This kid amazes me...Hyper Diaper 2

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would update you on what's been happening around the Parks household. In short...not much. Except for the fact that my daughter amazes me every single day with the things she knows! Here I go on a shameless bragging spree. Leah knows almost every single letter of the alphabet (except J for some reason) and also knows some numbers! This shocked me again since I had no idea she knew these things. She just points to numbers and says them, crazy! She knows she is ONE year old, and holds up her little finger. Sometimes she tries to lie about her age and say she is 2...naughty. She can identify some colors too! Pink, of course, orange and green! I know to some people, this may seem like it's so obvious. DUH a child is supposed to learn these things, it's normal! I know this but to actually see it happening is a miracle. Here are some words and phrases she likes to say.

"Shoe" (over and over again as she tries to fit all of her shoes on her feet)

"nana" (banana)

"eat" (obviously)

"ka-ker" (cracker)

"cookie" (there is no mistaking this one)

"oger" (orange)

"ogie" (not to be confused with "oger", "ogie" means yogurt)

"nack" (snack)

"all done!"

"get down!" (usually to the dog)

"happy" (aww)

"tho-thee" (Sofie, the cat)

"boos" (boots)

"peeees" (please)

"go GOCK!" (we don't get it either, but it means go downstairs, or upstairs)

She is also repeating everything we say. Like today I told her not to touch the garbage can because it's "icky". Of course she runs around the house screaming "ICKY! ICKY!" aaah wonderful.

Another fun thing about my beautiful daughter...she likes to climb. She will climb anything and everything she can possibly get her chubby little paws around. I have been told that her father was the exact same way....lovely! They called him "Hyper Diaper". Looks like we have "Hyper Diaper 2" on our hands.

Oven baked corn tortilla chips

Last night was Mexican food night! I made chicken fajitas with peppers, onions and tomatoes. The chicken was marinated in some hotsauce, soy sauce, cumin, garlic, and chili powder. Probably not authentic Mexican cuisine but I used what I had. I also made these great tortilla chips! I used to make these all the time in college. They don't last very long because they are soooo good, and SO easy! I totally would have made fried tortilla chips but we are watching our figures. Here's the recipe!

Corn tortillas

Olive oil or veg oil

salt

Stack desired number of tortillas and cut into triangles (I use a pizza cutter)

Lay on greased cookie sheet. Do not overlap, make sure the pieces are spaced

Spray with oil. I use my Olive Oil mister thing

Sprinkle with salt. You can also do fun spices like chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, cumin etc.

Bake at 400 degrees 8-12 minutes. Check often after 8 minutes as they can turn from golden to burnt really fast!

Enjoy!

Homemade play dough!

Wow...so many activities going on here! Haha! Not really, we are just bored. Today I made some play dough for Leah since I discovered that our store-bought play dough was dried out (we really keep up on things here). It was super easy!

1 c. Flour

1/4 c. Salt

1/4 - 1/2 c. Water

Mix together flour and salt, then add water to desired consistency.

Note: I tried adding liquid food coloring (green of course, remember it's all I have) and it didn't work out so well. It was kind of speckly. I've heard you can add powdered drink mix to color the dough but I thought that would make it way too tempting to eat. So that's it! Easy and fun.

Mmm..bread

Recently, we ran out of sliced bread at the Parks household. A tragedy I know. Since it is so nasty outside and I am terrified of driving in winter weather conditions, I thought it would be fun to make my own bread instead of making a trip to the store when it's the only thing we need. It's preservative free, tastes good, and it's not that hard to make, so why not? I personally don't eat that much bread unless I'm really craving a piece of toast or something but, I do make lunches for the husband and he gets a sandwich everyday. I thought I would share with you the recipe for this Honey Wheat Bread...no bread machine required! I consider it a fun activity for myself and it keeps me occupied during the day when we don't want to go anywhere. Yes, I do realize that is sad and lame but I know some of you must understand! I also recently joined Weight Watcher's so I am becoming obsessed with finding recipes that are WW friendly. Expect to see a lot more of those! I don't know how many points per serving this bread is but I'm really not to worried about it right now. I have lost 4.2 lbs so far though! More on that later

HONEY WHEAT BREAD

1. In large bowl, dissolve 1 T. yeast in 2 c. warm water

2. Add 1/3 c. honey and stir

3. Stir in 2 c. wheat flour, 1 teaspoon sal, and 1/3 c. vegetable oil

4. Work in 4-5 c. all purpose flour gradually

5. Knead 10-15 min

6. Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof (rise) in warm area for 45 min.

7. Punch down dough and separate in half. Place in 2 greased 9x5 inch loaf pans and allow to rise again

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes

This bread is so soft and good. Mine turned out a little too soft for sandwiches the first time I made it but I will try again and maybe add more flour this time to toughen it up. Enjoy!

I love activities!

As my little stinker is growing, her curiousity is blossoming as well. I am trying to find ways to encourage her creativity (and keep her busy) while having fun. Today I decided to make some finger paint and let her have at it! This did not last long as it was SO MESSY! ugh! And by the way, food coloring is hard to get out of clothing, upholstery, carpet, etc. She did have a lot of fun though. The recipe is just equal parts flour and cold water with a little bit of food coloring added. I only had green so Leah painted a tree/grass/leprechaun/lettuce? I am struggling to find activities suitable for an 18 month old, so if you have any ideas, please do let me know! She likes to color with crayons, have tea parties, read books, cook fake food, play hide and seek, play with her baby, climb things (and fall off things), recite the letters of the alphabet, and eat...just to name a few. I am running out of things to keep this child entertained during these winter months. She did get to go sledding a few weeks ago in our back yard and LOVED it! I'm not such a big fan though so she has to wait for her dad to take her again!