Jess in Momland

Wordless Wednesday - Two Geniuses

2010-08-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

No Mess Watercolors

2010-08-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Amryn is one creative little girl, she loves to color and draw, a real little artist. Recently I got out a set of watercolor paints for her to try, I was a bit nervous about the possible mess, but figured since they were watercolors,and water soluable, that it would be a pretty easy cleanup. As I'm looking in the cupboard for a cup to give her some water for her brush, I had a brain storm! We have several of those plastic cups with lids that you get at restaurants with the kids meals, you know the kind with the hole in the top for a straw? I grabbed one of those, filled it with a bit of water, and stuck the paint brush in the straw hole! I took it over to Amryn and showed her how to put the brush in the hole and pull it out, and that was all it took! Even when the cup tipped over, only a few drops leaked out! I'll try to update this post later with some photos, but I wanted to get this little tip out there, maybe I can save you all from some floods!

It's the little things...

2010-07-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Being a stay-at-home Mom, I don't get a lot of chances to go out, and even if I had the chance, me staying at home means we live off of one income, which means well...things are pretty tight. But we make it work, and I think it is helped me to enjoy a simpler life, and that's okay. Where I once would look forward to a night out on the town with my friends having dinner and drinks, I now get really really excited when one of my favorite TV shows starts a new season. Which brings me to the current reason I'm so excited...Project Runway season 8 starts tonight!!!! I haven't not watched every season, I think I came in around season 3 or 4...but the reality TV junky in my LOVES this show! Maybe it' the fag hag in me, that looks forward to seeing all the fabulously cute gay bois, or maybe I just love the creative aspect of the show. You would think that there really isn't much more that can be done with clothes...and then BAM they come up with something that no one has ever seen before! I got my DVR set, and I can not wait to have some "me time" tonight after Amryn is in bed, ahhh the little things...

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm back from the abyss once again...to give you Worldess Wednesday...

Oops..I did it again...(horrible Birtney Spears reference not intentional...)

2010-07-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone...it's me again...yea I know, I know...I slacked on the blogging again. Sorry! I blame it on a combination of SAHM of a 2 year old exhaustion, and writers block...but I'm going to try to get back on the horse I swear!

Amryn had her first "Tiny Tutu's" dance class yesterday, which went fairly well. We were worried because sometimes when she gets around other children, well she tends to be a bit agressive with her friendliness...she doesn't hit or bite or anything like that...she HUGS and KISSES and sometimes this leads to some overzealous tackling to the ground mid hug. We reminded her in the car on the way there to not just attack people, and my hubby has been trying to teach her to shake hands, so we were pretty optimistic, and she did great! She was more interested in running around after all the other little girls than in grabbing ahold of them, and despite accidently wacking another little girl with her princess wand because they were all standing too close together and Amryn is a lefty, there were no incidents. But I must say a class of 2 year olds dancing around in leotards and tutus is so stinkin' cute!

So there's a bit of an update for you all...I promise to try to get back again this week to write something of substance. I have reviews and things piling up that I need to take care of! If I don't make it back beforehand...have a happy 4th of July everyone!

Friday - Here comes the sun?

2010-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

After all my complaining about June-uary...I woke up this morning to find that the sky has turned a strange color, it isn't gray anymore...it is BLUE!! Then there's this large bright yellow thing in the sky, I'm not sure but I heard somewhere that this is called THE SUN! I'm pretty sure this may be a sign of the apocalypse...or maybe summer has finally come to Oregon! (crossing fingers, knock on wood, and any other superstitious stuff...)

So to celebrate this lovely day, I've decided to join in on New Friend Friday, from The Girl Creative, and Follow Me Friday from Still On The Verge! Click the links below to join in!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

We hit 80 degrees for the first time this year on Saturday, and it was free fishing day!

Terrific 2's-day - Amryn's Playlist

2010-06-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at that, I'm writing a blog post! Sorry for not being around much lately, we're still getting adjusted to my hubby being back to work, and his schedule keeps changing, and I'm trying to get back on track with being the only stay-at-home parent and maid service. So now on to Terrific 2's-day.

Amryn has always enjoyed music, even when she was a tiny little infant she enjoyed being sung to sleep. This love of music has only grown with her, and she now can't hear a catchy tune without moving and grooving. She has varied taste as well, she has just started getting into kids music, after receiving a CD player and CD's for her birthday, but she also likes the music that my hubby and I listen to, especially on the radio in the car, and can actually sing along with some of the songs! So I thought it would be fun to write about what Amryn's "playlist" would look like if she had her own iPod. (This may be something I might actually create to put on my iPod for car trips etc.)

1. "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas - She loves singing and dancing to this one, though it comes out kind of like "I ababa dababa tonight...goodnight." She loves to yell "Smash it!" too.

2. "The Wheels on the Bus" - This is a recent addition to her repertoire, she loves to sing and make all the hand motions.

3. "Hey Soul Sister" - by Train - She really likes to sing the "hey's" this is also a good song for car seat dancing.

4. "If Your Happy and You Know It" - She often requests to sing this song, she loves to clap, stomp, and shout hooray!

5. "Use Somebody" - by Kings of Leon - This one she kind of surprised us with one day, it came on the radio and we could hear her singing from the backseat, this is one where she knows a lot of the words-like entire phrases.

6. "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti - She is so adorable when she sings this song, because it comes out "I yuv uwwww, I yuv uwwww, I yuv uwww" this is also another favorite car seat dancing song.

7. "ABC's" - When she sings them by herself, she sometimes skips sections of letters, like she'll get A-G and then skip to Q-Z. If someone is singing with her she will sing all the letters. I love the way she says "dub-u" and "Xxxxxx".

8. "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstell - Amryn loves to sing the "whoo-hoo's"

9. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - She learned this one watching Nina and Star on Sprout, I would this was probably the first song she started singing along to.

10. "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga- Much to the chagrin of my hubby who can't stand Lady Gaga, Amryn and I are fans.

So there you go, Amryn's top 10 playlist, in no particular order. I'm pretty proud of my little girl's eclectic taste in music, and I love listening to her sing, watch out American Idol 2024!

For your enjoyment, a video of Kings of Leon!

June-uary....

2010-06-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

It seems like it has been raining here FOREVER. Ok, ok, I do know that I live in Oregon, but this is even a little much for our already infamous rainy-ness. I think we've had like 1 sunny day in like 20 some days...whatever, it is just sad and wet and depressing. It has gotten so bad the weather man has been joking about how this is more like our weather in January, and thus the new phrase "June-uary". But you know what the worst part is about all this wet and cold? Amryn has an entirely new super cute summer wardrobe hanging in her closet which has never been worn! Meanwhile she's running around in size 18 month pants (because I didn't really want to waste money on the next size up when she should be wearing all the cute summer clothes I already spent money on), which could be a good thing for when the floods hit because the child has grown like 4 inches in the past 6 months and now her pants are all capris. I keep reading blogs and seeing pictures of all these adorable babies and toddlers in these cute dresses and tanks tops, as I dress my child in fleece pants and long sleeve shirts! I have heard rumors that we may hit the 80's this weekend, that we are supposed to dry up Friday and it looks like dry times through atleast the middle of next week...I'm cautiously optimistic.

Micro Monday

2010-06-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

In my attempts to be a better blogger, I wanted to take a few moments to write a little Micro Monday post. Big news in my area right now is the story of Kyron, a 7-year old boy who has been missing since Friday morning. His step-mother attended his school's science fair with him that morning, and he was last seen outside his classroom at around 9am. His parent's had no idea anything was wrong until he did not come home on the bus that afternoon. It is getting nation wide coverage, but if you are in the Pacific NW and want more info, there is a facebook page here.

Back to the daily grind...

2010-06-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

So I know my posts have been few and far between lately, which really saddens me because I was really getting into blogging there for awhile. Well my hubby started training for his new job on Tuesday, which has thrown our life into a tail spin since I am now having to remember what it was like to be home alone all day with a toddler, and because his training is from 3:00pm-11:30pm. So we've had to make some adjustments to Amryn's schedule, while she was used to going to bed at about 10:30pm, she is now lucky to get to bed by Midnight, but sleeps until 11:30 am/12:00pm. Luckily this will only last like another week or 2, and then the lastest he will be working is 10pm.

I had actually forgotten how lonely it is to be a stay-at-home Mom. I had my hubby around everyday for nearly 6 months, so with him being gone now I'm having to adjust to only having a toddler to talk to all day. Plus now that hubby is working again I have no one to help out with the household chores, and I have forgotten how exhausting it is to try to do it all.

Lots of fun things to update on including Amryn's big girl bed, adventures in potty training, and our trip to the county fair where Amryn had her first pony ride! So hopefully I will get to those things along with more reviews in the coming week(s).

Have a good weekend everyone!

I feel like Willy Wonka!

2010-05-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you've stood in the candy aisle eyeing all the different types of chocolate bars available trying to decide just which one would satisfy your sweet tooth, but none of them seem to have just the right mix of ingredients. One has chocolate and nuts, another one has caramel, but Oh...peanut butter would be awesome too! Sadly no one candy bar has everything you crave, so maybe you cave in and just buy one, but it still leaves you wanting after it is gone.

I was recently given the opportunity by Chocbite to go to their website and create my own chocolate bar! I was really excited as I looked through the different types of chocolate available, I chose milk chocolate, and by the time I got to the toppings I was seriously giddy. Macadamia nuts? caramel bits? And toffee crunch? YES please!

Not long after I received a small white box in my mail, and nestled inside it's bubble wrapped home was this heavenly looking bar of deliciousness...MY personal creation, a chocolate bar that was everything I wanted. This was a custom made chocolate bar, with a cute little "bite" taken out of one corner, and as I broke off my first square I was literally drooling with anticipation. There weren't just pieces of macadamia, these where like HUNKS of macadamia nuts, and delicious little balls of caramel, with tiny little crunchy toffee bits (I loved these as they reminded me of the things they used to sprinkle on Toffee Nut lattes at Starbucks...I miss those).

I just have to say, I was not disappointed, as I took a bite the chocolate was unlike anything I have ever tasted (and I've had some GOOD chocolate in my time including Godiva) it was so smooth and soft that it just melted in my mouth, the toppings were all high quality and very fresh. This definitely a chocolate you must savour and enjoy, this is not your kids chocolate bar...in fact I doubt you'll want to share this with anyone (yea, sorry hubby)!

Have I hit you in the sweet tooth yet? Well it gets better...from now until the end of the year you can use the code: CHOCBITE20 at checkout to receive 20% off your order! (Think: Fathers Day and Christmas!) Be sure to check out Chocbite on Twitter and Facebook! I ate my very last piece of my milk chocolate, macadamia, caramle, toffee crunch bar while writing this post, and I'm very sad...looks like I'll need that coupon code myself!

Disclaimer: I was given a free bar of chocolate from Chocbite for the purposes of sampling in order to write a review.

Terrific 2's-day (err...Wednesday)

2010-05-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, so technically it is Wednesday, since it is 12:45am..but since I haven't been to bed yet I still say Tuesday. lol

A little background on today's post...I met my hubby through a personals ad he entitled "Shrek seeking his Fiona." and one of our early dates was seeing Shrek the 3rd when it came out in theatres, so the Shrek movies have always had a special place in our hearts. So when we heard that a 4th Shrek movie was coming out we were really excited. Then we got to thinking about the possibility of taking Amryn with us to see her first movie, she likes to watch TV and has a pretty good attention span for a 2 year old, so we decided to give it a try.

Monday we decided that Tuesday would be the big day. We wanted to go to an early showtime during the week, so the theatre would be less crowded, so there would be less chance of annoying large amounts of people with a talking 2 year old ( but really it's a cartoon so if people can't get over the fact that there will be kids there and that hey, kids tend to make noise, then well, they should just wait for the DVD). We really started hyping it up, telling her about the "big TV screen" and how she would have to be quiet while watching the movie. So all day yesterday all she talked about was going to see Shrek, and the "big TV" and "Shhh...quiet."

So we get to the theatre early, wanting to make sure to get a seat where Amryn would be able to see, and to have time to get settled and everything. She did really well sitting in her own seat, eating some popcorn, during the pre-show stuff, all the previews, and some of the movie. But then she started to get a little antsy. So she sat with Daddy for a little while but then starting fussing a bit louder, so he took her out of the theatre for a minute to talk to her about being quiet. She came back in and stood up and walked between hubby and I for a good portion of the remainder of the movie, but she did a really good job at being quiet, and I think all and all for her first movie theatre experience she did an awesome job! Now all she talks about is Shrek, the dragon, and Donkey, so I'm guessing she did in fact watch the movie. So all in all it was a pretty terrific 2's-day. Next on the list...Toy Story 3!

(Oh, my review of the film...it was good, not nearly as good as the other 3 though...)

Holy Crap! It's Friday!

2010-05-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

So yea, this week sorta flew by for me, and well I didn't do too good with the blogging thing...AGAIN. Life has been a bit hectic around here lately...getting hubby ready for his new job (he starts on June 1st, yay!)...getting me to a job interview today (I think it went well, but I've said that before and gotten no response what-so-ever, so maybe if I don't get my hopes up and think I totally won't get it, they'll call me for the 2nd interview), and a host of other possibly important other stuff like laundry and TV watching, and hubby playing Xbox...ya know busy busy busy.

And it isn't like I don't have stuff to write about, I've actually literally got piles of stuff here to review..including OMG the very best chocolate I've ever tasted, a REALLY AWESOME kids book, books and websites and other cool junk. But lately after Amryn goes to bed (which is when I do the bulk of my blogging) all I've really wanted to do is climb in bed and zonk out...which sometimes happens. But I promise I'll be back soon with all those cool product reviews, (cause I know you're all dying to know about this amazing chocolate) and maybe a coupon code or giveaway or two. Big things I tell you, big things...okay well atleast things.

Sorry, time to catch up again...

2010-05-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in a few days, things have been busy around here with hubby getting a new job, and the weather has just been way too gorgeous to sit around the house all day! Unfortunately as we say here in Oregon, if you don't like the weather wait 5 mins, and now our sunny nearly 80 degree days are going to give way to rain with 50 degree temps by the end of the week. But it was nice to get outside with Amryn, to blow some bubbles and help her learn to ride her trike. She's starting to get the hang of it, and can pedal for a couple of rotations and then ends up steering herself into the grass, still not too good on the coordination of hands and feet together, but she'll get there. I'm planning for a lot more outside time this summer, especially with the possibility of hubby having to work graveyard shift at his new job! (Apparently shift requests will be based on performance during training class, so here's hoping he does well, as trying to sleep with a 2 year old in a small apartment will probably not be much fun.)

I've been over-run with great blogging opportunities lately, and I'm working on bringing you all some great reviews about some cool new books, websites, and products, so be on the look out for those soon! Tell your friends and neighbors, the more followers and hits to my blog the better opportunities I will get, hopefully including some giveaways for all of you!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

100!!!

2010-05-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

Wow! I finally reached 100 followers! Amazing! I'd like to say I have something cool to give away or something...but I don't...yet. I'm working with several different blogging agencies, so we'll see if I can get something soon. But thank you to everyone for following!! And if for some reason I don't already follow your blog, please let me know! Thank you!!

So I won't have to resort to killing him after all...

2010-05-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

My sweet hubby has been unemployed for about 5 1/2 months now, and all this 24/7 always togetherness stuff has been getting a bit old lately. I love him dearly, but I don't think any couple was meant to spend THAT much time together. Luckily for us and our marriage, HE GOT A JOB TODAY!! Whoohoo! He will start training in the beginning of June! So no husband-cide for me. LOL

Terrible 2's-day errr Wednesday...

2010-05-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday, so I was a bit busy and didn't get a chance to post my usual Terrible/Terrific 2's-day post...but that's okay because I didn't really have much to write about until today.

We live in a fairly large apartment complex made up of many many buildings, and in front of each building is a parking area, some with carports and some uncovered spots. Our parking spot is directly in front of our apartment, so when you open the door you can see our car. Usually when we go to leave, Amryn will walk out ahead of me and then stop right outside our door, and then I'll either shut and lock the door, or if my hubby is with us, he'll do it, and then I take Amryn's hand and we walk out to the car. Well today the 3 of us were leaving to go to the library, and I open the door and Amryn TAKES OFF RUNNING! I holler after her to stop, and when I realize that she's NOT STOPPING, and is almost past the parking spaces and INTO THE STREET! I start running and screaming at my husband (who is still inside w/ the door open, why I thought he could get to her faster I don't know.) She stops IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, just as I catch up to her, THANK GOD no cars were coming or going at that time (we live just 2 buildings in from the exit), because I'm pretty sure she's too small to be seen by someone in a car, I would hope that the sight of the crazy mother running and screaming would have slowed them down, but who knows. I grabbed that child by the arm and right in the middle of the street I swatted her on the butt twice, and told her that she is not allowed to run in the street! (I do realize this is a popular hot bed topic, and I do not believe in beating children, but I see nothing wrong with a couple of pops on her diapered butt when she has done something life-threatening dangerous.) Yea, I think that whole situation took a few years off my life! And now the new rule will be that Amryn must be holding my hand when I open the door! Ahh the terrible 2's.

Micro Monday

2010-05-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Sigmund,

What is your fascination with eating Amryn's crayons? I get that they are kinda chewy, but I doubt they have any discernible flavor, and honestly I'm tired of picking up rainbow colored poo. So just leave the crayons alone, thank you.

Love,
Mommy

Six Word Saturday!

2010-05-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

I love Starbucks Happy Hour! Yummy!

In case you haven't heard, Starbucks is doing 1/2 priced Frappucino's during "Happy Hour" from 3pm-5pm now through May 16th! It was exactly what I needed to day to help get rid of a 2 day migraine! Plus it went really well with the beautiful Spring day we had!

New Friend Friday!

2010-05-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

I love reading new blogs, and I love having new followers...so once again I've joined in on New Friend Friday from The Girl Creative Who is I might add doing a cool giveaway on her blog right now so check it out!

So welcome to those who are stopping by, and please follow me and leave a comment so I can return the favor! I'm just starting out on this blogging journey, but I have some new things in the works right now, including some reviews and possibly some giveaways soon...but in the meantime I hope that I can at least be somewhat entertaining.

Confession TIme

2010-05-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Ok...I'm about to make a confession that no adult woman should probably ever have to make. I Jessica, like totally uncool music. Yes it is true, I love singing along with my Neil Diamond CD's, and dancin' in my car to old Billy Joel, in fact right now I'm singing along to Barry Manilow's greatest hits..."At the Copa...Copacabana" yea I love me some Manilow (I REALLY wanted to go see him in Vegas, but none of my friends would go with me :( ) My musical tastes are super eclectic, I always say that pretty much anyone could find atleast 1 CD in my collection that they would listen to. I have pop, rock, classical, country, show-tunes, dance music, you know it...my iPod playlist is a bit schizophrenic one minute you might be listening to Adam Lambert, the next minute you're listening to Neil Diamond, and then Rascal Flatts. To me it is not as much about the type of music someone makes as it is about how well they make it, I like people who are genuinely talented, so many artists these days are nothing but studio creations who really can't carry a tune in a bucket. But if liking good music makes me totally uncool, I think I'm okay with that.

Yay! Potty training...yea...not so much...

2010-05-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

So we've had this potty for awhile now about 6 months or so, it started off with Amryn just sitting on it with her clothes on, just to get her used to the idea and to adjust to it gradually. Then every once in awhile she would sit on it without her diaper, and 2 times she actually did pee. Since she's turned 2, I have been wanting to get serious about this potty training thing, and she seems to be showing all the signs, telling us when she's wet, taking her diaper off when she's wet etc. She also LOVES the Pull-ups (actually I guess ours are Easy-ups) because they have Dora on them (which she doesn't actually even know about since she's never seen an episode of Dora because I hate Dora, but that's a story for another time) and she will actually ask to wear "Doras" instead of diapers, but sadly 10 minutes later she's peed in the Doras and dang those things are expensive! If we take her to the bathroom every 15 minutes, she's peeing every 20 minutes in her Doras right after she sat on the potty! *sigh* I've thought about doing training underwear instead with plastic covers, but we only have like 3 pairs, and buying enough for her to pee her pants every 20 minutes everyday would be more expensive than the pull-ups. lol Others have suggested "Oh just let her run around naked" yea...we rent. (And I do not have a stream cleaner.) and we have a very curious dog who is known to be slightly inappropriate with the licking...so yea, naked not going to work so well. I know she'll get it, I know she won't be going to college in diapers, I know she's still pretty young...but it is still frustrating.

Now I've heard things about a 3-day program. Does anyone have and experience with this? Any good books you've read on the subject? How long do/did you have your child sit on the potty? I'm taking tips, so please comment away!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Terrific 2's-day - My sushi baby.

2010-05-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since Amryn started eating solid foods my hubby and I have tried our best to introduce her to a variety of different foods, including things like Thai food and sushi. Now I will admit this isn't regular toddler fare, but I love the reactions we get when we pull the highchair up to the sushi bar. A terrific thing about having a 2 year old is that she can now express to us what things she likes to eat, and for several days Amryn had wanted sushi. So on Friday we hit one of our local sushi restaurants for their daily "Happy Hour" where everything on the rotating bar is only $1.50 each.

As soon as we get her strapped into the highchair she's reaching for the sushi bar saying "Sushi!! Sushi!!" We started off with some California rolls, and gave her one, she downed that thing in a split second was asking for more! Then we got a plate (3 pieces) or her favorite House Rolls which she ate all by herself and demanded more. At one point a member of the staff was walking by and stopped to watch as Amryn was eagerly shoving sushi into her mouth, I heard him kinda chuckle and walk away. This wasn't the first reaction we have gotten to Amryn's eating habits, one time at the same restaurant a lady was walking out and came up to us and said "She's the cutest little sushi baby I've ever seen!" I'm a firm believer that children are not born disliking certain foods, no one told Amryn that 2 year olds don't eat sushi so she doesn't think it is at all unusual, she just knows its one of her favorite foods, which I think is pretty terrific!

Amryn last summer at the sushi bar.