Preschool-Approved Valentine's Day Treat

As class mom, I've been stressing about what to send in for JD's class on Valentine's Day.  It has to be fun, healthy, and easy- which, of course, is not easy.  I found this granola bar recipe at Joyful Abode and tweaked it to include more fruit and no nuts or seeds.  Then, instead of cutting them into bars, I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make them a little more festive.

It took me .5 seconds to realize that I was not going to be pushing the cookie cutter through it with my bare hands.  A wooden spoon worked out great!

My plan was to save the scraps to sprinkle over yogurt.  JD had other plans.

1 batch made 19 medium-ish hearts.

I'm going to send them in wrapped in cupcake wrappers, but you could also seal them in plastic wrap with a heart sticker or put them all in a container separated by wax paper.  

Sweet & Healthy

You could make them even more festive with heart shaped sprinkles on top (I went to 2 stores but couldn't find them) or more of a "treat" with chocolate chips.  My mind started to wander with the pretty possibilities of wrapping them, but I didn't want to be cursing myself and my over ambitious ideas the night before Valentine's Day, so I am keeping it simple!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Toddler

Last week we took a quick trip in to the city, and JD has not stopped talking about the "booty truck" and the ICE CREAM CONE!

(Did you miss me? I know I've been MIA around here lately, but I have been busy interviewing mompreneurs for New York Mom's World, talking about our transition to a toddler bed and must-have sleep products at sleep.com, reviewing aps, theater productions and wine tasting rooms for LIParentSource, and kicking off the DiaperBuds blog with tips about getting through the airport with ease.  Now that I'm getting into a schedule with the other sites, I will be posting regularly here again.)


(Oh, and our NYMomsWorld facebook page is getting close to 1000 fans!  We'd really appreciate it if you gave us a like!)

Vacations are Happy

In keeping with the "happy things in 2012" theme, vacations definitely make me happy.  And now that we're back (we've been back for a week, but, you know, it totally takes 7 days to recover from a 5 day vacation with toddlers), I'm so happy to look back at all the fun we had! 


I'm also excited to be getting the hang of our new DSLR. I've taken a class and flipped through the manual, but please pass on any simple tutorials that will turn me into the next Annie Leibovitz.  haha 


Things that make me happy:


iPads make traveling with toddlers 1 billion times easier. "Oh, you're worried about sitting next to my kid on the plane? Don't worry. He'll be better behaved than my husband." = something I really wanted to say to the obnoxious woman who told my 14-month-old to be quiet because they can hear him "all the way up front". Because telling him that would do anything other than make him proud of himself.

 My baby is not afraid of PDAs.

watch out Mickey

I really beat myself up over forgetting the rain cover for the stroller (and it only drizzled for a couple hours of our trip).  But then I realized it didn't bother anybody but me, and it wasn't really a HUGE deal.  Happiness = realizing you don't have to be on top of ALL THE THINGS all the time.  Also- Disney really needs to construct some covered stroller parking.  It rains a lot in Florida.

a little rain didn't keep them from their stroller nap

There is very little to be upset about at Disney World.  Except your brother stealing your goldfish.  And your parent doing nothing but taking pictures. 

Don't worry. He got more.

 Meeting Pooh really IS that exciting.

This is him turning to me after a LONG cuddle.

 And being a nerd makes me happy.

 Happiness to JD is finally being tall enough to ride a "real" roller coaster- one Grandma was scared to go on.  

And happiness is also 5 minute wait times.

I love that my kids are thrill seekers- as long as they don't eventually do something crazy like ride a motorcycle or jump out of a perfectly good plane.  They immediately asked for "next ride" or "more ride" as soon as we finished one. 

"I can squeeze through there. We don't have to wait."

We had never been to Sea World, and I was a little nervous about how it would follow Disney & Universal.  It was definitely lacking enthusiasm from it's employees ("What? You're not cheering for me after riding the Swishy Fishies?"), but the roller coasters were AMAZING and the dolphin show was worth the price of admission alone.

 And again, I'm a nerd.

If you were wondering, the chocolate frog was nothing special as far as chocolate goes, but the card inside was fun.  I was a little disappointed to see that you could pay extra for a "Special Edition Chocolate Frog" that guaranteed you got a Dumbledore card.  (I did not.) If you care that much about a Dumbledore card, wouldn't you also care about the card being a surprise?  I haven't been brave enough to crack open the Every Flavour Beans yet.

What's making you happy today?