Disney World, July 2011

Well, we just returned from another trip to Dinsey and had lots of fun. Here are a few pics ...

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Jamie LOVED the patriotic Mickey Mouse in the lobby of the Shades of Green Military resort.


Enjoying the view of the golf course from our room.


We had breakfast with the characters and Jamie fell in love with June from the Little Einstein's ... loks like she was feeling the love too.


We also saw Handy Manny, Leo from the Little Einsteins and Special Agent Oso.


We saw Muppets 3-D ...


Walking through the park with Daddy ...


Riding on the carosel horse ...


Riding in the spinning teacups ... Daddy made them go so fast Mommy's tummy felt funny!


Coloring in the room.


Greeting the puppy after Daddy picked him up from the vet!


Love,

Monkey Mix

So lately Monkey has been exploring with a variety of new food, which we are happy to help him do, however his recent streak of independence while do so has left us doing a lot of cleaning! So with a little creative thinking ... and a little taste-testing from the lil guy we came up with ...

Monkey Mix

(designed for toddlers who are starting to chew on crunchy foods ... feel free alter according to child's abilities!)

~2 c. wheat Chex Mix (can also mix and match or subsitute other varieties such as corn, multi-bran, rice, cinnamon, or homey-nut)
~ 2 c. multi-grain Cheerios (can substitute others varieties as well)
~ 1/2 c. chocolate goldfish
~ 1 container Gerber Graduates puffs (we use banana, but there is also apple-cinnamon, cherry, and sweet potato)
~ 1 c. mini rice cakes (Monkey likes a variety so we usually add whatever leftover pieces we have from the bottom of the bags.)

Mix all together and scoop into quart-sized zipper bags and store in cool, dark pantry.

*** The goal was to create a healthy snack so while substituting some items for sweeter varieties is ok, too many may leave kids bouncing like Tigger!! ***


Well, until our next cup of tea (and Monkey Mix) ...

The Journey of a Thousand Miles Starts with the Flip of a Page

Have you ever read a book that made you reflect on yourself and evaluate where you've been or where you're gone? ... Maybe it was a book, a sermon, or something someone said.

I just finished book no. 21 of 2011, Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. It was a fictional story of a school shooting ... The events leading up to it and the aftermath that followed. It was from the perspective of a variety of people, including the mother of the shooter as she struggled to understand where she wet wrong as a parent & what she could have done differently.

Now, I'm not saying that I am worried of raising a serial killer is something, but it does make you think about the memories you make, the things you do together and the effects that a choice or decision can have.

Books have a way of doing that to you like no other medium ... TV, movies, magazines, newspapers ... Maybe its just me but the effects of reading a enveloping book is lasting. Don't get me wrong, I felt like I was at Hogwarts when I watched HArry Potter, but it didn't leave me feeling that way days later. Maybe because reading is an intense activitiy. I mean, I am the queen at multi-tasking. I can fold laundry, do dishes, even stitch a craft project while watching a movie, but reading takes the entire "you".

We've started reading to Jamie as I'd previously posted ... and whether reading to him or reading ourselves must be something that we do enough to leave an impression because I often catch him flipping through books or "reading" out loud (his favorite to "read" out loud is the Mickey Mouse photo book which doesn't have any words!)



A love of reading is one of the most important things for me to give Jamie. I know you can't force it, but I hope he comes to appreciate reading. Last week we put a halt on the nightly reading- he's just not there yet. We read throughout the day and occassionally at night, but for now he's content to sit with Daddy and watch an episode of Mickey Mouse or Handy Manny before bed. I think he just wanted to read himself rather than listen so it just created more frustration than it was worth.

In the end, I just hope one day he see the value of books as a chance to take adventures he might not otherwise get to have.

Until our next cup of tea ...

Adventures in Reading

Jamie "reading" his Elmo book to Mickey Mouse

When I was a child I loved reading. Books took me on adventures to far away places, times long ago, and showed me things that were limited only by my imagination. In these stories I became the charaters ... a princess, a nurse, a detective, an adventurer. When Jamie was born I knew I wanted to instill the same for reading in him that I had nurtured as a child.

Recently, in my book club, we read a book called the Reading Promise. It's author tells the story of her father making a deal with her to read together for 100 days ... those 100 days stretched to 1,000 and beyond ... lasting, unbroken, until the day she left for college. Other members of the book club, mostly other moms in our play group, discussed how we enjoyed reading to our kids and the traditions we'd hoped to create with them. Many of us decided to set a goal of reading nightly to our kids ... whether or not we were able to do it continuously, unbroken was not the concern, we only wanted to start to create memories that they could pass on to their own kids some day.

On June 20, 2011, Jamie and I started our journey with the Adventures of Frog and Toad, the 3 book collection of the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. So far, we have successfully read each night, though some were much harder than others, and have completed to set. Yesterday, we started Grimm's Fairy Tales ... let the adventures begin!

Keeping Busy During Deployments

Now I've said it many times ... and those who have followed my blog for a time has seen the results of me keeping busy during deployments. Yes, I completed my masters, worked as a civilain journalist for the Army and was selected as one of 17 (paid) Battalion level Family representatives ... but I'm talking about "me" time.

Its different for everyone, but for me, it's a variety of crafts that keep me sane ... and blogging. Since the baby arrived I must say I have been more stressed because I have noticably less time for both ... things come up, plans change, life happens. During this pass deployment I had planned to make a small quilt ... not quite a "lap quilt", but something like it. I had some beautiful fabric I had gotten at JoAnn's a few years ago that I was going to decorate the formal dining room with, but when my father-in-law passed and we got my husband's grandmother's antique cherry wood sining table and hutch, those plans changed a little. Other than adding some wine-colored curtains, the room was complete, throw rug and all.

But I fell in love with the burgandy paisley fabric and a complementing striped one, so just before he left I decided to make a simple 9-inch square quilt ... and maybe pillow case with any extra. After doing the math, I realized I could make a nearly 5-foot square quilt ... with blocks on both sides ... if I was efficient. Well, I'm a military wife, I sleep efficiently!

So I went to JoAnn's (conviently located across the street from my gym- talk about incentive!). There I found 2 complementing fabrics, a brown and a green, that didn't compete with the busy paisley and striped ones.

I came home and cut down the fabric one night after the baby went to bed. The deployment (thankfully) was only a few weeks this time and there was a lot of unplanned things, like the baby getting sick, family coming to visit, mutant mosquitoes attacking the baby causing his face to swell ... well you get the idea. So I didn't get to start sewing on it until the week hubby returned. Luckily, the large blocks and easy "patterns" allowed me to finish it over 3 days- a total of 9 hours. Each side has the same blocks, but in a different pattern.

"Front"

"Back"

When I completed the front and back measured 54-inches ... and you know me, I need even numbers, so I decided to add 6-inches of border. True to my luck they only had the brown fabric left, the green was gone, so I decided to get a tan that I had originally looked at but felt that a brown and tan might make the quilt a little too "dark". My luck didn't return when I get to the register and realized I was one coupon short of the items I had. Not too bad since the price was good already, but I realized when I was working out before going to the store that so far all of the fabric had either been on sale, on clearance or with a coupon. Darn! So close!

Well, I still have to add the border and find someone to quilt it for a price that won't leave me short on diapers or milk, but I'm kind of excited! I'll post photos when I get it completed ... hopefully soon.

(BTW, I'm well aware of the irony of making a quilt in the middle of summer ... in South Florida!)

Well, off to work on another quilt!

Ride with the Wind!

Yesterday we had the unit's 4th of July BBQ. One of the parents brought along their kids' motorized car and Jamie had some fun playing in it. The first time he rode, his friend 3-year-old Jonathan rode with him. Jonathan attempted to show Jamie how to drive, but ended up trading places and showing him how to do it! Jamie was cntent to ride shotgun!







(George said the pictures, done on my new iPhone, make it look like a 70's cop show!)