Traveling with small children

 

(flying with Makayla back in 2010)

I leave with my girls for Nova Scotia in 2 weeks! While I am very excited to be going I'm also dreading the flight with my girls. On the way there my mom will be with us so I'll have an extra set of hands, however we are flying all night. Hopefully it'll work in my favor and not against us! On the way home I'll be flying with the girls by myself and have two stopovers. Eek!

I'm sure Makayla who is 4 will do fine, but I'm worried about Aria. She's at quite an 'expressive' and active stage right now. She turns 2 right after we get home.

Experienced travelers with children, any words of advice or tips for me?

Thank-you!

Wow! I am feeling overwhelmed with the response I have received here, and on all my other social media outlets the past 2 days - over 400 blog page views and more than 130 comments, likes and messages. I was not expecting that AT ALL.

Thank-you everyone for all the very kind words!! It really means a lot to me. I hope I can be an inspiration to someone else trying to make a healthy life change and reach their goals. I promise I will respond to everyone curious about how I've done it as soon as I can.

My Journey to Health

I haven't been ready to post about my weight loss before now, but I think it is finally time. It is a personal journey for me, I am doing this to become healthy for myself and my family.

 In the last 9 months I have lost almost 70lbs!

 

October 2013                                    June 2014

I must admit I had doubt I would ever be able to do this, but here I am.  I still have a ways to go, but I am happy and I feel great! I have more energy than I've had in a long time and I can handle the summer heat much better than last year. So far it has been an amazing, interesting and often difficult journey.

Strawberry Freezer Jam Recipe

As per request here is the jam recipe I used. It is super super easy, yet so delicious!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

4 cups (1000 ml) crushed strawberries, about 2 quarts (2 L)

1 -1/2 cups (375 ml) granulated sugar or SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, granulated

1 pouch (45 g) BERNARDIN® Freezer Jam Pectin

• Wash and rinse 5 BERNARDIN® Freezer Jars and lids or 250 ml mason jars and closures.

• Wash, hull and crush strawberries.. Measure 4 cups (1000 ml).

• In a large mixing bowl, combine Freezer Jam Pectin and sugar or SPLENDA® until well blended. Stir fruit mixture into pectin-sugar mixture; stir 3 minutes.

• Ladle jam into jars, leaving 1/2 inch (1 cm) headspace. Wipe jar rims removing any residue. Apply lids tightly. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks, freeze up to 1 year, or serve right away.

 

This is the same recipe I used for raspberries as well. It can be used with any berries and some fruit. I love this recipe because it is sweet but not overly sweet. It has 1.5 cups of sugar compared to 7 cups of sugar in this jam! The recipe is on the back of the pectin package.

Williams Park

 

We went for a picnic BBQ at Williams Park earlier this week. We all had a lot of fun at the park and the creek. Williams park is absolutely beautiful! I foresee a few more picnics here this summer with our new Weber Q!

 

Krause Berry Farms - strawberry and raspberry picking

Saturday we went to Krause Berry Farms to pick strawberries. Surprisingly I have never been before, but have been wanting to check it out. I also really wanted to pick strawberries this year to freeze. We had a fun time picking. It is a great place to go with your family. They have a playground, animal area, farm market with a ton of delicious looking goodies and two areas to eat. I can't wait to go back when I'm not detoxing and sample some of the deliciousness! ;)

However by the time we were done in the fields the farm was insanely busy and I mean insane!! We decided to get the kids an ice cream with some friends. We waited 15 minutes in line - we knew it was a long line so fine, that was our decision, but after we ordered we were given a number and had to wait another 15 minutes for our cones! In total we waited a half hour for two child sized cones. This isn't fun with two small children. We had just decided to go home when the ice cream finally arrived. Thank goodness, because two melt downs is not something I wanted to deal with. lol.

We picked 18lbs of strawberries in just under an hour. I also went back Monday with friends to pick raspberries.

 My strawberry processing helper - She stood and washed strawberries one by one for over an hour. 

 

Freezing strawberries! We froze several bags of strawberries and the rest went to making freezer jam

 My first jar of jam! Freezer jam is SO easy and even more delicious!

 10 jars of strawberry jam later!

This is my first time ever berry picking and making jam since I was a kid.

Monday I picked 12lbs of raspberries (with a lot of help) and also made 5 jars of raspberry freezer jam. We are well stocked.

 

 

I'll be going back yet again next week, this time to enjoy the other activities the farm has to offer.

Bacon Bouquet!

Well this is definitely late, but the 'top secret' from this post was a bacon bouquet for Dave for Father's Day! I had alot of fun making them and it was surprisingly quick and easy. 

Dave loved them! What more can a guy want? Bacon? Bouquet? Um, hello!

  

 We also made daddy his favorite meal...breakfast and specifically an omelet! Only the best for the best! ;)

Here are a few quick steps to make the bouqet.

1.Remove roses from stem/leaves. Leave the stem that pokes through the leaves

2. Roll bacon, one or two strips depending on how big you want them

3.  spear bottom with 2 toothpicks, place on rack

4. bake at 400F for 20-30minutes

5. allow bacon to cool and remove toothpicks from bacon

6. push bacon roses on the the stems nestled between the leaves

7. arrange the bouquet and place in a vase

8. Wow your spouse/partner/dad!!!

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Makayla's last day of school was on Thursday. I feel like we haven't had time to breath in awhile. Every day we are running here or there and gone most of the days. I'm so looking forward to summer! Picnics, parks, waterparks, BBQs, beaches, lakes, boating, camping, friends, games, and sun! Bring on the fun!

Tap Your Sticks

Makayla's school spring concert was on Thursday. Below is her class performing.

Mine is the girl who keeps going the wrong direction! ;)  lol. Apparently she was only there for one practice on the day of. The quality of the video isn't great, as it was compressed when I took it off my phone.

 I think these girls were the cutest ever, but as a mom I'm quite bias!

Best dad hands down!

I've gone a little Pinterest crazy this Father's Day. I am not at all creative, thank goodness for Pinterest! I did one craft today, and two more are prepped for tomorrow!

Do you need a last minute, easy craft for Father's Day? We did this craft today with my girls and the little boy I watch.  It is super easy, cute and I had all the supplies at home. Thanks to one of my besties for the idea! ;)

 I didn't have time to get to the store for letter stickers or ribbon so I made a few changes to use what we had at home.

Supplies:
- Paint (I used finger paint)
- Paintbrush
- Cardstock or thick paper
- Letter Stencils (or stickers)
- Sharpie

I painted each of the kids' hands with a brush. According to Makayla, "it tickles".

Then they stamped their hands on the paper, waited for the paint to dry and I stenciled the letters with a Sharpie.

Here are the finished products: We made three, one isn't pictured.

This works for Grandpa's too! I put this one in a glass frame, but it isn't necessary.

Here is the one my girls did for daddy. Since there are two of them I decided to do one hand print each.

One craft down, two more to go tomorrow! The last one is top secret and I won't be sharing until after Father's Day!

I made a few changes to my blog for now. I removed my header photo and background, changed the title and updated photos. This will do until I figure out what I want.

I have several older posts that were never published, just drafted. I will be going back and posting those in the days to come.

See, as promised another blog post within a week ;)

I have a blog?

I want to start blogging again. I also want to totally revamp my blog. New background, new name, new banner....if only I could decide on what to name it. However before I do all that I need to get myself back in to blogging. I am committing for now to try to do one post a week. We'll start there and see what happens. It was something I used to really love. I became busy with being a mom and just never made time for it. I always found it a nice outlet for my thoughts, updates on our lives and to relax in my spare time. What spare time you ask? Yes, that is my problem. Okay, here it goes...expect another post sometime within the next week.

Aria is 18 months old!

Dear Aria,

Today you are 18 months old! You are such a mommy's girl. You are silly, love to giggle, love your big sister, love to do whatever she does, cuddly, active, inquisitive, very strong willed and great at expressing how you feel! (Read between the lines on the last one.) I definitely have my hands full with you.

I wasn't able to do an elaborate photo shoot as you are quite sick. I did manage to get one small smile out of you. You have had a fever for 3 days as well as a cough and cold. I hate seeing you so sick and pray you are feeling better very soon. I must say I do treasure all the snuggles I have been getting from you though. I spent most of today with you cuddled in my lap.

You are a true joy, Aria Joy. I love you.

Mom

First Day of Preschool!

Makayla started preschool today. She was so excited and loved her first day!

It is late in the school year to start preschool, but Makayla is a December baby and due to start Kindergarten in September. We thought some preschool would be beneficial before starting. We are also debating delaying Kindergarten a year. We have a lot to decide in the next few months.

 All dressed up in her uniform, ready for her first day of preschool

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We just wanted to take a minute to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year! I hope your day was as wonderful as ours was!