I do realize

that I haven't posted anything in close to 3 months. All I can say, is that time sure does pass by fast, doesn't it? I am going to try to do better, starting now.

So to start back with something fun, what better way than with a "Here Comes Santa Clause" blog party.


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Hosted by Jolly Mom and Go Graham Go. Hurry on over and check the sites out for ways for you to win their great giveaways that will be starting tomorrow!!

Birthday Party

Finally, here is my post about our girl's 2nd birthday party. I wanted to have a low key party since last year was a bit out of control with way too many kids and parents. But, last year, she had only been home for a short period of time and all of our (meaning adult) friends wanted to share in the excitement of her finally being here, after the 3 year process. So, they all were invited along with their children, and almost every person in our extended family. So, this year it was simple. Made for moma and child to have a much better day-lol. And, can I just say, that I LOVE the suggested birthday party rule of "only have the # of children that your child is turning"...what a simple, yet brilliant idea!!! So, you guessed it, we had 2 other children at our party.

So, I'm sure you would like to see some pictures, here you go:

Our theme was a Panda party. She squeals everytime we cross the big bridge, and see the big panda banner for the zoo. In fact, she's now started squealing and yelling panda as soon as she sees the bridge, she doesn't wait until she sees the banner. Here is an overview of the party table.


The table was decorated with black, white and green balloons, green tablecloth, panda cake, stuffed panda, treat bags, and presents. Black and white napkins, cups, and plates. I also had food that was black and white, to keep with the theme; black grapes, sliced bananas, oreo crisps, and of course, chocholate cake with vanilla ice cream. (AG had her soy vanilla ice cream) The party was from 3-5, so I didn't put out alot of food.

I made her Panda Head Happy Birthday banner. It was made out of white and black cardstock, scrapbook paper, and green ribbon. It turned out exactly how I had envisioned, so I was happy with that.


Here is the panda cake. Now, let me say that I had some issues with the cake. First of all, it was extremely difficult to find someone to make the cake since AG has a dairy allergy. I can make the cake, but cannot decorate it. So, I finally found someone who agreed to make it and use the recipes that I use for the cake and icing. However, this is not the cake that was supposed to be made. She said the icing wouldn't do right, so she had to make it into a sheet cake. I've never had a problem with this icing being too thin, but I still think it turned out cute. I have decided that if when we go back for allergy testing in December, she hasn't grown out of the milk allergy, I am going to take cake decorating classes. I do NOT want to have to go through that again. Or she may just have plain cakes for every bithday and I'll have to go all out on the other decorations!


I made a pin the nose on the panda game. The other two girls didn't want to play, but AG sure did. She had a blast with it. I even left it up so she can still play with it.



I printed out some panda coloring pages and gave them to the kids in the treat bag, which was a green Chinese take out container. It was filled with the panda color sheet, box of crayons, panda stickers, and a Kung Fu Panda Chinese drum. I didn't get a goood picture of the treat bags, but you can kind of see them in this picture. They are right behind the stuffed panda.


And here are the girls coloring their pandas.


Each girl got a bubble wand and we went outside to play with those. Bubbles are always a hit.


Here she is playing in one of her favorite presents-her Princess Pop-Up Castle tent.


So, there is our panda birthday party. AG seemed to have a wonderful time, as you can see by the smile in that last picture and that is what is important. All the decorations or festivities mean nothing, if your child doesn't enjoy themselves and feel special. I think she did!

I leave you with our family picture from the party.

Tot School

My baby turned 2!!! Time goes by extremely too fast!

Here is our week of Tot School: (kind of random)

Playing with her new No Mess Paint set


She loves to unload the dishwasher and got one of her own for her birthday, which she loves


We made a lifesize drawing of her, which she later colored.


First time feeding the ducks-I have to admit I was pretty impressed with her wanting to make sure that all of the ducks got some of the bread. She would point out to her daddy which one he needed to move closer to so she could throw the bread.


Playing with her new markers and Elmo coloring book she got from her friend, Ella.


Playing in the bubble water, after finger painting. The bubble water was a much bigger hit than painting!


And, here is my favorite from this week. She is enjoying another piece of her birthday cake.


Go here to see more Tot School ideas.

Tot School

Head over to Carissa's blog to see other links to Tot School this week.

We are not completely back to normal since vacation last week, but we are getting close. This week, I was preoccupied with the big birthday party and making sure everything was set for it, so we didn't do a theme, hopefully, we will be back to that next week.

Here is some of what we did this past week:

imaginative play

planting a flower for her China mom

fine motor skills




cooking with moma

And one of my favorites from this week (there were many since we had a bday party, which I will put in another post):

Playing in her new princess pop up tent

Happy Birthday to my sweet angel!

Birthday party!!!

Join in on the fun here-hosted by http://www.gograhamgo.com/ and Jolly Mom.

See you there!

Picnic Table Talk-healthy snacks

Over at ABC and 123: Picnic Table Talk this week, they are discussing healthy snacks for our kids.

I haven't set a specific time for snacks yet, but if she hasn't asked for a snack by about 2-3 hours after a meal, then I will ask her if she wants one and give her some choices. These choices usually include a fruit, a whole grain, or soy yogurt or vegan cheese. (AG has a cow's milk allergy).

Here are some of her favorite snacks:

smoothies
seaweed
avocado
grapes
pretzels
rice cakes
any type of whole grain muffin
fruit
strawberry soy yogurt
vegan cheese
peanut butter crackers
graham crackers
homemade granola bars
homemade chewy oatmeal raisin cookies
cucumbers
tomatoes
pickles
olives
trail mix (usually Kix, Cheerios, raisins and maybe some dairy free choc chips)

I think I am going to try to make these fruit leathers for on the go snacks. I am also wanting to make some homemade "lazy granola" from here.

I think as she gets older I will try this organizational tool-I love it!! Thanks for the inspiration!

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday-chewy granola bars

Today, I want to share one of our go to snacks for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. AG loves them and so does AG's daddy, although, he prefers me to make half with raisins and half with chocolate chips.

Ingredients
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4-1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened -we use dairy free due to AG's cow's milk allergy
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips -we use dairy free
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
raisins (optional)

-Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease or spray 9 x 13 pan.
-In large bowl, beat brown sugar, sugar, and butter until light and fluffy.
-Blend in honey, vanilla and egg.
-In separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
-Add flour mixture gradually to sugar mixture and beat until combined.
-By hand, stir in almonds, chocolate chips and oats until well mixed.
-Press mixture firmly in bottom of greased pan, and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, or until light golden brown.
-Cool and cut into squares.

Head over to BlessedwithGrace for more tempting recipes. I think I am going to try the cinnamon bran muffins.

Tot School

Please visit here to see more Tot School posts.

Last week, we were on vacation, so there was more Life School going on than actual Tot School, although, we did get a little bit in. We went to Branson, MO. While there we met up with one of our China travelmate families. This is the second time we've been able to see them this year and feel so blessed to be able to keep this connection for the girls, as we all think it is important as they grow. The girls are only 5 days apart in age and are absolutely adorable when together ( and separate :-). We were truly blessed to be able to find such good friends through this process. Here are some pictures from our week.

with her new princess puzzle

on the Branson Scenic Train with Daddy

playing with Mr. Potato Head

Lots of time in the pool

Here are some with our friends






And a few of my favorites from this week:

tot school

Oh, man, the week went by so quickly, I didn't get a chance to write about the previous week's Tot School. Time flies when you are having fun, and when you are visiting family-yes, again! I tend to pack up AG and myself when AG's Daddy has to travel for work. So, if he's gone for more than one night, you can bet we're not staying home. Off to Nana & Papa's we go-and they don't mind a bit! And, so that no one thinks that I am slighting my in-law's, Ma spent the night with us on Monday.


Since we were gone, Tot School was kind of sporadic. I always take the time to try to introduce her to new things or review things throughout the day, so I don't feel like it's a total loss. I had decided to work on themes each week, with this week being the first. I didn't do as much as I had planned since I decided on Tuesday morning to leave, but I did manage to take some things with us.



I did a daily shape:


M-square


T-triangle


W-circle


T-heart


F-star


I didn't actually do much for Thursday & Friday b/c she already knows those shapes really well.



Monday we did a square person-sorry no pic.



Tuesday we made a triangle kite.

Wednesday we made a panda head out of circles.

Next week, we will be on vacation, so we will do some things involving different shapes as kind of a review.

Go here to see Tot School.

Sweet book giveaway

Lisa at BlessedwithGrace is giving away the sweetest book HERE. It's Dance Me Daddy and it's been on my amazon wish list for a while now. I had decided to wait to get it for Father's Day next year, but I would love to win it.

Please go check out BlessedwithGrace. Lisa has a great blog about her life with her daughter and has some fabulous giveaways, one of which I won a few weeks ago- Kai-Lan and Yo Gabba Gabba DVD's.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

My new bloggy friend, Lisa, over at BlessedwithGrace, has a weekly blog carnival called Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. You can head over there to see more tempting recipes. We tried one of them this afternoon- yumm0!!

Today, I am going to share the meatloaf recipe that I use, when I can get my DH to agree to eat meatloaf. He says he doesn't like the texture of meatloaf. I can understand, since I hated it growing up. But, now I do like and don't get to have it often, hmmm, something is wrong with this picture.

I got this from somewhere on the internet a while back and didn't think to save the link to give credit where credit is due, so I hope I will be forgiven if the original author comes by, if so, please claim your recipe!

BBQ MEATLOAF

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 tbsp. minced onions
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. water3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. prepared mustard
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp. wine vinegar

Mix meat, bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Put in loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Combine remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Baste occasionally with sauce, covering meat.

Serves: 6.

Enjoy!!

Tot School

Last week we were at my parents and this week they came to visit us. It was great to get to see them again so soon!!

Here are some things that AG worked on this week:

This is her felt board "The Hungry Caterpillar" that I made last week, while visiting Nana and Papa. She picks out the food to put on the board while I read the book.


She worked with her shape sorter quite a bit this week.


She put her Easter eggs into an empty egg carton. Then, she sorted them into the colored baskets.



She played dress up in her new Snow White dress, that I got at a consignment sale this week.


She read lots of books with Nana. We also went to the library for storytime, where she painted and checked out some books.


I also got this bike trailer at the consignment sale this week- it's great! We love being able to ride our bikes again. AG loved it and wanted to go again and again. She also almost fell asleep in it twice!


I guess we had alot more of life experiences this week as opposed to actual school, but that's fine, she loved them all!

Here is a favorite from this week. She was showing us how to twirl the magic wand, which her Papa taught her!


Head over here to see more Tot School links.

Tot School

Head over HERE to see more Tot School links.

We spent most of our week at Nana & Papa's. I did get some pictures, but not alot. So, this week is kind of sparse...

This first picture was taken back in June at our visit, but they did the same thing this visit and I didn't get a picture.


We also drew shapes on the sidewalk and had her step into it when I called it out. She did really well. I drew a star, square, triangle, and circle.



We picked out things around Nana's house that are purple this week.


She did lots of kitchen play this week.


She played with her fill and spill bottle quite a bit.


She played with her new Mr. Potato Head. She seemed to like this and wanted her Papa to help her out.


And, she always likes to draw on her chalkboard.


Here is my favorite pic of this week-she was laying on her princess couch and looked so comfy!