Christmas is coming...Smiling Tree Toys {Giveaway}

Lately I've been on the search for the perfect ornament for Penny's first Christmas. My mom started the tradition of getting each of us kids a special ornament for the tree, and the year Adam and I got married she passed on all of my ornaments for my own tree.  This year, I get to start this tradition for Penelope!

Baby Bianca's first Christmas ornament

One of the main things I looked for when choosing Penelope's first ornament was quality. I want this ornament to last a long time, something that I dream to pass down when she gets married as well. It'll need to withstand tipping trees or over-eager helping little fingers. I also wanted it to be eco-friendly and unique.









So least to say, when I came across Smiling Tree Toys I knew my wishes had been answered! When this darling elephant ornament arrived in the mail, I gave a huge sigh of relief - this little pachyderm will last through the years.. my own poor pink elephant has definitely seen better days.  But then again, this will be her 26th Christmas so we've got to give her credit for lasting this long!

Now Baby P gets her own elephant ornament!

This ornament is so beautifully crafted. It's not super heavy (so it won't weigh down a branch), but not super thin either. It's sanded down to silky smoothness so I don't have to worry about stray splinters. The engraving is clear and has a year stamp on the back too - not like I'd forget, but hey - maybe Penny's granddaughter will inherit it! "Hey Grammy P, what year were you born? 2012? Holy cow that is ANCIENT!"

One of my favorite things in working with family owned companies is learning their very distinct stories. Doesn't it make it just that much more special to know that the things you own have a face behind them? 

Justin and Kathleen's commitment to literally making the world a better place, one toy at a time, by donating to various Peace Corps worldwide youth development projects is so inspiring! I love that I don't have to worry about if Penny's ornament eventually does make it to her mouth that it won't be met with chemicals and plastics, but instead ingredients straight from Mother Nature.

So this holiday season, why not gift a handmade ornament or toy from Smiling Tree Toys? Check out their store for a great variety of toys from teethers, rattles, blocks, wheeled cars to puzzles..they even have a little wooden camera for your aspiring photog!

And now for the fun part.. Smiling Tree Toys has agreed to giveaway one personalized ornament for The Pierogie Mama readers! This giveaway is open worldwide, and one winner will be notified by December 14th, 2012.

This giveaway is over - thanks to all for entering! 

Keep an eye out for more Pierogie Mama Giveaways.

Disclaimer: 

I received the beautiful elephant ornament pictured above for review. 

All opinions are my own.

All I want for Christmas... I already got!

You can go ahead and bypass my stocking, Santa - I've already gotten what I asked for this year! Isn't that convenient?

Our living situation over the last year was a little outside of the norm. Living with my parents while our house sold has definitely been a huge blessing - it was a TON of help during Penny's first couple months and I know that the grandparents have appreciated getting to see every day for most of her first year. And now the fun can step up a notch! My biggest hope for this holiday season was for us to be settled into our new home - and although it is not ours on paper, I'm still so thankful for the rental situation.

There's nothing like getting to decorate your home for the first time, and I think it's even more special this time around because it is right in time for the holidays :) I also get to do it all again when the Christmas decorations come down and get settle into our "every day" style. And if my heart isn't content then, I will get to think of fun decorations for Penny's first birthday in March! Hold up- I am getting waaaaay ahead of myself.. I am not ready for my little girl to turn one yet.

But since I've technically gotten my Christmas wish.. can I sneak in another one, Santa? Just a small one. Come close so I can whisper in your ear -

Gerard Butler.

I hope my husband doesn't read this post ;)  But then again, maybe I do?

There's a new Gerard Butler movie coming out this holiday season- Playing for Keeps. I'm pretty interested because not only does it feature my heart throb but it also has other big movie stars like Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid and Jessica Biel (now Timberlake).

That isn't too much to ask for, is it? Go ahead and find a way to wrap Gerard up for me, Santa baby. What are you wishing for this holiday season? Spending more time with your family? Spending less time with your family? ;) A new bag, a date to the movies?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, 

and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Teef

It's a little late coming, but it's sort of hard to try to photograph and/or video inside an infant's mouth without her pulling the lens into her mouth ;)

About a month ago, I was letting Penny try some of my homemade applesauce from my finger and felt something in her mouth that I hadn't felt before.. something sharp! Whaaat? I quickly checked again, because I initially thought it might be some toast crumbs from my snack a few moments before. Lo and behold, there really were some little teeth buds just broken through.

The discovery was immediately followed by some mama snuggles and the inauguration of her new terry teether.

The weird thing was that there wasn't any indication that she was teething - she wasn't fussy or drooly over the last few weeks. I guess I'll be giving that amber necklace she's been wearing a lot more credit...

Since the eruption of these two bottom teeth, there hasn't been any indication of more teeth coming through. But I'll definitely be more prepared this time around!

Moving!

So if you've been reading along for the last 9ish months or so, you've probably heard me mention that we've been living in limbo somewhat. To bring you up to speed, about a year ago Adam accepted a position which relocated us 3 hours north of where we owned our home that we had been renovating. He started at that job, while I stayed down south and finished working at my job until I went on maternity leave. In February, while our house was put on the market, we made the semi-permanent move north with my parents (the hubs *hates* it when I say "we live with my parents" but is there a different way to put it? not really.). This put our new home base about 1 1/2 hours south of where Adam works.

Then, in September OUR HOUSE SOLD and very soon after we had our offer in on a house that is much closer to his work. It listed as a foreclosure and was outside of our price range but it had been on the market for about a year and hadn't had any offers. So we suuuuuuuper lowballed it with little expectation to be taken seriously. But, we were and after a few counter offers we agreed upon a price. We learned that we were negotiating with a bankruptcy trustee who was in charge of the estate.  We were even given a closing date. We prepared to move into our new home and then were hit out of left field. The house was not a foreclosure - but a short sale. The price we negotiated with the trustee was not the final say and that the bank hadn't even seen the offer yet. That closing date we were given - completely fabricated. At least it feels that way. There isn't any other way to explain it. Somewhere, someone (likely the listing agent) dropped the ball. Who lists a house as a foreclosure and allows an offer to go through as such and then 2 weeks before the closing date have something like this fall through the cracks?

We were told that the new plan is to wait til November 30th, where our offer will be brought to bankruptcy court for the bank to see our offer. Then we were told that it could be another 120 days until we hear a final decision. Frustration does not even begin to explain it.  (2 second rant: WHY oh WHY can't there be like 10 routes for buying/selling homes? Why does each and every transaction have to be unique??)

Then we got the bright idea to see if the bank would be willing to rent us the property - after all, the house had been vacant for a long time and our personal interest in moving in (beyond having our own space) was that winter is coming - and the heat had been turned off long ago. Because we are under contract to purchase this home, it is in our best interest to keep that house safe during the winter.

So we proposed the idea and were quickly hooked up with the property manager who works for the bank and we negotiated a rental agreement and guess what? WE MOVED IN YESTERDAY!

Oh man. Words cannot explain how great it was! What made it even better was that typically Adam and I have very bad luck when having to deal with contracted work (such as our kitchen designer, title companies - on 3 counts - sellers/buyers, etc) but this time - everything went so smoothly. The movers were professional, polite and careful with our stuff, we got the water and electrical back up and running as it should. The house warmed up quickly and after cleaning up the floors, we let Penelope crawl around and explore her new home, while Adam and I basked in gratitude and accomplishment.

Penny and Daddy walking the property

This move was very last minute (like - less than 12 hours notice) so there was quite a bit that we left behind at my parents' (namely, the dogs!). I'll be here through the end of the week, finalizing our packing and we'll all be back up at the house this weekend. BIG SIGH of happiness. I even found my Christmas decorations - I'm totally putting them out before Thanksgiving.

It's a really weird position to be in, to rent one's home prior to owning it. Basically we've been told to expect sometime in early Spring for a closing date. It's even stranger because we're big DIY'ers - we renovate for fun. However, we won't be touching this house until it is ours.

And so there you have it. A little over a year and we're back to "normal life," as I call it. I'll be posting pictures soon... blogging will be somewhat intermittent because we don't have internet at the house yet, and apparently it is rural enough that Comcast/Century Link etc don't service out there (??? but it's really not THAT rural!).

Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread

Sour cream. One of my favorite condiments. And now, one of my favorite ingredients to bake with.

You've seen my post on sour cream banana bread. This is a rendition of that recipe, only with pumpkin instead of banana. So festive, right?

A few weeks ago we took a visit to the local pumpkin patch, where we picked our our family pumpkin and I also snagged a yummy sugar pie pumpkin.

Did you know that the canned pumpkin that you buy is actually winter squash? That's why when you taste something cooked or baked with actual pumpkin, it tastes so different (and better!).  But, be warned, the carving type of pumpkin does not taste the same as the type of pumpkin you'd use for baking or cooking. You'd want a sugar pie pumpkin for that. The reason for that is because carving pumpkins have been cultivated to grow large quickly, and they really don't have very good flavor to them. But sugar pie pumpkins are soooooo delicious!

Now that I've really piqued your interest, you might be wondering how to prepare said pumpkin. Super easy.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Cut pumpkin in half (horizontally)
• Scoop out the guts and seeds (save the seeds to roast them!)
• Place halves face down on a tin foil lined pan
• Bake for 30 minutes to an hour. The reason for the variation is that the thickness of the walls can vary. My first pumpkin this year only took about 30 minutes, but my second was much thicker and was almost the full hour. You will know when it is done by after 30 minutes, take it out quickly and flip one half over - stick a fork into the flesh and see if it is soft (like mashed potatoes). If it is hard at all, turn it back over and return to the oven for at least another 15 minutes.
• When it's done, remove the pumpkin from the oven and turn the halves over and cover with a dish towel and allow to cool off. Putting the dish towel over the pumpkins will allow them to cook off but not overly dry out because of the steam escaping.
• After the halves have cooled, take a spoon or ice cream scoop and start scooping out the flesh. It should be very easy. You can either store it in a tupperware as is (with a little bit of chunk to it), or you can puree it immediately and then store in a tupperware. It should last in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
• One sugar pie pumpkin will produce around 4 cups of pumpkin puree.

 Ok, so on to that awesome pumpkin bread recipe.

You will need:
non-stick cooking spray
1/4 c of sugar with 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c softened butter (or 1/2 c Tropical Traditions Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil)
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c of home made pumpkin puree (see above)
2 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 c flour
*Optional: 1/4 c candied pecans

You will do:
1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Spray 2 bread pans with your non stick spray.
3. In a small bowl mix the 1/4 cup of sugar with the 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon. Dust onto the greased pans.

4. In a larger bowl, cream butter and remaining sugar together. Add eggs, pumpkin, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Blend until well mixed.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly incorporate into the pumpkin mixture.
6. Divide batter between your pans.
7. Top with candied pecans.
8. Bake for about an hour (but check at 45 minutes), or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I promise, just like the original sour cream banana bread recipe, this sweet bread won't last long in your house.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.