Italian Daughter

For me, cooking with my kids is not my first choice.  I like to be efficient and clean when I am in the kitchen - it is also time for me to just be me.  With that said, I know the value and joy of having Lena and Lucianna get involved so I just have to let go a bit to enjoy it and not control it!  

It is definitely getting easier to let Lena accomplish tasks on her own as she gets older.  This is the second time in two weeks that we made one of our favorite quickie family meals - tortilla pizzas.  Lena has helped in the past with these, but this week, she made them on her own!  Just a bit of oversight and she was all set - she had fun making them and was able to give simple instructions to her sister to allow her to join in the process as well.  

Nothing like shirtless cooking!

I only snapped two pictures.  But there are only three simple steps to this kid-friendly dinner.
1.  Place whole wheat tortillas on baking sheet.
2.  Spread sauce.
3.  Sprinkle cheese (we use Vegan Rice Shreds - Mozzarella).
recipe note:  for the adult pizzas, I added seasonings and veggies, like mushrooms, peppers and olives
Kids would enjoy these with broccoli too!

Mini-Car Wash

At our house, it's a family effort to keep things clean and organized.  I know I am probably breaking some child labor laws but Lena and Lucy have earned their keep this week.  The result:  dish pan hands, sparkling outside toys, lots of bubbles and giggles, oh yeah and a few tears (Lena still hates to get water on her face).

Nothing novel here, this is just a good old fashioned exploratory activity that kids love. 

Suds for the bin of outside deck toys - the girls loved washing the little people, the cars and the  picnic set of plates and flatware.  Lucy ended up soaked from head to toe and Lena barely had a drop of water on her.

Scrub a Dub Dub

At the car wash, we washed and sprayed and sprayed some more!

Lucy really got a kick out of controlling the hose!  And her sense of humor showed when she realized that it can be quite funny to spray Mommy, Hutch and Lena.  Enter Lena's tears.

Okay, water play is fun!!!

Science: Lena's Garden

One of Lena's birthday gifts from her Aunt Christine & Uncle Matt was a tomato garden kit with a seed tray, coconut fiber discs and seeds.  I opened it this week for Lena and we followed the super simple instructions to set up her very own tomato plants that we hope will do well enough to be transplanted later this Spring.

Adding water to allow the coconut fiber discs to expand

Lucy gets in on the action and Lena was so happy to let 'lil sis help - the girls are placing the seeds in each plumped coconut pillow

Lena's Observation Sketch of her Garden
She will be adding to her "sketch journal" when changes occur to create a pictorial timeline of the tomato plants.   I thought I would model how to do the drawings but after I explained to Lena to draw what she sees, i.e. to draw the tray and what is inside, she paused to think for a few moments and then put marker to paper - I love her interpretation.

You Decide: Spontaneous Mama or Desperate Mother?

Shortly after Lucianna's broken bone scare in January, she graduated to her toddler bed at the pediatrician's recommendation.  Yes (sigh!), I listened to the doc's advice and made the move - much earlier than anticipated.  In parenting, there is never a shortage of learning through trial and error.  As eager beaver parents, Mike and I moved Lena into her big girl bed at two and half, so the second time around our plan was to wait as long as possible with Lucianna.  We were secretly hoping to keep her in the crib for...forever.  Yet for safety's sake, we abandoned all desires to keep Lucy in her cage crib, and converted her crib into a toddler bed (a step we skipped right over with Lena).  God bless her, Lucianna is like a happy bull in a china shop; she would certainly be more dangerous in a real big girl bed than she was in her crib - which she was routinely exiting via her signature hoist and jump over the railing move- yikes!

Fast forward six weeks to March 7, another unseasonably warm day in Jersey.  We spent the morning playing outside but had some errands to run in the afternoon.  After lunch, I loaded the girls into the car and off we went to Target - an 11 minute ride.  Surprise!  Half way to the store, I took a peek in the rear view mirror to discover both girls knocked out.   I have to digress to fill in the necessary background info:  (1)  my girls rarely sleep in the car and if they do, it's always 55 minutes in to an hour long ride, (2)  ever since the toddler bed transition, Lucy has given up her much needed (for her and ME!)  two hour afternoon nap (boo...hiss) and (3)  I have never, not even once, had to be the mom driving around her block six times so the kids could sleep.  Enter new territory courtesy of the perfect storm.  

So, what do I do?  As fickle as I can be, I immediately knew there was no way on this Earth that I was waking up Lucy...so here comes Target...there goes Target.  There I was, driving - aimlessly.   At first, I thought maybe I would just drive for 20 minutes and loop back to the store.  But, then I realized that our car was only getting closer and closer to those crashing blue waves on the sands of the Jersey shore.  Let the adventure begin!  

We ended up in Sea Isle City on the beach for about 15 minutes but the wind was too much for Lena who was not dressed for a windy day at the beach.  

So, I spied an awesome playground where we spent the next hour just playing with no plans!

So, you decide:  Spontaneous or Desperate?  

Either way you slice it, my rested kids had a fun-filled, playful adventure on a gorgeous March day at the Jersey shore.  

And, yes - Target still got our money...after all, it was on the way home.   

Turn Around, and she's Four!

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