Bee Sting!

Today has been a really fun day. we went to a water park that ahad all kids of little kid slides and such (you had to be less than 4 feet tall to access the one area- had at least 10 slides!). There was also a dolfin show and you could walk right up to the dolfin tanks and watch them. I was getting some food when I heard Jeff frantically yelling to me from the lazy river. A bee had stung Lauren in the hand and he couldn't get the stinger out! The had to go along the lazy river a ways to get over by me and I jumped over the side to help them. Sure enough- the big fat stinger was still in there and I had to pull it out of her puffy little hand. Lucky for us, bee stings will not be added to her list of allergies- we were irresponsible and didnt even have benadryl along, whew!! Her hand got so big and fat and red, and she is still talking about it.  I feel bad for the little stinker, but she sure milked it. I had to rock her in my lap and hand feed her french fries and orange pop to make her feel better. :(

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta

Great trip so far! The weather, the beach, the condo, the food- everything has been fantastic. Lauren and I are sitting on the balcony eating cereal and enjoying the ocean. SHE LOVES THE OCEAN- cannot get enough of it. It is too cute, yesterday she didn't want to nap be ause she was too excited about getting back in the ocean. It was the first thing she talked about when she woke up.  This morning she woke up asking for "I wanna have some eggs please mama". Not sure where that come from- she has never had an egg in her life! We have known she was egg allergic since before she ever tried them. Maybe it was about easter eggs? Now, we are sitting watching the waves and she points out and says "Turn that off mom". She wants me to turn off the waves in the ocean...

Spring Splash

Vacation

Silly Girl

Mexico- would you worry?

I dont pay attention to the news- I am just too busy for that. But we are planning a trip to Puerto Vallarta again soon, and all of a sudden people are pointing out the dangers of travel to Mexico, even resort towns. Really? Should I be concerned? If you know me, you know that I of course wouldnt have a care in the world if it were just Jeff and I, but since the sweet petunia (Lauren) is coming with...
Anyone want to weigh in with some advice? I would never want to put Lauren at risk for anything at all.

Colorado Mammoth

Friday night was supposed to be our date night, but our babysitter fell through. It worked out though because we got tickets for the last home game of the Mammoth- our professional Lacrosse team in Denver. This is one of my favorite sports to watch, and Lauren is right there with me. We got to meet the Wild Bunch (hoochie dancers) and Lauren got a picture signed by each of the girls and it is taped to her wall. They were really sweet to her and she loved meeting them! Jeff was a dork and went to our seats to get food while Lauren and I went to meet the scantily-clad dance girls. What guy does that? Anyway- the whole game is high energy music and just plain loud. At the beggining of the game the Wild Bunch come out on the back of Harley's and there is a big show with music, lights and a lot of smoke. Lauren danced and danced and really loved it all. She was just in awe, and it was amazing to watch her take it all in.  Unfortunately the game started at 7pm and she usually is in bed by 7:30, so we planned to leave at half-time. It was really a big deal to get her to leave and I felt so bad taking her out of there. We didn't get her into bed until after 9pm, and I just couldn't imagine keeping her up much later than that. We took the light rail (train) down there and back, yet another fun adventure for a two-year-old. Sometimes I sit and think about Lauren's life and am just in awe- she has done more in her 2 years of life than I had by the time I went to college.  Lucky girl, I say...

Life is Chaos

A little behind on blogging.... we worked this weekend and I had to work extra on Saturday and will be working most of the week ahead as well. We are incredibly short staffed at work (Jeff's work too) and are both working a ton extra. Not exactly, my favorite thing but we are managing! We went to a professional Lacrosse game Friday night and Lauren had so much fun, I"ll try to share some pictures when I have more time. Tonight I have work to do for a lecture I am giving at the school of pharmacy on Tuesday, we are expecting guests and going up to the mountains this weekend for closing weekend at the resort- my brother is coming and some friends as well. Then I have to work monday (part of my vacation request was denied) and then heading out of the country on vacation early tuesday- CHAOS I tell you!! But mostly all good chaos- yet tiring none-the-less. To top it off Lauren and I both have a cold that we cannot shake. We are going to need that vacation!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies- egg and dairy free

Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Chip Cookie mix- This is terrific! The sugar cookie mix from this same brand is OK, but the chocolate chip cookie tastes so good. I went to Target last night to buy more and they no longer carry it- bummer. I am going to have to find it somewhere else or order it online. We are getting pretty good at this food allergy thing.... (which is a good thing because she has had food-allergy rashes on her face almost constantly the past week or so, not sure what she is reacting to- but she certainly hasn't been improving).

Remind me why we thought she needed a big girl bed????

Casa Bonita

So, we finally made it to Casa Bonita. It is sort of an icon restaurant in Denver and neither of us had ever been there.  We went with our friends Geoff and Trina and their 6 year old son Ben.  It is HUGE- there are palm trees and a cliff with a waterfall into a pool. There are also multiple arcade rooms and a ton of these little ride-on toys. There are also funny little shows, puppet shows and a pinata that the kids get to crack open. It is totally a family thing, and we had a blast. It is a bit loud and crouded, but Lauren was all about it. Here she is riding on a funny donkey with a mouth full of pinata candy. Her daddy won her a reindeer in one of the arcade games- not a bad night I would say.

Baking

I know I have posted many pictures of Lauren helping me bake- but I love the batter hanging off her nose... (The second one is the result of me asking her to smile.....)

She has her own sense of style

Quinoa

Lauren loves quinoa- it is a grain kind of like couscous, but it has a lot of protein and fiber in it. She loves it, and it makes me happy because I worry about her diet with all of her food allergies. Jeff and I like it too, although he never remembers what it is called. I buy Bob's RedMill organic quinoa at Costco, it is cheap and easy to make. I dont usually mix anything in it, although last night Lauren and I mixed it in with the frozen peas we were eating. Word of warning- it takes some major cleanup (like sweeping the whole house) if you feed this to a toddler, because it tends to make a mess. I had to post about this, because my friend Laurie posted a hilarious quinoa post a few weeks ago, and now everytime I cook it I have to laugh.

PlayDough Recipe

2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
2 cups water
2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons oil
add color

-mix in a pot medium heat on low until a ball.
-cool on counter slightly and knead.
-store tightly sealed in a zip-loc baggie

Spring Splash!

We actually have the weekend of Spring Splash off from work this year, and are planning to head up for the festivities. It is the closing weekend at Winter Park Resort, and it is a big party- complete with a ski jump into a pool of (freezing) water. Lauren looks like she is ready, doesn't she?

Van's French Toast Sticks

I have posted before about Van's egg and dairy free waffles, which Lauren loves. Well, they also make egg and dairy free french toast sticks that you can just pop in the toaster. They are really tasty and another great food allergy find.

Swimming by herself

Frosty makes her sassy

Last night we watched Frosty the Snowman as a family cuddled up on the couch. It is only 30 min movie and she loves the singing. Then we tried to put her to bed and she was terrible. I asked her if I should get rid of the Frosty movie because it makes her crabby to watch it. She said "yeah Frosty make me sassy, get rid of frosty, Nemo no make me sassy. I wanna watch Nemo"  Cracks me up! She woke up this morning and told me again to get rid of Frosty because it makes her sassy mouth. It cracks me up, but I guess I need to be more careful about what I say to her.

How to teach a toddler to ski....

1. Get a bunch of equipment and bundle her up.

2. Ride the bus to the resort.

3. Ride the wagon to the lifts.

4. Potty break (take off all of the equipement and manage to get it all back on).

5.Carry the heavily bundled child to the magic carpet area and put on her skis. How cute is that!?

6.Ride the magic carpet lift (fun!!)

7. Ride down the hill over a dozen times until daddy's back is about to give out. The weather turned windy and her cheeks started to get pretty rosy too. We were shocked that she made it so long and we had to ask her to go in!! She wanted to do jumps! She kept yelling fast, fast, fast or jump jump jump!! Everyone kept laughing at her because she would yell "SKI, SKI, SKI" the whole ride up the lift. What a good little sport.

8. Apres Ski! (Order a $4.00 soy hot cocoa at the gormet coffee stand- what the heck? She doesn't have to pay to ski until she is 5 years old). Forgot to take pictures, but the cocoa mustache was worth the 4 bucks!

9. Bus ride home...

10. Nap time!!

Big Girl Bed

Lauren in her toddler bed. She loves it, and it has been working out great. I realized I haven't posted pictures of her bed, and Jeff keeps telling people how she falls out of it. It is more like "working her way" out of the bed- feet first, then legs, then torso, etc. and she doesn't wake up- you can see that the bed is only a few inches from the ground and has rails at the top. So proud of my little petunia- she is growing up so fast!