52 in 52 #10 Homemade Yogurt Melt Snacks

I have seen this pin like 9,000 times on Pinterest.  My kids were never that into the yogurt melts when they were younger, but they love yogurt now so I figured that perhaps this would be a less messy way to indulge their taste for yogurt.  I don't know what it is about yogurt but I can barely eat yogurt as an adult without getting it everywhere so you can imagine two toddlers and the mess that comes after them trying to eat yogurt on their own. 

The basic idea of this pin is very simple.  Dump a container of yogurt into a plastic sandwich bag, cut the tip, squeeze dime-ish sized dots onto a foil lined baking sheet, freeze and then enjoy.  Sounds simple.  I went into this however with apprehension because I have been burned by pins

that appear easy before. 

Homemade Yogurt Melt Snacks
Prep time: 10 minutes
Freeze time: 2 hours

1 container flavored yogurt
1 baking sheet
aluminum foil
plastic sandwich bag

Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Decide which yogurt flavor you want to make your snacks out of. 

 

Empty the yogurt container into the plastic sandwich bag and cut a *small* hole in one of the tips.  I quickly learned that what I first considered a small hole was vastly too big. 

 

Drop dime sized dollops of yogurt onto the baking sheet.  Be careful to not put them too close together unless you want them to run together and become bigger 'dots'. 



 

 

Freeze baking sheet with yogurt dots for at least 2 hours.  They will probably be frozen through sooner than that, but I think that it works better if they are SUPER frozen.  Once they are frozen through, you can gently scrape them off of the foil and store them in a plastic bag or container in the freezer, like this:

 

 

 

Now, since you are flash freezing your melts they will start to melt once you remove them from the freezer so unless you live in Antarctica, this is not a good "on the go" snack.  Mine also are starting to break apart a bit every time they are handled in the freezer.  I don't know how to rectify that problem.  However, they do amuse children and are super easy to make.  I haven't purchased the packaged variety of these snacks in over a year, but I would definitely be willing to say that these are cheaper than the ones that you can purchase at the store. 

 

Give this a try and let me know how it works out!

 

-Sara 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paci update - are we there yet?

I feel like the journey with Silas to be done with a pacifier is similar to a never-ending car ride.  You feel like you have been in it for days and it's really only been a few hours.  He was obviously not ready to be done with it and I was not ready for him to be done with the pacifier so this has been a lot more difficult of a transition for everyone involved than it was with Isabella. 

Isabella used her pacifier to go to sleep.  She soothed herself with it sometimes while she was awake but by the time she was biting holes in it she had found other ways to soothe herself.  She had several stuffed animals, babies and music makers that she was attached to by then and so her entire comfort didn't need to come from the pacifier.  Silas, on the other hand, has nothing.  He never warmed to a stuffed animal or anything other than the pacifier.  Yes, he loves those muslin blankets, but nothing compared to his dearest pink pacifier.  He used it for comfort, to go to sleep and to stay asleep. 

He has always been more of a 'biter' of things than Isabella ever was so I should have seen this coming that he would be biting holes in his pacifier earlier than she did but I was totally and completely caught off guard.  And yes, I understand that I was probably caught off guard more because he will be my last biological baby probably and I want him to stay a baby forever.  I'm going to leave that subject alone right now because if I think about it too much I will probably cry. 

Just to recap what has happened in the last few days in one sentence - life has been a challenge.  Once Corry cut the end off so Silas wouldn't choke if he bit off a bigger piece, Silas would no longer have anything to do with that pacifier.  We quickly realized that letting him see it was making him more and more upset as well.  I figured that he would take to it like Isabella had and just wear it on his finger but that didn't happen.  He acted like he didn't know what to do with it and kept having temper fits about it.  Durin one of his fits he took it outside, got mad and threw it down and so I left it in the garage.  It stayed out there for days until it got moved somewhere.  I need to track it down and save it like I did the one for Isabella. 

Needless to say, he is a lot more angry and has a lot shorter of a temper than he had when he was using the pacifier, but everyday seems to be getting better.  He is having fewer and fewer episodes when I would have previously let him have the pacifier so we are making progress.  Slowly but surely... Pray for us in the upcoming days as we are nearing the week mark and then I think that we will be over the worst of it. 

When did your kids stop using a pacifier? 

Top 10 favorite toddler toys

Before I had children I wondered how parents acquired millions of toys.  I knew that you would buy them one at a time and over time end up with some through birthday parties and things like that but I never really thought about where all these toys would go, if my children would play with them or how much I would want to get rid of 99% of them.  Here is a list of the top ten things that I find them reaching for the most. There are other items that are being left off, like books and random stuffed animals that I will cover in another post. I have listed a price from a certain store with each item. This isn’t necessarily the cheapest price or the price that we paid or even the store that we purchased from. A lot of these toys were either gifts or we have had them for some time or I can’t recall the exact place we buy our toys from. I am only listing one place – you can use http://www.google.com for other places that you could buy the item.

1. The first item is the Little People Disney Princess Songs Palace. You can buy this for $38.99 from Target. My sister got this for Isabella for Christmas and she absolutely loves it! It comes disassembled with clear instructions and was relatively easy to put together. It comes with batteries, stickers and 2 princesses (Cinderella and Snow White). You can also buy separate princesses that work with the palace. That link is a common set of them that you can purchase that she also got for Isabella. Once put together, this toy is very sturdy. We regularly keep it on a table in the middle of the toy room so the younger babies can stand around it and still play with it. Silas will usually attempt to pull it off the table onto the floor and several times it has fallen and remained intact. The flags on the top of the castle are attached to larger pieces and so are not in jeopardy of being swallowed, but they do regularly come off of the castle. Isabella uses them as a cup for her play kitchen. They love the elevator and the different pieces that move around. If you put in the batteries there is a noise that is played when the doors open and there are specific noises per each Princess that are made. There don’t appear to be any small parts once assembled that could be presented as a choking hazard. If any pieces come loose, I could see potential for choking but we haven’t had any issues.  As usual use caution when small children play with any toys.   

2. The next toy is made by Circo from Target and is their Medical Care Kit. It is $15.49 at our local Target store. Isabella is enamored with a show on Disney Jr called Doc McStuffins. She is an animated child that plays doctor on her toys and stuffed animals. I saw this kit and knew that it would be perfect for her. It comes in a sturdy clear plastic case. I say that because it can support Silas’s weight of about 23-24lbs. He regularly uses it as a step stool to climb onto the couch. It is a 10 piece set of doctor’s tools including stethoscope, 2 hard casts, 2 soft bandages, syringe, tweezers, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and a modified otoscope (that thing doctor’s look in your eyes and ears with.) Isabella loves these items and now plays doctor on all of her dolls and stuffed animals. I have to issue a warning on this toy though that with very little force my husband was able to remove the ‘pump’ part from the blood pressure cuff. A small amount of super glue though was able to keep the pump in place and served as a small modification that makes the toy useable by all children in my house. Also, be advised that the thermometer includes a small battery (you can’t easily access so there shouldn’t be any cause for concern that it would be swallowed without removing several screws.) I say that because the battery helps the thermometer make this SUPER annoying beeping sound that happens anytime the child pushes the button on the outside. You might want to consider removing that battery in case you like being driven insane by beeping children’s toys. Also, the tweezers could potentially be seen as a choking hazard if your child puts items into their mouth. Silas regularly does and he could easily swallow those if unsupervised.

        

3. Any parent who has a little girl can vouch for me when I say that we have too many babies around our house. There are naked baby dolls all over our house. We have several Circo brand baby dolls. They are from Target and are less than $10 I think. They come with a single outfit which is a one piece outfit and a shirt. They are easy to remove and put back on for kids. Some of them come with a hat as well. You can also buy separate outfits and accessories for these dolls. We also have an American Girl Bitty Baby. This is a more expensive version of those same dolls. The arms and legs are still a harder plastic type material with a cloth body. It comes with an outfit, a tiny bear and a book for $55. We ordered ours through the actual American Girl website where we also bought another outfit as an accessory as it was on clearance. I would recommend this doll for older children because the doll and accessories are rather expensive. All in all she loves these babies. She sleeps in her crib with most of these babies every night.  Like most toddlers, she prefers the cheap version over the expensive one, so keep that in mind when buying toys, especially dolls.  They will be more interested in the box or the wrapping than the actual toy.   

4. Our next toy on the list is the Fisher-Price Soothe & Glow Seahorse. You can literally almost buy this toy anywhere. It retails for $14.97 at Walmart. I heard many good reviews about this toy before I had children and so it seemed like a no-brainer when I was pregnant. This seahorse was amusing when she was born and younger baby, but she wasn’t necessarily attached to it. She didn’t really care for it until she moved into her own room. Then it became a part of her night-time comfort routine. We bought a second one for Silas when he was born and he doesn’t care for it. It eventually migrated into Isabella’s crib and it remains there even today. If she doesn’t have both seahorses available to her at all times while sleeping she freaks out. For anyone who is unfamiliar, this is about a foot long plush seahorse that upon pressing the belly plays music and lights up for five minutes. It plays soft music and lullabies. This is an inexpensive toy that lasts a long time that most babies love. I would recommend this to any new parents.

5. Meemaw bought Silas this next toy for his first birthday. It is the Little Tykes Handle Haulers Deluxe Farm Truck. You can buy this from Walmart for $14.99. This is a super neat toy that looks like a big farm truck. The back end of the truck can be let down so the animals can get out. It comes with a cow and a pig. There is a handle in the back of the truck that has a button that, when pressed, plays music and farm sounds. All the kids play with this truck a lot. Silas loves the music that it plays and he runs that truck all over the house. It is durable as well – it has fallen off shelves numerous times and never broken.

6. One of our most used toys is the B. Wheeee-ls! Soft Cars. These are $15.99 from Target. We have two of these cars in our camper and they are super durable. My son plays with these anytime that we go camping. You can easily wipe down or rinse off the outside. They have been stepped on, kicked around, thrown down, etc. These four cars are made of a super soft plastic material that is easy for little hands to grab on to. These are the kind of cars that you can pull back and release and they roll forward on their own. My son absolutely loves these cars and we would definitely repurchase if they carried more of them at our local Target.

7. Next is the Choo Choo Wagon by Step2. This is single-handedly the coolest toy that my parents have. It’s a wagon that has several different compartments for the children to sit in instead of one big area like a normal wagon. You can connect ‘trailers’ to the back for extra seating. The wagon itself can be bought here for $99.99 + shipping with just two separate cars. Each car comes with a built in cup holder, and a bench with a seat belt. The cars are tall enough so the kids are up off the ground but short enough where the kids can easily climb in and out themselves. Each car can hold a max of 50lbs. My kids absolutely love this toy. If we could stand to pull them around for hours at a time they would gladly ride in this the entire time. We take this wagon every time that we go camping and they love being pulled around all day. We get a lot of compliments on this wagon. We have seen several around town with different families and it seems to be very durable.

8. Earlier this year, my mom purchased a plastic rocking dog for her house and after seeing how well both of the kids loved it we decided that we needed to get one for our house. Corry found the Little Tykes Rocking Horse in blue. You can buy it from Walmart for $29.99. My kids absolutely love this rocking horse. It’s low to the ground so they can easily get on and off of it. I would imagine that if they rock too far back that they would be able to flip this over while they were on it, but it would take some effort and with proper supervision you should be able to see this happening. There is a lip on the front and the back that seems to act as a deterrent to being able to flip the horse over. Another warning – both of my kids use the seat as a step to get up on the couch, try to climb on different items around our house, or just to stand up on the horse itself. This can be dangerous if your children are unsteady and they can easily fall and potentially hurt themselves. We have also used this toy both indoors and out and it works just as well on grass as it does on carpet. It’s super lightweight and provides hours of entertainment for any age group.

9. The next item is the Graco Room Full of Fun Baby Doll Playset in the multi dot pattern. We got this as a gift for Isabella for Christmas to use with her millions of dolls in our house. It comes with a pack-n-play, stroller, high chair, pacifier, teether and toy. You can still buy the same set for $34.99 from Toys R Us. It comes disassembled and requires a bit of finesse to get it assembled, but that seems to be the same with any child’s toy. The pack-n-play is the perfect size for several dolls – ours is now currently being used as storage for the other baby products. Several things that I dislike about this toy – one is that it is very difficult for my children to put Isabella’s dolls into the stroller and the high chair. The holes for the doll’s legs are small and they can’t always get the dolls out once they get them in. The second thing that I dislike is that the high chair will not stay together. The legs are forever coming out of their places and my husband had to end up super gluing them all in place. Same thing with the high chair tray – it comes off super easy and is very difficult for kids to put it back on. This isn’t a gripe, but just a warning – the teether, pacifier and toy are on the smaller side and we had to put them up because they were too small for our other children to play with. With all that being said, my kids love this set. I think that Silas likes it more than Isabella does. He walks the stroller around the house collecting all of his toys in it. They have touched this toy at least once per day every day since we got it for them. This toy is cheaply made but it is definitely worth it for how much they play with it.

10. Last but certainly not least are the various components associated with household items, like a kitchen, vacuum, etc. Who would have known that children love toys that are affiliated with chores so much? My mother made the kids a kitchen (picture on left) from a cabinet that we bought from someone on Craigslist. It was a hit and she did an excellent job! There are a multitude of posts on how to do this on Pinterest as well. With that kitchen, we have had numerous people buy the kids play food, and dishes, and pots and pans for this kitchen. It is awesome and they absolutely love playing with this kitchen. We have since acquired another plastic kitchen that has some different features than the one that my mother made, and they love it. I am not sure of the make or the model of the second kitchen because it was purchased from Craigslist and I don’t want to speculate. We noticed more than a year ago that anytime we vacuumed Isabella would freak out and scream and cry until we were done. We bought her a toy vacuum to hopefully make her more comfortable with the process. She didn’t necessarily care for it when we first brought it home, but now it is a favorite toy of both kids. Silas drags it around all over the house. We bought ours from a toy outlet store for about $30. You can buy one like it here: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3142104 Our kids like this toy because it actually turns on and runs. This was not documented as a feature but it does actually suck dust and small fine items off the floor. Luckily the bucket comes off the front easily and you can fully empty it without an issue. Our last household chore toy that the kids absolutely love is the washer and dryer. This is an older model toy that we bought from Craigslist that comes with an attached washer, dryer and ironing board. The washer and the dryer both have a lid that fully closes and both tubs spin. It is made of a tough plastic material that seems to resist wearing. (insert picture) The kids love that toy and love it especially as a hiding spot for other toys. One of the bonuses is that older kids who come over can play with this group of toys and not feel like they are playing with baby toys.

Hopefully this list is helpful to someone who doesn't have a lot of toys or is a relatively new mom trying to decide what to buy for their child.  I am more than happy to post more in depth reviews on any and/or all of these items. 

What are your child's favorite toys? 

-Sara

The paci – a love story come to an end.

Before I had children and even while I was pregnant with Isabella, I never wanted to give my child a pacifier.  I always heard from other people how difficult of a habit it was to break and I never really wanted to start that if I could avoid it.  However, when Isabella came into the world, it seemed everyone was interested in her having one as a soother and so it came to be.  And she loved it.  She took to it almost immediately and was in love with it for over 18 months.    

Once I gave her the pacifier, I never really had an issue with it.  If she wanted it, I gave it to her because I figured that she was only a baby for such a short time and eventually she would break the habit.  We actually decided to break that habit sooner than I thought because she started to use it as a teether and not so much a soother anymore and bit the end off of one of them.  We gave her another and she did the same thing shortly after that.  At that time we decided that she was done.  We were not going to keep buying pacifiers so she could destroy them.  We decided that we would cut that one and just see what happened.  My husband cut the tip off of one of them because we didn’t want her to choke if she kept biting that hanging piece of it off and we gave it to her like it was normal.  She hated it, but she still held onto it.  She would stick her pointer finger through the end of it and still suck on it.  I am not going to lie but at that point I had a lot of anxiety that we were creating a ‘finger sucker’ child in this process.  For over a week she still slept with it but she always had it on one of her fingers for the entire night.  Then after a week, one night while she was sleeping it fell under the bed and she didn’t realize.  The next morning we put it in her dresser and it has been there ever since.  I can’t bring myself to get rid of it and will probably have it as a keepsake.  It’s one of the last real reminders that I have of her as a baby and not as the ‘big girl’ that she is now. 

Unfortunately, my son is now in this same boat.  Isabella was never a bad teether.  We really didn’t even know when she was cutting teeth ever.  She didn’t really cry more or have any outward signs at all.  He, on the other hand, is an awful teether and has been since his first tooth.  He chews on everything, slobbers buckets before he cuts a tooth, runs a fever with each one and is just miserable.  As of late, that chewing has been on his paci, and last night he chewed a hole in his second paci.  In an effort to be fair and realize that he is a big boy now (he is 18 months now) we have decided that we will treat him like Isabella when it comes to the paci and my husband cut the tip off and gave it back to him.  He was heartbroken.  He cried.  Like, for real crying.  And because he was crying like that I started crying.  My husband justified it that he doesn’t use it at night normally and really only wants it when he wakes up so it shouldn’t impact his sleeping.  I am hoping that this will be as easy of an ordeal as it was for Isabella but he is usually more of a fighter so I am not going to hold my breath.

I will keep everyone posted on his progress to becoming a big boy. 

-Sara   

Camping: toddler sleeping arrangements

Sleeping arrangements for our toddlers is one of the things that cause me the most anxiety when I think about planning a camping trip. We keep our kids on a relatively strict sleeping situation – in their cribs, super dark rooms, fans, blankets, etc. So when I have to think about putting them to sleep and getting them to stay asleep while camping when those circumstances are different, I get a little stressed out. Strike that, a lot stressed out. Luckily, we seem to have found a situation that seems to be working out pretty well for both of them. If there is one piece of advice that I could give to anyone who is taking a toddler camping, it would be to make their temporary bed as much like their bed at home. You will have much more success at getting them to sleep if they are in a comfortable, familiar surrounding.

In our camper, we have a bunk bed in the back with a double on bottom and a twin on top, a table that folds down to make a double and a couch that folds down to make a double as well. We decided that the best bed for Silas is the double in the bunk to keep him from rolling off onto the floor while he is sleeping. When he sleeps he is all over the bed and often times end up on a completely different side of the bed than when he went to sleep. At the entrance to the bottom bunk is a person sized hole that you can crawl through to lie down. Because we wanted to avoid him rolling out this hole, we had to rig something up that would be sturdy enough to keep him in the bed if he bumped against it, but that would still be flexible enough to be able to be moved if we needed to get to him or if there was an emergency. We tried several things, the scariest of which was a sheet tied between the sides. It was fine until Silas rolled into the sheet and was fighting like crazy to get out. After that, the sheet went away.

One of Corry’s most amazing ideas of 2013 has been to use the top bunk’s twin mattress in that entranceway. He folded it almost in half and when pushed into that entranceway, it fits perfectly along the sides of both walls. We are still able to easily get Silas in and out of that bunk, it comes out easily in case he gets stuck towards the outside of the bunk, and it keeps him safe. Another bonus is that since the mattress is so wide, it blocks out most of the light that we have on in the camper, which leaves the light more like his room at home.

After several different places, we decided that the best place for Isabella to sleep is on the fold down couch. She usually is rather still while she is sleeping, so we really don’t have to worry about her rolling off the side of the bed or anything like that. I make sure, when packing, to pack her blankets, pillows and some stuffed animals that she sleeps with on a daily basis. Because she sleeps with so many blankets and stuffed animals, we can’t bring it all. Normally I bring at least one, if not two, blankets and both glow-worms and one baby doll. All of these items help her to feel more comfortable and more at home, which helps her go to sleep easier and stay asleep longer. She normally fights us a little bit longer before agreeing to go to sleep, but normally because she is so excited to be camping.

All in all I think that we have established a good sleeping arrangement for both toddlers in our camper. Even though this situation in general causes me stress, it is comforting to know that we already have a system in place that works for us and has worked for numerous camping trips.

Old Navy: my new favorite toddler clothing store

I am going to do a few posts on stores that I love to shop at for my children and what my must-haves are from those stores.  First on the list is Old Navy.  I have always shopped at Old Navy for cheap wardrobe staples for myself like tank tops, camis, etc.  They have lackluster quality in some of their items that I don't fully appreciate like jeans and jackets.  I like their website and their selection of items in pretty much any color that you can imagine.   

Since we had kids we tailor a lot of our shopping trips around the play places in the local malls.  I can pretty much tell you which malls have good play areas and what I like and don't like about each one.  Before I had kids I was always annoyed by these places because it's like 900 million screaming children under 3ft tall running and screaming and being crazy all in one small area.  I'm not going to lie; it still touches my soul a little bit to be in there with my kids.

Ridgmar Mall, one of the closest malls to our house, has a pretty decent play area.  It's a rather large and has a lot of different things for the kids to climb on.  There are two things that I hate about going to that mall: 1) the people that bring their kids into that play area aren't always the smartest when it comes to being able to read the rules of the play area re: no food/drink and the height requirements of the children that they are bringing in, and 2) there are a lot of stores that have left that mall because of the lack of traffic. 

One of the big stores in that mall is an Old Navy, which has rekindled my love for the store.  I love cheap children's clothes, but I also want them to be decent quality.  Your kids wear an outfit only a few times before they either wear it out, spill something on it that you aren't able to get out, or they outgrow it.  I love pieces of clothes for both of my kids that I can mix and match and make different outfits out of so I can get more use out of them.  Who am I kidding - it's really first and foremost so my husband can pick them out something to wear that remotely matches, and the bonus is that they get to wear the clothes more than a few times. 


Below is a list of staples for my daughter's wardrobe from Old Navy:

• $5 leggings - these are a must.  I am a fairly modest dresser and I pass that on to my daughter by force at this age.  I dislike short skirts and dresses for toddlers.  I don't think that there is any reason why my toddler should have dresses and skirts that are shorter than people would be allowed to wear in school.  I put leggings under anything that she wears that I feel is even remotely too short.  They have them in all colors and patterns.  She has probably 6 pairs of these right now and she loves them.  Mom dresses her in them when she is at home to be comfortable and she wears them under dresses when we go out.  They are full length - not sure if they have a capri length or not.  The picture above is Isabella modeling the leggings in black. 

• 'mix and match' items - shorts, capri knit pants, t-shirts, and tank tops.  These are typically on sale for $5 a piece.  They have patterns and colors that are designed to coordinate together so that you can mix and match - hence the name.  I absolutely love the capri pants on Isabella - they are the perfect length and seem like good quality material.  The shorts are longer length and the shirts are longer than average length which helps them to not ride up and show her midriff.  The above picture is Isabella wearing one of the t-shirts.

 

• dresses - we absolutely love their longer flowy summer dresses.  We bought some from a seller on eBay on time and over time have purchased more than five directly from the store.  They are long enough to not be considered skanky and they typically have some sort of semblance of a lining on the inside which stops them from being see through.  Often they have a super cute detail like a bow in the back of the neck or a super cute neckline.  They also have awesome patterns. 

Below is a list of staples for my son's wardrobe from Old Navy:

• 'mix and match' items - shorts, t-shirts and muscle shirts.  I love the muscle shirts for toddlers, especially for my son because he gets so hot when he plays that I think that they keep him cooler than other shirts.  Their t-shirts, especially for boys are really soft and comfortable. 

• solid onesies - you will figure out soon after the birth of your child that you will be hard pressed to find a solid color onesie that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Carters will sell them in like a four pack for $15 or something like that.  Old Navy will regularly have them on sale for much cheaper than that.  The one down side is that I find that their onesies are on the short side as far as length so my kids usually can't wear them until they are too tight because they are too short on the rise. 

• shirts with cute sayings on them - the majority of ours for Silas have been long sleeve but they have a number of them that are short sleeves.  My sister bought him this one but I love it.  The arms are the right length for the size which is important because sometimes they are too short - maybe Silas just has long arms?  Either way, they fit well, are the appropriate length and looks good for multiple wearings. 

All in all, I can usually spend more money than I should on clothes for the kids when I go in the doors.  Another bonus of Old Navy is that there is normally at least a wall full of clearance clothes and you can find some excellent deals on clothes.  I definitely recommend Old Navy for children's clothes. 

- Sara