how colin is singlehandedly supporting the clothing industry

Melissa 4 Comments

Colin’s brand new pants I just bought him last week:

colinpantsMe: “Colin, what did you do?”
Colin: “What?”
Me: “To your pants? How did you rip them?”
Colin: “I was running!”
Me: “Were you being chased by wolverines??? How did you rip them running?”
Colin: [thinking] “I’m not sure!”

Although, while I complain about him ripping all his clothes – he literally only has ONE pair of pants without holes at this point – its not nearly as bad as the underwear battle. Moms of boys, PLEASE tell me I’m not along in this battle!!!

Colin: “Mom! I’m ready for church!”
(walks in the room wearing ripped pants and an Angry Birds t-shirt)
Me: HOW are THOSE church clothes?”
Colin: “I’m wearing underwear!!”

Well, PARDON ME, I guess I missed that very important and OBVIOUS distinction.

 

chicken and barley soup

Melissa

I made this the other day and my family did everything but lick the bowl. Its easy, quick and very yummy!!

Chicken & Barley Soup

chicken and barley soup1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 carrots, diced small
4 celery stalks, diced small
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 cups shredded chicken
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 sprigs thyme (if you have it)
1½ cup barley

Directions
In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add chicken and season generously with salt and pepper.
Add broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Stir in barley. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until barley is tender, about 30 minutes.
If desired, (I prefer this, but the kids don’t) add several handfuls of baby spinach and cook until wilted, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
adapted from Everyday Food

on the move

Melissa 9 Comments

You may have noticed I dropped off the blog lately. Its been a wee bit crazy around here. Basically, the last few months have run me over like a speeding bus. But to sum up… we’ve have to make huge decisions. My husband’s job is being transferred. To Boston. We only had a few weeks to decide if we wanted to go. (Helloooo, stress headaches!)

Did you catch that?

We’re moving!!!!!

We are really excited. Okay – 80% excited, 20% terrified about packing up our lives and going somewhere completely new.  We’re obviously heartbroken to leave our good friends we have here in Philly, but hope that the Internet and short drive to where we’re moving (only 4½ hours! Merely a hop, skip and a jump, folks!) will help us keep in touch. And we’re moving close to a bunch of family family members, so that’s new!

The kids are handling it very well. They are getting excited about a new place and a new house. And the dog we’ve promised to consider getting. We’ve gone up to visit twice now and fell quickly in love with the area we’re considering living in. Its so sweet and quaint – and this little perk doesn’t hurt:

beach

Oh, yes. That is the beach. Now granted – it is New England, so you can swim in it comfortably for about 2 weeks at the end of August, but still… OCEAN! BEACH! WOOT!

Meanwhile, I have a to-do list as long as my kitchen table to get ready for this. We’re putting our house on the market in March, so this month I am cleaning, throwing away junk, sorting, packing, throwing away junk, cleaning more, painting, organizing and throwing away junk. (WHERE DOES ALL THE JUNK COME FROM?) And we’re generally doing all those little jobs that you leave when you live here and fix when you move. Like patching cracks, fixing broken closet doors and finally really cleaning off the smoothie that ended up on the ceiling when Ellie turned on the blender without the lid.

I could really use a clone or two for February to help me get things done.

We’ll keep you posted, but we’re so excited and eager to see what this year will bring!

game day menu

Melissa

Superbowl Sunday!!! What a fun and exciting afternoon, and with a such a good excuse to have a big party and lots of fun how could someone involve themselves in this joyous occasion. Nothing like noshing down on buffalo wings, hoagies, pizza, chips… now I’m getting hungry.

Stressing about food? Not a problem – here are some fun and easy foods that will be at my party this year!

Chili is a no-brainer. And so easy to serve to a crowd! Make a huge batch and keep it in the crockpot on low. Add toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, bacon crumbles and chopped green onions and you’re good to go! Everyone can make their own bowl when they get hungry and you can enjoy the game instead of slaving in front of the stove!

game-day-chili

Guacamole – if you’ve never made it yourself, give it a try! You’ll be amazed at how easy it is! Its a great compliment to the chili!

guacamole

This Jalapeno Popper Dip is gluten-free and you can make it in advance too! Just pop it in the oven when you’re ready to party.

Jalapeño-Popper-Dip2

Don’t forget — Superbowl parties often involve finger foods, people sharing dishes like salsa and dips and food sitting at room temperature for long period of time. FoodSafety.gov highlights four simple steps to food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. These basic actions include cleaning the food well, keeping potential contaminates separated, cooking meats thoroughly and chilling uneaten portions. You don’t want your guests to miss the end of the game because they’re sick, right?

 

 

the circus is coming to philly *GIVEAWAY*

Melissa 9 Comments

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Presents Built to Amaze! show is about to arrive in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center. We are SO SUPER excited to go to the circus with the kids  – we went about 4 years ago and they still talk about it!

Ringling-Brothers-Coupon-CodeThe circus spectacle will run from February 13-17 with a total of 11 shows at the Wells Fargo Center.

I’ve got a great discount coupon code for readers. Here’s the scoop – basically they will do 20% off tickets or the following with the code MOM. You can enter and order tickets for the Ringling Brothers Circus here.

$15 flat price (valid on all $30, $25 seats)

Code MOM

Valid 2/14 10:30am  and 7pm shows and 2/15 10:30am and 7 pm shows

 

 

Wanna go?

WIN IT!

I’m giving away 4 ticket vouchers good for any non-weekend show to one lucky reader for the Philadelphia area shows at Wells Fargo Center running from Feb 13th – Feb. 17th.

1. Please leave a comment below by February 5th, 2013.

2. Like Girlymama on Facebook here and leave a comment telling me you liked our page

3. Tweet the following for an additional entry and leave a comment telling me you did so

I want to win Ringling Brothers Circus Tickets in #Philly from @MelissaAngert. Enter here: http://girlymama.com/?p=5766

disclosure: I was provided with tickets for my family and my readers to enjoy the show!

 

Jennifer Garner in Martha Speaks!

Melissa

We love Martha Speaks – and I love Jennifer Garner, so how excited as we that side by side with her  real-life dog, Martha,  Jennifer Garner will star in Hit PBS KIDS® Series Martha Speaks on February 4th. Check your local listings on PBS to see what time Martha Speaks will air in your area.

Jennifer-Garner-Martha-Speaks

Celebrity Mom Jennifer Garner, mother of 3 with actor/director Ben Affleck, will be animated alongside her dog, whose name also happens to be Martha. The episode is called “Too Many Marthas” and some mix-ups with Jennifer’s dog Martha and THE Martha will make up the plot for the story.

How cute is that? I’m sure Jen’s kids will be watching and so will we!  Here’s a clip Jennifer Garner in Martha Speaks:

Here’s the official scoop per PBS:

“Her appearance on Martha Speaks adds to her advocacy efforts on behalf of children’s literacy. Garner, whose mom was an English teacher, is an artist ambassador for Save the Children’s early education programs and has worked to promote legislation that ensures quality early education and literacy for children. In “Too Many Marthas,” Martha is asked to sing at an animal rescue fundraiser and she’s thrilled. But on the day of the concert, Martha gets mixed up with another Martha – a dog belonging to a lady named Jennifer (Jennifer Garner). Can Martha help Jennifer locate her missing pup before it’s time to sing? Kids can tune-in and learn new words like number, aria, and a capella.”

Hope you’ll tune in with us!

Peppa Pig App Review

Melissa

Colin’s new favorite app? The Happy Mrs. Chicken app from Peppa Pig! Peppa Pig, the loveable star of the hit animated series Peppa Pig, is leaping off the television screen and onto my iPhone! Colin is totally in love – its fun but still challenging and has tons of options for play.

mrschicken

The game is entertaining, with audio instructions it makes it easy for children to keep up and learn quickly.  Its a gentle, fun game that isn’t too intense for younger kids – when they try to play their older sister’s games they can just be too much. This is right at his level – he can do everything in the game. (And, although his big sisters might consider this a ‘little kid game,’ they both have been caught playing happily.)

peppa

The cost is $2.99. Rating at 4+.

no name calling week

Melissa

Did you know that January 21-25, 2013 is No Name-Calling Week, an annual week created by GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network ) to promote educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and provide schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities.

A recent GLSEN study found that in the course of a single school year, two-thirds of teens reported being verbally or physically harassed because of their perceived or actual appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity, disability or religion with most teens also reporting that they heard students making negative or offensive remarks related to these characteristics in their schools.  In an effort to reduce the use of anti-gay language among teens, GLSEN joined the Ad Council to launch the ThinkB4YouSpeak public service campaign nationwide.

Regardless of how you feel about someone’s life choices, there is never a need to call someone degrading names and certainly no need to cause them harm. I’ve been haunted by the articles I have read about teens committing suicide due to bullying and IT HAS TO STOP. It is time to teach our children that words can hurt – just as much as a physical blow. Maybe even more. Its time – as a society – to stop the culture of hate and the cycle of violence. If it can start here – with this baby step of teaching our kids to respect others – then I am all for it.

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You can learn more about No Name-Calling week at http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html.  You can also follow the conversation on Twitter via #wordscanhurt and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/nonamecallingweek.

VINCI Learning Tablet

Melissa

For the last month, we’ve had the VINCI Tab II 7″ Touch Screen Learning Tablet (WIFI)– a tablet just for kids – in our home. Its become my 4-year-old son’s favorite electronic toy to play with and has been a lifesaver in the waiting room at piano lessons, ballet lessons, chello lessons, gymnastics lessons (Its hard to be the youngest boy!)

VS-3001

The VINCI Tab II is a 7″ touch screen tablet, running Android, that is surrounded by a protective soft handle. The handle is a great idea – should provide better grip for kids and protection against drops. My son had a little trouble at first, since he was used to a different system, but has picked up on the differences quickly and now navigates the system quite easily.

Although child-safe hardware is important, the key to this product is software, namely the VINCI Curriculum, a step-by-step learning structure comprised of 43 learning subjects and 3 levels of assessment, and covers all 6 aspects of a child’s developing mind: Thinking Skills; Emotional & Social Skills; Language and Literacy; Math & Logical Reasoning; General Knowledge; and Science. This software, which only runs on the Vinci Tab, is designed to use engaging games to provide incremental and interactive learning for children age 18 months through 9 years old.

We’ve been really working with my son on his numbers, letters and colors, so the VINCI Curriculum has been wonderful. Its so hard to tell from the App Store exactly how educational a game is going to be. With this system, I know he is going to be learning great stuff every time! He loves “How Many Pins?” “Bugs” and “American Southeast” best. I really can see that he is learning things that are helping him in school. His letters have been vastly improving and I am positive that VINCI is contributing to that!

VINCI-Tab-II-Applications

As a treat, after he is done with his eductaional games, he can play games like Cut the Rope and Where’s My Water? on the VINCI – just purchase them in the Android App store. Basically, the software is first class – as a preschool teacher, I would have loved to have these in my classroom for the kids to play on. Really great teaching tool and dead on developmentally. If you can tolerate a few crashes, the tablet will be used for years after the child outgrows the software. So for the price, its great.

 

disclosure: i received this tablet to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own.