Seed trees & water color on canvas

Last week I dyed some pumpkin seeds with food coloring and rubbing alcohol. I got the seeds out today for a little art project! Graham and Parker had a lot of fun with this project. It was challenging for them though. I made one for example and then they made theirs. Basically we put clear glue down on the canvas in the shape of a tree, added the seeds, a little more glue on top the seeds, and then liquid water colors! I gave them paint brushes to move the water colors around and create a pretty background blend. We used turquoise, purple, and magenta liquid water colors. I let them dry outside until dark, them moved them inside t finish drying. I will be hanging them up tomorrow!

Mine is on the left, Parker's in the middle, and Graham's is on the right. I think they turned out really nicely!

Parker, adding some water color

Graham, contemplating his next move

Parker's tree

Graham's tree

I did a little changing up of some things in their room. I swapped out the smaller table that the light panels were on for a larger table. The table we had the light panels on was too small. I had to place the panels on them vertically. I hated them being on their vertically because they couldn't use all of the space on the light panels. With the bigger table, the light panels can be placed horizontally, and all of the space can be utilized. The tables I am using are the lifetime adjustable tables. They are used for preschools as well as for any other use you would need a table for.  I really liked this table because it is adjustable and it is a fraction of the cost of traditional school tables. I wanted a nice large table that they could do any of our learning activities, art projects, playdough, as well as building with their blocks and such. These tables are awesome. They are very sturdy and so nice! I use duct tape to tape the panels and mirrors  securely to the table and voila! It works perfectly!  I have an IKEA pocket organized fastened to the front of the table, filled with some of their small light table accessories. The rest are on the shelving to the left. You can see the tables HERE.

I switched the block play area with the book nook, they love it!! It is working out really well!!

Add your links to Artsy Play Wednesday!!!

Featured M.O.M Annette Carbonell 2/17/11

• Name: Annette Carbonell
• Age: 23
• Marital Status: married
• Blog: www.tripletsmommy.blogspot.com
• Multiples names and age: Delilah Marie, Hector Manuel, and Melody Grace (15 months)
• additional children: none
• About you: I'm a stay-at-home mommy to wonderful 24 weeker miracle triplets. I'm busy as can be but I always make time to update friends and family about how we're doing. 
• About your Multiples: They were born at 24 weeks and weighed under 1 pound and a half. They have had a long and bumpy road but are now overall healthy and catching up developmentally. They are great babies and oh so strong! 
• About your family: My husband and I have been married for 4 years and have been together for 6. We always knew we wanted children but never expected to have TRIPLETS! 
• favorite items for multiples: Choo-choo wagons and their playpens!!!
• favorite toys for multiples: Any toy that lights up and has music.
• advice for other moms of multiples: Take it one day at a time and make sure you take time for yourself. It's important to have your own time to maintain your own sanity. 
• links: Facebook.com/annecita

 Thank you for sharing, Annette!  They are super cute!!

Just for Orlando Moms and Orlando area Moms

Calling all Orlando Moms and Moms of Multiples,
If you are a Mom of babies, toddlers, or preschoolers and you live in the Orlando area, specifically North Orlando cities. Check out North Orlando Sunshine Moms Playgroup!
http://www.meetup.com/NorthOrlandoSunshineMoms/

Sunshine Moms is a active playgroup is for Stay At Home Moms of babies,toddlers,& preschoolers who are not yet in pre-school to meet each other for Park playdates, walks, indoor play centers, stroller/wagon walks, shopping, lunch, dinner, family outings, pool parties, library storytime, park storytime, splash parks, science center, art & crafts, sign language, learning, Theme Parks, Moms Night Out, and much more!!

All the moms in our group are very friendly. We are a very Twins, Triplets, & Higher order Multiples friendly group also! The organizer has twins as well as 12 other members to date with Twins and Triplets.

We also have a home preschooling group, within the group.

We hold most of our playdates in North Orlando area... Winter Park, Maitland, Casselberry, & Fern Park, as well as some in Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, Oviedo, & Sanford. We also hold occasional playdates in Orlando & Downtown Orlando, and beyond.


Check it out!

Mommy, I see dead people!!!

 So last night was like any other night. I put Graham and Parker to bed for the night, Parker fell asleep first. Graham was playing with some stickers in his crib but was not yet asleep, when suddenly he stood up in his crib and was VERY UPSET.

He said MOMMY THERES A LADY-MAN!!

A lady man, is a woman.  Graham calls men a man but he calls women a lady-man. He has been doing this for a year now.

Just a side note, my twins are 2.5 years old. They turn 3 in April.

So anyhow I said no Graham there is no one there, go to sleep. However, He was very persistant and was becoming more and more afraid. So I went over and unzipped the crib tent and took him out. He was grabbing onto me like crazy and was very upset. I asked him what lady-man and he kept pointing RIGHT THERE RIGHT THERE. I turned on some lights and told him everything was fine. I asked him, once the lights were on and if he felt better. He said NO, THERES A LADY-MAN! I sat with him for a few minutes and told him to just tell the lady-man to leave and go away. He said GO AWAY LADY-MAN GO AWAY LEAVE. So then I said to him, ok so is the lady-man gone and can you go back to bed? He said no. but...................

I started walking to his crib I went to put him in it and he went BERSERK!!  He started screaming and his eyes got all big and he looked so frightened. He screamed and screamed no no theres a lady-man. He would not let me put him in his crib. Imagine trying to put a resistant cat into a cat carrier so you can take the cat to the vet. 

By this point I was feeling the heebeejeebes. If ya know what I mean. So I played along some more and said ok Graham where is the lady-man. He said shes in the kitchen. Well I walked in there and immediately felt really strange. Like the hairs on the back of my neck must have been standing on end. I had this weird chilly-ish feeling.

OK so I took him to the master bedroom, woke up Daddy and told him to just lay there with Daddy.

So wow that was pretty freaky!

One of my friends suggested on facebook that it if there was a ghost. saying they exist.....that maybe it was my Aunt Verna who died on Friday morning.

So whatcha think, shall I call in the Ghost Whisperer?  hehe

OK yes I know that Jennifer Love Hewitt does not really see people into the light for a living.

P.S. WHO HATES THE NEW LAYOUT AT MEETUP.COM BESIDES ME AND EVERYONE IN MY PLAYGROUP OF 100 MOMS?


ON that note, I will remind you of BlogHopPalooza.  Be there or be square.

INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!
You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!




<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules

1. follow the first 5 blogs..

2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.
optional BUT a GOOD idea for all

3.add the badge

4.feel free to blog about it and add linky

5.follow others and have a blast

diaper bag woes

I have tried several diaper bags out since my Twins were born in 2008. One was just a simple little black diaper bag with a long shoulder strap. It really was not very helpful. Then I tried out the larger version of that same diaper bag, I found it to be just as useless. Instead of it being an important thing that I always brought with me, it just sat in my mini-van. I have a few re-usable shopping bags that I end up throwing all of the essentials I will need for the day into.

The shopping bags are pretty easy to carry along but tend to be quite bulky, and make it quite hard to locate something you need in a pinch. I always end up digging and digging through the bag trying to find what I need. There are no compartments to keep anything in, so I always tried to turn back to one of my various diaper bags.

I finally ended up with the Skip Hop Duo Double Deluxe. I loved it, I really did. Well, really I just wanted to love it. Now don't get me wrong, it is a really nice diaper bag. It has a lot of great compartments. It is nice, stylish, easy to carry, and has these great shuttle clips that clip it to your double stroller. However if you pack the diaper bag 75% full of stuff you will need for your Twins(or more)......It will tip your stroller over, seriously.

Picture this, Sicily 1912  your hometown, a nice sunny morning around 9:30 am. You just parked your car in the parking lot at the local park. You get out, go to the back of your minivan and get out your double stroller. You get it all opened up, get it ready to put your Twins into and then you attach your fantastic Skip Hop Duo Double Deluxe diaper bag, with those awesome shuttle clips....right to your double stroller. It looks great, right? YES!! It does! The best thing about it is that you do not have to try and carry it while pushing your Twins in the double stroller! WooHOO You are SET, right? No! not so much because all of the sudden when you are walking away from your double stroller, diaper bag masterpiece you suddenly hear a BAM! Uhhhhhh, your diaper bag just pulled the whole freaking stroller down. nice.  *shakes fist at diaper bag and stroller* So, you pick it up, put in your Twins, lock up the minivan and push that HEAVY loaded down stroller across the parking lot, down the long sidewalk, to the playground.

WOW are you winded!
So when you get home, later on you decide to re-pack that diaper bag. You pull out a few things you do need but can sort of live without. Then next time, you think it will be fine but it PULLS THE STROLLER DOWN AGAIN, WTF!!

This obviously will never work, so you go back to keeping the diaper bag in the van and just carrying a few mega essentials with you in a re-usable shopping bag. boo.

Diaper bags  yarrrrrrrrr!

I really just want to stop this re-usable shopping bag madness, I normally have 2-3 with me full of stuff. Yikes! It never works out well. Plus now that my Twins are almost 3 years old, they often just walk with me holding my hand. This poses to be an issue if you are lugging a re-usable shopping bag too. I recently asked my FaceBook Mommy friends if they knew of a decent backpack that has a cooler compartment in it. I am always carrying the cooler bag with us too!! I carry a lot of bags with us!! I was shown the link to this Picnic Time Zuma Insulated Cooler Backpack.

It looked good, so I ordered it. I do like it, it is nice. I just hope it works out for me. I do have some pretty major back problems. It really does eliminate the need to carry a cooler bag and a diaper bag though. I love it so far. I really do feel I will continue to keep my Skip Hop duo double in the van though. It is a really nice bag. I just do not wish to carry it along with me. It is really bulky and, well it pulls my stroller down if packed 75% full. It does have it's place in my life though.

So, I ordered the Picnic Time Zuma Insulated Cooler Backpack in black but before I chose that color, I looked at the other colors. I could not help but to laugh at this fluorescent lime green one. I was joking with my friend Lisa from Mommying on the Fly about how if I had the fluorescent lime green one, low flying planes could spot me at night. hahahhahahha  Ok I guess ya had to be there. :)

It is NOT TOO LATE  to get yourself added to BlogHopPalooza, spread the word please...it is for ALL Mommy Bloggers!!


INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!






<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast

Mom Bloggers

If you are a Mom with a blog, please get your blog added to

BlogHopPalooza

It is not just for Moms of Multiples!!

We have a facebook fan page for it now too!!

Featured M.O.M Lona Pangia 1/20/11

Name: Lona Pangia

Age 31

Marital Status married

Blog www.pangiajones.com

Multiples names and age Lucia, Veronica & Carey Jones - turned 2 on January 2nd.

About you - I am a stay at home mom. I hold a license to close real estate mortgages. Prior to having children I was the scheduling secretary for a state senator and 2 state assemblyman. I not only was in charge of having their schedules in line for the day, but I also had to schedule, plan and create big events for the legislators.

About your Multiples - I have triplet fraternal girls through IVF. Its amazing to se them grow into 3 very different people. My oldest Veronica is very adventurous. She loves climbing, tumbling and throwing balls. Carey is the middle child, she is very shy and quiet. She loves flipping through books and playing with playdough. Lucia, my youngest, is a girly girl, very into hats and bows and loves mothering her stuffed toys and dolls.

About your family - My husband and I were married on January 1, 2005 and 4 years later we welcomes the triplets on Janaury 2, 2009. We live in Delran, NJ which is part of Burlington County, approximately 15 minutes from Philadelphia. My husband is a lobbyist in Trenton. Now as a family we enjoy day trips to the zoo or aquarium. This past December we brought the girls on a big vacation to Disney World and they were fabulous little angels on the flight and trip. We enjoyed it so much that I am secretly planning another trip (shhh dont tell Chris).

favorite items for multiples - Baby Items, I loved the Podee bottles. They were convenient for taking to the mall and feeding all the kids when I was by myself at home. It took a bit of time to get them use to using, but they were a must have in our household. - Strollers - I was a stroller fanatic, at one point I owned 14 strollers. My favorite by far was the Foundations quad. I was able to use the 4th seat for my handbag for quick and easy access to all babies needs. Second it had PLENTY of storage which was great to go get $100 worth of groceries at the store. With the canopies on top I could load a box of diapers and be ready to keep moving. We now tend to use the Step 2 Choo Choo wagon alot more. but wish I had bought the 4th cart for storage. And for Christmas we bought the Kettler trike with 2 tandems, so we are patiently waiting for spring so we can take it out for a spin.

favorite toys for multiples - The ball popper from Playskool. Because we never knew where the balls were going to roll to it became a great project for all 3 to keep them all busy.

advice for other moms of multiples - Have your list of go to excuses and comments for the multiple questions you will receive. I have an army list of excuses as to why I have triplets or why they aren't identical. Some of them can be cruel, but if you ask me a stupid question, expect a stupid reply.

Thank you for sharing, Lona! Your girls are so adorable!!

choo choo fun

It was a really lovely day so we had some choo choo wagon fun :)

and ..... I made chicken pot pies again!! So easy! YUMYUM!!

a Mom of Multiples clothing dream come true??

I just happened to come across this website about 10 minutes ago.

WOW!! Cute coordinating clothes!!!!

bookmarking this place!

http://www.kellyskids.com/kkids/spring_11/wmbrowse.pgm?node=2

The double stroller of doom

Today, several of the Moms from my playgroup and I tried something new......
A Stroller Workout...and wow was it a WORKOUT!! It wore me and my legs out!!

I have really not made it a habit to exercise regularly since my twins were born other than some walking, and lately I have not walked as much as usual.

I have seen advertisements for all of the stroller fitness groups that you can join around town and they seem nice.

 However, they have a slightly high fee and the days/times they offer here did not work out for me. Not to mention, they meet too far away.

I have done many stroller fitness walks with my playgroup but I ended up not really loosing any weight, or toning up very much.  fail.

So I had this wild idea last week, what if I started my own Stroller Fitness group, within my playgroup....and I did!!

I went on youtube and started searching for instructional videos on how to do a stroller workout, oddly there are tons!

I also looked around at some stroller workout books on amazon.com. I did not buy any yet though.

I looked around online for any sort of stroller workout guideline but never found one.  I was looking in the wrong places though because a Mom in my group found one today and sent me the link!!  yay!!

I posted this Stroller Workout "playdate" on my playgroup calendar, and several of the Moms were quite keen on the idea!! So today we had our first Stroller Workout!  It went REALLY well!! We had to work out a few bugs and go back to review the youtube videos on an iPhone, but it worked!! We did it and WOW did we FEEL THE BURN!! Stroller workouts are pretty darn intense!!!

A local fitness instructor happened to be walking at the location we did our workout at, and she was really excited to see us doing a Stroller Workout. She praised us all for getting out there and making an effort to get in better shape. She was really impressed with what we were doing. It was nice to hear. She asked if we would contact her and let her feature us in a book she is writing currently. The Moms are all for it, so I will be emailing her here shortly.

I highly recommend trying your own Stroller Workout, even if you do not have a playgroup that you are in. Find a friend or neighbor!  If your children are too old for a stroller, get out your children's old stroller, throw a blanket over that sucker and get out there and DO IT!!

Here are a few of the videos we used!!

Do NOT underestimate the worth of these Stroller Workout videos. They provide one HECK of a MEGA-Workout! We did 3 sets of 15 reps each. My legs are still jello and worn out!!! I heard the same thing from other Moms who did the workout with us this morning! We plan to do this twice per week before a playdate.

 

Linking up with other Blogs written by Moms of all types

The best way to find awesome blogs and show others your blog seems to be using BlogHops and adding yourself on a linky.  Interesting stuff I have learned lately about the blogging world.

So as many may know, I recently teamed up with a few other awesome bloggers and started a month long BlogHop.

HOWEVER, what you may not know is that...... This bloghop is NOT limited to
Mothers with Multiples!!  It is for ALL Moms of all types!!

So please do let others know to come link up and get themselves added to

BLOGHOPPALOOZA!

INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!




<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast