Friday, May 30, 2014

Melanie's room


This poor little girl was rather neglected in her first several months of life by not having a room to call her own. It's not that we were lazy. Well, not completely.

We knew we would be moving, and it didn't make sense to move furniture and decorate a room we would have to take apart in a month. Plus she slept in our room then anyway (and full discosure, still does. DON'T JUDGE!). We did paint the room and put up crown molding, but as soon as that was finished we found out we would be moving (go figure).

Anyway, sweet girl has a very nice room now when she's good and ready to start sleeping through the night (any time now Mel!). We kept the plan essentially the same, but without the stripes or crown molding. She got some fancy furniture in her room, too (a.k.a. our old bedroom furniture, a.k.a. my parents' old bedroom furniture).



This is the view into the room. Both bedrooms had shelving on the top, so we put them to good use. They now house lots of my old animals plus some new ones. The care bear on the wall was in my room growing up.



Here is the changing area with most of her clothes, diapers, and bows of course!



Here is an up close of the lamb sitting in her changing table. So sweet and coordinated with the colors of her room.
 



We hardly ever call this sweet girl by her full name. Most of the time she is 'Mel' or 'Mels'
or 'Mel-Belle'. I created the 'M' back in this post to help announce her name, so I just added to it. The cradle Mel and Reed slept in as teensy babies is in the corner. It also was home to Wes and his sister Jenn when they were babies. Handmade by their grandfather 'Papa.' Now it holds Mel's oversized pillows until another Turner comes along? (Ask me in 5 years)

 
 
Here she is enjoying a nap in her crib.
 


Just to the left of her crib is the tall dresser. That wall hanging was also in my room growing up. It was made by my mom and has my birth stats.

 
 
 
And back around to the door.

 

 


Enjoy!

The Turners

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The Scientific Dessert Method

This is my first recipe, but it's a good one!

My mother-in-law makes a cold Heath Bar dessert that is delicious (except for the Heath bar, I'm not a big fan). Here is the recipe!
 
Heath Bar Dessert
 
1 qt vanilla ice cream (softened)
Graham cracker crust
2 3 oz boxes instant vanilla pudding
2 C milk
8 oz container Cool Whip
4 regular size Heath Bars (frozen)
 
Press down crust in a 9 x 13 pan.
Mix pudding and milk; add soft ice cream
Layer on top of crust.
Spread Cool Whip on top.
Break frozen Heath Bars into small pieces and crumble on top.
Refrigerate.

Delicious and easy.


For Easter she made it to bring to lunch with my side of the family. Everyone wanted the recipe so I got one, too. I began to think what it would be like without the Heath Bar, but another candy bar. Say, maybe, Snickers? Reeses Cups?

Then things got really crazy.

I thought I might switch the flavors of ice cream and pudding and maybe even the crust. CRAZY, right? My mom and I are notorious for experimenting with our desserts. The strawberry cake episode of 2012 was pretty out of control. I'll add that recipe as well for your eating pleasure.

So we put on our culinary lab coats and went to work.

Question: How can I make this dessert insanely good?
Background Research: The strawberry cake turned out pretty good, and the store carries other flavors of the ingredients.
Hypothesis: When we change the flavors of the ingredients we can create the ultimate dessert!
Experiment: This is where it gets yummy; we decided to make it super easy and buy ready made crust. The recipe calls for a 9 x 13 inch pan, so we could conceivably buy two pie crusts and create two separate pies by halving the recipe. My goal was to create a pie with an Oreo cookie crust (YUM) and chocolate filling. So I purchased chocolate pudding and chocolate icing as well as snickers bars for the topping.
For the second pie I wanted to do something yummy for Wes. He LOVES chocolate and peanut butter, so I got a graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding, vanilla ice cream, and reeses cups for the topping. They don't make a peanut butter pudding, so I put a few tablespoons of peanut butter in the mixture.
Data and Results: I don't have a picture of the Oreo chocolate pie because we ate it so fast. I'd say that was a pretty delicious dessert.
Here is the Reeses pie:




YU-UM!

Anyway, our hypothesis was totally correct and we made some delicious desserts. One thing I will do differently next time is crumble Oreo cookies on top of the chocolate pie with Oreo crust. I think I will also attempt a strawberry version with real strawberries inside. YES!

And speaking of strawberry, here is the strawberry cake recipe courtesy of a sweet Houston teaching buddy, Jill Seale. This was also experimented with (by my mom more than me).

Strawberry cake

1 box white cake
1 cup strawberries
3/4 cup oil
3 oz strawberry jello
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs

Mix all ingredients on low for 30 seconds.
Mix 2 min on medium.

Bake: 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes on lightly greased pan. Ice with strawberry icing.

My mom made an orange cake with orange pieces, orange Jell-O, and orange icing. It was pretty good.

I hope you make something good.



Enjoy!

The Turners

Monday, May 12, 2014

Melanie - 6 Months






Height: 28 inches (I was a little off last month)


 
Weight:  19 lbs 14 oz



Hair: Blonde
 

Eyes: Blue


Food: Exclusively breastfed. Still trying the spoon, and we have had a few successes, but she's still not buying it.






Sleep: Not sleeping all night, but she'll get there. Still on 2-3 naps a day. She does a great job putting herself to sleep.
 

 
Temperament: Melanie loves life! Unless she's hungry or tired she is a happy little thing. Our little sunshine.






Melanie loves:
-Eating
-Sleeping
-Mommy's funny faces 
-Playing with Brother
-Smiling
-Daddy! 
-"Talking"
-Riding in the car
-Ceiling fans
-Getting her legs massaged
-Her pacifier
-Sitting up
-Chewing on EVERYTHING
-Play mat
-TV (the flashing colors are a thing of wonder)
-Standing up with help
-"Flying" in the air
-When Daddy gets home from work
-Grabbing things
-Outside




 


 

Mel dislikes:
-Being burped 
-Waiting to eat
-When Mommy leaves the room
-Being tired
-Being on her tummy too long

 

 
New adventures:
-Rolling over: We can't get her to stay still! She can spin and push herself backwards, too.






Here is the side-by-side monthly chair pic:










Enjoy!

The Turners