Have a BOO-tiful Halloween!

I am almost done with my Halloween outfit and my oldest son has his done but we need to finish the youngest this week so to inspire us this month’s Parents magazine had lots of ideas and a great coupon from Michaels Craft stores!  Print it and use it for yourself too!

One way I decided to use our Michaels coupon was to get a spider, web and tacks for this awesome pumpkin idea…

We also were thinking of a traditional carved look on our front porch…

Another idea we had for our Michaels materials was to make a second Halloween Candy personalized bag…

I made one of these for my oldest son years ago and wanted another to keep for the little one (just look how small we made these?!  NOT very much candy to get a those ages!)

And of course you can use your coupon to get items for your costumes, just look at all these cute (and creative) ideas! …

If you’re wondering what those orange scissors are on the images, these are pages from my online magazine which has great how-to instructions linked into the photos.  I am really getting into this online reading thing… so much more interactive!  (but I secretly LOVE Libraries and printed copies too!)

Another option for all that candy your kids are going to gather is to trade it in for other things like toys, gift cards or MONEY!  Parents gave another example of a program you can find in your area to turn candy into $$ CASH $$ and even help sweeten the lives of others at the same time!

Have you put a LOT of time into that costume just to only wear it once or twice?  Need some other ideas for all that work?  I’ve donated my old costumes to my younger son’s preschools in the past for a dress up area.  But don’t give anything away that you can’t stand to see torn apart… it will happen!  Another idea I found this year (for those lucky costumes that didn’t get pulled apart by Toddlers) is to find a local costume store and consign them!  I ended up taking in two older costumes and in return earned enough credit for my great Mad Hatter’s hat (normally $45-50 retail)… SCORE!  And if neither of those tickle your fancy you can always try for a reward in a costume contest?!  You might just get some great prizes to share with the whole family like this idea below mentioned in Parents magazine…

No matter which way you go for costumes… the stars seem to be aligned for many of us to have a completely enjoyable day and night, so savor the one day of the year we get to dress up with the kids!

Quick on the Draw…

My oldest son has my creative gene and thank goodness for that!  I’ve always taken my families creative gene as a wonderful gift to possess and seeing it in a child is even more wonderful to watch, nurture and encourage!  Ever since my oldest and I had a children’s line of clothing he has been in an art studio (aka the extra bedroom or garage) with me working on something or even doodling in-between (hopefully not to much during!) class.

As he has gotten older his tastes for what kind of art he feels like creating have been changing too… the whimsical crayon coloring has turned into pretty great drawing abilities and all that designing of clothes has turned into redesigning larger sports objects like bikes and scooters.

This month’s Parents magazine article about drawing and the meanings of drawings is an interesting look into a child’s gift…

My son’s drawings definitely range from everyday items (like these multiple images below of his scooter pictures he wanted to take for an art competition for school) to some that show a lot into the advertising that young people are exposed to on a regular basis.

My son wanted to show off his drawings from yesterday for you…

He is constantly working on replicating characters that he enjoys from familiar cartoons and/or working on a new bike or skateboard logo design and we are thinking (and encouraging) movement towards computer aided design for his future because of this clear passion he has.  Just look at his finished scooter below… from redesign to art entry!

My suggestion to parents… read these kind of articles that talk about your child’s drawing or art abilities but more importantly ENCOURAGE their exploration of their passions because they are a gift worth sharing with the world!

Retro baby!

This month Parents magazine suggests taking your child back to your childhood with some Retro-fit ideas!

I ADORE photo booths and immediately wanted to do this with my boys… but BOY, is it hard to find a photo booth around Seattle?!  I used to go to one with my older son for a couple of years in Boulder, CO when we lived there but they break down often and there are not very many repair men anymore so it too was short-lived.

Instead we decided to go Retro cool by cutting a record at the wonderful project called Needle on the Record.  I shared the two individually created songs I made for both boys when they were born and we talked about their wonderful qualities.  I had wanted to go into the studio and cut this record for months after hearing the KUOW program about it this summer and it closed on October 21st so it was now or never!

My boys (and family and all my friends for like the last 20 years) know that I ADORE Polaroids as well which are tremendously RETRO and if you haven’t tried any of the new Polaroid-like cameras I would recommend this easy (but not cheap) way to capture a bit of your youth with your young ones!

Trick or TWEET

My kids use my iPhone for all sorts of things… gaming, naming, school work, photo taking, little-brother-crying… really ANYTHING that is needed at the time, especially if the computer, TV or iPad are all being used by others… iPhone is the backup no matter what.

With this month’s #Halloween theme I’ve been searching all the iPhone apps for #Halloween inspired #TrickOrTWEET inspirations.  Here are a couple you might want to check out…

I LOVE Instagram… so it was necessary to find the #Halloween photo-editing equivalent which seems to be the “Scary Camera Free” version.  Here are some fun images with it…

Of course since this is a whole year of Parents magazine I had to download their “Carve-a-Pumpkin” app which is great (and not scary) for my little one.

I decided to go a bit into the paranormal activity for myself and download the “Ghost Radar” app.  It’s like being a paranormal researcher in your own home?!  I can’t wait to go outside and try it out!  (but I think I’ll still stay away from the cemetery just in case?!!)

Have fun with your #Halloween apps this month and don’t forget to #TrickOrTWEET all those cute costume pics!

Dinner Bell!

School bells aren’t the only thing going off around here in September… the dinner bell is chiming in too, so we thought we’d try a Parents magazine suggestion for a new spin on what’s cooking.

I used the fish recipe above (except traded Flounder for Tilapia) and the green bean recipe.  Both turned out fantastic and the kids were coming back for MORE!

I made the salsa recipe but added my own “leftovers” and instead made this salsa (which was AMAZING by the way!!!) my own special way.  The recipe for my salsa is below…

1/2 pear sliced, 1/3 jalapeno finely diced, 10 cherry tomatoes quartered, 1/2 cup freshly cooked corn from the cob, 2 cloves garlic clove finely diced.  Mix all ingredients with 1/3 cup of honey and 1 lime (juiced), add a dash of sea salt and ground pepper and VOILA, dinner is served!

I finished off the meal with some decaffeinated black tea (iced) and some yummy just-baked corn bread topped off with honey butter (an absolute favorite of mine).  With the cooler fall season upon us, these recipes definitely hit the spot for our family!

Car Safety

This September 16th thru 22nd is National Car Safety week and in honor of children in cars I am taking and rechecking my younger son’s car seat safety with the Parents magazine article below.

As AAA members, we also had a great little write up in our monthly magazine Journey.

As AAA members we have access to additional online resources for properly checking car seats but I will tell you our secret in Seattle… Seattle Children’s Hospital!  We’ve went to their free car seat checkups a couple of times (every time you change a car or car seat you should have a specialist help you understand proper installation proceedures) and they are worth the wait!  These specialists are trained and certified and have resources (like huge binders with each car seat ever made!) to tap into, and many of them are nurses, doctors, teachers and concerned parents.

So during this week make sure you recheck your child’s safety in your car(s), it could save their life!

School Snacks

With the first week of school I decided to try out some of the chef recommended student lunch creations in the September Parents magazine article “Out of the Bag”.

We tried Tyler Florence’s sandwich (instead of higher calorie bagel) and instead of goat cheese we switch it with cream cheese, keep the jelly and cut it into a pretty star shape.  The ideas by Tyler Florence were also only part of our school lunch since we need more snacks and items for the growing boy we have (that LOVES to climb, run around and play outside all day) so I paired his inspiration with our traditional squeeze fruits and yogurt (organic of course).

As you can see I also traded the nectarine (not a favorite here) with super yummy grapes we picked up this week at Whole Foods and I cut the ends and front off the snap peas to make it easier (and more visually appealing to a toddler).

The next day we decided to try a creation by chef Josh Capon with a tuna sandwich, blueberries and again with the super yummy snap peas.

We paired this lunch with the great Pirate Booty classic and YoKids and GoGo Squeez, all from our Whole Foods store.

We have yet to try school snack ideas from Marcela Valladolid or Ming Tsai but can’t wait to create some more tasty treats this first school week!  The updated Ramen noodles recipe looks good as well as the egg salad sandwich.  These chefs creations definitely worked for this mommy and youngster’s appetite!

School Style

Ah… the first week of school with all the new kids, new classes, new teachers and new styles ready for fall and beyond.  I always LOVED getting my wardrobe ready for back to school as a teenager and even now rotate my wardrobe according to the upcoming seasons.  It seems so fresh and new to go through your clothes, donate or consign pieces you just didn’t like or wear and buy some new tidbits to revive your old favorites!

The same holds true when helping get my son’s get their wardrobes ready, especially for back to school.  My oldest son is pretty opinionated as a tween on his style… but he does well for himself so I usually say yes to his creations.

He doesn’t look very happy in this photo, but I think that’s the teen angst (and nervousness about a new school) showing there.  He has been extremely happy at school this week and mommy’s happy with his wardrobe choices of relaxed but stylish fashions!

Now the younger son is a bit easier since I mostly get to dress him myself still but even by 2 1/2 years old he is starting to show his preferences.  Such as this great T-shirt we picked up at a friends consignment store in Bellevue called Hopscotch.  We LOVE the variety of awesome choices at her store, always find something new and this T-shirt was a perfect choice for the first day of school at a great cost (and being environmental)!

As you can see the September Parents magazine back to school fashion article shows that skulls/crossbones and stripes still top little boys clothing choices this fall…

We all have been going with more stripes this year and as you can tell with the oldest son’s photo above the youngest is swayed by his school-style example…

Here are a couple of more examples of wardrobe choices from Parents magazine that we are trying out during our back to school week for 2012.  I’m not sure if the bow tie is going to fly with either boy, but the skateboard is already an accessory for us!  This article and it’s fall back-to-school styles definitely worked for this mommy!

 

*School Style UPDATE*

With a couple of weeks of school under our belts we wanted to share some more images of our school styles with everybody…

 

Big brother is happy with his back to school fashions and younger brother is showing off his fall-weather style for the camera!

2 School for Cool

This September’s Parents magazine has a great article about all the newest, coolest, back-2-school apps for the busy mom.

So I tried out a couple of their recommendations in preparation for school starting this week…

I started out by trying to download the “easy reader” app.

*SIDE NOTE – this app is listed under the name “OverDrive Media” and NOT “Easy Reader”*

I liked that we could tap into books from all over public and school libraries.  I downloaded it for our youngest since we are trying to encourage reading as much as possible and since he’s just a real fan of our iPhones… having multiple apps for him on our iPhones is great encouragement!  I searched one of my FAVORITE LIBRARIES of all time… the Seattle Public Library (which if you’ve never seen it is a MUST on your Seattle trip!  The architecture is so amazing that you have to explore every nook and cranny inside and don’t miss the “red floor”!)

and we found a TON of books to download to read, and that was just one library!!!  There are so many libraries to choose from, just list a city or a zip code and your off finding a new literary adventure!  This app is a MOMMY MUST HAVE!

For my oldest son I downloaded the “Digital Tutor” for help answering student’s homework questions (and which parent doesn’t need that now and again?!!)

*SIDE NOTE – this app is listed under the name “School A to Z” and NOT under “Digital Tutor”*

The app is set up nicely with easy icons to start with such as math, english, technology, spelling bee, etc.  I, of course, pick math first since that is the area that trips me up the most when remembering back 20 years to my horrible math classes with the mono-tone teacher… SNOOZE!

I start with Algebra which starts with an example and it gives options for a help sheet, a wiki page and more!  There are even videos (it will have a video icon next to the name if it has that option) to show you (and your student) how something’s done.  This app is definitely a MOMMY MUST HAVE!

So, check out the back to school apps recommended by Parents magazine and soon you’ll be 2 School for Cool!

Tastes like Summer

When I was around 12 years old I was at a BBQ with my best friend’s family.  I remember it vividly on a hot summer day, sitting at the wood picnic table next to her with the dry, yellow grass around our shaded eating spot.  But it wasn’t the grass, or the family or what we were doing that stood out in my mind that day… no, it was the day I discovered the taste of putting salt on watermelon.

I can’t remember who suggested it, I just knew that at first I wasn’t going to like it… I can remember being VERY SURE I wasn’t going to like it and telling everybody many times before I finally tried it.  But once I had that salty then sweet rush come over my taste buds, i was a believer!  And ever since that day… I put salt on my watermelon and it is what I wait all year to be able to enjoy during the summer.

Parents magazine added some interesting information on some of the favorite summer fruits in their “Tastes of Summer” article and of course they included my personal favorite… watermelon!

I definitely don’t eat enough Kiwi’s or Pears… they just don’t have the same affection during the summer months as other fruits for me, but maybe I should start including them more?

I wonder… what benefits can I find for some of my other favorite summer fruits like peaches or fresh raspberries from my parent’s farm??  I also have a HORROR story about fresh cherries on the 4th of July… but I won’t go into that one!

This is a photo I took of my mother’s garden with a new app I just downloaded on my iPhone called 360 Panorama (that rocks!) and if you were tempted your whole life with a garden full of goodies like this… you’d have some favorite tastes of summer stories too!