Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood

Don't tell me I'm the only one who needs encouragement in this area!  Ha!  Head on over to Grace Full Mama starting on January 30th for her new series Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood.  I'm not going to miss it. 

Learning Activity: Spelling Name (with pretzel dough)

I'm trying to do more activities with the letters of Shrade's name. I came up with the brilliant idea to make pretzel shaped letters. I found this yummy recipe at Heavenly Homemakers, but let me warn you, it was a very messy and long project! The dough was so wet, I had to add more flour than I thought. However, these are so good and they made A LOT. Making the letters and pretzel shapes was harder than it looked, but we did at least make the letters of his name.

Color Theme Week for January: BLUE (plus recipe!)

Every month I will choose a different color that we will focus on with fun activities for the week. This week I chose BLUE!  I chose some fine motor, crafts, tasting, color recognition and music.  Some of my ideas came from one of my new favorite blogs- Teach Your Tot.  Corey has so many fun theme ideas!  I also used ideas from Totline 123 Colors : Color Day Activities for Young Children (1-2-3 Series: Ages 3-6) by Jean Warren.

Making "blueberry" pies.  I punched out blue foam.

Yep, $15!  Shrade came up with that number.

Drinking blueberry milk!

Blue pictures from magazines. Shrade did all the gluing himself.

Find BLUE things- his favorite activity!

Mmm, blueberry muffins!

This recipe for Blueberry Muffins is adapted from Totline 123 Colors : Color Day Activities for Young Children (1-2-3 Series: Ages 3-6):

1 cup white flour
1/4 c. graham cracker flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup applesauce (we used pearsauce)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 sliced banana
1 cup blueberries (ours were frozen)

Stir together.  Grease baking pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.
These were pretty good and had NO sugar!

I am so thankful that my husband picked all those blueberries for us this summer.  We have several blueberry bushes in our yard and also a community Blueberry Park which is free.  I will definitely be storing lots of blueberries for the winter!  Did you see our yummy Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal we made?  Jessna and I can't get enough of that one.

We also read a few books:



What fun things would you do with the color blue?

Free and Fun Friday: Snow Day

We don't get snow in the lowlands very often in Western WA, but this week everything shut down first for the snow and then for ice and then for no power.  Thankfully we kept our power, but when the snow doesn't melt and then freezes we don't know how to drive around here.  I heard there were 700 accidents in one day.  They shut down several roads too.  But that didn't stop us from having a little fun in the backyard.  Daddy went to work, but came home one day a little early and took Shrade out to play in the snow.  They did some sledding, made a snowman and a snow wall.  This was a GREAT sensory experience for my little guy.

Peter Rabbit Organics Review and Giveaway

There is nothing I like more than making my own baby food, but I can't always produce the yummiest flavors that I have found with Peter Rabbit Organics!  My daughter is now 8 months old and she loves food!  I'm so excited that I can finally experiment with her little palette.  One thing that I truly look for when feeding food to my baby is what kind of ingredients are in the product.  So I see the ingredients for Carrots, Squash and Apple are Organic Carrots, Organic Squash, Organic Apples and Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate.  That's it! Yes!

All the fruit and veggie purees are organic, contain 100% fruit and veggies, and have never added sugar or anything artificial!  The snacks are high in Vitamin C and have between 70-85 calories and have 1.5-2 grams of fiber.  The pouches do not need refrigeration prior to opening and come in BPA free resealable pouches for easy packing.  The pouches are easy to squeeze and the flavors that come out are very delicious!  (You wouldn't know there was no sugar, it's not needed!)

Isn't it refreshing to find food for every age that is yummy and good for you as well.  Both of my kids are eating these up fast!  Jessna is not yet able to feed herself, but she ate this whole pouch of Mango, Banana and Orange in one sitting when I squeezed the food on a spoon.  Shrade, who is now 3,  sucked his Pea, Spinach and Apple with no problem at all.  What a great way to get a serving of fruits and veggies into my little ones with no hassles.  I really like that these pouches are portable and can be taken on trips in the car for a quick snack or added to yogurt or cereal for a fruit and veggie boost.  No matter what, Peter Rabbit Organics delivers high quality products that are enjoyed by everyone and are easy to eat!

Jessna- 8 months

Shrade- 3 years old

Peter Rabbit Organics products can be bought nationwide in select Whole Foods Markets, Publix, Albertsons, and natural food stores.  These products are available online at Amazon.com, Diapers.com, BabiesRUs.com and Spud.com.

*This product was provided to me free of charge by Peter Rabbit Organics  for purpose of this review. This is my honest opinion of this product and no monetary compensation was received for my opinion.*

Win it:  I'm so excited to have a giveaway for this 12 pouches of Peter Rabbit Organics!  Open to US only and giveaway ends Sunday, January 29.  

To enter: Be sure to click on all the links before filling out the entry form.

1. Be a follower on my blog

2. Subscribe to my blog by email (link on blog)

3."Like" Milk N' Honey Learn and Grow on Facebook (link on my blog). 

4. "Like" Peter Rabbit Organics on Facebook.

5.Visit Peter Rabbit Organics and tell me one flavor you would like to try. (required)

6. Post about this giveaway on another site (your blog, facebook,twitter, etc) (1 entry for every site-use share buttons at the bottom of this post) 

Entry for 12 Assorted Pouches of Peter Rabbit Organics

Brightly Beaming Resources: Week #19- Boats

This week was fun as we studied BOATS with Brightly Beaming Resources.  We actually did not get a chance to go down and look at boats, but we pretended to make a boat in our living room!

In the "boat"

We had fun making triangles with a recipe from The Sneaky Chef for Cheesy "Animal" Crackers.  We just made ours triangles.  They are so yummy!  The sneaky ingredient is pureed chickpeas.  Of course, I like anything with cheese and so does Shrade. 

And for letter S we made our craft from No Time for Flashcards!  Snakes are NOT my favorite creature, but Shrade is having fun learning to write S since it is the letter of his first name.  (Well, so is mine!)

We counted to 19 and put 19 plastic animals in an egg carton tray.  We counted as we put them in and counted as we took them out.

We also had some fun painting a watercolor ocean for the sailboat.

And of course we sprinkled in some hands on sensory fun with Everyday Sensory Alphabet Activities.

Books we read:

What's Cooking? Sweet Potato Bread (Gift for teachers)

  

Recently I was hanging out at Susan Case's blog (who wrote Kindergarten: Tattle-Tales, Tools, Tactics, Triumphs and Tasty Treats for Teachers and Parents, which I recently reviewed and highly recommend!) and I found this yummy pumpkin bread recipe.  Well, I don't have pumpkin, but I have lots of sweet potato puree so I tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with this Sweet Potato Bread that is just perfect for giving to teachers.  I also just acquired this wonderful bread pan with room for 12 loaves of bread.  However, this recipe can be made into 24 muffins or 4 regular loaves of bread.

Sweet Potato Bread: (Susan's recipe uses pumpkin)

Dry ingredients-
3 1/2 cups flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
2 teaspoons soda 
1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon cloves 
pinch of nutmeg 

Wet ingredients-
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup applesauce (I used pear sauce) 
2/3 cups vegetable oil 
4 eggs 
2 cups sweet potato puree
  
1 cup chopped pecans (optional) 
½ cup raisins or chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Bake 350° for 35-40 minutes in greased and floured pans. Yield: 4 medium loaves or makes 24 muffins. Bread will be very moist if you let it sit for a few days. 

Shrade and I really love his teachers at church so we decided to make these and give them to our special teachers!  Shrade was so cute when he gave them the bread and said "Thank you."  I'm trying to develop a thankful spirit in my little guy.  He had fun making the bread with me and also delivering it in person.

Hope for the Weary Mom Book Review

I am a weary mom.  I thought I would have life so much more together as a stay at home mom.  But I don't and I won't.  This life was not meant to be easy and I am going to be weary because that is how God is glorified.   But I need hope.  Am I the ONLY one who feels this way?  NO!  I have found several blogs for moms that have really inspired me to pursue God's power in my weakness.  The MOD Squad is for moms of girls and the MOB Society is for moms of boys.  On Saturdays in November they did a series called Hope for the Weary Mom and has now been made into an ebook.  Each chapter really resonates with me because now I know I am not alone in this motherhood journey.  Stacey and Brooke honestly address when gentle words won't come, when you don't measure up, weakness and desperation, why you can't live at the spa, when you just want to give up, sacrifice and when life hurts too much.  And as they share these stories (which are so familiar they could be my own), they give hope from God.  This book also has a help section with resources for discussion questions and a list of Bible verses for the weary mom.  At the end is the Weary Mom Manifesto!

This book spoke volumes to me as my everyday struggle as a mom is focusing on my failures instead of the  victorious life God has for me.  I have copied this ebook and I read it weekly to encourage me to look to the One who is my very source.  I have placed many of the verses for the weary mom around my home to remind me that I can't, but He can.  Be encouraged today and get your free ebook by subscribing to the MOD Squad or the MOB Society.  Have Hope!

Visit Hope for the Weary Mom on Facebook for more encouragement and discussion!

31 Days to a More Playful Tot

I just love Melitsa Avila and her blog Play Activities.  I recently reviewed her book Everyday Alphabet Sensory Activities and it is awesome.  I have revolutionized my sensory playtime with my son.  We are having so much fun!

Not only that, Melitsa has started a series for 31 Days to a More Playful Tot.  Do you want to have fun with your kids?  I sure do.  Check out this series and I'm sure you will get lots of new ideas.