Thursday Things - Reversed

I thought that for today - it would be really fun to do this backwards... I've been telling you things that I love for the last few weeks... and really - what I want to know are some of the things YOU can't live without. What are the top two or three things you're using right now.

It could be things for the kitchen, beauty products, books, kid items, housewares, general shopping... whatever you want to tell me about. I really want to know if there are some items out there that I need to snatch up quickly!

Is there something at the grocery store that is rockin your world? A book you can't put down? Something that is making you look and feel younger? Something your child can't live without? A candle or product for your house that you're loving right now? Accessories that we need to know about? (ahem... I can help out with your accessory needs) Is there something completely unrelated that you want to share with us?

Now is your chance! Tell us all about it!

While you're thinking about it, let me tell you about one thing...

It doesn't really help me just yet, but there is a website offering free education materials for download and print... so maybe your child or a child you know is struggling in a certain subject - you can print some supplemental materials to help them. Maybe you're a teacher needing some new fresh ideas. Maybe you're a homeschooling Mom who needs some new resources to help with a lesson. Whatever your needs - check out superteacherworksheets.com Please pass this on to anyone that might be able to benefit from this site. 

Also, ya'll... I am dying to try this - but can't bring myself to buy a whole half-gallon because girlfriend over here doesn't need that much of it! 

 

 Kentucky Pie Ice Cream

brown sugar ice cream with caramel sauce, chocolate chunks, toasted walnuts and pie crust pieces

Thursday Things - Baby Feeding & Bonus

We are currently in the process of learning to feed ourselves (James) with utensils... he's been doing the finger food thing for a while - and after our trip to the pediatrician, it's time.

Speaking of that, did I give you their new stats? Let me do that first.

This guy weighed in at 24 pounds, and is 30 inches in length (when do they start calling it height?) - he's in the 10th percentile for height and 40th for weight. Poor kid is a shorty - which we don't notice so much until we put him in his 18 month pajamas... and I have to roll them up twice at the waist so he doesn't trip.

This guy weighed in at 21 pounds, and is 29 inches in length - he is in the 70th percentile for both height and weight. He has taken another battle up with the fireplace this week and scratched up his chin... earlier this month it was his nose... he is fearless. It's scary sometimes. He just gets right back up and goes. I swear he'd leap out of your arms if you'd let him.

Alright - so back to the feeding... Here are the products we use:

We use these Gerber toddler utensils for James right now, but I need to stock up on some more - or even try some new options. He is cracking me up with them though - he just sort of tosses it at me (mainly the fork) so that I can stab the food for him. If he has the spoon he just looks at me like "feed me woman" - it's a learning process. The spoons for toddlers kind of stink because there is no "well" to them - so the food just slides right off.

The other night - I gave him some yogurt to try, and the first spoonful plopped right on his belly... at which he just looked at me like "really?"... poor guy.

I've been using these Munchkin bowls for both boys cereal since they started eating it... they work well and are sturdy. Now, I wouldn't hand them one of them because it would go flying... but it works well for me to feed them from right now.

These Munchkin spoons are GREAT for baby food. I also have been known to use them with ice cream on occasion when the boys need a treat. I love that they're sturdy but flexible... and they come in a pack with lots of them!

We've become a sippy cup with a straw fanatic... so of  course I go to my favorite Munchkin line of products for these. We also use some Sesame Street ones... and John bought James a Sponge Bob one - but James doesn't like that one... hilarious because I'm not a fan of Sponge Bob. I actually picked up some of these today at Kroger for like $2 a piece! I just wish they had the green with the yellow... they only had blue and a purple with orange... 

I got a set of these bowls the other day at Walmart - they are Munchkin of course... but they have suction cups on the bottom - so that when James is trying to use his spoon or fork - it doesn't move on him. Now they do come loose, but I'm right there feeding Tyler - so I just push it back down. I plan to get another set or two because we go through all of them everyday - so a spare set would be nice, and Tyler won't be far behind.

I got these this week from my friend Kristen. They are a custom design from Little Laws Prints... but I love them! You could totally do this for your husband, children, or anyone else that you want to give a daily reminder of why you love them. You just frame it, and write your message right on the glass! LOVE IT! Kristen does such a great job... I just told her the colors of my kitchen, and that I was thinking of using their monogram... and she came up with these.

A closer look at Tyler's print... 

And here is James' print...

Lastly, I made the BEST new meal this week... you should check out my new "go to" crock pot recipe... Chicken Thighs with Olives, Tomatoes, and Orzo.

Thursday Things - Toy & Organization

Today, lets talk about James' newest favorite toy... I mean the kid brings it to me constantly to play with him and he's only known about it for 2 days!

I bought this toy from a Tupperware consultant before we moved, and tucked it away because I didn't think the boys were ready to play with it. Well, it came out this weekend... and James LOVES it. He brings it to me about 5,000 times a day to open and help him put the stuff back in. He can get the circle in by himself... but he'd rather take the pieces and run away with them most of the time.

And we can also talk about MY new toy... my Erin Condren Life Planner - it's amazing. AH.MA.ZING! It's got these fabulous tabs for each month - it goes through December of 2012. It's huge, but so well designed.

In the front it has a section where you can list special dates... 

Then is has pages like this for each week - and breaks the days into morning, day and night. LOVE that! 

There are some really fun stickers you can use to mark birthdays, pedicures, spa days... and all sorts of things in between. There are also some sheets of blank stickers for your own use.

In the back there is a fabulous clear pocket envelope that you can use to keep special things handy... and a pocket folder that can be used to keep stationary, stamps and coupons right at your disposal too.

One thing is for sure these days, it takes a lot of planning and organization to keep us where we belong... so I'm grateful for this planner!

Thursday Things - Online

It wouldn't be me if I wasn't late... or giving props to some of the online resources that I love so much right now. There are some things online that I love, and they aren't places where I can go buy stuff... they just are resources for various things.

1) Lets just say that without Facebook and Twitter... (and email) with my girls on a daily basis... I don't think I'd survive this at home gig I've got going here. These ladies help me laugh - and I love them each equally for being themselves and being real. (Jenn, Kristen, Jennifer, Nicki, Amanda, Lucy Marie, and countless more that I can't link to...)


2) Have ya'll freaking seen this site?! A Year of Slow Cooking... a friend just sent me the link because I wanted to see about making my own applesauce... and this is genius!

3) I've known it for a while, but it's time for me to get back on the weight loss wagon and try to get this old body in some sort of shape again - if not just for me... but for the boys and our future children. They deserve the best momma I can be... and that means getting in better shape. Sooo - I'm joining Weight Watchers online. After the initial sign up fee - it's only $17 a month... and that's an investment in my health that I'm willing to make.

I've got a friend or two that will be working through this with me... once I finally get started. I've got to get it done tonight or tomorrow because I'm grocery shopping for the next two weeks tomorrow night - anywho... if anyone else would like to be in a little support group with us - please drop me an email and let me know. I'm going to run it through a private Facebook group - so I'll need to send you an invite.

4) I'm working on becoming a coupon queen too - nothing crazy like getting my whole grocery cart for free (if it happened though, I'd be thrilled!) but just trying to do the best I can to be a good steward of our money now that I'm at home. I'm taking over our budget and things as we speak - to free up some of John's time and so that I can keep better tabs on some of those moving targets in the budget like groceries. So far, I've gotten a subscription to our local paper... an additional set of coupons come every week in our mail on Wednesdays with the store papers, and Kroger has an online version where you can load coupons on your Kroger card once a week and use them until they expire. (This means that if you find a killer coupon for something that you buy every week - you get to use it more than once!) I don't know how many other stores around the country do programs like this - but I'm stoked about it!

What online resources do you use to help you keep your life running smoothly? Always on the lookout for new things that will make our little family better!

Things Thursday - Slow Cooker

Today's favorite thing is a 3-in-1 slow cooker. This is what I have and use often... it has a 2 quart, 4 quart, and 6 quart bowl so you can adjust depending on what you're cooking. We originally got it a few years ago when I was getting ready to have weight loss surgery - we knew that our cooking volume would slow down a bit because I couldn't eat much... so we needed an option that would allow us to adjust depending on if we were cooking for ourselves or for company.

Now with the kids, I could see us using it the same depending on if I'm making a dessert, side dish, or main dish. I really like using this cooking method because the meat tends to end up more tender with the low and slow cooking method - which is easier on James as he's learning to eat table food. Tyler is getting there quickly too - so I love to do my spaghetti sauces and things in here just to get all of our meat nice and soft for them to chew.

Throwing dinner in the crock pot while the boys are watching their morning Baby Einstein after breakfast makes the day so easy... it's one big chore taken care of and out of the way... which means I can do something else during nap time - like blog! If you want to help me out... I'd love to hear about your favorite slow cooker recipes! I'm not a fan of BBQ - so keep those to a minimum, but if your recipe is "to die for" go ahead and leave it for the benefit of everyone else reading. 

I love sharing recipes... so let me know what the favorites are in your family!

Thursday Things #1

If you haven't already... be sure to enter the King Doughnut Giveaway!! 

I'm trying to come up with a graphic for this series... but it hasn't come to me yet. So until I figure it out - bare with me on the lack of graphic. 

My concept here is that I'd like to start letting ya'll in on a few of the things that I am using all the time in my house... both for the kids and not. There certainly are a lot of new products that I'm using for the boys - but we adults have things that are near and dear to us too that don't involve child rearing. 

That being said, my first item that I'd like to talk about is a book called Toddler Menus. This book is fabulous, and has an interesting style. It is a flip system so you can mix and match the meals for yourself with the goal of getting in the 5 fruit/veggie servings that are recommended for each day.

There are some cool recipes in there too - like Cheddar Bacon Muffins... and even things for my gluten free friends, I believe. Or I believe there are some easy modifications that could be made to fit it into your food plan. There are vegetarian selections too. There are 50 meal choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner... so there is enough in here to keep the variety up for your kiddos.

I've got three other toddler cookbooks - so I'll tell you about those another time too once I've had a chance to look at them more closely.

Since this is our first time out of the box - I'll give you a second thing...

The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes - ya'll, I love books like this... because I tell you - I am a HUGE fan of my slow cooker. I've managed to put just about anything in it to make meal times work with nap times. For me the key is being able to put whatever we're eating together during a nap time so that it will be ready when I need it. I've done spaghetti sauce... which only gets you halfway there for dinner... but the meat is sooo tender - it's perfect for the littles who are learning to chew. I've also modified Jaime Deen's Chili recipe to make it in the crock pot as well.

There are several recipes I want to try from this book when it gets a little cooler. I think with our new geography and a longer colder winter than we've ever experienced before - soups and stews are going to be the order of the season once it starts getting into the fall and winter. I'm actually pretty darn excited about that too.

Do you guys have any "go to" cookbooks you want to share with me? I'd love to hear about them... I'm a total cookbook junkie.

Post Holiday Scramble

It's naptime in the house of Hawk and I wanted to take a minute to give you a quick update on things...

• Don't forget to enter the Lets Make Lemonade Giveaway today - deadline is midnight!(extra entries for anyone that blogs or tweets about this giveaway)
• The next giveaway will be posted either tomorrow or Thursday (depends on my ability to get errands run in a timely manner tomorrow during my one day to get all that done)
• Our 4th was productive... tvs were hung, rugs were purchased for the house, furniture purchased and chosen, more painting done in the nursery, ceiling fans were hung, homemade ice cream was made, laundry was done, some cleaning was done, a lot of baby play time was had, and even some time in their baby pool was allowed yesterday. 
• The only thing left to do on the nursery is to hang their wall paper border - then we can start putting it back together and moving everyone back to their proper bedroom locations. (The boys are taking up the two guest rooms.) 
• I'm still a little terrified of putting the boys in the same room to sleep - any suggestions for me?
• I've made friends with some really awesome new products in the last few weeks - and feel like I need to share: 
• SC Johnson #70091 SB Toilet Cleaning Gel - This stuff is soooo cool - it not only helps keep the toilets clean, but it leaves a fantastic scent in the bathroom! I don't know why I didn't snag this stuff a long time ago! 
• Church & Dwight 19Oz Kaboom Foamtastic 35270 Tub & Tile Cleaners - I was skeptical, but it does exactly what they claim it will... it goes on blue and turns white when clean... just wipe it away and you're all set! It really worked well on the glass doors to my shower. 
• Procter & Gamble 23679 "Swiffer WET Jet" Multi-surface Solution - 1.25 Liter - I'm going through this by the TON these days... my hardwood floors look like little grubby men have tried to break out of jail each day... (which may or may not be true... HA!)
• Munchkin Mighty Grip Trainer Cup, Colors May Vary, 8 Ounce - James is really starting to like using these - we're not over the bottle yet... but he is enjoying drinking other things (water, lemonade, juice, gatorade, iced tea)... Tyler is really interested in the sippy cups too, but hasn't quite figured it all out yet.
• Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Farm - the boys got this for Christmas and are loving it... we never set it up at the old house because we didn't have room... but they're having a lot of fun with it. 
• V Tech Learning Fun Tool Box - They love this too, only James really mainly likes shutting it once I've opened it... 
• Vtech Move & Crawl Ball - They LOVE this toy right now!! I could tell you every word to every song it sings... but it's really cool because it moves around the floor by itself... so Tyler enjoys playing with it. 
• Fisher-Price Go Baby Go! 1-2-3 Crawl Along Snail - we like playing with this one too.
• Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo 2 in 1 Tummy Timer - I've got this in Tyler's make-shift crib, and he loves listening to the music - which plays for 15 minutes, and is just enough to get him to sleep.
• Baby Einstein - My First Signs - My meal time live saver! I pop this in the DVD player during mealtimes and get to feed each of the boys while the other is entertained! 
• Baby Einstein - Baby Wordsworth - First Words - Around the House - I really want to get them this one to add to our collection since James is starting to act like he might be trying to form some more words.

Okay, that's enough for today... I'll be back with a giveaway either tomorrow or the next day and some photos too. I'm still working on getting our wireless internet set up - and my pictures are currently on the laptop.