A Wordless Wednesday post that is actually virtually … WORDLESS! Miracles do happen….

Dandelions

The most shocking part is…. this photo was taken using my iPhone 4s.

I adore making applesauce, it’s simple and so yummy. Homemade applesauce is something that my kids adore. Some of them like it while it’s still warm, some of them prefer it after it’s cooled in the fridge awhile. Either way, there’s never any complaints and since I know exactly what’s going in it (all organic fruits and no sugar), I feel great about serving it.

This is a great twist on a simple favorite. By adding in rhubarb and strawberries kids are getting a great mix of tastes as well as added colors and vitamins! The rhubarb can tend to add a very tangy and almost sour-like flavor so feel free to add a little honey to sweeten it up (or other sweetener if you have a little one under age 1).

Strawberry Rhubarb Applesauce

Approximately 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

4-5 large apples
3 rhubarb stalks
1/2 pint strawberries
1/4 cup water

Instructions:

• Peel rhubarb and cut into small pieces.
• Core and peel apple and chop into small chunks.
• Remove stems from strawberries.
• Combine all ingredients into a pot and add water.
• Cook mixture over medium heat until boiling. Turn heat down and open cover just enough to allow a bit of steam to escape the pot.
• Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the you no longer see apple chunks, and sauce looks thick, approximately 30 minutes. Turn heat off when there is still a bit of water left in pot. Allow to cool and then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tips: 

You can use cranberries as a substitute for rhubarb in this recipe.
If you prefer a chunkier texture simply do not simmer the mixture as long.

Image Credit: © TeamCrucillo – Fotolia.com

Although I haven’t done any funny kid conversations or sayings lately, trust me it isn’t because they don’t happen on a daily basis. There are far too many times when we need to keep a straight face and deal with something calmly and seriously with them and simply have to leave the room to get composure because they make things far too amusing.

With Little Bug M, every day he has something to monologue about, this is absolutely NO exaggeration. The way that his monologues are delivered would set the best actor in the world to shame, it is quite entertaining.

Now, that’s not to say that Monkey E doesn’t have his fair share of moments that quite literally have us laughing until we cry. He says really big words at the most interesting times… but uses them completely how they should be used… it’s definitely made us stop and stare on several occasions.

The noses…

So… let’s first get this out of the way, since it’s obvious in the photo that both of them have the exact same scab in the exact same spot on their noses. You aren’t the first to notice, it’s been a source of great confusion and amusement at school, as the staff thought that only one had it and delivered him to the class they thought was his, only to discover they both had this nose thing.

But I digress…

You see, it is a trampoline burn {trampoline version of a rug burn}. I wasn’t watching the very moment it happened, there were several bigger boys out there and the three youngest were sitting nicely on the trampoline, so I decided to run inside and start making dinner.

The story, as all three of them tell it is that J-Man decided to tell both of the Twinkies that they needed to lick the trampoline. What on earth possessed either him to tell them to do it, or them to actually listen, truly is beyond all comprehension to me. But they did!

Somehow both fell forward at exactly the same time, in exactly the same way {I have to wonder if they weren’t nudged… just saying!} resulting in exactly the same nose thing. It’s one of the wonders of the universe, but there you have it.

Just your general run of the mill interactive morning breakfast table type conversation…

This is a conversation I wrote down recently. Apparently I came in toward the end of a breakfast time monologue given by Little Bug who isn’t always sure how he feels about being home every other Friday.

Bug: We can only watch baby shows on Fridays… but not Chicken Little because there’s an invasion and they don’t like invasions.

Me: Babies don’t like invasions… good to know.

Tater: Especially not when told by Chickens!

Stay tuned for more Crazy Kid Convos in the very near future!

I adore smoothies, they are simple, quick and not only refreshing but so very good for you. This week has been gorgeous in our area and has me feeling all summery so I wanted to feature this fabulous Sweet Citrus Smoothie with all of you.

Sweet Citrus Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 cups vanilla fat-free yogurt
2 medium bananas cut into chunks
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup orange juice

Instructions:

Place banana chunks and strawberries in blender. Blend on low until broken up. Add yogurt and orange juice. Continue blending on high until mixture is smooth. Serve immediately.

Yes, it really is that simple! Feel free to print out or save a pdf of this recipe by clicking the button.

Photo: from fotolia.com

This week begins the first weekly writing inspiration. If you are planning on joining in and want us to see your work, please feel free to leave a comment with a link to your post or with a bit of your writing. This week’s topic is Touching Moments… it will mean something different to every single person who sees that prompt. Write about one moment…what you feel, what moves you, why it moves you and how it moves you.

Atmospheric Change

The day was dark and dismal, much like any other day in our area but there was a sense of something to come, something bigger than ourselves, something unexpected. When the children returned from school that day, the feeling persisted… looming and keeping my clan of normally rather unruly boys oddly quiet and whispery.

As the thunder began to peal in the background complete with the eerie strikes of lightning, the quiet was palpable. The power went out soon after the storm began.

Since we live in an area where storms aren’t likely to be dangerous, children typically learn at a fairly early age not to fear thunder and lightning. There is definitely still a certain awe that permeates the air when such magnificent feats of nature display themselves for my children to experience, but not fear.

The littlest of my children still haven’t quite moved past the initial anxiety surrounding a storm, so sensing their unrest it isn’t uncommon to see the older ones buddy up with them to play a game, draw on paper or tell a story.

It is an amazing thing to witness from my perspective as mom… since they don’t normally interact a lot the older boys and the younger boys. This sense of comeraderie that seems to be felt from the teens remembering what it was like to be little themselves and feeling that fear again in the eyes of their little brothers.

Photo: © Leonid Tit – Fotolia.com

I can’t begin to recall how many times I have received a hand picked boquet of Dandelions that have been presented by a sweet little boy with the sweetest little smile on his face. My reaction to said boquet has always been… well… not so enthusiastic.

I detest Dandelions with all my being. I have all but shunned their very existence, especially when the nasty things are brought into my house. So when a sweet little boy delivers a bouquet of them, my immediate reaction is and always has been, “thank you sweetie, can we keep these outside though?”.

So when I got the adorable project featured to the right here, complete with Dandelion Poem. And I saw his adorable cuteness, holding a bouquet of the aforementioned detested weeds, I found myself taken back.

It didn’t just make me stop and think, it all but made me kick myself in the rear for all my mistreatment of those precious Dandelion bouquets. Suffice it to say, there were tears involved on my part, and a commitment made to never again shun said bouquets.

Dandelions

Guessing your favorite flower
Shouldn’t be all that hard.
I’ll bet they’re green and yellow
And grow all over the yard.

I only pick the special ones
Because they’re just for you.
They’re my way of saying thanks
For everything you do!

And even if these flowers
Only seem to last for a day,
The love that they are given with
Will always be there to stay.

For when it comes to picking
The mommy that’s the best,
In my precious little eyes
You stand out from all the rest!

In the hubbub of everyday life, and even days like Mother’s Day that are intended to celebrate us, it’s all to easy to lose sight of the little things that make it so special. I’m so very thankful for this reminder that came in such a simple and thoughtful gift.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Just a note… or two:

1. I do not know who to credit for writing this poem.
2. In an ever present attempt to find fun projects for the kiddos to do during the summer this one definitely stood out to me as a fun idea. It’s a simple one, where they can write out the poem and at the bottom there’s a little space for them to write their own note. Great for Preschoolers through about 3rd grade.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a very fun Spring Soiree put on by Cascade Ice and hosted at Mane Blow Dry Bar in Seattle. This was a very fun event and surprisingly educational.

Although I showed up at Mane being very familiar with Cascade Ice, I learned two things – Cascade Ice can be used to make very fun mixed drinks in addition to just being enjoyed as is… and what a blow dry bar is.

Cascade Ice

For those of you who may not be familiar with Cascade Ice, it is a flavored sparkling water with ZERO calories that’s also free of sugar, gluten, sodium and carbohydrates. It’s so very tasty!

What I loved was seeing first hand how simple and fun it is to make these flavored sparkling waters into very fun, yummy cocktails and mocktails for any occasion. You can even find great recipes on their blog - my favorites are the yummy lemonade recipes!

Mane Blow Dry Bar

Now it’s likely that if you live near any major city other than Seattle, you probably know what a blow dry bar is and wonder where on earth my head has been buried. Before you judge me too harshly, let me remind you that Seattle is a very wet and windy place… not somewhere that one typically expects a beautiful hairstyle to last so we tend not to put a ton of effort into it (we are not famous for casual Friday for no reason people, it was out of sheer necessity).

Even the owners of Mane Blow Dry Bar will admit that it was a new idea to introduce to the Seattle area, and that I’m not alone in my… ahem… need for an education on this particular style of service salon (so there!!). Regardless of all that, I’m sold! It’s the most amazing idea!

More Details

For all those Pacific Northwesterners who happen to be reading this (hi Mom!), Cascade Ice is available for purchase all over the Northwest, including Albertson’s, GFC, Fred Meyer and WinCo as well as online. For those of you who live in other parts of the country be sure to check out Cascade Ice’s website for locations to purchase.

Want to like or follow them? Here’s there details:

• Cascade Ice Facebook Fan Page
• Cascade Ice on Twitter
• Cascade Ice Blog

Thank you’s and Credits: A huge thanks to Cascade Ice for inviting me to the Spring Soiree, also thanks to Mane Blow Dry Bar for hosting the event and the amazing hairstyles we all were able to leave with. Photos are all courtesy of www.clanegessel.com (yep, I took my own but hey…I’m not in any of them lol).

Disclosure: As with all features, product and/or compensation was received in order to present this post. All opinions expressed are honest and exclusively those of the author. For our full disclosure policy please go here.

Mother’s Day is oh-so-close at hand! Many of us are either scrambling for last minute gifts or totally blanking on any ideas for what to get mom this year to make it special. Today, I’d like to share a little gift idea I created for the moms in my life.

The Gift

I love to create gift baskets and it’s something I do for nearly every gift I give, especially to my friends, sisters and the mothers in our lives. It simply never occurred to me to take photos of the gifts or the creation process. Here’s my Tea inspired Mother’s Day gift.

Here’s a little run down of what’s in it. The entire gift is just something that I thought up on-the-go. I start the shopping process usually with a general theme (or two similar ones) in mind and see if I can create something super affordable along those lines. Feel free to think outside the box.. in other words, new is NOT always better!

• Mug – though this isn’t a teacup (because my Mom has a lot of those, and we usually want something a little bigger to really enjoy a cup of tea) you can totally pick up beautiful teacups for next to nothing at thrift stores, garage sales and occasionally antique shops (though teacups usually way over-priced at the latter).
• Honey Stix – just because they are fun!
• Linen napkin – this one isn’t vintage, but again, you can easily grab antique napkins or tea towels, even embroidered ones at antique stores very very inexpensively (or thrift stores, etc).
• Pepperidge Farms’ Milano Raspberry Cookies (note: these are being used for more than one gift basket so they are individually packaged more on that later).
• Lorna Doone Shortbread cookies
• Tea Time Jar filled with loose tea sachets I made.
• All arranged in a fun round wooden box I found at a thrift store.

Here’s the finished product…

Tag created using Meredith Cardall’s Emma Kit

Here’s more details about the creation (and contents) of this homemade gift box…

Tea Bags

The most fun part for me is usually the tags and the tea…

The tea sachets were somewhat inspired by this article on Martha Stewart, but it is not practical and I would never do them this way again. The end result was less than fun and it was a painstaking process using cheesecloth.

The way I have always done it uses the tea bag filters you can get from tea shops (or coffee filters cut down a bit works absolutely great too), add a tablespoon or so of loose tea of your choice and gather it at the top. Cut about  a 6″ long string (embroidery floss, hemp string, you get the idea), tie the sachet off with one end, and add a tag to the loose end of the string. To attach the cute little tea tag I used glue dots (high tech I know!), but you can use mini staples if necessary (the tag tends to slip off that way though).

Keep in mind that you should use food grade/safe items, natural fibers and making sure you stick with filters that are made for food use is best. The tag will not be getting into their drink so I do not usually worry much about that part.

Graphics Credits: The teabag tag (above) and tea time jar label (below) were created using Studio Cappuccino’s Backyard Tweets background papers, the font is Pea Smashtastic in a Hurry and the template for the tags is the Hybrid Party Tag Templates by Scrapping with Liz.

The jar was made simply by filling with tea sachets, attaching a circle of burlap to the jar top with a glue dot (yep!), tying a bow with pretty ribbon and attaching with a glue dot, tying string around the jar to attach the tag. The jar tag was created using all those credited in the Teabag tag credits above.

For the cookies or other treats that I put into a gift, typically I package those a little prettier, but I ran out of time to really create something this time. Using simple parchment (baking) or even scrapbook paper you can create beautiful and simple cookie envelopes or folded packages. Add a pretty round label with a basic solid stamp or lettered initial and they are simply gorgeous…. but I’ll have to save that for another day .

Well… that about does it . Hope this inspires you to create your own fun, unique personalized gifts! If I left anything out or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment for me!

Here’s another post from the archives that I thought you might all enjoy today. As I look back on it, I remember the emotion that created the passion with which that post was written, but I love the fact that the message is as true today as it was then… for me, and for anyone else who needs to hear it.

A Matter of the Heart

(originally posted August 11, 2010)

The heart…

The heart begins beating less than a month after conception and continues (of course) until the day of our death. It is one of the most incredible muscles of the body and was perfectly designed.

It is what we refer to not only for it’s technical life giving aspect, but also in regards to relationships, love, feelings, and much more. I guess you could say that much of our lives rotate around the heart.

{Read the full Article here…}

On Wednesday I introduced all of you to the Stress Relief Toolkit by Darlene Berkel. The beauty of this toolkit is that it’s packed with information, but it’s not intended as something you just sit down and read. Here’s a little more information straight from Darlene about this great program.

Remember, you can find all of this information and much much more including testimonials from other women on the Stress Relief Toolkit’s website!

Program Set-up

This is a very enlightening program, which is designed to last 8 weeks.

Each week you are provided with a tool that helps relieve stress and you are shown how to incorporate it into your daily routine. In fact there is detailed information about the benefits of each tool in terms of health and mental well-being.

The duration of each session is just right. You have a week to implement the tool before moving on to the next one. Each session is accompanied by a worksheet which helps you to identify the stressors in your life and to create a plan for dealing with them effectively.

The weekly modules are very effective, and most moms find it really useful to take time out each week to reflect on what was causing them stress and to plan what they could do differently to improve their stress levels over the coming week.

Long-term value of this great educational tool

I’ve put together a comprehensive educational program to help moms cope with any anxieties
they could ever experience, by giving them the tools to respond to stress in a different way. The program also empowers moms and teaches them practical ways to minimize whatever triggers
their anxieties – whether it’s money, their love life, their mothers, their jobs, their health or the health of their loved ones, or anything else. It’s the type of product that a mom could pick up at any time in the future if she feels overwhelmed and need more inspiration for stress solutions.

That is long-term value at its best!

If you haven’t already, be sure to hop on over and enter to win one of 5 Toolkits we are offering as a giveaway here at A Frog In My Soup. Tuesday is the last day to enter so don’t wait! 

Toolkit Contents week-by-week

Want a little preview of what’s in the Toolkit? Well here you go!!

• Week 1: How To Live Life With Zero Regrets.
• Week 2: The Power of Laughter
• Week 3: How to Remove Toxic People From Your Life.
• Week 4: The Importance of Solitude
• Week 5: The Importance of Prayer.
• Week 6: Combating Depression & Anxiety
• Week 7: Transforming Stress Into Success
• Week 8: How to Achieve Lasting Stress Relief.