Friday, July 27, 2012

Bento Blogger Friends Olympics Blog Hop

We are at it again!  My Bento Blogging Friends and I are doing an Olympics Blog Hop in honor of the Olympics Opening Ceremony!

Here is my take on the Olympic Rings.  It's a pb & j sandwich the rings are Blue (fruit roll up), Black (Nori), Red, Yellow and Green are all bell pepper.  There is some cucumber and string cheese on international flag picks, 4 pepper salad with England flag pics and some pineapple chunks.

This is my take on the London Olympics Puzzle Pieces.  I printed the picture out on paper, cut it out then traced it on to cheese.  I used food safe markers to draw the rings and to write London.  All other components of the lunch are the same as above!

Click on the button below to hop over and see what Keeley is cooking up!



Friday, July 20, 2012

Squishy Baff

This is not my usual type of post.  I have never done a product review and to be honest, I have not been asked to review this product either!  I have seen advertisements for Squishy Baff in the past and I'll admit the little kid in me was intrigued.  I am after all just a kid at heart!  I had searched the internet and there are a number of places where you can order it.  I bought mine locally at Toys R Us.  It was $12.99 + tax for a box containing 2 packs of Squishy Baff (one color) and 2 packs of  "deactivator".  The "active ingredient" is the same powder that is found in disposable diapers Sodium Polyacrylate.  When you add water to it, it can absorb as much as 200-300 times it weight.  The deactivator is basically salt.  I had no desire to try this inside my house.  I pulled out the baby pool in the backyard.  The Squishy Baff is fully biodegradable. 
The directions said to use both packets of Squishy Baff for a small pool.  I only used one.  I started off with about an inch of water in the bottom of the pool then I sprinkled the Squishy Baff over it.  We just kept adding water here and there until it was a consistency the kids were happy with.

They didn't want it too watery so that they could mold and shape it.  At one point they were building "Goo Castles".

They played with this for HOURS.  Yes plural, HOURS. 

It was a really hot day and I'm not sure if there was some evaporating going on or what but from time to time we would just add a little more water and it would "revive" it.   The deactivator worked well.  I didn't leave it sitting for a very long time but most of the bath had liquified by the time I dumped it out.  For a couple of days there was a little bit of gelatinous mud where I dumped the pool.  It was not in an area of the yard that we frequent so it didn't pose any problems for us.  When the kids were done I did sit in a chair with my feet in the pool.  My skin felt a little dry where it had come into contact with the goo...my feet and hands.  Once I washed them with soap and water they were fine.   I rinsed the kids with the hose and they went swimming they had no complaints, rashes or anything of concern after coming into contact with it.  All in all I'd say it was money well spent.  The kids really enjoyed it.  It was a nice distraction on a hot day.  I still would never use it inside my house...I can see where it could be a messy nightmare!  Perfect for outside!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Day 249

I have to say, this summer is kicking my butt!  I had this crazy idea in my head that we would be relaxing around the pool and that I'd have all kinds of time to make beautiful lunches for the kids.  I have been a stay at home mom for 10 years now and I'm STILL waiting for the stay at home part to start!  M has been working an internship and her volunteer work at the hospital for a couple of weeks now.  I feel like I spend my entire day in the car driving her from one thing to the next.  Then the run around for the worker's permit, shopping for clothes for each place.  I am worn out!   Yesterday I took M to her job shadowing for her internship.  It is about a 30 minute drive from our house.  We had a playdate scheduled with some of D's friends at a zoo that is about a 20 minute drive from our house...of course in the opposite direction!  So anyway, I packed lunches for the zoo trip the night before, knowing I wouldn't have time in the morning!
I made 2 of these, absolutely the same to limit the fighting!  These were for D and A, they have ham/turkey "lunchables", fresh mozzarella, tomato, olive pics, under the pics is a teriyaki chicken tender in a lettuce leaf, watermelon and sliced plum.  The empty pink cup is for multi grain crackers.  I took the photo the night before and was afraid the crackers would get soggy in the fridge.

For myself I have ham/salami/cheddar "sushi", watermelon and strawberries.  I also had multi grain crackers.