Teach Your Children Well

Last weekend I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that it doesn't take much to teach children important values. I also learned that it doesn't take much to give back to the community (and it can be fun!).

Our home backs up to a golf course. My husbands company has their annual golf outing at that course. One of his coworkers mentioned that it would be cute to have our girls set up a lemonade stand at the fence line, and sell to the golfers as they go by our property. We all thought that was a cool idea too and had been planning on it for months.

Then, that same employee mentioned our plan to the golf course manager. That one tiny conversation changed everything, and this little lemonade stand idea got bigger and bigger.

The manager insisted that we take our business right onto the golf course, not at our fence line. He promised us our own golf cart so we would have a place to sell our stuff. He referred to us in an email as "the Cookie Girls". Um, that means we better be selling cookies too, right?

During a subsequent conversation with my sister, she said "Why don't you get the kids to donate the proceeds to a charity. It'll teach them a great lesson". Well, hot dog! That's the best idea yet.
While we were at church I checked out the bulletin board, scoping out the various organizations and events looking for funds. I brought the kids over and let them choose. It made them feel empowered, and part of the process.
They chose the Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota. Tia was especially struck by the fact that many of the homes on the reservation don't have heat or running water, and that the kids don't always have proper winter clothing. Her exact response was "Mom, we have to help these people!". O.K., then. We're on it.

The day before the golf outing I stayed home and baked and baked and baked. It was an all day project even though I chose 2 very simple recipes. I had gotten an email earlier in the day stating that there were about 100 golfers in our group, as well as another group of 15 who would be going by, and who would most likely buy from our cart. That meant LOTS of cookies.

Here are some of the goodies...

basic sugar cookies

The chocolate chips ready to go

I cannot tell you how excited the girls were for this day. That excitement doubled when we told them we would be getting a golf cart. I was a little scared to drive the thing, I kept feeling like I was going to tip over, but eventually got the hang of it...

The Cookie Girls!

Get Your Lemonade!

We had a fantastic time. The weather was perfect, the people were friendly, and we sold out of everything before the event was finished. We were invited to stay and have lunch with the golfers. Nice little bonus.

The very next day we went to church to make the donation. I introduced the girls to the woman who is leading the project. I had Tia give the woman the envelope of cash, and explain to her what we did to earn it. They were so proud, it just melted my heart!

At NO point did either of my kids suggest that we should keep the money. They never asked if they could have some, or buy something for themselves with it.

So my sister was right. The kids learned a valuable lesson. More than one, really. They learned that it can be easy and fun to help those in need. They learned that there are folks who are less fortunate and that we do have the ability to help them. They learned about advertising, marketing and sales. They learned the importance of making connections in the community (I bet we'll be asked back next year!). They learned about making change (in more ways than one).
They learned that a kind word and a smile sells a lot of lemonade!

I'm glad we did this project. I bet our family will be doing more things like this in the future.

Charity and Compassion are taught at home.
Teach your children well.

More Shenanigans

I mentioned in my last post that my sister was in town for my birthday.
I didn't post about her whole visit because that would have made for a very long and picture filled blog entry.
So, here's the scoop on the rest of the time we had with the lovely Aunt Kimmy.

On Tuesday we sent the kids off to school as usual but we picked them up at lunch time. I had arranged it with the teachers ahead of time so that we could have a fun day together.
We drove out to Pleasant Prairie for a visit here...

Why do both my kids have their eyes closed?!

The Jelly Belly candy company has a warehouse in our area and they offer free daily tours. The kids have been wanting to go there since before we even moved to Wisconsin, so they were super excited that the day had finally arrived.
We took a ride on the jelly bean train around the warehouse and learned about the history of the jelly bean.

As you can see, our Aunt Wendie drove up to join us on our adventure. She also lives about an hour away from the warehouse, so it was a good meeting point for all of us.

The kids made fast friends with the sample man. We tasted all sorts of jellied confections (many, MANY times).
The kids could have stayed there all day and eaten their weight in candy. However, the adults wanted some real food so we went out for an early dinner at one of our favorites.

Mama loves good BBQ

Sadly, the next day I had to send the kids back to school, and it was a miserably cold and dreary day.

The sunshine didn't last long after this shot

When they got back home there was lots of this going on...

Every little girl needs a pretty manicure

what better to do on a rainy day!

And some of this...

More Fancy Nancy!

This was our last night together so Aunt Kim had to soak up all the girl time she could get!
She flew out the next day. I was certain the kids both understood that she was leaving while they were at school. Well, Giuliana came home from school, tossed her back pack and asked "Where's Aunt Kimmy?". The sad look on her face when I told her she went back to New York was enough to break a moms heart.

We had a great visit and can't wait to do it again.
Let's hear it for Girl Power!

Breakfast?

It's 8am. and this is what my kids have chosen for breakfast...

What, you don't let your kids eat pop-sicles for breakfast?

Well, typically I wouldn't either, but guess what these are made of?
Plain Greek Yogurt (loaded with protein)
Bananas (potassium)
Blueberries (Vit C and antioxidants)
a splash of grape juice

How can you go wrong? And they're purple which is a huge bonus for my girls!

My oldest loves popsicles and would eat them all day if I let her. However, they're loaded with chemicals that I'd rather she not consume.
I've been getting creative with making our own and the results have been yummy!

What did your kids have for breakfast today?

Refreshing Summer Treats

It's been hotter than I don't know what here in the mid west. I liken it to walking into a blast furnace whenever I go outside. We've gone out for the occasional ice cream cone, but mostly we make our own 'ice cream' at home. Nope, I don't have an ice cream maker, but I do have a food processor!

A friend of mine found a blog of someone who had been making banana fake-out ice cream, so I gave it a try at home. The blogger calls it "one ingredient ice cream". We've gone far beyond the single ingredient. We've been trying all different flavors, and have never been disappointed.

Here's what we do...

Peel, slice, and freeze a bunch of ripe bananas.

Bananas have been priced about .39/pound here, so I've stocked up and keep lots of them in the freezer for whenever we get the urge for some ice cream.

Place frozen bananas in a food processor and blend. After a minute or two scrape down the sides and blend again until you get a creamy texture with no lumps. That's it! You've got banana ice cream.

I like to add a tablespoon or peanut butter to mine to make peanut butter ice cream. Who doesn't like peanut butter and banana?!

My kids and husband are partial to berry-banana ice cream. I just add a handful of frozen wild berries and the mixture becomes bright pink!

The possibilities are endless.

Dairy free, fat free, no added sugar, full of potassium.
That's a sweet treat you can feel good about.

Moving Right Along

We've been pretty busy around here lately that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. So sorry for that.

We had an offer on our Illinois house which happened a lot sooner than we ever expected, so things are moving right along. Looks like we'll be moving up to Wisconsin before the end of the school year, and that means lots of phone calls and preparations on this end to make that happen.

The kids were on spring break from school this week so it was the perfect opportunity to head up to the new house and get some stuff done.

There was some of this...

Tia's new room

And a bit of this...

Gia's new room

And new toys to be played with...

And of course Mommy  has her (way too many) cupboards to organize...

How long will it stay like this?

This section is all done!

We even had a surprise birthday dinner for Daddy, of which I took no pictures!

We toured the kids new school and met some teachers. The girls are nervous and excited all at the same time. I can't blame them.

And then we had lunch with the Easter bunny hosted by the local recreation department...

Lots of cute craft projects

I think we accomplished a lot on our week 'off'. The best part was when Tia said she didn't want to leave. For a kid who has anxiety and resists change, I'd say that's some pretty great progress!

Now I'm heading into a few weeks of intense packing and cleaning to get the Illinois house ready for closing. It's also almost time to say goodbye to good friends. Not my favorite part of this process.

If I ever feel like I might want to move again, I hope I remember how hard this was!

Until next time.

A Yummy Winter Activity

My sister sent the girls this super cool cake-pop maker for Christmas. They've been begging almost every day to use it since the day they opened the package.

We try to limit their sweets so I wasn't going to break it open until all the Christmas goodies were out of the house.

FINALLY, last week I surprised them and told them the day had come that we could use the machine. I can't even tell you how much fun this thing was!

They especially loved the chocolate dipping part. Can you blame them? We tried white chocolate but it never really melted, so we had to stick with the milk chocolate. No big sacrifice there!

If you look closely, you can see the chocolate on her lips!

Then we got out all the sprinkles we had in the house and I let them decorate.

The  finished product

Yum-O

They turned out so cute we brought some to our little neighbor friends for an after school snack. The little boy kept saying "Wow, you really made these?".

We plan to make them again for Valentine's Day (a HUGE event in our house).
A nice way to spend a winter afternoon.

What to do While Waiting for the Grandfolks to Arrive

Yesterday was a day of waiting for the grandparents to arrive. I knew there would be lots of questions like "how much longer" and "Are they coming NOW?". So I tackled the day with a plan.

In the morning we went to the library for a holiday music program. Then we headed to the gym, the kids to the play room, me to exercise.
After that we went out to lunch at the kids favorite restaurant which I think was a big mistake. Their cook went home sick and it took us 45 minutes to get pancakes. Then the questions went from "How long until they get here" to "Where is our food?". Oh the best laid plans!

Then the insane person in my head thought it would be a good idea to get some last minute grocery shopping done. Yeah, 2 kids in a busy grocery store. That was a great idea.

After all that and some much needed rest time (for me, not them), I pulled out the big guns.
I had picked up these giant gingerbread men at Trader Joe's and this was just the perfect occasion to keep them busy, making a big mess, while waiting...

Hard at work

so careful!

Tia's finished girl

Gia's finished boy

The kits were .99 each and I can say I think that was a well spent $2. It kept them busy for about an hour.
I'll have to keep this in mind for next time we're waiting for folks to arrive.

By the way, everyone arrived safely, and on time.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

A Healthy Treat

About twice a week at least one of the kids asks me to make them a yogurt smoothie.  I'm happy to oblige because it's full of protein and they get in a serving or two of fruit. However, there's usually too much for them to have in one sitting.  I can't stand waste so it bothered me to pour the left overs down the drain.  And, I didn't want to get into the bad habit of finishing their food when they're done (I get in enough calories of my own, I don't need extra help).
Then I got this great idea.  Believe me, I'm not usually the mom with the Suzie Homemaker ideas, so this is big news, OK?

I had this super cool ice cube tray which makes flower shaped ice, purchased from IKEA ages ago. I filled it with the left over smoothie and stuck in cut up straws for a little handle. I started to use tooth pics but quickly realized the straws looked way cuter, and are probably safer for little ones.

They turned out perfect and the kids think they're great. They're so tiny, just the right size for the kiddos.  So now when Tia comes home from school every day asking for a popsicle, I can say yes without any guilt, or fear of ruining her dinner.

A big Hooray for all natural!

Happy Sweetest Day

It's that time of year again.  The girls look forward to this and talk about it for months leading up to it.

The Daddy-Daughter Dance!

They got all dressed up in their new fancy dresses, thanks to Nonna who is always on top of such things, and hit the town (or the local gym) for a night of dancing with their Daddy.

I've heard that this was this was the best year yet, and a blast was had by all.  As usual, I was told I wasn't allowed to attend because "It's only for Dads and daughters".  I offered to wear a disguise and slip in the back door, but no-go on that one!

Here are a couple pictures I took at the house before they left.  Too bad I wasn't not allowed in or I could have gotten some good ones on the dance floor.

Precious moments, special memories in the making.

And the Birthday Celebrations Begin!

I've mentioned before that in my husbands family, birthdays are a big deal and are celebrated for extended periods of time.

When D.R. asked me a while back how I'd like to celebrate my 40th birthday, I told him I wanted to go into downtown Chicago for a weekend and run the annual Chicago Lung Run.  That's it, no party, no fancy dinner, just some family time in the city.
We've been planning the Chicago weekend for months now, even my sister is flying in for the occasion.  So imagine my surprise when I walked into our friends house and was greeted by a boisterous "SURPRISE!".

Apparently my friend Nilu and my adorable hubby have been secretly corresponding for a month, and planning a party.

Here are a few shots from the evening...

Tia chose the cake and design

adult drinky time!

That's the sneaky friend Nilu on the right!

Me and the secret-keeping hubby

It was a great time with lots of fun, laughter, and even games.  They did a fantastic job in all the planning and of course, keeping the secret.  I sure do have a great group of friends and a very thoughtful husband.

Turning 40 feels great!

The Final Fling of Summer Fun!

I've been having mixed emotions about Tia heading off to kindergarten tomorrow, mostly because she won't be home with me ever again after this!  I know, I'm a drama queen but think about it.  She'll be in school full time for at least the next 13 years, and hopefully there's college after that.

Because of that realization, we started a new tradition in our family today.  I decided that since it's the last day before school starts, we should have a "fun day" to celebrate.  We started the day off with some bowling.  The kids have been asking to go all summer and we just never got around to it.  We can NOT start out the school year with regrets!  We had the best time.  SO much fun.

Ready to Roll!

Knock 'em down Tia

With Cousin Jennifer

Tia wants to know if she can buy bowling shoes to keep at home because they're so comfortable.  Can you imagine!?

Then we headed off to lunch at Famous Dave's  for some awesome BBQ.  Yumm-Oh!

Gia thinks everything is a photo op

After lunch we went shopping to pick out hats for Disney.  Well, we really went shopping to walk off our lunch, but bought hats while we were there.  Did I mention how awesome that lunch was?

And then, of COURSE, no summer day would be complete without ice cream.

LOVE those blue eyes

Ice cream faces are so kissable!

It really was a fantastic fun day, and a great start to a new tradition.  Tia's already asking what we'll do for next year.  I think that means this idea was a big hit.

Happy Back to School everybody!