Father’s Day Weekend 2011
This is the menu for Father's Day, except I substituted the asparagus with green beans!
But let's rewind. Let me begin by telling you that we spent the weekend with my parents. It was a nice little getaway. It was a totally relaxing Eat-a-thon. What else is new?
Tips for Feeding Kids!
Here's a frequently asked question....
How do you get kids to EAT FOOD?
Good question! I'm still venturing through this myself...but here are my tips so far. Let's get started!
FIRST: Keep it interesting! MIX IT UP!
Make silly faces with food. Cut out funny shapes & have them guess what they are!
Cooper ate a WHOLE English cucumber yesterday because I cut it up into triangles, rectangles, squares and circles. SCORE! It's hard to make an oval out of a cucumber. Try it.
Get kids involved in food prep!! Put them to work! They really like eating the food they make!
Teach them how to clean up because a good cook always cleans up. (My mom drilled this into my head!)
Get them excited about eating! Cooper loves going out for Indian food because there's a promise of a mango lassi! He even orders it himself at the restaurant! Teach your kids how to behave in restaurants. Waiters don't bring Mango Lassis (sp?) to misbehaved boys.
Encourage them to try new things. Cooper LOVES spicy foods and found love in a bowl of Chicken Tikka Masala! Who knew? It's only because I told him it was a dip for his naan. He kept dipping the naan into the bowl, then he grabbed his spoon and ate the rest of it!
Turn snack time into a COUNTING GAME!
Cooper can count up to 10 pieces of popcorn! Sometimes he thinks 14 comes after 10. Fourteen is his favorite number this month. He also prefers the letters D & F.
Speaking of letters...Spell words with food! Make them guess the letters. Teach them how to say your nickname because it's cute when they say it in their kid voice. I like when kids say "bean."
Add greens to their smoothies! Tell them it's a MONSTER SMOOTHIE!! Tell them it turns them into a superhero.
When it becomes part of their routine, they'll point out when you forget to put the green stuff in.
Just don't let them touch the blender! That's not safe. And keep the blender unplugged 'til you're ready & and they're out of the way!
Make food part of your drawing!! The turtle I drew sure loves bean crisps! Wouldn't they be cool as tree trunks?
Turn healthy juices into popsicles! Here's a popsicle made with Pineapple Mango Carrot Ginger Juice! Cooper has no idea that he's consuming carrots. He hates carrots. Haha sucker!
If a child is hungry, they'll eat! Don't force food on them. They don't like that. It's a control thing.
They like to show you who's boss and it's definitely not Tony Danza.
Let them see if hummus is a good face moisturizer and try not to cringe in the process! It's important for them to explore the taste & texture of food...even if it ends up jammed into their ears! Always do this before bath time!
A few more tips:
-Write down a list of all the things your child eats. Refer to the list when you're in a food rut. You might forget something! Pull something out of your bag of tricks.
-If they're not touching their food ask them "How does a SHARK eat an apple?" Watch them show you. They like doing this. Always go for the powerful eating animals. Tigers, rhinos, lions & bears work well too.
-Give them the foods they're least likely to eat FIRST! If they're hungry enough, they'll eat just about anything. If I give Cooper a piece of buttered toast first, he'll eat it, then ask for MORE TOAST while totally ignoring the bowl of strawberries on his tray. Greedy! Also related--Don't give them too many options!
-Let your child watch their friend eat broccoli. It's a positive spin on peer pressure!
-Don't panic when they don't try something. Keep at it! (I'm still trying to grasp this one!)
And there you have it!! A few tips based on feeding my almost 3 year old.
Do you have any tips? I bet you do! Let's discuss!
TWO years ago!
June 5, 2009 Little Bebe Cooper & Claire
June 07, 2011 Cooper & Claire!!
We had a little impromptu meet up with my good friend Jessica and her daughter Claire this week! They were visiting from Portland! Even though they haven't seen each other in awhile, Cooper & Claire immediately picked up where they left off....just like me and Jessica. I love that in a friendship. Cooper woke up from every nap this week looking for his "Cware." The sweetness!
Lock your daughters up because my son is a chick magnet.
Thank you, Electrolux!
The Best Parts:
- it's an organizing dream!
- there are many beverage shelves
- a pull-out freezer that has 3 levels of fun
- those cute ice cubes
- LED lights that fade up when you open the fridge
- the Perfect Temperature drawer (our quick-chill wine drawer)
- super easy to clean
- it's easy to find what you're looking for
- a special shelf for extra tall bottles
- it stays super shiny
- you can hang dish towels off the freezer door handle
- french doors allow for extra wide party platters
- ice/water dispenser tray is much easier to clean
- it was free!!!!
The So-So Parts:
- the noise can be a little loud (I'm still getting used to it)
- sometimes the ice cubes get stuck in the ice dispenser
- our particular unit has a problem with the french doors; if you open the left side before the right, the little bar in the middle does not snap open. You need to manually move the bar before closing the door or it will not close. The design is supposed to allow you to close the doors in any order but ours is malfunctioning. We checked the same model at a showroom and it did not have this problem so it's likely something that is easily adjusted or fixed.
- there are two " Fresh Zone" drawers which are great, but they sized the left side one about 1 inch too wide so you need to open both french doors to open the drawer.
- the water that comes out is not as cold as we would like, but it does come out fast. Our previous fridge took ages to fill a tall water glass.
- you can't hang magnets on the fridge
In short, I really do love my new fridge. If I was in the market for one and had the money, I'd totally buy it! If you are interested in seeing more info about my Electrolux French Door Refrigerator with Wave Touch Controls, check out the Electrolux Website.
Thank you for the opportunity, Electrolux!
This is part of a series of six posts sponsored by Electrolux as part of Homebuzz. I received an Electrolux appliance in exchange for my participation. The opinions stated in this post are my own.
Memorial Day Weekend 2011
We ventured up north to Calistoga to hang out with Casey's family this Memorial Day weekend. There was some rain, sunshine & a whole lot of eating and drinking (what else is new?). Cooper got to play with his cousins and we all got to hang out in my sister-in-law's parent's gorgeous home. I took a few pictures with my cellphone because my digital SLR proved too heavy to carry when I had a drink in my hand.
Here's what we saw:
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Where you can find me…
A quick THANK YOU to all of you that came to my class at Macy's this weekend! I hope you enjoyed the food & the photography demo! I can't wait to do more classes in the future. I'll be posting the Strawberry Bruschetta this week and here are the links for the Artichoke Basil Bruschetta & the Tuna & White Bean Bruschetta we worked on together! Thanks again for the support! It was seriously FUN!
Here's a little peak at us grilling the crostini.....
Here's my station! You know what was awesome? Being able to pull items off the shelf at Macy's for the demo! Need a grill pan? Just go find one on the floor! Want an awesome serving platter? Pick one from the dishware section! I also found a new love---Martha Stewart's bar towels. They are AWESOME. I need to stock up on a bunch! They're super absorbent and really really lovely, fluffy and soft.
Oh! A few more things!
My friend Danielle of Sometimes Sweet is working on a really cool series- 8 Weeks to a Better Me! I'm so honored that she wanted me to be apart of it! Yesterday I posted a few tips on Healthy Eating & 3 Essential Rules I follow to keep my weight/health in check. You should check it out! Thanks Danielle!
Speaking of health, I also posted a recipe for my yummy Fruit Dippers over at Modern Kiddo. My mom made this tasty lime yogurt dip when I was a kid and it's become Cooper's new favorite thing!
Mother’s Day Weekend 2011
We had a pretty busy Mother's Day weekend! Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market so I could gather a few things for what I was cooking this weekend. Nothing like fresh beets, fresh baked bread, lettuce, parsley & fresh chicken eggs to inspire a weekend menu!
After Cooper's nap, we went to our friend's fundraiser party in their backyard! They've got a bunch of chickens! You see that black & white one? Her name is Oreo. She was my favorite.
Easter Weekend 2011
Our Easter was a bit different this year. My family was out of town, so we had a very low key Easter at home, just the three of us. On Saturday we took Cooper to the Hiller Aviation Museum to see the Easter Bunny arrive by helicopter!
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