• Water Blob Fail

    by Polly on June 19, 2013

    Well friends, my grand ideas don’t always turn out like I planned. This is the case with my attempt at making a water blob for a play date we had a few days ago.

    First of all, you should know that we had four moms and eight kids under two outside playing with water on a super hot and humid day. Four of the kids are under 3 months old. Seriously. It was pretty much controlled chaos. Despite it ending in a few meltdowns (primarily my kids) the play date was a blast.

    water play date

    I’ve been wanting to try out this water blob idea  that this blogger raved about. It seemed so simple. Fold up a large piece of plastic sheeting, duct tape the edges, fill with water, and have fun!

    It seemed so simple…

    So between a toddler walking all over the plastic while I’m attempting to tediously tape the edges together and my infant protesting being outside in his bouncy seat, I managed to get it taped together before all the kiddos arrived.

    As I began to fill it with water I immediately realized I had made an obvious mistake. The area of the yard had a very slight gradient to it causing all of the water to pool on one side of the blob. I tried to move it but the weight of the water was a bit too much so I just had to go with it.

    All was well with the water blob for a bit. The toddlers were showing mild interest but we got a few to stomp around on it.

    blob

    However, as more water entered into the blob, the duct taped seams began to show signs of weakness. It started with a few leaks here and there. One small leak eventually turned into a large leak which eventually ended up opening up an entire side of the blob. Water began pooling out and moving down the incline of my yard.

    A few of my mom friends had to be first responders to the infants innocently relaxing and naive that they were in the heart of the flood plains.

    flood

    Even after a massive amount of water had escaped the tarp, the blob took on a life of its own. It began slowly rolling and creeping down the yard.

    I didn’t catch any pictures of the flooding and organic movement of my blob but I did get a few of the aftermath.

    aftermathThat’s my gal and pup stomping around in the leftover water. At least they got to have a little fun with it, right?

    Anyway, if I do this again I will make the following changes:

    • Make sure I am on even ground.
    • Take a lot more time and effort to duct tape the edges well. Probably with double reinforcement.
    • Use quality duct tape. I think the type I had was a cheapo brand that couldn’t hold much weight.
    • Not put infants downstream of blob.

    We live in a broken world people. Water blobs do not escape the fallen condition.

    Best of luck trying this project out for yourself!

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    What Supplements Does Your Family Take? (We Take These 4…)

    by Rachel on June 18, 2013

    Supplements recommendations

    Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links of products that I personally use and/or fully support.

    I give you full permission to make fun of me for this. My husband for sure does already. Want to know what I fall asleep reading many nights of the week, besides cooking magazines? Articles about health, nutrition and supplements. Am I boring or what? I’ll say this, though…after reading The Hunger Games series a few years ago before bed, this makes for much sounder sleep!

    What is your take on supplements? I’m so intrigued by the idea of using natural ways to supplement our diet–which is of course not perfect–and to fight off illness and prevent disease. But, on the other hand, I’m cautiously skeptical knowing that the vitamin business is a multimillion dollar industry. Some of the articles I read are likely tainted with bias and ulterior motives.

    Over my years of research and discussions with several medical professionals, though, I’ve come to this conclusion. There are at least four must-have supplements that everyone in my family needs to take (and we do most of the time). Here are the ones I budget for and feel confident are crucial to overall health at any age. Feel free to disagree, though, and share about your own supplement regimen. I’m certainly no expert. [click to continue…]

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    How to Freeze Green Onions/Scallions

    by Polly on June 17, 2013

    So, this is one of those posts that many of you will chuckle at and think, “You didn’t know that?”

    I am here to tell you that no, I did not know that you could freeze and save green onions for later use. So for those of you out there like me, this post is for you.

    This year, my backyard garden has given us a CRAZY amount of green onions. They are bigger than I’ve ever seen in a grocery store and I simply didn’t know what to do with them all. I mean, look at these crazy things!

    green onionsI was about to throw them in the compost when I ran the question past my dad, the gardener extraordinaire, of what I should do with so many leftover scallions (green onions and scallions are the same thing, FYI). He informed me that you could chop them up and freeze them for later use. Duh.

    So that’s what I did today. I yanked out a TON of onions, washed them off, chopped them up, and froze them!

    Want to save some leftover onions in the future? Read on, my thrifty friends! [click to continue…]

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    Friday Funny

    by Polly on June 14, 2013

    I’ve got another Friday Funny for you.

    If you have been around a two year old, these will have you laughing out loud. The gist of these videos is a reenactment of conversations he has had with his two year old. However, the twist is there is a grown man playing the part of the two year old.

    My favorite is Episode Two.


    Happy Friday!

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    Oatmeal Peanut Butter Snack Bar

    by Polly on June 12, 2013


    oatmeal snack bars

    I stumbled on this snack bar recipe from How Sweet It Is a few days ago and knew I had to give these a shot. I had all the ingredients on hand so in the oven they went.

    Oh. My. Goodness. I love these. They pack a lot of flavor and are REALLY filling. Especially when accompanied with a glass of milk (which you will need). What’s crazy about these is that they don’t have any oil or butter in the recipe but they sure taste like they do.

    bars

    They make the house smell super yummy too. I guess it reved up my husband’s appetite because he couldn’t resist a little taste before I got my pictures.

    IMG_8281

    I haven’t done this yet but it would also be a good recipe to make up and freeze for later use or to give to a new mom. It’s safe to say these were a Pinterest success and will be going into my recipe book.

    Oatmeal Peanut Butter Squares

    makes 9 squares

    Ingredients

    1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

    1 cup old fashioned oats

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    1/2 cup brown sugar

    3/4 cups creamy peanut butter, like Skippy Natural

    1 tablespoon vanilla extract

    1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla almond milk)

    1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

     

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

    2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add peanut butter and sugar and mix on high speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla extract and mix until combined.

    3. Add in flour, oats, salt and baking soda, mixing on medium speed. The dough will look crumbly and you want the peanut butter mix to be broken up into clumps. Add milk with the mixer on low speed, and mix until a dough forms. Fold in chocolate chips.

    4. Make sure dough is completely combined, and roll it into a ball with your hands. Place it in the middle of an 8×8 baking dish, pressing it to fit. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until set and golden on top. Let cool completely, then cut into 9 squares.

    bars1

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    Healthy Take On Strawberry Shortcake

    by Rachel on June 11, 2013

    Healthy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

    Updated and reposted from June 2012

    As with most recipes I post here, our family devoured this healthy take on Strawberry Shortcake. The key to this dish is two fold: a) good strawberries macerated with just a pinch of sugar, and 2) fresh whipped cream (please don’t ruin this with whatever it is that Cool Whip is…ick!). I must warn you though, if you’re accustomed to the classic biscuit or sponge cake versions, this was neither. Instead, this Strawberry Shortcake was a moist, sweet and yet denser cake. Not quite what I expected but awesome none-the-less. We even ate it for breakfast the next day! [click to continue…]

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