Winter Sandbox

One of my friends pinned this on Pinterest and I thought it would be a fun project for Harlie and I to do, since it sounded so easy (see: I DON'T CRAFT).  Also, I knew that I had some alphabet macaroni leftover from a bag that mom gave Harlie in her Easter basket, and I had read in the blog comments that some readers had used pasta instead of rice. So then after some google searching I came across this recipe that had a smaller yield. Colored ABC macaroni would be fun, but I only had a little bit so I decided to try both rice and macaroni!  They both worked great, and it was so easy.  Harlie ended up playing for close to an hour with the final product. I thought it would be good to document some of these fun and successful crafts on here, so I can revisit them on a rainy day.

***Reminder to self:  Do not leave play rice outside unattended....birds can eat it and die. Also, not to be ingested by humans either, as this recipe uses hand sanitizer (oh yum!).

You'll need rice (or macaroni), food coloring, rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer (an alternative I picked up from a blog comment, since I don't have rubbing alcohol handy), plastic bags, and a trusty assistant.

The original recipe called for 1 cup of rice per color, but I only had a about a cup of macaroni so I cut the recipe in half so I could use all 4 colors (2 of rice and 2 of macaroni)

Add 4-5 drops of food coloring and 1/2 Tbs of hand sanitizer to a plastic bag and then seal and squoosh around to get it mixed.

Add 1/2 cup of rice and then seal again and more squooshing.

Spread on baking sheet and then let dry (alcohol will evaporate so this only takes 30 min to an hour).

Once dry, dump the rice into a baking dish or large plastic container and let your kid let loose with some spoons, cups and bowls (or sand toys would work too, but probably with more rice).

It looks really pretty laid out all neatly, but it's even more fun once the colors mingle.

Pretty pretty rainbow!!!

Randomness

Gonna let the captions do the talking, because I am just plain lazy.

Harlie woke up one morning super early because she had kicked all her covers off and she was COLD.  She asked for socks and her beloved scarf from grandma and papa and then fell back asleep.  This is a photo of her before I had to wake her up to get ready for preschool. I love kids.

Harlie's hair is getting so long and it's kinda freaking me out.  I guess I'm mourning her little toddler bob.

Oh they are just the cutest ever. One on one cousin outings are the best!

So are trips to Costco. Costco makes me happy.

In an effort to thwart bedtime shenanigans, we started a bedtime behavior chart for Harlie and it's worked pretty well so far.  Harlie gets to provide input on what reward she will earn.  Her first reward - a pink cup.

She earned her 2nd reward yesterday but couldn't cash it in until today when her tummy felt better.  Hmmm, a pink ice cream cone, I think there may be a theme going on here.

Aust was happy he got to reap the rewards of Harlie's good behavior too!

It was Horsey's birthday, so Harlie threw him a birthday party. Nana Bear and Elmo were invited.  Geez, Harlie's room is a MESS!

Harlie's 3 Year Well Child Visit

A couple weeks ago I brought Harlie in to see Dr. Wang for her 3 year check-up and a flu shot.  It was 5 days before Christmas and I was super anxious about bringing her in for 3 reasons:

1. The germ-fest awaiting us in the waiting room as Harlie gnawed and pawed on the community toys.
2. I was sure that Harlie would either come down with a mild case of the flu right after her shot, or because her body would be busy fighting the flu virus that was injected into her, I was sure she would succumb to a different bug.
3. Harlie's fear of Dr. Wang in infancy began with a shot and so in the past year because she had made numerous visits to his office shot free, her and the doc had developed a relationship of sorts, where she would actually look at him without crumpling into the fetal position and crying and stand on the (oh so scary monster) scale voluntarily for his assistant. I just KNEW that this flu shot was going to reverse all progress and I'd have to drag her in kicking and screaming the next time she had an appt.

Well hallelujah, the heavens opened up, and a Christmas miracle happened. After a few minutes that she and Dr. Wang chatted about gymnastics and her favorite color, I lifted her up onto the table and with one quick "Where's Nemo?!" from the doc, the shot was given and Harlie wasn't the wiser. No cry, no grunt, nothing! Oh I was so happy. Harlie left the office with a smile and two(!) lollipops.

She is 34 lbs and in the 76th percentile for weight. She's leaned out a little bit since she had been holding on at 35 lbs for several months. She is also 39 inches tall and in the 85th percentile for height. This is another indication that she's starting to lose her baby fat (sniff), because since she was about a year, her height and weight percentiles have been about the same.

Showing our Christmas Spirit and New Beginnings

For all of 2011, minus two weeks in January, Scott and I were co-workers for BOE. Both of us being customer service representatives, we didn't spend much time together at work aside from sharing a few breaks and commuting to and fro. It worked out for the most part, because we could commiserate about our jobs, save gas by carpooling and both pick up Harlie from daycare together.

The job of a CSR is very un-glamorous. To be perfectly honest it is painfully monotonous, and when we're busy, it can be exhausting and crazy making. Time off the phones is a precious commodity. Lucky for us, during this holiday season, our call center manager organized a decorating contest and gave each team 2 hours off the phones to decorate and then we could also use whatever time between calls to plan and decorate as well.  Everyone really dove into the challenge and had fun with it...Scott's team, "Whoville" ended up in 2nd place and my team, "Candyland" landed in 3rd.

Now it has come time for me to fly the nest and settle a little closer to home so that one of us can be closer to Harlie, scoop her up earlier from daycare and start dinner at a decent hour, hopefully keeping bedtime from continuing to be a constant rushed and frustrating ordeal. On Tuesday I start my new job as an Office Technician for the Bureau of Automotive Repair, just 7 minutes from home. Yippee! Since Friday was my last day, Scott and I both left work at noon and headed to Casa Ramos for lunch and margaritas. The margaritas were great, the food-not so much (other locations are delicious, not sure what their problem is). The highlight of the afternoon though was heading over to the ice rink for some dweeby shenanigans.  Boy, were we the most un-cool people there, but we had fun!

I love this photo of Scott. <3

This was me the whole time, hunched over just trying to keep from falling. Cute. ;-)