A Night At The Fair

We had a great time at the state fair this year with Baby Avery, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Kiley.  We packed up the strollers and diaper bags and were off!  I felt like a super prepared "mom" as I packed up the sunscreen, sippy cups, diapers and hand sanitizer.  We were prepared for a fun night out with Callie's favorite cousin!

Baby Avery ("baby-aby" as Callie would say) did great too!  She spent most of the time in her stroller and a little bit of time in the Baby Bjorn. Isn't she a cutie?  Callie still loves to give her lots and lots of kisses.  And she likes to point out where her eyes and nose are.  He mom isn't too fond of Callie always "pointing at" {touching} Avery's eyes.  ;)

We ate LOTS of fried food and anything you could find on a stick.  We loved the Australian potatoes drenched with ranch and cheese sauce.  This was a new item for us this year.

We saw lots of animals: we pet the bunnies {they were giant!}, saw sheep and goats and cows.  Oh, and big John Deere tractors.  Grandpa L, we took this picture especially for you!

We tried some pork chops on a stick...it was practically a health food at the fair. 

And mini donuts, my favorite.  :)  Not so much a health food, but I had to have them.

The adventure of the night was when Kyle took Callie down the giant slide. He had been dreaming about this moment for weeks.

Hopefully she won't have nightmares about it for weeks to come.  ;)  No, she didn't seem to mind it too much.  However, it was approaching bedtime so that could have something to do with it.  Actually, her favorite part was climbing up the hundreds of stairs!

Good thing her super strong daddy was there to protect her.  :)  I just love her face in this picture.

When she got down, she wanted "mama."  This is her new favorite word and cries for "mama" a few times each day.  This must be a stage she is going through.  It's pretty cute sometimes, especially considering the fact that she only recent started saying "mama" but has said "dada" practically since she was born.  :) I think daddy feels a little left out in this stage.  :)

Overall, it was a great night at the fair.

It was definitely worth staying up two hours past bedtime and digesting lots of junk food.  :) Until next year!

Thanks for the Mention...

One easy way to see who has made a link to your blog is on the website Ask.com.  You simply type in your link, like bambinababe.blogspot.com, and click "search."  You will come up with a list of websites and blogs that have linked to your blog.  It's interesting to see who has mentioned you to their friends! :)  I'm sure there are many better ways of doing this, but ask.com seems to work okay (let me know if you know of a better way that's not too complicated)!

This is going somewhere.  I thought I would do a little "thanks for the mention" post.  I spend a lot of time writing and blogging, so it's a great compliment and is nice to know someone out there is reading what I write and would recommend my blog to their readers as well.  I thought this would be a fun way to say thank you, plus you can see all the beautiful headers of many of the blogs that I read.  So, thanks to the following...

I apologize if I missed you...let me know and I will add you next time!  :)  

Random Thoughts

-I am so thankful for my mom.  She stayed with us for a few days last week and was SO much help.  She not only helped take care of Callie, but cleaned my house, did my laundry, and even scrubbed my pans with this (it took off the black film that I thought would be permanent).  Aren't they pretty?

-I have this strange feeling in the back of my mind that my life's going to end when I have this baby.  Not end, literally, but everything I am currently doing will change. I feel a little panicked to get everything done that I possibly can NOW before I have #2.  I know this is crazy, and I have to remind myself that I have friends with FOUR kids that still get stuff done.  :)   But I still can't shake this feeling of a time-bomb going off around December 26th.

-If you like sparkly things, you will love this website. A friend with a fun blog recently started a new biz. Very cute (and great pics of her if I do say so myself).  ;)

-We've got 5 days now without a kitchen sink or countertops.  This is because our new carrara marble countertops were just installed this morning.  They are so classic and beautiful and I think I made the right decision. We'll see how I feel in a few months though, because they are supposed to be a little more high maintenance than granite (ie, do NOT drip vinegar or lemon juice on them, or any household cleaners!).  Does anyone reading this have any experience with marble kitchen countertops???

-I got to spend much of yesterday with Savannah and her mom. She was doing okay yesterday morning, but she is now sick and getting weaker and weaker.  She is being kept in the hospital until her surgery tomorrow.  I have faith that God and the doctors will heal her, but it is hard to see such a little baby that is so sick.

-I still can't find my watch.  I'm totally bummed that it's gone.  I know that's a pretty trivial thing, especially compared with what I just wrote about, but I'm still bummed I lost it.

-Callie and I are off to the park.  I've spent way too much time at the computer today (ie, photo editing, my new life) and I need to do something FUN with her!

Make-Your-Own Instant Oatmeal

Oatmeal is such a comforting fall food, isn't it?  Now I realize it's only August, but around here we eat oatmeal year 'round.  Maybe that has something to do with it being easy, or healthy, or probably just because Callie licks her bowl clean.  


I used to buy the packaged instant oatmeal packets.  And then I realized how much sugar they have, not to mention they're really not that cheap.  And then I started making plain oats, which is much healthier and more cost effective, but it still needs a little something.  Then I was at a friend's house last year and someone had made them homemade instant oatmeal that we ate for breakfast.  What a great idea!  


So I set out to make a batch of homemade instant oatmeal.  There couldn't be an easier thing in the world to make - no baking required.  Just a bowl and a spoon (okay, maybe a few measuring cups too if you want to get all precise).  


Here's the kind we made this month.  And I've come up with a few other recipe ideas too (see below).  All you need?  Instant oats, spices, your choice of dried fruit, and maybe some nuts.  And don't forget a little salt because it really brings out the flavor.  I like to add flax seed and ground flax because it's healthy and you can hardly detect it's there.  :)  And because I love adding brown sugar on the top after it's cooked, I made this batch without sugar. But you definitely could add some if you like it sweet.

Here's everything measured and dumped into our container (my recipe below).

And then all mixed together!

To make a bowl, simply add 1 part oatmeal to 2 parts water; microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds. Another way you can make oatmeal for multiple people is to measure it out in a crockpot the night before, and set the crockpot to low all night.  And ta-da!  You have Good Morning Oatmeal!  :)  

Top with desired ingredients (milk and brown sugar are what we like).  Would this be cute all packaged up as a Christmas gift when everyone else is bringing cookies?

Basic Oatmeal Recipe

5 cups instant oats

1/3 t salt

3 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

5 T granulated sugar or brown sugar, optional

♥ Berry-Flax (add the follow to the Basic Oatmeal Recipe)

1 package mixed berries (or blueberries)

5 T flax seeds and/or ground flax 

♥ Christmas Morning Spice (add the follow to the Basic Oatmeal Recipe)

1 package dried or freeze-dried apples

1/2 c Craisins

1/2 c chopped pecans

extra 1 t cinnamon

1/4 t cloves

♥ Banana Nut (add the follow to the Basic Oatmeal Recipe)

1 package freeze-dried bananas

1/2 c chopped walnuts

extra 1 t cinnamon

top with sliced banana 

And again, what's a Bambina Babe post without a picture of Callie?

We're still on the hunt for baby names.  We're narrowing it down and have a list of about 3 names we like, but we're not sure if we've found "the one" yet or not. Hmmm... Such a big decision! With Callie it was easier because we both agreed right away and I guess you could say we knew it was right. But this time it's different.  I just don't want to have to bring our baby name books with me to the hospital!  ;)    

Oh, I'm making a little more progress on our house.  Now that I'm in that 2nd trimester and have a little more energy, I'm trying to nail down more house projects.  Like the girls' bathroom.  My mom came up and helped me make a shower curtain with this fabric by Amy Butler.

I actually got a little grommet kit and we put in our own grommets on the shower curtain!  It's pretty cool...I'll show you some pics of our little bathroom soon.  And I've still not decided about the big girl bed decision, 

On a more serious note, please continue praying for dear Savannah.  Her weight is continuing to drop and her open-heart surgery is scheduled for Thursday.  It will be a long week for her parents.  Your prayers are really appreciated.