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Leap Day Celebration Ideas

Leap Day is coming up this week!  I’ve never celebrated it with my kiddos before, but now the older two are old enough that I think we can have some fun and learn a little bit about WHY we have Leap Day and Leap Year.

So…next Wednesday, I am going to DIG DEEP, put on my “fun mom” costume (because yo, it is a COSTUME), and do some fun activities with the kids!  Here are some I’m thinking of:

  • “Leap” games inolving jumping – like a race where we have to do different kinds of jumps – long leaps, bunny hops, jumping on one leg, etc.  Since we’ve been having a mild winter, I am hoping it will be warm enough to do outside and do this.
  • Leap play date so we can play a musical-chairs type game where we leap from lily pad to lily pad!  Each child cuts out & decorates their lily pads and then we will stick them to the floor, turn on some music, and get leaping.
  • Since jumping and lily pads might factor into things, you may have guessed that I am thinking of a FROG theme for our Leap Day fun.  Thanks once again to Pinterest, I may attempt these frog cupcakes:

Hmm, but now I’m thinking frog COOKIES might be easier…

One more thing I’m going to do on Leap Day is leap into a NEW RECIPE! I’ve been in a total recipe RUT recently. This one has nothing to do with frogs (thankfully, ’cause I am NOT eating frog legs!), just something I’ve been wanting to try, and Leap Day is as good a time as any! Since I am a Vicks Blogger, I’ve been following Curtis Stone’s Nature’s Kitchen series sponsored by Vicks Nature Fusion.  There’s a recipe he calls a “One-Pot Wonder” – and I’m a one-pot cook!  I’ve not tried one of Curtis’ recipes yet, even though I love watching his videos. But I am going to make this one  – a potato-corn chowder, for our Leap Day meal.

 

(You can check out the rest of Curtis’ videos for the Vicks Nature Fusion Nature’s Kitchen here.)

Are you planning on celebrating Leap Day this year?  If so, give me some more activity ideas!

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I am being compensated for this post as part of the Vicks Blogger program.

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Adventures in Maternal Slackerdom

I was thinking of alternately titling this post, “In which I totally do not have my sh*t together” OR “yet another birthday freak-out”.  Really, it could be called SO many things.

But the gist of it is: I am blowing town two days before my kid’s birthday party.  Now I will only be gone for like 36 hours and I will be back like an entire 15 hours before the party starts, so that’s ok, right??

Uhhhh…

I’d say Joshua’s birthday kind of crept up on me, but that’s just not true. I’ve had all his presents for forever. The problem is, we spent the long holiday weekend on a reunion vacation with my husband’s family in Myrtle Beach.  We left Thursday night, slept in West Virginia, then drove 8  (really 10) hours Friday, had fun, and turned around and drove 12 hours home Monday. So I spent all LAST week preparing for the trip, and I’ve only had Tuesday-Wednesday to prepare for Joshua’s Sunday family party and Monday after-school friends party, and TODAY I should probably actually pack and do laundry because TOMORROW at 10:30 a.m. I am leaving to go tour Lake Erie’s top vacation sites with some other bloggers and journalists. And I said yes even though the timing is poor because I NEED A BREAK.  And I get to take my BFF Lulee.

It’s going to be my first night away from Jonah, ever.  Totes freaking about that.  But I REALLY want to have him weaned by the end of March, and I am hoping this will be a good first step.  Hold me!!

So I’ll get back Saturday night about 8, and Joshua’s family party is a brunch Sunday at 11.  I am stacking up a bunch of donuts to look like a cake. Brilliant, right?

THEN Sunday night I am going to attempt to make these cupcakes I found on Pinterest for Joshua’s Pokemon (don’t get me started) party:

They look pretty easy, but chances are on Monday at 1 a.m. I am going to be calling Cortney and screaming “PLEASE  MAKE ME SOME CUPCAKES BEFORE  I KILL MYSELF!!!!!!!”

So there you have it. I am a total slacker. And I am probably going to ruin Joshua’s 8th birthday, even though I was out running birthday errands til 10 pm so he will have GOODY BAGS like he requested, and you know, FOOD at the brunch.  And a Pokemon TABLE CLOTH for the love. It’s a good thing I got him some cool presents!

Now I must go start my laundry so I have actual clothes to wear on the tour of Lake Erie, so I can look and act like an actual human instead of this frazzled, stressed, mombie (Mom-Zombie, you LOVE IT) that I have been for a few days.

BUT FIRST – I gotta get out the door to the library to get Joshua a book on horses he has to have for Monday so he won’t also fail 2nd grade because of his mother!

 

 

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Giving (P)in

I held out as long as I could. But, now I’m pinning. Pinterest has me in it’s clutches!

I finally capitulated for the good of the blog.  I wanted to join before but I was SKEERED! Scared because all over facebook I’d read statuses like “Well I just lost two hours of my life to Pinterest.”  and “Pinterest is so addicting!”  The only addictions I currently have time for in my life are Mountain Dew and Downton Abbey (SHH!!! I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO WATCH THE FINALE YET! It’s waiting for me on my DVR!).  I was afraid I’d end up like this:

But, amazingly, I have found that one CAN use Pinterest and NOT let every other responsibility in life go by the wayside!  I have discovered that you can be on if for just a few minutes at a time instead of what I thought was a two-hour minimum. So, I am actually really loving it! I’ve just gotten started pinning things such as my favorite Lands’ End clothes that I want need,  yummy food, things to make with the kids, and apps and games to play for learning and overcoming developmental delays.

SO, I am loving pinning!  I hope you’ll follow my pins!   And while you’re at it, follow Emily too.  Let me know where you’re at on Pinterest and I’d love to follow you too.

Pin it to win it, baby!

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