Heritage Park (Grapevine)

Today we went to Heritage Park in Grapevine - AWESOME PARK.  It is right next to the Botannical Gardens and so after playing at the playground (which was fantastic) we were able to walk right into the path for the gardens and walk around.  It was totally shaded and a great place to get the kids outdoors when it is so hot outside.  Definitely recommend it.

Paint by Number

Today we tried out the painting by number packet I bought at the craft store.  I got one for my 6 year old that was labeled for 8 - 12 year olds and one for my 4 year old that was labeled 4 - 8 year olds.  They were excited and did have fun, but mainly I think because it was something new.  However, this activity was challenging for a few reasons.  My 6 year old didn't want to follow the coloring, but painted the picture the way he wanted.  This is fine, but I am almost inclined to just give him a blank sheet of paper and let him paint.  Also, the spaces for each color that you were to paint were VERY small, and there was a lot of paint mixing involved, like mix #1 color paint with the #5 color paint, and he just didn't have enough focus for that.  The 4 year old was actually trying to use the colors that were instructed, but again on his the spaces to paint were very small, and he was to mix many of the colors and that just wasn't going to happen.  I told him to just choose one of the colors when it called for 2.  They lasted about a half hour with this activity and then set it aside and said they would do more later.  I probably wouldn't get this again for them unless they convinced me that they enjoyed it more than it seemed that they did.

For dinner tonight we had stir-fry, and it is so easy.  I bought one of those stir fry packets from the asian section of the store, and followed the instructions on the back.  It tells you what veggies to get, but I just bought the ones I wanted, like broccoli, onion red pepper and mushroom.  Then I made rice for the side and dinner was ready!  So easy and it was delicious.

Legoland Review

Today we went to Legoland at Grapevine Mills Mall.  Before you go, ask a working friend if their company has discounted tickets by chance.  That's what I did and it was significantly cheaper.  If you haven't been to Legoland, there are a number of things to do there.  When you first arrive they will send you on a little ride that reminded me of some of those closed in rides at Disneyland.  It's indoors and it sends you around a little track where you try and shoot things as you go along.  It was cute.  After that you are free to roam around and we went to the movie theater first.  There are 3 different 4D movies showing with one theater so they just rotate through each of them.  We went to the Bob the Builder and the Superhero movie.  Water sprays out at you as well as wind during various parts of the movie (each movie is about 15 minutes) and I thought they were great.  It was probably my favorite part of legoland since I'm not really into building legos.  There is also an area where you can build cars and race them down a track to see whose car wins (we had a bit of a challenge finding wheels to put on the cars as there are only so many to go around).  There is an area where you can build legos and then simulate an earthquake to see if your concoctions will withstand the earthquake (that was ok but the boys weren't that into it).  There is a Princess area where you can build legos, while also singing karoke - FUN!  When my daughter gets a little older we will visit that part.  There is a ride that goes around in a circle so my husband took on that one because I don't do the spinning rides anymore!  Finally they have a play area that has those tubes/cages that you run around in like at Chick Fila but about 10 times the size.  Overall, the kids loved it and it was worth the money. 

We also made Sesame Pecan Chicken Strips for dinner last night and they were DELICIOUS.  Highly recommend it and you can find the recipe under the recipes tab at the top. 

Pooping Issues

My 1 year old daughter who will be 2 in October has had issues pooping since she started eating solid foods.  Almost every single time she poos she screams and it is just awful to watch.  We have tried various things but haven't found anything that really works yet.  The doctor said to keep trying incorporating foods that will help her go.  So this week I started making smoothies mainly consisting of frozen blueberries and have been adding whatever other fruit we have around.  I make it right after we get home from walking to pick up the 6 year old - Noah - from school.  It only takes about 5  minutes and we are all hot so it's a great way to cool off and get some great nutrition at the same time.  For Clara, the 1 year old, I just put it in a little cup and hold the cup while she sips it through a straw.  I use our magic bullet which is so easy to use and just put a little water in there and a couple of ice cubes.  

The good news: Today she started pooping right after drinking her "juice". 
The bad news: She was pushing so hard that she threw up everywhere.  Boo.

We also went to Westchester Park this morning when it was still 85 degrees and both of the kids (the 4 year old and the 1 year old) loved it.  I've been hesitant to go to any of the parks with it so hot outside but it was actually kind of nice this morning.  There is a little playground for the smaller ones and a bigger playground for the bigger kids.  I definitely recommend it.

Getting Your Kids in the Kitchen

One of things I planned with the kids this summer was cooking classes in our home.  Sounds cheesy - I know - but with it being so hot outside it was another fun thing to do indoors and the kids always enjoyed being a part of the cooking process.  I got the idea when I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store and saw one of those little recipe books.  This one was called "Jello and Cool Whip Summer Desserts" and they were pretty simple for the most part.  So I had my 6 year old go through it and pick out the ones he thought he would like to make.  I have to be totally honest and say that we only made one of the 7 or so recipes we picked out, so now we can plan on making these in the fall.  The point was more that we planned it and the kids knew what they had to look forward to, but we ended up swimming or doing something else fun instead!  With the one recipe we did make, they had a great time with it and of course then they had a dessert for after dinner!  I've included some of the recipes we picked out under the page "Kids in the Kitchen".  I hope you find some that you can have fun with!

Recipes

So . . . since I easily get bored with food, this is the way cooking works in my house.  I subscribe to several magazines (Food Network, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Cuisine).  As soon as I get the magazine, I go through and pick out the recipes I want to try by just folding the corner down on the page.  Each week before I go to the store for the week I find out how many dinners will be needed for that week (sometimes we aren't home for dinner) and then I go through the magazines and pick out the ones I want to make.  I don't plan for the weekends (including Friday night) since we often have things going on.  Then I make my grocery list which includes the items needed for those recipes.  I love having a plan for the week and then I don't have to worry about it for another week!  If I like the recipe I picked out, I cut it out, staple it to an index card (I usually staple the picture to the back of the card), and put it in my recipe box.  Most of the recipes I share will be from these sources.  Food Network magazine always has a "50 things" booklet in their magazine that I love.  My favorite one was the "50 smoothies" booklet.  It was fabulous and such an easy way to add more nutrients to our bellies!  Finally, we get our meat andveggies from Town and Country foods.  The meat is all natural and they deliver it every 8 months.  It is only about 130 per month for all of our meat and veggies and this makes planning on the fly so much easier!!!  I've included some recipes I already like on the recipes page below, and I'll be sharing some in my blog posts as well.

Learn a new language with your child!

So . . . in honor of the first day of school for many of our children, I thought I would offer a learning tip of the day.  If you are a Flower Mound resident, you have free access to http://www.mangolanguages.com/ through your library card.  To access, go to http://www.fmlibrary.net/ and select Research Databases and then Mango Languages.  Enter your library number and off you go!  This is a website that teaches you a new language and it is geared toward children.  There are probably about 10 - 20 language choices and I checked it out with Noah - our 6 year old.  He loved it and was totally able to go through it on his own.  Other libraries in the area offer it as well, but I'm not sure which ones.  Have fun with this!

Introduction to my blog

So thanks to the encouragement of Jenny Musgrove, I have decided to start this blog and see where it goes.  This is primarily geared toward mothers of young children.  If you are anything like me, you get bored with the same ole routine and want something new.  You get bored with recipes, bored with the same play places, etc.  I have worked full time with young children in my home, part time, and am now am a stay at home mom.  This past summer was my first summer with all 3 children home (Noah is 6, Guerin is 4, and Clara is 1) in my new stay at home mom role.  Experience told me that if my kids started getting bored, fighting between them started shortly thereafter.  And then very shortly after that I would get extremely grumpy.  So . . . I planned a FUN summer with something happening every morning and every afternoon (and some evenings) every day of the summer.  I created a calendar on posterboard and hung it in the kids room so that they could see as soon as they got up what they had to look forward to.  I started telling other moms about it and they wanted to get their hands on the calendar to get new ideas, and that is essentially why I am starting this blog.  This time with your children will go by soooo fast, so why not make the most of it?!?!  At a minimum of every other day, I plan on posting something, whether it is a recipe, a project I did with the kids of some sort (science, art or a cooking class with them), a new children's website I have discovered that is helpful for learning, a play place we went to, a kids game we have discovered, etc.  There is so much out there that can help create a joyful, engaging relationship with your child and I hope this helps you get there!  I'll also discuss the failures and what didn't work for us.  We are by no means a perfect family so hopefully in discussing our failures you won't feel alone in yours.  I'll put a few extras in here too, like whether my new idea of checking out workout videos from the library actually works, or whether I am going to have to fork up the extra $60 a month to join Lifetime Fitness.  I would absolutely love your thoughts and new ideas as well, so please leave your comments!!!  Love you guys!