Project Date Night '16: July

We did this date night/family fun night in the last part of July, but it's been crazy busy and I haven't had a chance to post about it until now! Enjoy this installment of Project Date Night!

We began this month's date night as a Family Fun Night.  I don't know about you, but July is pretty much the dog days of summer for me... it's HOT and as much as I love camping, I do not love camping when it's HOT.  [When I say 'camping', I mean tent camping, not RV-ing.]

Solution? Go "camping" indoors!

If you have a small enough tent (or a large enough room), by all means - set up a tent inside your home!

Our tent is too large for our living room, so we put together a makeshift tent with sheets instead. Ry was SO excited! He kept running around yelling, "FORT!" When you're 3, few things can top a fort!

Menu
You could totally go campfire with this date and roast hotdogs and marshmallows over a gas flame (if you have a gas stove) or under a broiler. I chose to do my food on the stovetop, but do whatever you normally do for camping food.

• I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to make my own version of s'mores bars. These are allergy-friendly graham cracker crust on the bottom, topped with homemade vegan marshmallow, topped with homemade dark chocolate.  Yumminess for the entire family, even with multiple food allergies. 
• Hotdogs w/ mustard (utlimate camping food!)
• Pan fried potatoes
• Hibiscus sun tea

Fun Stuff
We always bring an "entertainment bag" with us when we go camping, so of course we had to do something similar. Ry was excited to play his first board game, The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game. Super cute, and I love that the box is actually the 'board'. It's a cute game that teaches turn-taking, fine motor skills, color matching, and simple strategy (ages 3-6).

After we put Ry to bed, M and I chilled out after our crazy week and just played a simple game of Pass the Pigs. This game was a gift from my BFF, Beka.  Brought back some memories of hanging out with friends and killing time back in my single days. Pass the Pigs is a fun game that requires very little skill, brain power, or strategy. It's completely a game of chance... in this case, instead of dice, you throw little plastic pigs, then depending on how they land (on their back, on their nose, etc.) you get point. First person to a certain number of points wins. You wouldn't think something that simple would be so fun, but really, it is! Recommended for ages 3 and up.

Cost = FREE (I had all supplies on hand and food was included in the grocery budget)

How do YOU feel about camping?

Project Date Night '16: June

Welcome to this month's installment of Project Date Night... 'How to do a Drive in Movie at Home'...

Our original plan for June's date night was to attend a drive in classic movie at a farm in our area. But, the event was canceled last minute, so we just did our own 'drive in' instead.

yep, we looked this good... 

First thing you need.... a location...

We had already hired a babysitter, so we actually left home this time, but you could really do this anywhere (like your garage, back porch, backyard, driveway). We parked our car in the Walmart parking lot!

Then you need... technology...

If you're DIY-ing a drive in movie, you need a way to play the actual movie. We used M's laptop computer, but you could just as easily use a tablet or phone.  For a more authentic experience, you could use a projector with your computer and project your movie onto your garage/house siding, garage door, etc. Hang up a light colored sheet if necessary!!

Don't forget... the movie!
Borrow a DVD, stream Netflix, re-watch something from your own collection, or rent a movie from Redbox (ideally, wait for a coupon code!).  We rented The Finest Hours, which we enjoyed. Not a lot of movies about the Coast Guard out there, but this is a good one! Check out the Parental Guide here.

Get Comfy
Bring pillows and blankets to make your surroundings comfy. If you're outdoors, you may want to consider bug spray! We brought a couple of blankets and my big body pillow. Since we were hanging out in a parking lot inside the car, we just flopped the back seats down and propped up the body pillow against the hatchback. Even better, wear your lounge pants, hoodie and slippers!

Bring Munchies!
Movies are always better with popcorn! I made Doritos popcorn and cinnamon glazed popcorn (I left out the nuts). I thought about making fiesta taco popcorn, but ran out of kernels.

To sip, I made a cold brewed Jamaica hibiscus iced tea. YUM. I love hibiscus tea!!!

All in all, we had a good time.  It was a different twist on a movie date. Somehow, taking things outside brings in an element of fun and makes the date more enjoyable than just crashing on the couch together.  Give it a try!!!  It also makes a fun group date with other couples. :)

Total Cost:  $26.50 ($25 for the babysitter and $1.50 for the movie.  Next time, we'll just plan to do the drive in here in our driveway and skip the babysitter - still have the battery operated baby monitor! - which will make the date significantly less expensive.)

Little Blue Truck 3rd Birthday Party

Ry's favorite book is Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle. He has it memorized and loves all the sounds the truck and farm animals make. To celebrate his 3rd birthday, we got down on the farm.

I wasn't as on the ball with this party as I usually am, but we had fun anyway!

Riding his new 'tractor' with some help from Dad. (Can't quite reach the pedals yet!)

Invitation
I found this free printable. It was easy to download the graphic, and add it to a Word document. I added the "Moo Cluck Peep..." etc. animal sounds and the wording.

Project Date Night '16: May

So, I don't typically "celebrate" Cinco de Mayo, but it gave me an excuse for a themed menu for date night this month... and there you have it.

Side note: I didn't realize it before, but Cinco de Mayo isn't actually widely celebrated in Mexico, is more of an Americanized holiday. But anyway, Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates a big battle between the Mexican army and the French. Learn more here.

May 5th this year was also the first Thursday in May, which is the National Day of Prayer here in the USA. We love to take the opportunity to pray for our nation and it's leaders and pray for direction and discernment for our future. Learn more about the National Day of Prayer here.

Details
I feel like it's kind of disrespectful to have a huge Mexican theme party and hullabaloo over a big battle where a bunch of people died (especially when it's not my culture or nation)... I saw one blogger refer to it as the equivalent of another country having a big drunk bash wearing Uncle Sam hats to celebrate the Battle of Gettysburg. Kind of puts it into perspective, eh? {can't find the link to it now, sorry!}

But we love Mexican food! So we ate some yummy-ness!  Later, we prayerfully considered our future and wrote our wills. Morbid? Maybe. But it's got to be done. Being a parent makes you think about those things a little more. I mean, what would happen to our child if we were both killed in a car accident (God forbid)?  So now we have one and I'm glad I don't have to think about again for a while.

My dairy-free "nachos"

We used the NOLO Simple Will Book (7th Edition) and it was pretty easy. The book includes a CD-ROM with downloadable worksheets to make it simple and easy to understand... There were a lot of things I had never really thought of before. It was also a great discussion starter. I don't think we'd ever really talked about a will before and now its nice to know we're on the same page.

Menu

• Loaded Nachos with avocado, seasoned ground beef, pinto beans, tomato, salsa, olives (with jalapenos and Heavenly Homemakers' nacho cheese sauce for M) over corn tortilla chips
  [We LOVE Xochtil brand chips- seriously SO GOOD. The price on  Amazon is ridiculous though - I get mine at our local grocery store.) 
• Agua de Fresa (I also added some sparkling water to ours to cut the sweetness)
• Paleo Choco Taco (ok, so NOT authentically Mexican, but I used to love these! We did the vegan version and I sweetened it with NuNaturals Stevia since I'm still trying to cut out sugar as much as possible.)
  Oh, and I waited too long to bend my "taco shells" in half, so they broke. So we really had Choco Taco Sundaes instead. It was still good. :)

Cost: FREE

The food came out of the grocery budget and I borrowed the will book from my parents. (Thanks!)

This was definitely one of my simpler date nights but it was an incredibly important one. Read about Project Date Night here.

10 Things New Moms Need to Hear

Now that I have few years of this "mom thing" under my belt, I feel it's ok to share some things... I think sometimes we forget to be sensitive to the struggles people around us are going through. I struggled a LOT with new motherhood. A combination of new responsibilities, moving to a new state, health issues and lack of sleep made every day a challenge. Here are a few things that I desperately needed to hear in those early days, whether I not I verbalized it... and I think most moms would agree.

Back in those early days of motherhood... hard to believe now he was ever that little!

1. You look beautiful today.

All women need to hear this periodically, but especially stay at home moms that have young children. I mean, makeup? What's that? An actual hair style? Who are you kidding? Most days, it's the standard braid or ponytail... whatever gets your hair out of your face/your baby's chubby, moist grasp. But deep down, you don't want to be Frump Mom, you want someone to believe that you're still beautiful, even if you don't have the time (or let's face it - energy) to beautify. This is especially important for husbands to say to their wives. She NEEDS to know that even though she feels drained, even though she has crazy hair and may or may not have had time to shower today, even though she has stretch marks and a few extra pounds of baby weight still hanging on, you still think she's beautiful. Tell her!

2. How are you? And actually take time to listen to the response.

It's so easy to let children become the focal point of every conversation. When you see a friend (or even acquaintance), we often fall into the trap of asking about the kids only and neglect to ask, "How are YOU". Trust me, she needs to know that she's still a valuable person, not just "Mom".

And probably the most important part... actually listen to her response. How many times have you asked someone, "How are you", but didn't really want to hear an answer other than "Fine"? It's programmed in us as part of "being polite" to ask "How are you?", but think about it - do you really WANT to know how she's doing?  New Moms (especially the stay at home variety) are often discouraged, lonely, overwhelmed and need someone to truly listen and validate their feelings. You have the opportunity to be a blessing to this precious momma. Don't pass it up!

Project Date Night '16: April (Star Wars!)

For Project Date Night this month, M and I did a dinner and a movie date with a Star Wars theme. Yep, I confess...I'm a Star Wars junkie. I've been eagerly awaiting Episode 7 on DVD so I could do a date night - it was fun!

Setting the Mood

To get us in the Star Wars mood early in the day, I took a picture of my screen (high-tech, I know) with the R2D2 love note up on my screen and texted it to M... saved on printer ink! :)

I also sent him a link to the John Williams is the Man youtube video. I think I've watched this video about 47 different times, but it still makes me smile. I walked around singing the song for the rest of the day!!

Menu

I think it's fun to do plays-on-words with food and theme events... obviously...

• Han-burgers (hamburgers) - We just ate them with a knife/fork on a plate.
• Leia-ed salad (layered salad) - Got the idea here, but decided not to do the mexican thing. We did sort of a chopped salad with chopped mixed greens, sliced black olives, diced grape tomatoes, diced cucumber, chopped green onion, sauteed diced red bell pepper and topped with crumbled bacon and homemade italian vinaigrette....YUM.
• BB-8's (baby carrots)
• Poe-tato chips (Boulder Canyon coconut oil kettle chips) - Wicked yummy, simple - and can you believe it, HEALTHY - chips.
• Wookie Cookies (chocolate macaroons) - I'm so glad I found this recipe! It's hard to find egg-free macaroons, but these are great. I did the stevia sweetened (sugar free) version. When the cookies were done I drizzled them with some almond butter for a Chewbacca-like two tone look.
• Lightsabers (fruit kabobs) - Green grapes for the 'blade' part, blueberries for the 'handle' threaded onto a bamboo skewer.

Movie Review

As most of you know, I have a sort of obsession with Star Wars and Harrison Ford. I loved the original 3 movies (Episodes 4-6) and tolerated Episodes 1-3... So, it was 50/50 for me whether I would like the latest installment, The Force Awakens. 

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Let's talk talent... 

• Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) gets top billing and yet he's only in 1 scene. What's with that?
• Carrie Fisher's (Princess Leia) performance seemed a little forced, but being that she's playing a character who by now is a little road-weary and has survived quite a lot of loss, it's workable. 
• Harrison Ford is the man. Ok, so I'm a little biased. I enjoyed his performance. He's his typical Han Solo cranky, sarcastic, charming, rakish self. And underneath that crusty exterior, he's loyal and has a good heart. 
• Daisy Ridley (Rey)... whoop, whoop! The girl power this series needs to take the franchise forward. Loved her character and spunk! And I mean, lightsaber duel? Yes, please.
• John Boyega (Finn) did a fantastic job. I enjoyed his portrayal of a stormtrooper-turned-hero and he plays well with Daisy's Rey.
• Oscar Isaac... apparently, "they" decided the younger cast needed a cocky pilot, so they chose Oscar to play Poe Dameron, a rebel pilot. While Poe has his good points (loyal to the cause, cares about others), I just wasn't swooning. Sorry, the role of hunky, charming, sarcastic pilot has already been filled.
• Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) also didn't impress me too much. He did a good job with the part, I just wasn't impressed with the character. Kylo Ren seems a little unstable and not nearly conflicted enough about the dark side/light side dichotomy and overall I felt the character was a little flat. 
• Throw in some random droids (BB-8 is cute) and aliens and of course, the 'bad guys' to round out the cast.  

Let's talk plot...

• Ok, so here's the rundown...scavenger/pilot desert bedouin teams up with a cocky pilot and an evil organization escapee to join the rebellion and destroy a machine capable of obliterating entire planets. 
• The evil villain was 'seduced' by the dark side of the force, is being trained by a super-evil (and really old/decrepit) genius and is prone to fits of temper, but might possibly be convinced to return to the light side of the force. 
• After much epic-ness, leaps to hyperspace, the Millennium Falcon breaking down, 'feel the force' mumbo-jumbo, lightsaber duels, and heartbreaking loss, the heroes emerge scarred, but victorious and we feel some sense of closure and an anticipation of the next installment.  

Sound familiar? Yep, I thought so. What's weird is that even though the overall plot is pretty much the same as the original trilogy, I truly enjoyed the movie and I do look forward to the next installment. To me it feels as if history is repeating itself in this franchise, but really, that's pretty true to life. 

Let's talk recommendation...

I give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It's a movie I will enjoy watching again in the future. Although I may not pull it out to re-watch frequently, and it's not quite on par with the original trilogy, I would still recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed any of the previous movies. 

Check out the trailer and more information here. 

And if you're interested, look through the parent guide here for information on language/violence/etc.

Additional Date Night/Family Fun Activities

We didn't add anything else to our date and opted for a plain jane dinner-and-a-movie date because that's what we felt up to. However, if you're looking for some additional "fun" activities...

• Pop on over to the Dating Divas and check out their Jedi Training game and Jedi medal craft
• Or, try this quick prep movie game from Dating Divas!
• Stretch your strategic brain with the Star Wars edition of the board game Risk
• Get goofy with Star Wars Mad Libs
• Include the whole family with this Sorry! board game (Star Wars version)
• Or, this Star Wars card game (similar to the classic card game War) recommended for ages 7+ 

Total Cost: Free

Food came out of the grocery budget, so nothing extra on that. I got a great deal on the movie through TopCashback - Free after the cashback during a special offer! I was planning to rent the movie from Redbox, but now I get to keep it!

Project Date Night '16: March

Did you know that March 14th is National Pi Day? And notice I said 'pi' as in math... as in 3.14....... get it?

Not sure who was the brainchild behind that awesome excuse for pie eating, but whoever you are, I thank you.

Any excuse to eat pie is a win in my book. Now, pie gets a little complicated when you've got food allergies. I typically cheat and eat crisps or crumbles or sloops or betties or whatever you want to call it. This month, we REALLY cheated 'pie' and just ate the filling.

Details
In honor of Pi Day, M and I played a round of Trivial Pursuit. Why, you ask? Well, if you've ever played the game, you'd know that the game pieces look like pie. In my face. In a pan.

This, friends, is the classic, original version. We find that we prefer the old version because it has questions about literature (books, people, BOOKS) instead of pop culture like the current version does.

Here's our board. I won this round!

And I can get the original version at thrift stores and/or yard sales for ridiculously cheap. So I did. Goodwill thanks me for my patronage.

Menu

• Triple Berry Pie Filling (M)
• Apple Pie Filling (me)
• Protein Packed Vanilla Soft-Serve (M)
  There's not actually a recipe for this, it's just a serving of Tera's Whey protein powder mixed with coconut milk, then blended with a frozen banana until it's soft serve consistency. Easy Peasy.
• Herbal tea

Total Cost: $2 [for the Trivial Pursuit game]

So, that's it folks! Simple. Pie filling. Pie game. Pi Day. What wacky holidays do you 'celebrate'???

50 Books for Babies

If you know us at all, you know we LOVE books! I've been reading to Ry pretty much since he was born, and now that he's almost ready to start preschool, I thought it was high time I posted a list of our favorite books.

This is a list of books Ry loved to look at from birth until about 18 months of age. There are a few we occasionally still flip through, but they're not as 'favorite' now as they were during his first year and a half. There are SO many books we could have chosen to list, but these books are the ones we've read over and over.

A note about our book choices:  we prefer to focus on books that are rooted in reality, as children don't develop the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality until they're about 3 years old. As a result, they're aren't many books on this list featuring animals that talk or wear clothing, fairy tails, monsters, superheroes or other fantastical situations.

I also prefer to choose books for babies that have beautiful illustrations or photography or are visually stimulating.  We borrowed many of these books from our local library and purchased our very favorites or received several as gifts. 

Critters

1. Wild Animals (Baby touch and feel) by DK Publishing
2. Animals (Baby Touch and Feel) by DK Publishing
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
4. Knut the Baby Polar Bear by Juliana Hatkoff
5. My Big Animal Book by Roger Priddy
6. I Went Walking by Sue Williams
7. Who Says Quack? by Jerry Smith
8. Baby's Animal Friends by Phoebe Dunn
9. Look at the Animals by Peter Linenthal

   10. Baby's Very First Noisy Book by Usborne

Ry is just in love with animals. We've had so much fun naming animals (both vocal and ASL), and learning their sounds. My in-laws gave Ry this Usborne noisy book when he was just a few months old. The illustrations are very simple, but Ry enjoyed turning the pages and pushing the buttons to hear the animal noises. It's one of the few books we had out constantly for almost 2 years. (Note, Usborne doesn't sell this particular book anymore, but they have several other very first noisy book variations, such as farm, train, zoo, etc.)

Ry also loves the Baby Touch and Feel animal books. He enjoys feeling the different textures on each page and actually still flips through these ones from time to time.

Project Date Night '16: February

For Valentine's Day, we typically prefer to skip the crowds, stay in and spend some quiet time together in the comfort of our own home. We introverts are like two peas in a pod.

This year, we had the added "blessing" of a gut-healing special diet program on top of my usual food allergies, so eating out wasn't an option for us anyway (as well as chocolate, dessert and candy of any type being off limits).

Décor
Have you ever heard of doing a "heart attack" on Valentine's day? Apparently it's similar to a "Ding Dong Ditch" except for Valentine's Day. In a "heart attack" you secretly put heart shapes somewhere near or on the unsuspecting victim's house/car/office/door/etc. I'd never heard of it before, but it sounded like fun.  I "heart attacked" our bedroom door with these heart shaped "I love you because..." tags (they're supposed to be attached to balloons, but I used them in my own way) and also made some paper "conversation hearts" with colored cardstock and a sharpie marker.

Project Date Night '16: January

We enjoyed Project Date Night so much last year, we've decided to do it again this year. Our theme this year will be "Cheap or Free", so we'll be doing mostly at home dates. I am saving up for one bigger date out, maybe for our anniversary or Christmas.

Our best "Scared of Dinosaurs" faces.

To start off our year with a roar, we stayed in and did the Jurassic World date from Dating Divas. M had been wanting to see the movie anyway, so when I saw this date on the Dating Divas' website, it was a no-brainer.

Our best "Hungry T-Rex" faces. While trying not to laugh.

The Details
It was a super easy date to throw together.  I printed off the food tags, signs, tickets and prediction sheet from Dating Divas and whipped up some snacks for us to munch on.

I taped my labels onto appetizer forks I had sitting in a drawer and wedged them onto the edge of my serving dish. Perf!

Too cute, right?

Before we watched the movie, we took a minute to predict a few things about the movie... like... how many times does a dinosaur roar? How many cars get smashed? How many times is the phrase "Genetically Modified" used? We totally flunked it. Turns out, we only got one prediction right. Funny how it makes you pay attention to the small details, though.

The Menu

• Carnivore:  Spicy Crispy Bacon (I slathered some taco seasoning on slices of bacon and cooked it on low in my cast iron skillet to render out the fat without burning the meat. Results were really crispy spicy bacon! YUM!)
• Herbivore:  Salt & Pepper Kale Chips (I love Oh She Glows' master recipe. Simple, crunchy and delicious. Oh, and my kiddo loves them. You try feeding leafy greens to a toddler. Winner!)
• Omnivore:  Cookies... Yep, dinosaurs eat cookies... at least they do at my house. I made a slice-and-bake version of the gingerbread boys and girls cookie recipe in Everyday Grain-Free Baking cookbook I got for Christmas. LOVE that cookbook. Although, next time, I will use more molasses!
• Beverage:  Martinelli's sparkling apple cider (by request, M loves this stuff. Although getting the bottle open is always a challenge, because we can never remember to buy a bottle opener.) Oh well. The sparkly-ness went well with the spicy ginger cookies!

Mini Movie Review
If you're a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise, you'll love this movie. If you're not a fan, you'll probably hate this movie. If you're indifferent (like me), then you might actually enjoy the movie (I did).

It was very action packed (although a little over the top) and I thought Chris Pratt did a phenomenal job as a "dinosaur trainer". There's lots of action, and barely any romance, so it's more of a guy movie, but we both enjoyed it. Check out the trailer here.

So there you have it!

Cost: free (I count the food in the grocery budget and I used a code for a free Redbox DVD rental. Yay!)

Christmas Countdown 2.0 (Week 4)

Hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone and 2015 is coming to a close. It flew by!  Our Christmas countdown is also at an end. Here's what we did the final few days leading up to Christmas.

Day 22:  Christmas Coloring Pages
The original plan for Day 22 was to drive around and look at Christmas lights and decorations in our town... but... it was a really rainy, foggy, cruddy day. Like, the kind in the Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer song. We didn't feel like venturing out, so I pulled these coloring pages out of my "back-up plans in case of uncooperative weather" folder and we "helped" Ry color (meaning we colored and Ry scribbled and we all had a good time).

If you're interested in getting a copy of these pages for the little ones in your life, you can download them here.

Day 23:  Deliver Treats to Neighbors
A few weeks ago, our church ladies' group put together some cookie in a jar mixes and we were each able to take one home. Since we're gluten free, I decided to pass on my cookie mix to one of our neighbors who loves to bake.

Chistmas Countdown 2.0 (Week 3)

As the third week of our Christmas countdown comes to a close, I'm thankful for the many blessings in my life. It's been a busy week, but we were able to spend a few days with family and Ry had such a good time with Grandma and Grampy.

Day 15: Make Snow Angels Nature Walk
Still no snow. I told a friend the other day that I feel like I'm living in a scene from the Bing Crosby movie "White Christmas"... you know, the part where they arrive in Vermont expecting snow and get balmy weather instead? Yep, that's us. As I write this, it's in the high 50's and raining. So no white Christmas for us.

Anyway, Ry and I decided to take advantage of the one nice day we had this week to take a 'hike' up the hill in the woods behind our apartment. Ry did pretty well with the uneven terrain on the way up, but needed help on the way down. (He kept saying "Help. Scary.")

Christmas Countdown 2.0 (Week 2)

We had a fun second week in our Christmas countdown. We had to make a few minor changes to our original plan because of weather, but that's ok. See what we did this week.

Day 8: "Gingerbread" House
I made Ry a cardboard house and glued on some Velcro so we could 'decorate' the house with felt, pipe cleaners, and pom-pom decorations. I think Ry had more fun 'un-decorating' the house than he did decorating the house. Such is the nature of toddler-hood.

Project Date Night: December

Since December is such a busy month, we decided to go simple with our date night this month.

M was able to get some discounted movie ticket vouchers from his employer to use at any movie. Hmmm.... choices, choices. We decided to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, and we loved it!

Funny side note, if you're not into crowds, try going to a movie on a Sunday afternoon. There were about 15 people in the entire theater and we were the youngest ones there.

This was one of our more expensive dates, since we had to get a babysitter.  We joke that we do dinner and a movie - dinner for the babysitter and the movie for us. We don't have a whole lot of teenager approved food at our house, so we get some form of takeout for her when she's here as part of her babysitting deal.

Mockingjay Part 2 received average reviews from the critics, but I loved it.  You can't have a series without wrapping up all the loose ends, and that's what Part 2 is about.  (Not) shockingly enough, my favorite part of the whole movie is that last few minutes, where Katniss finally gets her happy ending. I've been waiting 4 movies for closure and finally... bittersweet, yes. But closure all the same

You can read the synopsis and watch the trailer here.

We've come through an entire year of Project Date Night and I feel it's been a success. I hope our dates this year have in some small way been an inspiration to you and your relationships.

Christmas Countdown 2.0 (Week 1)

As promised, here's a look at the first 7 activities we've done as part of our Christmas Countdown this year.

Day 1: Deck the Halls
Fa-la-la-la-laaaaaa...... Decorating at our house means that I get out the snowflake and Nativity window clings and let Ry stand on his little stool and stick them to the windows. Then, peel them off. Then, stick them on in a different order. Then, peel them off. And repeat.

 

Then, after he goes to bed, M and I decorate the rest of the house, because I want to actually get the ornaments on the tree without them breaking or being eaten or thrown away. (Ry's newest 'game'. "I help!" he says as he 'cleans up' and throws Mommy's socks, bills, crackers, makeup, etc. in the trash can.)

I confess, I expected to do a LOT more re-decorating of the tree this year, but he's been really good and apparently listened to my lecture (See the pretty tree? Let's keep it pretty and leave the ornaments on the tree. No touch, understand?) We've only had to put ornaments back on once.  Knock on wood.

Day 2: Mom's Choice

I was having a down day and not feeling too well, so Mom's choice was something on the quieter side. I chose to share my favorite Christmas movie with Ry this year - A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It never gets old. Ry's probably a little young for the story and he didn't really get it what it was all about, but he laughed and danced along with the music and seemed to really like Snoopy.

Day 3: Felt Christmas Tree
I think I expected Ry to be more excited about this than he was. It may be that he lumped it together with the rest of the decorations ("no touch") in his mind so it took him a few days before he actually played with it more than once. He's like, "That's nice, Mom. Where's my Legos?" We'll see how much use he gets out of it in the next few weeks.

 

To make the wall tree, I cut a tree shape out of green felt (about 36 inches tall) and taped it to the wall with double stick tape. Then, I used scraps of colored felt to make "ornaments", candy canes, and a star for the top. I glued some pom-poms and other bits of felt to dress it up a little. I think it came out kind of cute!

Note, I put originally put Velcro on the back of the ornaments so the pieces would stick better, but they ended up sticking too well and when Ry tried to take the ornaments off the felt tree, they pulled the tree off the wall. Hmmm... So I took the Velcro off the ornaments and found that the felt sticks pretty well to itself, so no Velcro needed.

Day 4: Find and Fill Nativity
I got the idea from No Time For Flashcards and adapted it down a little for Ry this year. He's a little young for the scavenger hunt portion, so we just set up his Fisher Price nativity set while I told him who the characters were and how they were important to the Christmas story.

Mom fail moment: He got the nativity set last year and has played with it several time since, so I thought it would be no big deal to do this activity. Our set plays Away In A Manger when you press the angel on the top and apparently, he wasn't expecting that, so it surprised him and he cried. (Probably had a lot to do with it being close to nap time, he can get a little cranky or teary eyed when he's tired.)

He wasn't interested in having anything else to do with the nativity set for a day or two after that, but he's warmed up to it now and I even caught him playing with it by himself yesterday. Next week, I may try sitting with him and removing the characters one at a time and see if he can name them and put them back. Note to self - try this again earlier in the day!

Day 5: Make Cookies
I whipped up some cookie dough and rolled it out, then Ry helped cut out the cookies.  He thought that was fun, but not as much fun as eating the raw cookie dough. "Why bake?" seems to be his motto. I used this gluten free, dairy free, egg free recipe and topped it with some whipped carob icing.

Got to admit, he was as big a fan of the frosted, finished cookies as he was of the raw dough. Kids... there's no accounting for taste... :)

"I don't have cookie dough in my mouth!" Right...

Day 6: Christmas Signing Time
If you know us, you know we're big fans of Signing Time, a series of videos that teaches babies and kids how to use sign language.  It's really helped increase Ry's vocabulary and it's much easier to understand him when he speaks and signs together (although it gets easier to understand his speech as he gets older).

Anyway, I bought the Signing Time Christmas Collection and it was a big hit! We reviewed some of the signs we learned last Christmas and a whole lot of new ones.  I also loved the Christmas (Bible story) musical drama at the end of the video, with the whole drama interpreted in sign. Beautifully done. Best holiday purchase this year, hands down.

Day 7: Christmas Tunes Dance Party
This was a lot of fun. We cranked up our Christmas station on Pandora and I got out our jingle bells and we danced around the living room. Ry has been walking around randomly saying "Jingle Bells" ever since.

Bonus, he was so tired out afterwards, he took an extra long nap. Hmmm... maybe we should do this more often...

Read all the related posts here:

• Advent Calendar/Christmas Countdown 2.0
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

Christmas Countdown (Advent Calendar) 2.0

Remember my frugal Christmas countdown from last year? It was fun, right? We thought so. We plan to do it again this year.  In case you're new around here, let's recap:

What's the Christmas Countdown?
I wanted to have 1 activity a day December 1-24 that emphasized being together and having fun as a family and de-emphasized the "gimmes" (giving to and serving others). The activities also had to be age appropriate for a toddler, and not focus on food, since we have multiple food allergies and are on a pretty strict diet. Oh, and of course I threw in a few activities just for Mom and Dad.

My holiday season mantra: focus on the give, not the get.

Putting it all Together
This year, I had a little more time on my hands and decided to put together a nicer clip set. I actually printed out the numbers on cardstock, cut the numbers out into squares and mounted them on scrapbook paper. I got a little crafty and used Washi tape to spice up the plain green ones. Overall, I'm pleased with the effect.

New this year: I hot glued the numbers to the clothespins. Last year, I just used double-sided scrapbook sticker squares and we had issues with the numbers coming off the clips. So, I couldn't re-use some of the clips this year and just decided to start over.

We're in a new apartment this year and don't have a fireplace or mantle... where to hang the countdown... hmmm.... solution: I used the burlap twine I'd hung up for my birthday banner.  Worked great!

Last year, I removed the tag each day and put it in a box on the mantel. After a while, I noticed the clothesline looked pretty lopsided (as is the nature of a countdown). That may not bug some of you out there, but I love having some symmetry in my life, so I decided to do things a little differently this year.

New this year, I'll be removing the entire clip each day, turning it around (so you can't see the number) and reattaching the clip without the activity tag. Then, I plan to use that day's clip to display a Christmas card we received in the mail. Solves the symmetry issue, as well as my Christmas card display dilemma. (If those are my only problems, I can count myself blessed, right?)

Mommy's big helper!

Activity Tags
I used 12 recycled Christmas cards (the pretty half with the artwork) and wrote an activity on the back. For the other 12 tags, I used mostly green cardstock and printed the activity onto the back, or used small green envelopes to hold tickets, etc. (like, for date night).

What activities are we doing this year? Glad you asked. All the family and kid activities are age appropriate for toddlers (2-3 year olds), but could probably be adapted for slightly younger or older children depending on their development or interests. You'll notice a few repeats from last year, but there will be quite a few new activities this year as Ry's interests and abilities have changed and grown.

Here's a sneak preview:

• Find and Fill Nativity Set Activity
• Painted Paper Plate Wreath Craft
• Christmas Signing Time DVD
• Decorate a Cardboard "Gingerbread" House
• Magnetic Gift Box/Bow Activity
• Story Time (Christmas Storybook)
• Wrap Presents
• Project Date Night: December Edition
• Package Treats and Deliver to the Neighbors
• Church Christmas Dinner and Gift Exchange
• Christmas Eve Service
• T-shirt Tradition
• Caroling at the Senior Center
• Assorted snow related activities... planning for flexibility this year! LET IT SNOW!
• And MORE....

We're already a few days into the countdown and again, I'm sorry I'm getting this to you too late for you to do the full 24 days, but I hope this post inspires you to spend some quality time with your family this month as we anticipate the celebration of our Lord's birth.

Coming Next!
At the end of each 7 day period, I'll post a recap of what activities we did and how it went. Stay tuned for silliness, nostalgia and poor photography... it'll be awesome!

"See" you soon.

#ipackedashoebox: Touching Lives With Operation Christmas Child

Last year, I began a new tradition with Ry. I wanted to teach him at an early age that Christmas is not about 'getting', it's about 'giving'. 

I came across Operation Christmas Child (OCC) online and love the idea of giving something tangible to another child on the other side of the world.


What's Operation Christmas Child?

OCC is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, a non-profit relief organization committed to being Jesus' "hands and feet". Operation Christmas Child sends shoeboxes packed with age-appropriate toys, gifts, hygiene items and school supplies overseas to children, often orphans or street children. Each child receiving a shoebox also has the opportunity to hear a gospel presentation by local pastors and volunteers in their language, and receives a colorful children's booklet containing the plan of salvation in their own language to take home with them.

What Goes Into An OCC Shoebox?

In case you're wondering, here's how to pack a shoebox... from the experts...



Last year, we packed 1 box. It was fun to see how much we could stuff into a shoe box! We tracked  our box to Ukraine, which we thought was ironic, since M is of Ukrainian descent. We love the idea that a little boy in an orphanage somewhere in Ukraine is enjoying the stuffed animal, coloring books, matchbox cars and other items we sent.

This year we're doing 2 boxes. We had fun shopping for fillers... or at least I did. Ry just wanted to play with all the toys. Glad to know I picked items a toddler would like.  :)

So, what's in my shoebox?

Project Date Night: November

It's no secret to those who know me well... I love stand up comedy. Not trashy, raunchy "comedy" (totally not necessary), but just people making funny observations about life in a witty way.  M and I have a short list of our favorite comedians... and we often quote them in our day to day life... the material doesn't get old.

This month, our Project Date Night theme was "Comedy Club". I'm not a clubbing kind of girl, so we did our own stand up comedy experience at home. And no, I did not improv or make M do one-liners off the top of his head. This was about us laughing together while watching someone else deliver the humor. :)

I made a ticket to our special event and left it in his lunchbox. Pretty easy to do with clip art and MS Word. Here's a blank printable copy for you to use if you feel so inclined.

We put the munchkin to bed a little early (it was one of THOSE days) and we were ready for a break. So, we got comfy, snuggled on the couch with our snack, and watched some videos on YouTube.

The Menu
We always get a laugh out of Anjelah Johnson's "Bon Qui Qui" character, so I named our red, bubbly punch "The Bon Qui Qui" in her honor. (Pomegranate juice, grapefruit juice, cinnamon simple syrup and sparkling water... it was pretty good!)

I made M a mini lemon cheesecake with a gingersnap crust. Apparently, I've got a few kinks to work out of that a recipe. He said the flavor was good, but the crust was soggy... bummer. 

I made Chocolate Covered Katie's Healthy Chocolate Fudge Zucchini Brownies. Got to say, (sorry, Katie!) I felt a little "Meh" about the finished product. They were indeed chocolaty, and fudgy. But they were just really dense and heavy, so I'll keep searching for the perfect brownie elsewhere.

Results? Standing ovation and encore! We had such a good time with this one, we'll plan to do it again sometime. If you looked at my YouTube playlist, you'll notice there's several hours of comedy, so there's plenty more for another round of Comedy Club in the future.

Project Date Night: October

Did you know that October has more rainy days on average than any other month of the year? At least that's what M tells me. It feels true, regardless. Rainy, chilly weather makes me want to stay in and stay warm, so this month's Project Date Night was perfect!

The original plan was to learn to ballroom dance in our living room, inspired by watching the movie, "Shall We Dance" last year. But, as I started compiling a YouTube playlist of instructional videos, I came across quite a few line dancing videos and I thought, "Hmmm, that seems like fun," so the Shall We [Line] Dance date night was born.

Menu
I went all country and did...

• BBQ pork ribs (with homemade BBQ sauce, recipe below!)
• Corn muffins (box mix - I splurged, although I do have a GF cornbread muffin recipe in the works)
• Baked (sweet) potatoes (pretty plain jane)
• Sweet tea (actually a mix of black tea and leftover mildly sweet hibiscus sun tea I had made the day before)
• I was planning to do southern style greens, but just didn't feel like it by the time date night rolled around, so we skipped it.
• Gingersnap cookies (gluten free and actually just as good as the wheat based gingersnaps I grew up baking. SO good. Recipe coming soon. ish.)

Details
We watched the instructional videos while eating our country style dinner, then proceeded to [try to] cut a rug.

Honestly, we aren't very good at dancing. At all. Like, take a normal person's rhythm and split that between the two of us and that's about right. But, we got our heart rates up and had a few laughs and "learned" how to do the Two Step, the Cowboy Boogie, and the Canadian Stomp. We attempted them anyway, but finally gave up. See, this is why we don't dance in public. Because we're really bad at it. But at least we're bad at it together!

You can check out our YouTube Shall We [Line] Dance playlist here.

We're not going to be winning any dance competitions any time soon, and you can forget about us 'showing off' for friends - not gonna happen - but we will continue to be silly together and try new things. 'Cuz that's how we cowboy boogie, kids.

Note on the BBQ - I like it thick, sweet and tangy with just barely any heat. M tends to add hot sauce to his dish since he likes it spicy. If you can relate to him, just up the hot sauce, tasting as you go until you find the right level of heat for your tastebuds. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy BBQ Sauce

by Raye

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: none

Keywords: no-cook condiment dairy-free egg-free gluten-free grain-free nut-free refined sugar free soy-free vegetarian

Ingredients (about 2 cups)

• 1/2 c. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1-2 Tbsp honey (preferably raw)
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (preferably raw, I like Bragg's brand)
• 1 Tbsp prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp fish sauce, optional (I like Red Boat brand)
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper hot sauce (I like Frank's Red Hot)

Instructions

It can't get much easier than this...

• Measure tomato paste, water, granulated garlic, granulated onion, molasses, 1 Tbsp of the honey, the apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, fish sauce (if using), sea salt and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
• Taste and add another Tbsp honey and more hot sauce if desired. Transfer to a storage jar.
• Or, measure all ingredients into a 2 cup (1 pint) wide mouth canning jar and use an immersion blender to mix it together.
• Cap tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Note about fish sauce: Fish sauce is a lactofermented Asian condiment and is used to bump up the umami (meaty flavor) in the BBQ sauce. It's good either with or without it, so up to you.
• Note about storage: The sauce gets thicker as it sits in the fridge. Stir before serving and add a tablespoon or so of water if needed to thin out to your preferred consistency.

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