From Stairs to Slide!

Papa decided to check off on of the items on our "180 out of school experiences in a 180 day school year" list. He started 5 days early but I think the kids will forgive him. 

So tonight, with the use of  giant cardboard boxes, a couch cushion, a "pull me up" rope,and a helmet, our staircase was transformed into a slide. The kids (obviously) loved it and Mama and Papa got to try it out too.

 

At the bottom of the slide, there was tons of pillows and a giant inflated ball to soften the landing.

Morning with Pequeño

Pequeño got a little one-to-one time with Mama this morning. He had a follow up allergist appointment where we found out that he is 16lbs 8 oz (woohoo!), got tests ordered for blood work, saw that his eczema is almost completely under control with his new ointment (still has some patches along his shoulders and upper back), he flirted with all of the ladies, and he played with a pretend computer.

Then we headed to Target to refill a script and grab a few items. While we were there, an older woman stopped us to baby talk at Pequeño. He stared and then babbled a little back while she asked me how long he has been sitting up. I think that my response was "Um..Well..He's..Well..He's been sitting for a while. He's one but he's small for his age." *Insert awkward pause* Then she continued to babble at him and wave "bye bye" before continuing down the aisle. His face says it all:

Even their bowls are color coded

I'm pretty sure that some people think that I'm a little crazy when it comes to organizing. I do, in fact, have clinical OCD (which can be awful and awesome at all once when surrounded by mini tornadoes.) One thing that I've found to be incredibly helpful when it comes to scheduling and organizing for the kids is having their things color coded. For example, Little Bear knows that his color is always green, Pudge is orange, and Pequeño is purple on any schedule or chore card. So, this morning when he went to grab each of them a snack of Happy Baby Puffs (yes, I let my older two eat them as well), he took the green bowl for himself, gave Pudge the orange, and Pequeño the purple without hesitation. 

Some Puerto Rican food

After going to a great restaurant a few days ago, Papa and I have been craving rice with plantains. So we decided to make an extra yummy dinner tonight.
Yellow rice with plantains
 

Tostones

Papa also made salsa, guacamole, and a lemon glaze in the molcajete as well.

We had tortilla chips so we didn't make any tonight. No complaints here!

mini tacos

Continuing with our muffin tray kick, we decided to make mini taco salads today.

We used:
Pam spray
4 inch circle cookie cutter

12 La Banderita Flour Tortilla - Ricas Flour Tortillas - Small Size
Kraft - Shredded Fat-Free Cheddar Cheese,  42g
Old El Paso - Spicy Fat Free - Refried Beans,  181.56g

& our Individual toppings- lettuce, salsa, sour cream, avacado, ortega sauce



Now What?

First, we used the 4 inch cookie cutter to cut out the taco bowl from the tortilla.

(*Side Note* We then put the extra tortilla on a cookie tray with foil and a little salt and baked it at 350 until crispy to make chips which we keep in a big zip-lock bag and add to as we make them)

(*Extra side note, my camera died so I don't have pictures of the next few steps.)
Then we sprayed each muffin tin cup with Pam spray and put a tortilla circle in each one. Then we put 15.13g of refried beans and 3.5g of shredded cheese into each shell.
Next, we baked them at 350 for 20 minutes (until the tortillas are crispy)

When they came out of the oven, I popped them onto the plates and added whatever topping we wanted. For myself and Pudge, it was lettuce,sour cream, and salsa!
 

Breakfast muffins

I've been on a breakfast muffin kick lately. Today the kids helped me make

 Spinach, Green Pepper, Mushroom, and Cheddar Cheese muffins.

(12 muffins)

We used:

Eggs - 10 large

Baby Bella Mushrooms, 2 oz

Green Bell Pepper, 57 g

Spinach, 0.5 cups

Sargento - 4 Cheese Mexican Reduced Fat Cheese

42 g (1/4 cup)

Black Pepper, 1/2 tbsp

Oregano, dried, 0.5 tsp

Now What?
We used the food scale for some of the ingredients so that Jorge could help make sure that we had the right amounts by weight vs. using measuring cups. So I cut everything up and then we had a bowl that we would zero the scale out with it on and then fill with whatever we were measuring.

 

Then we mixed all of the dry ingredients in the bowl that we had used to weigh and then filled the muffin cups evenly (as evenly as we could...)

 

Next we broke 10 eggs into the bowl, mixed them together, and then poured them into the muffin tins.

Baked at 350 for 20 minutes. And ended up with this goodness:

We had originally made them to take with us in the mornings however Papa and Pudge got into them after dinner leaving only a few...

Visiting los Abuelos

We were invited to spend the day at my parents' house  today so the kids and I drove up in the morning. It was nice and warm outside so the kids were able to splash around in the kiddie pool, blow bubbles, and play on the swing-sets. Then Abuela brought out the squirt bottles and sent the older boys on a mission to "paint" the side of the house. That kept them busy for a while.






















Pequeño on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the water. Titi C tried to dip his feet in the kiddie pool and he gave her a pitiful whine. Then when he was "accidentally" squirted by one of the big kids, he let his temper show with his little grunts. He preferred to crawl around the deck (at one point the velcro on his diaper got stuck on the deck's fake grass and he was a nudist!) and play with the toy that were laying around.

For dinner, Abuelo had made steak and grilled asparagus (yum!).

Undies and Outdoors!

We're those people. The ones that let their potty training children run around outside in their underpants. (Heck, if we didn't live close enough to hand a drink from our deck to our neighbors, I'd let them run around without them.) Today was a beautiful day so we took advantage and spent most of it outside. Pudge was doing great with not peeing in his pants solely because he wanted to pee on the grass. At least we have a fence, right?

Little Bear left us for most of the time to play at one of the neighbors who has a trampoline. Although he did play in the sprinklers with the little ones for a few minutes. He's so funny because he will beg to have the sprinkler on and will then run as close to it as he possibly can while trying NOT to get wet.

 

Pequeño was loving crawling around and watching birds fly around.

 

 

 

Cyclone Ball

When my parents were in Puerto Rico last, they came back bearing a gift for the kids. The Cyclone Ball. After the initial pain in the rush of blowing it up (every single pocket had to be blown up and then we had to tape all of the valves because they kept popping open and deflating), it was a huge hit! Papa Bear was wishing that he could get in it but there is a 100lb weight limit. 

 

 

 

 

Crayola

For my birthday, my mom and sister came to visit. We had planned to spend the day at the amusement park but since it was forecasted to rain, we change our plans to an indoor venue... The Crayola Factory!

The kids had an amazing time. The first thing that they did was make their own crayon labels. Little Bear chose a yellow crayon and names it Officer Yellow. Pudge picked purple and named it Ari's Purple. Then they played with modeling clay.

Pequeño had fun playing with the markers and accessories that were out foot the clay.

Next, they got to make their own marker. Little Bear chose one that put blue on one end and hello on the other so the middle section of the marker will be green. Pudge chose to make his only yellow.

Then they got to play and draw.

Then, we went to an area that had a climbing thing. My sister went in with Pudge and I'm so glad that she did. There was a crazy amount of kids in it and I think that he would have needed someone to come in and get him if he had been on his own. We ended up leaving after they crawled around here a few times because more people kept coming in and it was getting too loud and crowded for us.

Before leaving, we stopped at the gift shop where there were other things to play with as well as things that we and my mom wanted buy. My mom bought each of the kids something special and also their own cup. I bought the kids each their own ornament with their names on them. (I couldn't resist because we are never able to find their names!) We also got one for Pudges's pen pal.

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little outdoor time

Little Bear and one of his neighbor friends decided to put on costumes and play outside today. The garbage men got quite the surprise when they were greeted at the end of the driveway by an Army man and Batman who where both also wearing some Police things. The man who was driving the garbage truck waved and smiled at them when they yelled to him and they got to talk briefly with the guy on the back of the truck. Both of their days were made!

Meanwhile, Pudge and Pequeño were playing in the yard. Pudge was being a daredevil (big surprise!) and Pequeño was exploring.

 

 

Park Day with Grandma

Grandma came down to visit and have a picnic today so we spent the afternoon at one of the parks. The older boys were both having a great time climbing and exploring everything.

Little Bear was all about exercising and building his muscles. He wanted Daddy to help him learn how to do pull-ups.

He also made it across a few of the monkey bars for the first time! He was so proud of himself and we are so proud of him!

Pequeño had fun in the baby swing, cruising around the bottoms of the playsets, and playing in the grass. We also took some pictures in his 1 year shirt! Look who can stand for a few seconds at a time!

We had brought the kids police car along for the kids to ride so we went on a walk while Little Bear and Pudge drove ahead of us.