Isn’t it so easy to doubt yourself as a parent?  I’ll be the first to admit that while I like to think we’re doing an okay job raising Kayla there are always moments when I question my parenting.  We all know that Thanksgiving is supposed to be about giving thanks for what you have and who you have in your life but sometimes it just doesn’t seem that way.

Sadly, when I think of Thanksgiving some of the things that enter my mind are:

-I better get to the grocery store early to avoid the long lines and the insane yam hoarders.
-Is the DVD player charged in case of excessive traffic?
-Can I really cook a turkey and not poison people?
-Do I need a mercury glass turkey for decor?  Are the people at Target conspiring to get my husband to divorce me by selling them?
-Is this holiday ever going to just be about our family and what we want to do to celebrate it?
-What would Martha do?
-I can’t believe that people still use cream of mushroom soup in this day and age (as I buy it anyway)

Don’t get me wrong, I associate Thanksgiving with a fun night filled with family and lots of “remember the time when?” but it’s all the build up and prep work that tends to cast those thoughts into the background and steal center stage.

The pre-Thanksgiving motions were just about to send me into a tailspin yesterday when I walked into Kayla’s classroom to pick her up and her teacher informed me that “your daughter is thankful for the entire East coast!” Huh?  She showed me the wall where each child had created a tree of the things they were thankful for.  Most of them had 2 or 3 leaves on them and were looking like Fall had really gotten to them. Kayla however had apparently run out of room but wanted to keep going.

So this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful that despite my and my husband’s mistakes along the way (which I am sure there are plenty of) it seems that if nothing else we have a child who is thankful for the truly important things in life!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!  If you’re traveling today or tomorrow be sure to buckle up.  Apparently it’s the law, even if you are a turkey…at least according to Kayla.

It’s true,  I’ve been holding out on you guys with this one.  We don’t have tons of Thanksgiving traditions in our family but one of them is this Rice Krispies turkey.  I can take exactly ZERO credit on this one because it’s something my mother has been making for about 20 years now but it was time to share this bird because I can say firsthand that kids and really really overgrown kids go absolutely nuts over it!

Just mix up unsalted butter, mini marshmallows (they melt more easily) and Rice Krispies just like you might for regular treats – super easy!

Where things get a little tricky is molding the turkey.  My mom always relied on wax paper to mold hers but (forgive me mom) I think it’s still too sticky to do it that way.  Instead my big secret is to dump the batch out on a piece of wax paper.  Then I take a little bit of unsalted butter, coat my hands with it and get to molding.

The most difficult part of creating this turkey is that it has to happen quickly.  I shape the base in a fat teardrop shape and put it on plate or in a roasting pan for effect.  Then I quickly mold some legs and wings also using the butter trick and smush them into the body of the turkey.  So long as you are working quickly they will stick.

 Finish it off with a couple of paper frills made from plain white copy paper and serve it up asking people if they want white meat or dark meat.   You’ll have a dessert that everyone will not only love but beg you to make next year….and don’t you want to be in charge of the dish that takes less than 15 minutes to make?  I thought so 🙂

If you’ve ever been the victim of a diaper blowout in the middle of the night, then you know how joyful it is to try to asses the mess, change your baby, remove soiled sheets and put new ones on.  All the while doing it without turning the lights on or losing your mind. The same thing goes for kids who are mid-pottytraining or recent diaper graduates.

I know some parents who layer things up by putting waterproof pads between multiple sets of sheets.  However this clever trick becomes less practical or even impossible to pull off when traveling and can’t bring a ton of spare sheets or won’t have a place to launder them.

Recently, after many months of going all night staying dry without an accident my husband exclaimed that Kayla NEVER has accidents and we’re so lucky because some of her little friends still do.  Of course that night Kayla had her first middle of the night bed wetting incident.

I’m fairly certain I was cursing him for opening his BIG mouth while changing sheets and reassuring an upset child at 2am. While I’m grateful that the bed wetting thing hasn’t become any kind of regular event it still has happened a couple more times over the course of the last few months.

This month we had a couple of trips planned, one back to New York to see my family and one to Palm Springs with my Mother In Law and I have to admit that I was nervous about our new potential middle of the night issue.  Last week I was shopping Walmart.com for some toddler toys to bring back to New York for my niece when by chance I came across these GoodNitesDisposable Bed Mats.  Since Kayla is now technically out of the diaper stage I no longer stroll the diaper aisle and probably never would have found these on a regular shopping trip.

What makes them so awesome? These disposable bed mats go right on top of the sheets your child sleeps on rather than below.  They catch any mess instantly and can be tossed in the trash without ruining the sheets.  Some very smart person over at Huggies also thought to put this great easy peel adhesive on them so they stay in place even if your child tosses and turns in their sleep like mine does.

Flying this holiday season with a baby or a child who is newly out of diapers? Most parents think to bring a spare change of clothes for their child, but what if the seat gets wet with several hours of flight time to go? I actually took one of the GoodNites Disposable Bed Mats and cut it to fit on the airplane seat Kayla would be occupying as a little insurance policy against accidents or leaking sippy cups due to cabin pressure.

We were lucky on our New York trip and went accident free.  Being curious to a fault and running a site called Mommy Testers, naturally I wanted to see how well the bed mats would absorb a big accident so I set one up in our guest bedroom and poured a whole glass of water on it.

The water got soaked right up and never leaked through to the sheets.  Where were these mats two years ago when we were facing leaky night diapers?  I would have used them on a regular basis without question!  Want a coupon for $2 off a 9 pack of the #HuggiesWalmart GoodNites Disposable Bed Mats (of course you do) you can find it right here.

Just so you know, I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Huggies. #HuggiesWalmart #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see is my own picky opinion and quite frankly, these are my new where-have-you-been-all-my-life product!

Strangely, the most accurate piece of parenting wisdom I have ever received came from a complete stranger waiting in the security line on one of my many trips with Kayla.  She was being pretty fussy as I tried to separate our liquids, take off my shoes an put our electronics in a separate bin.  He said “the days are long, but the years are short.”  My goodness that is SO true!  That simple sentence has stuck with me for at least a couple of years now.

Recently I was ushering Kayla out the door to preschool while thinking about all the work I had to get done, the laundry and packing for our trip that needed to happen as well as the things I still needed to get done for a little girls night in spa party I was planning to have.  I had also completely forgotten that I had volunteered myself to cook for a party at Kayla’s school the next day until that moment when Kayla said something.

I didn’t hear her the first time because I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts, so I asked her to repeat herself.  A reflective question came from the back seat.  “Mommy are you not listening because we are in a rush again?” My heart sank.  I immediately thought of the man from the security line.

I hear all too frequently about how people wish they could go back in time and savor more moments with their children and I’ve always vowed not to be one of those parents who is too busy checking their email to actually pay attention to their child.

So, I did a few things I normally wouldn’t have.  First I bought some pre-cooked things for Kayla’s school rather than toiling in the kitchen all evening.  Next I vowed to not touch my phone while with Kayla for the next 24 hours and actually stuck to it.  Lastly I did the unthinkable and contacted my friends to cancel the girl’s spa night I was planning to host with the promise of a girls dinner out (on me) the following week.

Then I started thinking about an extra fun, unplugged activity I could do with Kayla that wasn’t about learning letters, accomplishing household chores or anything else but focusing on just being silly girls together and hearing what she had to say.  Kayla, being the polar opposite of me loves herself a trip to the nail salon so I decided to plow ahead with the spa night idea but instead make it all about us.  While she was at swim class with her dad I headed off to Sam’s Club to pick up some supplies.

The only things that Kayla likes more than getting her nails painted are hot chocolate, cupcakes and Christmas, so I knew I had to include those in our special day together. While I was shopping  I found some great spa day items including pampering spa kits, this NIVEA lotion, some snowman marshmallows and the holy grail – hot chocolate cupcake mix!

Kayla woke up insanely early the next day and wanted to wear a very dressy holiday dress from last year and I said okay….pick your battles, right? Then we went shopping in our living room  for spa day supplies as the sun came up and got to work baking cupcakes.  I surprised her with some special snowman hot chocolate instead of her usual milk or water choices.

The night before I had set everything up amidst some holiday decor from years past to make it feel special for Kayla and let her choose what she wanted to do.  All she wanted was to have her feet soaked so I poured some of the salts into a bowl and added a touch of cinnamon to make it smell extra yummy.

This might look fancy, but between Sam’s Club and Walmart I grabbed some great affordable essentials that you could use for an at home spa with kids and adults.  I found some spa kits with slippers, pumice stones and nail brushes for just $5 each in the gift section.  The NIVEA from Sam’s club is a great value at less than $9 for 2 huge bottles.  Those sea salts that are front and center were staring at me from the Walmart dollar section as I cruised past it and did a double take.

While we were soaking those little feet we chatted like two girls at the salon.  Kayla told me about her friends at school, how she is excited to move up the next class and be with the big kids soon and how it bothers her that our dog keeps taking her stuffed animals.  I  told her about our upcoming trip to Palm Springs to spend time with her Nana, how this year we would have Thanksgiving at our house and I would love her help cooking and that I missed having special alone time with her the last couple weeks.

When I rolled up Kayla’s leggings to soak those tiny toes I realized just how dry and scaly her little legs had become with the sudden arrival of Winter.  She was all too excited to rub “grown up lotion” on her legs and while we did it together and kept talking and asking each other questions I felt my mommy guilt begin to melt away.

Of course Kayla went overboard and took way too much of the NIVEA lotion , but those giant bottles left us plenty to spare and I didn’t mind at all.  The lotion left her skin smooth and soaked in pretty quickly which was a good thing because we’d been having such a good time hanging out that I knew we’d be getting to preschool on the later side.   However, I wasn’t about to rush this special #NIVEAMoments moment with my daughter who just might be my one and only.

When I went to pick Kayla up from school that day her teacher told me she would not stop proudly telling her how she had “cinnamon feet.” After school Kayla said she wanted to continue our spa day, so that evening once she had a bath we sat down as “mommy reindeer” and “baby reindeer.” First Kayla wanted to put lotion on my arms, which she applied quite liberally again!

Then it was my turn to give Kayla a special manicure with our favorite kid-friendly nail polish, Piggy Paint.  She requested pink with purple sparkles and I was more than happy to deliver on that.  After Kayla went to sleep I sat down to reflect on the day and realized that there had not been any whining, disagreements or threats of a time out.

It really made me take a step back and think about my daily interactions with her and what my priorities are.  Obviously it’s unrealistic for every moment together to be like the ones we had during our spa day, but I bet it is realistic for me to make sure we have more special days like that and to make a better effort as a parent to take advantage of our time together on a daily basis.

Have you had a wake up call like this before?  What’s your way of spending special  time with your kids?  If you’d like to see how some of my peers get some special moments with NIVEA you can here.

Just so you know, I am a member of the Collective BiasTM Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective BiasTM and Beiersdorf for NIVEA. #NIVEAmoments #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see is my personal opinion and I’m so glad Kayla and I were able to have a few more special moments together!

Last week I told you how Kayla and I were working with Champions For Kids to donate light bulbs and food to a worthy cause.  We were headed to New York for some family time with grandparents and I couldn’t help but feel as though we needed to do more to help out there after Hurricane Sandy.  

What wound up happening is our donation evolved into donating food and supplies not to give to the children they serve there, but to actually have the children assemble into holiday donation baskets to be distributed to others in need.  What I loved so much about this idea is that while still very simple, our donation would help these children understand what it feels like to give to others and hopefully instill a love of giving for many years to come.

As you might know by now, giving to those who just need a little help is extremely important to me as an individual and as a parent.  Kayla is still very young and while sharing with peers on a daily basis can be a challenge sometimes all of the talk about giving to those in need is really starting to register with her.

Generally speaking I shop alone so I actually go home with the things we need.  However, I wanted to re-create the feel of shopping for things to donate so Kayla could experience it and we could talk about what we were doing and why.  I set up a little store in our living room with all of the donation items and let her go around putting them into the cart.  Because there were no distractions like there would be in a real store I was able to focus on Kayla and the topic of giving rather than what I was choosing off the shelves.

Our conversation also naturally flowed into talking about how we could save energy and money and then use that money to buy food and clothes to give to other people who needed it.  It was actually the perfect scenario to have a preschool explanation of the GE Energy Smart Challenge.

In my experience, once you find yourself in a giving mode you realize how wonderful it feels to give back in any way you can.  Our Champions for Kids SIMPLE Service Project really launched me into the spirit of giving for the holiday season and reminded me that it was time for our family to sign up to help a child during the holiday season.

In the end we wound up coming back to New York with an entire giant suitcase filled with our original donation items as well as a whole bunch of Winter clothes and a few “older kid” toys for the child we will be giving to this year.

Have you checked out the GE Challenge and entered a school, classroom or charity you know to win one of many $100 Walmart gift cards to help them serve children better?  It’s incredibly fast and easy to do.  I just entered Big Brothers Big Sisters of Westchester County in the hopes that if they win that extra money can go toward those holiday food donation baskets the kids will be making to help make the season brighter for others in need.

How will you give back this year?  Do you have a special family tradition that revolves around helping others?  If you do complete a #GELightingCFK SIMPLE Service Project (which are so easy anyone can do them) be sure to report it to Champions For Kids so they know that you are one of 20 million people they hope to encourage to make a difference for children all over the USA.

Just so you know, as part of my partnership with GE, I received coupons for my GE light bulbs.  All opinions posted about my GE Lighting experience are my own. I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ Champions for Kids andGE Lighting #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see here is my personal and picky opinion.

There are so many pieces of baby gear that are quickly outgrown and then either given away or left to collect dust but your diaper caddy doesn’t have to be one of them.  What feels like a million years ago I told you how my mommy friends and I loved our diaper caddies and in particular this one from JJ Cole.  

While your child is a baby it functions as a great organizer for travel and an indispensable changing station in the trunk of your car.  When Kayla was a baby we used ours daily and I can’t even count how many trips to grandma’s I got out of it.  It comes with a fold up changing pad so it really is an all in one station.

When Kayla (finally) gave up diapers and found her love for art I just filled it with art supplies and now we have a little go-to art station for her.

Of all the baby items we had, 4 years later I think this is the very last one standing in our home and I don’t foresee it leaving anytime soon.  That is except on a trip to grandma’s where it can function as a traveling art station.  Pretty neat, right?

Do you have any ideas of what else you could repurpose this for?  I would love to hear them!