A Laid Back Holiday Weekend

What a beautiful weekend! While I didn't get to have any fun cocktails or blow anything up it was nice to just have my family close by for a while. Most of the time my husband is working his butt off and taking on call shifts all the time, our daughter is almost two so tantrums and whining land her little butt in time out frequently and as for me, I am just trying to keep the house clean and from burning down. Fortunately, the latter I have managed to accomplish.

Friday we headed to a family friends new farm to check it out. Gorgeous!

Photo by Judi Karsch

 This place is a beautiful and lush New England classic. She found herself a little slice of heaven complete with stable barn, 14 acres and beautiful horses on the way. Honestly, I would give up my cute little town life just for this.

Photo by Judi Karsch

I can certainly say it was a nice change of pace to sit by a fire and admire the land we actually live on instead of my neighbors siding.

Sunday. Sunday the kiddo slept until 10 AM! I assure you I am not making this up. But once we were up we took of to my in-laws house for a party and boy did we have fun. Vie got to ride the 4 wheeler again, we had bubbles and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa have a fountain on the deck that is the perfect height for a toddler. I don't care if she gets wet, really, kids are going to be kids. And Boy did she get WET!

 We didn't get to see the fireworks this year only because she is so little still and had such long days we just put her to bed. There will be other fairs and fireworks to see. I am fairly certain she is doing just fine and had plenty of fun.

So there is your update lovelies. I am going to be photographing the gardens this afternoon, I think, so that will be available soon. How did your kids do at the fireworks?

Kids Who Dress For Success

I have recently been faced with a pet peeve of mine. Mind you, sometimes there are reasons behind these decisions and those are at the discretion of the parents. (I still believe the parents are in charge of their children's behavior until they are adults or prove their maturity.)
Wearing PJ's to school! As a teen. of course, this is very common. They have to get up so early, (too early according to some recent studies conducted among adolescents.) This however is merely the tip of the problem. There are dress codes in high school to keep the kids focused on school an not on the chicks cleavage who sits by the window. What about conveying the importance of "dressing for success" to the younger kids too. I am seeing a significant amount of children, elementary school kids, going to school in their pajamas.
One woman informed me that it was a compromise, her son (9) wanted to wear shorts to school on a 30 degree day. So to avoid a fight she agreed to let him wear his sweatpants to school. I get compromising with your children, we need to teach this to them as well, but when do they learn pride in their appearance? How do you feel after a fresh start in the morning, teeth brushed dressed and ready for work or school. Do you feel more productive? Maybe even feel better about yourself?

Getting dressed everyday sets an expectation for kids. That they have started their day and it is time to get to work and start learning. It also boosts a child's self esteem, think about how you feel when you go somewhere and realize your under dressed? How about when you stay in your pajamas all day, do you get lots done or do you tend to hang out on the couch?

It's these things like this that makes me wonder who gets more control the kids or the parents. If we upset our children and they go to their teacher we get called in to explain ourselves. Even letting our children walk home from school can cause an arrest warrant out for the parent who raised smart, responsible children. I find it infuriating, frustrating and ultimately disappointing. I guess the message we are trying to convey to society is what, hide your kids away because everyone is out to get them. Also, they get to do whatever they want because we don't want to cause a lifetime of disorders.

Ugh, I drank form a garden hose, walked home from school, played in the mud and I would never be allowed anywhere in my pajamas because I was taught to have more respect for myself than that. Why is it that the next generation will never learn these things?

I think it is time to take back responsibility for our own children and return to being their parents. They aren't your friends, they aren't your ward and you are not merely keeping them alive until they move out. hey are our kids and I think they deserve more. But hey, that's just me!

Off the soap box again...

Meal Plan Week #2

Well, it's that day again, time to put together our meal plan for the week, pick up the few things we need until shopping day and organize my shopping list. Since I posted a couple weeks ago about my meal planning I thought I would update with this weeks entrees for week night meal ideas.

This week we will be having:
 Baked Mac & Cheese with a panko crust and some broccoli
Loaded Nachos. (not very healthy but you can add any ingredients you want to healthify it)
Corn Chowder and breadsticks. (Pillsbury now sells breadsticks in a can.)
Homemade Pizza/Calzone
Homemade Chicken Finger with a Panko crust, peas and fries
Burgers on the George Foreman and Oven fries
Panini's with leftover chowder
Chicken Caesar salad with homemade dressing (Here is the pin. This stuff is amazing!)

Some staples your will need for this plan is your standard chicken, hamburger, oil and sauce but don't forget to pick up some pizza crusts (tip: spaghetti sauce works just as good as pizza sauce and doesn't go bad as fast.) You will also need some block cheese, panko and maybe some fancy bread for the paninis. You know, if your feeling especially adventurous.

Well, off I go to check out some sales. Good luck and happy shopping.

Snack Mix For All

Warning: My daughter has no known food allergies so I have included peanuts in the recipe. If your child is allergic to nuts please don't attempt to feed some to them.

Earlier I posted my snack pack ideas here and mentioned my snack mix. This stuff is magic to kids. Have you even been ready do give your little one a snack and they can't decide what they want or won't eat what you gave them. Fret no more fellow mommies! Seriously, it's as simple as throwing all kinds of  similar ingredients into a container and going on about your day.

This bad boy is filled with pretzles, goldfish, raisins, honey roasted peanuts and cheerios. Really anything can be used in these. I have mine in an air tight storage container but mason jars work great too. You can always add things like dried fruit, different nuts, seeds and even those yogurt dipped snacks.

Be creative and if your kids are old enough this could be a great activity for them to do during the week. One less thing you have to do and we all know... there is too much to do.

Good Luck!

DIY Snack Packs

Traveling with a toddler is quite the endeavor sometimes. Have you ever noticed they eat.... constantly! My rugrat has always been a good eater but this also means she wants to eat all the time and packing snacks in a diaper bag doesn't always work out as planned. Snacks get left in the bag and go stale or the apple sauce will spoil when the car heats up and cheerios... friggan... everywhere!

While my methods are still in, what I like to call, the planning stages, I have found a few hacks over the last year or so that have made my life slightly easier and I'm here to share them with you guys.

I found this idea on Pintrest and adjusted it to suit us.

 My daughter had mostly formula as a baby and I had dozens of these plastic containers lying around. (I also use them to store crafts like beads, pom poms, washi tape and rogue crayons. Highly recommend holding on to a few of these if you are going to buy them anyway. The scoops also work great for the DIY detergent I posted yesterday. DIY Laundry Detergent)  A few staples I throw in these are oatmeal, fruit cups or fruit snacks, animal crackers and those squeezy applesauce packets. You can obviously adjust the contents for whatever you kids may prefer just don't forget to take some of the perishable stuff out and throw it in the fridge when you get where your going. These little guys are perfect for a night at the Grandparents house. (My parents don't usually have a lot of kid type food around.) A trip to the park or the beach. (Wishful thinking!) I also make a snack mix that she just loves and it saves a little packing time when getting ready to go. I will be posting my snack mix soon so you guys can give it a shot.

As always feel free to share and comment away and I hope this helps you guys in your own planning stages.

SAHM Yoga, Relaxing Or Rage Inducing?

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I didn't have to work but I had shopping and had to go clear out stuff from the old place. (P.s. Always get the fridge first when moving. We had to wait for our refrigerator to arrive and it was a week late. I somehow managed to get my husband to clear out the nasty food. Guess we need new tupperware.) Anyway, with all the work on the new house, moving and watching the kids and cooking I haven't really had much me time. I needed a little down time so I popped in my yoga video and figured my munchkin would try to copy me or would dance to the soft music that plays.

Oh boy was I wrong. She wanted to climb on me like a jungle gym which started out cute and funny until her straw cup got dumped on my lap mid hero pose. I paused the video and cleaned it up. I grabbed one of her favorite toys and set her up on her mini couch beside me.

This worked out well for a few moments but the next thing I know she is hungry and wants a snack. Pause. Goldfish. Couch. Deep breath for Mommy. Press Play. At this point I'm not feeling very zen but I gotta push through. Breath in to cat lift making sure your catch your daughter regurgitating goldfish all over the yoga mat where your hands go next. Back to her feeding seat, fresh milk and a warning that she will get time out if she doesn't listen. Get through the last string of movement and now its time for the relaxing part. Lay on your back and breath deep. All I smell is those stupid goldfish and my eyes pop open long enough to witness my toddler about to force feed them to me. After some creative new words ushered under my breath I pick up my daughter to clean her off and she waves to me signalling nuh nights. Of course your ready for a nap now! GRRRR!

Deep breath, start video over and let my muscles guide me through. Arm's up and deep breath in, my husband walks through the door, if you have ever tried to do yoga in front of your husband you know what it usually stops being yoga and starts to become and activity for your husband to see just how much of the Kama Sutra you could really do. At least that's what my husband does, so he came in and made the mistake of asking how my day is going....

Moral of the story is this, always try to cut some time out for yourself but I urge you to wait until the children are napping or down for the night because when deep breathing is used to prevent drywall damage you don't really get the zen relaxation it's supposed to encourage.

I think after the kids go down today I'll try out some meditation and get my head back. 10 more inches of snow this weekend. Ugh

Please oh please bring me some sun!

Never Plan For A Plan To Work

I learned very quickly in life that if you plan something out then it rarely works out that way. Parenting is exactly the same. Ladies, I can assure you....

You kid is going to flip out for no reason in the middle of a grocery store.

Your dishes will never be done. (This goes likewise for laundry.)

That Zumba class is going to drop in attendance. 

You will count the minutes until its bedtime, meal time, TV time, nap time. (anything that will give you ten minutes to yourself and chances are you will look at that sink and think. "Meh, that will still be there in the morning."

And that is all okay.

I read a blog recently that just made me laugh. When becoming a parent or just a stay at home parent tends to be more than we expect. My advice. from a SAHM for the last, almost, two years is to take a deep breath and just say..... "Fuck it!"

This post is coming from my dedication to get my toddler to keep sleeping through the night and she was up at 5:30 this morning. Which isn't all that bad since I am usually up at that time anyways but today is my day off and that's not fair. (I know, I'm pouting but I'm tired.)

So expect the unexpected and perhaps pick up some meditation tips and a bottle of wine because we got at least 18 years to go. It's a good thing they are cute.

If you want to read the post that cracked me up check out the link below and don't forget to leave your comments, advice or just your sympathies.

Recently I've Become A SAHM - The Opinionated E

Toddlers Are Nuts

 My daughter is a 16 month, don't worry that ends at 18mo then she is a year and a half. (When I was a photographer I had a woman tell me she wanted photos of her 42 month old. I, legit, wanted to slap her, just a little.) Anyway, she is cute as a button and smart as a whip. Seriously, she surprises me everyday with something new. She is also the demon baby from hell sometimes. You know, one of those kids who is always great and very well behaved when she is with Grammy but when left alone with Mommy throws tantrums smacking her head on the floor and fake crying. Even gone so far as fake coughing for a while but as soon as attention was paid to her again her ailments magically dissipated and she was just fine again.

Clearly less than amused!

If you have one of these children, and I'm sure there are a few out there, I have a little ray of sunshine just for you. It eventually ends. For real, I'm not pulling your leg I have seen it.

At the moment I think my case is just the beginning stages of the terrible twos and I know it is going to get harder before it gets better. That said, even New England's snow melts eventually and it does still get hot in the summer, (I have to keep reminding myself), and that will go a long way to keeping both tiny terrors content for a while but I still have a few months and three feet of snow to melt before that can become a regular thing. Once that happens all my gardens can get started and that will be a nice learning experience for them. It also prevents me from stabbing my husband in the face with a fork when he tells me about an annoying customer and how tired he is after I explain the four and a half hours of constant screaming, throwing food and milk... just.... everywhere. But I digress...

I did yoga for a while but, honestly, the 30 minutes a day I get to actually sit my butt on the couch I intend to take full advantage of. Besides when else am I going to get to eat something. Goldfish, pretzels and coffee does not a healthy diet make. I really thought I would be able to take the babies for a little sledding this year but if you have ever been caring more than one toddler, you know, the second you set them down they make a break for it in two different directions and think it's hilarious as you get red in the face trying to remain calm while you half nelson them both back into the house. I'm sure you can imagine that was not a fun day.

Despite the tantrums that only I deal with, (At least she doesn't do it in the grocery store or at restaurants,) or when no is the only thing she chooses to communicate for an hour. My baby girl is awesome. All our offspring are awesome and if you think about it, if they weren't perfect gray hair production assistants we would have a bunch of em and well.... that's not good for anyone or their wallet so have a glass of wine instead

 

Tell us about your rant or rave. Show off those munchkins being crazy, silly or just adorable. As always, feel free to leave a comment or question. 

Fighting The Winter Blues

Well, I'm sure you're all watching your social networking sites filling up with dashboard temp photos and complaints about the snow. We live in New Hampshire, don't know where that is, don't worry it's north of Massachusetts and it snows in the winter.... a LOT! In the last two or three weeks we have accumulated around three feet of snow and an inch of ice. The kids had a couple of snow days so I have had two toddlers and a 9 year old stuck in the house all day. (The temps have been hovering around 10 - 20 degrees during the day and -8 degrees over night) So as you can imagine we are freakin' bored. Usually on days like this we would grab all the couch pillows and throw blankets, toss em on the floor and pop in some fun movies. Have hot cocoa, maybe some popcorn and I like to bake something on cold days. (Lets me heat up the house without using more oil.) However, when you have four days like this in a row you get a little stir crazy. If you are not from New England you must understand, by February cabin fever is a very real thing and the results are not pretty.

It's important for, even us parents, to get outside too. Have you ever been sitting somewhere and you just look at the person next to you and think, 'I swear if that guy doesn't close his mouth to chew in the next two minutes I'm going to stuff a sock down his throat.' Or how about when you drop a pen and smack your head on the table picking it up and you think, 'That's it, we are burning this table, I never liked it anyway.' Well, we all have those thoughts but they get worse in the winter and you have got to do something about it otherwise you wind up that guy who took a chainsaw to his neighbors tree because the acorns kept falling in his yard. So what do you do?

Since this weather will last us a few more weeks, at least, I have decided to find something more active for my kids to do. We will be venturing outside today and perhaps I can get the porch shoveled before it falls off my house, but more importantly get the kids outside to play. (When it's just too cold out doing something active like hide and seek can really help.)

Simply opening you shades makes a huge difference. Even cloud diffused light is still natural light and letting it in and brightening up your house can improve your mood almost immediately. Cleaning up around the house or clearing out the areas you use most can have a similar effect. Like wise wearing brighter colors can perk you right up. On a particularly gray snowy morning (an absurd 5am) I was getting dressed and happened to remember something I read about the affect of the colors you wear impacting your mood. So on went my candy pink scarf and while this didn't make me bust into my own theme song or induce a flash mob, it did make me feel a little perkier and less like the whole world is turning gray.

I find we sometimes forget the impact our favorite things have on our emotions and our behavior. You try to frown on a jet ski! It occurred to me that these kids have been hanging around a quiet house watching the quiet snow fall, the quiet TV humming away, the quiet padding of little feet on the hardwood floors. We have a big house.. why are we being so quiet? Turn it up, I have all the music channels so I use the popular hit list and the kids seem to like it. (I have noticed they tend to like your favorite music better as you personally have a more energetic approach to it than, say, itsy bitsy spider.) So crank it, jam out a little maybe even turn this into a crazy playtime. Sometimes we will pull out all the funny hats and scarves for the kids to wander around in and they love it.

 Just a little silliness can cure that case of the blahs but sometimes there is only one thing that really works and that is simply bundling up and getting outside. Blow up a tube or dig out that sled and enjoy the powder because it's only a matter of time before the snow stops and we go back to 90 degrees with 110 percent humidity. Then we can go back to figuring out how to beat the heat.

As always feel free to leave your ideas and thoughts on breaking up your winter blahs. Send us some photos of you and your little one enjoying the winter wonderland and you could be featured in the next post.