Tips & Tricks: One Trip Pickup

Today's tip is one that Mary-Mia uses with the girls while travelling in the van. Not sure what age they were when she started but it works perfectly with 2 1/2 yo's!

Tip: One Trip Pickup

Travlling in a vehicle is just a normal part of day to day life and this little tip worked wonderfully. The girls both know that if something is dropped from their car seats while travelling mom or the person in the passenger seat will do their best to reach it and hand it back to them. What they also know is that the second time the item is dropped she will need to wait until we reach our destination to get it back. One trip Rosie dropped her baby doll and I was able to hand it back to her and the next time it fell I heard, 'I know...one trip pickup' and she went on to play with something else.

It was a great way for the girls to think twice before they 'dropped' something on the floor and it was a much safer way for mamma to drive when she wasn't reaching behind her while driving trying to retrieve something for the 3rd or 4th time.

Something else I learned isn't a tip but just made me laugh. Don't ever...under any circumstances...take your seatbelt off while driving with the girls! One time we were stopped at a red light and I needed to fix the vent over Rosie's head so I quickly undid my seatbelt so that I could reach the vent. From the second the belt unclicked there was a frantic chorus of 'STOP CAFRIN! Put seatbelt on! It's da law!!' I quickly put it back on but must admit it took a few extra seconds as I was laughing uncontrollably at the girls teaching me a valid lesson. It was just too funny!

You're right girls. Cafrin should never take her seatbelt off while we're driving. Trust me, won't make that mistake in front of you again. :o)

Missing the Cuteness...

Totally missing my precious friend Mary-Mia this weekend and her little cuties too so decided to go through my pics from a few weeks ago and share some favourites with you. Hope you enjoy all the adorable cuteness!

Teaching Cafrin how to have fun on a bed.

Marie feeding baby doll a pretzel

and enjoying one herself.

Toys and shoes lined up in my room. Clearly I need to be looking for some fancy princess shoes to keep up with the girlies!

The girl's preschool snack bags...and one for Cafrin too!

Rosie checking out her snack bag.

Marie found the chocolate.

Not too bad. Guess most of it made it to her belly.

Looks like Rosie enjoyed her chocolate too.

Rosie sporting rather damp pants when Cafrin forgot to put the stopper in the water sippys. Oops!

Fun times during potty training. :o)

Hanging out in the lounger.

Miss you SO MUCH friend!! Until next time....

Rose's Special Night

You may remember a few weeks back Mary-Mia blogged about a fun evening of baking she'd shared with Marie. This time it was Rosie's turn!!

On this particular night I'd sat with Marie for a few minutes when she went to bed while Mary-Mia was with Rose. I'm guessing it wasn't 2 minutes after Marie's little head hit the pillow before she was out for the night. Hmmm...could it be because she'd skipped her nap that afternoon? How did that happen? It couldn't possibly be because I'd succombed to her cries (ok....after about 30 seconds of crying I'd succombed to her cries) and gone back in to settle her. Knowing she had a weakling newbie on the job she'd milked it for all it was worth and when Mary-Mia returned from the dentist she'd found me sitting on the floor of Marie's room with my head resting on her bed. I think I may have been dozing but she was still wide awake! Score 1 for Marie! (Hmmm...I'm thinking I won too as I had some extra snuggle time with this little sweetie!)

Another bonus to MM's dentist appt. (and I'll just say the only bonuses were on our side and not the side of poor M3 who would prefer to be just about anyplace other than the dentist!) was that I was able to pick the girls up at preschool. Mary-Mia talked to the girls about it before dropping them off so they were aware that Cafrin would be the one picking them up and they weren't surprised when mamma wasn't there. When I opened the door to their room I wasn't prepared for the rush of love that would sweep over me as these 2 adorable little girls came running to me, calling my name and jumped into my arms as I leaned down to greet them! It gave me goosebumps and was just a little glimpse of what it will be like to have Hannah come running to greet me!

Back to the evening of 'Rosie fun.' Mary-Mia gave her the option to do anything she wanted and what made us laugh was that after she and Marie had dined on about a 10 course supper only hours before, she wanted a snack! :o) (Talk about amazing eaters! Those little girls will try anything and even like things that Mary-Mia and I weren't appreciating. Neither she nor I were feeling the love of the seaweed sprinkles but the girls thought they were deeelish so who were we to discourage them?)

Rose started her evening of fun by making chocolate chip cookies. She did pretty much every single step and did a great job!!

Poured the mix into the bowl.

Added the butter.

Mixed the batter.

Discussed the progress of the cookies with mamma.

Licked the spoon clean.

Helped mom put her cookies on the baking sheet and then waited for them to bake.

More spoon cleaning with mamma.

Would you believe of all the ooey gooey goodness that came out of the oven I forgot to take a single picture of us enjoying them? You can be sure that they were great and all we had left to prove that were a few crumbs.

After the cookies were done there was still time for some late night snuggles and yes, a little snack.

Salsa Swim Time Fun!

I returned home last weekend but still have lots of fun pics to share with you. It was a crazy week at work so am a little behind in getting my posts up but hopefully this weekend you'll see a lot of the Salsa sweeties plus a couple of other friends too.

A couple of days after the girls woke up from their naps we were pool bound. The weather was perfect, the girls ready to go and Mary-Mia and I were looking forward to having fun with the girls in the pool. We started with the 'big' pool then would graduate to the small, warmer wading pool just hanging out and splashing around.

The girls have these great little inflatable bathing suits that have inserts in them something like water wings. Once we played with the amount of air in them the girls were good to go. By the end of the second day Rosie was saying, 'No touch Cafrin' and she was swimming on her own! Way to go Rosie!!

Here Marie is checking out her little belly. Her little grin looks like it's saying, 'You think there are just floaties in here Cafrin...really I'm packing a pooltime snack for later!'

What peace of mind these great little suits offer. Although the girls could easily stand up in the wading pool and mamma and I were never much more than an arms length away from them, it allowed them a lot more freedom to splash around and make sure that mamma and Cafrin got good and wet too!

The second day we were joined at the pool by Donna and her cuties Maddy and Gwen. We enjoyed more swimming fun and then supper poolside. Nothing like supper in the summer sun with good friends!

Here are a few other pics of our poo time fun:

Donna

Mary-Mia

Trying (not too successfully) to get a pic of the 4 girlies together.

Maddy showing me her adorable 'Kung Fu Panda' face. Shhh...don't tell her but this little face makes me just want to scoop her up in a big ole' hug!

Marie chillaxin as she watches the others.

Gwen. I'm guessing she hasn't quite learned how to read yet.

All too soon it was time to go home for the night. One quick snuggle before we go. Oh how I miss those snuggles!!!

Photo Bloggy Day filled with Salsa Love!

Shanny invited all those who were interested to capture 'A Day in the Life.' Mary-Mia and I decided to join in on the fun! Basically you take a picture of what you're doing each hour of the day. Come along and enjoy just a tidbit of everything wonderful that is a day spent with Mary-Mia, Rod, Rose, Marie and Catherine!

7:00am - Rise and Shine! Marie was the first to wake this morning then Rose was up not long after her. We all hung out in Rosie's room having a jammie party while the girls enjoyed morning snuggles and stories with mamma and daddy.



8:00am - Excited About Preschool!
The girls really like going to preschool and they have lots of fun there! See you soon sweeties. We'll miss you! xoxo

9:00am - Mmmm... Breakfast!
Mary-Mia introduced me to a yummy little donut shop and we enjoyed donuts and coffee before hitting the stores.

10:00am - Grocery Shopping
As we were wandering around the fruits and vegetables section of the store this cute little guy caught my eye. Isn't he fun?

11:00am - Getting Ready for Preschool Pick-up
Each day before picking up the girls from preschool Mamma makes up little snack bags for the girls. Today she let me help out and it was lots of fun to choose special little treats for the girls! When they get in the car they're always so excited to see what in their treat bags and get excited about what they find. The magic recipe is to give them enough to keep them occupied and awake between preschool and home but just enough that they're finishing up as we pull into the driveway. Mary-Mia has it down to a science and I've learned it from her.

I cannot begin to tell you how many helpful tips and tricks I am learing from this AMAZING Mommy and friend!!!

12:00pm - Driving to Preschool
Mary-Mia teases that she's addicted to Chapstick and has passed this on to the girls so they're kept well hidden at home. Getting ready for preschool pickup kisses!

1:00pm - Lunch!
The girls were down for their nap so Mary-Mia and I took time for our lunch. While she worked on packing for an upcoming trip I whipped up a super yummy tuna sandwich and potato chip lunch. The recipe is Rod's mom's and it is fab-U-lous!! Thanks Linda!! Mmmmm!

2:00pm - Photo Shoot

LOL! This isn't too unusual a pic around here! Sad to say that between MM and I, combining our pics for these posts covered 4 memory cards from 4 different cameras! No wonder the girls hear clicks and see flashes in their sleep!

Nap time is also when we find a few minutes to check emails and quickly hit blogs. Working around the girl's nap schedule is a whole new world to me and one I cannot wait to embrace with Hannah!!

3:00pm - Laundry
A busy mamma of two seems to always be playing catch-up when it comes to laundry.

This heaping basket is made up of only the little girl's laundry. I have a feeling my washing machine and dryer are going to be in for a shock when sweet Hannah comes home!

4:00pm - Cleaning the Carpets... Again... With Help???
The girls have done really well with potty training but today was a rough one for Rosie. The house rule is that after 3 accidents you're going commando. (Going to remember that one! :o) I was cleaning up accident #3 or 4....we lost track...and the girls thought it would be a great time to catch a horsey ride. Can I tell you how much I love these two???

5:00 - Daddy's Home... And We're Outa Here!
Rod had been away on a business trip all week and after the busy day we had with the girls Mary-Mia and I decided to head out for supper and enjoy a little time...away from the pee-pee accidents! :o) Here she's calling for reservations at a wonderful restaurant. 'Girls Night Out' here we come!!
When I went upstairs to get ready I laughed when I saw the condition of my room. Hmmm...I don't quite remember leaving it like this!

If there was any question about who my little visitors might have been, those questions were quickly answered as I took a closer look. The perpetrators had left their calling cards...6 'chewies' on my bed!

6:00pm - Ahhh... Girl's Night Out!!
We enjoyed a delicious, quiet dinner and reminisced about the fun we've had this week. Sadly I'll fly home tomorrow night but it's not a case of 'if' I'll be back but 'when.' That makes the parting so much easier!

7:00 - Playtime Before Bedtime
Daddy had the girls all ready for bed when we got home from dinner. They were wound up and so excited to tell us all about the fun times they'd shared with daddy!

Rosie needed a little help up but Cafrin wanted to capture the moment first. Oops!

8:00pm - Bedtime
With daddy being home tonight it was mamma and daddy who settled the girls for the night. Sweet dreams baby girls. Tomorrow is another day of fun before us!

Speaking of bedtime...it's after 1:30am and I'd better get this post up. I didn't want to spend any time tomorrow on the computer when I could be spending it with my precious friend and the girls so I kept at it tonight. Better head...on monitor duty for one last night. *sigh!* Hmmm...wonder if those monitor signals will reach Canada? If so, hook me up for next week Mary-Mia!!

Thanks for a great day sweet friend! This was fun!!!