Music calms the savage... toddler?

 So, they say that music soothes the savage beast... but did you know it works on toddlers too! Tyler goes to the local rec center for "school" for an hour on Mondays and Wednesdays. They play and have story time and art and all that good stuff and it gives him a taste of pre-school. Since I'm a stay at home mom he doesn't go to daycare or anything yet. We started slow though. He took a gym class (parents helped keep order) then did a music class. He looooved it. Miss. Stephanie is AMAZING. She's the teacher. She had a class of 15 two year olds (and their adults) sharing, taking turns, cleaning up and waiting for others to play instruments! The woman is magic!

 So, we enrolled Jason in music. Tyler gets to be a big boy in school and Jason (13 months) gets to have music class. Miss. Stephanie really is magic! She has 1 year olds sharing, taking turns and waiting for others to play, not to mention she has somehow managed to convince them all that it is a great idea to clean up the shakers!!! I want some of her magic!

At the end of class the kids may come up and strum her guitar.

She even lets an alum or two strum as well!

To snack or not to snack...

Since the New Year has passed and I'm sure many, like myself, want to be slimmer... So after joining a biggest losers contest with some girlfriends, I decided we needed a fun motivator. SO... I made snack boxes. There are three ladies who all work together so I made them each a set of snack boxes. They work long hours and the only thing nearby for food is a wonderful Chinese food place and a gas station. That means that if they don't plan well they're stuck with gas station snacks (not exactly on the lose weight menu).

I started with two plastic boxes...

One large for dry snacks and one small for the mini fridge.

 Then I got some tasty snacks to fill it with. Gum, Skinny Cow snacks, Fiber 10 bar, Jif mini cups ~ perfect for dipping, and some life savers ~ sugar free...

I stuffed them all in the dry snacks box...

Closed it up...

 

Then added their names so they could tell them apart... 

So now you're thinking, "Great, now what do I do with it..."... well each week you fill it with snacks that you like that fit into your diet/meal plan. This way when you're at your desk and you're hungry you have easy snacks that you know you can have and you don't have to settle for what ever's in the vending machine. Be sure to fill the fridge one with some healthy yogurt, cheese, veggies and fruit!

Love my electrician...

Ok, so all homeowners have to figure out who's gonna work on their house. I am not good at plumbing, electric or anything other that some basic carpentry (I can assemble a bookcase in less than a week with instructions!). SO, we found a great company that does all of our plumbing, heating, electric and cooling. I LOVE them! The electric is called Mr. Sparky (sense of humor much), Ben Franklin does the plumbing and One Hour does the heating and air.

They are always on time! They do great work and the workmen are polite, and generally make the kids (2 boys) feel like part of the team. They will show them their tools, let them see what they're doing and explain to them what's happening. My 3 year old is enthralled and loves to "hold the flashlight" even in a well lit room.

They go out of their way to take care of their customers. One guy came out on a Saturday at 9 pm to look at our furnace. He figured out what was wrong and drove an hour (one way) to get a part. That part didn't fix the whole problem so he asked us what we wanted to do. We opted to wait til the warehouse opened (since he wasn't sure they would have the part and since it was closed couldn't call to check) and first thing the next day he was at our house with the part. He was cheerful the entire time and even appoligized that he didn't have the rare and seldom used part on his truck!

Needless to say I can't praise these companies (really all one but for scheduling and stuff they break it up so you don't have to navigate a huge "Push X for this" type of thing) enough. If you're in the market for a plumber, electrician, or heating and air guy I highly recommend these guys! Heck even their phone operators are nice and usually quite funny!