There's An App For That

We recently switched cell phone companies and thanks to an amazing deal, were able to join the world of wireless at your fingertips.  I love being able to send off an email when I think of something I want to tell someone.  I love being able to respond quickly to an email.  I love being in a store, remembering something in the circular that I wanted, bringing it up on my phone, showing the employee who then finds the item for me.  But most of all, I love having apps on my phone.

Right now my favorite is a game for Munchkie.  It is so great, she wants to play with it all day long.  The app is called "Where's Mommy?" and it's description is "The Photo Game You Create."  What you do is take pictures of anything you want, ad it to the app and then record your voice saying "Where is <fill in the blank>."  Then for the game the screen has twelve pictures on it and your voice gives the commands.  The child then taps the corresponding picture and this continues until all twelve items have been found.  I spent most of the morning taking pictures of everything I could find around the house, from food to toys to shapes to animals.

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday, during nap time in which she has to come with me.  I am hoping that she likes the app so much that it will keep her occupied and happy for the length of the appointment.  I think I will soon become one of those moms who can't imagine life without her phone.  It keeps our lives together with the calender, updates all my contacts from my email account, keeps me linked to the wireless world AND entertains my child.  You can't beat that!

MY Mama Never Said There'd Be Days Like This!

Well, at least if my mom did tell me there would be days like these, I didn't listen to her.  To start, I am writing this at 2:09 am.  I worked Friday night through Wednesday night with Monday night "off", which means that I spent at least part of the day sleeping for work, working or sleeping from work, Friday through Thursday and spent over 63 out of 133 hours at work.  Ugh!  Today I intentionally only allowed myself a few hours sleep in the hopes that I would be able to sleep tonight.  Nice try!

While working so much there was absolutely no way that I could even fathom thinking up, making and cleaning up after a meal.  I have never been so thankful for Chipotle in all of my life.  I was able to "provide" a meal that was full of veggies, beans, and meat free of hormones or antibiotics.  It was a delicious meal that fed us that night, then Munchkie and Munchkie's Daddy the next day for lunch as well.

I just don't ever think that I realized how tired a person could be.  Emotionally and physically.  All this work, prep for traveling to the in-laws this weekend, more work, traveling 17 hours to the family lakehouse, more work and then moving is a lot for one little family to handle!  I just never expected my life to be like this.  So busy all of the time that I can barely keep my head on straight, let alone do things that are enjoyable.  On Tuesday when I woke up I took Munchkie to daycare, Munchkie's Daddy to work, came home, got a quick work out in, showered, dashed off to the dentist, came home, tried to sleep for a couple hours, got my dinner and Munchkie's lunch ready for the next day, laid her outfit out, while trying to have some quality time with the family at the same time as I was getting ready for work.  Whew!

So how is it, that after this exhausting week I cannot fall asleep?  How is this possible?  Probably a lot of it has to do with the fact that when my head hits the pillow it starts running like crazy.  Making lists for the store, making lists of things to pack for this weekend, making lists of things to pack for two weeks from now, figuring out what days I can get all of the laundry done, plotting out a Word document of all the things we need to measure at the new apartment next week, who I need to call to catch up with and meals I can put together or bring with me to keep eating healthy during these busy times.

Throughout this I am finding it even more important to deliberately spend time with my family.  Something I thought just happened.  I never realized that you have to specifically set aside time to spend with those you live with.  Through all of this we are trying to make time to get a little movement in together.  This actually works out beautifully, we go walking on paths by our house laughing, talking and playing together.  We look for animals and identify different sounds we hear.  Then we sit on the rock and watch for boats to go by before heading back watching out for rocks and roots.  Taking this time in the quiet, peaceful outdoors has really showed me how great it is to spend time moving as a family, it makes those busy times just melt away for a little while.

Homemade Playdough

A while ago Munchkie made homemade playdough with her Nana and Aunt.  The playdough is still doing good and she enjoys playing with it.  Munchkie's Mimi emailed me the recipe because her preschool kids love to play with this playdough as well.

Homemade Playdough

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 3 teaspoons oil
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 packages Koolaid (unsweetened)

 

1.  Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Add water and oil.
3. Knead.
4. Can be kept in a ziploc bag for months.
5. Refrigerate for a different texture.

Yummy Tummy!

We've been playing all morning since we are snowed/iced in.  I'm hoping that it will be safe enough to venture out when Munchkie wakes up from her nap so we can get some supplies for a homemade playdough recipe Munchkie's Mimi emailed me after the last failed attempt.  Munchkie found an a-bin (apron) and was playing with it on so I asked if she wanted to cook something.  Of course she said yes and literally ran to the spot on the kitchen counter that she gets to sit.  I looked through a super cool cookbook Munchkie's Aunt gave her for Christmas and found a recipe that we actually had the ingredients for.  We made something that I can send with Munchkie for lunch tomorrow at daycare too.

Broccoli Trees in Haystacks from Oscar's Good-For-You-Greens

1 small broccoli crown, broken into florets
2 tablespoons water (I used frozen broccoli and so I skipped the water, defrosted the broccoli and cut the "trunks" off)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole grain cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup honey)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat milk
2 eggs
1/4 (1/2 stick) butter, melted (I used 1/4 cup melted coconut oil)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 12 standard muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.  Place the broccoli and water in a microwaveable dish.  Cover and microwave on HIGH or 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. (I used a mini muffin pan because that was all that I had, and just ran warm water over the frozen broccoli until defrosted.)

2. Mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. (I added the honey with the wet ingredients)
3. Stir together the milk, eggs and butter in a medium bowl.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until just moistened.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each of the muffin cups.

5. Place one piece of broccoli (a "tree) in each cup.

6. Spoon additional batter into each cup, filling them about 3/4 full.  Bake 15 minutes (10-13 for mini muffins) or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack.  Serve warm.

This is the super cool book!

"Munchkie are they good?"

"Yummy tummy! Yummy tuuummmmmy!"

Pulling my hair out!

Me: Munchkie what is this?
Munchkie: Bim bim (Big Bird)
Me: No that is crayon on the wall, that is not ok.
Munchkie: Bim Bim color
Me: You cannot color Big Bird on the wall.  It's not ok to color on walls.  Only on papers.
Munchkie: Color Bim Bim (knodding head).
Me: You can color Big Bird on paper.  Not on walls.  You cannot do this.
Munchkie: Color Bim Bim paper knodding head)
Me: Yes you can only color Big Bird on paper.

It is incredibly difficult to discipline your child when they are so excited that they drew Big Bird.  Munchkie was so proud of herself and her artwork.  She was so adament that it was Big Bird that I could hardly keep a straight face.  Thank goodness for Magic Erasers!