Robot Me

Faced with the tough choice between attending a friend's birthday party, or going to a parade with the family, 6YO Yellow wailed, "I wish there were a robot me that could go to one place and tell me all about it!"

I hear that.

Since we're not into building robots ourselves, I found an app (there really is an app for that), Androidify, that helped us build Yellow's robot.  Well, the image of it, at least.

Sometimes you can't fix the situation, but you can find some sunshine and silliness to make it better.

(Overly) Cute Concentration

I happened upon my daughters playing Concentration, also known as Memory, Pairs and Matches.  What struck me is their set up.  Whereas I would arrange the cards in 4 neat rows of 13 cards each, 4YO Pink had scattered the cards on the play table and throughout the Dora castle.  My favorite card spot was in the closet on the second floor of the castle.  Just reminds me that we all have a different way of looking at the world.

Yeah, it reminds me of that, and that our family lives in a girly environment.  My Little Pony Cards in a Dora castle.  Seven years ago I would not have believed I could be happy in such surroundings.

Online Gallery as Back-to-School Wardrobe Organizer

I am a bargain hunter.  I like to buy out-of-season and clearance clothes if they are cute clothes for a great price.  With young children this means that I need to buy a size or two larger than what my child is now wearing, and then store the clothing until the child grows into it.  Or as is the case with school clothes during the summer break, I store the clothing until school is in session.

My memory isn't what it used to be.  That or I simply have too many things to remember them all.  I forget which it is.  When I store clothing, I may think that I will remember what I have, but I don't.  So I use tools.

One tool that works for me is my online photo gallery.  There are many out there; some are free.  The one I use is SmugMug, which does have an annual fee.

The way I use my online gallery to organize school clothing is by 

1. Taking a picture of each article of clothing that I deem worthy of being worn for the coming school year, as well as new purchases.  That pic is then uploaded (from phone or camera) to a dedicated "clothing" gallery for each child.  
2. I further organize the pics in my SmugMug online gallery by creating a caption for each clothing article, broken down into whether the item is bottom/top/shoes, leggings/pants/shirt/skirt, color, and length.   SmugMug has the option of sorting photos by the caption, alphabetically.  This way, for example, I can see that my 6YO currently has three yellow short sleeved shirts for the coming school year, but not one top in the hues of orange or green.  Which are two of her preferred colors.  Oopsy.
3. Before making a purchase, I can view my online gallery (SmugMug has a handy mobile app for smartphones) to see what I have and what is needed.

BTW, there is sort of a Step 1A: At the end of the school year, I went through Yellow's school clothes that survived first grade.  Those pieces of clothing that appear up for another year, I stored away to remove them from further wear and tear.  I still need to do this step with Pink's clothing, as she will be going to kindergarten.  Yes, I know that we are about halfway through summer at this point.

For the past couple years, as Yellow entered kindergarten and then first grade, about a week before school we have a back-to-school celebration day.  Part of what we do is unveil the "school clothes" wardrobe for the coming year.  This is when I will unpack the stored clothes, including new purchases with a surprise or two.  Just a bit of sunshine and silliness to make it fun and add to the excitement.

Purple LOVES her socks!

Do you use your online gallery for something besides documenting the awesomeness of you and yours?  Do tell.

P.S. If you sign up with SmugMug as a result of this post, please consider entering my coupon code 0NtSTssTqyhFI during the sign-up process.  This will earn me a one-time $10 referral credit on my annual subscription.  Then you can ask your friends and family to do the same for you.  Win-win.

Medical Emergency on Aisle 9

On our recent camping trip I needed to pull out our emergency kit at one point.  4YO Pink was with me, crying for an unrelated reason.  She took a look at the kit, and through her tears asked,

"Mom, did you used to be a Target Doctor?

Creepy Toys

Creepy toys! Earlier today I threw out a play vacuum that talks and makes vacuum noises, because it didn't seem worth the effort needed to remove the sunscreen that the 3YO had smeared onto the little-played-with toy. This evening as I was disposing of more garbage, I opened the lid to hear "Hi!". The thing has sat lifeless for months, and now it decides to come alive. 

It's like the doll from a year or so ago that I threw in the trash (I think it was missing a leg). That doll survived two garbage days before it was finally shaken off of the garbage can into the garbage truck. Or at least that is what I assume happened. *shudder*

Independence Day Cool Off

This was a fun way to cool off at the end of a hot day and celebrate the holiday.

Step 1: Throw dollar store fashion beads in patriotic colors into the tub.  Suggestion: Have enough for each child to have a full set.

Step 2: Add water and a touch of glitter.  We used gold but silver is nice, too.

Step 3: Add red and blue ice stars made with water and food coloring in ice molds also purchased from the dollar store.  Note: The red really faded when frozen, interesting.

Step 4: Add children, quickly.  The ice melts pretty fast.

Step 5: Drain the slightly purple water and retrieve the fashion beads for wearing.

Result: Clean, happy kids!

Red, White and Blue with Silver Sprinkles

Sunday is sweets day.  Or is that just at my house?  Time to make a sugary snack.  Seeing lots of Pinterest images of red, white and blue.  Brainstorm.  Decide to make Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn, just because.  Pop popcorn.  Find white chocolate chips bought and buried several weeks ago.  Do not find yellow cake mix.  May or may not have also bought that several weeks ago.  Change in plans.

Look for non-caramel popcorn recipe.  Discover Colorful Popcorn Balls recipe.  All ingredients on hand.  Even in red and blue gelatin.  Score!

Cook two marshmallow mixtures simultaneously.  

Rather than fuss with making popcorn balls, simply spoon into bowls, and top with silver sprinkles, just for sparkle.

Sweet!

After digging into her popcorn confection, 4YO Pink remarks "See, we try new things and we like it!"