Food for Dane's imagination!

Especially in the last couple weeks, as Dane's been teething, I've realized the superiority of wood over plastic. Dane's favorite teether has not been all the bright, fun-shaped plastic freezer toys, but a plain, wooden spoon, carved by one of our parents friends. We made sure it was incredibly smooth, with no chance for splinters, of course. He loves it. We wrap toys around it, put bright socks on the end of it, and he bangs away, or chews the heck out of it depending on the day. Hence, I've been looking for more wooden toys with a little more lasting power than some of the other stuff we've gotten and I found these amazing German toys. Made by a company called Gluckskafer, they're beautiful and simple, things that will spark Dane's imagination rather than creating scenarios for him. Check them out!

Room for Color contest! Please vote!

Hi everyone - guess what? Mark and I entered our apartment in a Room for Color contest on a blog we follow, ApartmentTherapy. We chose to enter our great room, including the living and dining area. The photos were posted as of noon today and are already getting great feedback. If we get the most thumbs-ups, we'll move on to the finals. Please check it out, and vote for our house if you like it. Thanks:)

Fall Cookies!

During Dane's naps over the last couple days, I managed to make sugar cookie dough, then roll and bake it the next day, then finally, frost it a couple days later. I used my grandma's excellent, easy sugar cookie recipe. As I baked (and tasted:)) the cookies, it brought back many great memories of working on cookies with my mom growing up. Not too sweet or too bland, I always snuck a few of these when mom wasn't looking and probably liked eating the dough just as much as the finished cookies. Making these will be especially fun once Dane gets old enough to enjoy playing with dough and making his own art while decorating them. I've included the cookie recipe below, and the basic royal icing recipe.

Grandma Moyer's Sugar Cookies

1 C shortening

1/2 C margarine

2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 C sour milk (1T lemon juice, 1 C milk)

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

6 C flour

Cream shortening, butter and vanilla, add sugar and eggs. Mix dry remaining dry ingredients together, combine with creamed mixture and sour milk. Mix until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Roll out and cut; bake on a non-stick or lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for ~7 minutes.

Royal Icing

1 lb. confectioner's sugar

2 egg whites

1/4 to 1/2 C water

Combine ingredients until well-blended and smooth. Thicken with more sugar, thin with water until desired consistency is reached. Let dry for up to a day.

All the While

Earlier in the summer, my great friend, Andria, took Dane's first professional photos. He was still young enough that he couldn't hold his head up, so she got a lot of shots of him lounging. We decided instead of doing more traditional baby photos that we would focus on color. Although he only gave her about 20 good minutes of awake time, they turned out beautifully, so I wanted to show them off here. You can check out her blog The Prettiest Teacup to see some more of her amazing work, much of it of her own new bundle, just a few months older than the Dane-bear.

Plotting his evil "no sleep for mom and dad" plan for that night


Practicing his freestyle a bit