Menu Planning Monday (belated...)

Sorry so late with this...I am actually working on a separate blog for all things kitchen related so stay tuned...till then without further ado here is the list for this/next week.

Thursday ~ Sheppard's Pie

Friday ~ Tomato Soup

Saturday ~ Corned Beef and Cabbage (celebrating St. Patty's day a little early!)

Sunday ~ Cheesy Turkey Pot Pie (this was so fantastic last time I am making it again already!)

Monday ~ Orange Chicken

Tuesday ~ Tater Tot Hot Dish

Wednesday ~ 7 up Chicken

Yes yes, I found another promising food blog, this time through The Bump.com... so sue me!!

Wordless Wednesday - Tired Teething Tot

I Heart Faces - Favorite February Face!

Okay! Here is my weekly I Heart Faces entry, this weeks challenge is People's Choice, best face in February. I think this is one of my favorite pictures I took in February :) I just love the expression.

It's SOOC for this weeks entry, I just don't have the energy for any editing!!

A Happy Family Sunday

Despite (or maybe because of!) the rain today we had an excellent Sunday as a family! Got the little girl outside playing in the rain testing out her new rain gear, got to fit in a couple more geocaches (real quick cache and dash ones in the parking lots of Pet Smart and Walmart :) ) while she napped in the van, and we got some Matt's Hot Dogs and had a little picnic in the back of the Van.

Now I realize most of these pictures are on Facebook, but you can't really get the whole story out there so I figured I would put them with the story here anyway.

We started the morning out at home, trying to get outside and out of Daddy's hair while he installed his computer.

She was having an excellent time until she decided to step on some ice and fall, scratching up her face...

So we decided to hit up the park (*our* park in fact) where it was a little less hilly)

And there were puddles she could jump/splash in and investigate for the first time!

She had a blast :)

Her she is watching the babbling brook that was raging on behind us

But the reflection in the puddle soon over took her attentions...

Yes! A stick to play with! Notice her feet are almost completely sunk in the mud? So glad I was able to find what I am pretty sure was the last pair of Size 5 Rain boots in upstate NY...

And our picnic set up, worked out so well...we could get fresh air, stay dry AND have Yo Gabba Gabba on in the background All wins in my book...

AND we finally figured out the trick to getting Cassie to try foods that she otherwise wouldn't go near...put them on a FORK! or Spoon...she has a thing about textures and getting her hands messy, by putting the food on a utensil it eliminates that issue.

Her first Matt Dog...and I think she liked it! (evidenced by the fact she kept coming back for more...) Which is good, because Matt Dogs is a weekend ritual for us come spring and summer, we go have some dogs and watch the fish and ducks and geese at the pond across the street. Can't wait for good weather to melt the pond and bring the ducks and geese back so we can let the little Miss feed them!!

Geocaching Adventures

We FINALLY got out to go Geocaching today!! First time since October 09 :) (not counting the Picnic...). We went in search of the 2 that were closest to our house ~ the first was literally right down the road, we pass it every single time we leave the house ~ then we found those in such a timely manner that we decided to try for one more. The last one was a bit hard since it was the farthest away from the parking lot and there is still quite a bit of snow out there, but we managed to find all three out of three.

And bonus? The first one we found was a mystery cache where you had to solve a puzzle to get the coordinates. This puzzle was one where you had a picture of a constellation and had to guess the correct name to get the right number. Totally got to put our new Astronomy knowledge to use here :). (Did I mention on here that Matt and I are doing a continuing education class on Astronomy? Well we are and I am going to do a write up on the class after next weeks class...)

Anyway we had a good time today, it was nice to finally have a nice enough morning to get out of the house and get some fresh air as a family! Plus it was great to finally be able to log some finds!

Another cool thing about today's caching outing...we used the c:Geo application on our Droid phones to find all the caches. No making sure we had the batteries for the GPS or putting in the coordinates, we could hit the Find Nearest button, click the cache we wanted and it would direct us where to go from there...plus we could log the find right from the field, pretty cool in my book...

Here is Cassie and Daddy on their way to look for the first cache of the day

Found it!

At our second find of the day...the wind was really whipping at this one and the little Miss wasn't all that pleased with me since I wouldn't let her put the cache in her mouth...

Then here is Daddy at our final find for the day. You can't really tell from the picture, but he is about knee deep in snow back there....Cassie and I waited for him on firmer ground...

Fun Friday - Shining Seas and Waves of Grain

Lately I have been looking into more fun things to do with the little Miss inside since it's either been too bitterly cold or windy to take her outside.

A while back I had found a sand and water table on Amazon and thought it was one of the most brilliant things I had ever seen. However, at $60 (plus shipping) it wasn't really in the budget...I figured I could get the same results recreating something myself.

So I got two totes ($10) a set of sand toys ($10) a watering can ($1) and a bag of Rice ($5) and recreated a whole heck of a lot of fun for a grand total of $26. Plus the toys and watering can will be able to be used elsewhere as well :) win win all around...

I split the fun up so that water wasn't making its way into the rice and vice versa for now.

Of course Cassie had to get dressed up to play in the water :) I turned the heat up in the house so it felt nice and summery inside. I figured since Cassie has been afraid of the water (bath time has been oh so *super* fun lately) I would try to make it as much fun as possible hopefully this will help with her bath time fears over time!

She was hesitant at first, but eventually she (ahem) dove right in.

and by the end she was having a grand old time!

The next day we got the rice out. I decided to go with the rice rather than sand for a few reasons...1)it was way cheaper 2) it was easier to find 3) I figured when the rice found it's way into her mouth it would be a bit healthier than sand :) 4) it was sooooooooo much easier to clean up!

This time Cassie wasn't so hesitant...

She went right for the toys she knew first...

But after a while she found out that the new ones were just so much cooler...

Love the Hugs she was giving them!

All smiles at the end.

All in all I think it was a great $26 investment who needs an actual table for this?? When she gets a bit taller we will buy her her own little table (well one to be shared with her sister) that she can use for all sorts of stuff and the totes can be set on when they are out and being used.

But anyway...between the water and the rice and the toys and general mess making I think she is getting some much needed sensory stimulation and learning. And lets be honest I have a lot of fun with it too, especially watching her process and concentrate on investigating everything her fingers touch (and or everything that goes in her mouth...). We will probably be pulling these out once a week or so if not more.

Next thing to try? Finger Painting! We may wait a few more months on that one though :)

Wordless Wednesday - Budding Soccer Star