A few weeks ago, The Littlest Apple and I made these Firecracker Ice Pops.  The Littlest Apple LOVES popsicles (and really, who doesn’t?!), so I thought we could try making our own.  I think I may have enjoyed these more than The Littlest Apple…I liked that these aren’t overly sweet and that they include a yogurt layer.  He probably would have preferred an all strawberry popsicle that was a little sweeter.

Firecracker Ice Pops

recipe from Everyday Food

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 pound blueberries (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat plain yogurt

In a food processor, puree strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar.  Transfer to a small bowl.  In processor, puree blueberries with 1 tablespoon sugar.  In another small bowl, whisk together yogurt and 2 tablespoons sugar.  Pour the 3 mixtures, alternating, into ten 3-ounce ice-pop molds, making 3 to 5 layers each.  Swirl mixtures if desired.  Insert ice-pop sticks and freeze until solid, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

The Littlest Apple (pre haircut) enjoy his popsicle….

It’s been a while since my last book review, hasn’t it?  I’ve got at least 5 books queued up for review, but as much as I love to read, I find writing book reviews to be the hardest posts of all to write.  Fiction is a little easier for me to write about than non-fiction, so let’s start with a book I just finished last night: Handle With Care, by Jodi Picoult.  I’ve seen Jodi Picoult’s books mentioned everywhere for a couple of years now, but this is the first I’ve read.

Handle With Care is about one family’s life with a special needs child.  Charlotte and her husband Sean have an extremely intelligent,  5 year old daughter named Willow who was born with OI-osteogenesis imperfecta, meaning that her bones break very easily.  She can break ribs by coughing, she broke her leg after slipping on a napkin.  By the time she is 6 she has had close to 60 breaks, 7 of which happened in-utero.  Willow experiences a particularly bad break while on vacation at Disney.

In the fallout from that incident, including a child abuse investigation, issues surrounding Willow’s birth and when she was diagnosed with OI arise.  Charlotte had several ultrasounds during her pregnancy, including one at 18 weeks.  Why wasn’t Willow’s OI noticed until 27 weeks?  The attorney they meet with suggests that perhaps a case could be made for a wrongful birth lawsuit.  To succeed, Charlotte and Sean would have to claim that Charlotte’s ob-gyn–who is also Charlotte’s best friend–was negligent in not noticing the OI abnormalities sooner, and that if they been aware of Willow’s condition earlier, they would have terminated the pregnancy.

What if Willow had been diagnosed earlier?  What if Willow had never been born?  What constitutes a valuable life?  The answers to these questions fracture Charlotte and Sean’s marriage, destroy Charlotte’s friendship with Piper, and cause strained relationships not only with Willow, but with their older daughter Amelia.

I found this story completely fascinating.  The amount of care and the emotional energy needed to care for Willow were eye opening.  This book raises some polarizing topics (abortion, issues surrounding disabilities), but no matter what side you fall on, I guarantee you won’t be able to put this compelling book down.  Without spoiling the plot, I will say that I didn’t like the ending, but this is still a fantastic book, and I certainly plan to check out more books by this author.

Have you read any Jodi Picoult novels?  Which one is your favorite?

This morning’s outing to the park was one of those perfect mornings when everything just seemed to go right.  The Littlest Apple and I got out of the house early while The Picky Apple slept in.  We had the park to ourselves.  We saw mommy turtles and baby turtles poking their heads up out of the water, a big white bird gliding low over the water, scanning for fish.  The thirty adolescent ducklings now old enough to fend for themselves.  Big fish and little fish swimming close to the edge of the lake.  A beautiful rainbow created by the sun bouncing off the water fountain when you stood at just the right angle.  Caterpillars and even a caterpillar egg on a leaf (just like in The Very Hungry Caterpillar).  We sat at the top of a small waterfall and watched the water rush and bubble down into the lake.  There were no tantrums, no need for “No”s and “Stop that!”s.

It was wonderful.

We collected sticks, twigs, leaves, pine needles and pinecones to build a nest.

And when we got home, we glued it all (along with some twine) to a piece of cardboard to make our very own nest.  I did most of the construction, but The Littlest Apple enjoyed examining all of our leaves and is so excited about “our” nest (or is it a wreath?).  This is definitely a project we’ll be doing again!

Glue happy…..

Hello everyone!  I’ve had quite a few new subscribers lately, and I’m participating in the Third Annual Blog Hop going on at Pensieve, so I thought I’d take a second to introduce (or reintroduce) myself to all of you!

Here’s a little summary of my blog…

I’m Cara, and here at The Picky Apple, you can find recipes, crafts, toddler and preschool activities, book reviews, home DIY projects, and my random notes on motherhood.  It’s so hard to provide a quick snapshot of my content, but here are some posts I’m most proud of:

Must Read Posts:

Developing an Attitude of Gratitude

Homemade Tortillas

Finding our Summer Rhythm

Ice Smashing

Gastroparesis: Always Feeling Like You Just Ate Thanksgiving Dinner (The Littlest Apple got an NG tube a few months ago because he’s having trouble eating enough calories.  This post is an intro to our GP journey.)

Master Bedroom Makeover: The Vision

I’m Nuts For You (gift idea for Father’s Day, Christmas, teachers, etc)

Maybe One? (written after my most recent miscarriage this spring)

Flag Wreath

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I appreciate all of your comments and look forward to making some new blogging buddies!

At last week’s Art Playgroup, I set up two art activities (instead of just one), including these Rainbow Sun-catchers.  Similar to the Heart Sun-catchers we made with The Littlest Apple’s preschool class last Valentine’s Day, these sun-catchers are made of Contact Paper and tissue paper in a rainbow of colors.  All 5 of our little boys enjoyed this project (though as usual, mine completed his later that afternoon), and I liked having second project since the kids usually finish the first one in 10 minutes or less.  These do take a little more prep work for the parent, but I think the results are well worth it!  These sun-catchers look so beautiful in the late afternoon as they hang in dining room window.  And as a bonus?  There’s not much of a mess to clean up!

Okay, so I made this one for the project demo……pretty rainbow!

Hmmm.  The name for this dish needs a little more tweaking (any suggestions?).  But I wanted to go ahead and share the recipe while it is still fresh in my mind.  I threw this one together for dinner tonight, using some yellow cherry tomatoes and some of my favorite ingredients (artichokes, creamy sherry garlic sauce….yum!). Delicious!  Already looking forward to having the leftovers of this again tomorrow!

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4″ thickness
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons cooking sherry (or white wine)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
• 1/2 can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 cup cream (or half and half)
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 8 ounces spaghetti noodles, cooked according to package directions

Heat oil in a medium skillet.  While oil is heating, sprinkle chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.  Cook chicken in skillet for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through.  Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm.

Add butter to skillet, and melt over medium heat.  Add garlic to skillet and cook for 30 seconds.  Next, add sherry, lemon juice, tomatoes and artichokes to skillet, and cook for 5 minutes.

While tomatoes and artichokes are cooking, slice or chop chicken.

Add cream and cheese to skillet, stir until cheese is melted and ingredients are well combined.  Add chicken back in to sauce and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes, then serve over cooked spaghetti.

I hadn’t planned on blogging about every single detail of the Master Bedroom Makeover (and I promise I won’t!), but I am so stinkin’ excited about my drop cloth curtains that I just HAD to share.  Besides, who knows how long it will actually be before the entire makeover is complete?  Those home decor/crafty bloggers make room transformations look so easy, but this is definitely NOT my forte.  My forte?  Making messes.  Preschool crafts.  Taking naps.  Home makeovers are hard to work in!

Where was I?  Oh yes, the drop cloth curtains!  I’m about a year behind on the drop-cloth-as-home-decor craze that hit the blog world, but I absolutely LOVE the way my curtains turned out.

I purchased two packs of drop cloths (6’x9′) at Home Depot.  Each pack was $9.97, so each panel was less than $5!!  That price is hard to beat, wouldn’t you say?  This was the cheapest part of the project.  Drop cloths are already hemmed on all 4 sides, so no sewing necessary!  I washed and dried them once so they’d be nice and soft.  One word of warning: there was a slight color variation between the two packages of drop cloths…and it wasn’t noticeable until after I washed them.  They also shrunk several inches, but that didn’t matter for my project.  Mine were actually still too long.  Instead of hemming, I simply folded them over at the top (eyeballed it), and that was good enough.  They aren’t perfect—a little wrinkly (I don’t iron!) and I probably could have used a few more curtain clips, but they are exactly the beachy look I was going for.

The most difficult part was the curtain rod.  This window (which is identical to the one directly below it in the living room) requires a rod that is 144″ long, AKA the longest curtain rod known to man.  This length is REALLY hard to find, especially for a reasonable price.  I bought the living room rod at Pottery Barn 4 years ago for a bajillion dollars.  This time I did my research and discovered some at JC Penney.  Originally $119, the rod was on sale for $71.  (And don’t forget the clips!!)  Still pricey, but it was the cheapest option I could find.

The Picky Apple installed the rod this weekend, and I got to work hanging the curtains.  LOVE the way they look.  They add so much presence to the room.  I am so glad that I went with four panels instead of just two on the outside (that’s what I’ve got in the living room, and I’m already looking forward to changing them!)

I had some extra canvases leftover from Splatter Paint Art, and I decided that The Picky Apple and I should try painting our own triptych (hello art history vocab!) to hang above the bed, inspired by the painting mentioned in my Master Bedroom Makeover post.  We both had lots of fun painting with all of those extra little paint samples amassed over the years, but I’m not sure how well our paintings actually go with the blue-gray walls of our room.  One of the paintings had a little bit of red tempera paint on it…I figured I could just paint over it, but no matter how many coats I used, the red still bled through to the top.  So we’ve only got 2 paintings.  Mine’s on the left, The Picky Apple’s is on the right.   We’ll use them somewhere, somehow, just maybe not in the Master Bedroom.

And the paintings are blurry in this one, but look at that cutie with the blue eyes!

I’m sharing this post with:

Yesterday I turned 31.

I am so glad to be done with 30, to be moving on to a new year!

The Picky Apple surprised me with some new shoes…

and a shirt…..

The shirt features some illustrations from one of the funniest blog posts I’ve ever read:  This is Why I’ll Never Be An Adult from Hyperbole and a Half.  This post had me laughing so hard I was crying not only while I was reading the post, but for about an hour afterward.  This is EXACTLY how I feel about cleaning, errands, guilt spirals when I don’t get it done, and many other aspects of being an adult.  Shouldn’t I feel grown up now that I’m 31, married, and a mother?  Don’t answer that.  This shirt makes me smile every time I see it, so I’m displaying it in my closet where it is always in view.  Now every time I walk in the closet I smile…which is not usually the case.

And, inspired by Kelle Hampton’s blog, Enjoying The Small Things, I suggested that The Picky Apple let The Littlest Apple pick out my birthday presents at the Dollar Store.  So here’s what I wound up with:

• Lacrosse stick
• Flashlight (no batteries)
• American flag
• Ceramic flower ball
• Ceramic bird house
• Pink Dora the Explorer hairbrush
• Reading glasses
• Pink paper cups (my favorite color is pink)
• 3 plastic spatulas
• Wooden spoon
• Dinosaur skeleton toys
• Grabber
• Gardening shears
• Small painting of an African village with elephants in the background
• Gravy separator
• Rainbow lei
• Ketchup and mustard squirt bottles

Clearly he got a few things for him (the grabber, the lacrosse stick), but he was SO PROUD and EXCITED about his selections and couldn’t wait to give them to me, along with the apple fritter they picked up from the donut shop.

My parents started a tradition long ago of getting me an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.  Mint chocolate chip with chocolate cake.  The tradition has been carried on by The Picky Apple, too.  This year’s cake was particularly cute, with mini ice cream cones on top:

And that was just the beginning of the birthday celebrations…it continued today with cupcakes (about 10 different flavors from local bakery Ooh La La) and homemade vanilla ice cream with my parents, brother and sister-in-law.  And there’s another celebration with The Picky Apple’s family next weekend.  I am so fortunate to have all of my family nearby for celebrating birthdays!

Here’s a quick and easy preparation for green beans.  It goes particularly well with pasta (I served it with Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells and Homemade Garlic Bread).  If you don’t have pine nuts, you could substitute slivered almonds.

Green Beans with Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• one bag fresh or frozen green beans (I buy bags of fresh when they’re on sale)
• 1-2 tablespoons pine nuts (or slivered almonds)

Cook green beans in a pot of boiling water until bright green, approximately 3-5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.  Add garlic and pine nuts to skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until pine nuts turn golden brown.  Drain green beans and add to skillet.  Cook for another 3 minutes and serve.

We met with The Littlest Apple’s GI specialist again this week.

At 35 months old, The Littlest Apple is 24 pounds, 34″ tall.  He’s still not on the charts yet for weight (despite what the pediatrician told us incorrectly last week), but making progress especially given all of the hurdles we’ve faced with the NG tube.

The doctor wants to increase The Littlest Apple’s night feeds just a little, and we’re keeping him on the same formula, despite the increase in energy (which seems to just be from the calorie increase).  His energy level has to max out eventually, right?  I’m hoping we’ve reached that point, because, wow, some days really wear me out.

The doctor asked us whether we wanted to switch to a G-tube.  Now that we know this method of feeding works, we have that option.  The doctor can’t tell us with certainty how much longer we’ll be using tube feeds, but it will be at least another 3 months.  Once The Littlest Apple reaches the desired weight/BMI, he’ll need to prove that he can eat enough orally to sustain his weight before we are completely done with the tube.  It could take 6 months.  It could take a year.  It could take much longer, if his gastroparesis continues to be a problem.  So it is completely up to us whether we want to make a switch, and we plan to make a decision in the next week.  If we’re going to switch to a G-tube, we’d like to get it done before The Littlest Apple starts preschool in September.

Here are some factors we’re weighing…

Reasons to use G-tube:

• Better for long term use.  No tape constantly irritating face.  Can be used for several months or longer before it needs to be replaced.
• More “hidden”…you wouldn’t be able to tell he even had a tube with his shirt on.  Right now we get LOTS of attention (and staring) and lots of questions when we’re out in public.  The first appearance wouldn’t be that he is “sick” or “different.”
• Less likely to be pulled out (mostly a concern with other children, particularly the under 3 crowd who are very curious).
• No more monthly tube and tape changes (such misery for all involved!)
• NG tube irritates the nose
• NG tube in throat is an addition eating/swallowing hurdle.  I’ve noticed The Littlest Apple (who has a strong gag reflex) gagging more frequently w/ the NG tube.

Reasons to keep using NG tube:

• Surgery needed to place the G-tube and the pain associated with recovery from surgery (a couple days in the hospital)
• We’ve FINALLY gotten comfortable using NG tube
• will our insurance (who won’t cover the formula b/c it isn’t his “sole source of nutrition”) even cover G-tube surgery?  Would it be considered elective surgery?  How much would THAT cost?
• A little bit bigger deal to replace g-tube (though Dr. said many parents are comfortable doing this on their own)
• Unsure how The Littlest Apple would handle an extra “button” on his tummy.  Would he pick/pull at it or be protective of it?

This is SUCH a hard decision to make, especially not knowing how much longer we’ll need it.  If we could say with certainty we would only need tube feeds for another 3 months, I’d stick with the NG tube.  If we knew for sure it would be a year or more, I’d definitely want to switch to G-tube.  Anything in between is a gray area for me, but I’m leaning strongly toward making the switch.

What would YOU do?  I’d love to hear some opinions!