Baby Food...really, this is a post about baby food

I know what you are thinking...you want to hear more about Jessica or Mt. Rushmore or something else. Anything is more exciting than baby food. But, do you know that there are many people who don't make their own baby food? And do you know how easy it is? So, I feel like I need to enlighten everyone. Sometimes when I am at Walmart and I pass by the baby food aisle, I see these moms looking at all the food and picking out all their jars, and I want to say, you know you can make your own right? For a lot cheaper? But, I don't do that. Instead, I'll just write a post about it and feel better.

We have a little baby food grinder which has been very helpful and is great when we grind up something we're going to be eating for dinner that Jessica can have too. But, honestly, I don't like sweet potatoes or squash, and we never eat them, and I like to have food on hand for her so I don't have to worry about it. For me, this is my favorite baby food making tool:

Really, all you need is a blender, ice cube trays, and a pan to cook veggies in. And here is what you do:

1-Cook your vegetables. (The easiest is to buy the frozen veggies: corn, peas, green beans, and carrots.) When they are done, drain them.

2-Throw all the veggies into your blender and add a little water. Usually, I cook a pound of veggies and add about 1/2 cup water to start with...and usually between 2/3 and 1 cup until it looks good.

3-Blend away...and here is my tip. You want it smooth and creamy like the baby food you buy? Keep blending. When it looks like it is good, keep blending a little longer, and it gets so nice and smooth. Well, unless it is corn, my corn is never quite perfect, but it is still close enough.

4-That is it! Then, just pour them into ice cube trays and freeze them.

Dump them into freezer bags, and voila...dinner is served. I pull them out the night before and put them in the fridge. Sometimes, I add too much water and they are runny, so I just mix in some cereal with it and it is perfect! Typically, they say 1 cube is equal to 1 tablespoon or 1 ounce of food, but it depends on the size of your ice cube trays. What are you waiting for? Go make some baby food! Before you know it, your freezer will look like this:

And in case you want to cook more than frozen veggies, here is what I do for squash and sweet potatoes:

Squash (Jessica prefers butternut): Cut in half and scoop out seeds. Put them skin side up in a pan and fill the pan with about 1/2 inch to 1 inch water. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for about an hour or until the squash is really soft.

Sweet potatoes: Wash them off as well as you can, and poke a few holes in them with a knife. Put them in a pan and fill the pan with about 1/2 inch to 1 inch water. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. If I am doing squash too, I just leave it for an hour and then check it. If your pan is really full, they may need to cook longer than an hour, or until you can stick a fork easily into it.

Mt. Rushmore or Bust

In May, we took our first real family vacation for the three of us. We've been to Washington, Utah, and to some other places, but this time, it was just the three of us and we were so excited! Living in the panhandle of Nebraska, we kind of feel like we are far away from everything, and we are...except for Mt. Rushmore! It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive, so we knew we needed to go! We planned up our trip for weeks, asked our friends about what we should do when we were there, booked a little cabin, and waited for the day to arrive. Around that time, spring decided that it needed a vacation too, and we kept checking the weather, hoping our vacation days would be filled with sun, not rain. It didn't change...but we were ready anyway, and left for our fun-filled trip.

We were a little surprised (and worried) when we drove through this on our way there...

Our plan for our first day was to go straight to Mt. Rushmore and see everything, walk around town, and then go back to the cabin around dinner time to roast hot dogs and smores. Well, things didn't go that way. The snow slowed us down and we made multiple stops along the drive to give Jessica a break and every time we did, we noticed her diapers weren't holding up like we want them to. She went through three outfits that first day, and we were a little worried we were going to run out of clean clothes! So, instead, we went straight to our cabin, and were thrilled to find that it was only raining and spent a lazy afternoon together. Andrew's birthday was the next day, but Jessica and I decided he should open one present then, so he did. 

Then, we realized the weather might be worse tomorrow, so we might as well go visit Mt. Rushmore, so we loaded up our rain gear and headed out. The people at the parking entrance said the cloud was just starting to part so we should be able to see the Presidents, and we could...through the haze of the clouds.

We wanted to make sure Jessica was warm and dry, so she stayed in her stroller and we wrapped a huge bag around her (her body, not her head...don't worry). She was thrilled!

We took a few pictures and headed back to cook our hot dogs inside the cabin instead. It was a great, wet day, and we were so glad we were staying in our warm cabin and not in a cold tent. The rain was pouring all night, but miraculously, the next morning, the sun came out for a little bit, so we thought we'd try it again. We drove through some more rain on the way there, but the clouds seemed to part just for us, and this was the view we got that morning. What a difference!

Even though the sun was out when we got there, we were still expecting the rain to begin, so we had all of our rain gear and cold gear on and bundled up Jessica in plenty of layers (leggings, pants, long sleeves, winter coat, hat, gloves, and a blanket wrapped around her). We were able to hike the trail, go to the Visitor's Center, and take lots of pictures. Throughout all of this, our extra layers slowly came off as we were roasting! Jessica rode in our backpack carrier and loved it. Andrew made a top for it so she would be shaded...and to keep out the rain just in case.

After we saw all we wanted to see, we had a picnic lunch and headed into town. We'll post more on that later. 

Oh, but in case you were wondering if Jessica likes family vacations, well, just look at that grin below. She loved it!!!