day 4

walked/ran around the Arborteum for awhile with kids. (then onto Halloween events- but spared myself the candy!)

Day 3

Well folks, day 1-2 proved to be a rough start. Instead of working out on my lunch break on Wednesday, i ate a carmel sucker & popped my filling out- Lesson Learned- work out instead of pigging out!
Didn't work out on Thursday at all
However, Today- Friday-Day 3- i kicked butt!
Full workout in fitness center- 10 mins of hard work on the eliptical (aka- the killer leg machine) several reps of various exercise on the machines. my proud moment was the 20 sit ups on each side (focusing on 1/2 oblique stretch at the top) YAY!
I just need to keep the motivation!

Day 1

Feeling very motivated to bring back my exercise focus. I think the last 2 weeks of restricted activity has renewed my desire...even though i feel i am almost allergic exercise.
Day 1-part 1
walked the dogs for 20 mins, not what i would call a consistently brisk walk (since the Boys stop to urinate on everything)
Part 2- Plan is to get in the fitness center during my lunch break & work on core muscles

Some of my favorite Dog Pictures. This is the JJ Dog. Pure Keeshond

My lovely Kia-Keeshond with a brain of a sheltie, otherwise known as my personal stalker

At home sensory table

In our school the children LOVE to play in the sensory table. We decided to make one for home. Emptying out an old clothes bin, we have a long skinny "table". Our first activity was colored rice. The kids had so much fun mixing & stirring water colors into bowls of white rice. The water color dries within minutes. The next day we emptied the rice into the table. (of course we had to take pictures of the beautiful colors.

Rice- so much that can be done with this edible element. I picked up a bag of rice from one of those Mega Savings/Mega Size stores. This 50 pound bag (yep 50 pounds of rice) was only $15.00. What am i going to do with that much rice....eventually we will be making Eye Spy bottles. (that's post for another day)

shaving cream sensory delight

Shaving cream is one of my favorite activities! The creative possibilities are endless.
So what do you do with the cheapest shaving cream you can find in the store? (has to be foam)
Place aluminum foil on a cookie sheet & let the fun begin. Children have so much fun touching such an odd medium. Incorporate early leaning by encouraging child to make shapes (older toddler) Young preschoolers can trace letters into the shaving cream, beginning letter recognition. Older preschoolers can write name, numbers & pictures. Expand to play Pictonary, Hang Man or "turtle talk-phonetically sound out" words.
Skills worked on: Fine Motor, creativity, sensory experience (touching shaving cream & aluminum foil)


For today's play we focused on color mixing, with food color. For the Boy (who just turned 2) he picked 2 colors & watch in excitement as he created a new color. The Girl (who is 4) had to predict what colors were going to be made by mixing the colors together.

Enchance by using different kitchen utensils (toothpicks, q-tips, forks etc) We used plastic cars (cleaned in the dish washer) & meat sauce brushes.

This is what happened when i focused on coloring mixing a rainbow with the Girl. The Boy decided to bathe himself in the shaving cream.

puppy chow

This is my first entry into a Blog Carnival...so here we go...
We made puppy chow the other day for our friends at the park district, celebrating their last week of camp. Some people associate this yummy treat with the holidays, i will always think of Summer Camp! (& how the counselor's would leave a baggy full of 'chow on my desk! So here are the ingredients:
Chex Cereal 6-9 cups
1/4 cup Butter
1 cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Peanut Butter (we used pb chips)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

Pour 1 cup of chocolate chips into a bowl, combine with 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Melt in microwave with 1/4 cup butter at 30 second intervals, until mixture is smooth. Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
The best part of this cooking project is little ones can assist with pouring & measuring. Any time you invite children into the kitchen, there are lessons to be learned involving math (measurements, recipes etc) and science (changing states-solid chips to liquefy etc)
Chips mixed together. Now the peanut butter chips were easier to stir but created a weird texture. I would use the pb chips again if i was in a hurry.

This is what happened when i let the Boy pour the cereal by himself!

Now i didn't get pictures of the next step. I was dealing with the odd texture of the PB Chips. The last step is put the cereal in a large bag. (only a couple cups at a time) pour a small amount of the goey mixture into the bag, top off with powdered sugar. Give the bag several minutes of shaking & mixing. The kids love this part of the project. Continue to add cereal, mixture & powdered sugar. I usually leave it all in the bag, but if you would like you can spread it out on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet.
Twist-i tried it with Cinnamon Chex.

The Castle

My dear friends Amy & Mike built this amazing castle in their backyard. These are 2 of most amazing & loving people i know.

Amy has an awesome garden!

still to come- Castle- Gourmet S'mores & friends pictures!

One of our favorite summer activities. Sidewalk Chalk.

Family Dinner Menu week of 7/27/09

This week on the menu:

Monday- Sesame Peanut Salad http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/sesame-peanut-noodle-salad-recipe/index.html

Tuesday-Chicken Divan (mom's recipe-see below)

(prepare Wednesday's meal on tuesday nite since i work till close on Wed)
Wednesday-Italian Baked Chicken & Pastina http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-baked-chicken-and-pastina-recipe/index.html


Thursday- Frozen Ravioli, sauce, Garlic bread & veggie

Friday-Sunday- Visit with Dad: eating out & pizza


Oven Temperature on Chicken Divan, may need to be higher for your oven

we went to the beach yesterday, it was chilly...both kids enjoyed the sand. The boy really loved the water. He would have drifted away, if we had let him.

Nature Center

The kids & i went to a nature center recently. it was such a wonderful end of June day. it was cloudy & a little overcast...just enough of a chill to keep big crowds away. Cupcake walked up to the nature pond display...& was delighted & surprised to see a tiny turtle poke his heard out of the water. We then continue our almost mile walk to the farm house. It was one of those Moments, a day dream perfect moment. the kids were running around chasing each other on this path, giving me time to take pictures, walk at my own pace & even yes, stop & smell the roses...although not literally roses, as this was native prairie land. At the farm, we looked at the chickens, visited an 1800 century kitchen, making modern day cinnamon cookies for a group of day campers.

(having some issues uploading SB directly tonight)