No Relief in Society: A Ward Gone Mad

Writing with Becky, Filming, and Editing with Blake...

This short little video we made for the Relief Society dinner consumed or lives this past week. 

We've been working on it the past month, but it really came down to the wire

However, when all was said and done, it really was so much fun.
So, Enjoy!

(in case you can"t tell, the premise of the film is based on "A Day Without A Mexican")

What do you think?

Do we have a ward of actors or what? 


and in case you were wondering, we sot with our Sony a33 and Flip camera. Everything was edited in iMovie. (cause thats how we roll.)

Becky's Detailed Dr. Seuss Themed Baby Shower: One fish, two fish, red fish, new fish.

As Becky and I were walking one morning, we realized that she would be leaving soon. Moving quite a ways away so Quinn could work and be ridiculously successful.

So, we decided to have a baby shower the very next weekend.

And I decided to plan it. :D

I honestly don't know if I stepped on Quinn's or Becky's mom's toes, but they didn't object so I went a little baby shower crazy. 

I had one week and a million ideas. 

Cathy (Becky's mom) and Mamma Green were both fabulous. Cathy going shopping with me and ironing out the details of location (as the shower would be held in her home) and Mamma Green staying up crazy late with me finishing the final craft touches and boiling eggs. 

But I must say, everything went off with out a hitch and all the details were well worth it!

A welcome sign for the guests on the Tucker's front door.

Becky and Quinn's baby pictures along with a little Dr. Seuss-ish (I hope) poem. 

Advice cards for Becky.

Sign the wish/guest book for the baby!

I made it from stickers, cut outs and a scrap book (I'll post details later)

We had Dr. Seuss books all over. They had a Jamba Juice gift card in them and doubled as our  prizes.

More Seuss goodness.

Decorations like this were all over the walls. 

The Menu itself was also inspired by the good doctor.

Aren't they lovely? Simple deviled eggs and lots of green food coloring. We blended the yolks with mustard, mayo and some spices. Then put the mixture in a freezer bag with the food coloring until it was even and lovely. When it came time to put the yolks back in the eggs, we cut the corner off the bag and Becky's sister piped them beautifully in place.

Becky's mother got up extra early to make our delicious ham.

I created these candy wrappers and Mom and I cut and glued them on the candy bars.

I also made these water bottle labels.  Super simple.

Glue stick wouldn't work here, so Blake hot glued these bad boys. 

Do you remember in Cat in the Hat how the bossy gold fish ends up in a tea pot? Yeah, that's what this is. Gold fish crackers in one of Becky's Mom's tea pots.

Mama Green made DELICIOUS funeral potatoes. I renamed them "Lorax Whiskers" to stay in theme. :D

Cat-in-the-hat-punch. AKA: Crystal Light.

Didn't Becky's mom do a lovely job setting up this table? I love that pitcher... jug... spigot thing. What do you call that thing?

And then there was the cake.

Holy cow this cake.

The entire time I was planning, I knew I wanted the cake to be the center of the table. It had to be awesome. There was a couple different bakers I thought of, but as soon as I connected with Pam Lemon, I knew she would nail it.

She is super talented and owns an in home bakery called Sweet Lemonade Cake Pops.

Pam also provided that super cute cake stand

How perfect is this cake? SO PERFECT!

I absolutely loved it! Wanna know the best part? It was Funfetti cake and frosting inside the HOMEMADE fondant. 

The whole table!

Becky's dad went early in the morning to pick up about 20 balloons that morning. It really was a team effort.

Then we started playing the shower games!
Or first was the TP game.
It went like this: Try and guess how many squares of TP fit around Becky's big baby belly.

It was 10! (Isn't she lovely?)

The second game was the "Baby name game"
Everybody wrote down as many names that started with B or Q in two minutes.

it was a two way tie so Becky listened to the names and chose her favorite.
Here is our amazing baker, Pam Lemon reading off her 18 names.

Becky chose Pam's name "Babette".
But I seriously doubt she'll name her son that.
well... maybe.

Then it was present time!

Dr. Seuss

little pants

baby basics

books

wipes

secrets

onsies

BECKY!

Julianna eating some cake.

Green sisters (and Kaleb)

Becky and her mommy.

Planning the shower was seriously one of most fun things I've done in a while
(time consuming and all encompassing, but totally fun)

We love you, new little baby Green. 
We cannot wait to meet you. 
You are so lucky to have such an awesome mom, dad, grandmas and family.

(If you LOVE the printables you can get the updated version at http://www.printablepartydesigns.co/product/dr-seuss-1-fish-2-fish-new-fish-baby-shower-printable-package-turquoise-red. There were are few things I created - the poems and the baby look a like- but feel free to copy the text if you'd like, just let me know how your shower goes!)

Homemade Sweet Potato Baby Food created with our Baby Bullet

Tonight I decided to take our Baby Bullet on its maiden voyage!

I was debating between Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes, but opted for the yummier of the two for Kaleb's first "big boy" meal.

Meet our star players. 

To make this most delicious of super food for baby, here is what you'll need:

One sweet potato. Not a yam. 

One baby bullet. We registered for ours when I was pregnant. 

One cup of water.

and a few of these cute little guys. Baby food containers that come with the Baby Bullet.

and most importantly, you will need a hungry baby
 who can sit up with support and knows how to turn his head away when hes done eating. 
(we've been practicing with baby cereal.)

First step is to peal the sweet potato. 

Quick and easy.

I then chopped up the sweet potato in to smallish cubes. 

Let me tell you, that sucker was harder than I thought it would be... granted I used a bread knife...

not quite cubes... more like "bits". 

Then I boiled the bits. You can also steam them, this is supposed to keep the nutrients in, but I found a solution...

I used minimal water

Then used one cup of the boiled sweet potato water to reclaim some vitamins and reuse in the recipe.

 I added my cup of boiled water and my potato bits to the baby bullet.

To activate the bullet, you push down and turn.

after about 3 seconds it had already reached a mushy consistency. But there were still too many lumps for my little one, so I pulsed (pushed down, but didn't lock)  the blender four or five more times.

So after just a few spins, everything had a nice, smooth "baby food" texture. Much more organic and "polished" look when compaired to mass produced, jar baby food.

See? Perfection.

Then I filled up my little baby bullet containers. 

The little containers that come with the baby bullet are awesome because they are tiny little things that are perfect size for baby and they also have a little dial on the lid so you can remember what day of the month the food was made. 

*Baby food will last only 3 days in the refrigerator, but up to 30 days in the freezer*

See the little "1". This baby food was made on the first of this month!

They even have a handy little tray that holds all six of the containers.

I had some food left over, so I put it in the frozen food tray that also comes with the baby bullet.

But now, the ultimate test.

Would he eat it? 

He seems intrigued... 

...wait for it...

SUCESS!

Heres a quick little video of his first bites. He may look like hes not enjoying it sometimes, but he really it. :D

(Does the video look pinkish to anyone else? It looks pinkish to me.)

 I had lots of fun documenting and making my baby his first "big boy" meal.
He took to it much faster then he did baby cereal, which is a good thing, right?

Hes just growing up so fast. And as happy as it makes me to see him grow and learn and become an even bigger little guy, its so bitter sweet.

Ok, I have to go cuddle with my sleeping baby now.