Friday Follow

Welcome Friday Followers!

To go along with this week's pic from Wordless Wednesday.  

stART - The Grouchy Ladybug

This week our theme has been Butterflies and "Bugs."  For our stART project we read Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug.  This is such a cute book.  I used it when I taught time to Kindergarten and First Grade students.  At first Sprout wasn't all that thrilled (there are a lot of words on a page in the beginning), but then when we got into the "flip book" part, she love listening to the changes in my voice and the practicing her animal recognition.  It's such a fun book!

Our project was to make a "sun catcher" using tissue paper and contact paper.  I drew out a ladybug on the contact paper and gave Sprout squares of red and black tissue paper.  (Just as a warning:  This was a Mommy plans, and Sprout laughs project.)

This lasted for a little while.  Until Sprout decided that Quincy needed to be more involved in the project.

This would be where she "tucked him in" and then covered him in tissue paper.  

Then again, I'm not sure how she could see anything.  (I do normally try to have her hair back for projects.)

At this point, she had decided that she was done with her project, but that the tissue paper made for a nice sensory tub.

I'm not even sure what she was thinking at this point, but hey.  She was very busy and it was all very intentional.  (Just not my intentions.)

Here is her final project.  After I closed it in with a second piece of contact paper (there was too much space left on the first piece), and cut it out.

To see what other stART projects people did this week.  Go to A Mommy's Adventure.

Wordless Wednesday

Let's play where's Sprout?

I'd feel bad about the mess, if I didn't think my daughter had made herself a nest.

Join other at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wii Active 30 Day Challenge - Day 2

Workout

Day 2

Medium Intensity

Projected calories burned:    110.8

Calories burned:                  135.6

Workout time:                     28:28

Exercises completed:          18/18

Trophies received: None

Challenges: Murphy's Law - Of course my daughter woke up before I was done.  (I thank her for waiting nicely in her crib.)

What part of upper body workout says that I will be doing tons of lunges???

How do I feel?:  Upper legs hurt a bit (probably from squats).

A bit guilty, but I'll get over it.

Next workout: Active says Friday, but I will probably do it tomorrow instead and take Friday off?; upper and lower body workout; no balance board (I think, I exited through that page too quickly)

Fast Passing Our Way Through Disneyworld

Well, in reality we only Fast-passed our way through Epcot and Hollywood studios.  Seeing as how we only went to those 2 parks.  In two days of parks, we didn't ride anything without using a Fast Pass.

How did we do this???

We did Disney's Give a Day, Get a Disney Day Program.

Now Nana and Uncle J used their vouchers the "normal" way.  They took their free day and upgraded it to a 2-Day ticket, which was a fair amount of savings!

JGD and I are gluttons for punishment and have Annual Passes.  (I can't even begin to tell you how dangerous these things are!)  So we got a Special Exchange Fast Pass card (I believe they also gave these out for Birthdays last year too).

This card meant that we could get a Fast Pass to use immediately for a variety of rides.  In the parks, they split their fast pass rides into two groups.  In each group you could get 3 of these fast passes.

For example:  

Hollywood Studios

Group A 

• Tower of Terror
• Rock n Roller Coaster
• Toy Story mania

Group B

• Star Tours
• Lights, Motors, Action
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

So we did a Fast Pass for every ride in Group A (and Star Tours).  We skipped the shows.  

This was great and it shortened our wait times considerably.  We didn't use the Baby Swap option because we already had the Fast Pass that we would have gotten for the Baby Swap.  

It was also great with Toy Story Midway Mania because we got the immediate Fast Pass and also got one for later that day.  This meant we got to do the ride twice that day, and didn't have to wait in the line that had a minimum wait of 40 minutes.

This was a great way to do the parks and I'm a bit sad that we won't be able to do it again this year.  Who knows what next year holds???

Wii Active 30 Day Challenge - Day 1

Introduction

Now this is not my first time trying the Wii Active 30 Day Challenge.  I got this "game" soon after it came out because I was hoping that it would be better than Wii Fit (which I feel is good for a game, but not a workout).  I made it at least halfway through, and then life got in the way, and I didn't finish.  

Now as I mentioned quite some time ago, I was hoping to get into a running workout.  I used Get Running (From Couch to 5K).  I thought this was a great App.  I love the way it talked me through the interval training to build up my distance, and my stamina.  This was a great app.  But I realized as much as I tried to think otherwise, I'm really not all that into running.  Oh well...

So I've been really sporadic about it.  I was talking with JGD who said, "Why don't you try doing the Active workout again?"  Now the only issue with this is finding the time.  I like to workout before I shower for the day because I don't want to have to shower again (and come on, how many moms have times for 2 showers?)  So this means, I actually have to get moving before Sprout in the mornings.  Which is not really that big a deal.  I'm normally up, but it's normally my "me" time where I check read my Blog Reader, and then read some on the Kindle on my iPhone.  (Yes, I love my iPhone! And yes Kindle of the iPhone does mean that I am constantly changing the screen, but it's with me wherever I go.)

I'm thinking that if I try to keep track of my workouts on here, that I will feel accountable and push myself to do it.  I got myself up this morning to eat and check my Google Reader (on the computer) and then do my first workout of the Wii Active 30 Day Challenege.

Workout

Day 1

Medium Intensity

Wii Balance Board Day

Projected calories burned:    93.5

Calories burned:                  105.6

Workout time:                     23:47

Exercises completed:          16/16

Trophies received: None

Challenges: Trying to make sure my movements with the nunchuk and the remote meet what it is asking for.

How do I feel?:  Upper legs hurt a bit (probably from squats).

Next workout: Tomorrow; tennis; no balance board (I think)

Which is really best?

I don't know how many of you have seen this commercial so I'm including it in my post.  I have to say that it has been making me thoroughly crazy for the past week.   Granted, I'm probably not their target audience...

So I'll let you watch before I continue.




I have found this commercial to be completely frustrating.  Kleenex is making the statement that by reusing a towel, we are passing germs from one person to the next.  And that instead we should use a new towel each time we wash our hands so that we don't transmit germs.


I have a few problems with this.  First, isn't the point of washing our hands in the first place to get rid of the germs???  Second, let's see there are 3 of us in my house, and I'd say we wash our hand maybe 5 times a day (and if I'm cooking that could be 5 in an hour), which means we will be throwing out 15 towels a day.  And at 60 towels a box, that means we will need a new box every 4 days.  Okay, not only is that not environmentally sound, it's going to get expensive!


Now, I admit that I use wipes for my daughter when wiping her face and hands after meals because the washcloths were getting moldy and yucky, and I had to throw them out because I couldn't wash the mold out.  But I do rinse out the wipes and and use them a couple times before throwing them out.


Isn't there a happy medium between germs on towels and throwing out a ton of towels everyday???

Muffin Tin Monday - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week there is no theme for Muffin Tin Monday, so I thought I would pick a theme that goes along with what we are learning about this week. We are doing a unit on butterflies (and possibly other insects), so I thought a tin themed to go with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar would be fun.

Going counter-clockwise, starting in the upper left:
Monday's 1 apple, Tuesday's two pears, (oops I just realized I'm out of order), Friday's oranges (I know there's more than five, but I was supreming the orange and not about to let any go to waste), Thursday's 4 strawberries, Saturday's cheese (string cheese, instead of swiss), and Sunday's leaf.


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but The Very Hungry Caterpillar came by and took some bites of Sprouts lunch (I used a straw to poke holes in each piece of food, except the oranges). I made a big dea about this when I gave her the tin and she laughed. JGD thought that she should pass on lunch if "someone" else had eaten it.


Sprout enjoyed most of this lunch. What's not to like, it's mostly fruit! Here she is pointing at her lettuce leaf... She did eat most of the cheese stick, this was taken after she polished off the strawberries and oranges. (Notice that Quincy is watching her eat.)

To see what other tots ate today in their muffin tins go to Muffintinmom.com.

Tot School - The Disney Version

Sprout is 21 months old

Okay, okay.  So we've been slacking a bit recently.  Sorry about that.  This week Nana and Uncle J came to visit.  Which made Sprout very happy!  We don't get to see my family that often as they live in New England.  At some point we decided that we would go to Disney to see the Flower and Garden Show while they were visiting.  This became a 2 night, 2 day trip.  We did try to do a little this week, but didn't really accomplish much.  I will take any real Tot School and use it next week, when we actually do our Butterfly (insect) theme.

While they were visiting, we went to visit Bubbie and Great-Grandpa.  We had a great time at lunch and hanging out at there house for a bit.  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures.  I tend to let my mom take most of the pics when she's around.  When I get some from her, I will add them in.

We went to Disneyworld Tuesday night and stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter.

Our first day, we went to EPCOT for the Flower and Garden Show.  Sprout had a great time checking out the topiary creations, going on the rides, playing on the playground, and going to the Butterfly Garden.  She even got to see a butterfly up close when one landed on our carrier.  (Again, my mom took more pics than I, including one of the butterfly that landed on me.)  This was a great way to start our butterfly theme.  I'm hoping to take Sprout to another butterfly garden this week.

This is the only picture I was able to get while wearing Sprout.

Sprout is checking out all the fish in the Finding Nemo attraction.

Then we went to Hollywood Studios.  This was Uncle J's pick, since he was subjected to flowers and picture taking the day before.

This was fun for all of us.  We went on the Behind the Scenes Tour (which we all said was much better when the park was MGM).  

Sprout is ready to get on with the tour.  (Notice where Nana and I are sitting in relation to JGD, the camera.)

Nana and I sat on the opposite side of the tram from Catastrophe Canyon, and JGD was the closest to the canyon.  However, Nana was the wettest of all of us in the end.  Who knew the water would travel over the roof of the tram and land on us?

Okay, let me start this section off by mentioning that I am one of those moms that lets her daughter watch TV.  I do monitor what she watches and I am always trying to lessen the amount of time we watch.  We are Playhouse Disney fans.  (This might explain why Sprout can name all of Mickey and his friends, the Little Einsteins and say "Toodles".) This meant that one of Sprout's favorite parts of our trip was meeting the Little Einstein's.  


Here she is meeting Leo and Annie.

She also loved meeting June and Quincy.

Sprout love the Playhouse Disney Live show.

JGD's favorite part of the show was watching the guy "backstage" set the settings up to change.

My favorite part was watching the kids (especially my own) watching the show.  And the Disney cast member working the show.  Notice the first cast member who was making sure we were all doing what we were told.

Notice the happy, smiling face on the cast member who was interested in getting everyone participating.

Here is the cast member who relieved him.

Hmmmm....

Sprout loved the show.  Here is saying "Toodles."

We all had a great time on the rides.  JGD and I went on Tower of Terror (which I did not enjoy at all.  Give me a roller coaster any day!)  When we got in line, we were given the "red card" that helps them to determine the wait time for the line.  Since they started using these, I've wanted to be the person who gets to carry it through the the line.  I don't know why... but I did. 

In case you wanted to know what the card says...

And the Spanish side!

Now it's time for us to go on Toy Story Mania (for the second time).  I think this was the ride that everyone loved!

Have a magical week!


To see what people who actually did Tot School this week did, go to 1+1+1=1.

Menu Plan Monday

Though I did Menu Plan for last week.  I took the week off, as there were 3 days where we were out of town, and I didn't want to post for 2-3 days.  This is a Kosher meal plan, with vegetarian meals and meat meal with a veggie equivalent.

So here are our plans for this week:  There are some new recipes that I haven't tried before (***).  I will have to let you know how they go after we try them out.

Monday

• Apple Cottage Cheese Pancakes (from the Moosewood Cookbook)

Tuesday

• Citrus Tilapia ***
• Salad
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Kale (from the buying club)

Wednesday

• Stir Fry (made with Veggies from the buying club, snow peas, broccoli, carrots)
• Veggie Fried Rice
• Salad?

Thursday

• Melissa D'Arabian's North African Meatballs *** (made with ground meat and Smart Ground or Morningstar crumbles)
• Couscous
• Salad
• Carrots?

Friday

• Garlic Chicken
• Garlic "Chicken" using Gardein
• Challah
• Tzimmes (mom's recipe 1 lg sweet potato, 2 small potatoes, 1 small onion, 2 carrots)
• Salad

Weekend

• Mushroom Barley Soup?

Extra Ideas

• Sloppy Joes
• Ziti Broccoli
• Tuna Casserole
• Spinach Ravioli

Lunch Ideas

• grilled cheese
• quesadillas
• grilled peanut butter and jelly (apples)
• Muffin Tin Monday
• pasta salad
• leftovers
• turkey ("Tofurky) sandwiches

To see what others have planned for the week go to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

Disneyland Resort Goes Green!