Easy Daysies Magnetic Schedules for Kids

These were on Dandelion Kids Twitter Thursday last week. They offered them for 20% off. I have seen them before on KidSteals for much cheaper, but of course, I did not get one then, and felt I really needed one, NOW.

Each morning, we lay out the magnets and Noah can plan his day. I often see him referring to his 'schedule' throughout the day to see what's up the pipe. It has been helpful for him with brushing his teeth, and learning how to make his own bed. He is also learning how to correspond the pictures of the actions with letters in corresponding words. For example, "Brush Teeth", with the toothbrush, he can recognize which letters and words relate to that picture.

Thought up by a mom and classroom teacher, these Easy Daysies schedules make it fun and easy for the little people in your life! The starter kit retails for only $22.95 at Dandelion Kids. It comes with the magnetic board, a dry erase pen and 18 magnets. There are also other kits you can buy, with additional magnets that are around $10.95 at Dandelion Kids also as well as online at www.easydaysies.com I will be purchasing the 'extra curricular magnets' for sure!

Check them out online!!

K

Quinoa Burgers

I bought a BIG bag of quinoa from Costco.....a little too big if you ask me, but after finding this recipe, it is sure to be gone in a jiffy! These quinoa burgers were delicious!! And super easy to make!

Quinoa Burgers

2 rounded cups of cooked quinoa

(cook 1 cup uncooked quinoa with 2 cups water & 1/2 tsp salt)

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 medium carrot, finely grated

3 eggs

3 tbsp flour

2 green onions, chopped, including the white parts

1/2 tsp sugar or Splenda

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

olive oil for frying

In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt to a boil over high heat. Add quinoa and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the seeds are tender. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrot, eggs, flour, green onions, sugar or Splenda, pepper, cumin, salt and garlic powder. Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons of olive oil over medium-low heat. Mixture will be slightly sticky, so using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop mixture into heated pan and flatten slightly to resemble a patty. Fry until golden brown, about 4 minutes on each side. Makes approximately 10-12 burgers.

I ate mine with a dollop of hummus and some sliced avocado (I didn't have any buns). But I am sure they would be even more delicious with some mayo, lettuce, tomato and avocado in a nice Portuguese bun! I scarfed down three today after dance bootcamp!

Try them out!!

K

Valentine Boxes and things....

I bought these Valentine Box kits at the Dollar Store for the kids to decorate. You can't go wrong for $1.00, when it includes the box, and a sheet of stickers! It kept them busy on a rainy morning, you can never go wrong with a little bit of silence.

These cute cups will not fit through the slot in the top, thank goodness I can open it right up and hide them inside! I will fill them with chocolates and goodies, maybe a new toothbrush! I have collected them all from Safeway; we have Halloween ones, Easter ones, Christmas ones....they are $2.99, usually hidden at the end the aisle, paired with cute dishes and bowls. These are the ones with water and sparkles that shake up like a snow globe, really cute!

And this was a rainy morning scavenger hunt! I needed to get out of the house before work today, so we set out with our shopping baskets! The kids had fun finding various items, especially the peach juice from Nonna's house!

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!

K

The Gro Clock

I am sick and tired of having little feet in my face, fingers in my hair, and a 4 year old barrier between my husband and I during the night...this son of mine goes to bed no problem, but when we wakes up at night, he comes stumbling into our room and climbs right into bed...we have talked about it, trying to explain that night time is mom and dads time to be together, his bedroom is for him to sleep, ect.....I thought of the idea of getting him a digital clock, letting him know to not come into our room unless his clock read at least the number 7....he knows his numbers so I thought this would be all good. I bought him what I thought was a cool Lightning McQueen one, with a light up display like the box said....well, it only lit up when you pushed down the car, that wasn't going to work!? That weekend a girlfriend told me about something called the Gro Clock. It has a digital clock, along with corresponding colors for night and day, stars and a sun....you set the time that you want the blue star to turn into the yellow sun to let them know when its time to get up! You can set it up for nap time and bedtime! It also works as a great night light! The one downfall is that it retails for $49.99.

The first few nights I was ready to bring it back, it wasn't doing anything. I would find myself angrily asking him as he stood at my bedside, "what color is your clock!!" if he responded with blue, he got no sympathy from me, it was "go back to your own bed, you are not coming in mine!" to which he would respond "I don't like my room", "well sleep on the floor!"......this took a few nights...but we have noticed lately that he is sleeping through the night in his own room, my husband even told me that he heard him get up to pee, and went back into his own room! He is super proud of himself when he can tell me that he woke up to a yellow clock! This morning he came into my room, which felt like it easily could have been 5 am, I asked him what color his clock was, he told me yellow, I looked at the time on my phone, it was 7:17 am, yahoo!!!! Since it wasn't NO TV Tuesday, I told him he could go on the couch and watch some cartoons, he requested that the blinds be open :-) I obliged and then went back to bed for another hour!

I would highly recommend this to other parents. Even if you aren't having sleeping issues, its a really cool clock! I like that is also has the digital clock, that you can or cannot have on display. A relatively easy set up, a brightness scale, and an alarm clock....check it out online. http://www.gro.co.uk/Gro-clock.html

I got mine at TJ Kids, it was $49.99, you can also buy at Jack and Lola, but I believe it is $59.99, if they will do a price adjustment for you, that would be awesome!

Give it a go!

K

Potty Treats

Is it that time already!? Potty time....I fondly remember this time with Noah, I can't believe this is the second time around!! I am looking forward to having no more diapers, getting there is always tricky though...call it coincidence, but Anabelle pooped twice on the potty yesterday! Who knows what's to come, but man did we make a big deal out of it! Noah was right in there with high fives, and wanting to call Alfredo to tell him about his little sisters victory! She was rewarded with a few Smarties, she seemed to really like that :-)

I had a jar lying around, from a failed attempt at a "mind jar"...thats a whole other blog post! So I filled it with Smarties we had from Halloween, slapped a label on it, and put it in the bathroom...she can keep her eye on the prize while attempting her business! This girl likes chocolate!

Not saying we are on our way to being potty trained, but we are on our way to learning, and becoming familiar with the potty. Learning a positive reward, and growing up!

K

An honest effort!

HA what was I thinking..seriously, my life is Facebook! I was gone for a whole 24 hours....I felt good to tell myself I was "pulling the plug" however I think a more realistic approach was to take a day of the week off, therefor I have decided on NO Facebook Friday. I get ahead of myself a lot of the time, and speak too soon...I think I will just have to work harder on finding more appropriate times to sign in, and try to be totally present in the moments with my kids.

It was an honest effort to think I could just quit cold turkey...I was forgetting about a lot of the friendships that were built on Facebook. I had an amazing conversation with a friend the night before I "deactivated" my account...I forgot how much of a power house Facebook is, especially for us mommas to connect with one another, share stories, triumphs, disappointments...

I have realized how much social media can suck you down the crap hole...but it is also very powerful in a positive way. It is my job as a mom to show my kids that it is not the only means of communication, I will have to work hard to show them the power of face to face connection, even though it is much easier to express feelings through email, text or Facebook...

I am so honored to have the friends I do, and like I said, our connections only being made stronger on Facebook. It doesn't mean we are awkward when we see each other in real, the conversations still flow like water....Facebook has given me to courage to set coffee dates up with friends I have not seen in years! Chat with friends from way back when! It has almost made those run in's at the grocery store easier, when you see someone you haven't seen in a very long time...

Sometimes, I am a huge contradiction...ok, a lot of the time I am a huge contradiction, I failed miserably on this one...but its ok...I can admit a mistake. Even that 24 hours put some things into perspective.

Plus, it really bothered me to know that I was the one that wasn't included in something that was happening!

K