Mommy Octopus

We can all use a few more hands

Tasty Tuesday: Make Jam In Your Bread Machine!

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Many bread machines come with a jam cycle now!  With the beautiful strawberries that we received from our Bountiful Basket, the kids were begging to try making strawberry jam!  After seeing how simple the recipe was, we decided to give it a try!

I will be making this using my Zojirushi Bread Machine. I got it from Amazon during the Gold Box Deal sale and I LOVE it!  It makes a nice rectangle loaf instead of the tall ones the other machines make.  Of course it also has a jam cycle and that’s what we will be using today.

For starters, the recipe only requires 3 ingredients.  See what I mean?  Super simple!  Here goes:

  • 2 Cups of Crushed Strawberries
  • 3/4 Cup Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

That’s it!  Look how beautiful these strawberries were before we started squashing. Mmmm…

Since I have a nice strong boy to help out, he did the squashing.  He loved it.  Strawberry bits were flying everywhere!  If you look closely, you can see my bananas that are turning brown.  I will have to do something about that tomorrow.  I see yummy banana bread in my future!

Looking good!

Then we just added in the other ingredients and put it in the bread machine on the jam cycle.  When it’s done, put in it a container after it cools and store in the fridge.  It will thicken as it cools.

Mmmm…. it’s so perfect over vanilla icecream!  Words can’t describe how delicious this is!

Athens, GA: What Can We Do With Our Infant or Toddler?

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Below is an article written by reader Kaitlin Bevis.  She writes for the Toddler Town Column in the Athens Parent magazine.  

As a childcare provider specializing in infant care, I frequently interview new parents. At some point in the interview, they confide they don’t know anyone else with kids and have no idea how to keep their child busy. I remember that feeling. In Atlanta I knew other moms, and every infant friendly activity, but then I moved to Athens. I was lost until I discovered the Athens Mommies Group. Now I’m their infant organizer.

So what is there to do in Athens for infants and toddlers?

Story Time: Infant story time is offered at most Athens Library branches. My daughter has been attending since she was three months old and loves catching the bubbles, singing songs, and playing with toys. They also offer toddler story time, puppet shows, baby music time, and

The Learning Express and Barns and Noble offer a story time every Monday and Wednesday respectively. Learning Express is an incredible store, but it gets crowded and is difficult to navigate in a stroller. The merchandise is also tantalizingly close to little hands.

Barns and Noble has a big children’s section, with a train set, toys, and board books to keep those little hands busy. They also offer a Saturday storytime.The children listen to three stories, color, and eat a snack. The six month old I watch loves listening to the story and tearing up paper at coloring time. My daughter loves running around on the stage after story time and pictures. This one’s a win for everyone.

Go to the park: Our favorite is Memorial Park. We picnic by the lake and feed the ducks, play on the playground, and explore Bear Hollow. I plan my visits close to nap time, so when the kids get tuckered out I can put them in the stroller and walk around the lake. We go to the World Of Wonder playground because they have a playground for toddlers. Barrett Shoals Park is fun for any water-loving toddler, though their playground makes me nervous for any but the steadiest walkers. Sandy Creek Park offers a beach but charges admission. Bishop Park has a variety of toddler sized equipment intermixed with their regular equipment and is the best place for a picnic. At Memorial Park my daughter wanders off chasing puppies, but at Bishop Park I can close the gate to one of the sports fields, bring a ball or a kite, and let the kids run wild. The parks also offer events for children of all ages. Outdoor parties, babies and beasties story time, tours of the zoo, and much more are available.

Take a class: St. Mary’s Hospital offers a Bundles of Joy class, which supports breast-feeding mothers, and a Toddle Time class. Both Athens Regional Mind and Body Clinic and Full Bloom offer mommy-baby yoga. Athens Regional only offers classes until your child can crawl, but Full Bloom takes them all the way up and out of toddlerhood. Full Bloom also offers pregnancy classes, a new mothers class, baby wearing, and cloth diapering classes. The Natural Baby offers cloth diapering classes and a baby sign class.

The YMCA offers toddler swimming lessons, and Kindermusik classes. Dancefx studio offers a mommy and me ballet class for children 18 months old and up.

The Georgia Elite Gymnastics Center accepts children from eighteen months to three years. I was nervous about such a large age gap, but the class was structured in such a way it wasn’t a problem. The gym is crowded on Saturdays, so I recommend their weekday classes.

The Oconee Gymnastics Center accepts infants who can crawl and up. The class is much smaller than Georgia Elites, but the registration fee made it a bit pricier. Athens Clarke County Gymnastics class offers separate classes for infants less than eighteen months old called diaper gym, a class for older toddlers, and another class for threes and up. They offer the lowest price, but if you don’t want to commit to a full season, check out their fantastic Friday events for ages ten months and up. The kids are led through a fun obstacle course in the Bishop Park Gym.

Canopy Studio’s offers a parent child trapeze workshop every Sunday morning for children a year and up. My daughter loves pushing the swings around and running on their padded mats, and the two year old I watch has a great time swinging.

Have Some Fun: If you’re not looking for a structured class, 1-2-3 Jump, and Pump it Up, has toddler friendly spaces, if you can get there when they aren’t crowded. Good Dirt has a family day so you can all play in the mud. My daughter had a blast picking berries and pumpkins at Washington Farms. If you’re willing to travel, Babyland General Hospital offers free admission to see where the cabbage patch babies are “born.”

Join a mom’s group: The Athens Mothers Center meets once a week; the Athens Mommies Group has play dates, meet ups, moms’ night out, and more. There’s even a moms group for Jackson County and Barrow County. Not only will you find lots of child friendly events, but you’ll also meet more moms. Not only do I keep my eighteen month old busy seven days a week, but most of the activities are appropriate for the infant and the two year old I babysit. There is a hidden wealth of infant and toddler activities in Athens, Georgia.

Where can I find the dates and times of these events?

Athens Clarke County Gymnastics: http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/index.aspx?NID=596

Athens Leisure Services: http://ga-athensclarkecounty.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=535

Athens Libraries: http://www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us/, select events and classes, and select your library.

Or stop by your library and look at your Childrens brochure.

Athen’s Mommies Group: http://www.meetup.com/Athens-Mommies/

Athens Mother’s Center: http://athensga.motherscenter.org

Athens Regional Medical Center: https://web1.armc.org/body.cfm?id=221

Full Bloom: http://fullbloomparent.com/resources.php

Jackson County Mom’s: http://www.meetup.com/jackson-county-moms/

Kindermusik: http://www.athensymca.org/special-programs

Natural Baby: http://www.thenaturalbaby.com Select view events

Mom’s In Barrow County, Ga: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116398065063726

St. Mary’s Hospital: http://www.stmarysathens.com/programs/ Search support groups for the bundles of joy and toddle time programs.

YMCA Swimming Lessons: http://www.athensymca.org/youth-aquatics

For all other businesses I recommend calling because they’re online calendar often include classes that have been cancelled due to lack of interest.

Canopy Studios:
160 Tracy Street
(706) 549-8501

Dance FX:
1260 South Milledge Avenue
706-355-3078

Georgia Elite Gymnastics Center:
Georgia Elite Gymnastics – Place page
1235 Cedar Shoals Drive
(706) 549-0160

Oconee Gymnastics Center:
1071 Jamestown Blvd. Suite E1, Watkinsville
(706) 769-1239

Are you a local business that offers infant and toddler friendly activities to Athens Locals? Contact us and tell us all about it!

We’re Back From Disney!

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I know I told my facebook fans the other day that we’re back, but wanted to make it official 🙂 We had a great time in Disney and made lots of great memories.  It was much too short and now I’m suffering from the post-Disney blues and headache of tons of laundry, tired kids, emails, etc, but slowly things are finally getting caught back up.  We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and managed to do a couple character breakfasts which were a ton of fun.  My kids loved meeting the characters.  The look on my 2 year old’s face when she saw Minnie Mouse made the entire trip worth it.

We even had a little surprise at the Magic Kingdom.  We were walking to go toward the teacups and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by cast members!  They told us that Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs were just in the icecream shop playing around and told them to give us this big bowl of icecream goodness!  It had a brownie, strawberry shortcake, ice cream cone, and a cookie along with tons of ice cream, whipped cream, and fruit.  What a surprise!  The kids loved it and it made the day super special!   (By the way, my daughter is wearing a sock on her hand to remind her not to suck her fingers.  It’s hard trying to break this habit!)

The crowds actually weren’t too bad and we were able to ride almost everything we wanted to at the Magic Kingdom.  We also went to Hollywood Studios and that was super packed.  We caught a few shows, did the Toy Story Mania, Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playset and my older kids did the Jedi Knight Training.  That was pretty neat!

We also spent a little time at Downtown Disney window shopping and visiting with friends and relatives in the area.  All in all, a successful trip!  And a huge thanks to my assistant Edith for keeping things running while I was gone!

Weekend Boredom Buster: Re-Purposing Frames!

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This week’s Weekend Boredom Buster is brought to us by my friend Torri of Southern Traditions Boutique.  Torri tells us below how to re-purpose those old frames!

Lately I’ve been looking for frames at yard sales and thrift stores. You can leave them as is or paint them. There’s so many wonderful things you can put in them as well, or you can leave them blank!

I’ve seen pretty pictures of walls decked out in just the skeleton of the frame, all painted the same color. Some of them are done in the same color hue, or completely different. Above a mantel, going up the stairway, greeting you in the foyer, the ideas are endless!

About a year ago I got these frames for $2.00 each. They are BIG, and I love the color. Even the black and white romantic pictures are very nice, just not my style. I got them because I knew there was something I could put in them!

All I did was take off the back of the frame (I have to admit, they were kind of a pain in the rear, but after taking off the tape and bending back the staples, I eventually got to the picture, WHEW!). I didn’t realize that the picture and mat were one in the same, but no problem! The 12″ x 12″ piece of scrapbook paper fit just perfectly over the picture. All I used was tape on the backside of the paper to make sure it didn’t go anywhere.

Next, I had already decided what pictures I wanted of the kids. I printed both of them on regular 8×10 photo paper (did you know that Dollar Tree has photo paper? It really is good and so much cheaper!). I have a photo editing program that changed the color photos to the sepia ones that you see, which I thought matched the damask paper perfectly! I did an 8″ square of the photo that allowed 2″ on each side, which made a nice mat around the photo.

Then I placed it back into the frame and VOILA! New custom-looking photo frames for a FRACTION of what it would cost at the big craft/frame stores. I think all total, I spent $6.00 for this project! They are hanging up in our bedroom and look lovely with our newly painted “Caffe colache” walls.

Try your hand at reframing something. It really does give new life and leaves these things out of the landfills! 🙂 ENJOY!

Tasty Tuesday: Make Valentine’s Cookies!

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My original plan was to make these yesterday with the kids so I could have the post up early this morning.  We pulled everything out, started gathering the ingredients and realized we didn’t have eggs!  Normally a quick run to the store would have gotten us back on track, but my husband’s car was in the shop so he had my van.  He brought us some eggs home last night and we made the cookies today, so I apologize for the late posting.

This recipe, I pulled out of my Good Housekeeping The Great Christmas Cookie Swap Cookbook.  Even though it’s not Christmas, it has a great sugar cookie recipe that turns out great every time.

Cookie Ingredients:

  • 6 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups butter (4 sticks), softened
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

First up, beat the butter and sugar until blended and then add in the eggs and vanilla.  This is where having a good, strong boy comes in handy!

Next in a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt until blended.  Slowly add this to the butter/sugar/vanilla/egg mixture.

When it is well blended, you may have to get your hands in and shape it into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight preferably (or at least for several hours!)

When you’re ready to start cutting, roll the dough out on a well floured surface until it’s about 1/4 inch thick.  I rolled ours out in sections so I didn’t have all of the dough used at once.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out your cookies and place on cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.  Preheat oven to 350 and bake about 12 minutes.

 When they are done, transfer them to a cooling rack and start working on your icing!

Buttercream Icing:

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter softened
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons milk (or to desired consistancy)

Mix all of these together with a spoon and add in desired food coloring.  I chose pink!

 When the cookies have cooled, spread or pipe the frosting onto them.  I like using a sturdy ziplock baggie with a hole in it for the frosting tip.  One of these days I’ll actually go get decorating bags!

 Decorate as you see fit and add sprinkles for the fun of it!  Eat and enjoy!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Weekend Boredom Buster- Make Bath Salts

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This craft is about as simple as it gets.  All ages can help out, and the results are amazing!

What you’ll need:

Epsom Salts

Sea Salts

Food Coloring

Scent (you can use essential oil, specially designed bath craft scents, or even raid your cupboard for things like almond extract)

Gallon Sized zip-close bag

Jars or Baggies for the finished product

You can pick up most of these items at a Craft store, or even a dollar store.  

You can make this in any quantity depending on the size of the containers you are putting the finished salts in. In the zip-close bag add 3 parts Epsom Salts to 1 part Sea Salts.Add a drop or two or food coloring and a few drops of your chosen scent.

Close bag and shake until all salts are mixed and evenly colored.  If you want the color darker add more dye and shake again, do the same with scent, if it is not strong enough add more and shake well.

Pour the salts into your containers. You can decorate the bottles or leave them as is.  These make great Valentine’s Day gifts for friends and teachers!

Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Fried Chicken!

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Okay who DOESN’T love fresh, homemade fried chicken?  It is a favorite around this house!  Fried chicken doesn’t have to be hard.  In fact, it can be super simple and very tasty!  This week’s Tasty Tuesday is going to show you how incredible easy it is to make fried chicken!

Ingredients:

  • Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – enough for your family
  • All purpose flour
  • Buttermilk
  • Salt
  • Canola Oil

First step – Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips or nugget size pieces.  This is some of the chicken that I received from Zaycon Foods.

Next, soak the chicken in buttermilk for at least an hour.  Plain milk will work in a pinch, but buttermilk is best.

When the chicken has been soaked for at least an hour, go ahead and heat up a skillet of oil  Place about 2 inches of oil in the skillet and heat on medium for a few minutes until the oil is ready.

Coat the chicken with all purpose flour (no seasonings and nothing else added) and gently place into the hot oil.

Cook until browned, gently turning halfway through.

Place cooked chicken on a plate lined with paper towels and lightly salt while they are still hot.

 Mmmmm…. these are so yummy!  Words doesn’t even begin to describe it!  I know you’ll love them too!  Give it a try and see what you think!

Huge thanks to my friend Janet for sharing her recipe with me.

Where Can I Store My Stockpile?

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A question I received recently was where do I store my stockpile.  The answer is…. everywhere!  Find space that isn’t being used and utilize it.  I do not have a garage or a basement, so storage is a problem at my house.

Here are some ideas:

  • Get decorative boxes to use in your kitchen above the cabinets
  • Organize under your bathroom counters and install shelves
  • Put an extra shelf in your pantry or above your washing mashine
  • Put risers on your bed to raise it allow for more storage underneath

Really anywhere that you can put an extra shelf, do it!

An odd place at my house where we store items is….. UNDER THE COUCH!  Yes, under the couch.  We have a couch that came from Ikea that we bought for a fraction of the price on craigslist.  It is a section and under each of the long parts, there is a drawer that slides out for storage!  I keep all our toiletries under here that we need often – deoderant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shoebox full of sample/trial size items.  No one even knows it’s there!

How about you?  What unique places have you found to store your stockpile?

Merry Christmas From Mommy Octopus!

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Merry Christmas to all my wonderful readers!   I hope each and every one of you have a fantastic day!  Here in Georgia, it’s pouring down rain, but I’ve had a great day so far.  Opened presents with the kids, went to church, lunch with my husband during his break, and now back at home to let the kids play.  I plan on taking  the rest of the day off, but my assistant may post a little. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read my blog and Merry Christmas!

Tasty Tuesday: Make Muddy Buddy Mix!

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One of my favorite things to make when it starts to get cold is Muddy Buddy Mix!  If you haven’t tried it, you’ll want to give it a whirl!  It’s easy to do and you may already have the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

9 cups Chex Cereal
1 cup  chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter together in a microwave safe dish.  Microwave for 1 minute, stir, and again for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Add in the vanilla and stir again!

Pour over your chex cereal and gently stir to coat.

Add in the Powdered sugar.

Put a lid on the bowl and hand it to a kid to shake until their little heart is content!

Then enjoy!  Make sure you store it in the fridge.  Give it a good shake every 30 minutes or so while it chills to make sure the pieces don’t clump together.  Although it’s so yummy, it may not make it to the fridge!

What’s your favorite thing to do with Chex?

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