I’M CHASING BUTTERFLIES
At Monday pick-up from school,
my son and I walked through a big field of grass and buttercups to our car. He spotted a yellow butterfly; not the normal little white moth butterflies that you see everywhere this time of year.
“A yellow butterfly!” He excitedly pointed out to me.
I would not have noticed it; Thank goodness for 4-year-olds.
“Let’s chase it!” And so we did. We ran around and stopped when the butterfly did. We got very close a couple of times.
My son laughed and laughed.
And I realized at that moment that I had never actually chased a butterfly before.
Like I said, Thank goodness for 4-year-olds!
HEALTHY EATING: An Alternative To Chips
Over a year ago I changed my cooking, eating, and life.
I realized that my cooking involved too many carbohydrates…
Basically, I was doing too many spaghetti nights and ‘I don’t really know how to cook that well so I’ll throw some chicken, potatoes and a bunch of rice into a pot’ nights.
Then my husband and I realized that over the winter we had each gained 15 pounds- Yikes!
I started looking at my ‘cooking’ habits. And started making chicken or beef or fish and a vegetable for dinner. In a few months the weight came off, and we’ve kept it off.
Since then, I make a point of staying away from carbs and I’ve really learned how to cook.
I even make up my own recipes now (HUGE for me).
And, I have given up a love in my life: potato chips (even MORE HUGE for me).
I would take a bowl of potato chips over a cookie, or piece of cake, ANY day.
With that said, I jumped at the chance to try Brothers-All-Natural potato crisps.
These aren’t potato chips; they are fat-free, freeze-dried potato slices with spices and sea salt. So a small bag is 35 calories and only 8 grams of carbohydrates.
A great idea, but do they taste good? Yes, they do. They taste like an actual potato chip- without the grease and all that salt.
These are ‘guilt-free’ potato ‘chips’. You can eat these and still feel healthy! You can munch on these!
I gave these to my four-year-old to taste test and he said, “Mmmm good, Mommy”.
That’s what I love about these crisps- you can give them to your child. They are a really nice snack food for you and your kids. My family tried their apple fruit crisps and peach fruit crisps too. They were good.
But if you are really looking for an alternative to chips, like I am,
and really looking at nutrition facts on the backs of food bags,
try the Brothers-All-Natural Potato Crisps.
Like I said before, they are a guilt-free alternative to potato chips, and in my book-
that’s always a good thing!
They should be available in Costco stores right now.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A MOTHER
“The formative period for building character for eternity is in the nursery. The mother is queen of that realm and sways a scepter more potent than that of kings or priests”.
~Author Unknown
I CAN DO THIS- EXERCISING!
Where do I fit exercising into my day? I am not a runner, although I will run if I am being chased.
I actually don’t need to lose weight, I just want to tone up a little and be healthy. I’ve changed the way I cook over the past year for the better, making more vegetables and proteins, less carbohydrates.
So exercising has now made its way up my priority list. But who has time to exercise? I just got an email from my sister-in-law that said at the end of it, that she was going down to her basement gym to work out before her kids woke up- her email was sent at 6 am.
God bless her… but I am not that kinda’ gal. I know I will never wake myself up at 6 am just to exercise. And then I’m busy with my 4-year-old and the house, and playdates, and laundry, and building forts, and life.
Can I trick myself into exercising just a little at a time?
According to the Centers for Disease Control– the answer is,
‘Yes I can’!
Exercising for 10 minutes, three-times-a-day is as good for you as exercising for 30 minutes straight. Huh? Really?
I think… I can do that!
While my son was at preschool I took a break and walked to the bottom of our street and back- it took 10 minutes.
Our neighborhood park is a 10-minute walk away.
My 4-year-old and I were at the mall so when we were finished buying him shoes, I did a lap around the mall at a brisk pace pushing his car stroller (he loved it).
So… I think I can do this!
Wait- if I am walking, carrying a 35 lb. 4-year-old for 5 minutes-
does that count the same?
Hmmm- this could be great-
If I am giving my son ‘horsey rides’ down on all fours for 15 minutes –does that complete my exercise for the day? That’s pretty strenuous and should count double.
If I pick him up 10 times a day and twirl him around that should do it, right?
And when I play soccer with him for 15 minutes twice-a-day that could do it too!
Wait again,
I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’m sticking to 10 minutes 3-times-a-day and I’ll consider the other stuff…
EXTRA EXERCISING!
PERFECT!
An abbreviated version of this can be read at DC Metro Moms Blog.
BABY BUNNIES IN OUR BACKYARD!
It’s Spring,
and my husband in his ongoing quest to get a nice lawn put down grass seed and hay a few weeks ago.
When he raked up the hay last week we were all surprised that a mother bunny picked a mound of hay IN THE MIDDLE of our yard to build a nest.
My husband saw two little ears, so we left a little bit of hay for her and then on friday it happened.
We saw her FEEDING not one, not two but FOUR babies.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this so up close.
She must have gotten confused with all the hay, because as you can see, her nest is right by our deck.
I’m so excited and have developed, just over the weekend, a strong maternal instinct to protect these little offspring.
Ah, nature! I have instantly fallen in love with these bunnies…
Once a mother, always a mother 
A MOTHER’S LOVE
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child”.
~Sophia Loren
THE PHYSICS OF THE UNIVERSE AND TODDLERS
On the History Channel last night I caught the tail end of a discussion about the physics of gravity and the earth. It was on a show called The Universe.
If you could dig a hole between any two points in a straight line (the straight line was emphasized) in the world:
DC to NYC,
DC to LA,
DC to Beijing,
DC to Finland,
To travel through the hole would take you 42 minutes. It doesn’t matter the distance, the time is exactly the same for all of the ‘tunnels’ that you would dig.
Imagine the tunnel is a semi-circle, like a frown: You would fall down, gravity would pull you (obviously),
then the velocity and speed you had generated would push you back up to the other end.
The time is the same no matter what the distance because of the steepness of falling = gravity.
Now let’s see:
In 42 minutes on any given morning I usually put in a load of wash, help my son get dressed, make breakfast, make lunches, get myself ready, pick up random pieces of playdough from the rug, have some sort of crazy conversation with my 4-year-old,
‘Mommy, where do butterflies go to the bathroom?’…
and take him to preschool.
Hmmm, that or freefalling to Beijing in 42 minutes… seems about right.
It’s FINALLY Spring!
The weather is FINALLY, consistently, pleasant and warm!
Although it’s been raining in DC for 24 hours- look at how beautiful these flowers still are?
Our family went out to dinner on Saturday night and I noticed it was still light out at 6:30 (I know, it takes me a minute). No matter how many seasons I have been through in my life, the increase in daylight after a cold and long winter ALWAYS puts a smile on my face.
Cheers to Spring!
MY CARPET IS NOT BEIGE, IT’S WHITE
So we’ve just celebrated our 5-year anniversary in our house.
I vacuum regularly and generally keep our home pretty neat. I got the name of a good, professional, local carpet cleaning business. The price was right- $20 for stairs, $40 per room. So I decided to complete my ‘Spring cleaning’ with this company’s help.
The guy came in with an industry-size carpet cleaning machine and got my carpets cleaner than they have ever been.
In fact, I always thought this carpet that is pictured was a light beige…
It’s not… It’s white.
Wow.
Enough said.
OLD FASHIONED MAGIC MARKERS
My son and his friend were racing matchbox cars and playing with playdough and doing other 4-year-old boy things at our home, like making up rules to pretend games as they go-
“Let’s drive to vacation.”
“Okay… let’s stop for gas.”
“We don’t need to.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s pretend.”
“Ohhh… yeah, okay.”
Makes since, doesn’t it? And I have learned from my husband not to question these ‘rules’ because boys make them throughout their lives.
Then they were winding down and wanted to make maps (to drive on, of course). So I covered my coffee table (don’t worry- it’s very old and wooden) with paper and got out Magic Markers, crayons and colored pencils.
I asked my son’s friend if he wanted a Magic Marker and he stopped. Then with a glimmer in his eye and a little hesitation he asked, and I quote,
“How are they magic?”
I quickly explained to him that they aren’t magic, that’s just their name.
He was a little disappointed so I stammered how creating roads and coloring was creative and magical in a way… forget it, I had lost him, he wasn’t buying it. My son has always accepted the term because I use it. So they were both unimpressed, and went back to drawing roads.
But that got me thinking. Am I dating myself? Is ‘Magic Marker’ an old-fashioned term? Am I completely ‘old school’ and un-hip?
Wikipedia says that markers, also known as ‘Magic Markers’ were invented by Sidney Rosenthal from Richmond Hill, NY in 1952. ‘Magic Markers’ is now considered a genericized trademark, like saying Kleenex for all tissue or Chapstick for all lip balm.
Magic Marker is largely used in the US and Canada…
But I mentioned my ‘magic marker’ thoughts to a few mom friends and one from California said she had never used the term growing up.
Is this regional?
I know this isn’t rocket science or asking to comment on global warming BUT-
Am I the only mom who still refers to any markers as ‘magic markers’?
Or am I still just a novice; my eldest and only is 4, so I’m a pro about 4-year-old (boy) toys, but anything for kids older than four- I truly am not up on.
(ASIDE: I have heard of Hanna Montana and High School Musical and know they are HUGE, so I’m not completely in the dark.)
But good old Magic Markers… are they so… last century?
Everything moves so fast nowadays. Everything seems to become obsolete so quickly. The newest version of this, the latest version of that. Everything is BIGGER, and better, and ‘new and improved’. Is there some new line of Fabulously Fine and INCREDIBLY BETTER markers or pencils?
One more thing – Is there a new name for crayons that I just don’t know about ?!
An abbreviated version of this can be found at DC Metro Moms Blog.
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