First Visit to Orchestra Hall

Isabel, mommy, daddy & grandma went to Orchestra Hall today to listen to the MN Orchestra perform a compilation of songs written by Leonard Bernstein. They titled their performance "Bernstein Beat" and it was a part of their Young People's Concert Series. Most of the time Isabel was attentive, but there was a period of a couple of songs that she insisted on laying on the floor beneath our chairs in the box suite we watched from.

One of the things neat about this concert was that Leonard Bernstein's daughter, Jamie, was there on stage with the orchestra to educate everyone about the pieces of music and her father. It was very educational. I know I learned a lot.

Afterwards, we had lunch at the Fire Lake Restaurant. It was very yummy. They cook with organic, local & sustainable ingredients.

Bed Head

So, I was taking some pictures this morning of the plastic bag flowers I was making and Isabel decided to take a breakfast from eating her breakfast to ask to have her picture taken. She normally doesn't ask, it's usually me just taking them. Anyways, we got her clothes changed before breakfast but she still has bed head. What we have here is one nice smiling picture and one silly tongue-sticking-out picture.

McDonalds is Not THAT Evil

Before I had kids I wanted to believe that I was rarely if ever going to take my child to McDonald's. That was before I had kids. The reality is that is isn't as bad it can be. It's all about choices. Plus it can be a real sanity saver. When it's cold here in MN and you need to get out of the house, McDonald's playground is a good place for kids to burn off energy.

Sure, some argue that those tubes and slides are covered in germs and maybe kids with weaker immune systems should stay away. Or maybe they should go there to be exposed to germs and build up some immunities. Anyways, I have yet to attribute a sniffle ot runny nose to McDonald's. Seriously, how can I tell if she got that from McDonald's or holding hands with a friend at a playdate or sitting in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Unless you keep your child in a completly sterile environment at all other times, can you really attribute a virus to playing there.

And as far as food goes, yes I have read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and I avoided McDonald's for many years after that (combined with an episode of food poisoning that could have been from there or from food at an outdoor concert that day), but I have to sometimes turn a blind-eye to the monoply they have on the beef, chicken, & potato, etc. market if I want to go there with my daughter.

I am lucky in that my daughter like a cheeseburger, apples (w/o the dip), & milk. She doesn't care for fries or pop all that much, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that I gave her apples & milk initially and it's the norm for her to have that. Although, what gets me is when people tell me that I should get the chicken nuggets for her (which she never wants -- she likes cheeseburgers) because they are healthy. Seriously people, read labels.

Both the cheeseburger and a 4-piece chicken nuggets have 12 grams of fat. Yes, the cheeseburger has an extra hundred calories, but the cheeseburger also has 2 grams of fiber (chicken nuggets have ZERO), a cheeseburger has 15 grams of protein and the nuggets have 10 grams. With a cheeseburger you get 6% RDA of vitamin A, 2% of vitamin C, 20% of calcium, and 15% of iron -- the 4-pc nuggets you get 2% of Vitamin C & 4% of iron (that's it.) Although you get double the amount of sodium in a cheeseburger than in the 4-pc nuggets, so the nuggets win out there. But you have to remember that if you use any sauces, you have to add extra. All the sauce add an extra 50 calories and other than the honey, all the sauces will bring the sodium content to being on par with the cheeseburger. So, when you consider when you eat the nuggets you are getting very little else other than fat & sodium, the cheeseburger (not that's healthy) looks like the better option. I don't see anything healthy about the nuggets at all.

So, it may not be the best choice for an entree for my child, but we don't go too terribly much. But we do go and I don't feel bad about it.

She eats a lot of fruits & veggies when we are at home and we have high fiber bread and brown rice at home, so I think she gets quite a bit of healthy food. Plus I think it's good for her to learn at an early age to make healthy choices and not feel like she has to be restricted from the Golden Arches.

Breakfast Playgroup

We hosted a breakfast playgroup at our house this morning. It was a really good time. All the kids played so well together that we were able to actually have a lot of uninterrupted conversations. What a treat! I made an egg bake & creme brule french toast and asked the other moms to fill in with milk, fruit, juice, bacon & baked goods. It was such a filling breakfast it's no wonder that I am not hungry for lunch yet (& it's almost 1pm). Our friends that came over were: Beth & Aleyah, Mary, Cheri, Cole & Jacke, and Becky, Kennedy & Maddy.

At Church

Here are some pictures I took on Sunday when we were at church. They were taken at the end when we were about to have the Annual Celebration, which is a big meal. It was yummy. Our church is currently renting a space as they build a new building which is supposed to be completed this spring. The new building is visible from the highway and it sure is going to be a big place.

So, yesterday we went to swim class and I am taking her out of the class. This is a parent-child class and there were 20 kids with parents in the water with the instructor for a total of 41 people in the water. There was a clearly posted sign that said the pool capacity is 24. How irresponsible of community ed. to violate a health code (and having been a certified pool operator, I know it is a health code and not just a suggestion) and put everyone in danger. I am not about to keep in this class. It is a small pool and was packed. Isabel had no problem jumping in and kicking around her feet, but other kids were scared and having a fearless child so close to them jumping in & swimming around just increased their anxities. And Isabel being the show-off she is in the water would relish in listening to the other parents tell their chld to be brave like "that girl" (Isabel) and jump into the water. But as watch her jump in over & over and further & further out, I was worried that some other child would get caught underneath her jump and both of them end up going under. Seriously, we were on top of each other in there. It was not safe.

Isabel has been enjoying going swimming a lot lately and she is getting so much better. She is really starting to develop some skill (which I believe she may learn very little of in this class because they taught the same thing we learned when she took the class when she was 9 months and now she is almost 2 years & 9 months.) So, I'll just continue to take her on our own time and pay the money to do that rather than lessons at this point. And next time we do lessons I am going to ask to make sure that the enrollment does not exceed the capacity

Popsicles & Leaves

Art Time

We did some fun art stuff today. First she painted with ice cubes & kool-aid. Then she wanted to paint some more so we went to her art room and I gave her the stretched canvas that I had and let her create. Below you will see her piece that she titled "Popsicles & Leaves". I will be posting a slideshow of her painting it shortly.

It was interesting watching her paint this one as compared to the one she did on canvas last year. Last year she just used her finger and played around with the paint, this year she used a variety of brushes, her fingers, stamps, and talked about the colors she made as she mixed them together. She even talked about what she was painting this time and gave it a title.

Her First Time Bowling

She was very excited to go bowling. One of the moms in our MOMS Club posted on our forum that she was taking her boys bowling today and wanted to know if anyone wanted to join them. Isabel had been asking to go bowling, so I thought we would go. They have a winter pass that allows her 2 games & shoes, Sun-Th, for $25. I think MOMS Club will go in February, so I went for the pass. Besides, I need some stuff to do with her in the afternoon since she is trying to get rid of her nap. It's good util April 30th, so we will have lots of times to bowl.

She was so excited to pick out a ball & wear her bowling shes. She was dancing around and just plain giddy. But by 6th frame she was too tired to carry the ball and by the 8th frame she was asking to go home & take a nap. She can't bowl with one arm, in fact, she needs helping pushing the ball to get it down the lane all the way. Anyways, we came home and she still asked to go upstairs & take a nap and she did.

We also went to visit our friend Cheri, Cole & baby Jackie today. Jackie is just over 2 weeks old now. We went to visit, have a little playdate, bring presents and a meal I made them. I made them Mexican Lasagna, Mexican Rice & Cranberry Coffeecake. We are having all of this too. I double up my recipe when I make something for others. No sense not doing that, as it doesn't take me any longer to double everything. Isabel & I had some of our cranberry coffeecake today for lunch and it is good.

Ice Skating

We took Isabel ice skating for her first time today. We aren't sure where daddy's skates went to (I'm a little suspicious since he wasn't that fond of ice skating) so just mommy & Isabel had on their skates. She didn't last too long, but since daddy was just in boots he could take her to the park to play while mom skated some more.

The Snow Park is new to our town. The city recieved a grant that is paying for it, the warming house & the attendant to staff it, etc. They have 2 small rinks there. One for hockey & one for open skating.

Right now I am listening to Isabel try to tell daddy how to play Gran Turismo 4. She keeps telling him to "STOP!" I think she is afraid he is going to hit something with his car. Time to go eat some supper and them we are meeting friends for swimming.

Internet Research

There are a few things that Isabel & I wanted to know about, so we researched them online:

* What does a giraffe sound like? Answer. Here is a guy making animals sounds, including giraffe.
* What Seasame Street character is on the red heart necklace she got from Santa? Answer. Abby Cadabby.
* What are the rest of the words to "Sing a New Song" since mom can only remember the chorus? Answer.

Sunday Crafts

We made some crafts this morning. Isabel & daddy made a squirrel feeder out of the bottom of a milk gallon and some foam stickers to decorate it. They filled it with peanuts for the squirrels. They set it up outside on a table and Isabel wanted to wait for the squirrels to come. In the meantime they refilled the bird feeders as well. We've been enjoying watching the birds & squirrels eat out of the bird feeders.

I made the snowman felt board pieces to go along with our January Theme of winter. She has been asking to make a snowman out of felt and I finally got around to making them.

Snow Shoeing

Isabel rode in the sled white daddy & I were snow shoeing. She didn't want to try any on. She would lay down on in the sled and drag her hands while we pulled her. She thought she was hilarious for doing it.

Daddy wasn't sosure about going with us, but I think he had fun. Although, the wind was fierce when we were protected by the trees. It was certainly nice to get outside and have fun and not b running from the car to the house in the -20 degrees.

This was the first time that all three of us went snow shoeing. In the collage below you will see Isabel did try them out with daddy.

We went to River Bend Nature Center (we love that place) for their snowshoe event & treasure hunt this weekend. What was kinda neat was they gave us coupon to come back & rent snowshoes free for coming out today for the snowshoe event. I think Isabel & I will come back again sometime. This evening we went out shopping & bought new ice skates for mommy & some ice skates for Isabel. They are big for her, probably will fit her better next year, but we can put lots of socks on and try them out. She wants to go ice skating. I like how adventuresome she is and wants to try everything. She has been asking to go bowling too, which we will probably do this winter some time. Maybe I will see if our playgroup wants to go bumper bowling.

This was taken during the middle of this week. We went swimming with our friends Beth (she's takig the picture) & Aleyah. It has been so nice to go swimming again with Isabel. The pool is warm, which was such a change when we were running from the car to the inside with -20 degrees outside. We have plans to go swimming with them again tomorrow afternoon, along with our friend Carrie & Gavin, and the daddies too (Derek, Kyle & Isabel's daddy.)

Snowman Snacks

We made these snacks for the playdate at our house on Friday. It is two marshmellows (I thought 3 would be too many) that are held togetherby peanut butter, with pretzel stick limbs, and mini chocolate chips for eyes & nose & mini Hershey kisses held on my some nutella. They are sitting on snow/popcorn with snowballs/yogurt covered raisins. Isabel ate quite a few supplies while we were making them.

Let the Warm-Up Begin! PLEASE!

Well, we are staying in again this morning. Schools were delayed 2 hours, but not cancelled like yesterday. I suppose that is because we suppose to go from -26 to +9 degrees today.

So, we are skipping going to the gym (for mommy) and gymnastics open gym (for Isabel) this morning. We did make some smoothies. She's afraid of the blender when it's on, but put everything in there and took the cover off when it wasn't running.

This afternoon we are having some friends over for a smallish playgroup. So, that will be fun. Yesterday we had a playdate with our friends Rebecca, Casey & Dani. Isabel & Casey will be in swim class together in a couple weeks. On Wednesday we met our friends Beth & Aleyah to go swimming for open swim. That was nice because the water was so warm and it was sunny out and the wun was coming in through the windows and it didn't feel like it was below zero outside. We plan to go swimming again on Sunday with some friends. Tomorrow I would like to take her to the Nature Center for their snowshoeing event. I haven't talked to daddy about it and I am not sure if he wants to go with or not.

Quiet Time

We're still working out the kinks of quiet time as opposed to nap time. She decided this week that nap time was no longer, but by 4pm she's ready for a nap and it's just too late to take one.

Anyways, she doesn't quite get that she is supposed to stay in her room the whole time. She plays quietly and doesn't disturb me or ask me to play with her, but after a while she ends up playing in the hallway and I have to tell her to go back in her room.

Plus she has this new found sense of power & independence that doesn't jive to well with me at time and leaves me wanting to drink heavily or beat my head against a wall. There have been some rough moments for power struggles in our household this week.

Here's a little video of her at the start of quiet time.

And if anyone is looking for a coloring book to make for someone, here's a fun one of A-Z of foods from the USDA. I am going to print it off soon because we are doing Alphabet as a theme sometime soon. Although I am re-thinking that since she knows all her letters & their sounds. It might just be redundant. I was thinking Fruits & Vegtables would be a good theme, and this coloring book would tie in perfect. Plus, it would be a good way to get her off her sugar kick and explore more fruits & veggies (which she generally loves.) I haven't decided which month I will do it yet, as we are thinking about booking a vacation somewhere warm and I want to tie in the theme for that month with that.

Brrrr!

They say on the news that today is the coldest day here in 5 years. So, we're inside today. We may leave this afternoon when we reach our high of -4 to go to a playdate. Our playdate has a bounce house in their basement, so jumping around could be just what she needs.

In one of the pictures she is sitting on the steps with her friends, Ta (the red teddy bear), Dolly (the dolly), and Hop (her purple bunny).

Happy Birthday Grandma!

It's Grandma S's birthday today and we hope she has a good one.

Picking Out Her Own Clothes

Well, she now wants to pick out all her own clothes. And sometimes she doesn't match at all....like today. Actually, her first outfit wasn't too bad, but then she had to change when she needed to go potty (not because of an accident, but just to change). So, now she has on a white turtleneck with pink ballerinas on it, a summer sundress, black tights and green frog socks.

This morning didn't start off too great for us. It was a huge power struggle and we ended up not going to gymnastics and she had a long quiet time in her room. I did tell her she could read books & (finish) eat her breakfast, but that she needed to stay in her room because mommy was mad at her. She gets quite upset when I tell her she made mommy mad. After her quiet time, when we both cooled down, she told me she was sorry and gave me a hug. I will have to call and see if we can make up missing class with the Monday night class next week.

Isabel also seems to be trying to transition away from naps. I got a lot of advice from other moms and we'll have to see how this goes.

I have some old short videos that you can view:

Wearing Daddy's Backpack (46 seconds)

Demonstrating a Bear Walk (13 seconds)

Trying to Get Away from Blake Tickling Her (19 seconds)

Staying Busy

Yesterday, after naptime, we went over to Isabel's friend Aleyah's house and had dinner with her & her parents. Then all six of us walked to the high school (they live next to OHS) for the lullaby concert that the orchestra was putting on. It was a nice little concert. Isabel seemed to enjoy it and like watching how the instruments were played, so hopefully that means we will have a good time when we go to the MN Orchestra for a Yound People's Concert at the end of the month.

This morning before it got too bad out & schools closed in the are, we got to the gym so I could go to yoga class. The rest of the morning was spent coloring & stamping & imaginary play. We also watched the birds eating out of some of our birdfeeders and a squirrel that was being vreay creative in figuring out a way to eat out of one of them too. This afternoon we had to reschedule our playdate because of the weather, but we did go outside ourselves to pull her around on the sled and do some shoveling while she climbed the snow piles. Our plow guy is here right now plowing the about 5 inches that we got today. There are still flurries, but I don't think it will amount to much more.

We also brought in a bowl full of snow to make some more snow ice cream. While we were outside playing, Isabel kept saying "We're playing in winter, mom."

Interesting things from magazines

* PBS Kids Island (play games & learn literacy skills at the same time, ages 2-8)
* Teething Biscuits Recipe (using unbleached flour, ww flour, maple syrup, & applesauce) from Wondertime Magazine Feb '09 issue
* Make colored snow with squirt bottles filled with water & food coloring
* Compostable disposable plates bowls, plates, cups & flatware from Earthshell, Verterra, & World Centric
* Tri-Chair (This is SO NEAT! It changes from a highchair to a rocking horse to an art desk. I love the versitility of it. And even better is that it is mad of recycled sawdust.)
* Versaline Clothesline Drop
* Passive Infared Wall Switch Vacancy Sensor
* Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency -The bummer is that we finished installing windows this year and this year there are no tax credits for it. Same thing with the roof. It's 10% of the cost and that adds up when you have done several windows & a whole roof. Although, we do plan to replace our front door in 2009, so we'll have to remember to get the credit for that. We are also thinking about looking into a new boiler, which will get the credit too as long as it is Energy Star. You can only claim $500 tax credit over the lifetime of the credit, which is 06, 07 & 09. We never submitted our windows in 2006. I am not sure why, as we had an accountant doing our taxes then. They should have asked, but oh well. I guess we'll get it this time if we are replacing more stuff.