Patio Endeavors

Living in a small space can be tricky, especially for us! We tend to always want to be fully accessorized as if we were in a 4 bedroom house (Someday we'll get there!) Our patio is no exception. However I've been feeling pretty good about that space in particular. Now that Daphne is big enough to engage in outdoor activities, we got a water/sand play table, a cute little deck chair that's tike size, and some great pails and shovels. Now that our patio is all dressed up with fun, its something that she and I enjoy on almost a daily basis. My favorite is when we chalk and blow bubbles. Here are some great pics of our patio endeavors!

Fort Tunnel

There are so many little activities that I can't wait for Daphne to experience. Simple indoor activities like hide and seek, "Don't step in the lava" and building forts, all classic rainy day activities! And though today wasn't a rainy day, I couldn't help but wonder what her response would be to a fort/tunnel.

We have a large adult sized nap mat that I half way folded to make a tee-pee-like tunnel.

She was skeptical at first... I sometimes wonder if she is slightly claustrophobic like her daddy...

She didn't seem to want to go through unless she could see through to the other end. Once she could see that there was light at the end of the tunnel, she would proceed through in a hurry!

Notice the slight blur! She's goin zoom zoom fast!

After a few test runs, she deemed our fort experience acceptable. Big smiles and giggles!

I can't wait to kick things up a notch and make a little fort/tunnel obstacle course!

Tank Top Storage

Tank Tops/camisoles are the bread to my bread and butter, every day look. I feel naked if I go out of the house without a tank top as an undershirt or just an added pop of color! I have a range of colors and I have them by the armfulls. I don't know if I'm the only one desperately obsessed with these or not, but I thought I'd share with you how I keep them organized and under control.

There are two different styles of hangers that I use to organize these little lovelies in my closet space (which is nearly zilch!!) I rely on tie and belt hangers to keep them accessible and orderly.

Here is an example of a belt hanger ( like the one here from Amazon) as a tank top hanger!

And here is an example of the tie hanger! These are fairly inexpensive, here is a set of two that I found on Amazon.

I stagger the tank tops forward and backwards on the tie hanger so that it keeps the bunching to a minimum.

I prefer the belt hanger because it spaces them out and I don't have to sift through them to find the right color. They both work great though! Much better than the alternative!!

Hope this helps those of you questing for total organization!!

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For those of you Pinterest browsers who enjoyed this post, please also consider my MAKEUP STORAGE example as well! Enjoy!

Meat and Tatoes.

Tatoes! We are a meat and potatoes kind of people. Little Daphne is no exception. Just the other day as Hubby and I were sharing lunch, Daphne showed interest in trying my slab of beef jerkey.

Just as a side note, she didn't show a lot of interest in food until right around her first birthday. She has since been more open to trying new things. We have always tried to keep a good routine of sitting her with us for meals and offering her food, sometimes she takes to it, but most times she doesn't. She almost always enjoys meat though. So, when she showed interest in my beef jerkey, I decided to give it a share. Here is a snapshot of my little carnivore. We sometimes call her Daphadon.

In honor of my little Daphadon and her meat and potato heritage... I thought I'd share one of our staple potato eats. ...I have only been dabbling in cooking for a short while, so the simpler a recipe the better, and the QUICKER I can get it on the table and in our tummies!! This recipe was inspired by a local restaurant that is a favorite of ours. They specialize in Basque food and one of our favorite things that they serve is their Creamy Red Potatoes. We'll call them Buttery Soft Potatoes for blogs sake.



BUTTERY SOFT POTATOES

4 medium gold or red potatoes ( I prefer red)

16 oz organic chicken stock

1/4 Cup of Butter

Water

Salt & Pepper to taste.



Cut the potatoes into 1 Inch cubes and place into sauce pan.

Fill the pan with Chicken Stock and Butter.

The potatoes need to be fully immersed in the liquid, so add water until it reaches 1 inch above the potatoes. Cook on medium high for 20-30 minutes, or until you can pierce through the potatoes like soft butter. To speed up the process, I use a nifty little technique that I picked up from Pinterest, original source is from Jamie of DIY Home Sweet Home. You Place a wooden spoon on top of a boiling pot of water and it helps prevent it from boiling over. I've tried this with a couple of different things and it works like a charm, I'm in LOVE with this trick!!

Once they're all soft, scoop them out and enjoy!!

My husband LOVES when I make these potatoes for dinner! Every time I make them he raves about how yummy they are!

I hope you like them too! Enjoy!

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Inside, Looking Out

It was another PERFECT weather day today. Daphne knew it too. She looked like she was longing to go outside, looking out the window like she was caged.

So we went for a little stroll out to the mailbox. She LOVES our routine walk out to the mailbox. As soon as we get there she usually squeaks or reaches for me to pick her up so that she can reach in and pull the mail out.

Then we wandered over to see some of the spring blossoms, aren't they beautiful?

I must admit that I was a little nervous because she was in a beautiful flower dress (one that she INSISTED on getting from Children's Place, HAHA - So I bought TWO! =oP ...) and me with my bright purple hair... I didn't want the bees to get sweet on us!

After stopping to smell the flowers... we took a moment to admire our glitteries ^_^

When we went back inside, she told me all about how much fun it was as she reminisced and looked out the window.

Going On A Picnic!

Today we had the most perfect weather, so I decided to take Daphne along on a little picnic!

I started off by packing up some essentials. First I made us some sandwiches <3

Then I cut some strawberries into some cute little hearts, yes it makes them taste sweeter ;o)

Then we strolled out to find the perfect picnic spot!

We laid out our blanket and got our snacks out...

And she even shared her lunch with Kit-Kat...

After snacks, she found her favorite headband and wanted to model it...

"Go ahead, put it on," I said. So she tried...

It is her most favorite headband.

Then we played ball!

Then she pretended to be my makeup artist, applying... crumpled up leaves to my eyelids! HAHA

see her concentrating, careful stare?

Then it was time to climb Mountain Mom!

We both had so much fun on our little mother-daughter picnic! Can't wait to do it again soon!