52 in 52 #11 - Car Seat ICE Labels

Over and over again, I have seen this pin on Pinterest. 

The basic idea is that if you and whoever is capable of relaying information in an accident are knocked unconscious or (God forbid) killed while driving, that emergency personnel will be able to have information re: your children that will be important in assisting them.  Since they won't be able to tell you their pediatrician's name and phone number or if they have any medical issues, this will be a suitable substitute. 

Each example of these labels online are a tad bit different, but it really comes down to what you think is going to be important in an emergency.  Below are my choices for my cards for my children:

• Child's name
• Child's DOB
• Parents with dates of birth
• Insurance Information
• Medical condition(s)
• ICE contact - not the parents
• Pediatrician

I decided to include both of the parent's names and DOBs since I don't know who will be driving the car at the time.  It is important to remember that your ICE contact, in this case, should be someone who isn't either one of the child's parents in case both are in the car together.  Ideally this should be a related third party who would be capable of providing the remaining information on the parents and children.  We chose my mother for this role since she has this information, is their grandmother and likely would be close in proximity to where ever we are. 

This pin is definitely something that you don't want to think about but it would be essential in an emergency.  What items would be on your list? 

Meal Planning 8/20- 8/25

The week back from vacation is always tough.  You have just spent several days not worrying about working or bills or what is for dinner.  And now you are back... sigh.  I guess that now is as good of a time as ever to start posting meal plans, grocery lists, and recipes again for weekly meals since I have been slacking on those. 

As a reminder, I always make a list of the meals that I want to have during the week but I never assign a specific day to a specific meal because that will ultimately go awry somewhere during the week and then my whole attitude towards meal planning will be thrown off. 

I write down the meals that I would like to have/make for the week like this: 

Then I take a separate sheet of paper and make a list of all of the ingredients that I will need to make any of these meals to see if I have any of the ingredients that are needed ahead of time so I don't repurchase items that we already have in stock.  As I find that item in my pantry or freezer I cross it off the list like this: 

 

 

Then, lastly, from that list I take all of the remaining items and write them down with an idea of where I am going to buy that item next to it like this:

 

                                              

 

Normally I try to buy the bulk of our items at Aldi because they are significantly less expensive especially when it comes to produce and usually dairy items.  If I have to go to Walmart, that is usually a last ditch trip where I have to buy name-brand items or something that doesn't exist at Aldi. 

 

As you can see, this week our meal plan is as follows:

• Baked Tacos
• Stuffed Shells and garlic bread
• Salsa Chicken and Spanish Rice
• Grilled Chicken/Steak and Twice Baked Potatoes or Baked Potato Casserole
• Spaghetti

What's on your menu for this week?  

Corry's Birthday Weekend Celebration

We didn't initially plan this trip to celebrate Corry's birthday, but it lined up perfectly with his 40th birthday this year.  Our friends that we met through NTTE wanted to go camping and it was decided that we were going to visit Lake Murray State Park near Ardmore, OK. 



 We decided to leave Thursday night, which was Corry's birthday, and head up there after work.  Luckily, it didn't take us that long to get up there, get set up and relax with our friends.  We stayed in the Rock Tower area of the park and it was awesome!  The first night there were very few people there and we got awesome camping spots right on the water.  The area was very quiet and the spots were spacious and ideal for a larger camper, which you don't always find in a campground.   This was our first time to camp at this state park and we definitely will return.  They have several hundred campsites in the entire park and awesome amenities like an ATV area, fishing, swimming, play grounds, etc. 

 

 

As I have mentioned several times before my children absolutely love camping.  I will admit that I am stressed for days before a campout that at least one of my children isn't going to sleep well at night, isn't going to eat what we are serving, is going to fall out of a camper and injure themselves - wait... too late on that one.  Needless to say, my children would live in the wild if I would allow them to.  They love being outdoors and have no problems just wandering around playing with bugs and dirt.  By the end of the evening, they are both so worn out and dirty that they really should be hosed off before going to bed but they couldn't even stand up long enough for that. 

 

 

 

Because we now have Grace living with us, we had a different sleeping arrangement this time than we normally do so we could give her the most comfortable sleeping placement possible.  We moved Isabella to the table bed and let Grace have the fold down couch bed.  It works out fine, especially because Isabella could sleep on a log, I think, if she was tired enough.  Most nights she sleeps so well that she ends up with awesome bed-head like this.  We called this her 'I went to prom last night' hairdo.  Silas slept amazingly well in the 'baby-jail' situation that we have set up for him in the bunk house portion of our camper since it gets dark and mostly soundproofed in there.  Our friends have children that are older than Isabella and Silas, and they have so much fun with their children.  They love other kids and are starting to not freak out 'stranger danger' style around our friends.  

 

Of course because it was actually Corry's birthday, we definitely had to get a cake.  And, of course, because we were ordering a cake I contacted Heather from A Sweet Fix bakery to make it.  She went so above how I thought this cake was going to turn out.  Everyone was amazed and oohed and ahhed over how awesome it looked and how great it tasted.  It was rich and chocolatey and delicious.  Corry agreed that this was definitely the best tasting cake that we have ever had from her.  I know that I have talked about her and her business in several blogs before but definitely if you are in the DFW area and in search of an amazing cake, you have to check her out.  This cake was an amazing chocolate inside and chocolate buttercream on the outside.  I know that buttercream is not what she normally deals with but it is always excellent.  She made these awesome donut shaped cookies that my kids loved as well.  She really goes above and beyond what I could expect every time that we order a cake from her.     

 

 

 

All in all we had an excellent weekend with family and friends.  My parents came up to bring the cake and celebrate with us.  We also met some very nice new people while we were camping who had some very sweet children.  I definitely could not have asked for a better weekend for my husband's birthday. 

 

What would be your ideal birthday weekend celebration?    

   

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 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My husband's birthday

My husband's birthday is today.  We are celebrating his birthday this year by doing two of his favorite things: being off work and camping.  We don't normally do a lot for birthdays for each other, but I do have a few things planned for him this weekend.  I would like to celebrate his birthday this year by talking about three of the things that I love best about him. 

He is a hard worker. 
My husband works 6 days a week at a mostly thankless job to help ensure that our family is always taken care of.  When he comes home, he takes care of the 'man' jobs around the house like mowing, fixing things, or installing things whenever those are necessary.  He rarely complains about how much or when he has to work.  He has always had a strong work ethic and has never been one of those people who was happy with going to work sometimes and doing a half-ass job.  He is amazing and this is one part of him that I love to death. 





He is an amazing father.
Having four children is no easy task.  Having two teenagers and two toddlers under 3 is definitely difficult sometimes, and he handles it like an absolutely pro.  He is always there for his children.  We recently had a situation with our eldest daughter Grace and when she asked to come home he drove 6 hours that next morning to go and pick her up.  As a parent, I think that you always want the best that you can provide for your children, but he really does work hard to provide the most that he can for them.  He is always willing to get down and play with the children and even though he doesn't think that he is sometimes, he is an excellent teacher, especially with his kids.  One of the best things that I love about him related to his children is how much he compliments our daughters and really tries to build up their self confidence.  He calls our daughters "beautiful", "gorgeous", etc every chance that he gets and I really think that is important.  Whether or not you believe it, I am a firm believer that your relationship with your parents has a defining effect on your relationships when others in the future.  It really is important to him that his daughters are self confident.  I think that people say this a lot, but I really do feel like he is an amazing example of a great father. 

He is an excellent husband.
The same way that he is always complimenting the children, he is always complimenting me and that is awesome.  More importantly though, he puts up with me and all my issues with relationships and parenting.  Sure we fight and have our battles, but he is the most understanding and forgiving man that I have ever met.  He says the sweetest things to me when I don't feel good and he is quick to help me when I may not even know that I need help.  He will always and forever be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. 

There are a lot of things that I love about Corry but these are definitely some of the most important things to me about him.  Happy birthday, Corry!  I love you more and more everyday and I will love you forever and always. 

SMALL update: Isabella 22 months

Statistics:

                Weight: 34lbs

                Shoe Size: 6-7

                Clothes: 3t

Milestones:

                We have FINALLY started potty training.  For the longest time, she had absolutely no desire to even sit on the potty.  A few months ago I was reading an article about potty training your children and they said that sometimes they can be coaxed into potty training by you letting them choose a potty.  We were at the mall one day and found this potty that we have now and she seems to like it more than the one that we had before.  The first time that she sat on it, she sat there for an hour with her phone just hanging out.  She finally went and we were ecstatic!  Lately she has been more willing to sit on it for shorter periods of time, which is awesome.  We are still a long ways away but we are making good headway.  She has mastered putting on and taking off her shoes.  She doesn't always get them on the correct feet but we are working on it.  She knows her letters and some of her numbers.  She can sing her ABCs and most nursery rhymes.  She speaks very well and is very intelligent for her age.  She has been speaking in full sentences for months which is awesome and I appreciate now that we are able to communicate with each other instead of just me trying to guess what she wanted by what cry she was making.  She has an excellent memory and is very helpful with the two babies. 

Attitude:

                Isabella is very smart for her age, but I feel like she is very emotionally immature for her age and she always has been.  She has always gone through certain phases later than other children, which hasn't been a problem until recently.  She didn't go into the "terrible twos" when she was two years old.  Unfortunately Silas went into this stage early and they are not in the same phase together and it is proving to be too much sometimes.  She has a very strong willed personality sometimes and gets very emotional when agitated.  On the other hand, she is the sweetest little girl that you can find sometimes.  She is quick to apologize for hurting someone either physically or emotionally and she makes me cry on a regular basis because she apologizes after she gets punished for acting up and it just crushes me. 

Learning:

                She loves to assign time to certain things like how long before you have to go to bed, how much longer she wants to be in her chair eating, etc.  She is very helpful with teaching Silas things that she knows, even though sometimes that comes with a bossy attitude.  She loves to learn new things.  We are trying to teach her currently how to put words to her emotions and about telling time.  She is one of those learners that needs to hear something and then repeat it in order to learn it.  She absorbs a lot of information from educational programs and shows that she watches on 'her phone' and is able to easily regurgitate that information back to you.  She has an amazing memory with things that she has heard or said before, but we are also very lucky that she rarely repeats bad things that we say to each other or that she hears from programs from TV.   

Likes/Dislikes:

                Isabella likes:           

                       Playing with kids

                       Disney Jr shows like Doc McStuffins or Little Einsteins

                       Balloons

                Isabella dislikes:

                             Strangers

                             Heights
                       Bugs

SMALL Update: Silas 19 months

So, I wanted to start doing monthly updates for my children.  Mostly so I would have their milestones and stats documented somewhere since I am AWFUL about writing in a baby book.  Every month I will cover a SMALL (Statistics, Milestones, Attitude, Learning, Likes/Dislikes) update for each of my children.  Recent photos will also be included every month.  Let me know how your little ones compare! 

Statistics:

                Weight: 28lbs

                Shoe Size: 5

                Clothes: 18-24 months

Milestones:

                Silas has always been an ‘early’ baby with the exception of speaking and being born.  He sat up, stood, walked, and cut teeth early.  He is cutting at least one of his 2 year molars right now and has been for at least a month.  He has all of his other teeth.  He is currently completely weaned from a pacifier.  See other blogs here and here about that torture.  He is currently back into climbing, especially climbing into the car.  This is getting him into trouble during the day though climbing on top of the tables, his sister’s chairs, etc.  He is very adventurous and is definitely a boy, as evidenced by how rough he plays and acts, and his constant state of being filthy.  He is eating with silverware at almost every meal and can 100% feed himself with a spoon and a fork.  He builds with blocks, is capable of bringing items to you on command and can’t point to certain body parts when prompted.  He eats really well and is an excellent sleeper.  He goes to sleep at anywhere between 8pm and 9pm, and generally wakes up after 7:30am.  He also usually has 2-3 naps during the day and falls asleep without assistance.  He has just recently started drinking out of a sippy cup with a straw.  He mainly uses a water bottle style drinking cup or a normal sippy cup.  He is beginning to figure out how to take shoes and clothes on and off, he can brush his hair, and he gets his own snack out of the pantry.  Silas hates riding in the car.  He is miserable with any longer than a 15 minute car ride and doesn’t fall asleep in the car unless he is covered with a blanket and all the stars align.  He is now capable of letting you know when he needs a diaper change and he normally will approach you with a diaper and possibly some wipes.  He is now very interested in throwing trash away and putting plates in the sink.   

Attitude:

                As is his normal, Silas was early into the ‘terrible twos’ phase.  He is very headstrong and has an awful attitude when prompted.  He is very angry sometimes and has no problems displaying that angry to anyone.  He is very jealous of attention being paid to another person and will not hesitate to use violence to get what he wants.  On the other hand, he is very sweet when he wants to be.  He is quick to hug and make up.  When one of them hurts the other and does something that isn’t particularly friendly that they get in trouble for, of course they get a punishment of some sort depending upon the level of how awful they were being at the time.  When they are finished with their punishment, we make them go and hug the offended party.  Silas is normally down to hug.  Sometimes he follows that up with a slap to the face, but normally he is a sweet boy.  He is a big momma’s boy, especially when approached by strangers or scary situations.  He has a lot of fears, which is pretty common for this age, so we knew what to expect.  He is very afraid of his baby monitor in his room and has a strong fear of a lot of things right now, like strange animals, loud noises, hand dryers in bathrooms, etc.  Silas has very strong ‘stranger danger’ feelings, especially with men and even with men that he sees on a regular basis.  He is able to generally warm up to strangers that are women but he absolutely is not going to warm up to a lot of men that he doesn’t know or doesn’t see every day.

Learning:

                Silas is a ‘normal’ boy according to my pediatrician in that he is a relatively slow talker, meaning he doesn’t say many words.  He has the ability to say and can say about 20 words when prompted that aren’t names.  However, on a daily basis he uses about 5, not including this ‘nanu’ word that he uses for everything.  He is very intelligent though and so I have no doubts that he will be fine.  He knows almost all of his body parts that you teach at this age like arms, belly, belly button, head, eyes, etc.  He is now capable of operating an iPhone and can turn on his favorite PBS or Disney Jr. shows without assistance.  He gets very proud of himself when he learns a new skill and is very happy to show it off.  He loves to be read to and loves to interact with you while you read to him. 

Likes/Dislikes:

                Silas likes:           

                       Muslin blankets

                       Nutrigrain bars

                       Anything pink

                Silas dislikes:

             Car rides

                             Shoes and socks

                             Hats