Fridays -- That is right a post about one of my favorite subjects FOOD, whether its a recipe or just a commentary on its greatness
* Weekends : OFF -- everyone needs a break right? exactly

So with that idea, what should I DIY this weekend? hmmmm..........

Push Presents

So not sure how many of you are familiar with push presents, but the general concept is you get a gift for simply having a baby be removed from your body (ideally pushing them through the birth canal). I have thought this idea pretty much stupid, as at least I know in my case its me saying to my husband 'lets have a baby' so why should I be rewarded for something I asked for? I do like some of the presents I have heard about over the years, for example one of hubs co-workers got his wife a maid service for 2 months so she could focus on bonding with baby as opposed to keeping up with the house AWESOME. 

Well so I guess here is where my post maybe starts to make sense. I have had a TON of friends lately get pregnant and have babies, like 2 born in May, 1 due any day now, then there is me in 2 weeks (eek!) and another due late July. Oh! and lets not forget those due this Fall! But anyways, I wanted to do something for everyone, something simple as well lots of preggo moms while I'm pregnant means lower will to craft on a specific timeline. So I went with something simple yet practical: HEADBANDS. That's right, perfect for before baby for those days lets face it you'd rather live in your jammies, great for the delivery room hospital stay to keep your hair out of your face, and lets not forget about those sleepless nights with a newborn when its Thursday and you remember you haven't showered since Monday.

So I thought I'd take a moment and show off some of the cute little headbands that have gone on to live their lives with some wonderful mamas.

Now yes everyone so far has gotten the Frayed Fabric Headbands :)

A little green for V. Its classy and chic just like her


A little cool blue for L. I thought this one would be best for her relaxed look and work wonderfully in coordination with her nursery (as yes I thought about that)


A little lavender and yellow for J. Some of her favorite colors with just a bit of country charm, help her remember her time down south.


R got this gorgeous purple one, as its something she had been asking for. But sadly I didn't get that one out in time before she had her precious girl (epic fail on my part) AND to make matters worse I never snapped a picture :(


BUT here is a little one I made for me to wear when I get to the hospital to keep me pretty while I go for my VBAC. I think it will look great with the charcoal grey Pretty Pushers that hubby bought me. Yes I plan to try and look as beautiful as I can while pushing a baby out. You know I won't look pretty but at least I will have tried ;)

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes

So I woke up yesterday morning with another one of my slightly unusual pregnancy cravings. I wanted pancakes and apple pie, don't ask me I generally dislike apple pie even. But I decided it had to be done and quickly as my little man does not like to wait for his 'num nums'.

Last week while searching on Pinterest and Google I came across a recipe of how to convert a plain box of cake mix into pancakes and let me tell you I am addicted to it. So yesterday morning I modified it to suit my needs, here is what I came up with.

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes
1/2 box of cake mix (white, yellow, funfetti whatever plain flavor you have on hand)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp brown sugar (NOT packed)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick stove top pie filling, recipe to follow (can substitute can pie filling but I never have that on hand)

So lets start with the quick stove top pie filling as it needs to cook down while you gather the rest of the ingredients.

Quick Stove Top Pie Filling
1 granny smith apple cut into 1/4" chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
mini pinch of nutmeg

Dump all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring up to a gentle boil over med/med-high heat. Cook for roughly 8-10 minutes until the water and sugar create a caramel sauce around the apples and the apples are fork tender.
Pull off the heat and cool.

Now back to the pancakes....dump all ingredients into one bowl, stir. Simple as that no need to do wet and dry bowls just mix all together. Gently fold in the pie filling, if you went with a canned pie filling you might want to chop up your apples a bit as big slices won't work as well here. Now here is the real trick to pancake making stop what you are doing and let the batter rest at least 5 minutes. You heard me don't go making pancakes right away.

Now turn on your electric griddle if you have on to 300 degrees and allow it to preheat, if you are doing this stove top I'd say over med/med-high heat but you hopefully know your stove best to know what temp works. Spray with cooking spray and get to making pancakes. Now I do find these take a bit longer to cook on each side than the traditional buttermilk pancakes so be patient and don't try flipping them too soon. They will be slightly gummy still in spots due to the apple pie filling 'sauce'.

Enjoy! We sure did. They are truly sweet enough to eat on their own but a little syrup and butter never hurt.....or if you are pregnant like me wait till your child is taking a nap and smear it with a little frosting YUM!

My husband had these cold later when he got home and exclaimed BEST apple pancake he had ever eaten! Now that makes me smile as we are big time apple eaters here :)

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Such a hard question to answer am I ready to open the new shop, YES and NO. Starting to get into the swing of things and having a ball making new stuff up but I also know its a short lived high as soon my attentions will be to full on baby prep.
Am I ready for this new baby? I like to say I am as ready as I can be, but sometimes I wonder if that is true or not. Sure all his clothes have been washed, folded and put away for weeks. Sure his bed that he won't sleep in for a month or so is set up. But no I still don't have a rocking chair/glider and no we still don't have enough cloth diapers for both boys (YAY for 2 in diapers).

But at the same time this is going to be an amazingly fun new adventure and that I AM ready for.

soooooooooooo back to shop business. Later today/tonight you will see some items actually make it onto Etsy, so EXCITED! I do have to warn though I apparently couldn't spell when I ordered my packaging so there is a spelling error but because I failed to catch it in time you will gain. Any orders bought between now and the Grand Opening will be eligible for a 10% discount with coupon code WHOOPS. Sure the product is just the same but I'm a tad embarrassed that I didn't catch the mistake before they arrived.

You will see a few everyday items going into the shop but I am also putting a BIG focus on the 4th of July as I will be on maternity leave during those festivities. If though for some reason you do not see a color combo you had hoped for feel free to email me or contact me thru Etsy and I will see what I can do. The closer it gets to July though the harder it will be for me, so keep that in mind.

And just in case you missed the sneak peak on Facebook, you should be following me on there by the way (Lollipops on FB) here is a quick sneak peak of a few items to be posted.

Also if you would like to keep up with any and all news as I know Facebook has been crappy lately please shoot me an email at lollipops.cp@gmail.com, subject: newsletter to be signed up for any and all news. I promise not to SPAM you

Red, White and Blue Sale!

Make sure you stop by Mommy's Little Treasures, my other Etsy shop, to find some awesome sales on everything Red, White and Blue!!! You will find some adorable earrings, a rosary or two and even some super special seasonal bracelets!