Halfway through October and it’s 90 degrees outside. I would have no clue that Halloween is around the corner if it weren’t for the tacky decorations strewed along my neighbors houses. Ok Fall (disguising yourself as Summer) with your freakish weather, I give in, you win.
I am not a huge fan of Halloween but I do get excited about all the fun crafts there are to do with the kids. I dug into my teaching supply boxes for a couple of activities to do with Kaili. Well if I am being honest, the hand and footprint ghosts is really an activity for the adults to do but we just say it’s a kids crafts because it’s cute, a keepsake if you will.
I gave K bear a piece of paper, some Halloween stickers, showed her how to peel of the backing and let her do her thing.
Stickers =Concentration and fine motor skills. After she stuck them on she pulled them off and that is fine, but we were left with an empty canvas. So sorry, no picture for you!
The hand and footprint ghosts turned out super cute. I took her outside, mixed a little dish soap with white paint ( comes right off with water ) and once I got one footprint done, I put her foot into a bucket of water and rinsed it off. Rinse , paint, repeat. Simple!
Spook-Tacular!
While she was doing her craft I sang ? told? Kaili the Five Little Pumpkins poem and she laughed at me. WTF?
I also made a failed recipe of edible Pumpkin play dough, it is in the trash now. Boo! But I have some yummy recipes to share with you soon to make up for the botched play dough.
Please tell me it’s just the cold+ toe injury that is making my daughter fight sleep, paleeeze! . Kaili has always welcomed her beauty sleep and if she wasn’t asleep by the time her head hit the mattress, she would play quietly until she conked out. But this past week has been a whole other ballgame, she cries and cries and then throws her pacifier out of the crib because she is smart enough to know I will come give it to her. This goes on for quite awhile until she gives in. I will stand strong but it sure is tough.
I know at this age she is beginning to realize how much fun it is being awake and that she want’s to “assert her independence”. Is she telling me she is ready for 1 nap a day? Sometimes I think yes but then afternoon hits and she rubs her eyes and starts the cranky pants dance. So then I think, nope, two naps it is.
Well let’s see, where did I leave off? Kaili’s health has made a huge improvement over the past couple of days, her fever is gone, throwing up is done and her toe bled on it’s own which has made it look a million times better. After the week we had she ended up with a stupid cold!
Friday, our friend Randy from Portland ( you can follow his wife’s blog here) came into town for a visit. We, and a few of our friends went to Slaters 50/50 for an early dinner.
This was the first time Kaili really ate anything, Mac n cheese, french fries and ketchup, I’ll take it!
Kaili found Randy’s IPad
We spent Sunday sitting around, chatting, sipping Bloody Mary’s and laughing at K bear. Oh and watching football!
The past few days haven’t been the greatest. Well actually Tuesday started out just fine. Kaili and I went down to the Bay for some excercise and a picnic lunch.
enjoying pita and hummus
Kaili enjoyed playing in the sand and on the playground. It was a beautiful day.
Once we were back home, we headed out into the backyard for some kitty cat time. As Kaili was trying to pull a towel off the back of one the patio chairs she unfortunately managed to pull the entire chair over onto her. I didn’t get there in time and the chair landed on her toe. She was in pain and her whole toenail instantly turned purple
Once the crying subsided, I tried icing it as much as I could, but she wasn’t having it. I was more concerned than she was, she was handling the pain fine, or so I thought. I decided to call the nurse to make sure she didn’t need to be checked out. The nurse suggested to see if Kaili could settle down for a nap, if so then she would probably be fine but if not to head to urgent care. Kaili was exhausted and napped her normal afternoon nap with no problem.
When dinner rolled around she was fussy and I couldn’t get her to eat more than a few bites and she fought bedtime, that is unusual. I knew she must be in pain and I gave her Advil but it didn’t seem to help. It is heartbreaking to know your child is in pain and there is nothing you can do about it, absolutely heartbreaking! By 9pm we both finally got some sleep. That is until midnight when I was woken up by her screaming. As soon as I opened her door I knew what had happened. She was covered, no actually drenched in vomit. Once everything was in the wash and she had taken a bath I put her on the couch to watch Barney while I called the after hours nurse. I was urged to take her to the ER. So we packed up and headed to Children’s hospital at 1:00 AM.
I was concerned that the vomiting was linked to her hurt toe but the nurse at the hospital didn’t think they were connected. They gave Kaili some a magic drug that stopped her vomiting and said they weren’t going to drain the blood in her toe at that time, so we could head home but we needed to see her Pediatrician in the next day or two.
We were both wiped by the time we got home and she went right to sleep. I hoped she would sleep until 8 or 9 to catch up on the missed hours but nope, she was up at 5 and then for good at 7. Once awake, she developed a fever. It started as a low grade fever but started climbing as the day went on.
Kaili came with me to the gym on Monday where she was in their daycare while I worked out. Shane thought, and I hoped that she caught something there and it was just a coincidence that it hit her the same day as her injury. But in the back of my mind I worried that it was somehow linked to the trauma of her toe or even worse an infection in her body.
The Dr. agreed with me that the vomiting could very well be her body reacting to the injury but she wasn’t convinced the fever was too. She gave me the option of doing blood tests to check for an infection or wait a few days to see what happens with the fever. I opted for the second option, wait and see. Her opinion was she would be just fine and wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up with a cough or congestion in the next day. But she said we were to come back if her fever got over 103 and or if the fever wasn’t gone in three days.
Kaili woke up the next morning with a fever, nasal congestion and sneezing. So maybe this is all a coincidence and it’s just a bad bad cold. I haven’t been able to get her to eat or drink anything and I am forcing water, Gatorade and apple juice down her throat just to keep her from becoming dehydrated. This sucks!
This is what her toe looks like today, terrible picture but she won’t let me touch her foot.
She still has a temperature and that is my main concern right now. Fingers crossed things start looking up tomorrow!
I am not ready to succumb to Fall yet. It’s been in the 80’s and I am still using the grill to do a lot of my cooking. Until the weather tells me otherwise, it’s still summer. However with all the pumpkin recipes and Halloween decorations, it looks like I might have to face reality soon. Maybe next week I will be ready to make some seasonal recipes and post some Halloween faves.
Favorite Recipe– My favorite summer dish is the almighty Caprese salad. I just made one last week but that wont stop me from trying this delicious looking recipe tonight. I may even try slow roasting the tomatoes on the grill.
Favorite DIY– Kaili has been showing a lot of interest in getting her hands messy, she thouroughly enjoys “painting” her high chair tray with ketchup, hummus and yogurt. I think it’s time to make some of this homemade edible finger paint and let her at it.
Favorite Photo– How awesome for the children, I love this!
Favorite Destination– Cinque Terre, Italy. We passed on seeing this amazing city on our recent trip to Europe. Rick Steves said it’s a tourist trap in August, so now I have an excuse to back.
Favorite Funny– I probably shouldn’t think this is funny….but I do, because it is.
Sundays are spent in front of the T.V. and it looks like Seattle is going to make it worth our wild this year.
So in honor of our winning season I made some football food. Wings and pizza, can’t go wrong with either of those choices.
I made about 20 wings. Started off seasoning them with garlic salt, cumin, cayenne and ground black pepper.
I baked them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, then I hit them with the broiler for a few extra minutes to crispy up the skin.
I melted 1 Tbs. butter and 1/2 cup Franks extra hot sauce in a sauce pan over low heat until warmed through. Then you toss the wings with the sauce and voila! Baked chicken wings.
As I was looking through the freezer this morning, I came across a box of puff pastry buried in the back. I am embarrassed to even think how long it’s been in there, but I am pretty sure I didn’t have a kid or a bun in the oven the last time I used it. {hangs head in shame} So I decided then and there that I would use it today, but for what? Hmm that was the question. After some scouring of recipes I found this one from Simply Recipes. I have used a lot of her recipes and they all have turned out great, so I went with it.
Now since this was spur of the moment decision I had to use what I had on hand, that meant 2 small Fuji apples. Even though I had walnuts I decided to throw in some slivered almonds because I thought that sounded better. I omitted the currants, all I had were raisins and Kaili has now decided she likes them, so I shall save them for the K bear.
I managed to get the apples peeled, cored, diced, got all the ingredients mixed, rolled of the pastry dough, assemble the turnovers and throw them in the oven all while Kaili was down for a nap. Success.
Even though I felt like a rockstar once they were in the oven, I soon found out that I must have missed a step. I went back and re read the recipe only to find out that I was supposed to brush some egg wash along the corners of the pastry dough before folding it. I assume it’s so this doesn’t happen…
Delicious goodness leaking everywhere 😦
The inside oozed out all over the baking sheet. Oh well, lesson learned… They will still be yummy right?
Yummy they are! Even though they aren’t the prettiest things they are very flavorful and the the crust is perfectly flaky. Oh and all that goodness that oozed out, well it tasted like apple spice caramel, de-lish-ish!
Baby K turned 17 months last Sunday. We celebrated with a trip up to the OC so Kaili could see all of her family. But first we had to say good morning to Senna.
Kaili and I met the family at the Irvine spectrum where we enjoyed lunch. Kaili’s favorite part of going there is the pet store as sad as they are.
Kaili + Grandma
After lunch, Kaili was entertained by her uncle. She hasn’t seen much of him but she took to him immediately.
And then she wowed us with her piano skills, musical prodigy in the making?
My mom is leaving in a couple of weeks on another trip to Bolivia and beyond. She will be gone through the holidays so I got a present early.
It’s even signed! I love it.
We finished the evening at Salt Creek Grill, all the food was delicious!
We hit up a wine sale down in Point Loma this weekend. The sale prices were outstanding but I wasn’t blown away with most of the wines we tasted. I am sure it was just my palate having an off day.
After walking away with a few bottles of wine we walked across to the street to a little Italian spot for lunch. Old Venice is a part SD restaurant week, which as you know I love. It is the perfect way to try new restaurants, for $10, $20, $30 or $ 40 you can have a two or three course tasting menu. I had a pineapple -walnut salad followed by Cajun shrimp over black linguine, so good.
coloring at lunchNapkin on the head + Play dough is how I keep my toddler entertained.
We headed home with our bellies full so the little miss could take a nap and so Shane and Brian could start the wine making process. Yep that is right, Shane is attempting to make wine. Will it be drinkable is the question…
We enjoyed dinner outside since the weather has been perfect. Kaili has become smitten with ketchup, can you tell?
This is a super-easy art project to do with your toddler or preschooler. I advise you to prep the activity while your little one is busy doing something elsewhere.
What you will need:
Contact paper
Masking Tape
Pre cut paper in any shape you want
Stickers
Additional Item Ideas:
Tissue paper, string, card stock shapes and glitter (if you are brave)
Cut a piece of contact paper in any shape you want. This time I just cut a rectangle but next time I will cut out a Pumpkin shape for a Halloween theme project.
Carefully remove the paper backing from the contact paper. Tape the four corners of the contact paper ( sticky side up) to whatever workspace you are using. I chose the floor.
Then lay out all the items you want them to stick on the contact paper.
Demonstrate how to put the items onto the contact paper by doing it yourself. Then back away and let them create, and use positive reinforcement each time they successfully get an item to stick.
concentrating.
“Good job Kaili. I like how you put the sticker on there all by yourself.”
She seemed to enjoy this activity but in true toddler fashion it only lasted a short time. Then all hell broke loose…
the aftermath.
There are so many extensions to this activity, you can use it to fit any theme you want by just changing a few things. Here a some ideas.
Apple Theme- Cut the contact paper into an apple shape, or frame it with red construction paper in an apple shape. Have your child fill in the frame with cut up red tissue paper.
Valentines Day Theme- Cut the contact paper into a heart shape, or frame with pink construction paper in a heart shape. Have your child stick on heart shapes cut out of tissue paper or construction paper.
Shape Theme- Cut contact paper into a circle and have your child stick different shapes made out of foam, card stock and tissue paper.
Flower Theme- Cut contact paper into smaller flower shapes and have your child fill in the entire space with one color of tissue paper. Add on a green stem from construction paper. These would look great hung up in a window.
The Art of Thyming 