Traveling with the babes {Christmas Edition}

Travelling With Kids... Breastfeeding & Cloth Diapers.
NOT  a pretty combination of words...

Over the holidays, My family and I (Accompanied by my lovely In-Laws)
Embarked on a 8 hour+ Road Trip, From our home in the Fraser valley, to theirs in the Kootenays, for a real Small-town Country Christmas. The days Leading up to the trip it's self were completely
full of anxiety. I had never been there before so I really didn't know what to expect.. I could NOT seem to prepare enough and the morning of the trip I felt nauseous. (Though maybe it was the 4am Wakeup time?) 
would Big T be bored on the trip? How would the kids ears be through the mountains? How and when would I feed the baby?

Honestly. the trip wasn't bad at all... as many times as 'Dad' has made the trip he is only human and knows his passengers to be as such too, meaning Pitstops!  Though she was (Surprisingly) awake for most of the trip, Baby K made due with only being fed during our Scheduled pit stops ( The first one was about 3 hours after we hit the road ... )
Since I fed her right as we left, this was feeding time for her anyways, I changed K and used the restroom while daddy stood in line and got our lunch...I ate most of my lunch,  went back out to the car (being sure to give myself enough time to feed her without holding up the show ) and gave baby K her lunch... I can eat the rest of my lunch on the road... She can't.

During the trip we went through Manning Park ...which is known for it's wildlife... squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, pika, coyotes, beaver, muskrat, deer, bear, moose and most members of the cat family reside in this protected provincial park as well as more than 200 bird species that  have been spotted there. Through the entire expanse of Manning park (58km) Big T watched Vigilantly for any Sign of wildlife... and though we didn't see any (I was on the lookout as well) he was elated to see the 'Manning Park' Signs ... one with a huge carving of a marmot and one of a bear.

I am happy to say that Big T was not bored at all during the trip ... his Grandma & Papa on his Mommy's side got him a V-tech Tablet which was AWESOME, it has an Alphabet App as well as a drawing one (Similar to a high-tech Etch-a-sketch) My favorite feature though ... the VOLUME setting :)
it kept him very entertained and independent. Other helpful sources of entertainment we packed were;

• I-spy book - he needed help as he can't *quite* read yet, so Nanny Read him the pages, but he was able to find *most* of the items
• Math flash cards... again he needed help, ...and some extra fingers to count on, but he was doing pretty well. 
• His gameboy - This, surprisingly was left untouched, Big T voted for the more educational options.

 We stopped again for a potty-break and some Drinks at a 7-11 in Osoyoos... in retrospect, I probably should have Changed K... But Didn't ... though she didn't fuss I still felt it to be a 'MomfailMoment'
this was about an hour and 45 mins later, So she didn't need to eat.

Our next pit stop was another 3 hours after our first (again, lining up PERFECTLY with K's feeding Schedule...) We stopped at Extra Foods in Grand forks to get gas, some groceries, and of course EXTRA BATTERIES! for my camera...it IS baby's first Christmas afterall! ... 


We got in about 7 pm, I set up our room, fed baby, and we all had some dinner.
All-in-all we arrived. we survived. we thrived (Ok, that doesn't really makes sense, but it rhymes... just gimme this one 'kay?  We got here in one piece, and I.LOVE.IT.HERE. Love the snow, love the beautiful home, love the dogs and LOVE the small-town feel.

*** I should also note, I have a 'stash' of frozen breast milk, and brought a 4oz bottle (Since I usually feed on-demand and knew that WOULD NOT be the case, ... I just fed it to her in little increments when she started getting fussy ***
... I wonder how the return trip will be?


Peace, Love & Happy and safe Travels

Wordless Wednesday {Personalised Christmas Decorations}

I got these GREAT clay Christmas Decorations from Nadine's Clay Creations

I got one for each one of the family, The ones with ribbon have bells and little tags - Ryan's says 'Big Daddy Ryeno' and Little K's says 'Baby's first Christmas' - they each say the year on the back (2011) 

Last Years Personal Decorations;

From Vistaprint

 

 From Big T's Preschool Class 

(Salt Dough 'Gingerbread' man)

Inexpensive DIY Holiday Gifts + recipe

Making our Molasses-free Gingerbread (We made 3 batches and it made enough for about 20 Tins/Baskets) 

RECIPE; 

 Cookies;

• 1 c. Butter/Magerine 
• 3/4 c. Brown Sugar 
• 3/4 c. White Sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 2 1/2 c. Flour 
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda 
• 2 tsp. Cinnamon 
• 2tsp. Ginger
• 1 tsp Clove & 1/2 tsp Nutmeg (I Substituted both for 1 1/2 tsp Allspice) 

~Cream Together Sugars and Butter/Margarine
~Beat in Egg 
~In Separate Bowl, Combine  all remaining ingredients including spices  
~ Combine two bowls, mix evenly and pat into ball 
~flatten slightly and chill (3 hours in refrigerator or overnight)
~Preheat oven to 375
~roll out to 1/8 of an inch and cut out with cookie cutters (or roll into og and slice into 1/8 inch circles) 
~bake for 6-12 mins on lightly greased baking sheet


Faux (Marshmallow) Royal Icing

•  2 cups powdered / confectioners  sugar
• 1 tbs Corn Syrup 
• 2 1/2 tbs Hot water 
• 1 tsp Vanilla 
• 2 C Mini Marshmallows (Melted)

~Mix first 4 ingredients until smooth.  

~ Melt marshmallows (until they puff up) in the microwave (15-30 seconds) 

~ Combine and blend on High for 2 min.s - Until smooth 

**Icing can be refrigerated - add a few drops of hot water and blend again if necessary **

 

Our Materials, Decorating, and our baskets full o' goodies

 Beautiful once wrapped, This was 

Big T's Christmas gift to his Teacher

These gifts are perfect for unexpected guests, people you don't know well enough for personal gifts and people such as Doctors, Teachers, Mailman, Bosses etc.

Upcycled Christmas Bow {Craft}

Christmas can be an incredibly Stressful time, Laden with Commercialism, Waste and Unrivaled in Expense. A good way to Curb some of ALL of the above, is to Make gifts.  I often bake cookies which I put in decorative tins, a few people get knitted scarves and dishcloths each year. But some Cost are unavoidable... Wrapping paper, Ribbons, Bows, ..or are they?

Today I'm going to show you how to make your own Christmas bows ...for next to nothing!
You can use Either Magazine pages, to 'WOW' a green Friend, or to simply keep costs low you can also use Scrapbooking paper - to customize and streamline your gifts look.

You will need;
Scrapbook paper or magazine page
Glue or stapler
Ruler
Pen or pencil
Scissors

• Take your pencil, Ruler and paper, and Measure out (vertically) 9 strips  Each measuring 3/4". Cut these out and line up 

• Next Divide you're strips into some groups Two Groups of 3, One Group of 2 and one Group of 1
• Put one of the groups of 3 to the side (we leave these as-is) Cut 1" off the end of each of the second group of Three
• Cut 2" off each of the group of 2 
• Measure out the last Strip to 3.5" 
• The tricky part; you need to 'Twist' each of the large strips (8) into a figure-8 and glue ends in place - The easiest way to do this, is to do one side at at time, the colored side of the paper out - you won't see much of the white once we're done anyways. This is tricky but gets easier with a little pratice.

• When you have twisted  all 8 of the strips, roll the 3.5" strip into a circle. 
• Next Glue and place each of the size groups together.(Two Groups of 3 and one of 2) Let dry.
• When your groups have dried. Glue together. then glue the circle into the middle. 

VOILA 

 

NOTES;
When using scrapbook Paper, you may find using a stapler to work better, as the card-stock is heavier than Magazine pages.
I used Glue, but it was much more difficult.

Peace, Love & Happy Holidays