Snow and Rain Won't Keep Us Out of the Sandbox!

Confession time - I've gotten a little mentally tired of writing every day.  I decided that meant I should take a little break, so I did!  I'm aiming to get back to regular posts and an update of the week at a glance page, but for now I'm just going to do a quick update of today's fun.  It's a rainy/snowy day, but Mr. A's current favorite words are "DIRT!" and "TRUCK!" which he says with great gusto when he wants to go out to the sandbox.  Since that isn't practical today I decided to break out a great substitute - Moon Sand!  I haven't let Mr. A play with it before because he's still so little and rambunctious I knew it would end up all over my house.  However, I knew he was getting to the point that he'd really feel the loss if he couldn't go play in the sandbox with his trucks and the moon sand would be a great distraction.  You can see he made himself right at home and found a truck just the right size for the Moon Sand Box.  (Miss M also had fun molding stars and creatures!)

Just because the weather stinks we shouldn't have to quit filling dump trucks with sand!

Gosh, now I feel bad.

Last week, and the week before that, I got out toys the kids hadn't used for a while.  We played with Barbies and board games and blocks and lots of other great toys.  It was fun to revisit them all, but I was also hoping to find some things the kids didn't really like any more that I could donate to charity and clear out our playroom a bit.  One thing that was on my chopping block was a plastic Barbie play kitchen.  When Miss E received the kitchen for Christmas we spent hours playing restaurant.  It was a favorite toy but it's been collecting dust for a while now so I was planning to sneak it out of the house soon.  Yesterday, I watched an old episode of Blue's Clues with Miss M where Blue and Steve played restaurant.  I told Miss M that used to be our favorite game.  She said "I don't know how to play restaurant."  I thought about it, and it's true.  She was just a little baby when Miss E and I played all the time.  By the time she was big enough to play, we'd finished the play room in the basement and moved the kitchen downstairs, where it was put in a corner.  She'd only occasionally excavated through the rest of the toys enough to reach the kitchen, and Miss E had moved on, so they played other games together instead and because they had each other, I played less and less.  Now, however, I can't believe she's almost five and doesn't know how to play restaurant!  That can only be neglect on my part, so I decided to give the kitchen one more chance.  Today, I'm bringing it and the huge tub of accessories out where we can play with them.  I'm going to teach Miss M (and Mr. A, of course) how to play restaurant.  Everything is portable enough to take out into the sunshine, too!  Bonus!

It was too nice of a day to stay inside and blog.

I didn't post this morning because I was busy running errands and basically covering all my bases.  I'm so glad I did all the things that had to be done early in the day though, because the afternoon was a glorious time to be outside.  Some neighbor girls came over after school and again after dinner and really made a party of it!  I took some fun pictures of them all out playing tag and rolling around on the grass.  Ahhh...  Nothing like tag and some grass in your hair to make your day complete. 

Chalk drawings were safe zones.

Tag!  You're it!

Mr. A LOVES the neighbor girls.

Whoo Hoo!  Twirling with the big kids!

What was I thinking?

I looked at my Week at a Glance calendar today and wondered what I was thinking.  I'm trying to stay close to home so Mr. A can work on his potty skills, so I'm not sure why I planned a trip to the park.  That's going to become FUN outside but at home, because frankly, we have everything a park has in our own back yard.  I think we'll start with our Little Tykes cars.  We have a Cozy Coupe for Miss M and a fire truck for Mr. A.  They love to "race" them down the sloped driveway in our back yard, even though Mr. A is still figuring out how to really make his go.  I also have some work to do in the garden to get it ready for winter.  I need to pull out the old, frozen plants and basically clean it all up.  Miss M should especially enjoy helping with that.  She loves that sort of thing.  So, we aren't going to the park, but we are going to enjoy this gorgeous fall day!

Monday: A New Beginning

Every Monday brings a new chance to have a great week.  That was a friend's Facebook status this morning and I liked it, so I'm using it to get me motivated this morning.  As I've written about many times before, I'm still not doing 100% of the things I plan every day.  Some days I do really well, but more often than I'd like I have many good intentions but fewer actions.  This week, I'm trying out a new mantra:  Work First, Play More.  I've figured out that it should only take me two hours or less to finish all my "work plans", and that should leave more than enough time for "FUN plans" but I just haven't been disciplining myself enough to do the work first.  I'm really good at just hanging out, but I'd like to do better when it comes to actively doing the things I like or find important.  I spent the weekend making a mental list of the things I'd like to do for fun, whether just for myself or with the kids or with the spouse.  I'm going to work on fleshing that list out today, and will choose something to reward myself with if I successfully complete all of a day's plans.  Wish me luck!

Oh - the Week At A Glance page is updated with meal and FUN plans.  Last week's experiment with Kraft's 1 Bag, 5 Dinner's plan was less than fabulous.  I was right - some of the recipes were a bit funky.  I'm giving it one more chance though.  This week we'll be using their Healthy Living Bag 3  Everything looks pretty straight forward (and less funky) so hopefully we'll be happier with our meals this week. 

Our FUN plans mostly involve playing outside as much as possible.  The weather forecast looks fabulous so we'll take advantage of it.

Have a great Monday!

Too Cute to Keep to Myself

Kim Komando selected this as a Cool Site of the Day, and it's too cute not to pass on.  Miss M is in love - she keeps cooing or awwing at every picture.  If you have kids who love cute animal pictures, this site is for you!

Click HERE - Cuteness Ahead!

Who doesn't love a Friday?

Ah, the end of the week.  I do love Fridays.  Today our FUN plans include playing in the sandbox and finishing up our pumpkin carving.  We carved two pumpkins yesterday but Miss E created quite an elaborate design and didn't have time to finish it last night.  Actually, she didn't have the attention span to finish.  Funny how that can happen even with the best of activities.  We're also getting ready to have friends over for trick or treating tomorrow night. (Yes, I know tomorrow is not Halloween.  It's tradition in our community to celebrate on a Saturday if it falls on Sunday.  It's a religious thing...)  So, we're off to carve roads in the dirt and faces in the pumpkins!  Have a great weekend and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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A pretty good start!

What a puzzeling day.

Potty training is underway with Mr. A, and it's been and up and down experience.  On one hand it's been great because he's so willing to try and is so close to really understanding. But then there's the down side...  With my girls I bought them a bunch of little toy "potty prizes", and they got one every  time they went potty as encouragement.   It was a pretty easy process and there was very little drama.  Mr. A is obsessed with his bucket of prizes.  He stands in the bathroom moaning for a prize and is so sad when he can't have them he has resorted to walking around whining "prize".  The bright side of this is I am more determined than ever to stick with training and move him past this stage as quickly as possible.  He's very close so it's full steam ahead.  This will keep us close to home, but hopefully it's only a few days.  And it's compatible with our FUN plans, since we were going to play with puzzles again today.  That's a nice, indoor activity so he can run around in his undies and we'll close to a potty all day.  Also, since Halloween is just three days away, I guess we'd better carve some pumpkins.  We meant to do that yesterday, but didn't get that far with our plans.  Today is a new day though, and it's another chance to do the things we want to do.  Here's to sticking to our plans!

Who doesn't love board games?

Growing up, I was the baby of the family by many years.  I always LOVED board games but no one wanted to play with me because they hated the games that were right for my age.  I vowed that I'd play endless board games with my own kids.  Somehow, that hasn't really happened.  We have shelves full of the things, and they are pretty dusty.  But, today is their day!  We're gonna knock ourselves out with board game FUN!  We have a shape matching version of Candy Land that Mr A. likes, so maybe we can corral him for at least one game before he heads back to his Hot Wheels.  Miss M likes to play a phonics game we have because it comes with little rubber dogs that she isn't allowed to touch unless we're playing the actual game.  She's fascinated by these little dogs so I'm sure that will be her choice. Miss E likes the dreadful Harry Pottter and the Sorcerer's Stone game, so I'm fairly certain we'll spend time with that one, too.  (Honestly, with such great source material, why, oh why did they develop such a boring game for that book???)  Or, maybe they'll all choose totally different games.  Who knows?  It ought to be a FUN afternoon, no matter what.

Rainy Day Blues

Today didn't start out so well.  First, I forgot the girls don't have school today so I got Miss E up and ready to go for no reason.  That woke Miss M and Mr. A.  Now they're all rocking and rolling and I'm ready to go back to bed.  Urgh.  And to top it off, it's raining and windy and generally a BLEH sort of day.  Typically I'd say "Movie Day!" but we've spent the weekend vegging on the computer.  I'm pretty sure the kids are going to mutiny if we don't do something active and fun today.  Fortunately, this week's FUN plans are similar to last week's plans - we're playing with toys we haven't played with for a while.  Today is the perfect day to break out our Cranium Hullabaloo game.  It's fun, it's active, and I don't remember the last time they played it.  Perfect!

The Week at a Glance page is also updated!
As I mentioned above, this week's FUN plans are still about making our way to old toys or games we haven't enjoyed lately.  I haven't found anything the kids wouldn't miss if it disappeared yet.  They've all been happy to play with whatever I've suggested.  I'm still hoping though!  For this week's meal plans I turned to a feature on the Kraft website that I've been meaning to try for a while now.  They have something called "1 Bag, 5 Dinners" that simplifies both shopping and cooking.  I haven't tried it before because some of the recipes look a little funky, but hey, shopping this week was a DREAM, and I only spent about $30 on the bag of stuff.  They have different combinations you can choose from (chicken and beef, healthy living, chicken and pork, etc...) and each combination has several options.  Hopefully, we're all happy with this little experiment because it really could make my life much easier. 

Scrump-dilly-umptious! Caramel Apples

I must share a grand discovery.  Honey Vanilla Caramel Apples.  Two words: Yum! O!  I don't think I've made caramel apples since I was a tiny kid and one of my sisters was home from college with nothing better to do.  I haven't even really thought of them for years until one day a few weeks ago.  A friend mentioned she was making these with her little girl.  I quipped that if there were fewer than 10 steps I'd have to make them because they sounded so good.  It turns out there are far fewer than 10 steps and every single step is is well worth the trouble.  These are the yummiest, sweetest - but not too sweet - caramel apples I think I've ever had.  Miss E doesn't even like caramel but she couldn't get enough of these.  I'll put the link to the recipe under the picture.  Thank you Rachael Ray (and my friend, Alisha)!

*Honey Vanilla Caramel Apples Recipe*

***Feb. 2015 UPDATE***

I went to use this recipe and the original link was dead.  I was so sad!  Fortunately, google told me it was just on a new Rachael Ray site, but I don't want to take any chances with not having it next time I want it so I'm reposting the whole recipe here.  If you would like to see it on Rachael's site I have updated the link under the picture.

Rachael Ray's Honey Vanilla Caramel Apples

ingredients

• 6 medium red apples, such as braeburn, cortland or fuji, chilled

• Ice water

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups honey

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

directions

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Skewer each apple stem with a lollipop stick or thick bamboo skewer. Fill a large bowl one-quarter of the way with ice water. 
2. In a 4-quart, heavy saucepan, heat the cream and salt over medium-high heat until steaming hot. Stir in the honey and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat to medium and continue to boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer, 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla. Place the pan in the ice water, stirring the caramel with a wooden spoon until its thick enough to coat the apples without running off, about 5 minutes. (If the caramel thickens too much, return the pan to medium heat and stir.) 
3. Wipe the chilled apples dry. Working with 1 at a time, hold the apple by the stick and dip into the caramel, tilting the saucepan and twirling the apple to coat all but a 1-inch border around the stem. Place the caramel apples on the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving.

The sandbox is a mud box.

We're supposed to play in our sandbox today, but we've had rainy weather the last few days so our sandbox is more like a mud box and I'm not sure if I'm up having to cold, muddy kids just so I can say we stuck to our plan.  Plus, we did such a great job knocking out our To Do list yesterday, we didn't get around to playing with the puzzles.  I think that means today is the perfect day to put together puzzle after puzzle.  Then, since we skipped our FUN plans on Wednesday, I will encourage the kids to play with their various dolls, horses, etc... so I can get a feel for what they're still interested in playing with and what they're ready to move on from.  Phew!  That's a lot of FUN!  Happy Friday All!

We Have a Hankering for Puzzles!

Today's scheduled FUN time involves one of our favorite things - puzzles!  The girls and I really love puzzles but since Mr. A became mobile we haven't played with them as much as we'd like because they can't be on the floor.  It's surprisingly less fun doing puzzles on the table where everyone has to jockey for space or pieces.  It's been a while since we've had them around Mr. A, and I'm hoping he'll be better about not eating or bending or throwing the pieces.  Miss E is home from school today, so it will be fun to have her part of our FUN plans!

Bonus: Fly Lady's facebook status got me revved up this morning.  She's doing something I sometimes try on days when I just can't get moving but I really have to get things done.  She's having a 15 minute day, where she'll get up and do something new every 15 minutes.  I don't think that would work for me- too much transition and I'd never complete anything.  I do like to give myself 10 or 15 minute challenges.  I will think "Can I get that huge stack of dishes taken care of in 10 minutes or less?"  Then I get busy and feel all self-congratulatory when I beat a challenge.  I also don't feel like I've been slaving all day because I'm only working in short spurts.  I think I'm going to try that today and see if I can completely knock off a To Do list.  It's been a while since I've totally finished one and it would feel good to do it today. 

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Happy Belated Columbus Day!

After this week's plans were posted, Miss E brought an invitation home for a Columbus Day program they've been working on at school.  Our FUN time today will deviate from the schedule so we can all go to her program.  She's very excited for us to come see a particular song they play with bells.  After the program, we're going to decorate the house for Halloween.  The girls have been begging to deck the place out for a week now, and since Halloween is just over a week away I guess we should get it done.  We're all especially excited to set up our giant inflatable Tigger, who is dressed as a vampire.  It's by far our biggest and favorite decoration.

Me and the kids with friends (and Tigger) two years ago.

Does your family have a favorite decoration?

Handy Pocket Organizer/Paper Craft Project

Miss E's Story Board Pocket Mod     

I came across this cute paper craft/pocket organizer while continuing the search for the perfect meal planning calendar.  It's still not quite what I was looking for, but it is a handy dandy little application.  I printed one this week for my shopping list and general weekly notes.  It was great at the store because it really is pocket size, but substantial enough I was able to make notes on my shopping list at the store - unlike the post it note I usually use.  I also printed one using only the story board template for Miss E.  She set a goal at school to have a story published, and I hope this cute little booklet will be less intimidating than a whole blank sheet of paper as she starts to write.  I also love the small spaces just right for illustrations.  Folding them into their booklet form is simple and the girls thought it was cool that we could turn a flat sheet of paper into a book.  I love finding useful little things like this!

Boys don't play with dolls.

Yesterday, Mr. A and I were building things with blocks.  We were pretending one block was a bale of hay and  Little People cows were eating it.  I picked up a Strawberry Shortcake doll and tried to make her part of the conversation.  Mr. A grabbed the doll and threw her across the room.  I retrieved her and tried again, and again he chucked her as far as he could.  Apparently, Strawberry Shortcake was not invited to that party.  I'm going to experiment with some different dolls today.  Our scheduled FUN plan is to play with our sizable collection of Little People and all their buildings, cars and pets.  I'm curious to see if he simply objected to the obvious "girlishness" of the Strawberry Shortcake doll and maybe he'll accept the less aggressively feminine Little People characters, especially if they are the same as all the other people we're playing with.  Miss E is possibly the most stereotypical girl ever born, and Mr. A the most boyish boy.  (Miss M is just her very own little person.  It's impossible to predict what she'll do next.  There are no stereotypes which apply to her!)  I think it's very interesting to watch all these little personalities unfold.  It's all part of the FUN!

We're breaking out the blocks!

When Miss E was a baby I bought a big bag of MegaBloks and we spent many happy hours building castles and towers taller than she was.  Miss M always likes building short castles with huge yards surrounded by the colorful blocks.  Mr. A doesn't really like building anything, he just lines the blocks up and ocassionally stacks a few.  We also have two really great sets of wooden blocks but they are so heavy the kids can't get them off their shelf alone, so they don't get played with as much as the kids would like.  We're going to get out all these blocks for our FUN time today.  I'm sure we'll build roads and castles and fences galore.  (If you're interested in this sort of thing, here's a good article about the developmental benefits of block play.)

In case you missed yesterday's post, I've made all our FUN plans for the week around toys we don't play with all the time.  We have a terrifying amount of toys so I'm trying to gauge interest by deliberately getting them out to play with.  If the kids just don't like something any more, I'm hoping it will be easier to get them to put it in the donation box.  Currently, any suggestion of passing a toy along elicits tears and cries of "I love that!" even if they haven't played with it for years.  And, even if I can't get them to willingly give something up, at least I'll know what they won't miss when it "mysteriously disappears" while they aren't looking. 

Ahhh... A well planned week.

After flying blind last week, I've buckled down and finished this week's plan nice and early.  (You can see it here.)  I tried something new while planning this week - I chose themes both for our meals and our FUN.  For meals I took all the recipes from the massive collection of recipe links I've emailed to myself over the last few years.  Most of the recipes wound up coming from the Kraft Site and I'm using one from two weeks ago when a recipe was way to big for my family so I cooked it in two pans and froze one.  It will be SO nice to have a meal all ready made and ready to reheat and eat!

I also used something of a theme for this week's FUN.  Like many families, we have toys coming out our ears.  We have so many we forget what we have.  This week I'm going to deliberately get out some toys the kids haven't used for a while.  This serves two purposes.  First, the kids and I will have something fairly novel to do.  Then, I'll also get an idea of what they just aren't interested in anymore.  Hopefully, if I find something they really don't care about it will be easier to convince them make some charitable toy donations.

Here's to a productive and FUN week!

A link too good not to share.

This link came in a newsletter from Family Fun last week, but I just got around to reading it today.  It seems everyone is grateful for tips and tricks for keeping their families more organized so this list of ten simple ideas is something most mom's will want to read.  A few of the ideas for weren't right for us for one reason or another, but I did get four great ideas so I thought I'd pass the whole thing along.  My favorite was using priority mailing boxes to store kids' art.  I currently use expandable file folders for their papers right now, but some art projects just don't fit so I have big boxes for them in the basement. The boxes I'm using don't stack, and they are also not always the right size so lots of stuff still ends up folded or worse.  I'm thinking that instead of the mailing boxes I'll get those under-bed boxes for each of the kids and then I won't have a problem fitting the larger items. 

One last tip - I label each paper with the artists name and date created before I put it in the boxes.  Because I just stack the new art on top of the old, it's kind of like looking back through time when we look through the boxes.  The girls love looking at what they created years ago and I love being able to say "look what you did when you were two!" 

Playdate and the Park

One of our favorite little friends is coming over before and after preschool today.  Mr. A is SO happy to have him here - he knows a fellow tractor lover when he sees one.  Miss M is also excited about having her very own little friend here.  She can't wait to show him all around "Magic Land", her name for the imaginary land where fairies live, which is conveniently located in our back yard.  So, those are our big FUN plans for today.  I'm also planning to take Mr. A to the park by himself while Miss M and friend are at school.  He needs some focused play time with Mommy.  It should be be a FUN morning!