Pop Dinner!

My dad and I were chatting the other night. He was telling me he bough frozen pizza and chocolate milk for him and the kids for dinner last Tuesday since my mom wouldn't be home from class til late. He laughed and thought it was sIlly. It is silly.

I then explained to him that those were the greatest meals growing up. The sIlly ones are the ones your kids will really remember because they are outside the normal. (I strongly discourage junk meals on a regular basis, the fact that it is unusual is what makes it special).

I can honestly say that one of the greatest memories I have with my mom as a child is of a simple night my mom and I laid on the floor eating pizza and watching Dennis the Menace.

My husband and I had our very own silly dinner one night this week and decided we are going to do it once or twice with our kids (when we get to that point in life). It was a great idea too so I wanted to share it.

We made popcorn on the stove in our amazing little popcorn pan. While it was cooking my husband decided to contribute by toasting a couple pop-tarts. I then noticed that the only thing lacking was some Soda Pop itself! And there you have it. A POP dinner! 

A sIlly unusual dinner is such a fun way to make memories with your family. It's all those random and goofy things we do that make life and childhood fun!

Feeding Babies and Toddlers!

I know mom's with experience know this stuff as common knowledge but to new moms or babysitters, with little experience with children... it may be new and useful information that could even save a child's life.

Up until 4 months of age, babies should only be consuming breast milk or formula. Mothers who breastfeed quickly find that what they eat effects the nursing baby! It's a good idea to continue to eat just as nutritiously as you did when you were pregnant (including those prenatal vitamins).Also remember that new babies eat about ever two hours! If they are not waking up in the night to feed, it's a good idea to wake them up anyway and talk with your pediatrician.

Once your baby has reached 4 months you may start introducing rice cereal. While first introducing new foods of any kind, only offer a small amount as their tummies need to learn to digest the food. Also be sure to keep an eye out for any signs of any food allergies. Remember to talk with your pediatrician about the process of introducing baby foods.

It is suggested to substitute one bottle feeding for rice cereal the first few weeks while also making the cereal consistency very thin and watery. This allows the infant to learn how to swallow thicker substances. If your baby doesn't like the cereal, hold off for a few more days or weeks and try again latter. Once your infant is used to rice cereal you may increase the cereal feedings to twice a day and so on. The key point is to continue formula or breast milk as the primary food source.

At around 6 months you begin the journey of introducing pureed fruits and vegetables. Many moms spoon in a little of the pureed fruit or veggie into the cereal for the first bite or two, maybe even the first meal. Then see if your infant likes it by itself, rotating between cereal bite and baby food bite. Only introduce one or maybe two foods per week as to watch for allergies.

Finally! At about 8 months your baby is now able to eat finger foods! This is where things get a little more fun and a lot more messy! Again, remember to introduce foods in small amounts and only about one to two new foods per week. Try cheerios, cut up banana, Gerber fruit or veggie puffs, Gerber crackers... the list goes on! You may also begin to introduce small amounts apple juice (we water it down about 50%). You still need to feed babies formula or breast milk at this point, but only for a few more months.

At the 1 year mark you may introduce dairy products such as yogurt, whole milk and cheese. It's also time to introduce proteins such as cooked egg and soft meats like Gerber Lil Sticks. You can begin to feed your toddler semi normal foods now!

Things to remember:

• Avoid cows milk until they are at least one year old as babies can not digest it.
• Once they are drinking cows milk, only give them whole milk as it contains healthy fats that encourage brain growth (up to age 4).
  
• No nuts or peanut butter until they are 3 years old! If they do happen to have a severe allergy, it's harder for their little body to fight through it.
  
• Babies eat about every 2 hours when they are first born! 
• Toddlers don't have very big tummies and need about 5-6 small meals a day (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack)
• Never feed babies or toddlers popcorn! 
• Cut grapes into quarters rather than whole or in halves as they may lead to chocking
  
• Read this article to find more great tips on what not too feed your toddlers.
• Rewarding with food teaches unhealthy eating habits and shows children that food is a reward rather than a means of survival and good health.
  

My 2 cents:

• Don't feed your toddlers junk food (candy, chips, soda) more than once a month at the VERY most. This is the time to teach healthy eating habits. If they never have it, they wont miss it!
  
• Don't force them to eat anything they don't want to eat. They will come around or they wont. Forcing it sure wont help them have happy thoughts about the food.
• Really! Don't give them peanut butter. Sounds harmless but it can cause them to choke (not to mention the severe allergy they may have to nuts).
• Let your toddler try many new foods encouraging them not to be picky.
  

Online Shopping!

Alright, while shopping online can become an addicting habit, I also think it can be a great way to save money. A great example would be Overstock.com. This great website sells everything you can imagine!! If you look around you can find great deals as this site's purpose was initially to sell overstock.

There are also sites such as "Coupon Me Not" which is a site specifically designed to offer you online coupon codes!! If that trick doesn't give you results, go ahead and Google search the company name and "promo code" for example "Target Promo Code" and see what comes up!

We have also found that if you add your desired item to the online chopping cart and close the site without purchasing the item, you will soon find a coupon in your in-box for that very item! The store sees you wanted it and hopes with that little incentive that you'll now buy the item! 

Basically, with online shopping patience brings great savings! If you just find what you want and look around at different sites, you'll find the cheapest place to buy that item.

Email an old teacher

I work in the field of education and happen to know how much it means to hear that your past students are doing well. With that in mind, I set aside a half hour today to write some letters to my high school teachers.

I told them a few things I remember from their spacific class and how it helps me in my life today. I tried to use a spacific incident or memory from their class to make it personal. I then wrote about what I'm doing now. What state I'm in, the degrees I have earned, the sucessful jobs I have and the overall good I'm doing. It seems like bragging but to a teacher, it means the world to hear that you had a part in something big!

Today, I encourage you to just take a couple of minutes to email a teacher that you remember making a positive impact in your life.

You wouldn't believe the diffrence it makes. As one teacher replied:
 "P.S. If you ever looked through my desk, you probably thought, “How does he ever find anything?” But, in my lower right hand drawer I keep a stack of thank you cards, heart felt notes, pictures and mementos from previous times and wonderful students. I look this stack over every so often, especially if I am having a bad day where the kids don’t seem to want to listen or the lesson bombed badly. It always raises my spirits and puts a smile on my face. I suggest you start a stack like this, when your students get old enough, in your desk. It always reminds me of those oh so cool students that slip my mind on a daily basis. I will print off this e-mail and happily add it to the stack.".

And in turn, it makes you feel good too!

Denver Zoo Free Days!

Here is a new concept! Free days!!! I recently went to the Denver Zoo's web site to find their hours. On the side was a list of "Free Days". Twice a month, every other month, you can get in free!

My husband and I decided to go check it out. I was afraid it was going to be over crowded and/or that it would end up to only be free to kids, or to zoo members.

 We got there at 4:00 and were very pleased! There were hardly any workers, just the lady up front who gave us a map. There wasn't even a line. We just walked right on in! It was a little cold out, and it was snowing so there really weren't many people there. I felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves.  The only down side was that some of the animals were hiding since it was snowing and we couldn't see them. Most of them have indoor homes for the public to view them so lucky, we did see most of the animals.

The little food shops, classrooms, shows and whatnot are all closed but that's a tiny sacrifice for a free zoo day!
Here is the website with the information:
Denver Free Admission Info

Here are some pictures we took!

Sleeping Tips!

A sleepy parent can never read too many tips on how to get kids to sleep better, right? RIGHT! Here is a great link to an article that has some good suggestions!

Top 10 Kid Sleeping Tips

Save Money!!! Lots of it!

There is one thing I have a really hard time understanding; how people can seriously not bother saving money in the millions of simple ways that suround us. First of all, coupons. I know, it may be time consuming to look through them and clip them out of the paper, but if you do it every Sunday (you find them in your local Sunday paper) you will find yourself saving hundreds of dollars each year! Here are my tips on saving money everyday.

1) Coupons: If you get the Sunday paper, you will find one to three sets of coupons. The key here is to buy things you buy anyway, and/or to buy and stock up on products that don't expire (toilet paper, toothbrushes, paper towels, napkins, candles... the list goes on and on).

2) Online Coupons!!: This one is one of my favorites. Here are some great sites to help you find great and amazing deals!
Red Plumb they even have a link that has special deals, like buy one get one free at Red Robin!
Pinching Your Pennies

3) Cutting Back: 
Cell Phone: Get fewer minutes and only use free night time minutes or weekend minutes. Also invest in services online like Skype which provide cheap long distance online! I was skeptical but we gave in and I'm quite satisfied. In fact, if you have an iPhone, you can even use Skype on it and reserve your minutes for... who knows what.
Also decide how many texts you use and whether or not you really need that "unlimited text" plan or if you can give in and settle for the "200 texts per month" or like me, realize talking is better and just give it up! It's cheaper to pay per text when you only get 18 texts per month.
Get rid of cable:
That's bold, I know but really! Think of all the fun things you could do if you just shut off that darn tv. When I got married and moved into my husband's house I was disapointed I'd be living without cable. I grew up in a home with Dish Network and the ability to rewind, pause and record my shows!
Surprisingly enough, I quickly realized how much more time I had when "my show" never came on.You get your news online, watch movies via Netflix (if you have an x box 360 you can watch all the movies you want on your tv with the click of a button!). If that's too much to take in, maybe settle with just lowering your plan an option or two. It will give you more time to be productive and spent quality time with your family.
Shop on Craigs List:
Now I sound like I'm being paid to sponcer these companies... I'm not! They don't even know I'm doing this. Anyway, you found out your having a baby?! Great! Start looking for that perfect crib on Craigslist! With about 9 months to search, you'll find it the perfect one for around $100 cheaper than if you went to Baby's R US! Same goes for strollers, clothing... toys if you bleach them before letting your baby slobber on them too.
Want a new fish tank? Did you know you can find at least one 50 gallon fish tank on the "Free" page of craigslist per week!? Don't even think about buy one for $500!