Mamarazzi Monday/St. Patty's Day/CBGT Round 4

Well that's a mouth full for a blog title huh? I have a little more than just one favorite Mamarazzi photo this week but I wanted to combine it with our fun St. Patty's Day that we had, so you could all see how we do it in these neck of the woods :) So fav photo of the week is actually two, my two favorite Leprechauns!!

My handsome little Leprechaun drinking his green coloured Apple Cider!

And my Queen Leprechaun that is clearly excited about something!

We spent our St. Patty's day at the park in the beautiful weather we where having, had a green St. Patty's Day Lunch, and had dinner on the town to celebrate with the masses.  We had a great family day and are gearing up for the next holiday...Easter. Our first Easter lunch of the season can be seen here. So, like I said we enjoyed a green St. Patty's Day lunch that consisted of green egg salad! Does that look appetizing? It sure does to a 5 year old. I took our green egg salad and made a shamrock sandwich starting with a flower cookie cuter and cutting out the 'petals' to make the shamrock shape. I used a bit of the crust for the stem and voila! Accompanying our lunch were green grapes, green coloured milk (food colouring), creamy coleslaw and green jello. It was a lucky hit ;)

And last, but certainly not least, WE MADE IT TO ROUND 4 OF CREATIVE BLOGGERS GOT TALENT!!!!! WooooooHooooooo! This is very exciting and I want to thank each and everyone of you that voted for your favorites. Did you pick my post? I was the crib skirt turned into name plaques. We all have crib skirts left over after our kids grow out of their cribs, here is an idea of how to re-purpose them. I'll keep you posted for when voting begins for Round 4. Thank you again!! Hugs!!

May be Linked at the following FABULOUS Parties! 

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A Hoppin' Easter-Yummy Bunny Lunch

It's that time of year again when the Easter Bunny makes his rounds. We partake in the fun festivities as a family. Easter is a time for us to spend with our immediate and extended families, as is for all holidays.We usually focus on food when we get together with everyone. It is how we celebrate, and as long as we all eat in moderation, I don't find any problem with doing so. I do have an issue moderating any potato type dish ;) It's my weak spot.

We place carrots out for the Easter Bunny and the kids anxiously await his arrival, baring chocolates and small gifts.

Last year we even had a visit from one of the Easter Bunny's 'helpers' :)

  

As with all occasions, lunches are focused around the event or holiday surrounding, and Easter is no different. This Yummy Bunny Lunch was a sandwich, cut with a bunny and carrot cookie cutter. I added the carrot stem and bunny eye with Food Markers. Also, Yogurt and strawberries, Goldfish, Craisins and sunflower seeds, pretzels, a nectarine and Apple Juice. Typically I do not send juice with lunch because I want to amp up the calcium intake with milk. Our rule here is that, the milk must be drank at school if you want to have warm milk before bed. AND you have to consistently drink milk if you want to have juice for lunch from time to time. This goes for fruit as well. If the 'treat' (in this case pretzels) are consumed and the fruit is not, they have to earn back the treat (ie. Cookies, gummie snack, Easter egg) by eating their treat free lunch over the following week. We do not disallow foods in our house, we just focus on healthy eating and treats in moderation. It is our job as parents to teach our children healthy eating habits now, just as we teach them so many other important things. I remember when I was young, my mom never had Joe Louise's and Twinkies and all those treats in the house. I swore that when I got older I would live off them because we never had them. Truth is, they don't taste the same anymore like they did when someone would trade you lunches or you went to a friends house that had them. Nor do I have any desire to eat them. I take A LOT of my cues about parenthood from my parents, my mother and father raised three successful children, so when it comes to parenting, they must have done something right? 

So speaking of treats, I got the idea for these cute Cupcake Chicks from the Betty Crocker website found here. The kidlets got to put the 'feathers', 'eye' and 'beaks' on. We used coconut for the feathers, chocolate chips for the eyes and orange gumdrops for the beaks. I did find that I had to use quiet a lot of yellow food colouring to get the yellow I wanted, something like 10 drops. That sums up our Easter Yummy Bunny Lunch, Happy Easter to all who celebrate!!

May be Linked at the following FABULOUS Parties! 

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Creative Bloggers Got Talent Round Three

Yayyyyy!!!! Thanks to all of you we made it to Round 3 of Creative Bloggers Got Talent over at Every Creative Endeavor. Thank you so much to all who voted. My project from Round 2 was my sons bedroom makeover (seen below). Please vote for you favorites this week for Round 3 here.

Bedroom Before

Bedroom After

Bedroom After

Why Is My Baby Crying?

First I want to point out that in no way what-so-ever am I claiming to be a doctor by any means. I am simply a mom of two wonderful kidlets who has picked up some things along the way that I wanted to share with you.

My sister-in-law is about to give birth to our first niece or nephew any time now and I got to thinking about a check list I received when I had my first born. It was a list of sorts to go down and 'check off' some of the reasons our new bundle of love may be crying. Problem is, I have no idea where this little list is now, so I have concocted one for any new Mommy's or Daddy's-to-be, that may find this useful. These tips are not in any sort of order, just suggestions when you are in the moment.

Secondly I want to say that these are just a few, very common reasons, your new bundle may be crying. Again, these tips are not meant to be medical advice, nor are they the only reason why your baby may be crying. Of course, when in doubt, consult a medical professional. Ok, let's get on with it.

Why Is My Baby Crying??

Needs Bum Change
For the obvious reason, the diaper is soiled but also, the diaper may just be in an uncomfortable position or pinching the baby.

Needs to Burp
Even though you burp the baby after they feed, they can still develop a gas bubble just like you or me.

Needs Feeding
The baby may be hungry or may STILL be hungry. You can consult your family physicians or pediatrician as to how much is appropriate for the age if you are unsure.

Has Gas
Give the baby a belly massage. There may be a pocket of gas trapped in baby's belly and can be released with belly massage or by bringing their knees gently to their chest. You can Google videos for baby belly massages.





Needs Clothes Changed
Just as with the diaper, something may be making the baby uncomfortable, snagging or pinching the baby. Sometimes a change of clothes is all that is needed. Also, baby may be too hot or too cold, adjust clothing accordingly.

Needs a Snuggle
Simple right? Sometimes the baby just needs a little loving!

Needs to be Soothed
Rub the baby's back, sing to the baby, rock the baby and I am sure a good, soft 'Shhhhhhh' always helps calm them down.You can also try placing the baby on your chest to hear your heartbeat, after all, that's what baby heard for 9 months!

Needs Position Changed
We get uncomfortable sometimes and can just flip over. Baby needs your help with that, as everything. They just may need a change of position.

Needs to be Swaddled
Babies are used to being in compact bundles. Swaddle them up, they feel secure that way. Of course, do not cover their little faces :)

Needs to Play
Maybe baby just needs a little interaction. Babies need stimulation just like we do.

Needs to Sleep
The baby may be tired. If the baby has woken and you have tried all these ideas to no avail, see if the baby is ready to go back to sleep. Maybe baby just needed a good cry?

Is Over Stimulated
Just like babies can be under stimulated, they can be over stimulated as well. Say if you were in a large group, baby may just need some quiet time. Take them to another room with you or go for a walk if you can.


Hopefully this is of some help to new Mom's (or Dad's) out there. I know I really appreciated my list when I was a new Mom. Try to remember, they won't cry forever and when you have had enough and need a time out, switch with your partner, a friend or family member, for a few moments while you calm down. When you're ready, you can get back in there! Congratulations New Mommy!!

May be Linked at the following FABULOUS Parties! 

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Mamarazzi Monday-March 5

Sharing a piece of cake on a tiny corner of the food table, at our soon-to-be cousin's Baby Shower! It couldn't get in their mouths fast enough :)

Toy Organization-Part 3

Some of you may have been waiting for the third and final installment of Toy Organization, so here it is! Organization is not about having everything all matchy-matchy. That's the part that fools a lot of people when you see these grandiose photos of all the matching bins and the use of organization specific items. Don't get me wrong, if money grew on trees, I would be all over matching and spending oodles of money in an organization store, but that's not realistic. I have recycled many different things for organizing and I'm going to show you some of those in this post.

Lets start with my art supplies for the kidlets. Most people probably have a dining room specific hutch or buffet in their dining room. Why not put a dresser in there? It offers TONS of space for all your stuff and is perfect size for the kidlets to get at the stuff they need.

 In our dining room dresser we store all this...

Our Play Doh and utensils. Our opened cups are at the front and our extras are at the back of the drawer.

Our Play Doh utensils are kept in a plastic bin. This came as a gift basket full of baby supplies when we were pregnant, we recycled it for this purpose.

In the opposite drawer we have all our Play Doh equipment.

In another drawer, we keep all our markers, crayons pencil crayons and colouring books.

Our pencil crayons are kept in a recycled make up bag.

Our crayons are kept in a gift box that was from a present a few Christmas' ago.

And we keep our markers in a handy zipper lock bag, for easy transporting and to keep them contained in case one leaks!















Next is our paint and science experiment equipment drawer. We also keep some extra crayons in there too :)

Again, we have a zipper bag in case something leaks. All our paint utensils and stamps live here.
















The rest of the drawers in the dresser contain Mama's stuff like cookbooks, dish clothes and the age old Junk Drawer!

Since the last Toy Organization installment, we have updated the Lego Table. You can see the original post here. My son asked me if I could label the drawers so it would be easier for him to know where everything goes. Although the drawers are see through, they are not to a 5 year old and he was spending a lot of time opening drawer after drawer trying to find where his pieces went. So this was our solution.

First I took a picture of each of the pieces that go in each drawer. Then I placed all of them on an 8X10 canvas in Photo Shop, sent the JPEG to Walmart to print out and then cut them up and taped them on. My little guy gets his Lego tidied up much easier now!

And lastly, our dress up corner. Dress up is probably the most played activity in the house. My hubby & I joke that our kidlets are a character more than they are themselves. They love to pretend and dress up and experiment with different animal sounds and people. In order for that to occur, dress up must be accessible. This is another recycled area, we use 'hooks' to hang our dress up on, but they are actually repurposed shelf holders that I turned on their sides. You could just use plain hooks, misaligned on the wall as well.

Under the hooks we have a bin that is for hats, shoes, gloves, wigs and small costume pieces.











This is what it looks like all hung up!

That's all for Toy Organization. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here! As always, Happy Organizing!!

May be Linked at the following FABULOUS Parties! 

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