National Babywearing Week Oct 8-14

March babywearing at Knott's Berry Farm.

As you may know I am a big fan of babywearing.  I've found it especially helpful and important with baby #2 as I need my hands free!  Also because it's a way to spend more quality close time with baby-girl even if I'm dual tasking.

August in Zion National Park.

Baby-girl is almost 15 months and her independence has meant we wear less than when she was younger.  I no longer need to wear her at home while making dinner, doing the laundry or to get her to sleep.  However, I still wear her all-the-time when we're out doing errands.  It is MUCH easier to shop with her on my front rather than in a germ-ridden grocery cart (although I do put her in there sometimes).  When we've traveled in the last year I've found it especially helpful during hikes and walks.  I wore her all over Zion National Park for example.  

This week is National Babywearing Week.  So wear your babies or support friends and family that do!

For more on why I babywear look here.

(semi) Wordless Wednesday - Backyard Play

Here in the AZ desert we have reverse seasons.  We play outside in the fall-winter-early spring and play inside in the spring-summer.  It takes a bit of getting used to if you're not from around here, but there are definite benefits.

Now that the temperatures are starting to drop into the 90's and (gasp) maybe soon the 80's we've just started outdoor play.  Meeting friends at the park instead of the pool, riding bikes and opening up the play house for the girls.

This was baby-girl's first time in the playhouse since she wasn't walking (or old enough) last spring before it became a sauna in there.  The other morning we went out while the girls were still in their pj's. 

She had the best time exploring the kitchen in the playhouse.  She is very much into kitchens (and baby dolls) right now so this was a fun surprise for her that we had one outside.

It is a fun space for the kids and I think big-sister likes having someone else to play with.  For once she wasn't asking me to go in there.

When it got too hot (it's still in the 90's after all) we went back inside got dressed and she rode a cow.  You know, a typical day around here. :)

Happy Wednesday!

To see more photos of the girl's playhouse look here.

Super Food Glowing Green Smoothie Recipe

I have very specific preferences for breakfast foods.  I've always been this way, not sure why.  For example, I am not a cold-pizza-for-breakfast kind of girl.  I can barely even stomach eggs before 10am.  I pretty much only eat cereal, granola bars, fruit, pancakes or waffles.  However, for the most part these aren't exactly the best way to start the day.  So when my BFF offered to bring me a Green Smoothie the other morning I was willing to give it a try.

The smoothie is called the Glowing Green Smoothie and that is an appropriate name.  This drink was a bright glowing green!  It was cold and a bit icy and very healthy tasting.  Not unpleasant, just healthy.  It tasted even healthier once she informed me of the ingredients.  Then all I could taste was the romaine and celery, ha!  I drank the entire thing and I must say I felt a lot better than I do after my usual iced-coffee/granola bar combo.  I may tweak some of the ingredients a bit but I plan on trying to add (healthy) smoothies to my morning routine soon!

Glowing Green Smoothie (from The Beauty Detox Solution by Kimberly Snyder)

Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups water
1 head organic romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 head large bunch or 3/4 small bunch organic spinach
3-4 stalks of celery
1 organic apple, cored & chopped
1 organic pear, cored & chopped
1 organic banana
Juice of 1/2 organic lemon
*Optional:
1/3 bunch organic cilantro (stems ok)
1/3 bunch organic parsley (stems ok)

Directions
1. Add the water and chopped head of romaine and spinach to the blender. Starting the blender on a low speed, mix until smooth. Gradually moving to higher speeds, add the celery, apple & pear.
2. Add the cilantro & parsley if you choose. Add the banana and lemon juice last.

The Glowing Green Smoothie is best when cold. It also shouldn't be chunky at all, but nice & smooth. It keeps ok covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.   You can substitute out the apple or pear for in-season fruit such as pineapple, mango, plum or peach.  Berries are another option but when mixed with the green veggies they will turn the smoothie an unappetizing brown.

Tip: Make the entire batch and freeze individual portions in mason jars (oh-so-trendy and easy right now).  Then the night before you take out a jar and keep in in the refrigerator.  By the morning it is just right!  My friend makes a big batch of 3 blender fulls.  This fills up her freezer for the whole week!

Thanks to my BFF Anne for the smoothie, recipe and tips!

Chain Gang Sighting

I live in the Wild West (aka Phoenix) and we often see an unusual sight around our neighborhood and community.  Chain Gangs.  No, they aren't actors, they're the real deal.  Here in Phoenix our Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made many interesting changes to the criminal system in order to reduce crime.  One being inmates wearing black and white striped uniforms.  Another being a huge tent-city jail out in the desert where inmates live in tents that get up to 140 degrees in the summer.  He  reduced their meals to 2x a day, took away coffee (the horror!) porn and tv (except rated G and the weather channel) and makes the men wear pink underwear.  And finally the chain gang.  

The inmates are chained together on the sides of the road doing odd jobs, usually picking up trash.  There are gun holding officers standing close by and looking threatening.  They also bring a port-a-potty that is towed behind the jail bus.  It makes quite a sight!  This photo was taken by a neighbor this morning, we saw the same crew on our way to run errands.

My inquisitive almost 5-yr-old has many questions as you can imagine.  She usually likes to guess why they are in jail.  Today's guess was that they stole dog food.  

Sheriff Arpaio has been in office for almost 20 years.  I haven't lived here that long but from what I can tell you either love him or hate him.  He seems to keep getting re-elected so I guess the majority must love him.  He's up for re-election next month and I'll leave you with one of the slogans I saw on a big campaign sign recently.

"Been robbed?  No?  Then vote to re-elect Joe Arpaio"

Ha!

Crockpot Tortellini Minestrone Soup

I found this crockpot recipe on my friend Kymm's blog.  With the temperatures dropping down into the low 90's (ha!) it seemed like a good time to start with the crockpot soups.

This lovely recipe called for zucchini, beans (I used white tepary beans from our CSA) and a few other veggies.  You can use either frozen or dried tortellini, I used the multicolored dried cheese tortellini from Trader Joe's.  Of course we topped ours with shredded Parmesan.

I love doing anything in the crockpot so this recipe was already destined to be a winner!

If you want to try Tortellini Minestrone go here for the recipe.