The Candy Table

During Goddess' moving up ceremony party at school in June that signified the 3rd graders moving to 4th Goddess noticed immediately a candy table that was simply amazing. Getting her to focus on the fun and not the sweets that would ultimately be in her future was difficult but she did manage to have a great time with a few stops at the table to "take a peek".

We the kids were ready to go, they were allowed to get bags and fill them up! We were the first one at the table as we were leaving to go hang out with Handsome at a pool which in Goddess' eyes was way better than a super hot day waiting your turn to go down a water slide. I was okay with that as well. I missed my Handsome.

We didn't take much as I was nervous that there wouldn't be enough for all the kids. I did hear that they were practically giving it all away toward the end. Wish I had grabbed a bag for myself.

Goddess Gets Her Cast OFF!

It wasn't terrible. It was just blah....
Goddess has had that cast one for most of her Summer.
Thursday was the day. It was coming off and boy were we happy.

She wasn't brave enough to look when they cut the cast off.
She wasn't brave enough to say no when they asked if she wanted to keep the cast.
She was brave enough to enter the x-ray room without even looking back at us.
She was brave enough to ask the doctor if it would hurt when he removed the pin to which he replied "no honey."
She wasn't brave enough to look when he put a special tool on the pin and twist and pull it out.
BUT...my little girl was so brave. She did cry out ouch and cry for a little while but she did way better then I could even imagine.

The cast is off, the skin looks terrible from being wrapped so long. The nail looks terrible. She is unable to move it but will be starting therapy soon.

For now her tears are gone and her mommy is so proud of how well she did.

AND she is still smiling

Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil

I certainly didn't plan it but for some reason the other night I found myself eating from the palate of red and it was delicious!

The meal was super easy.

I threw some angel hair pasta in a pot of boiling, salted water and while that was cooking, I cut up some cherry tomatoes which I tossed with some olive oil, salt and pepper and set it aside. 

After the pasta was done, I drained it, plated it and tossed the tomatoes over it.

It was heaven!!!

My Boy Practices Balancing And Shows The World He Can

OK maybe not the world but he showed his mom and anyone who happened to be at the beach that day.

Handsome has been in Physical Therapy before and is still in Occupational Therapy for fine motor skills and low muscle ton.

He is like a ton of bricks and at times seems like he has no spine at all the way he falls.  I am surprised he hasn't (knock on wood) broken anything.

This past Friday a friend came to my beach with her son who happened to bring around a really cool, blue raft. Handsome saw her son get up on the raft and decided to try. Let me tell, you it was hard to watch at first but about ten minutes later he was standing like a pro and spent the next two hours getting up there and I wish I had a paddle for him to practice paddle boarding.

He never gave up and in the end it was so worth it.

My heart is so damn proud of him.

That's my boy!!!!

Colorful Butterfly Takes A Squat

My sister-in-laws house drew some beautiful butterflies last month. I am surprised I got a photo at all, this butterfly was in a frenzy. Love all that color. 

A Children's Book That Will Turn Even The Most Reluccant Reader Into A Reader - BUY IT NOW

 The 411 by Maria:

I absolutely loved everything about this book. 

What Todd Nichols does is take every thing that kids from the ages of 4-14 and make it funny. Hell forget until 14. I thought this book was witty, smart and incredibly good. 

Peas and Hambone are the stars of this story. Peas or Peter is basically a 10 year old boy who spends all his time with his best friend, his dog Hambone. Hambone is a character and a half. He is almost too much character for a children's book but if your child likes Adventure Time or Captain Underpants they will be fine! 

Honestly I have to admit, I read this story in the voice of Finn and Jake. 

OK, back to the review. Hambone walks and talks like his boy Peas (lets not even discuss why his nickname is peas, I want to keep it a surprise) but it all begins when Hambone decides to get back at a gorilla who he says threw dirt at him.  Our stars break into the zoo and the next thing you know all hell breaks loose and burglars suddenly find themselves heroes of humanity.  With gorillas turning into zombies and a gang of bikers who don't use real weapons, the zoo is a real mess and Peas and Hambone need to work together with a bunch of misfits to stop the zombie gorillas and bring the zoo back to normal.

The story is hysterical. There are some really good zingers that will make you smile if not laugh out loud. The absurdity to this story is what really makes it a fun read.

If you buy your kid one book this year, make it Peas and Hambones Versus Flesh Eating Zombie Gorillas!

The question is Mr. Nichols will there be more? Please say yes!

Looking For A Great Chick Flick That Even Your Man Will Love? Look No Further. I've Got Your Back #OtherWomanMovie

 

The 411 by Maria: 
I am a chick flick fan and a huge fan of Leslie Mann. She, like Paul Rudd who she starred with in So This Is 40 and you can see that review here have that likability factor. She has been in some of my favorite chick flicks to date.

In The Other Woman which reminded me lightly of The First Wives Club. This movie is billed with Carmen as the lead and the story revolving around her character but I didn't see that so I am going to write this review about Kate (Mann) the wife who finds out her husband Mark Nikolaj Coster-Waldauis (from Game of Thrones) cheating on her with Carly (Diaz).

Not only is Mark the snake cheating on his wife with Diaz but he has quite a few relationships going. He has it that way I guess.  Carly who for reasons unbeknownst to me gets belligerent with Kate who is obviously upset that her husband was cheating on her. Kate keeps showing up asking questions and trying to find out why, when, where which by the way was funny and repulsive at the same time. I wouldn't want to know that every place I go to sit at my husband's girlfriend's house is somewhere they had sex. Gross.  Anyway....together the ladies set out to sock it to Mark and when they meet one of his sexy conquests Amber (Kate Upton), the three set out to make his life a living hell and make him pay.

I love the friendship that blossoms between the three ladies, I love how Kate finds herself and has a great time doing it and I loved Taylor Kinney as Kate's brother. HOT!

This is a great movie to watch with girlfriends or alone. There are some very funny lines and while it isn't cinematic greatness it is a feel good movie and Leslie Mann shines.

Wild Kratts Ideas For Our Next Hiking Trip - This One Was Totally Out Of My Comfort Zone

We headed out hiking with some friends last week and are scheduled to go to another trail this week.  This trail was way out of  my comfort zone and I don't just mean I felt that it was ridiculously steep. I was worried about falls that would require a medi vac helicopter.

We had a great time and can't wait to go again but will be better prepared this time. Both kids will have to carry backpacks. I cannot carry everything.

We are printing this out for the family going with us so we all can be explorers like Wild Kratts.

Chasers Of The Light Makes You Fall In Love With Poetry All Over Again

The 411 by Maria:

I opened the beautifully covered book and thought, let me just give it a glance and read it this week. After reading the first three lines of the first poem I was completely done in and sat and read this book while my family lived around me. When I finally got up from the couch I wanted to kiss the book and place it somewhere, not just toss it into a ready to pass on pile. 

Tyler writes the words that everyone wants to read. There is not a man or woman who wouldn't want to know that one of his poems was written for them and them alone. 

His eloquent writing steals your breath and shudders your heart until you are completely and thoroughly in love with him.

I plan on revisiting my old writing, perhaps even taking out my old typewriter and maybe hitting a few keys. 

Thanks for the beautiful inspiration Tyler.

Allergy Free Mayo? What?????

OK guys I have to tell you that I do love Mayo. I do love eggs but as someone who has children with food allergies I am well aware how diligent you have to be to keep your children safe.

While my kids are not allergic to eggs one of the girls in my Brownie Troop is and when we do snacks, have parties everyone must bring something that doesn't have eggs in it. It has been interesting to find alternatives so that she can partake in snack and party time and when she is invited to a birthday party of a classmate mom usually has to send a cupcake so her daughter can eat when everyone else is having cake.

When I was asked to check out Hampton Creek's Just Mayo I was very interested. How can you have mayo without the egg? Seriously! HOW!? ANNNND 100% NON-GMO What?!

Well, here is how...you get biochemists to create delicious tasting, plant based egg-free alternative that is cheaper, healthier and more humane.
 
The 411 by Maria:

I am a Hellman's girl from way back. I am partial to my brand and have been since 4 years of age at least.

Could this mayo that is made without eggs actually taste as good?

The first time I tried it was with a friend. She is a health and homeopathic fan and was very interested in trying each one with me.  We actually tried it with another product I had to review called Veggie Patch (more on that later). She as did I loved each one and we kept going back for more.

To tell you the truth prior to researching the product with her after we tried it and loved it, I had no idea it was EGG FREE! She was writing the name down and I started Googling to get her information on where she could buy it.

We were floored. What? We squawked!! Egg Free?

The three samples we received were:

Plain Mayo
Garlic Mayo
Sriracha Mayo

My friend Lisa loved the garlic but because she was visiting and I have a breath thing (totally paranoid about bad breath), I stuck with the plain and the Sriracha.

We only used them to dip our lunch into while the kids played. Good doesn't even cut it and I was simply unaware of how good until the next time I used the mayo.

It was me and the kids that day. I knew we would be alone for lunch and probably dinner so for lunch that day I made myself tuna. Usually my typical recipe for tuna which is:

- small can of solid white tuna packed in water (whatever brand is on sale)
- celery salt
- pepper
- mayo

Easy enough right?

Well, this day I used the garlic mayo. Ummm...can I tell you it was the best tuna sandwich I had ever had.  Since telling my bestie Clary about it she says she NEEDS to try it and we cannot wait to get together to eat and talk although I will be bringing my mouth wash and some gum.

The Tuna and Just Mayo garlic mayo together were amazing. It is the perfect combination and I doubt I will ever be able to eat tuna any other way every again.

My next recipe will be the chocolate cake recipe I found on Hampton Creek

Shocking but true my friend. This mayo is made without eggs and the company is doing fantastic. While they may not be a household name yet, I see that they are already the best selling mayo at whole foods after being on the market only 6 months. (read it for yourself here).

AND they haven't stopped at mayo. Check out the Just Cookies!

LASTLY it is not hard to find either. Simply put your location in Hampton Creeks Just Find It section and watch it pop up in locations very close to you. Honestly, I can never find anything in my neck and I found at least 6 within 15 miles of my house.  NICE!

Happy Birthday Morton Salt Girl Spa Birthday Party Was A Blast #MortonSaltGirl100

Getting together with girlfriends has become very important to my well being and this was the perfect opportunity to celebrate a girl who many of us cannot do without.

The Morton Salt Girl is 100 years old. If you are like me, you remember the canister sitting above your families stove when you were a little girl. Now my little girl gets to hold a massive Morton Salt canister filled with some Morton products.

We were so excited to open this and find so many fun products. A yellow umbrella, packs of Morton colored M&Ms, cocktail napkins, balloon ties, salt and Epson salt and more!

We were fortunate enough to threw 1 out of 100 Morton Salt Parties to mark the 100th birthday of Morton Salt!

My girlfriends and I had some appys, homemade pizza, some drinks, and a whole lot of chick chat. Life is good when you have friends. 

The pizza was delish!

We had a great time as we discussed, parenting, recipes, drinks and education as well as the small talk that accompanies female get togethers. Basically, we covered it All baby.

Our favorite part was the fact that we could host a spa party using Morton Salt. Who knew? 

We followed the Morton Spa Party instructions on our suggestion card and ended up laughing our butts off as we rubbed salt into each others feet. It is amazing how close you suddenly find yourselves when you are rubbing each other's feet. 

We can tell you that the Morton Epson Salt was awesome!!! Just look how happy my friend Danielle (our host for the night) was when I gave her her hostess gift!

Thanks Morton! We had a blast!

The Butterfly Is Free'd

Painting On Stones, ROCKS! #painting #crafts #rockpainting

When you have a crafty daughter you get to pull out all the craft things you didn't always have time for before she got to be a fun crafty age.

She goes through our craft bins often and as you can see, there is always glitter. Glitter is something you will always find on my rug. I cannot keep up with the amount of spillage that gets worked into the nasty old carpet.

Last week I set up a table on the deck and called her outside. This is how we roll!

Goddess has been collecting interesting (in her mind) rocks forever. She has a special box with them but one in particular was on a desk because it was too big for the box. A week before she had almost dropped it on her foot and cried after her dad yelled about it almost breaking her foot. Handsome took the rock and placed it on the table outside and I had been looking at it for a week wondering what to do with it. As I drank my coffee I turned it around and around. Was it a dinosaur head? Was it a car? Nope, I saw it was a house so I started sketching a basic front leaving the walkway as the rock. We picked out a few colors and Goddess got to work.

Painting a rock was way easier then sketching on it with pencil. I broke three trying to draw lines for her to paint inside.

Goddess painted the bigger pieces and I added the little details. I love this shot of her concentrating.

Here it is all ready for details but now we weren't sure about the color of the roof. The harder part was trying not to go overboard with window boxes and such. This was our first and we are not artists but I love the grass area.

So cute right?!

Next I added a stand by taking a piece of styrofoam, cutting a small slice in it that fit the rock and painted it brown.

Goddess painted this little round rock and I added the face and little highlights. He looks so cute.