Fun with Playgrounds (and Photography)

Nothing says JOY like the face of a child at a playground.

Taken with my Canon Rebel XTi and Lensbaby Composer Pro lens.

By the way, I'd like to plug my photography blog over at http://overcaffeinatedsnapshots.wordpress.com. As I wrote over there, I've promised myself that in 2012, I would work on making myself a better photographer (and to have more fun with it). After receiving some new gear for Christmas, I'm having a blast! (And so is my son — he usually asks to see the LCD display on my camera each time I take a shot.)

Baking with Friends

My son loves to cook, pretend or otherwise. His toy foods and mini kitchen have been his favorite toys for almost two years now, and this past Christmas, we finally got him his own Easy Bake oven so that he could bake his own treats like mommy. (After picking him up from preschool a couple of weeks ago, one of the teachers asked me if we owned a restaurant. When I asked why, she mentioned that they noticed how enthusiastic my son is about play-cooking and serving food to the other kids.)

Today we played at a friend's house, and among other things, we let the boys help bake some brownies. They took turns pouring in ingredients and stirring — as someone who loves to cook and bake, it warms my heart to see how enthralled my son is about the craft.

If he ever wants to become a chef, I would be more than happy to send him to culinary school.

Disney AppMATes (my son's favorite Christmas gift)

This year's biggest hit seems to be the Disney Cars 2 AppMATes app & toy cars for the iPad. From what I saw in Toys R' Us, they sell sets with Lighting McQueen and Holley Shiftwell, Tow Mater and Finn McMissile, and Lightning McQueen individually. I got the set with Lightning and Holley right before Christmas for $19.99 and download the accompanying free app after my son opened up his gift. Let me just say that he absolutely LOVES it. He loves it so much that I can just threaten to give it back to Santa to get him to do what I want. (Just kidding! Well, sort of ...)

It's been over a week since Christmas and my son has gotten to try pretty much most of his presents. Thankfully, most have been hits with very few misses this year; it  sucks when you get them something and turns out they don't really care for it—what a waste of money, right?


In a nutshell, the child can use the toy cars to interact with the app. They place and move the toy cars on the surface of the iPad and "drive" around Radiator Springs, compete in races, and play various mini games. While the screen of my iPad is dirtier by the end of the day, I haven't noticed any damage caused by the toy cars. (Although I've had to occasionally warn my son to be more gentle, as he sometimes gets too excited and taps on the screen a tad too hard for my liking.)

So as a fairly tech-savvy adult, I find the whole idea fascinating—why didn't anyone think of this sooner?! But to a fairly tech-savvy four-year-old who loves all things Cars? It pretty much blew his mind and would probably spend all day playing if we let him.

You can download the app to try it out before buying the toy cars—it comes with built-in "paper" cars that the child can play around with. While my son did try these out, the experience of using a physical toy with the iPad is what he has really enjoyed.

Pros: Fun, innovative, has plenty of different mini games to play, free app.

Cons: The toy cars cost $15-$20, and they sometimes have trouble being recognized on the iPad.

Christmas Breakfast Inspiration

If someone were to ask me what are some things I could live without, the Internet would be mighty high up that list. From finding a video online to entertain my kid for a few minutes to looking something up on Google, I'd be lying horribly if I said I didn't rely on the Internet much.

One thing I use it for A LOT is cooking. I am always looking at recipes (or drooling over food porn). My latest success was making homemade cinnamon buns for Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve, my husband brought up something I totally forgot about: Christmas breakfast. (Granted, if you read my previous post, it will make things a little clearer as to why my brain wasn't working properly.) Growing up, my family didn't really have any Christmas Day traditions since we celebrated the night before, so I often rely on my husband to clue me in as to what family traditions he would like to continue. One of these is having freshly baked cinnamon buns for breakfast on Christmas morning.

I quickly looked online for recipes, and sure enough, there were some good choices on my favorite recipe site allrecipes.com. I settled on a recipe called Cinnamon Rolls II because A) it looked easy enough and B) I already had all the necessary ingredients. Now, the original recipe was designed for a bread machine, which I don't own. What I love about allrecipes is that the commenters and reviewers are actually helpful; in this case, a couple of reviewers gave some tips on how to make the rolls without a bread machine. I also had to ask, on Facebook, a question about prepping the dough the night before and baking it the next day. (See? I DO rely on the Internet a lot!)

Here they were, on Christmas morning, fresh out of the oven:

Finally, here they are coated with a basic sugar frosting:

These were so easy and yummy that I'm already planning on when I can make them again. (Specifically, with cream cheese frosting!) So THANK YOU, Internet, for helping my family continue this decadent Christmas tradition!

Christmas Eve Meltdowns

In a surprising turn of events, today's meltdown wasn't by my son. It was me. Yes, I admit I had a sudden emotional breakdown this Christmas Eve.

Why? To sum it up: it's been a rough year for me. Between serious marital issues, the everyday stress of raising a spirited young child, a miscarriage, the passing of my last remaining grandparent, and the usual holiday hoopla ... it apparently all came to a head after a brief conversation with my brother this morning, during which I got stressed about not really getting anything for my parents AND two nephews. After I hung up the phone, all I could do was put my head down on the table and burst into tears.

My son - my dear, beautiful, and caring child - immediately came to my side and asked what was the matter. "Mom? You sad? Why you cwying, mom? Mom? Why you cwying??" I've always been so proud of how easily he tunes in to other people's distress; he always notices when a baby is crying nearby, and it melts my heart when I see him try to comfort friends when they're crying. Recently, a friend of his had a little crying meltdown during a birthday party - my son knelt down next him and put an arm around him for comfort, then ran off to give him a tissue for his tears. Later that day, I told him how proud I was that he was being so nice to his friend when he was sad.

 Tonight, I made sure to tell him again how proud I am of him and how happy he made me. This morning, when I was having my own meltdown, the sincerity in his voice when he kept asking me why I was crying, and even the very simple act of running to the bathroom to get me tissues, was reason enough for me to snap out of my funk and appreciate the good things in my life.