Tag Archives: mommy

Fruit Tart

Posted in food by

One of the many things my husband and I like to do together is bake. The other day we made a fruit tart and I thought I’d share our success with you!

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Things You’ll Need For The Dough:

  • Butter
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla
  • Sugar
  • Flour
  • Salt

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Ingredients

  Yields enough dough for two desserts.

  • 2 1/4 cups or 270g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1/2 cup or 60g sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Directions

 

  1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt until combined then add butterb_mix
  2. Whisk together egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Then add eggs; knead until dough begins to come together. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface; lightly knead to form a ball. b_ball
  3. Divide dough into 2 pieces, and gently press into flat disks. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. b_wrap

 

Next on to the Custard!

We used vanilla pudding and we made whipped cream. Below I’ll show you how we made the whipped cream, super easy and yummy.

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Things You’ll Need for the Whipped Cream:

  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Sugar

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoon of sugar

 

Directions

  1. Place cream and sugar in a mixing bowl that has been chilled and mix for 1-2 minutes. Mix until soft peaks have formed. Tip: Don’t whip too much or you will end up will cottage cheese looking whipped cream…ew.

Super easy, right? Keep in mind most recipes say to add vanilla to the mix but we didn’t because the vanilla pudding was sweet, we didn’t want it too sweet.

Now to make the custard simply fold the pudding and whipped cream together

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Back to the fruit tart!

Preheat oven to 350

Once dough has chilled, roll the dough flat.

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Then place it into the tin and with a fork poke holes on bottom of dough. Place into the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown

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Look how beautifully golden brown!! YUM! Tip: There was so much extra dough we made cookies!!

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Once the dough has cooled put that delicious custard on top of the dough

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Now this is where your creativity comes into play. I’m a very particular eater so I just wanted Strawberries and blackberries on my tart but the world is your oyster!

Finished product:

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FYI I don’t like the glaze that is normally on top of the tart but if you want to add it I found this recipe via Martha Stewart:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red currant jelly, seedless raspberry jam, quince jelly, or apricot jam

Place jelly or jam in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, until melted and smooth. Set glaze aside to cool slightly. Then brush on fruit. Easy peasy.

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You’ll notice you’ll have left over dough, custard and strawberries so there are a couple of things we ended up doing with our left overs. We made cookies and parfaits.

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Disneyland Through Her Eyes

Posted in Through Her Eyes by

These are a few fun photo’s that Sophia Rose has taken at Disneyland. All photo’s taken by my wonderful daughter!

Photopass photographer taking a picture of Sophia Rose taking a picture
Selfie with Daddy
Selfie
Taking a picture of her favorite Minnie Mouse stuffed animal
Sophia Rose taking a photo of Stitch.
Slowly approaching Stitch
Running away of Stitch but still taking his picture
Slowly approaching Stitch, he was waiting for a hug

Through Her Eyes

Posted in Through Her Eyes by

One thing I have learned from my daughter recently is she loves taking my expensive camera and taking pictures. To tell you the truth she isn’t bad. What is adorable is all photos are from her angle so they feel they are from her perspective. So, I thought I’ll show case her work here on my blog in a segment I like to call through her eyes. I hope you enjoy all the fun photos as much as I do!

Weird F-ing Cravings

Posted in Twin Pregnancy by

Maybe cravings isn’t the right word but my sense of smell since becoming pregnant has changed and everything smells different to me now…

Now that I’m in my third trimester I’m definitely nesting which means I’m cleaning a lot! As I clean I’m getting whiffs of these cleaning products that I never would of even thought twice about. Don’t go thinking I’m sniffin’ these things like glue and getting high because I’m not. I just think they smell really good and just because I have made a list for you fine people of things that smell so damn good to me right now:

  1. Goo-gone
  2. Lemon scented Lysol wipes
  3. Brand new box of Mr. Clean erasers
  4. My laundry soap- I don’t know what the name of the scent because I never thought twice about it. I smelled it once when I originally bought it but now when I’m doing laundry I LOVE the smell so much i’ll leave the laundry room door open so it fills the house.

It’s not just cleaning supplies:

  1. Old books- oh my god really though does anything smell better than an old book?
  2. Paper- any paper
  3. Toilet paper
  4. Wood, that Home Depot lumber department, I could stand there for HOURS

Its’ not just smelling, I only bring up smell because that’s the biggest difference from my last pregnancy to this one. My last pregnancy my food cravings was Doritos Taco from Taco Bell and now I LOVE Pericarp and pith or as my friend Ashely called it Satan’s butt/ass. What is that you might ask?

Definition: the white part of the orange, technically called the pericarp, has almost as much vitamin C as does the orange fruit. The pericarp includes the white, thready material that is called the pith.

I literally cant get enough of it. I will eat six to eight of those small oranges or cuties right before bed and when I peel them I try really hard to not take off the white part. If I do accidentally take off the white part I will still eat it. A treat within a treat. So if you know I’m coming over to your house don’t be surprised if I’m in the corner sniffing your old books. So instead of hide yo kids, hide yo wife its more like hide yo old books, hide yo lumber

Easter Giveaway! *ENDED*

Posted in Giveaways by

Hi everyone!
Every night we read a book to our daughter and she’s getting to the point where she actually listens to the words and they stick with her so I’ve been doing research on books for Easter and found a cute book called The Story of the Easter Bunny. I thought that Easter would mean more if we talked about all aspects like the Easter bunny and the traditions of Easter like baskets and hiding eggs hopefully it’ll bring more excitement the day of if she knows what to expect. Follow the link below for your chance to win a free copy!

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/96a125a67de655fd

A little about the book:
Everyone knows who the Easter Bunny is. Each year, he comes with a basket of painted eggs and chocolates for children. But not everybody knows where he comes from. On a snow-cold day in a snug little house… So begins the true story of the Easter Bunny!

With gorgeous and peaceful art, this fresh, innovative story describes how one little rabbit became a legend. The perfect addition to Easter baskets!

The_Story_of_the_Easter_Bunny

Giveaway Disclaimer:

1) NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends the earlier of  04/01/17 11:59PM. See Official Rules. 2) Any giveaways found on this site are no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Instagram , Twitter or any other social media platforms. 3) This promotion is powered by itsallrosey. The author or publisher of this book does not sponsor, administer or endorse this promotion. 4) Other photos used are readily available on various places on the Internet and believed to be in public domain and believed to be posted within our rights according to the US Copyright Fair Use Act (title 17, U.S. Code.) If you believe that any content appearing on this site infringes on your copyright, please contact me at itsallroseyblog@gmail.com and send a take down request. 5) The official rules for Amazon Giveaway can be found at https://amzn.to/GArules. 6)Every eligible entry has 1 in 200 chance to win, up to 1 winners. 7) 18+ years of age (or legal age) 8) Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia

Adventures in Babysitting 

Posted in Family & Friends by

The other week we baby sat my friend and fellow blogger Ashley Angel‘s one year old Azalea (if you haven’t seen her blog check it out because her kid is freaking adorable). It was very last minute and the only interaction I had with her was at Disneyland and she was in a stroller most the time so I’m not sure if she’d remembered me. As you all know I have twins on the way and I thought what a great way to brush the dust off then to watch her for a few hours. It was also going to be interesting to see/ test Sophia Rose on her big sister skills too. Taking care of a one year old is so much different then a baby but at that one year’s old age you have to be way more attentive making sure they don’t put things in their mouth, running with scissors or other dangerous stuff since they seem to get into EVERYTHING!  So which one is more work?? A Baby or a one year old? The interesting part is Ashley and Azalea have never really been away from each other, this would be the longest time away from one another. So I felt that could complicate my success with babysitting her just a bit.

It started off great, she waved good- bye to Mama and Dada with no tears but I think it’s because she was so distracted by Sophia Rose. I wasn’t sure how Sophia Rose would act because she has never been around someone smaller then her. She is either around kids her age or older. So it was an rough start for her as the baby wanted to touch and hold everything she was holding which is completely understandable since it was all new to Azalea. I had a few old baby toys I brought out since I was worried Azalea would get bored but she was so uninterested she’d rather see what Sophia Rose was doing. No matter where or what Sophia Rose was doing that little baby watched. She didn’t quite interact with her, just watching.

Sophia Rose tried to be nice and give the baby toys but they were toys that Sophia Rose didn’t care about and because Sophia Rose didn’t care, neither did the Azalea. It seemed I had to constantly say “let the baby play with that, it’s her turn”. What was also interesting and unexpected but should of been expected was Sophia Rose being jealous. Since my husband and I haven’t been around a child that small in a long time we found ourselves constantly laughing at the things she did, or oohhhh and awwwwing over her adorableness and like a cartoon character Sophia Rose put her face in our face and try to do adorable things too. So it was a good reminder to us to divide our attention equally between the two.

Next was dinner time, at this point we have been alone with Azalea for two maybe three hours and she still hasn’t cried or asked for Mama or Dada which made it seem like we were still doing good! This is where my husband and I had to divided. He went to make dinner and I was on watching the little ladies duty. My husband loves making dinner (I know aren’t I lucky!) so tonight’s dinner menu was pasta, yum! My hubby made the tomato sauce from scratch (how cute is that) and we had baby bow tie pasta. Unfortunately Azalea didn’t like the divide and conquer, she did not like my husband being out of her sight so she whined and pulled on the baby gate that divides the kitchen and living room so my husband finished cooking with her in his arms. We all sat around the dinner table and just like we remembered we cut the baby bow ties in half lightly sauced with tomato sauce and Azalea went to town! For my husband and I this was fascinating to watch. At this age Sophia Rose main method of nutrition was a bottle with formula, she didn’t eat solids and she was a picky eater. So to watch someone so young gobble up her dinner it was so nice to see!! After dinner was bath time for Sophia Rose, we were trying to stick to the same routine and the whole time in the bath Sophia Rose would yell ” what are you doing?”. I could tell she didn’t like being away from all the commotion so I went in and washed her hair and let her get out of the bath.

At this point in the evening it seemed my husband and I got our groove back and the girls were finally playing with one another. So after Sophia Rose dried off we all played together until bed time. We brought Azalea to Sophia Rose’s room and had her hang out with us for story time and we kissed Sophia Rose goodnight and we took Azalea into the living room. Again Sophia Rose didn’t like being away from the action so we could hear her open her door or she’d nicely ask “what are you doing?” My husband and I felt bad but we really wanted to stick to the routine so he went and laid down with her until she fell asleep.

But then It was just me…and Azalea. To be honest I was so uncomfortable, I felt like she didn’t like me since she seemed to gravitate towards my husband more all evening. So I stuck to my routine/ cravings which are oranges. This whole pregnancy all I want are oranges. I don’t know how I got her attention but the second I finished peeling the oranges there she was with this adorable face, a very expressive face. Its as if she used the words “oh what’s that can I have some?” each word sounding longer and longer. I wasn’t sure what to do since my kid doesn’t voluntarily want to try new things so I was kind of excited to share with her so I took a tiny bite and gave it to her. It’s like I exposed her to crack, she quickly scooted up on the couch and sat really close to me, almost right on top of me. I thought to myself, I think she wants more. So I got up and cut the oranges into tiny pieces and put them in a bowl for her. I gave them to her on the couch and she vacuumed all the pieces so fast that before I reached the kitchen to grab myself another orange she was right behind me with an empty bowl and banging it on the metal baby gate bars like she was in jail trying to get my attention. I thought to myself “I think she wants more!” So I texted Ashley asking if Azalea has ever had any oranges and she said no but not to give her to much because of the acid in the oranges. I felt terrible like oh my gosh duh! How could I not think of that! What about all the sugar in oranges and it’s so late (its like 8:30p or 9:30p at this point) so I cut the addict off and didn’t give her any more oranges. At that time Luke had just come out of Sophia Roses room and Azalea slightly whimpering as if she was tattle tailing on me cutting her off of oranges ran up to him and wanted to be picked up.

We didn’t expect Ashley and her husband AJ back for a couple of hours (it was about 10:oop at this point) but those oranges really really got Azalea going, her personality really came out. When Ashley dropped Azalea off she listed off all these warnings like she loves to climb,   she’ll be running around making a mess everywhere etc. Luke and I looked at each other like “please we got this Sophia Rose was that and so much more” but after those oranges hit the blood stream SHE WAS OFF! Running around literally making circles around the couch hollering, constantly following my dogs saying ” dog, dog, woof” it was hilarious. We thought where has this kid been? This is not the same person from two hours ago. It was so much fun to watch and interact with. Then all a sudden she stops and looks up at us and starts to cry. Luke and I stood there, what do we do??? she hasn’t cried all night!!!! So we went back to basics! We went through the check list, is she hungry? no she ate a lot not that long ago. Check her diaper! Sure enough she was wet. The diaper change was pretty easy she didn’t really cry or whimper or squirm. Luckily that was it and the guessing game was over….so we thought. We put her down and she was a little slower, wasn’t running as fast. She again looked up and gave us a huge pouty lip and Luke swooped her up and held her for no more than 6 minutes and she was OUT! ASLEEP! We mental high fived and we never felt more confidant in our parenting skills. She only woke up once after that until Mama and Dada came to pick her up which I thought was great because she was sleeping in a house she has never been at before. All in all I think the evening was a slam dunk! It truly gave my husband and I some confidence back in regards to child rearing at that age. The future is full of unknown as this family has grown fast and it feels like we’re growing over night but if my twins are anything like little Azalea, we will be fine. If they’re anything like Sophia Rose was at that age…God help me because my hands will be full but my heart will be full and it’ll all work out.

As I reflect on that evening I think of the lessons I learned:

  1. *Reminder* Sophia Rose is will no longer be an only child.
  2. Sophia Rose has grown up so fast!
  3. We have to do a better job at giving Sophia Rose attention so she doesn’t feel left out.
  4. Manage Sophia Rose’s expectations of what life will be like soon.
  5. Finally,  routine routine routine

Head over to my friend Ashley’s newly redesigned blog www.alwaysmiyuki.com/

My toddlers potty struggle

Posted in Autism by

*Warning: TMI post, if you can’t handle the word poop turn away*

So my child lately has been pretty amazing. Her speech has improved! She doesn’t stop talking, a problem that I don’t consider a problem at all. I love it. She can pee pee in the potty like a champ! We have some misses especially if she is really into an activity she won’t say she has to go or she’ll just go in what she’s wearing. So sometimes if I know she will be doing something for a long time like watching a movie, playing video games or outside playing I’ll set an alarm every hour to remind her to go and usually without an issue she’ll agree and go. This is a huge win as we have been trying to get her to go potty for over a year! I really wanted to jump this hurtle before the babies arrived so I’m so proud and never get tired when I hear her on the potty and she yells “mommy!!!!! I go pee pee!!!” And she yells it 98% of the time. 

Now to the struggle…. poop. I’ve read online that this is a common struggle amongst children/ people with autism. So I knew I wasn’t alone. Lately she has told me she needs a diaper which is code for I gotta poop, so step in the right direction a direction that I’ve been waiting for. They say when they’re ready they’ll let you know and she lets me know. So now how do I transfer this to the potty? One day she asked for a diaper and I said let’s try to poop on the potty and it followed with tears, anger and screaming. My goal is to not traumatize her so we got off the potty and a diaper we go. I didn’t give up. Every time she asked for a diaper we went straight to the potty and each time she’d cry, scream and protest. I eventually tried to just not put a diaper on, she won’t poop if it’s not in a diaper so maybe if she isn’t wearing anything she’d go on the potty (this is how we did it with pee pee and it worked) but let me tell you, this kid can hold it!!!! She’d hold it for days!!!! Obviously not healthy so I needed to try a different approach. Again I didn’t give up. So I brought the iPad in the bathroom thinking maybe the distraction will ease out the poop…. nope that didn’t work. Then I had her stand up since she is used to pooping standing up right? That actually kinda helped. She’d stand for a bit, start to panic and when she would panic that seemed to of meant we’re almost there!!!! We’re on the verge!!! SHE’S PRAIRIE DOGGIN!! But still nothing. I’d be lucky to get a tiny little nugget in the toilet but she’d be happy and say “I did it! I small poopy in the potty”. I didn’t want to rain on her parade and it was a step in the right direction so I’d praise her, hug her and get excited with her but she’d still want a diaper and finish the larger poop in there. Again After the second time I got a small poop in the potty I didn’t put a diaper on her but at night we’d still put a diaper/pull up on and one night at 3am she woke up because she pooped!! So frustrating. I’m obviously headed in the right direction but we aren’t quite there yet. 

I remember when she was around one years old we bought her a little potty. So we put that in her room and when she’d ask for the diaper we said “heeeeeeey try sitting on this” and my husband and I would sit with her in her room, talk with her and read with her and then the panic started happening, like if she was scared. So just as she was giving birth to this poo we said “YOU GOT THIS!!! Just push! You can do it!!!” We gave her a stuffed animal and said “squeeze and yell into that” and she did….. and then she POOPED! Not a small little nugget it was a log!!!!! We have never been more excited then we were in that exact moment!!! We cheered and applauded, we did everything short of yelling from the roof top to celebrate this amazing and monumental moment in her life. We stop and realize she isn’t celebrating, she’s totally freaking out. Crying and screaming “noooooooo”. We look in the potty and this sucker was huge!!! We thought maybe it hurt and that’s why she wasn’t celebrating with us? I don’t want to sound mean but heck she pooped!!!!! Yay!!! After we of course hugged her and reassured her this is amazing and great! We then took her out of her room far from that poopy and we said “do you want to play Minecraft?” She sucked up her tears and with a tremor in her voice she said “yes”. Once she started playing Minecraft it’s like nothing ever happened. It’s been a few days and we haven’t needed to poop again but hopefully it’ll be just as successful!!! Cross your fingers! 

Minecraft is her zen