Baby's First Painted Pumpkin

So Halloween was coming up and I wanted to make a great 1st pumpkin for Emma. 

I had the idea to do a pumpkin with her initials on it and her hands and foot prints.
I'm not a big fan of carving pumpkins, its too messy and not little kid friendly. So I decided to paint her pumpkin so she could help with it! I love painting pumpkins, we will be doing this every year from now on.

What you will need: 

Ribbon

Base color paint (Pink)

Writing color paint (White)

Paint Brushes

Glitter Paint

Pumpkin

You can choose whatever colors and ribbons you want to use! All the products I used were bought at t craft store (besides the pumpkin). 

I started by painting the pumpkin pink and letting it dry, then I repeated until it had about 3 coats of paint on it. Next, I painted the stem of the pumpkin. I used a silver glitter paint that I found at our local craft store, but any color will do. Then, I took a pencil and very lightly drew the outline of her initial, the letter "E". I painted over the pencil with the white paint and tried to make all the lines even. I had to put a few coats of the white so that the pink wouldn't show through. Then Emma got to help. I put her in her high chair and painted her foot with the white paint. Then, I pressed her foot onto the pumpkin. I didn't come out perfect, so I took the paint brush and went over it, and put more coats on it. Then, I painted her hand and did the same process. Any mistakes can be fixed with more pink paint to touch it up. Once all of that was done, I added some polka dots to the back and princess swirls in the top around the stem, again doing multiple coats. Then I tied the ribbon in a bow on the top (picked out to match the paint). 

It was a great first pumpkin! It's something that even though she was only 9 months old, she had a hand (and foot) in making. :) She kept trying to pick it up, but we left it on the table out of her reach. She loved getting picked up to look at! 

You could also do a fake plastic pumpkin as a keepsake of your babies 1st pumpkin. The real pumpkins are a lot cheaper, though. Good Luck! :)

Happy Halloween Everyone! :)

Please comment if you used this as an inspiration for your own child's pumpkin, or post a picture of the completed project! Thanks for visiting! :)

Spinach and Chicken Alfredo Lasgana Roll-Ups

Ingredients:
8 Lasagna Noodles
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 10 oz package of frozen, chopped spinach [thawed] 
1 Pint of Part-skim Ricotta Cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1 Egg
1 Container of Garlic Alfredo Sauce [or homemade recipe below]
2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup of shredded mozzarella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Spread 3/4 of the Alfredo Sauce onto the bottom of a 8X12 baking dish

3. Cook the noodles according to package directions, drain the noodles and then put them in cold water after they are done, to keep them from sticking to each other and to cool them off. [I usually cook 1 or 2 extra noodles, because some will break]

4. In a large sauce pan on medium-high heat, heat the oil, and cook the spinach until tender

5. Remove pan from heat and stir in the shredded chicken, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and egg

6. Lay the noodles flat on the counter [use wax paper to clean up easier]

7. Put a small layer of the chicken and spinach mixture on each of the noodles

8. Once they are all in the pan, pour the remaining Alfredo Sauce on top of the roll-ups and top with the mozzarella cheese

9. Cover the pan with foil

10. Bake for 30 minutes, so that the cheese is melted and bubbly

Enjoy! :)

Homemade Garlic Alfredo Sauce [recommended]:

1/2 cup of butter

3 oz of cream cheese

2 tsp of minced garlic

1 cup of milk

salt and pepper 

2/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add the cream cheese and whisk until melted and smooth

3. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 mins, stirring often

4. Add the milk and the salt and pepper to taste, let cook for 10-15 mins until the sauce starts to get thick

5.  Take off the heat and whisk in the parmesan cheese until smooth 

Recipe Adapted and Photo From: fabfatale.com