Wednesday, August 19, 2009

New approach to after school snacks

I'm always on the lookout for healthier after school snacks. We have 2 plastic bins full of lunch time snacks that I choose from to make the kids lunches but they're not always the healthiest choices (cookies, chips, every type of fruit snack known to man).  I wanted something different for their after school snack...they both come home starving and grabbing at everything in sight.  I saw this idea on another blog recently and after a quick trip to Trader Joe's and raiding my fridge, I came up with this cupcake tin full of more acceptable choices. 
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Whether the kids like it or not (today will be the first day they're introduced to it), I know I'll be digging in!  I plan to keep this on a shelf in the fridge for easy grab and go.

It turns out there is an entire Flickr group devoted to "Muffin Tin Meals"....you can really get creative with choices and options, some even do theme tins.  I'm looking forward to constantly adding new healthy snacks to our tin. 

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

School has started!

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Unbelievably I now have a daughter in Kindergarten and a son in 2nd grade.

They both had a great day. Jacob quickly hooked up with old friends and Ella is well on her way to making new ones!

IMG_0759 Today was also Aaron's birthday...after dropping the kids at school we went to breakfast and had a great day together. 

We've been celebrating for the past 3 days (date night Friday, pool party with friends Saturday, family party Sunday) so he's had plenty of ice cream, cake and pies-we managed to put this together for him tonight!
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Happy Birthday Aaron, I love you!

 

Wrapping up summer

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Ella's BIG girl room

A big project this summer was the re-do of Ella's bedroom.  She has SOOO much stuff...art supplies, makeup, dress-up, Polly Pockets, Barbies, books, kitchen set, miscellaneous toys and her room was just not functional to store it all and leave room to play.  Not to mention the glowing pink was just too much! 

After much thinking and talking about it we decided to just go for it this summer.  We started with an exhausting search for the perfect comforter and finally found the ONLY one she liked at Target.com.  We picked a paint (flows with the majority of blue throughout our house currently), found a full size bed on Craigslist, painted her dresser and mirror black, bought some accessories, a trip to Ikea and we are finally done! I wanted to share the before and after pics.

BEFORE:
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AFTER:
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She loves it and I really love it!  I constantly tease her that I'm going to kick her out into Daddy's room and move into hers.

Santa Cruz Vacation

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A couple of weeks ago we took a 4 day trip to Santa Cruz. Everything about it was fabulous. We had a lot of great quality time with family and just enjoyed our time on the coast. 

I put together this video of highlights of our time...

http://web.me.com/lisaski/_gallery/100149/ref.mov

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Lots to write about!

More posts coming soon but wanted to quickly post this before and after of the kids haircuts today.  School is starting in less than 5 days and we're getting all the fun we can get in before homework starts!

Before - Shaggy Hair! (Oh and notice Jacob lost his first upper front tooth a couple days ago!)
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After - Ahhh a respectable 2nd grader and Kindergartner!
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More updates coming soon....Ella's room redo, Santa Cruz vacation, summer fun, Juella Designs updates....