My Irish wish for you...

Our favorite GREEN snacks!

Top of the morning to you!
Happy St. Patty's Day!
My little lassies and I wanted to share some of our favorite GREEN snacks.  What are your favorite GREEN snacks?  Enjoy eating green today!

Sliced avocado on toast

This is the simplest snack and it is wonderfully tasty.  Add sliced avocado to toast that has been slightly buttered (go ahead and use real butter) and then add a dash of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.  YUM!

Veggie Pirate's Booty

Yes, these are little puffs (like Cheetos but a ton healthier) with spinach and kale sprinkled on top.  They are the new form of  "chips" in our house and we can't keep enough of them on hand.

Granny Smith Green Apples

Fresh Pears

Baby Seedless Cucumbers

These little guys are the best and freshest tasting.  Plus, they are meant to be eaten with the skin on.  We dip them, combine them with tomatoes, olive oil, a dash of vinegar and salt and pepper or just eat them plain.  They are so fresh and tasty!

Limes

Lime squeezed on anything is great!  Have you ever squeezed fresh lime onto Spanish peanuts?  It is heavenly!  Pico de Gallo with freshly squeezed lime is wonderful too.  Try cutting up equally amounts of tomato and onion and then add the juice of about 4 limes, some cilantro and sea salt.  Use corn chips to eat it with.

Cowgirls

Last week, my big girl got to dress up as a cowgirl for school.  She was thrilled!  These photos were taken when she got home as she was acting out her "howdy partner" stance.

Who knew that a little dress-up assignment and a pony ride at school would mean the world to a 4-year-old?

After all, she is scared to ride horses...or so I thought.

Accidental Bow Washing

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My girls both wear bows in their hair, daily.  After a lot of wear, the bows definitely show some dirt from grimy little hands that reach up and pull the bow out.  

Yesterday, as I was pulling the laundry out of the machine, I noticed a white bow that I had clipped to my daughter's overalls while we were undressing at bath-time.  I had quickly put it there because I knew if I laid it down anywhere else, it would end up in the toilet or in the bath water.  Nevertheless, the white bow had gone through the wash on the regular cycle clipped to my daughter's overalls.  The bow came out perfectly clean.  I was thrilled.

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I have always wondered about washing hair bows.  Do people wash them or just throw them out when they get dirty?  This little accidental experiment is one that I will repeat when our bows get dirty.  I wonder if having it attached to a piece of clothing helped it survive the wash?  I was amazed that it came out perfectly clean and without damage.  

Coloring...please don't help me!

This morning as I was helping my big girl get ready for school, I noticed my little one sitting at the kitchen table.  Normally, I don't let her sit at there without a booster chair for fear she may fall.

When I looked at her, I was pleasantly surprised at how stable she looked sitting at the table.  Usually, if I catch her sitting at the table, she is perched in some awkward position that requires some immediate attention to avoid a serious accident.

Seeing that she was in a safe position, I continued helping my big girl.  I assumed that my little one was just fiddling with the straw place-mats on the table that fascinate her.  

When it came time to get in the car for the trip to preschool, I walked over and noticed what she was doing...

she was coloring all by herself!

I was so incredibly surprised!  My little one has never colored before.  Every other time we have tried to color, she insists in eating the crayons or markers.  This time it was different (I am sure it was because it was her idea and not mine...little stinker!). 

She actually made marks on the paper.  And also seemed to understand how to put the marker caps on the ends of the markers.

I was in total disbelief!  Of course my big girl was not happy about her sister coloring in her spiral and with her markers that she had neatly left on the table for after-school.

I continue to be amazed at how kids will set their own pace for everything.  They will not be pushed and will do all things when they are ready (not necessarily when their older sibling was ready).

Of course I couldn't resist these sweet feet dangling from a chair that is entirely too tall for a 1-year-old.

Needless to say, we were a little late to school that day!

10 Travelling with Kids Must-Haves

1. Distraction at bedtime. This was the best soother/added distraction at bedtime for both my kids.  It plays music while displaying a light show on the ceiling.  It automatically turns itself off after 12 minutes!

2. Easily washable bibs.  These are the best because they dry in an instant and are easily wipe-able.  They don't begin to stink like other vinyl bibs do after being wet.

3. Non-bulky water bottle.  This one is perfect.  I have tried out MANY stainless water bottles and I often find them way too big and bulky.  This one is slim and super easy to clean.

4. Small toys for entertainment anywhere.  These cars were the best entertainment.  My kids rolled them everywhere and they were small enough to take anywhere.  They are also super durable.  Definitely the heavy die-cast metal cars they used to make when we were little.

5. A travel highchair/seat for a little one is great on the road or sea or where-ever you may be.  This wonderful little seat is all cloth and packs up super small.  It is a great one to stash in the diaper bag for those places where a highchair isn't available.  It really does a good job keeping the baby strapped to the chair--even a wiggly one like mine.

6. Disposable table mats are also great.  I like them because they protect the table and my little one from germs.  They are also super colorful and add some entertainment during longer meals.

7. Pampers Clean and Go wipes are a must!  They have a resealable snap lid and they smell so pleasant.  We use them for hand wipes and baby wipes.  They are the best for travelling!

8. Oh, and we can't forget Sophie.  She is the perfect companion/play-thing and teether all in one.

9. Lastly, this changing mat/wallet is so streamlined compared to others.  It holds diapers, wipes and a changing mat all in one nifty little wallet.

10. My big girl loved having little markers to color with on our trip.  These are nice and slim and fit little hands nicely. These markers and a little notebook kept her busy most days.

What do you deem as a must when travelling with little ones?  It is so wonderful that there are so many items out there created to help Momma's out...especially while travelling with kids.

Small Spaces

Yes, that's right! 

Our family of 4 stayed in a living space of 122 sq. feet for an entire week and we have all lived to tell about it!

Somehow we all fit.  I am still not sure exactly how the contents of 4 suitcases fit inside this tiny space.  The cabin was like The Container Store.  Every nook and cranny was filled with shelves, cabinets, hanging space and organized little drawers. 

Sleeping:

For sleeping, my oldest daughter got the bunk that folded down from the ceiling.  There was the tiniest little rail to keep her from falling.  I was skeptical about how a 4-year-old would comply with this type of arrangement but she did great.  We called it her little tree house to sleep in.

My youngest slept in a Pack n Play that was shoved against the little couch.  She slept very well there. Thankfully, there was a curtain that separated her sleeping quarters from ours.  This helped a ton!  

And we slept in the bed.  It was amazing how it all worked out.  By the third night, everyone was out cold within 5 minutes.  {I am sure the rocking of the boat had something to do with it.}

Eating:

Most days, we ate outside our room.  There wasn't much space to do anything much less eat in our cabin.  On the days that we had to leave the ship early, we ordered room service for breakfast.  Breakfast on a tiny little desk with lots of options for picky eaters gave no room to spare.  It looked something like this.

I don't know how we kept it all straight.  It seemed like we had food or kids everywhere!

Entertainment for kids that need to play:

The room had a large circle window above our bed. 

It was a life-saver!  The kids spend endless hours there peacefully playing.  It had a wide ledge that the kids loved rolling their cars on.  This provided many hours of entertainment.  

Coloring and pretend talking on the phone also helped entertain our restless kids at sea.

Bathing my girls who like baths in a tiny stand-up shower stall:

This little ducky saved the day when it came time to take a bath.  

It also provided a little playtime at the end of the day.

By the end of the week we were definitely ready to spread out again at home.  Living in 122 sq. feet for a week was definitely an interesting experience with a 4-year-old who wants her own space and her little sister to wants to be in her big sister's space.