Soooooo… I got dressed yesterday and I decided it would be a great idea to wear a sort of white on white number. Sounds pretty chic right? Hahahhaha oh man! What was I thinking? It took me a grand total of 43 mins until my pants had dirty hand prints, drops of orange juice, acai bowl stains and one muddy foot print to realize that it was the worst idea ever. Sometimes fashion trends may not be on trend with being a Mom. Anyway, before I looked like a total mess I did really enjoy the look. Now I just need to buy some bleach and get a baby sitter before I can ever wear this look again.
There are many things I want to teach the girls in life. One in particular that I am very passionate about is teaching the importance of healthy eating. I think it’s so important to care about where your food comes from and what ingredients are in the food choices we make. It’s never to early to get them involved, make it fun! Healthy eating isn’t about being boring and restrictive. Teach your kids to value quailty food and it’s beautiful colors and flavors. I love supporting local farms and companies that are passionate about the same things.
Annie’s is one of those companies. I don’t let many snack foods come into our house but as a busy Mom, Annie’s is a life saver! Before we left for Florida Annie’s sent the girls the most fun CSA box full of Bernie’s Farm healthy snacks, fresh vegetables, coloring sheets, and these super cute gardening kits. They were in heaven! All the fresh vegetables had notes attached to let the girls know what snacks they had naturally colored and flavored. So cool, right? The girls dove right in demanding we make the Mac and Cheese for lunch. I packed all the snacks up and brought them on the plane with us which was so helpful.
Living in the Northeast, it’s pretty hard in the winter to get local produce. That’s why when I knew we were headed down to Florida for the month, I couldn’t wait to check out all the local farmers markets. It’s one of my most favorite things to do in a new area. I love to bring the girls along and let them be a part of knowing where their food comes from. You would be surprised how much they enjoy learning about all that stuff. While searching around we found the neatest hydroponic farm with pick your own kale, swiss chard, herbs and lettuce. I had never seen anything like it before. The girls thought they were pretty special with their own personal garden shears. They were so gentle cutting all the kale leaves down. Over the past few weeks we’ve had a blast exploring a bunch of different farmer’s markets in the area. Of course we can’t get through any outing with out a stop for some snacks. Are your kids as obsessed with snacks as much as mine? Thank you to Annie’s for providing some wonderful, easy on your conscience, healthy options for kids!
This post was sponsored by Annie’s Bernie’s Farm. Annie’s Bernie’s Farm snacks are made with real fruit and vegetable extracts like beet, blueberry, and carrot as an alternative to synthetic food dyes. Their mission (which I couldn’t agree more with) is to connect kids to real food. Bernie’s Farm products feature playful barnyard shapes, including farm animals, tractors, and carrots that make snack time fun and meaningful. Kids love the delicious and fun, colorful shapes while parents can feel good about the wholesome natural and organic ingredients.
Have you ever found yourself at a busy restaurant with restless kids, slow service and your blood pressure rising? No? Just me? I feel like I find myself in this predicament quite often. Rowan is always pretty good (I love 4!) but Finley is still a loose canon. Why do the coloring sheets restaurants give kids not entertain them for longer? Anyway, at that moment I am always wishing I had some sort of magic to pull out of my purse to keep them occupied. Today I am teaming up with Canon USA today to bring you this very sort of magic… PUZZLE STICKS!!
My girls LOVE puzzles. Carrying a puzzle around with you in your purse isn’t really easy though. They’re usually too big and bulky. That’s why these puzzle sticks are so great. They 1. have a personal picture on them and 2. are super small and easy to through in a ziplock bag and keep in your purse. I promise your kids will love doing them!
Materials:
Popsicle sticks/ Tongue depressors
Mod Podge
Sponge brush
X-acto knife
Printed out pictures PIXMA MG7520 Printer
Masking Tape
Directions:
1. I found some pictures that I thought my girls would really like making puzzles with. I tried to find pictures that had good use of color and didn’t have too much tiny detail. I wanted to keep the puzzles at their level. Then I wirelessly printed the pictures quick and easy from my laptop to my PIXMA MG7520. Next you will trim all your pictures.
2. Line your popsicle sticks up, making sure the edges are all perfectly aligned. Run a piece (or 2) of masking tape across the popsicle sticks to keep them in place.
3. Flip over the sticks and lay down a thin layer of Mod Podge over the front of them. Align and lay down your picture on top of the popsicle sticks. With your sponge brush, lay another thin coat of glue on top of the picture as well
4. Let the picture dry. Once dry, flip it over and remove the tape from the back. With an x-acto knife, run the blade between each popsicle stick to slice the picture on the front.
5. Finished! Puzzle is ready! You can number the sticks to help make it easier if need be. You can also use tongue depressors to make it a bit easier for a younger child. We decorated one of our puzzles with a sharpie as well. Throw them in a ziplock bag and you are ready for those restless moments that sneak up when you are out with your kids.
Rowan: Always climbing to the top.
Finley: She loves to say “cheese” for the camera
Sisters: Somehow these turned into our band photos so I’m posting more than one.
WEEK 7:
Rowan: Umm, how is she this big?
Finley: Remember I said she likes to say “cheese”? I wasn’t joking.
Sisters: Sisters bonding in a tree.
We had a pretty lucky surprise last weekend. Kev decided last minute to fly out for a long weekend with us. Ahhh it was soooo good to be together again, even if it was for way too short. We miss him terribly already. Rowan and I made a count down calendar for when he comes back, or as Kev so cooly called it (I’m joking of course..) a “Dadvent calendar”. Bah! A week tomorrow though!!! We’ve been trying to spend as much time as we can outside since we’re down here in FL and not back in the northeast. It hasn’t been as warm as I had hoped but even 50 is warmer than -10. I should’ve packed a few more coats but the girls don’t seem to mind as long as they can spend their days on the playground. We’ve made it our mission to find all the cool playgrounds in the area.
Life has turned pretty normal down here. In a good way of course. We kinda just do our thing like we do back home. Get up, eat breakfast, school work, get dressed, think of something fun to do for the day, eat lunch, come home for Finley’s nap, watch a show, play, eat dinner, baths and bed. With kids around, you seem to fall into a routine pretty quickly no matter where you are. I’m hoping to take the girls to an art museum in the area tomorrow that has a pretty cool Frida Kahlo exhibit on display. I’m pretty pumped. I’m sure they could care less but… whatcha gonna to do?
Happy Friday everyone!
^^ the girls, their Meme and their Great Aunts
^^rocket launch
^^the spicy pickled carrots were everything!
^^being silly and eating tacos
^^DADDY’S HERE!!!
^^I don’t know what it is, but seeing the cruise ships leave port is always so awesome.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It starts the 46 days before Easter Sunday, representing the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. I had never participated in fasting from something for Lent until last year. I don’t think I really understood it until I looked into it more. Always thinking it was too ritualistic for me, I realized last year that with the right motives it can be a powerful way to spend focused time on Christ. You can read about my decisions and thoughts from last year HERE, HERE and HERE.
This year sort of snuck up on me though. I felt like last year it was really clear to me what I should “give up” for Lent. This year I’ve been struggling. I think if I am honest with myself, at this moment of life I feel sort of numb in my faith. I don’t doubt anything I believe, I just sort of feel distant to my relationship with God. It’s my own doing. He never leaves… I just become busy. I started praying about Lent last week and I feel like I’ve had some peace over the idea of fasting from a state of mind more so than something tangible. That’s where I’m at. I need a change in attitude. I read this on the She Reads Truth app the other day and I was like “yep, that’s me”. It read “As I approach this season of Lent, I’m in need of a big, bright Gospel post-it note. My mind and body are tired, my heart in numb and I just feel… forgetful. Disconnected. Distracted. Remind me what we’re doing here again, Lord? Remind me of who you are. Remind me of what You’ve done.”
Amen?
Man. That is me.
So for this Lent season, I decided I would work through the She Reads Truth devotion. And I don’t mean read with my eyes barely being able to stay open because it’s so late at night. I mean really work through it. Read. Reread. Journal. Pray. Repent. I also want to use this verse “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2” as my guide for areas of my life that I know make me feel that numb, distracted, distant feeling. I almost feel like a fast of my negative thoughts and attitude will be more challenging that giving up say, social media or something like that. But I am following after what God has laid on my heart. I want these 46 days to bring me closer to Him. To humble myself before him, to be open to what sins need to be confessed and what truths need to be heard. Easter is such a beautifully heartbreaking yet joyous time to celebrate. Praying I can quiet myself this year to understand the full glory of the cross.
hey friends!
in case you hadn’t noticed from the last post or from instagram, the girls and i jumped ship last week and headed to florida. we were quite done with the ridiculous amount of snow and being house bound day after day. lucky for us my parents have a place down here, so we packed up on a last minute decision and flew down. kev will come and join us in little bit for a family vacation. we can’t wait for him to get here. we’re all kind of missing him like crazy.
here are a few random pictures of our past week. it’s not quite swimming weather (although rowan is trying) or anything but there is no complaining from us. anything is better than negative numbers, that’s for sure!
^^that’s my shadow and that’s a dolphin that jumped up right in front of me! scared the crap out of me but it was awesome.
^^ waiting for the rocket launch on sunday night in cape canaveral. it got scrubbed because of technical difficulties.
and this photo below is from instagram. it’s just too sweet not to share. so thankful for the technology today and that we can FaceTime kev everyday multiple times a day. even when we are far away for a few moments its like we are all together. this was finley “hugging kev” goodnight the other night on FaceTime. too cute!
Oh man! I don’t even know where I left off. These last few weeks have kinda been the worst. More on that in a different post but we’ve been deathly sick. Blogging and picture taking have been far from my mind but trying to catch up a little here.
Rowan:
1. Little Miss sickie. Whew! We barely survived
2. This girl is madly in love with her camera. Taking pictures everywhere she goes.
3. The wind at the beach.
Finley:
1. She may have turned into a blondie but at least she’s keeping her beautiful brown eyes.
2. Bubbles
3. Sandy, snotty and snacks. Oooh the life of a 2 year old.
Sisters:
1. It has not been glamorous in our house the past few weeks. There has been way too much screen time, days in the same pjs, sleeping on the couch, tissues everywhere and just getting by.
2. My beautiful girls.
3. They share a love of matching jammies.
Our friends over at Boden asked us if we would share our Valentine’s Day traditions with them on their blog this week. Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I know it can be silly and over commercialized, but there’s just something about it that I love! It’s just so sweet and pink and lovey dovey. Head on over to the Boden blog to read our interview and also see why these were my picks for some Valentine’s Day style for the whole family.
How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Is it different now that you have kids?
So if you haven’t guessed (you know by my blog name and all) we love Kev over in these parts somethin’ fierce. We are 3 lucky ladies and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, we wanted to make an extra special card for him. What better way to show someone how much you love them then by making them a super sized card? I wanted to make it a pop-up card as well because why not right? Let’s add all the fun into one giant card.
Anyway, I teamed up with Canon USA again this month to create this cute super sized pop -up card. The girls were so excited about the idea. Pop-up books are their favorite right now. Our poor Peter Rabbit pop-up book has seen better days though. Rowan thought it was hilarious when I told her it was going to be a pop-up picture of her.
Let’s get started!
Materials:
Canon PIXMA iP8720
2 pieces of white poster board
string
white Glue
a bit of cardboard
paint
hot glue
sweet potato
paint brushes
Directions:
1. Take pictures of yourself or your kids for the card. It helps to take the pictures on a white background. You’ll want to pose your hands in a way that makes it look like you are holding something.
2. It’s awesome having a large format printer so you don’t always have to print at the standard 8.5″x11″. Using our PIXMA iP8720 we were able to print the pictures of the girls at 13″x17″. Hello super sized cards!!
3. Cut your figures out of the paper and glue a piece of cardboard to the backside. This will help the photos to stand up straight in the card.
4. Fold a large white sheet of poster board in half, this will be your ‘card”. Decide where you want your figure to stand in the card. With a pen mark on the folded edge of the paper. Cut two notches (about 1.5 inches in length and about 2 inches apart) along the folded edge of the paper. You will have to do this for each of your figures.
5. Open the card half way. Use your fingers to push the flap of paper into the card so that the flap lies between the two layers of the paper. When you open the card, a box-like shape or step will pop up at you.
6. Hot glue your figures to the front of these box shapes. To complete the card you will fold another piece of poster board in half and glue this to the outside of the card. This creates a finished backing for the card and adds some support and strength to the card.
7. Now you can decorate your card anyway you’d like. I decided to cut out some sweet potato stamps and let Rowan stamp patterns onto the card. We made a heart, an X and a dot. We also cut out some gold letters to create a banner that we strung between the girls that said “WE LOVE YOU”. I glued dowels to their hands and tied the string to the top.
8. The messier you get the better! Have fun and remember whoever you are going to give it to is going to love it no matter what!
xoxoxo
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
p.s. Just in case any of you were in the market for a new printer… There is a promo until Feb. 14th for $50 off the Canon PIXMA iP8720 and $5 off the Canon SELPHY CP910.
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