Happy Birthday Dress

My girls picked out some fabric the last time we were at the fabric store and I decided it would be good to have them done by their birthdays.  Which of course meant that two weeks before little l's birthday I was in a rush to finish the dress!

I decided to make the Los Feliz dress from this book.

One down one more to go!

Hair Detangler

My children have and had long hair.  The oldest has hair to the middle of her back.  The youngest had a haircut because she won't let me comb it and it is now about chin-length.  However, they both have very fine hair, which equals a LOT of tangles no matter the length. 

I don't really like the natural pre-prepared detanglers you can buy.  They don't work as well as I would like.  So I happened across a facebook post and thought I would try it. 

DIY Hair Detangling Spray.  It was awesome and easy, but I will say the Marshmallow root makes it a bit messy.  I don't know if I didn't strain it enough or what, but we use it with a towel under her hair and on my legs so we don't get messy.  I used the conditioner pictured the first time, and then switched to California Baby Super Sensitive for the second batch.  The second batch was even better.  I did use a little extra conditioner in the second batch because we have MAJOR tangles most days and I still can't get little l to let me comb her hair everyday, but I guess it will come eventually. 

Nice untangled hair

Simple ingredients

Guest Blogging

So a couple weekends ago I got free tickets to a play in return for a review. It was my second time seeing this production of The Velveteen Rabbit.  

Here is a link to my review. If you live in the Phoenix area and have kids I highly recommend Childsplay. They are a wonderful organization. 

http://mom2mom.childsplayaz.org/2013/12/17/marissa-reviews-the-velveteen-rabbit/

Best laid plans.....school outside

This morning was eventful.  I went to my yoga class to find my teacher gone, he is having a family a emergency and my thoughts are with him and his family.  The substitute was different, much more mellow, not as invigorating or challenging, but not bad.  I am spoiled by my morning teacher as he is awesome. 

I got home from yoga to find little l wandering around as if looking for her lost sheep.  First thing out of her mouth, "I pee peed in my pull up.  I need a new one".  Okay, mom duty begins dad is.....still sleeping?!?!? 

Got the big L off to the bus stop after packing a lunch for her, feeding breakfast and eating breakfast.  I packed a lunch and bag for little l and I, threw it in the stroller, along with the child and off we went.  We began our trek to the park from the school bus stop and it was still a bit cold, but it was nice to be outside in the mostly fresh air.

The only wildlife we saw this morning was a bunny, no javelina in our path.  Though, off topic, yesterday we had to pause while driving to allow a bobcat to cross the road.  A beautiful specimen, larger than the ones I have seen this year.  We saw a lot of birds, and cars and some people. 

Got to the park, played, took ONE picture, not for the blog.  Played on the playground, ran around in the cold air ignoring our lungs which are complaining for they are recovering from a cold.  Little l decided it was time for school, so I took out our supplies we started, I pulled out my phone, which had been at 67% battery, went to take a picture.......

Well, long story short there are no great school in the park pictures for this post, but there were going to be!  We had fun with fun dough, making it into the shape of lower and upper case L's.  She picked the letter M in her ABC book to do today.  Then we were back to playing.  She lasted about an hour at the park this morning, then we started back home.  All total it was a little over a two hour excursion, I burned 618 calories (not counting yoga), YEAH!   The big hill before we head downhill to our home was a bit easier today, YEAH!!

Despite being a bit under the weather I feel better for the exercise.  I do think I deserve a nap with my little one today though.  That may also help recovery.  Well, next time I will have pictures.  Now to figure out what is wrong with my silly phone!

Library Ladies and Miscellany

Tuesday this week, little l and I were at the library.  Mostly because I needed to reserve the room for a training.  While there the woman who does the reading/math/science programs for 2-5 year old children was looking for someone to attend her class.  The regular attendees were not able to make it that week. 

It was an interesting program, not really anything I don't already know or do with the little l, but fun for her to interact with people other than mommy.  Afterwards she wanted to show us some good counting books to check out.  I inwardly giggled but let her do her thing.  If you have seen my children's library you know the last thing we need is counting books or books about the alphabet.  Suffice it to say we have a lot of GREAT learning books at home.  First she couldn't find a counting book, then I did, then she finally found one.  We were counting book happy.  She went on about what we had been talking about in class and I made the mistake of saying that little l loves to play this app on the computer where she has to determine which one has more, or which one has less.  You would have thought, by her expression, that I had just said I beat my child (okay that may be a slight exaggeration but not much).  So I started thinking again.  Darn it!

Little l sees all of us use the computer.  Her sister does her homework using the computer, I use it for all manner of things, and her dad is ALWAYS on the computer.  Because of this I got a couple apps that she could play so she wouldn't harass us as much when we really need to do something.  There is always the promise of playing your own game later.  It works.  So we have Toddler Typer and Pre K Math Lite.  Toddler Typer locks up the keyboard and no matter what they push or how they use the mouse it simply goes through pictures of animals.  It is entertaining and we have all learned a few new animal names because they are quite creative in their choices.  Pre K Math Lite is a great app as well.  It teaches counting, numeral recognition, even how to write the numbers, plus that less or more thing I mentioned before.  Best of all Lucy loves it and has figured out how to do it pretty much without much guidance.  I blame this game for her ability to go from two to three instead of two, eight, nine.  We would always say one, two, three, but she didn't want any of it, until the repetition of the game made it stick.  She even puts other number in the right sequential order, you know, like, six, seven, eight, nine.  You see the game does not always start them out with one. 

After my encounter I started to feel guilty about her game use, but I am not feeling that anymore.  She is only being exposed to learning apps, so I don't think that this going to ruin her.  In fact, I think that not teaching our children how to use modern technology often provides them with a disservice.  They won't be as good as there friends are, which starts to matter around third or fourth grade more than it does when they are younger.  They are going to have to use technology in their adult life.  They will have to use it in their jobs. 

Instead of fearing technology and what it is doing to our children, we should be teaching them to use it responsibly to make their life better.  Showing them how to manage there time with a calendar, or keep in touch with family that does not live close by email, or do research for a school report (teaching them to discern good and bad resources), and even play games so that they decompress and improve hand eye coordination.  None of these things is bad.  What is bad is when the technology controls your life, and that I think, is more likely to happen to children who are not allowed to use the technology and are not taught the proper ways to use it. 

On a side note, my big L smuggled her iPod to Ballet Under the Stars last night.  I say smuggled, because she knows darn well she is not allowed to take it with her when she goes places unless she has permission.  She also knew I would have said no, if she had asked.  As such, she has lost said iPod for at least one day, though I am more like to keep it for five, I have not discussed with her what she thinks would be a fair punishment.  This would be an instance where her and her friends desire to watch shows or play games was taking over their good clean outdoor playtime and that I am not okay with. 

The plus of last night was that my daughter and all of her friends were quite proud with the dance they helped create with the help of a professional ballerina.  They all did very well in their performance.  Here is where a picture of the kids would be great right?  Well, I am not comfortable posting pictures of other peoples children, so have one of the pros instead!

Child in our Bed?

Little l has a new habit.  She tries to sneak into our bed in the middle of the night.  She has always been an early morning snuggle girl, which was fine with me, it gave me a chance to wake up before I have to run after her. 

However, this middle of the night thing is starting to get annoying.  I know many people are co-sleepers, and have no problem with that, it just doesn't work for me.  I like to sprawl a bit when sleeping, so do my children.  I also have back issues, which means I flip over a lot.  I am not one of those people who lay down and wake up in the same position.  So I don't want my child in my bed all night. 

I have not yet figured out what is going on  She isn't crying when she comes in, she just climbs into bed until my husband or I wake up enough to carry her back to her room.  I am starting to think her night light may be too bright, and I should turn it off before I go to sleep.  Of course, if I am wrong I will then have to find my way to her bed with her in my arms without tripping over something on the floor.  I am kind of at a loss really.  If she was upset I would understand, but she is not upset.  Apparently, when I was away for the weekend she actually slept on my side of the bed.  I interpret this as she missed me and wanted to feel close to me while I was gone.  That interpretation makes me feel good, but is fraught with potential deception. 

If anyone has good advice on dealing with this please share.  If not, I am just going to treat it as a phase that she will outgrow. 

Toddler Tortillas-Attempting Home pre-schooling.

Some of you may know that my little one REALLY wants to go to school.  She thinks she is old enough, she is two already.  So I have been setting up a little home preschool for her.  We do things as she asks, there is not a hard and fast schedule.  Today has been a bit crazier than normal.  I don't really have time to be sitting here, but I needed a breather. 

My husbands bike needed repairs, so I had to drive him to work this morning, then take his bike into the shop.  That meant we didn't get home until closer to 10:30 and little l and I had to do laundry.  So outside we went to hang up the clothes, and the time we were supposed to be making jam was eaten up by more mundane tasks. 

I am however, making chicken tortilla soup for dinner tonight and we needed tortillas.  Lately, little l has been more interested in helping me in the kitchen, and "helping me" cook, cut, etc.  Obviously, I am not handing over the knife just yet, but I needed tortillas, not sliced veggies, and pressing a tortilla is something a two year old can really put her muscles into.  Not only that but it gave us a chance to have a stove safety lesson.  She pressed on the cool half of the stove, while I cooked the tortillas on the hot half.  She had to test it of course, she is who she is, but it was not traumatic, just teaching.  No burns occurred.  She helped for almost half of the tortillas I made which was twice as many as I thought would hold her attention. 

She thought it was pretty neat the way I mixed the masa, then rolled a ball, which she got to smoosh into a tortilla.  I think this was better preschool than what I had planned.  Thank goodness I am not too uptight anymore and I am capable of going with the flow. 

Now, she is watching Handy Manny and coloring.  I know TV is controversial, but honestly, she
"sits" in front of it about 20 minutes a day, and sometimes a mommy just needs a little break so she can blog!  (On the plus side we have been working on adding more Spanish in our day, too which she has been a bit reluctant, Handy Manny is sneaking in that Spanish for me right now!)

Growing Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts is back in full swing for me.  I had so many Girl Scout things to do last week and I was so busy that when Friday came and I knew my girls would be arriving for their first meeting I was a little tired.  Not dreading the meeting, but not full of the energy I knew would be required to interact with all my girls. 

To add to my trepidation we had two new girls joining our troop for the first meeting.  One of whom the girls were just getting to know because she just moved here.  Also, this is the first year we have an "accelerated" class, and half of my troop was in that class, the other half not.  I am still not sure how or if this will effect the girl dynamics, but I am going to keep an eye on it! 

So.....what happened, why this long winded introduction, get to the point lady!  Right?!

I was pleasantly surprised.  That is what happened.  I had to reassert myself for some of the girls who need a little discipline and structure.  That was expected and not as difficult as it was last year.  We played a fun get to know each other better game.  That went well.   They were noisy and boisterous, and had fun, which was good. 

Then I told them we were going to do a circle, a REAL Girl Scout circle.  Now, we have been doing circles for all their years in Scouts, but we have never really set rules.  We have always commented and not necessarily gone around the circle, sometimes it was a raise your hand and let's see what happens event.  This time we had guidelines ahead of time.  I appointed a timekeeper to keep a maximum limit of two minutes on our long winded girls.  They were not allowed to talk or respond unless it was their turn.  They had to actively listen.  We talked about this before we started, and I was a bit nervous.  They are only eight, I wasn't sure they were ready for this. 

We started with a full stop moment, but I don't really like that term.  Instead I told them we were going to take a minute and put ourselves on pause, close our eyes, and just relax and not think so we could better focus.  This resulted in a few giggles, but I think the more I do it the more it will work.  

Well shock me silly, there were a few infractions in our circle, but we are learning, for the most part they were attentive to one another and willing to share.  Most of the kids just shared a quick little something about their week or summer.  I had one girl who HAD to fill up her two minutes and kept going and going and going and going, even though she really had nothing left to say.  I had one pass because she wasn't yet comfortable, but even my new girls shared. 

I am not going to share what they shared with you as that is our private knowledge, but some of the girls were sharing things you could tell touched them deeply.  I was touched. 

For our next meeting I have one or two more girls joining us.  I am going to build on what we have a started and make sure it becomes our tradition.  My true hope is that these girls remain in Girl Scouts and are able to stick with each other through high school.  Growing up is hard, the more good friends you have the better, and they know that I don't tolerate hearing that they are not helping each other out and being a sister to every Girl Scout.  Sometimes that is challenging for them, but eventually I hope that no matter what social circle they join at school they will still be there for each other. 

Doughnut Muffins-My latest attempt at feeding a picky eater

If you follow my blog you know that my daughter is a PICKY eater.  Understandably so, due to her allergies she likes to stick with foods she knows and loves.  Unfortunately, she gets tired of these foods at times and I have to find something new.

Blueberry muffins were a hit with the adults in the house, but NOT the kids.  Big L actually said she liked the muffins, just not the blueberries.  WHAT?!?!?!?  I could not understand.  BLEW MY MIND!

So, I dove into my piles of recipes that I have saved and clipped to see if I could find a plain muffin recipe that everyone could live with.  Thankfully King Arthur Flour sent me a recipe for Doughnut Muffins with my last flour order.  For the record, I have no sponsors and receive no money from companies I mention.  I just like KAF flour.  Of course, to make this recipe I had to change it up a bit.

Doughnut Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1/4 cup Soy Free Earth Balance
1/4 cup Safflower Oil
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons unsweetened natural applesauce
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Organic King Arthur Whole White Wheat Flour
2 scoops NOW unflavored Pea Protein powder
1 cup rice milk

TOPPING
3 Tablespoons of soy free earth balance
3 Tablespoons of cinnamon sugar (I used 2 tablespoons cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar, but I LOVE cinnamon)

Beat the butter, oil and sugars until smooth.  Add the applesauce and baking powder.  Add in the baking soda, nutmeg, salt and vanilla.

Stir the flour and pea protein in alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Mix until well combined.  Spoon the batter into the muffins cups, filling almost to the top.  Bake at 425 for at least 17 minutes.  You can tell they are done when a cake tester comes out of the middle of the muffin clean.

Let them cool for a bit and prepare the topping.  Brush the top of the muffins with butter then sprinkle cinnamon sugar mix.  Or do like I did mix it all together and paint it on top.  I left some muffins with the topping because Big L still refuses to like cinnamon.

They taste better to me warm, but Big L will eat them right out of the fridge.  They lasted through the school week in the fridge for me.

Enjoy!

Hair Creativity

 Big L has long hair, can you tell?  She is also VERY creative and comes up with some of the most intricate and time consuming hair designs.  Sometimes I think she is just trying to challenge me.  The one above took at least 25 minutes to complete.  Two ponytails in the front, 10 braids in the back, pull back the ponytails to the middle of the back of the head, clip down with a barrette.  CRAZY yeah?  Kind of, but really it looked pretty darn cool in my opinion.  Sometimes it takes her awhile to get me to understand exactly what it is she wants me to do. 

Take this one for instance.  It was easy, but it took almost as long for her to get me to understand what she wanted as it did to put it up.  What did she want?  One ponytail.  Divide it into four sections, twist, weave end back through rubber band, barrette twisted portion to head.  It also looked a little cool.  I could show more!  This one below was her attempt at a crown I think.  There was a specific order I had to put those rubber bands!

My favorite of late seems to have escaped photographing.  For that one you start with a ponytail.  Divide that into three and braid each section, then take the three braids and braid them together.  IT is awesome at keeping the tangles away and stays pretty tight most of the day despite sleep and vigorous play. 

What hairstyles does your child come up with? 

POSTING.....1.2.3

I have posts, I even have pictures, they just aren't written or uploaded as of yet.  It will happen when it happens.  As it stands right now I am waiting for little l to take a nap so I can GO WORKOUT.  Almost put go to sleep there instead of workout.  That is the couple days I have had. 

Did you know sugar is addicting and a hard habit to break?  I really have NEVER completely given up sugar.  My body would quite probably go into shock or crash if I did, however, I did dramatically reduce my sugar intake for a while there, especially when losing weight.  For some reason that only my subconscious is aware of I have had an out of control sweet tooth for a week.  I look forward to when the junk is gone so I don't have to buy more.  Really I could just throw it away, but.......HAH!

Oh and did I tell you meager blog readers that I lost five pounds in a month while NOT on my diet.  That is an official weigh in at the diet doctor.  Take that doctor, I can lose weight without being on your diet.  Of course, that did not apply at first, but I feel confident it can apply to the last 10-15 pounds.  

Today is a rambler of a post so feel free to disregard.  I am still waiting to hear back from my plastic surgeon, little l is still having issues, big L is HAPPY.  You heard me, this kid is happy.  She is finally learning to make lemonade out of lemons.  Is she always happy?  No.  The yelling at the oldest because the youngest did something to irritate me thing is occurring.  You know, that thing we oldest children SWEAR we will NEVER do when we have kids.  The truth is that I explain to L why she is getting in trouble instead of l.  There is always a logical reason, and she understands.  Taunting your little sister into doing something wrong is just as bad as doing it yourself.  At least in my world it is, especially when we are trying to walk out the door and this something wrong involves dumping cereal all over the floor.  How do you handle it parents?  Is there really a FAIR way to handle it? 

My children love each other, but they also compete for time with me.  Sometimes I think their little minds believe that by getting the other one in trouble they will have more of that precious mama time.  I am hoping they will quickly learn that is not the case.  In fact, this constant manipulation makes mama happy to be leaving for the weekend.  I love my children, want to be with them a lot and have fun.  However, I need a break every now and then.  I know how spoiled I am that I actually get these breaks.  If you are a single mom, or just don't have a good support group you don't get this time.  To be honest, with my first child I didn't take breaks very often.  With this second child I have learned that breaks are necessary for both of us.  She needs the time away so that she appreciates the time with me, and I need the time away so I can have a grown up conversation and use big words without having to define them.  It all works out in the end. 

Well, I think I hear silence so I am going to run off and exercise before the silence is shattered!

Last Week-Food Allergy Fears

This last week was a rough week in many ways.  I had lots of plans of things I was going to do and share on this blog that did not come to fruition.  Life moves on and I am flexible, so I just ignored it all for awhile.  I had three doctor appointments last week and a toddler who as of today is going on eight days without a normal bowel movement. 

Little l has had diarrhea/loose stool for over a week.  At first, I thought it was a virus, as did the doctor.  If this is a virus it is apparently not very contagious as no one else has become ill.  That is the good thing about last week.  However, if not a virus what?  We sent off on Friday to have a test done to determine if virus or parasite, but my paranoid food allergy mom sense is tingling, and I can just hope that it is overreacting. 

Little l hasn't had anything new recently, so if we have a new food allergy it is going to be to something she loves.  I just hope it is not wheat, but if it is I am sure that we will adjust and move on.  For her sake I hope it is not one of the many fruits she loves, or her milk.  We did go a few days without milk, but that did not seem to help.  She asked a lot during those few days to drink her milk, eat cheese, eat yogurt, etc.  I put her on some probiotic supplements so we will see if that helps at all.  She is my healthy kid.  Even when she gets sick she is usually quick to recover.  It doesn't linger, and she has not been on antibiotics a lot, twice maybe three times in her whole life.  Like I said not a lot. 

We will see what happens with the little one, and now I am waiting to see if my insurance will approve a breast reduction.  I went to the plastic surgeon, liked him.  He warned me I would likely be flat, I told him I was fine with that.  He warned me that he had to make it look good, I told him to do what he had to do.  Now we wait to see what the insurance says.  I am nervous because I have not complained about my neck, shoulder, upper back and chest pain a lot.  When I did complain of chest pains they told me it was something else, they did not relate it to my boobs.  We will see what happens, but I am a bit nervous about the waiting, and excited to have it done.  I just imagine what it will feel like to not be weighed down anymore and I can only imagine how awesome it will feel. 

So that is my long winded excuse for having nothing to write about last week, though truth is I had things I could have written about I was just preoccupied by a potty training toddler with diarrhea, a back procedure for myself, and the stress of getting Big L back into a school schedule.  I swear she takes the smallest bites in the morning just to drive me nuts!  That is another post.  Enjoy your Monday!

Blueberry Muffins

I love a good blueberry muffin, but I don't like it to be cake like.  I want a muffin, not a cupcake.  I had a recipe in college that I loved but I have lost it.  So I searched around, and of course had to modify a recipe.  This is what I came up with:

Makes 15 Muffins

1/4 Cup Soy Free Earth Balance
1/2 Cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
3 scoops NOW Protein Powder (unflavored)
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup Rice Milk
2 Cups Fresh Blueberries

I mixed the earth balance, applesauce salt and sugar together first, then added the remaining ingredients.  I always use muffin liners when baking muffins/cupcakes.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 

Please note that because of the pea protein this is a thick batter, just like my banana muffins.  They are VERY allergy friendly, unless you have a wheat allergy and we don't so I have not tackled that issue yet!  They did receive a seal of approval from big L who is my pickiest eater! I liked them as well, and based on my calculations they come in at about 171 calories, which is not too bad for a muffin. 

Enjoy!

Lunch Bags...School is almost here!

School starts soon and big L's lunch box grosses me out.  I can't seem to get it clean anymore.  She has used it for about a year and half, so I can't complain too much.  We use a lot of re-usable containers, and some kids lunchboxes just don't fit enough of those for her to have her food properly separated.  So I went a looking for lunchbox patterns online.  I found a few and ended up combining some and doing my own thing.  I did it in three different ways. 

First:

 I used dishtowels and a shower curtain I purchased at IKEA.  I got the shower curtain idea from another pattern, but the dishtowel thing is just from me liking to make things out of dishtowels.  They are already hemmed you know!

For the first one I sewed along one side, then folded up the bottom and sewed it together about two inches from the bottom. 

I added velcro to the one side so it will stay folded over and voila, a washable lunch bag.  I plan on throwing it in with the towels when it gets dirty. 

Second:

For this one I folded it in half and sewed up both short sides.  All this I should say was after I sewed the liner to the towel.  Then I put a button on the front and used the loop on the towel to close it.  Easy peasy!

This was my husbands favorite.

Third:

 This one I folded in half the long way and sewed up the side.  It was way too deep so I cut off a portion, folded down the top, and sewed around, then added the velcro to keep it closed.  I took the portion I had cut off and sewed the bottom together.  It was the top of the towel with the loop so I added a button.  Perfect size to hold a sandwich. 

 Nothing fancy on the bottom.  But it will hold what it needs to.  This set is my favorite.  I may go back to IKEA and get another set of cute towels.  Or I may find some somewhere else.  I liked these because they were a pretty big size. 

I didn't do a fancy bottom on them.  I tried on the first two, it didn't really work out.  I want them to be super washable so unless I figure out a way to do that and have them keep their shape I think I will keep doing it this way. 

The BEST zoo ever!

I have been to the San Diego Zoo a few times in my life, and it is still, in my mind, the best zoo ever.  It was a little warm the day we went, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  This excursion was more for little l, but big L truly enjoyed it as well.  What really rocked was when we saw the panda get up and walk around in front of us.  Mostly they were just hiding or laying about, but when we were walking by he decided to get up and strut.  Beautiful creatures. 

I was going to say lions and tigers and bears oh my!  But I can't find the picture of the lion.  Perhaps it was not in a good place for a picture.  My loving hubby is responsible for all of the vacation pictures, he is a truly awesome photographer, with more patience than I will ever have.  Sometimes I worry though that he is missing out on the experience because he is always behind the camera. 

Baby giraffe, what a cutie!

Me pretending to be a fossil at one of the exhibits.  I know I am HILARIOUS!

 Do you see how thin I am here!?  It still amazes me.  I really do feel like the old me again, only without some of those old hang ups and emotional inadequacies. 

This is just an awesome picture that he told me he couldn't get, but look, it turned out well. 

This big guy (girl?) was kind enough to pose for a picture.  Quite cool since they normally hide. 

These 2 grizzly bears just wanted a nap, they did not care about showing us their magnificence. 

The zoo day was great.  They let you pack a lunch so we brought our own food that day.  There was so much to see and SOOOOO much walking to do.  But big L did fine walking all over to see everything.  We only missed one exhibit, which is pretty good considering the size of the place! The kids had a blast and learned a little, I guess, in the meantime.  Especially at the polar bear exhibit, stark realities when you look at dioramas of the ice caps. 

DOLPHINS!!!!

Big L loves dolphins.  I am sure it started before the movie Dolphin Tail came out, but that movie put her love for the cute swimmers over the top.  She has dozens of books about dolphins, and she has read or browsed most of them. 

So instead of going to Disneyland for our first big vacation, which I a NOT ready for, we decided to do Sea World.  It was a hit!  We watched shows, sat in the splash zone, and big L got an extra special treat.  She got to have a dolphin experience.  She got up close with some other people and a trainer and touched, fed and "trained" the dolphin.  She LOVED it.  It was well worth the money to see her face when she was done as she talked excitedly about how she "held up" a 300 pound dolphin by the tail. 

Now we have to make her a strong swimmer and go swim with the dolphins when she is older.  I am doing that one with her though, I can't let her have all the fun!

Travelling with food allergies

My dad and I making breakfast I believe

We traveled with my parents partly to be with them, and partly to have use of a kitchen while we were gone.  It is hard to travel with two kids with food allergies.  I can only let big L eat so many hamburgers before I feel like a horrible mother.  So for the week away I planned a menu just like I would at home, with a few notations for eating out. 

It was easy, I prepared what I could ahead of time.  We only had one incident while we were gone at a diner that apparently does not segregate eggs and hamburgers, and I forgot to ask.  But all worked out without an ER trip, so I think we did well!

Needless to say, when we got back I was a little tired of cooking.  Cooking in a kitchen that is smaller than mine at home (already small) was a challenge, but I had a system going after a few meals. 

What do you do when traveling with your food allergy children?  

Snack packs for a long car ride

Vacation for us entailed an long car drive.  We left around 8 in the morning and arrived around four thirty or five (I honestly can't remember).  My parents were driving with their fifth wheel, which meant we could not go over 55 once we reached California.  We did eventually make it to our destination though, so I can't complain, my foot was just itching to go faster. 

To prepare I had art packs for the kids to entertain themselves, a book on California for big L, and movies for the DVD player.  The big issue was snacks, I knew that they would be hungry all the time, so I made these:

 These are just craft boxes, repurposed for my own use.  This one is for big L.  Lots of fruit, carrots and her favorite salty snacks.  She didn't quite finish everything during the drive. 

This is for little l, she practically ate everything.  Rice snacks, dried fruit/veggie snacks, chedder bunnies, cookies and fruit.  It was a big hit with her.  She loved that she could pick and feed herself.  I will never travel with her without doing this again. 

What do you do to keep those munchkins happy on a long car ride? 

Exercise with little ones

I am soliciting advice.  Little l is not really willing to stay out of trouble while I exercise.  For a couple weeks I was able to get up before her to exercise, but as summer takes over she is waking up at 5 instead of 6:30.  Taking away my precious exercise time.  I try to tell her to let me exercise, to get her involved, but she prefers Yoga Kids, and that does nothing for my heart rate!

My loving husband likes to leave for work early, or sleep in while I exercise, so he is no help.  Every once in awhile I can convince him to let me shower before he leaves.  I can't afford a gym, and I am not really comfortable with gym day cares.  Which leaves me early morning (before 5), in the evening after he gets home, we eat and I clean up, or during nap time.  Yesterday nap time worked, but I am not sure Big L is going to be open to doing that every day.  Personally I have a hard time working out late in the evening, because then I can't get to sleep.

Because of where we live and how quickly my toddler can get too hot going to the park and running around with them is out for the summer.  I am sure I will come up with something, but if anyone has a suggestion or something fun they do inside please share!

More charm pack skirts

I found a few cute charm packs in clearance and on sale about six months ago.  They have been sitting in my stash looking cute since then.  I have finally been finding time for a little sewing, and since I ran out of thread for the quilt I have been finishing up other projects and finding new things to do with the thread I have.  The girls have both grown quite a bit and big L's other charm skirt seems shorter each time she wears it. 

 It took about an hour and half to make the big one, and an hour for the little one, so these are quick and easy projects that make you feel like you accomplished something.  Big L loves hers despite my boo boos (we were measuring challenged for some reason).

 Little l likes hers as well.  Especially since the pack I found has little owls on a few of the fabrics.  Hoo, hoo.

All in all, I just like these because they are fast, inexpensive, and you can hide certain mistakes.  Big L wanted hers longer this time, so next time I need to remember to get an extra charm pack.