Had 2 Share Mommy Food Blogs

These mommy blogs are fabulous! They have the most creative ideas for lunches for the kiddos, had to share. Some are really worth trying & please let me know if you see these creative lil' trays anywhere.
http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/
http://www.justabunchofmomsense.com/
http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/

Who loves their papa?

Eating like a big girl, minus teeth

Who love bbq sauce?
Asher loves bbq sauce!

Products You'll Love-Imaginarium Blocks

The last week has been nothing but blocks, blocks, & MORE blocks at our household! Imaginarium makes these super cute bricks that are actually pretty durable for being cardboard. Talk about limitless possibilities for lil' imaginations!!! We have built everything from castles, to zoo's, to a bus, & the list just goes on & on. I already have 2 packs of these ultra light brick wonders & I am already thinking about getting 2 more in the soon future. You can pick some up at Toys R' Us for $30 a set. They are absolutely  wonderful & add in a few tools & they will love to pretend they are construction workers on some big serious job. Lol. Hey, even use a big ball to be the "wrecking ball" to knock down old buildings. Guarantee a boy or girl will love!
-M&M Momma

Morning hair???

Eat before play!

The castle

Trying to get in on the action
before getting dressed I see!

Forget Bob the Builder,
Aidann is on the job!

Aidy driving the bus

Daddy-zilla helping
knock down everything
they just built
lol!

Driving the bus

Yogurt Surprise + WWYD?

I am always looking for new & interesting snack & meal ideas for my lil toddlers & I guess today I just thought instead of putting fruit in their yogurt, why not hide gummies? Lil' did I know this would be a HUGE hit, so simple but the girls were thrilled to no end. They loved digging with their lil' spoons to try & find a gummy animal. Each time they found it they would shout out in their lil' ear piercing screams, "Look, Mommy!!!".

I was kind of thrilled with myself too for thinking of it lol. 1 thing did baffle me though. I usually read to them during snack time & I swear every time I would look up from the book it appeared as if Asher had more yogurt every time. I thought it was just me the 1st 2 times but soon realized that every time Aidann & I would get really into the story, Asher would start spooning Aidann's Yogurt Surprise into her bowl!?! Lol, so wrong & I let her know it, but inside it was so hard not to laugh & somewhat admire her genius.

Remember not all gummies are created equal, so find the most nutritional ones possible.

-M&M Momma

WWYD:
I can't even count how many times I have heard parents voice concerns of how hard it is to come up with 14 healthy snacks, lunches, & dinners for toddlers every 2 weeks. Once again at Gymboree this conversation was brought up again by another mommy. I gave her everything I have, but do any of you mommies out there have creative hidden treasure meals you have discovered & are still holding out on. LOL. Please do share & post below.

Enjoying Lunch

Yogurt Surprise!

EDU Mini-Lesson Plan: Pairs/Same

For this lesson start off by talking with your kiddo about what a pair is (2 things that are the same) & see how many different things you can identify that come in pairs like shoes, socks, gloves, shoes, eyes, arms, ears, etc. (this opener/attention getter was found at http://123child.com/UBB/showthread.php?6348-twos-and-pairs-preschool-lesson-plans)
A great game to make sure they understand pairs/same is to take a huge pile of mismatched socks & make it a game to see how many pairs your toddler can find versus you as fast as they possibly can (it is also a great way to get the laundry done at the same time).

Memory by Milton Bradley is also a super game to solidify this lesson.

An activity to start introducing the word "different" is to take like 6 brown lunch sacks & put 2 objects inside of each, in some put the same object like 2 apples & in some of the other bags put 2 different objects. Staple all the bags closed & then set them in a line. Call over your toddler & tell them that they can pick any bag to open up & then tell you if the objects inside are the same or different. kids will love this activity because #1 they get to be independent & choose & #2 Opening up the bag will feel a lot like opening presents & we know how much they love that!

An art project that has your kids use parts of their body that are pairs is the following butterfly art activity.

Butterfly Hand Art:Have the children make butterfly hand prints by painting their palms with non-toxic paint then placing their two thumbs together and holding their fingers together and make a print. The fingers and palm will represent the wings and the thumbs will be the body... then have the children make two thumb prints for the top of the antennae.

Have the children draw a person and point out all the things on the person that come in pairs.
You could have the children make a funny face collage by cutting out facial features from magazines and gluing them onto a piece of paper.  (http://123child.com/UBB/showthread.php?6348-twos-and-pairs-preschool-lesson-plans)

Celebrating Differences!

 Yesterday Jay & I decided to stop at the mall while we were over on that side of town. The girls really enjoy looking at the stores & I enjoy the air conditioned exercise while also enjoying great retail. Well, we finally made it to the Disney Store, aka "The Princess One", & decided to take a quick look inside. The girls always enjoy looking at all the pink & glittery goodness offered by the princess section, but today Asher finally noticed that Cars also inhabits this wonderful world. Suddenly she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Cars, Cars, look!!!". You could tell it took everything in her not to just tear herself out of my hands & dash over to look on her own, but she kept herself in control until we finally reached the Cars saturated section. She was overwhelmed & started dancing about, pointing at them, & singing. My husband & I both couldn't help looking at each other & smiling at the...interesting display of pure joy! I would have given anything to have my video camera at that exact moment. Lol.There were plush Cars, Duplo sets of Cars, Cars cups, Cars clothing, & so much more. She continued dancing about & pointing from thing to thing. It was such an innocent display, without any "I want's" or "give me's" that it so made me want to buy her absolutely everything! I know where we will be stocking up for birthday & Christmas time for Asher.
I think it is the coolest thing when kids start to really get a grip on what truly interests them. Asher has never even heard of Cars 2, but somewhere along the way just developed this huge interest in vehicles, trains, Cars merchandise, & building things. I probably would have steered her in the same direction as her sister who mostly prefers all things girly & pink, but where is the fun in that? It is so neat when your kids start really becoming their own separate people & their differences more & more evident. We have to celebrate it! Sometimes they move from 1 interest to another really fast & sometimes something has their total & complete dedication for years to come.
I remember babysitting this lil' boy back in my teen years who was absolutely in love with all things vacuum. Every day all he wanted to play with was toy vacuums! If you had to get some crumbs off the carpet, nothing would thrill him more than grabbing a cup of chocolate milk & getting to sit down & watch you vacuum it up lol.
I love how different my kids are, its such a wonderful thing! I don't want to make Aidann be Asher, Asher be Austin, or make Austin think she needs to be Aidann. Its not fair to do that to them! Aidann tends to be a lil' more cautious when thrown into new situations, while Asher is a lot more open to embracing it right away. And that is okay. Aidann is very good at expressing her feelings with words, while Asher sometimes requires a lil' more help navigating through how she feels & expressing it. Austin is extremely busy, loud, & outgoing & I would not have it any other way. Of course not all personality traits are acceptable (you might have to help your child work through not tending to be a morning person or being overly bossy), but in general we just need to make sure our children know we value & appreciate each and every one of them for who they are as individuals. We need to let them now how special we think it is the different things they take great interest in that either set them a part from their siblings or draw them closer together because its a shared interest.
Life is good.
-M&M Momma

A special treat & rarity-RING POPS!

Cars of course

"The Potatoes Washed My Hair for You"

Being a mom of multiple children often requires some skilled multitasking. Well, I managed to put together a yummy lil' dinner for my girls with shredded BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, & veggies & had the come sit down to enjoy while I went upstairs with Austin for a moment to bedtime stuff all ready. As I left I called behind me, "After dinner we get to take a bath & get ready for bedtime, okay?".
After being upstairs for a matter of minutes, calling down frequently to make sure all food is making its way down the correct pipes, I returned to check on the girls. They were really enjoying their food & tearing it up quite frankly. "Good job girls, almost time for us to wash up in the bath".hat I could probably sneak off 1 last time to attend to Austin's..."gift" she had just made for me. By the time I got back, let me tell you those 2 lil' girls were covered head to toe in potatoes, literally!  Now I am convinced the reason they are called mashed potatoes is because how many unlikely places they can get mashed into. Aidann had it in her nose & down the full length of her front despite a bib & Asher somehow managed to get it not only into her actual ear holes but all through out her hair!!!
It would be 1 thing if they were down there playing around with their food, but they were literally just enjoying the that meal to the fullest extent possible-down to the last green bean! I swear I feed them. Lol. Well, I strategically guided my potato covered munchkins up the stairs (trying to avoid all touching of walls, door knobs, & carpets) with Aussie under 1 arm as we finally made it to the bathtub.
I had to show Asher, my now white frosted curly top, how she looked in the mirror. The shock was even evident on her face, "Look, Mama. My potatoes washed my hair for you!". Lil' did she know the work of washing was just about to begin. While Aidann's clean up was not too bad, I literally had Asher in & out of that tub 3 times. Every time I thought I had conquered those potatoes, they would come out of some new location I had not discovered yet. But eventually, YES I did get them clean, teeth brushed, hair combed out, & to bed!!! Take that mashed potatoes!
Well, after that lil' adventure I think my hungry lil' self & "Baby Z" (new code name for the young 1 in the belly for now) deserve some of that scrumptious dinner as well!!!
-M&M Momma

GONE, all GONE!

Aussie all clean,
still loving blankets/towels

Our fake feast! = No mess

Should someone tell her the
chicken is not
really edible?

Even during pretend food
these ladies insist on
napkins! lol