Busy Bee Madness

My family is going camping again this weekend which marks 3 weekends in a row!  Now I am a busy bee kinda mom, I can't sit still for too long with out stirring, my hubby says he can literally watch this process in action, and I have passed down this gotta keep busy type behavior to my kids, but I am wondering, is it too much?  I get a sense of personal guilt if my boys aren't doing something, I make a point of having my eldest enrolled in some sort of sports activity every season, we have taken a Disney vacation this year where we drove to Florida and stayed at the resort for a week and they have even participated in a Relay for Life to raise money for cancer. My hubby begs for a weekend of peace and quiet and even in those supposed 'calm weekends' I can create chaos, it all of a sudden turns to inviting friends for bbq or lets do yard work, let's take the kids to the park etc!  We literally have had 2 weekends thus far this summer where I hadn't gone out and made plans! I am an antsy girl who struggles with the thought of doing NOTHING!  I can wind down later at night once kids are in bed, but up until that point it's go, go , go!  Now I pride myself on my kids being very active, outdoorsy type kiddos, tv is minimum in the summer days, video games are non existent (they haven't caught on to that bug yet!) so my kids are dying to get outside by 10 am, many times we eat lunch on the deck and I am practically bribing them to get them in for dinner and bed.  I always thought this was a perfect life, and vowed when I had kids that I was going to be an involved mom that created memories with them but I am starting to wonder is it possible my kids are being too active? Is keeping them so busy making them over stimulated?

My Eldest swimming

Disney World 2012

Relay for Life 2012

Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

Ok my sister in law brings this recipe over for every family gathering and I gotta say, it never lasts everyone goes CRAZY for it!  So I finally got the recipe off of her and I thought "this is too good not to share' you can use tortilla chips or celery for dipping, so here it is:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 bottle of Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 bottle of chunky blue cheese salad dressing
1 8 oz. package of Philadelphia cream cheese
Tortilla chips and/or celery sticks

Boil chicken breast until cooked
Mix sauce ingredients thoroughly
Remove chicken breast, shred and combine with sauce mixture
Bake for 30 mins at 350 degrees or until bubbling
And Voila, you have a delicious dip :)

Great Read For You and Your Kids

Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom is a great read for kids preschool to kindergarten aged, it is easy for children to memorize with it's repetitive phrases and rhyming words like " chicka, chicka boom, boom will there be enough room?" It's great for teaching your kids all about the alphabet and it's a fun read for both kids and parents, it is written by Bill Martin Jr., the same man who wrote 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See', I highly recommend you grab this one on your next trip to the bookstore. :)

Green Bean Casserole on the Food Network

Green Bean Casserole on the Food Network

Fave Accessories For The Summer

I wanted to post some pics and write about my personal favourite accessories for the summer, accessories can be inexpensive and can dress up even an outfit that you've worn 20 times, which is what I love, because most of us can't afford to buy a new outfit for every event we attend, but if you have a variety of jewellery, hats, scarves, purses and belts you can transform that lil' black dress into something totally different.  I usually buy a lot of neutral outfits, that way they can transition through the seasons and I can save the big pops of color and print for my accessories.  My biggest tip when entering any store is hit the sale racks first, also keep your eyes out at second hand stores and yard sales, you never know, you could find a really great scarf, purse or belt for uber cheap! So a few things I am wearing a lot this summer are big beaded necklaces, big chunky rings, stacks of bangles, and scarves because they are so versatile and you can wear them in so many ways  (tip, don't know how to tie a scarf? Google how to tie a scarf and you can find about 10 different ways!)  I am loving animal print things like purses, shoes and scarves and on days I am not feeling up to doing a lot with my hair, I do a quick , messy side braid and throw on a fedora, and they look really really cute with a romper style dress.  All of these things can turn a casual outfit into a classy one and by switching up your accessories you can get many looks out of one outfit! :)

Large Beaded Necklaces

Big Chunky Rings

Belts Look Great Under Your Bust To Create an Empire Waist

Animal Print Purses and Fedora Hats

Animal Print Scarf

Love The Look of Stacked Bangles

50 Shades of a Modern Mommy

OK so after reading a blog post today by a woman who was talking about how random sex can be as parents and how when her lil' one went to grandma's for a few hours she automatically wanted to kick it into sex kitten mode only to find she needed a little mental inspiration!  Naturally she was functioning with her mommy brain and needed to shake that off to switch to sexy wife mode, now ANY mom knows sometimes this can be a bit of a challenge! So with this blog post and the 50 shades of Grey hype, I thought I would do a post myself about the challenges of finding the balance.

My hubby on a few occasions has made the remark that things weren't the same as they were pre-kids and the frequency has declined, mostly when our boys were younger, cause it's almost a guarantee with tots you even think about having sex and the cries come blaring through the monitor! Although I have found that with both my kids the 18 month marker has been the golden moment when you get a bit of normalcy back in your sex life, but it still is hard at times to transition, or basically tell your brain to shut up and enjoy! Let's be honest during playdoh, wiping up spills and play dates most of us aren't sitting around fantasizing about our next romp in the bed.  When I was younger I didn't have a brain overload thinking hours, days and weeks in advance, and with kids and parenting your a constant multi-tasker and just don't have as much time to sit around and fantasize.  I wish I could and I too have faced the same problem as the woman from this blog, you're in the bathroom dolling yourself up, your brain should only be on one thing and yet you are cursing yourself because you forgot to pick up milk, mentally planning the trip to the zoo you are taking on the weekend and trying to remember if you fed the kids gold fish!  It's a difficult balance and I don't think I will ever perfect it, but I try to keep my love life on the front burner, because if your sex life sucks there are really good chances everything else in the relationship will too!

But there seems to be a little light for relationships, everywhere, woman, especially mommies are devouring the trilogy 50 shades of Grey (I intend to start reading it this weekend), a erotic story of a wealthy man and a younger college student that graphically depicts their relationship together.  Now this is genius, because most of us love to read to unwind and rid our mind of the stresses of the day, so not only are we relaxing we are doing so with an erotic tale.  Some are calling this book 'mommy porn' but really isn't this what we needed, mainstream at least, a two in one deal, because I adore being a mom and I truly regard it as my biggest and best accomplishment, however it's nice to feel like a sexy woman once in a while and this tale is helping woman everywhere rediscover the goddess in themselves. From everything I have heard (and will soon know) I think this is a read that all woman should be picking up!