Summer Fun Starts Today!

What is Cool Summer Days?

Pre-Pinterest days I stumbled upon this adorable idea on a blog. I hosted a little craft party and a few girlfriends and myself made them…no sewing people! Iron on is your friend.

The idea is during the summer months you tuck a paper into each cone with something fun to do that day. I’ve done it for two summers and overall, it has been a wonderful experience! Our excitement for it comes and goes throughout the summer, but overall, it has been a tremendous help! Read on to find out why…

5 reasons why I bother

#1. It helps cut down on TV time, because something else has already been planned.

#2. It gives the kiddos something to look forward to! Check out Cooper this year, he woke up like it was Christmas morning!

#3. Cuts down on how often the orange rhino rears it’s ugly head. It’s true! When I have something planned, we’re ALL more distracted and excited. BUT…you have to plan ahead for failure, bad attitudes, or change of plans. Just keep plugging along.

If you’ve never heard of the “orange rhino”, check out the following two blog entries:

Hands Free Mama – The Important Thing About Yelling

The Orange Rhino Challenge

#4. It provides motivation.

The fact of the matter is…my son likes to dawdle.

It drives me bonkers. So…we are FINALLY starting a morning routine that he won’t gripe about. Why won’t he gripe you ask? Because until his morning routine has been accomplished, he doesn’t get to see what today’s cool summer days calendar has in store for him. Here’s what I designed to hang in his room as a reminder:

So the rule is…no TV or calendar fun until this is done.

Check out his bed from this morning, so precious!

AND finally….reason #5…

#5. It creates lifelong memories! When I first started this, I had no idea what would become of it. But now that we’ve done it for about 2 1/2 summers, many of the silly “holidays” we’ve celebrated are becoming family favorites. Donut Day will always be one we will celebrate, calendar or not.

What should I do?

I will do my darndest to post what we do each day this summer to provide you with some ideas. Feel free to check out my labels on the sidebar of my blog – Cool Summer Days June, July and August, they’ll provide some ideas to start with.

So…day #1 for 2013…

MAKE YOUR OWN FLUBBER!

Click the picture for the link and instructions on how to. Quite easy! Here are some pictures of my kids after we made our own. **Note: Right after we drained the water, it did NOT appear to be “flubber” and I nearly dubbed it a fail. But, after the mixture sat in the bowl for about an hour, it was ready to be played with! For the next hour! Yay!

The near fail…but then…success!

And then, in Allie’s sweet little investigation of this new found Flubber…

She looks up…

to find daddy getting in on the Flubber fun! In the way that only a dad can. Faking it as snot! =)

Have fun making your own Flubber!

Next time I think we’ll make it blue so it looks like BOB from Monsters vs. Aliens.

Thoughtful Thursday–Friendships

Who would you say is your best friend RIGHT NOW?!

Probably wouldn’t be the same answer if I’d asked you 10 years ago, huh? How about even 6 months ago? 1 day ago?! =)

Friendships change, they evolve, they last sometimes for only a season. And ladies…that’s OKAY!

A good friend of mine, Sara Whitehead, was a friend of mine during the season of life in which my husband was in medical school. Anyone who has supported a spouse through medical school can appreciate how important a close friend can be during this time! We did a TON together and I adored her twin girls during a season when I was not working, and didn’t yet have kids. It was a perfect fit! She appreciated the help with her girls, and I needed distraction and enjoyed conversation that pertained to something other than the nitty gritty that went on in my life at that time. Here we are at a very special wedding we had the honor of being a part of:

When her husband graduated from the residency and it was time for them to move on, she gifted me the book pictured at the beginning of this post, “That’s What a Friend Is” and told me that I would one day read it to my own children. It’s bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it now.

The description in the book of what a friend is….is fantastic! Essentially, someone you feel yourself around, not judged, able to do what you enjoy doing, and who provides a safe place for you when you’re stressed or troubled. Wow. We ALL need friends, don’t we? Sometimes it’s really hard to find a friend like this.

But…in order to have a friend like this, we also need to be willing to BE a friend like this, too. And sometimes, this is even harder. But I’ve found that during the times in my life when I was struggling to find a good friend, it was because I wasn’t really BEING a good friend to people around me.

So…with all that said, ladies! Let me share something with you. Girls can be mean, petty, judgmental, critical, and just flat out witchy! But when they are? It’s probably because inside they’re feeling terribly insecure and really need a good friend.

Many Most All of my close friends have generally been fellow girls or women who struggled with female relationships because of all those reasons listed above. How can you be yourself when you’re feeling judged all the time? 

We need to stop with the judging and comparing, and learn to be open and honest so that we can participate in knowing what a friend truly is and can be! I’m thankful to have had many close friends throughout the different seasons of my life, so many in fact that I wouldn’t dare try to list them…but you know who you are.

I have had the pleasure now of reading this book to BOTH my children, and while I was reading it, a specific page caught my eye:

It reminded me of one of my best friends from junior high. So I hunted down another copy of the book and am mailing her a copy to thank her for our friendship during that season of life. What gal doesn’t love a fun surprise in the mail, right?

Who might you mail a surprise book to, or simply a kind letter thanking them for their friendship? I’ve had the book to mail for at LEAST a year now…maybe you’ll beat my pitiful time frame.

Here was the note I included on the inside cover of the book:

I was given this book by a dear friend that I had for a season of my life (well, not THIS exact book, but a copy of the same book, “That’s what a friend is”.). There are many different types of friendships, childhood, lifelong, family, workplace, mommy friends etc. many friendships have their seasons….and man are those friendships important for that season of life! That was true of my friend that gifted me this book, and I feel that was true of you and me up through junior high. I so appreciated our friendship. Anyhow, I thought how cool it would be for me to send the book onto a friend like you that I appreciated during a season of my own life. There is even a page in the book that reminded me of us in junior high. I adorned it with a little smiley face. Enjoy searching for it while you perhaps read it to your littles. Love you friend!

                                                                     Sincerely, Becky

Mother’s Day Gift Idea–Shrinky Dink Silhouettes

Are you ready for your heart to completely melt? I hope so!

I’ve seen these around on other blogs, but it took a good friend awhile to perfect the technique. So I hope this works well for you!

Here is the exact link for the “shrinky dink” material we used in case you’re looking for a good buy.

Before you follow the instructions below, take a side picture of your child (or children) on your phone. IF you’re talented enough to get them to stand still in front of a plain background, kudos to you. I had to take about 50 of my 2 year old daughter before I got one that would work.

Shrinky dink material

Red & Black Fine Tip Sharpies

Scissors

Hole Punch

Silver Jewelry Clasps

Let me know if you have any questions! Now go bless the socks off someone by following this tutorial. =)

Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: MOPS Breakfast (yum!!)

Thai Chicken Pizza (carryover from…awhile ago – made it before, we liked it!)

Tuesday: Pumpkin Waffles

            Oven Tacos *new recipe

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                   Baked Beef Taquitos *new recipe

Thursday: Cereal

               Skinny Fettucine Alfredo *new recipe

Friday: Zucchini Bread (quickly becoming a household fave!)

        Sticky Coconut Chicken *new recipe

Saturday: California Breakfast Casserole

              Chicken Fajita Melts *new recipe

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Sorry I lapsed a week folks! Sometimes I’m just tired and other priorities take focus. I did cook fairly often last week, just more fly by the seat of my pants type cooking. I think my favorite throw together meal was a loaded baked potato with broccoli, chicken, pinto beans, and a touch of butter, cheese and salt. YUM!! will do again for sure.

Happy Monday…no doubts you, too, are praying for the Boston marathoners and first responders. My heart is heavy for them.

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–10 Uses for your Phone Alarm

Some background regarding this post…and just some fun FYI material. My maiden name was Roach (not as bad as you might think, but yes, I was excited to get married). And the Roach family, well…we weren’t the most punctual of families. Nothing horrendous, but we ran late more often than not. My brother and I would actually place bets on what my mom’s excuse would be when she was late picking us up from school. We thought it was quite humorous. So, naturally, I myself have this “running late” tendency. BUT…alas, there is hope!

My trick is to use the alarm on my phone….FOR EVERYTHING!

Here are the following things I use my alarm/timer for:

1. Morning alarm(s) for wake up

2. Reminder to drop off/pick up Cooper from preschool

(okay, it’s not like I’d FORGET…but this way I have a 5 minute buffer to actually get in the car so I’m not seriously late!)

3. Reminder to take medications (for me or my kids)

4. Time outs

(1 minute/year of age. Cooper’s is seeming awfully long these days)

5. Reminder that it’s time to leave the park, or play date, etc.

(you know, when you tell your kids 5 more minutes, and a half hour later you’re finally leaving? With the timer, it’s the fun little robot voice that’s the “bad guy”. And OCCASIONALLY, they actually are excited to hear said funny little robot voice and leave happily! Gasp! Imagine that!)

6. Reminder that I myself have an appointment!

7. Timer for dinner

(‘cuz let’s face it…sometimes you’re playing outside and won’t hear the oven alarm)

8. Timer for when my husband has to stop playing video games

(hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!)

9. Motivation to see how much cleaning I can get done in 10-20 minutes. Set the timer and you’ll be surprised (or not…sometimes it’s a bust, but more often than not, I work faster when timed).

10. Reminder to start crockpot meals. It’s the worst when you have it planned, and forget to start the crockpot and that day’s crockpot use is a bust. Man, oh man, what a disappointment!

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There you have it, folks. 10 more ways to utilize your phone alarm. May you be ever more on time my friends!

TTFN

Becky Nicholas

Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: Carrot Sweet Potato Muffins

            Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Salad

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Pancakes

           Rainbow Chard Tortilla Pizza *new recipe

and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert! (comment if you want the recipe!)

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie

Thursday: Leftover Muffins

             Artichoke & Red Bell Pepper Risotto

(Pampered Chef recipe, it’s delish!)

Friday: Apple Rings

        Cheddar Chicken Spirals

Saturday: Cereal or Eggs

           Thai Chicken Pizza

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Recap from last week…

dinners…

Monday: Thai Chicken Noodle Salad

**This was a new recipe for me, and if I were to make it again, I’d either put on less sauce, or omit some of the peanut butter. It was tasty, but MIGHTY rich! And that’s saying a LOT coming from me.

Tuesday: Chicken, Asparagus & Mashed Potatoes

**This is the second time I’ve made this asparagus “recipe”. It’s not like there’s much to it, but it’s DELICIOUS! Our family of 4 ate 2 entire bunches of asparagus, WITHOUT complaint! (well, Allie licked it, hehe)

Wednesday: Roasted Fennel, Carrots & Mixed Rice

**3rd time I’ve made this, also delicious! I add shredded crockpot chicken. It’s sweet, but nature’s kind of sweet! =)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Pork, Chipotle’s Lime Rice & Salad

**I made this slow cooker pork before, but it was WAAY more vinegar-y this time. It may have been because I shredded the chicken in the cooking liquids? I also would NOT pair it with the Chipotle lime rice again, waay too much flavor. I like both of them, just separately. I also ran out of cilantro for the rice when I thought I had some, totally disappointing. It’s amazing how such a tiny ingredient can have such an impact!

Lime-Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

**I have made these before as well, but didn’t let the butter cool enough this time, and had sort of flat cookies. Still yummers though!

Friday: Autumn Chopped Salad

**Have made it before, and will make it again! Delicious!

Saturday: Nachos (not what was planned)

**Two sick kids and a mom who was stuck in the house with the two of them for a week straight = not wanting to cook. So we made nachos and watched Wreck It Ralph instead. Superb decision!!

Sunday: Egg Salad Sandwiches

recap breakfasts & snacks

Monday: Cereal & Crispy Roasted Snap Peas

(cereal is ALWAYS a hit in this household…snap pea snack? A TOTAL and complete bust. Oh well.)

Tuesday: Healthy Whole Grain Zucchini Bread (gone in 2 days FLAT!)

Wednesday: Slammin’ Surprise “Green” Smoothie – a hit!

Thursday: Cute “Bear” Toast

(okay, this one threw me. My daughter didn’t want to eat the bear! She kept saying, “Eyes? Ears? Nose?” and wouldn’t touch it. So I gave her all the food items on the side, and she eventually ate EVERYTHING. So…definitely a hit!)

Friday: Scrambled Eggs

(Neither kid wanted them, but I stuck to my guns and they went hungry until lunch. Judge if you want!)

Saturday: Cereal

Sunday: Sticky Lemon Rolls

(DELICIOUS! Don’t get me wrong…these were tasty! But if I’m going to go through the effort of making cinnamon rolls from scratch, I’m gonna go classic next time. They were VERY lemon-y. I’d cut back the lemon juice in the glaze for sure!)

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update on picky eater

A definite improvement! We also tried a few new smoothies, Click on the pictures to try them yourself!

Pina Colada Green Monster Smoothie

Lime and Coconut Green Smoothie

Mango & Coconut Smoothie

Tofu Peanut Butter Smoothie

(This last one sounds GROSS…but try it. I liked it, so did my kids! Husband..could take it or leave it)

Becky Nicholas