Recycled Clothing

The idea of buying clothes for Little Critter to wear for the next 8 weeks is a bit daunting. Especially since back to school shopping looms just around the corner.  (By the time Sept. 15th arrives, it’ll be too chilly in our part of Oregon for shorts!)

My options- go to Target and buy a few pieces from the $4 table and Costco to grab a couple pair of light weight jammies. (And accept that a minimum of $50 is gone on essentially disposable clothing.)

Or- chop up her old stuff. Now that’s an idea I like much better. I cut three pair of old leggings off (which were in the Goodwill pile) and zigzag stitched the hem. I also converted two pair of Carters Sleeper Jammies into sleeveless short jams. LC LOVES them. I adored the cute brown/white and pink/bright pink dots on the jams and didn’t want to part with them. This gives us more time to enjoy them. At the rate LC grows, they might also fit her next summer.

The only sewing I did on the jams was to zig zag stitch back and forth across the bottom of the zipper (since I had cut off the zipper stop). Then I took pinking shears to trim the legs.

I also divested several shirts of their long sleeves. Little Critter had several shirts that were made to look like a long sleeve was layered under a tee… I simply turned those inside out and cut off the long sleeve portion.

Unable to skimp on shoes, I brought home an adorable pair of brown suede with pink trims Peanuts from the employee store yesterday. ($18 vs. $35 retail). These fabulous shoes, with Sensory Motion System built in is close to walking barefoot and yet provides a good amount of protection. Little Critter is stilling wearing her size 12-18 month Robeez (a good investment at $28 ) which I purchased well over a year ago, but she also needs a pair of regular shoes since she is an active 3 1/2 year old! Oy, I am excited to see on the Robeez website, the booties now come in sizes 2-3 yrs and 3-4 yrs! We have been lucky that they ran on the big size and LC is small… but this is great news as she is about to wear out the pair she has.

Today’s Green Tip- Repurpose your clothing whenever possible. (Think beyond what I have posted, quilts or blankets out of favorite baby clothing that was stained- just use the unstained pieces or using a little RIT dye like Tenille over at GFF.) What you cannot repurpose or reuse donate to a shelter or second hand shop so they don’t end up in the landfill.

 

Yes, You May Wear Pajamas Permanently

My children do not like to get dressed.

This goes against the grain. (My grain that is, not theirs.)

I like things done in a certain well ordered manner.

They often disagree.

I win. Because, I’m the Mom. ‘Nuff said.

Today, I re-evaluate.

I realized that this week I haven’t washed nearly as much laundry as usual. Today I actually washed NO laundry.

Let’s back track for a moment, on any given (normal) day I will wash at least three loads of laundry.

Today I simply removed one load from the dryer.

There is the start of a load waiting in the laundry room. I do not wash loads unless they are FULL (often over-full) because it saves water and energy that way. I can actually see my laundry room floor.

I did a little Happy-Dance.

Then I realized, this is because my children have been staying in their pajamas all week. When they do put something on other than their PJ’s, it’s swimsuits to play in the pool. Those swimsuits (and the towels) then get hung up to dry and re-used the following day.

Mommy was wrong. You may stay in your pajamas all day long. I don’t care if you wear the same ones for a week straight. Just please, put clean undies on every now and then.

Green Tip???? Don’t you get it? Just stay in your jams. That’s it. Save the world by washing less laundry. (Ok, maybe not the world. You will save a little water, some soap, energy and Mum’s sanity.)

 

Things We Love- More Snack Foods

The Polka Dot Household probably needs to get away from the idea of snacks. I’m perfectly happy giving the kiddos fresh fruit, veggies and crackers at snack time. So why, I ask do we continue to purchase all these yummy snacks? Well, because they are yummy.

Clif Kid Organic Twisted Fruit- 1 serving of fruit in a licorice like rope. The kids love this. It makes them think they are having candy, but its all natural fruit. Ingredients: Organic Apple Puree, Organic Apple Juice Concentrate, Organic Flavors, Pectin, Colored with Fruit and Vegetable Juice. (Vitamins and Minerals are also added.) 70 calories and no fat in each twirl. Two thumbs up from the kids. (About .50 each at the local grocer.)

More flavors of LaraBar-

Chocolate Coconut Chew. This is packed full of healthy dates, coconut, almonds, walnuts and unsweetened chocolate. This raw combination is tasty and nutritious. According to the LaraBar website, “You’ll swear you’re eating a brownie!”. I have to agree. This flavor combination obtains the Polka Dot seal of Yummy-licious! (This flavor is found in the 18 combo pack at Costco, which averages .97 per bar vs. $1.59 at the store.)

Key Lime Pie. Here you will find unsweetened coconut, Lime Juice, Dates, Almonds and Cashews. They join together in a raw flavor melody that will convince your tongue to dance at the tartness and delight in the joy of a good for you treat. This flavor also gets the Polka Dot seal of Yummy-licious!

Ener-G Wheat Free Pretzels- Crunchy with just enough salt to be like the real thing. At $1.89 for a 7 ounce bag, this is a popular snack in our house. K3 usually enjoys 7 or 8 pretzels at snack time with a few organic baby carrots or some peanut butter to dip them in.

Just Fruit Bar (40 gram bar)- Two servings of fruit in each bar. All natural ingredients: fruit puree, fruit concentrate. These bars have 140 calories, no fat and 7 grams of fiber. A great alternative if you can’t get fresh fruit into your kiddos. Also perfect for afternoon snacks at school or for camping and hiking. About $1.00 each at the local grocer. The website carries 16 - 40 gram bars for $15.84 or 30- 25 gram bars for $18.00.

 

Gluten Free Desserts

Two very different desserts. Both are gluten free, dairy free and egg free (Woot! Woot!)

Chocolate Rice Pudding

5 cups cooked white rice

4 cups ALMOND milk

1 cup Wholesome Sweetners evaporated cane sugar (or your choice of sugars)

1 TBS. Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Almond slivers

3 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine (or other butter replacement)

6 heaping TBS of Fair Trade Cocoa Powder (such as Equal Exchange)

Add all ingredients to heavy saucepan, place over medium heat and mix well. Continue mixing every minute or so as mixture begins to heat and ingredients meld together. Continue to cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the mixture takes on a thick, pudding like consistency. I think this is best when warm, you will need to allow it to cool for about 20 minutes after cooking before serving. It can also be stored in a sealed container in the fridge and enjoyed cold or reheated.

Variation- Vanilla Pudding

Omit Cocoa Powder

Increase Vanilla Extract to 2 Tbs.

Add 1/2 cup Raisins

Add 1 Tbs. Cinnamon

Variation- Nut Free Pudding

Change milk to Rice or Soy

Omit Nuts

Eggless Faux Flan

2 cans (13.5 oz each) Regular (not lite) Coconut Milk

4 Envelopes Gelatin

3/4 cup Agave Nectar

2 Bananas - sliced

Place half can of coconut milk in medium sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle gelatin and allow to bloom. In a heavy saucepan on the stove, heat remaining coconut milk and agave nectar to a boil, stir frequently to prevent scaldng. Pour boiling milk over gelatin mixture in bowl and whisk well, until all combined and gelatin has dissolved.

Take a muffin tin and drizzle agave nectar into bottom of each cup. Add 3-4 slices banana on top of the agave. Pour coconut mixture into each cup, filling about 2/3 full. (You can also use small paper cups or other similar item to mold.)

Chill for several hours, until set. Remove from pan by going around edge of each cup with a butter knife, then inverting pan. Agave on the bottom will drizzle over the top. You can also add extra agave at this point if you like.

Variation- chill mixture for about 30-45 minutes, until soft set. Add crumbled Enjoy Life Snickerdoodle cookies to the top of each cup. Return to refrigerator to continue set. Remove from pan, you will have a lovely “crust” on the bottom of your dessert!

This family and our guests have enjoyed these desserts immensely!

(Can I just throw it out there that I HATE green, just in case you all thought I loved green because of the pictures. Everything in our house is green. Wall to wall carpeting, counters, dishes, towels. Puke! I cannot wait to get NEW dishes and replace this carpeting with wood laminate or engineered wood or marmoleum or cork… ANYTHING! Now being green, that I love.)

 

Mommy or Laundress and Short Order Cook?

Washing laundry for a family of seven is a full-time job. Seriously, I wash at least 3 loads a day, every single day including weekends. That equals, on average, 90 loads of laundry each month. Bleh. If we have a bad day (as we have had LOTS of lately), then a load or two of Little Critters bedding is added. Now that summer is here, it seems the kids do not realize they can hang up and re-use their towels and that bathing suits do not, in fact, need washed every single day. For some reason, Little Critter is obsessed with mud and mess making, so it never fails that the kids’ towels end up muddy instead of waiting nicely on the picnic table for their wet bodies to appear.

Now, there is a cozy looking, little bed. Just right for LC. Except its not “just right” in her opinion. In fact, everything about it is ALL WRONG. That would be because her usual bedding is in the wash again, for the second time today and about the billionth time this week.

For Little Critter to sleep, things must occur in a specific order. First the pink blanket, soft and fuzzy side UP, not down as I would put it so the fuzzy snuggles my skin. Oh NO, that can’t happen. Next comes the blue blanket. Unless she wants the yellow blanket today, then that one must go IN THE MIDDLE of the pink and blue blankets. Usually, the decision isn’t made to sleep with the yellow blanket until the blue one is already on her, so she lifts it up and instructs Mum to “put the yel-wo one right here… in the mid-will”. Then she will snuggle down, require her Panda (which looks like it has been through a Tornado, as it’s also the cat’s favorite toy), then Panda must be covered JUST SO. Next comes the hugs and kisses. In order, on the lips. If I kiss her cheek… it’s freak out time, “no, ON THE Wips, MOM! Kiss my Wips!”. Once I hit the door you can bet she is calling me back in because I forgot one of her hugs and kisses, or mine weren’t just right.

You can imagine that putting a child such as this to bed without her proper blankets causes issues. When I tell her that they are in the washing machine because she (fill in choice of phrases here: pee’d, rubbed bloody nose all over, vomited) on her bedding AGAIN. She responds with, “get ‘hem outta wash”. I try to explain that they are wet and she cannot sleep with them until they are dry again. This gets us no where. Lesson to Mom, wash FASTER. If I am lucky, at least one of the usual blankets has survived the most recent mess and I can attempt to soothe her with that.

Mom is a Laundress. Got it. Did I mention that my washing machine, now 8 years old (it was my crazy pregnant woman MUST HAVE prior to the birth of my first child) is on the fritz? Maybe fritz is putting it lightly. I walked into the laundry room and stood in water the other day. ‘Nuff said. Also the AC needs repaired and the dishwasher no longer cleans. Huh, talk about pouring when it rains. I’m drooling over the Red LG Steam Washer and Dryer, although not sure that’s going to happen with everything else crapping out at the same time. Oregon Dad ALMOST gave in to CHARGING the appliances. Hopefully we can avoid that.

Evidently, Mom is also a Short-Order Cook. For breakfast today, I decided the kiddos would have eggs since I was already making them for Oregon Dad’s Bagel/egg/sausage breakfast sandwich. So I made them, omelet style. Very pretty and folded just right. K3 loves hers smothered with Organic Ketchup, K1 only likes a little ketchup. After enjoying their eggs, K1 wants a bagel, toasted with cream cheese and K3 wants applesauce with cinnamon. Then Little Critter wants no eggs, just a bagel and yes, it can have cream cheese on it as well. K2 finally crawls out of bed. No eggs for her either, but she’ll have a bagel with BUTTER, no cream cheese, meanwhile, K3 has decided that she wants something “like a bagel” since we are out of GF bagels around here. I said the only thing I have is GF pancakes or toast. So, she has a pancake with REAL Maple syrup. Now K1, K2 and LC would also like applesauce with cinnamon. Just as I’m ready to sit down, LC decides she also requires some cereal. By this point, I was sure they were all full… she was very insistent so finally I gave her a small bowl and faced the fits when she asked for a refill.

I thought we were all having EGGS for breakfast. But then, what do I know, I’m just the cook. I do love to remind the kids, when they are whining about breakfast… how lucky they are. I ask them, “how many of your friends get fresh blueberry muffins (or pancakes, eggs, waffles, etc…) on school mornings?” That usually quiets them down for oh, about five minutes. Why do they appreciate the nasty, chemical laden cinnamon rolls the school offers over Moms good food?

Stay tuned, I’m attempting REAL Donuts, Gluten Free style this weekend. Should be interesting! Oregon Dad’s response was “great, so we are getting hockey pucks for breakfast?”.

 

My Daughter The Sports Caster

Our youngest bug, Little Critter has something going on. I feel that we are getting a bit closer to figuring it out… at least partially.

Last night, as I was reading checklists from “The Out of Sync Child” to Oregon Dad, he said that he thinks of Little Critter as a “sports caster”. At first, I was completely lost by his analogy.

Here’s how he explained it (the hand gestures were great, sorry I can’t share those with you!):

LC gives a verbal play by play of EVERYTHING. “See this paper, it’s white, it has four sides, the sides are kind of pokey, ouch.” The entire time she is doing this, she will turn whatever she is holding all around, end over end, etc… According to Oregon Dad, a sports caster is there to provide all the details out loud, all the things we start to not acknowledge (at least not verbally) and hand over to our subconscious. In his sports-fanatic mind, that’s the best analogy for Little Critters fervent descriptions and verbalization of everything she encounters.

Little Critter is an extremely verbal child. Precocious, smart and advanced in many ways. She began speaking early, clearly, descriptively. As she approached two years old, she became manic verbal. By that I mean, she began to speak so often, so loud, so panicky at times… it caused a mental head scratch for Oregon Dad and I.

If she needs a drink. She will practically screech, “drink, drink, drink, drink, drink.” Over and over until her “need” is met. We try to calm her down and explain that she can have a drink (or snack or toy or change of the channel) once she asks for it appropriately. There appears to be a disconnect in that she doesn’t understand what is appropriate, even when we demonstrate the correct way to ask, “Mommy, may I have a drink please?”.

The verbal outbursts, repetition and complex descriptions are just some of “issues” that have caused us to consider we may be dealing with more than just a precocious child.

Little Critter is ALWAYS messy. LOVES anything she can get her hands in and squish around. She throws her entire body into feeling and doing. In time out, she will rub the walls with her hands or feet if she can reach them, she will spin around on the chair. She seeks the thrill of faster, quicker, further CONSTANTLY. This child is a whirlwind of activity, both physical and verbally. (Did I mention she skipped being a baby? Literally. She walked at 7.5 months, didn’t want to waste time snuggling and hasn’t stopped since). LC WEARS ME OUT. Not kidding here, I have raised a whole bunch of kids at varying stages of life. I was a nanny for several years, I have four of my own kids, am raising one sister and previously raised another one, I have hosted exchange students and taken in my niece who was removed from her Mother’s home. I have spent a lot of time with kids and this one, my youngest, throws me for a loop. Every.Single.Day.

I could write a book on all the odd little things that make up this delightful, wonderful, beautiful, precocious child of mine. But I digress.

We are also concerned about some health aspects that have cropped up in the last several months. She is constantly hungry. I feed the kid. Within 20 minutes she will be starving again and manic about it. I try to put this off by saying what time snack time is (the kids eat five times a day at specified times). Life can become hell during these periods of time. She has also started having nighttime and nap time accidents again. Sometimes 2 or 3 wets during a 3 hour nap. In addition to the constant hunger (which I believe is more of a stomach ache that makes her think she is hungry) she also randomly vomits. Not a lot, but once a week or several times a week as it has been the last 10 days. I cannot relate the vomiting to any specific foods, yet anyway. Little Critter also lost 2 lbs between Feb. and April. When you are 39 months old and weigh 29 lbs, dropping 2 lbs isn’t a good thing! I took her back in last week and she had gained back those precious 2 lbs since our last visit in April. I really think we are dealing with Celiac here as well… and I know that Celiac can cause many of the behavior issues we are experiencing. The blood work said no. I know that the blood work isn’t that accurate, especially in young kids… however, the Doctor doesn’t seem inclined to investigate further. I want the genetic test done or perhaps we should just do the biopsy to find out. We have an appointment with a Pediatric GI specialist, but they couldn’t get us in until the end of July. So, here I am with a child who has a constant belly ache and vomits randomly… a small child (who is only in the fifth percentile for a child her age)… and cannot find out what is wrong with her.

I called the Doctor yesterday to find out exactly what her blood glucose numbers had been. I read about Ketotic Hypoglycemia and wondered if that is part of what we are dealing with. Little Critters blood glucose was 60mg/dl. According to the lab the “normal” range is 60-99 mg/dl. So, she was on the low side. Children that present with Ketotic Hypoglycemia usually have a blood glucose between 35 and 60 mg/dl. The Doctors office disregarded this as a concern. They felt her blood glucose level was just fine. Huh. I’m not sure I am buying that. I will be getting some ketone sticks at the pharmacy and checking her urine at home… I am also going to get out our blood glucose monitor and see how her levels fluctuate during the day. Hypoglycemia can be treated with frequent, high carbohydrate meals and snacks. Not a problem. What is a problem is that young children with chronic/severe hypoglycemia can develop neurological issues.

Are these issues intertwined? Could whatever is going on inside her belly/GI tract be causing the out of sync behaviors I am seeing? Maybe. Could it be that we are dealing with two separate, but no less important issues? Maybe.

Just as I pushed forward to figure out why K3 was having so many issues… I will also with Little Critter. I don’t have a lot of faith in modern medicine when it comes to “abnormal” issues. Our Doctor is great for treating infections, but I think many of these issues are going to fall upon Oregon Dad and I to figure out and fix.

I know I have an out of sync child… one with Sensory Integration Disorder. Are the issues extreme enough to fall under Aspergers Disorder? We haven’t seeing any “motor” clumsiness, but LC has one or more issues in each of the other five categories. Perhaps a specialist will see something we assume is normal.

For now, I have a highly precocious, adorable, 3 year old Sports Caster. If nothing else, I hope that we can learn more effective ways of coping and helping Little Critter thrive. I’m also starting a log today. It details everything she eats and drinks and when. In addition to the food diary, I am also keeping a behavior diary where I can record out of sync behaviors (like her meltdown yesterday when we took donuts to her sisters class) and her exceptional behavior times as well. We will do what we can to figure this out and we will keep praying for guidance and a medical professional who is on our side.

 

Stupid at the Library, Restaurant Openings and Through The Eyes of a Six Year Old

Today started out pretty much the same as any other day. I made pancakes from scratch (yum yum yum). There is a little bit of Heaven in hot from the griddle pancakes smeared with butter and drizzled with REAL Maple Syrup. Mmmmm. I’ll get the recipe up in the next couple of days.

Then K-Man had a BB game… the sun was shining and it hit 70 degrees here today. Bonus! I dropped everyone off at the ball field, then K3 and I ran a couple of errands… gassing up the truck with Flex Fuel E-85, stopping by the natural section of Fred Meyer to get K3 a dark chocolate candy bar so she can have a treat when everyone else does (she gets 3 little squares at a time, so one bar gets us through 4 treats). After that we ran to the library as I was in dire need of some *light* (by light I mean, Smutty Historical Novel) reading. My brain has been overwhelmed with all the serious reading I’ve been doing (No I haven’t forgotten my reading list… patience!).

So, K3 and I are in the library. I’m toting two novels by Nora Roberts. Not sure they are historical… but they should be plenty smutty. We venture into the kids section and I put K3 on a mission… find a book for self and one for each of your sisters and brother. I hit the search on the computer for a book I’m planning to buy… but would love to take home to read if it’s in… GREEN CHIC.

The book isn’t cataloged at this library, but is at several others in the county. I wander over to the nice librarian (in the children’s section mind you) and ask if she can put a hold/transfer on a book for me. Of course she is glad to help.

I hand over my library card and the title of the book GREEN CHICK. After a couple minutes, I look at her screen and say C. H. I. C not C.H.I.C.K. She says, “Oh you mean GREEN CHIC (Sheek)” Huh… guess I can go take my English Major and flush it down the toilet.

Okay, here is my thought process behind thinking it was GREEN CHICK (Spelled CHIC) and not CHIC pronounced SHEEK.

Around here, we use the word CHIC or CHICA a lot for well… CHICS… GIRLS… So, when I read the title “Green Chic” I’m thinking, yeah… cool, green and CHIC (Chick)… to me CHIC (Sheek) expresses class, I found this book more modern, hip and funny instead of yuppy and classy… so, to me it should be GREEN CHICK. (I’m not knocking… I’m GREEN, PSEUDO HIPPY, CLASSY, YUPPY and CHIC (both CHIC AND SHEEK… Thank you very much!).

Taken down by the children’s librarian… sigh.

Arriving back at the ball field, I am turning the giant, gas guzzling, monster of a truck, around so that I can park. I did a three point turn on a quiet, suburban street. Our truck faces straight at a house and its GREEN GREEN GREEN lawn… where a sprinkler is running. K3 pipes up from her booster in the middle of the backseat… “Mom, why is there a sprinkler going and no one is playing in it?” Good question K3!!!! I explained that the people who lived there were watering their grass. “Why are they watering the grass?” Another great question. Before long, she will also wonder why they would be watering the grass at two in the afternoon and therefore allowing a large amount of that water to EVAPORATE. I momentarily thought about parking right there and taking K3 up to the door to ask her questions of the owner. I restrained.

To round out the evening, two girlfriends and I went to a pre-opening at a California Pizza Kitchen. I’ve never been to one of these restaurants before… but hey, we are on “THE LIST” and everything is on the house. I’m in.

The staff was over-eager and NERVOUS. That’s expected when a restaurant is just opening with a lot of unseasoned staff. Our waiter was a kid of 19, his name tag claims the home state of Alaska. Welcome to Oregon and your new job at the California Pizza Kitchen. (Is it just me, or is that a bit odd? Shouldn’t it be Oregon Pizza Kitchen?)

It was a fun time, we ordered three entrees to share… Blue Crab Cakes with a Lemon Caper Pasta and Asparagus, Garlic Chicken Pizza and a Seafood Miso Salad. The pizza was AMAZING. The crab cakes were VERY GOOD… the lemon/caper pasta was not so good and the asparagus was overcooked… sad because its my favorite veggie. The Miso Salad was good, except ours came with chilled chicken instead of seafood.

A and H went on to the bars afterward (were they are drinking themselves into oblivion as I write this)… I hauled my over full self home to kick off my high heels. The girls laughed at my early need to retire… I advised that this Mommy would be up at 6am with the kids… Oh, the blissful days gone by of sleeping til noon!

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Tags: kids, funny things kids say, watering grass, being green, California Pizza Kitchen, Restaurant Opening, Library, Green Chic, Girls Night Out, GF Pancakes, Gluten Free Pancakes

 

Summer Reading List

I am frequently asked what I am reading, or more recently, what the kids are reading. Today I put together our proposed summer reading list (KIDS LIST)… All of these books have been previewed and hand selected by yours truly.

Here it is:

It’s Not What You’ve Got! by Wayne W. Dyer with Kristina Tracy- Why we are reading this: Because the focus is that money doesn’t define us. This book takes a spiritual and uplifting approach to money.

Colorful World by Cece Winans, Keith Thomas and Alvie Love III- Why we are reading this: Because 6yo K3 has recently been asking why some people have brown skin… this is a great story (and musical CD) about our beautiful and colorful world.

The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence by Judith St. George- Why we are reading this: Because Mommy LOVES history. This is a colorful and delightful book chronicling an important part of American History.

If The World Were a Village by David Smith- Why we are reading this: This book helps our children realize what life is like outside of America. We struggle with the kids understanding how privileged we are. It also takes the world’s populate of 6.2 billion and puts it in child friendly terms… a village of 100 people (each person represents 62 million!). Our kids take technology for granted… this book shows them that other kids never even get to use a computer. This book is geared to older children (third grade up). But we will be reading it aloud with our younger ones as well.

Martins Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport- Why we are reading this: That’s self-evident. The author makes this story very kid friendly and age appropriate.

A Child’s Introduction to the Environment by Michael Driscoll and Dennis Driscoll- Why we are reading this: It is a fun and entertaining lesson on our Earth (explores water, land and air) and gives fun activities and ideas kids can do to get involved and help protect the planet. Most age appropriate for third grade and up, we will use it with the younger kids as well, but may need to modify some activities. (By the way… the book is printed on recycled papers.)

The Greening Book by Ellen Sabin- Why we are reading this: It is a wonderful (work) book that encourages kids to appreciate our Earth and what it gives us. The activities help children see ways they can help. I knew we wanted it when I picked it up and the front cover says “The Greening Book by Ellen Sabin and ___________.” What better way to help our children explore and learn about protecting our great Earth than by giving them the power to do it!

I also have art projects planned to teach the kids about Claude Monet (and other artists to come) and outdoor activities planned to learn about trees (leaf etching) among many other things. The kids each will be given a journal, where they can write or draw what they are learning and exploring on each new outing.

My reading list is yet to come… stay posted.

Today’s Green Tip: Visit the library or used book store and get a book to teach your kids about our great Earth… its never too early.

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Tags: kids, reading, summer reading, summer reading for kids, kids books about Earth, kids books about environment, being green, being green for kids, helping kids be green, history, Martin Luther King Jr., Social Responsibility, Teaching Kids to be globally responsible, Our World, Diversity, Teaching kids about diversity, Summer activities, Summer activities for kids, making kids green

 

K-Man Turns 8!!!!

We’ve had another Birthday in our house. (It seems that there are a lot of those around here!) Lucky for the kiddos, this birthday corresponded with our first 90 degree weather days… (Oregon and 90 degrees in May?). We set up the Banzai Inflatable Water Slide and the kids have been having a blast. K-Man and K2 are having a joint friends party around the time school lets out in a couple weeks, so we just had a small family celebration at home.

Happy Birthday Mr. Man! We Love You!

Yes, that’s a blue DS hiding behind the Petz Dogz game, he may seem spoiled… but these are all the birthday presents… we get them the ONE thing they want and that’s all they get. The DS and Dogz game were from Mummy and Daddy and the other kiddos gave him the ATV game and case. K2 has requested her American Girl Mia Doll… so that’s what it’ll be. I am struggling with how to word the invitations for their friends party. K-Man will be inviting all the boys from his class and K2 will be inviting all the girls from her class. They decided to have a joint party at the roller rink. I don’t want families to feel that they have to bring a present for each kid (or any presents at all), this party should be about fun with their friends and not about gifts. I haven’t figured out how to handle this! Any advice is welcome!

I had a baking drama with the cake… hence why we have the cuppycake tree out again. I bake ALL THE TIME. No joke. I make cakes and cupcakes for everything. I love it… people love to eat them… I’ve won contests against pro-bakers. So I was a bit discombobulated when my cakes stuck in the pan. This hasn’t happened to me in YEARS. I am blaming it on the extreme weather changes around here. After tossing the ruined cake over the hill in the yard, I resorted to cupcakes… these ones are flavored with lime jello, have Starburst inside and crushed up green Lifesavers on top (leftover Easter candy!). Yum yum. K-Man was digging in the “junk” drawer, when I asked what he was looking for he replied, “More candles”. I said, “Are you turning 20 or something? There’s already 8 on there.”

Today’s Green Tip- Recycle the water when the kids are outside playing… use it to water your veggies, flowers, wash your car!?!?!, etc… Little Critter was insistent on watering the flowers for me while they were out playing and had a fit when I told her to dip the watering can into the pool. She kept saying, “No, INSIDE water.” After a few minutes she gave up and used the pool water.

 

Lovely Girl

Another adorable hair bob from Oopsie Dazie. K2 is constantly asking for a side pony. Normally, I tell her they look silly and we do a regular pony. So when I did this one without her begging for it, she was a bit skeptical. “But Mom, you said side ponies look silly.” Okay, so maybe I was wrong… isn’t she precious? Go get yourself some button ponies from Oopsie Dazie… you’ll love them as much as we do. (This is a large pony, they are also available in a set of two small buttons for pigtails!)

I can’t believe she’s almost 8!!!! Brings tears to my eyes.