avatar by on June 30, 2008   •   14 Comments Kids: Learning Anywhere Your Family

Instruction-free art time: watch your child create

creativesummer.jpgI love the innocent creativity of my preschooler. She draws, dances, sings, and invents without a care in the world, and I want to do what I can to give her the space and freedom to create.

There are scads of great art and craft ideas on the internet, and they are some of my favorite places for inspiration. In fact, I’ll soon be reviewing an excellent book that has completely re-inspired me to tap into my creative side as a mama. (Oh, and of course, there will be a giveaway attached to the review. But that’s later.)

But there are times when I just don’t have it in me to plan out a specific craft idea – the research, the supply gathering, the instructing. And you know? Sometimes my daughter just doesn’t have it in her to be instructed on how to create. She just needs the tools to do it on her own.

So that’s when we have free art time.

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All you need to do is provide some art supplies, an open, safe place to create, minimal distractions, and time. Soft background music also speaks peace. Depending on the age, your child might need some help or guidance, of course.

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But really, that’s half the fun for us – the laundry can wait an hour. Roll up your sleeves and get out the glue. You’ll be surprised at the art your child can muster, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised as you destress and relax as a family.

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So many things can become art supplies: there’s crayons and paper, of course, but don’t forget about rocks, leaves, scraps of paper, magazine clippings, cotton balls, toilet paper rolls, fabric, buttons, feathers, sand, and even dirt.

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How is your child going to create today? How are you going to create? Start your week on a good note, and let your child tap into her creativity. And don’t forget to tap into your own.

avatar by on June 28, 2008   •   22 Comments Unused

Link love :: the It’s Officially Summer edition

It’s been over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day this week where I am – how about you?
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Photo by Camille Andrea

If you need some weekend time indoors, here’s a sampling of what I enjoyed reading this past week – grab yourself some iced tea and prop up your feet…

avatar by on June 27, 2008   •   34 Comments Unused

Making nutritious, simple baby food from scratch

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Photo by Martin Rittmeyer

We make our own baby food. At one to three dollars a jar where we live, it’s a no brainer decision. But even if it weren’t so expensive, I’d most likely make my son’s baby food anyway – it’s healthier, cheaper, and it’s very easy.

I thought it would be really difficult and time-consuming to make baby food, but that was before trying it with our firstborn. I was floored with how easy it was.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s a convenience to store-bought baby food. But if you take the time to spend about a few hours once a month in the kitchen, you’ll quickly store up a stockpile that will last you the time that you need pureed food (which isn’t long).

You should puree baby foods well, but I find that it’s okay if it’s not perfectly smooth. In fact, if your baby doesn’t grow accustomed to super-smooth food, they’ll most likely be more open to finger foods early on. We only pureed food for our daughter from around six to nine months – after that, it was almost exclusively finger foods.

The Tools

All you need to make baby food are the following: a food processor or blender, appropriate knives (depending on the food), a spoon, ice cube trays, plastic wrap, ziploc-type baggies, and a permanent marker.

The Basic Method

When the food is blended, simply spoon the puree into ice cube trays. Each cube is approximately one ounce. Make sure and cover each tray with saran wrap before freezing. When they’re done, pop out the cubes and store in well-labeled freezer bags (I label them with the type of food and the date of puree).

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Photo by Leesa & David McClelland

Homemade baby foods can stay in the fridge for up to 72 hours, or they can be frozen indefinitely.

Starting With Rice Cereal

Most health experts recommend introducing solids somewhere between four to six months of age. Our son will be six months this Sunday, and we started rice cereal this past week.

Recipe for Rice Cereal: Cook whole-grain (brown) rice without salt or seasoning and puree. You can also process the rice into a powder before cooking, and then cook 1/4 rice powder into 1 cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Add breast milk, formula, or other food if desired.

Other Cereals

After a week or so of rice cereal, you can move on to other grains.

Recipe for Oatmeal Cereal: Process oats (not instant or quick cooking) into a powder. Cook 1/4 oat powder into 1 cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes, and add breast milk, formula, or other food if desired.

Recipe for Barley Cereal: Process barley into a powder. Cook 1/4 barley powder into 1 cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes, and add breast milk, formula, or other food if desired.

Buckwheat is also a good choice if you’re looking for gluten-free alternatives (like if your family has a history of food allergies or sensitivities).

Moving on to Fruits and Veggies

You can bake, steam, or boil with scant water almost any fruit or veggie. Then simply puree, spoon into ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze.

There are some really good resources on the internet for more information on which foods are best at what age, if it matters in which order you should introduce food, and creative ideas for presenting foods to your baby. Here are some that I’ve bookmarked and have found helpful:

There’s also a little movement called Baby Led Weaning, which is essentially eliminating pureed foods all together and going straight to finger foods. The idea is that the baby will eat what he or she needs at the right time, freeing the parent of the stress that goes into “introducing” foods. I’m still not sure what we’ll do, but I’m open to this idea.

There’s something beautifully natural about providing the same food to your baby that you do the rest of your family. It may initially seem more complicated to make your own baby food, but in the long run, it’s just another ingredient for creating a simply-run home. It saves money, it’s wholly nutritious, and it increases the odds of having a kiddo willing to try new foods.

A good majority of Simple Mom readers have children under 5. How did you feed your babies? Do you find it easier or more time consuming to make your own food? If you haven’t yet tried homemade baby food, what’s keeping you from trying?

avatar by on June 26, 2008   •   8 Comments Giveaways Unused

Let’s see who gets Pear Budget free for life…

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The random number generator selected number 90. Out of the 357 entries, that means the winner is:

Rachel! She doesn’t have a blog listed, so I can’t link to her, but her cheap date idea was, “We wait until our son has gone to bed, make popcorn and battle it out on Guitar Hero!”

Thanks to all of you who entered the contest. I truly believe Pear Budget is a great tool for your family budgeting, so I encourage you to try it out. You really can’t go wrong – Charlie and Sarah offer free use for 30 days, and then after that, it’s only $3 a month.

And since it’s a family-run business, using Pear Budget is really personable – if you have problems with the tool, you can just shoot them an email or check their blog.

Your Cheap Date Ideas

Part of my reason for asking for cheap date ideas was to, well, get cheap date ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

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Photo by Riccardo Romano

• from Suzanne – “Our cheap date is to get a couple of glasses of wine and relax in our hot tub after the kids go to bed. We get a lot of quality time together and we definitely get a lot of uninterrupted time to discuss things.” Sounds awesome! Now I just need to get us a hot tub.

• from Suzi – “My husband had a great cheap date idea: A backyard “drive in”. Either put your TV on the hood of the car in the driveway and watch from the front seat, or drag a couch outside, plug the tv in and watch under the stars!” Great idea. That would be fun with the whole family, too!

• from Kristi - “Our best cheap date is heading down the road that is at the end of the airports runway and parking there on the side. We sit on the hood and watch the planes take off and land over our heads and watch the stars in between. It’s actually quite beautiful and not as noisy as you may think.” My husband loves airplanes, so he would love me forever if I suggested this!

• from Mary – “We pack a picnic dinner and bicycle to the nearby forest, where we dine on one of the secluded ‘beaches’ by the pond. Then we bike by the town’s ice cream parlor (to split an ice cream) on the way home. Light exercise + yummy food + time to hold hands and chat uninterrupted = bliss.” Sounds straight out of a movie. Love it!

• from Megret - “We have a local park where they perform Shakespearean plays on an outdoor amphitheater; my hubby and I like to get take-out sushi and go enjoy an evening under the stars with great (free) theater for entertainment!” Ooh, I’d love this. It might make my husband fall asleep, but I’d be in heaven.

• from Lisa - “Our favorite cheap date … was to go to the local gourmet grocery store that we LOVED but couldn’t afford to shop at for the “real” day to day stuff. We would wander the aisles and pick out a few fun and exotic ingredients – specialty herbs (you could be as little as a teaspoon and bag them yourself), rice or pasta we’d never had before, etc.—and go home and make a meal with our finds.” Now this is awesome. We will definitely do this when we go back to the States, where we live near the Whole Foods headquarters.

• from Maureen - “On our anniversary, we walk to the drugstore and split up for 10 minutes to find the perfect card. After ten minutes, we swap what we found, kiss each other Happy Anniversary, and put the cards back. We have different memories of the first time we met and the exact time we fell in love, so on the walk back home, we try to convince each other which of us is right. We end up flipping a coin and the loser buys an ice-cream. To split.” Love it! Super cheap, and creative, too. I’m logging this away, too.

Most people suggested some of my favorite dates – movies after the kids are in bed. Lots of you use Redbox or Netflix, and you either pop popcorn, make a dinner your kids wouldn’t enjoy, or get cheap candy. Simple, fun, and right up my alley.

Now that you’ve got a veritable database of cheap date ideas, go sign up for Pear Budget and set aside some funds for inexpensive romantic bliss!

And guess what?  If you didn’t win, you’ve got another chance – go find out over at Mom Advice!

avatar by on June 25, 2008   •   13 Comments Unused

Simple Mom is also now at Blissfully Domestic

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Photo by Mark Grapengrater

I‘m a new contributer over at Blissfully Domestic. My department? Blogging. I’ll be writing my overflowing wealth tiny bit of knowledge on the subject, everything from writing effective posts, to networking in the blogosphere, to blog designs that pack punch.

My first post about defining your blog’s niche is up, and I’ll be posting there around once a week.

Here’s the kicker – I need your help! Do you have any blogging questions? Are there things you want explained in a normal, non-geeky way? Please let me know! Either comment on my post over there, leave a comment here, or feel free to contact me here.

I promise you I don’t know everything, and I’m very much a self-learner, but I do want to be a resource for you. Blissfully Domestic is expanding to a whole new magazine, and it will be relaunching soon – I’m happy to be a small part of that. And I’d love to help point you in the right bloggy direction!