Spring time brings out the Easter Bunny

At our local mall the store Children's Place hosted a Garden Party where they served cookies, lemonade and invited the Easter Bunny. My son is so sweet he waited his turn in line, waved to the lady dress as a fairy, he was all smiles. Until it was his turn to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. He put his head down, his little arms went to his side all stumped down, then his little bottom lip stuck out like he was gonna cry. He shook his head and told me "no". It was so sad. He normally likes characters like Chuck E Cheese and our local baseball team mascot. I told him it was fine if he didn't want to sit with the bunny so I asked him if he would like to give the bunny a high five. He smiled but would not do it until he first saw me give the bunny a high five. He smiled ran up to the Easter Bunny and gave him a big high five. He did not sit in the Easter Bunny's lap but he left with a smile on his face and that made me happy. Maybe next year he will be ok with it, maybe not just as long as he is happy I will be happy too.

Plus it was Free Pretzel day at Aunt Annie's at the mall! We both got a pretzel and then played at the mall play center. It was a great day and free!

L-O-S Olivos Travel California

As a kid I was lucky enough to live all over California and some parts of Washington state. My absolute favorite place we lived was Los Olivos CA. One funny thing I remember is a time someone asked my sister Sam how do you spell Los Olivos and her reply was L-O-S Olivos! Its odd how small thing like that make you laugh and recall great childhood memories. I loved living in the small little town where there was one school for K-8 and only 1 class for each grade. When we first moved there me, Sam and our older brother were all in the same school. It was funny to see my older brother who had been in junior high suddenly go back to having recess.

I could write a hundred blog posts about living there from field trips I will never forget, the time our older brother saved Sam from being swallowed up by a river after falling off the home made boat we made, the creatures around us from red foxes, snakes, coyotes that ate our chickens, horse riding lessons, oh the memories are endless. And most important it was the place my little sister was born, making our family complete. I feel like I need to write each story down as to not ever forget living in the one place I would love to move back to.

Main road through Los Olivos.

They have filmed many movies there too. I remember sitting on a bench in the local town park where they filmed park of Return to Mayberry and I laughed as an adult watching the movie Sideways since I knew exactly where many of the places were. I was telling my husband oh hey I used to ride my bike right by there. Los Olivos has had other celebrity happenings there. Michael Jackson had his ranch there too. When I was in the 5th grade we had a creative writing teacher who on the way back from a reading program stopped at the gates of the ranch so we could all knock and ask if Michael was home. Its those kind of adventurous things that made it fun to live in a small town where we used to buy sarsaparilla and keep it in a brown bag and sit out side the corner store to make tourist think we were drunken hillbilly children LOL! Oh the things kids will do if bored.

So if you ever planning a trip to CA and you like art, wine, relaxation and a small quaint town I would recommend L-O-S Olivos.

Re-Play Recycled Milk Jug Kids Dishes and Cups Review and Giveaway

With a kid as wild as mine who throws things just to see how far they will fly having plastic dishware for him is a must have. I do not want plastics that are bad for the environment or my son. Thankfully there are companies like Re-Play. 

Re-Play products are free of BPA, PVC and Phthalates and manufactured, assembled and tested in the USA. Re-Play uses FDA approved plastics from recycled milk jugs to make their plates, bowls, sippy cups and utensils. I love the idea of using what would be trash into something that is useful. I always make sure to place my milk jugs into our recycling bin and now I know they do indeed get recycled. 

My favorite product is the Divided Plates. They come in a three pack and have 3 divided sections. My son seems to get annoyed if certain food items touch each other on his plate then he wont eat it. I was the same as a kid. I knew it was all going to be eaten I just did not want my flavors to mix. These plates are a great solution to that. They are deep enough to keep the food in there. Plus I love that it is a portion controlled plate. I have been trying to make sure my son is eating more balanced and these plates make it an easy visualization. My son loves to have apple sauce with his chicken but it has to be on the side not getting his chicken, these are perfect for that. I even used on of the plates for Mommy snack time for chips and dip.

The Utensils are great since my son loves to use them. He always tries to trade his for mine, he smiles and says "trade Mama" he makes me laugh, but now he does not want to trade as much since he has colorful ones that arent for babies but toddlers. The Bowls are great. They hold just enough for him and also for me as a snack size. The fun part is when I mix and match the colors of the bowl, spoon and plate. It looks great. 

The sippy cups are a bit heavier than my son is used to. They are nice since its recycled plastic but he drops them if I put too much in it. I am sure as he gets a little older he will be able to hold them better. They are heavy duty though since through all the dropping they are fine.

Another great thing about Re-Play is they are affordable and you can find them at most Walmart stores! 

GIVEAWAY

Win a set of Re-Play Dishes

 

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#Win a Set of Re-Play Dishes from @Re_PlayPR at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 03/14 http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/03/re-play-recycled-milk-jug-kids-dishes.html

 *Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts March 2, 2012 and ends on March 14th, 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.

I Love Color, But How To Decide Which One?

I was at my local Walmart the other day and the paint department displays caught my eye. Aren't these paint cards gorgeous? I love how they have brought in all the colors of nature. Who doesn't love the color of a beautiful yellow sunflower or the lovely green of veggies?

I am thinking about painting my bedroom which is currently white. Spring is just around the corner and I am looking for something new and different. But how to decide which color to pick? These colors are so pretty that I want them all! Do you have a hard time choosing a paint color? I'll let you know what I decide!

This has definitely become my motto!

I know we have all seen this by now. I bought this cup last week just because I thought it would be great to drink my afternoon tea out of when I'm on the go. But it just occurred to me that "Keep Calm and Carry On" is really something we should all try to do for our own sake. For my health and peace of mind, I'm going to start doing this.

Did you all know that this actually came from an old WWII poster in England? It was a proclamation from the Queen in hopes of keeping everyone calm and functional during the war years. So it's really just the thing to drink my tea out of. Maybe I should make some scones to go with it. Sounds yummy to me!