Welcome to the Wild West! Cowgirl & Cowboy 5th Birthday Party

For her 5th birthday, Lila requested a cowgirl and cowboy party. From the moment she saw Toy Story 3 in the movie theater, Lila has been fascinated with cowgirls and cowboys. She would often be seen with red cowgirl boots and taking on her alter ego, "Woody." She insisted on being called Woody so much that in notes home from daycare she was sometimes referred to as Woody instead of Lila. This alternative identity worked to my benefit during potty training as one day she declared "Woody doesn't wear diapers!" And she never wore diapers again.

Lila as her alter ego "Woody."
(Note- this was not taken at Halloween.)

While she no longer calls herself "Woody" and her infactuation with Toy Story has settled down, she is still a cowgirl at heart. This year, she can be seen in her full cowgirl getup complete with pink boots!

Yee haw! This city girl is pure country at heart.

We had a lot of fun with her birthday party theme, starting with the invitation.

We held the party in a real "saloon." We totally took over the place with a posse of twenty-two little bandits. I honestly don't think that the guys at the bar have ever seen such a rowdy bunch! We might have even scared a few out. In the midst of a spirited line dance to "Cotton-Eyed Joe," being the mild-mannered, law-abiding mom that I am, I had to check with the manager "are you sure we aren't being too loud?" She just laughed.

For the party food, we served yummy appetizers for the adults-- spicy buffalo wings, nachos, chili, veggies with ranch dressing, and mini corn on the cob; iced tea and lemonade for the drinks. The kids were given a special menu with a choice of hotdog, hamburger, or grilled cheese.

The decor was red and blue. Each of the children got a cowboy / cowgirl hat, bandana, and balloon.

The goody bags were simple brown paper bags with red and white ribbon. Inside were Fort Knox Gold Coins or Gold Nugget Bubble Gum, a Wooly Willy Wanted Game, Cowtail Candy, and Cow and Horse Stickers. As an added treat, my husband found rock candy sticks, which were a hit!

As a party game, we played "pin the tail" on the horse (specifically "bullseye" the horse).

One of the best parts of the party was the surprise celebrity guest--

Jessie the Cowgirl!!!

It's Jessie!!!

Let's have a hoedown! Yeeeeee haaawwww!!!

For dessert, we had a chocolate cake (which I decorated with a picture of Jessie) and red velvet and vanilla cupcakes. YUM!



Make a wish, Lila!

Planning Lila's parties each year really allows me to satisfy my desire to be creative. Once there's a theme in place, there are so many cute things to be done to make the party unique and fun. Lila and her friends had a great time and I believe the parents did too!

Members of the notorious party posse-- Elisa, Lila, Clara, and Sarah.

Now it's time for Lila to mosey on yonder to see what sort of adventures her 5th year brings!

I tip my hat off to Lila-- she's an awesome 5 year old with a whole lot of spunk.

Happy Birthday, Cowgirl!











Protein-Packed Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Summer is coming which means I am hitting the gym a little harder. We all know that protein intake is an important part of a strength training and fitness routine. As a vegetarian and busy mom, I usually have to supplement my protein with whey or casien powder. At my last visit to the Vitamin Shoppe, I decided to try a different protein powder from my norm that was on sale- Cytosport Complete Casien in chocolate.

When I opened the tub and took out a scoop it instantly reminded me of chocolate cake mix. (Maybe because I'm dieting I have chocolate cake on the brain??) When I mixed it with water it was too thick and sweet for my taste. The baker in me decided it was time to experiment. The result is the recipe below. Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins that are delicious and nutritious!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 3 scoops of chocolate casien or whey
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of gound flax seed
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup of creamy all natural peanut butter
• Approximately 1 cup of skim milk (add until the cake mix is fully moistened)
• A couple handfuls of mini dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl (except the milk). Combine wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Stir and add milk until the mix is fully moistened. Add chocolate chips. Grease muffin tins with cooking spray and spoon in batter. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Makes about 20 muffins.

-Tara

Supporting my Budding Artist

Clara comes home from school, proudly pulling out her artwork out of her school bag. There are pages full of her designs: smiley faces, dragons, girls with long hair, boys wearing dresses, stars, suns, flowers, and swirls tumbling off the page as they literally tumble out of her bag. There are also nearly microscopic, cut-out cirlces and shapes which sprinkle the floor like confetti. Her fine motor skills seem to be right on track, since on the back of each of these teeny, tiny shapes she has managed to write in the smallest of letters the following: TO MAMA LOVE CLARA or TO PAPA LOVE CLARA or sometimes even TO CLARA LOVE CLARA.

It has taken me several years to create a workflow that supports my little artist while managing, displaying, and preserving the prolific amount of work she produces. Here are some of my top suggestions if you have a child who loves art at home.

1. Set up an Art station

I borrowed this idea from my sister. She spends a lot of time cooking in the kitchen and she was looking for an activity to keep her daughter occupied while in the kitchen. She set up a small table with a watercolor station for her daughter who was then two years old. I loved the idea when I visited, and so when I got home I created a similar setup.

There are watercolors, markers, crayons, stickers, and paper always available at the table. Clara doesn't need to ask me to get anything for her. She is able to use the art station at any time- no need to ask for permission. She likes being able to create art independently. Clara uses the art station probably every day. I would show you a photo, but one side effect of the child-centered activity is that it is perpetually in a state of disarray- papers and all of the above items I mentioned scattered everywhere. Although it is a mess, it is also a place that is meant just for Clara, and it is one of her favorite places to be in the house.

2. Portable Art Case.

One of our very favorite tools that has helped to support Clara's artistic interest is a portable art carry case that she got from a friend for her birthday last year. It is a simple concept: a plastic carrying case with a clipboard front and inside there is room for many pieces of paper as well as pens, crayons, or markers. For most of last summer, she carried this everywhere. She still likes to bring it in the car so that she can draw on the way to school.

  

Something that made it even more special was that Clara's case was personalized with her own name. You can find the case at Mrs. Monogram for $21 with personalization. If you don't care about getting your child's name on it, you can find the Dexas Clipcase on Amazon for $10.99. This is the most well used item in Clara's life out of all of her toys and art supplies... if you have a budding artist in your family, I highly recommend it!

3. Managing the paperflow of a prolific artist

It is a joy to see the passion that Clara has for expressing herself visually. It is also one of the biggest housekeeping challenges I have to keep up with the volume of artwork she produces. At the very minimum, I would estimate, she produces at least five pages of artwork per day. That's 35 pages a week, and 1,820 pages a year... and I think she actually makes even more that!

I come from a family of savers. I think my mom probably still has nearly every piece of artwork that I ever made. I have a colleague who said that her kitchen is decorated with the childhood artwork of her now teen children, and that she would never ever throw out anything they produced. I think it sounds nice in theory to keep every piece of art that is produced, but I don't know how I could physically contain everything that Clara produces without renting out a storage unit.

So, we have come to some compromises at our house. When Clara opens her bag, we go through it together and pick the most special pieces to keep. We recycle the rest. When Clara was younger, I initially did this step by myself, but I always thought about the story of my niece who found some of her artwork in the recycling bin that my sister had secretly put there. My niece came to my sister with tears in her eyes, holding up her drawing, and asking, "How did my beautiful art end up in the recycling bin?" With that story in my mind, I tried to involve Clara from an early age about making decisions about what art to keep so that there she would find no surprises in the recycling bin.

4. Taking photos of the artist with her work

This is one of my favorite methods to preserve Clara's work because it helps me to remember just how old she was when she created each piece. I love seeing proud Clara holding up her various artistic creations. I created a folder in iPhoto for "Clara's Art." I peruse my iPhoto folders much more frequently than I look at any hard copy folders, and so it is an easy way for me to quickly scan her work. I wish I remembered to do this more of the time.

Two-year-old Clara and her Halloween creations.

Clara designed a picture of the doll she wanted to create and then sewed it in art class last summer.

5. Displaying the artwork

One of the best ways I found to display Clara's artwork is in a kid's L'il DaVinci frame. I bought a standard 81/2 x 11 frame from Amazon. I like the frames because they are easy to open and they have room for about 50 pieces of paper, so you can easily add and rotate through your child's favorite images.

There are a few additional ideas I would like to try for displaying and preserving Clara's art. I like this idea of a clothespin wall for easily rotating favorite artwork. I think a binder with plastic sleeves would be a good way to preserve and review art over time.

I hope these tips help you to support any young artists in your house. Do you have any other tips to share?

-Ellyn

PAJAMA DAY

About once a month or so, I can’t think of anything better than having a pajama day. A day where I stay home all day and enjoy the life of leisure... in my pajamas. It seems that I passed  along this desire to Clara, and she has internalized the joys of a pajama day at an exponential level. If she had her choice, I think it’s possible that ten days out of a given month might be pajama days.

The most natural cause of pajama days at our house is a snow day. We have had many weather-related cancellations this year and thus many opportunities for Clara’s favorite kind of day. Seven days off of school just for Hurricane Sandy, and several snow days since. Yesterday, we had a snow day that turned out to be a rather mild day. The roads were clear enough to have easily driven somewhere starting at around 10am.




I already had my quota of pajama days this month, and so I was eager to get out of the house and do something with this unexpected open time. Instead, our day went like this:

8am: Clara watches two episodes of “Curious George” on Netflix. She predictably asks, “please, please, please, can I watch one more, just one one one ONE more episode, pleeaaaassseeee?” Netflix is only allowed occasionally in our house as it is, and two episodes is the limit, so I say no (and then I cringe just a little bit inside because if we are in the house for the rest of the day it means that I am the sole entertainment!)

9am: Clara puts on a theatrical show for me and her stuffed dog. This is a multi-media performance involving many “levels” and the show is “paused” regularly for her to set up a new scene. I am fascinated at how the video game lingo has morphed its way into the performance. She gives me a piece of paper with many circles, x’s and different colors on it. When I press something on the paper, she changes the actions in the performance. It feels very meta and modern.


10am: We play tic-tac-toe and connect the dots. I’m still trying to teach her how to win at tic-tac-toe. She doesn’t quite get it. I win every game. She gets pouty. Should I let her win? I ask her if she wants me to ler her win. She says no, but she's sad that she didn't win all by herself. We stop playing. 



10:30am: I suggest that we go to the Aquarium. She loves the Aquarium. I figure this will surely convince her. “No,” she says, “I want to stay in my pajamas ALL day.”

10:45am: The next game we play is something we have never done before... a role play/acting out of “Dora the Explorer.” Clara is Dora, and her dolls are the other characters. I’m Swiper, and since I have only seen the show once or twice I’m not up-to-date with all of Swiper’s actions. I’m supposed to hide, then appear from behind an object, bounce up and down while making a snorting noise... and then steal one of Dora’s toys, and then hide it, and then get caught and then say, “oh man!”

Writing the steps down, it doesn’t seem so hard, but somehow, I messed up the order of the steps nearly every time, much to Clara’s exasperation. Somehow we ended up wearing silly sunglasses, hats, necklaces, and tutus, even though I don’t think that’s part of official Dora uniform. We laughed our way through it all.

Yes, Clara wears a sweater as her pajamas in the winter.

noon: We eat lunch, and Clara promises that after lunch, she will go to the Aquarium.

After lunch, Clara says she doesn’t want to go out after all. I ask why. She says she really doesn’t like getting dressed. I try to determine if she doesn’t like the process of getting dressed or the feeling of being in her clothes. There is never a clear answer to this question, but even when I offer to help her get dressed, she asserts cheerfully and clearly, “no, I don’t want your help getting dressed. I like being in my pajamas ALL day.” At least she's consistent.

1pm: I checked my email, and coincidentally, I get an email from a close friend who lives halfway across the country who happened to comment on the frustrated feeling of a day at home with no mission or purpose. She said for her to feel happy, there has to be a purpose to the day, even if just to "go to Target and organize the sock drawer." While I relish in a pajama day once in a while, this email reminded me that I, too, start to feel antsy after too much unstructured time.

2pm: I try one more time... tempting Clara with one of her favorite treats: chocolate!

“Would you like to go out and get a hot chocolate?,” I ask with a tone of anticipation and excitement.

She is too smart for me. “Hot chocolate sounds good, but we can have that at home. Let’s make some here,” she quickly responds.

It was clear I was not going to win this debate if even chocolate would not lure Clara out of the house. 

At this point, I stopped trying- my daughter was loving this day too much to nudge her out of the house. I filled two mugs with hot chocolate- marshmallows and whipped cream for her, whipped cream for mine. We spent the rest of the day baking, doing arts and crafts, and accepting the pleasures of a pajama day.
 

-Ellyn

Fall in love with fruit salad

Last week, Lila's preschool class celebrated Valentine's Day. The students designed their own bags to collect cards, treats, and handmade crafts from their friends. This was the first year that Lila actually crafted her own Valentines-- she wrote a short message in each (copying off of conversation hearts for inspiration and spelling), decorated them with lots of stickers, and signed her name with a heart embellishment (instead of a dot) over her "i." Impressive!


We brought in a delicious Valentine fruit salad to share with her class. We thought this would be a fun, healthy alternative to candy. Lila used a heart-shaped cookie cutter for the watermelon while I cut a "V" in the tops of the strawberries to make them heart-shaped as well.

When I picked Lila up after school, all that was left were the empty containers. She reported that the fruit salad "was a hit!"

The cookie-cutter fruit salad could work for any occasion-- perhaps shamrock melon for St. Patty's Day?

Enjoy! -Tara



Our lovely heart-shaped fruit salad.

 

I just loved Lila's personalized Valentine messages--
reflective of her technologically advanced generation









Top 10 Valentine's Gifts That We Really Want

Every Christmas, I find adorable, practical, or yummy little surprises to stuff into Lila’s and my husband’s stockings. And every Christmas, my stocking is empty. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is a great gift-giver, but he’s not into the extra niceties that I take pride in. I’ve learned not to expect a card and I know that my gift may or may not be wrapped, (it might still be in the bag from the store) but it is always very much appreciated— like the Keurig I use on a daily basis or my Uggs that I practically live in. My husband’s good like that. He pays attention. He usually knows just what would be the perfect gift.

One exception was this past Christmas when we decided instead of exchanging big gifts we would ONLY do stocking stuffers. Lila, of course, had a room full of presents and, the sweetheart that she is, noticed that none were labeled for mommy or daddy.

Mid-paper-tearing, she paused and began to worry—“Didn’t Santa bring you anything?”

“Of course! Santa put our gifts in our stocking this year!”

For Lila’s enjoyment, I exaggerated my excitement as I pulled my “surprise” out of my stocking from my thoughtful husband. It was lacy and red-- Victoria’s Secret?!

Lila was confused. “Mama! Santa brought you… underwear!?!?!”

Nice. A little warning would have been appreciated.

So, now that another gift-giving holiday is just days away, I thought I would share the Top 10 Gifts that moms (or at least this mom) would really want for Valentine’s Day.

10) Nothing. A whole day of nothing! No cleaning, cooking, prepping, packing, wiping up, picking up, loading/unloading… you get the picture. I would love a little time totally by myself.

9) Pampering. A mani and pedi, massage, facial... any spa service is a wonderful, relaxing indulgence! (Well, not any spa service—a Brazilian wax or anything of the sort? Not a good suggestion.)

8) A yummy meal at home. There’s nothing sweeter than a guy who cooks. Breakfast or dinner, even if it’s something simple, sitting down at a nicely set table and being served (and not having to clean up afterwards) scores major brownie points.

7) Something sweet, but special. Chocolate? Yes, please; but preferably not from the local drug store. How about a specialty chocolate shop or a fancy bakery? If you are going to give a box of chocolates or another sweet treat, it should be something irresistible and worth the calories.

6) A custom photo anything. Maybe because I am still a fairly new mom, I love a cute photo of my ‘lil family on a mug, key chain, mouse pad, whatever. Corny as it is, who doesn't like a picture of their sweeties?

5) Something delivered. When the flower delivery guy enters the room, guaranteed every gal in the office perks up and wonders “Are those for me?” This is an easy one and a bit cliché, but it’s sort of charming and reminiscent of the wooing before marriage.

4) A carefully selected card. Trying to find the perfect card takes time. Since we know this, opening a card that expresses the right thing at the right moment in the best way is like gold. Funny or mushy, flowery or short and sweet, it must be sincere and sound like “you.”

3) Something from the little one. I love it when Lila and my husband secretly go out and get mommy a surprise. Something that Lila picked out or something handmade, I just adore the idea that my husband helped her to find a special gift. This is definitely a way to evoke happy tears and to win big hugs and kisses.

2) A real date. My husband pretty much sees me in three types of clothing—work attire, yoga pants, and PJs. It’s nice to dress up once in a while and go out like adults do. A real date, like before we were married, at a restaurant that doesn’t have a kids menu and coloring pages, is so appreciated.

1) A weekend away. I’m a sucker for cute little B&B’s and in New England we don’t have to go far to enjoy a romantic getaway that doesn’t cost much. When I’m home there is always something that needs to be done, cleaned, put away—the only way I can truly relax and spend some QT with the hubby is to just get away for a night!

Acceptance on Ice

Parenting has challenged me to find acceptance for what is actually happening in a given situation even if it is different from what I expected. When we signed Clara up for ice skating classes last winter in January 2012, I envisioned her white ice skates gracefully gliding along the ice and her classes ending with triumphant spins. I'll admit I come from a family of high achievers.

Instead, what happened was that Clara was scared. She was scared of falling, and that meant she was scared of doing virtually anything on the ice because of the potential that she might fall. To try to ease her out of her fear, I wrote and illustrated a hand-made children’s book for her, “Cautious Clara” to help teach her that it was OK to fall, that even though nearly everyone falls when they are learning to skate, that they can get up and keep going.

Fast forward to January 2013. Clara and I went ice skating after a year's hiatus, and we were both delighted to see that she was comfortable on the ice. She triumphantly skated around the whole rink by herself three or four times. She begged for ice skating classes because she loved it so much, and a trip to see "Disney on Ice" helped to reinforce her new passion.

Between last year and this year, Clara advanced from the “Snowplow Sam 1” level class to “Snowplow Sam 2” class. My husband brought her to skating classes and seemed disappointed when he came home that the teachers had split the class in two and Clara ended up in the “remedial” class. I figured my husband was being overly critical. Hadn’t I just seen Clara confidently skating on the ice with me a couple of weeks ago?

Fast forward to class three of Snowplow Sam 2. I went to take a look myself. It was true, Clara was lingering behind the others. Once again, it seemed that her fear of falling was preventing her from fully participating in any move that involved lifting one of her feet off of the ground. She was talented at doing the “swizzle”- moving her feet simultaneously back and forth in a V-shape, but as soon as the teacher asked her to lift one foot or balance on the other, she froze.

My husband and I were not star athletes when we were children, and so why this feeling of disappointment that Clara was not excelling on the ice? For my husband, it was the idea that she wasn’t giving her all by fully trying. For me, it was the idea that perhaps she was learning to be fearful from us and that she might hold herself back in other parts of her life by not believing fully in herself.

Before I could get too wrapped up in my thoughts, Clara skated over to me with a big smile on her face, “Wasn’t I so good today?” She was proud of the improvements she was making. Even though she wasn’t near the top of the class, it was true that she was getting better during each class.

Clara’s ice skating adventure proved to be an opportunity for me to re-examine my expectations and to strive for accepting “what is” whether Clara is at the top of the class or the bottom. From the smile on her face, it was clear that Cautious Clara was turning into Confident Clara despite my hesitations. Now, I just have to find some time to start writing a new book, “Confident Clara,” for my little skater and to remind myself that a happy child is the most important goal I can hope for.

-Ellyn