the peanut butter and jelly meltdown

This is one of those posts that I should have written many, many, MANY months ago. But there's nothing in the rule books that says I can't go back in time! Now that I have come to the conclusion that this blog is mostly for me to be able to go back and see the memories I've made with my family, my creative inspirations, and organized spurts of my life, I have a little (a lot of) catching up to do! With that said, you may start seeing random posts from me in an effort to do just that...catching up.

By the end of the summer (2010) Mikayla had her peanut butter and jelly making skills perfected...even down to her cutting off her own crusts. One August day she showed me her masterpiece! I was so proud because she got out all of the ingredients and made it ALL by herself!

{August 29, 2010}

About a month later at the end of September (2010), Mikayla decided to try again making her own sandwich, but this time I had no clue she was doing this!! All of a sudden she is in my craft room where I was working and very upset about something. She was very concerned that she had used the wrong kind of strawberry jelly. Instead of grabbing the bottle of strawberry jelly spread, she had grabbed the strawberry syrup topping (for ice cream). Poor little thing was so distraught. The video below doesn't even capture the amount of tears when she came in to tell me what had happened. This is of her telling me again, so I could capture this sweetness on video. (never mind all of the random junk on the countertop, OK?)

cooking with kayla

Wow! It's been awhile since I've participated in Kid Friendly Friday at I Blame My Mother. Do I seriously not do enough with my kids these days!? Maybe it's because the weather has been so gorgeous that most of the time is spent playing outside enjoying the sun, so there is no real "organized" activity.

However, we did squeeze in a little "cooking up some fun" the other day in the kitchen. Mikayla is at that age of wanting to soak in everything she can! Her new favorite thing to do is help me cook! For our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we had a speaker come share with us about cooking with our kids and I really enjoyed listening to the tips and suggestions she had to pass along. I was also able to do a little online browsing as I prepared for some cooking links we could post on the MOPS blog, and that got me inspired as well. It was fun to see the different recipes out there or things you could do in the kitchen with your kids to teach them to help and enjoy the process of cooking! (Here is a simple article with tips on teaching kids the cooking basics...there are so many other resources out there, too!)

At the end of last week I thought it was the perfect day to make a sweet treat, so we opted for smoothies. Mikayla loves smoothies and it is the perfect little treat to share...it would be Austin's first try. After realizing we didn't have all the ingredients, we decided to take a quick walk to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. On the way there Mikayla and I had a little conversation about what was on our "list". We talked about what ingredients we needed to make our smoothie and what we had at home and what we needed to buy. I told her that she needed to help me remember. It was so cute for her to say the list back to me. (A random side note: Mikayla has been calling bananas "manna" for the longest time, so we tried pronouncing it for her so she could repeat it back to us. Buh-na-na. Simple, right? She repeats it back to us like this: Buh-duh-na-na. I'm so going to try to get this on video because it is just too cute!)

Time to get a cookin'!

Step 1: Cut up the bananas.

Step 2: Pour in the milk
Step 3: Measure out the yogurt
Step 4: Add in the berries.
Step 5: Turn on the blender.
Step 6: Give mom a cheesy grin.
Step 7: Cheers!

Mikayla decided to take hers "to go"!
And it looks like the smoothie was a hit...

...every last drop!

Another little cooking lesson that I didn't capture on camera was her helping me with dinner the other night. When it's appropriate and I have the time, I plan on giving Mikayla little jobs to do in the kitchen with me. (While Mikayla was helping me, I gave Austin a few {new to him} cooking tools to play with while we worked to distract him.) She put the salad in the bowls (I must admit it was a bagged salad! Gasp!). She was also in charge of buttering the bread and sprinkling the Parmesan cheese on top. Just giving your kids a little job in the kitchen will bring a smile to their face. It might be an extra mess, but I think it's worth it! Just don't choose an evening that's full of stress! One of the tips that I learned was to pick one night a week that was set aside for Mikayla to help me in the kitchen. That meal could be something that would be easy and fun to do together!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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And, in other blogging news...I'm going to be enjoying an all day scrapbooking getaway on Saturday and heading out of town on Sunday until Monday night to visit friends, so you won't be hearing a lot from me, but most of you probably also have plans with the long weekend coming up. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend and we'll "see" you when we "see" you!

blue and yellow make green

This morning I woke up with a new motivation to start working on redecorating the play room. A couple weeks ago, I shared about the struggles of deciding on a paint color and was stuck. I felt like I couldn't move on, but this morning, after Austin's morning nap, the three of us climbed in the van and headed to Home Depot (despite the sign out front that continuously blares "Don't Shop Home Depot"...oops! sorry! I'm sure I'm not the only one who drove right past trying not to make eye contact with the men standing in front).

On our way, Mikayla and I began chatting...

Mommy: We're going to the store to pick out paint.

Mikayla: Kayla, paint, too.

Mommy: I think you're too little to paint.

Mikayla: No, Kayla not too little. Kayla big girl. (with a tone of "how dare you call me little")

Mommy: Yes, you're right, you are a big girl.

Mikayla: Kayla paint, too.

Mommy: OK, when we get home you can paint.

After grabbing all the paint samples I could carry and a quick little "ride" for Mikayla on the lawnmower (cheap entertainment), we were off! We decided to meet up with Ryan for lunch and the whole way there Mikayla kept talking about painting. On the way back from lunch, I noticed the time and knew that painting would have to wait until after naptime. So, instead of breaking the news to her at home, I thought I would try and do it gently in the car...

Mommy: When we get home, you and Austin are going to take a nap first.

Mikayla: No nap! Painting first! (can you just hear the 2-year old in her?)

The conversation continued with a whole lot of "I promise you can paint, but we're going to take a nap FIRST." "Daddy will love your picture that you paint AFTER you take a nap." In which she would respond. "No nap. Painting first." Despite the protest, we did have a smooth transition to naptime. But the minute she woke up, I heard sounds from the bedroom... "Mommy! Painting!" Aw, yes...I knew she wouldn't forget.

And you know what that means? Mikayla had her first painting experience. I'm not a fan of messes, so that's the whole reason I have avoided this messy art project in the first place, which I probably should have already given it a try to broaden her horizons. Poor girl. The whole experience turned out great! She loved it and it made me so happy to see her enjoying herself...happy enough to even want to do it again! During the 20 minute art session, she had to wash her hands three times and NOT because of me, but because she wanted to. Ah, she is my girl.

Here she is having a blast...

look at the concentration on her face

just like always, her friends had to watch

she even learned that blue and yellow make green

our budding artist

and, if that didn't show her how much of a cool mom I was,
check out what I let Mikayla do in the bathtub tonight
(no worries...it's not real paint, just bubble bath paint-yes, I'm wild, I know)

And, in case you're wondering, I think I have narrowed my paint choices down and hopefully we'll get started (well, Ryan will get started) painting soon. I can't wait to show you the transformation!

it goes a little something like this...

After seeing an opened bag of chips on the counter, Mikayla and I begin our conversation...

Mikayla: Mommy, I wanna a chip.

Mommy: OK, I'll give you a chip.

Mikayla: 2 chips.

Mommy: You can have 2 chips.

Mikayla: 6.

Mommy: Here's 3 chips.

Mikayla: OK (and off she runs).

That little stinker got me, didn't she? But how can you refuse a sweet face like this?