Making Dinner Fun!

I really lucked out with a non-picky eater.  Kaylee will go for anything green and leafy before eating anything else on her plate.  She loves chicken, turkey, hamburger, steak, potatoes, pasta, fruit, and veggies.  In fact, she refuses to eat cake!  She does like cake pops though!

Tonight's dinner was Love Burgers with spinach salad.  I could have given Kaylee a regular burger and she wouldn't have cared, but I wanted to spruce up her plate just for fun.  Normally I would chop the mozarella up into cubes but Kaylee likes to eat cheesesticks, so I left hers long.  I used a large heart cookie cutter to cut the bun and burger.

Salads can be fun!  Add random things to your salads to entice your kids to eat the whole salad...we eat fresh spinach because I think it tastes better than romaine or iceburg.  Items I add are: cheese, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, mandarin oranges, hardboiled eggs cut up or sliced!  Heck, let your kids put ingredients onto a spinach leaf and make a little taco!  The bright colors make them more fun too!

Make a "Hamburger Salad" - croutons (cut up buns), crumbled hamburger, tomatoes, onions, cheese cubes, maybe a honey mustard dressing

How about a "Pizza Salad" - shredded cheese, pepperoni, olives, mushrooms

Have you tried a Salad on a Stick?  Use shish-ka-bob skewers, slide on different salad items then eat right off the stick!  That idea just came to me, I think we'll make those tomorrow!

This salad has steak, chicken, olives, cheese, apples, blueberries.  She ate that entire plate full.

I'm not an expert but I don't see anything wrong with letting kids "play" with their foods enough for them to get the feel for the textures.  Toddlers explore with their hands, so why not let them "explore" their food before they commit to eating it?  

Here's Kaylee "exploring" spaghetti at about 11 months old.

With that said, if we're in a restaurant I don't let Kaylee eat her macaroni and cheese with her hands, she has to use a fork....or two forks.

okay, okay you caught me...I did let her go forkless at Smokey Bones once.  In her (my) defense, she was only 15 months old and I forgot to bring a little fork for her.

Well, my goal in writing this blog was to give you ideas on how to spruce up dinner for your kids, but it turned into a "scroll through iPhoto reminiscing about the last 2 years" instead.  So I hope you enjoyed my food lover!

Bowtique!

Many of you know that I used to make Kayteedids Hairbows.  I've stopped selling them now but I still make Kaylee's bows.  I love being able to whip one up before we head out somewhere (a girl has to match at all times you know!)  But alas, I've outgrown my love affair with making hairbows.  So I was delighted to stumble upon a shop on facebook awhile back.  Here's my disclaimer:  They have no idea I am writing this blog, I don't know the shop owners, I have paid for every single bow I own of theirs, and I never told them that I would advertise for them.  I am strictly writing this as a mom who has fallen in love with someone else's bows and wants to tell the world...or at least all 6 of you who read this blog. :)

I'm unsure of how I stumbled upon Julia's Bowtique, but I did and I'm never looking back.  She had posted a set of basic hair bows for sale and I couldn't pass up her amazing price!  I don't remember the price for my first set but it was something along the lines of $1 per bow...UNHEARD of in the bow-world!  The set of 5 I purchased were red, green, blue, yellow, and purple 4" bows on alligator clips.

Now, I have to say that I am a skeptic when it comes to online shopping.  (I know that's bad to say since I'm an online seller myself!)  But Julia's Bows were AMAZING!  I'll say it again, A-MAZ-ING! They are the perfect size, well made, quality ribbon, fast shipping, and GREAT prices!!  Just this week I realized that Kaylee *needed* more bows for her collection, so I got this set of 12 for $16 total (including shipping)!!!  That is $1.34 per bow...did I mention that this price is UNHEARD of?!  She has an extensive list of colors to choose from and I got these bows in less than a week from when I paid.  Impressive all around.

My daughter isn't a super frilly, girly-girl so these solid colors and polka dots are right up her alley.











BUT never fear, check out the Julia's Bowtique website for more amazing, elaborate, and fun bows for all occasions!!  You can find them on facebook too!  http://www.facebook.com/juliasbowtique

Auction for CureSearch for Children's Cancer

Through a friend in my mom's Bible Study a couple of years ago I was introduced to the story of Eve, a 2 year old (at the time) who was diagnosed with bilateral Wilms Tumor (cancer of the kidneys). As much as I feel like I stalk her mom's blog, I won't try to wow you with statistics because I'm sure I'll get them wrong. BUT you can read her blog for yourself... Eve vs. Wilms

Eve's mom Christy is absolutely hilarious and writes from the heart. Eve is currently cancer-free...woohoo! But Christy continues to be a warrior in raising money for research to help current and future families. She'll be hiking The Ultimate Hike in October as one of her many fundraising gigs.

So in honor of Eve and to help Christy, I am auctioning off a Kayteedids Lovey and 100% of the total sold price will be donated to CureSearch for Children's Cancer - the organization that the Ultimate Hike is designed for.

The auction is on Facebook with the help of The Mom Shoppe who has a lot more followers than I do. Click here to go to The Mom Shoppe, "like" the page, then go to the multi-vendor album. Look for this blanket to bid on (#33)!  Just to clarify, my blanket is the only one being donated to this charity.  The other items are strictly for the vendor unless it states otherwise.

If you don't have a facebook account but would like to contribute to the fundraiser, click here to donate The Ultimate Hike.

I did it!

I finished knitting my very first scarf!  In my previous post you'll notice that I started with red yarn and skinny needles.  Well, my hands hurt so bad after get that far along that friends suggested I try larger needles.  That worked!!  I upgraded to a 15 instead of 10's.  And I found yarn that was less "stringy" which made it difficult for a first timer like me to follow where my actual stitches were.

Here is my finished product!

I used the basic knitting stitch for the entire thing.  And I didn't follow a pattern (because I never follow directions until I'm half way through with something and realize I did it wrong) so it's a bit wide for a scarf, but the person who is receiving it as a gift will love it no matter what it looks like.  He'll have to remain nameless though incase he's reading this. ha!

Up next?  Another scarf! This time I'm learning the Purl stitch, and I learned my lesson so I'll be making this one skinnier.

I followed this youtube video.  There are no words so you don't have to have your sound on!