15

Jun

Toddlers and Letters

 

Easy way to help toddlers practice letter writing.

1. With a highlighter, write a letter in a repeated pattern to fill half the page.

2. With a pen, fill the second half of the page with the same letter in the same repeated pattern.

3. Allow toddler to trace the highlighted letters with a pencil.

4. Allow toddler to trace the pen letters with highlighter.

My three year old loved this and it kept her busy. I continued verbally saying the correct way to write the letter while she was doing it. For example with the “M” I would say: “Down, pick up your pencil, down, up, down.”

 

 

3

Nov

Quick, Easy, Healthy, Vegan Banana Muffins

Quick, Easy, Healthy, Vegan Banana Muffins

17

Jan

Why Do You Make Homemade Baby Food?

Reasons why I have decided to create my own baby food rather than feed my daughter, Mika, store-bought food:

1. Bottled baby food is bottled, therefore, not fresh.

2. Store-bought baby food has additives that I don’t think are necessary for my child.

3. Why should I limit my child to only the few selections the store carries.

4. I want my daughter to be exposed to spices.

5. I am home with her so why not use some of my time to make food for her.

6. I put myself in my daughters shoes; would I want to eat processed food everyday?

7. It’s simple.

8. Transitioning into adult food will be easier because she will be used to the flavors that I eat.

9. It’s fun.

* Notice that I did not put “It’s less expensive” on my list.  Some items are cheap to make, however, that is not one of my reasons for making baby food.

11

Sep

City Cakes & Cafe

Website: http://www.citycakescafe.com/

Twitter: @citycakescafe

Facebook: City Cakes & Cafe

Today I meandered down to City Cakes & Cafe located on the corner of 900 south and 300 east in Salt Lake City.  I thought maybe it might be a great idea to do reviews on local places so this is my first.

Upon arrival I was a bit disappointed because there was no wheelchair ramp.  These days I always have a stroller so when I didn’t see a ramp I was a bit annoyed (isn’t it a law?).  I might have to invest in a stroller lock for these such encounters. The overall appearance is very nice and modern.  I love the cozy feel it has.

City Cakes & Cafe is a vegan friendly bakery and coffeehouse although I do believe they have traditional pastries as well. I ordered the chocolate dipped banana cupcake (for myself), tiramisu (for Liji), and a fresh grape-pear juice. The service wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad, it was just mediocre.

The juice: 5/5

The juice was amazing! It is hard to find fresh juice anywhere so I was very happy when I saw that they have fresh juice each day. Liji also loved the juice.  I plan on going back to have the fresh juice more often.  I wish that City Cakes & Cafe would use their twitter account to tweet the fresh juice of the day.

The cupcake: 3/5

The cupcake was really sweet. It was almost too sweet for my liking. I actually cut it in half and ate the second half the next day because it was so rich.  My favorite part of the cupcake was the frosting.  I hate butter-cream frosting, but since this is a vegan bakery the frosting was not butter-cream.  I am not sure what it was made of, but it was so delicious.  It was a vanilla frosting with a little chocolate ganache on top.

The tiramisu: 2/5 (from Liji)

Liji did not like the tiramisu much.  He said the coffee on it tasted burnt and he prefers tiramisu with lady fingers rather than cake.  I am not a tiramisu person, but I did have a couple bites and I really liked it.  I actually think the soaked cake tasted better than lady fingers.

Overall, City Cakes & Cafe was a great.  They also have a menu with savory items as well. I will go back and try some other items (I’m thinking the vegan mac & cheese).

22

Aug

I love being a mom more than I ever thought I would. Mika makes me a happy mama.