We got a secondhand Fisher Price trike for free from someone a while back. The other day I was looking at it and thought to myself that what it really needed was some "chrome rims". After a lot of taping and two coats of the silver metallic spray paint that we have left over from Q's robot costume I thought to myself, "We need more spray paint!"
Before:
Hulu is the future of television. I know there are more sites like this but Hulu is one of the better ones thus far. Now I can watch some great shows that I couldn't watch before because we don't have cable, like the Sundance Channels Big Ideas for a Small Planet. I can watch shows whenever or wherever you can find an internet connection. All free. You just have to put up with the occasional McDonald's ad.
I don't know how I missed it. Being Mo Willems unofficial Twin Cities pimp, you would think I would know when he is coming to town to make appearances at Wild Rumpus and The Red Balloon bookstores. I'm constantly extolling his books as the greatest children's books of our time on the web and on the playground and I check his blog and other websites on a semi-regular basis. So its pretty surprising that I didn't know about the visits until a mom in our ECFE class told us about it. I guess that's what I get for not signing up for the Red Balloon newsletter.
We've been meaning to check out Wild Rumpus for a long time now. This is definitely going to be the best reason to get over there that I'm going to find since I can't make the Red Balloon 7 pm appearance. With all the different animals running around, Wild Rumpus sounds like a blast. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not taking Q there until now. But with the Red Balloon being a short walk from our house, its a little tough to justify loading up the car and driving across the river just to find another independent kids bookstore. For Mo though, we'll make the trip.
30 seconds of cutting bought me enough time to make dinner and Q some "Pigeon at the wheel!" time.
Materials needed:
scissors
round pizza cardboard
Use scissors to cut cardboard to look like a steering wheel and let the good times roll.
Every Sunday morning I make what I call "Super Hero French Toast". Though it is far from being low cal, it is jam packed with Omega-3 and 6, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that we all need to be our best at that soccer game, math test, deposition, what have you. Here's the recipe:
This is the way I make it. Feel free to substitute/adjust/experiment. That's what cooking is all about. This makes more than enough for 2 hungry adults and 1 toddler.
6 thick slices of whole grain flax seed bread
4 large free range omega plus eggs
1/4 cup of Silk Plus Omega-3 DHA Soy Milk
2 large bananas
1 small pack of blueberries
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp almond meal
Smart Balance butter, enough to spread on both sides of bread and to butter your frying pan
Lightly butter both sides of each slice of bread. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl or dish that will be wide and flat enough for you to place your bread in. Mash up bananas then mix in blueberries, cinnamon, and almond meal.
Working with two slices at a time. Soak bread in eggs. Place them on your frying pan. After flipping both pieces spoon a healthy load of your bananas+ onto one piece of toast. Once the other side is done place the pieces together making a sandwich with the fruit inside. Repeat until done.
You can even add a sprinkle of cinnamon or a drizzle of honey to the top to fancy it up a little.
Enjoy!
It was finally nice enough outside today for Q, Ozzi, and I to reclaim residency at our fair weather second home, Mattocks Park. Our first visit of the season (first ever visit for Ozzi) was certainly not without excitement.
Shortly after our arrival, while Q is bouncing on the metal bouncy thing, I notice a small cylinder covered in duct tape attached to the bottom of it with two magnets. It looked like a miniature version of a pipe bomb. Very homemade. Very suspicious.
Now, I'm not a paranoid parent thinking danger is lurking around every corner. I could think of several, much more likely, things that this little cylinder could be. Ultimately though, I just couldn't ignore the voice in my head saying, "but what if it is, and you do nothing?" So, I called 911.
After a few minutes of quietly rapping the chorus of K8's favorite Public Enemy song in my head two cops showed up, shot the shit with me for a while, then agreed with my guess that it was a geocaching thing. Ignoring my understanding of procedure for suspicious packages, one of them pulled the little pipe off the playground equipment, shook it next to her ear, "Well, its not ticking." and opened it. Safety first. It was luckily, as we suspected, a piece of GPS dork treasure.
Though I'm obviously thankful it wasn't anything dangerous, I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed they didn't call in the bomb squad to remote detonate the thing with the cool robot. That would have been awesome!
The rest of my time was spent demoing the Phil & Teds for the small group of moms that were ogling it. Seriously, where the hell is my commission check?
I know computers are supposed to count as the "screen time" that pediatricians say are destroying our children's brains. At least the computer is interactive. Plus, in order for him to be able to use the computer I would have to stop. So his computer screen time is still pretty limited. Anywho, here are a few things I've found on the internet that Q and/or I have been enjoying lately.
starfall.com, Q is loving this reading education website.
The Geekdad blog at Wired.com. All sorts of great things that combine children and technology/science. Like a website that lets you spell out your child's name in Elements from the periodic table.
Freerice.com, If you ever find yourself board with the internet, why not test your vocab and feed hungry people around the world at the same time... for FREE! This site is genius and I would expect several similar sites to start popping up all over like the Crocus in our front yard.
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I try and convince myself that I drive around in a beat up old Nissan Altima is part of my attempt to live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly life. In reality it has more to do with our addiction to cool clothes for the boys preventing the coffers from filling enough to invest in a newer vehicle. Oh well, driving a beater is a small price to pay for kids clothes this kick-ass!
From PsychoBaby:
From BabyWit:
Since Belinda and the Svenomenon are telling me that today would be the only day worth crawling out of our caves for I decided to double up on adventure with the boys. This morning we went to M.I.A., home for lunch and diaper changes, then off to the Minnesota Zoo for a few smelly hours.
At both locations, and on the other days that we've ventured outside this "spring" with our Phil & Teds Sport, I've noticed that it's a bit like driving an Aston Martin around town... in Roseau. All the Graco pushers we pass are pointing and staring at the stroller as though it was levitating. Several people have actually stopped us to ask us for autographs... ah, I mean, ask about the stroller. Now I know how Brad Pitt feels all the time.
All this attention can be a pain in the ass. Or, if your Omarosa-like ego hungers for reaffirmation that you are indeed cool, as is my case, the Phil & Teds was the best money we've ever spent. Never mind the fact that the stroller currently sits in the trunk of a car worth less than the actual stroller. You gotta have your priorities straight.
As a follow-up to an earlier post about Q's love for Van Gogh; As soon as we entered the Impressionists gallery, Q correctly pointed out the Van Gogh on the wall amongst all the other paintings.
Like those commercials say, having kids changes everything. Including the unavoidable use of cliche' statements like "having kids changes everything" and, tonight as I watch some of these old videos of Q, "They grow up so fast."
Here are a few upcoming dates and events worth remembering:
Thursday, April 24 - Dining Out For Life. Participating restaurants in more than 45 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada will donate a percentage of their profits for that day to help The Aliveness Project, a community center for people living with HIV/AIDS. There are 134 great Twin Cities restaurants on the list, so get a babysitter and make reservations.
Fri. & Sat., April 11-12 - Free Electronics Recycling. Find the closest of the 5 drop off sites in the Metro here and remember to show up early. Remember the lines at the Mall of America last time they had this? At least this time there are 5 sites instead of just the one.
Saturday, April 26 - St. Paul Farmers Market returns for another season of beautiful locally grown produce. Mmmm.
Sat. & Sun., May 3-4 - Living Green Expo. Huge showcase of all sorts of different ways to make your life a little, or a lot, more earth friendly. From electric cars to home improvement to C.S.A.'s, this show has got it all... and its free!
Saturday, May 10 - Pangea Day
March 31 and 7.5 inches of snow!?! I know that's not totally unheard of here in Minnesota, but this is killing us. We need to get outside. I need to get outside. Q has started singing along to Target commercials. At least its a Beatles song.
