Great Grape

Here is Isabel's latest culinary adventure:

Best tasting Grape Juice

1/2 cup of grape juice
1 splash of lime juice
2 squished up cocktail tomatoes

Stir it all up and drink. This will make your tummy feel better.

Crocs...what the heck are they anyway?

I own Crocs. I love Crocs. My daughter loves Crocs. And they are UGLY! Not even pretty in pink (see pic). Yet everytime I venture out with my daughter, she in her green crocs and me in my brown ones, we never fail to get questions and comments. "What are those shoes?" Crocs. "Are they comfy?" Yes. "Where can you buy them?" Ummm...anywhere?

Today, taking my daughter and her little girlfriend out for a walk with our dog, skipping happily along, all three of us in our Crocs, my daughter and her friend start chatting and all of a sudden burst into giggles watching the dog chase along behind them. "Mom!" Isabel laughs out. "Do you think they have Crocs for dogs?" That stops me for a second. "No, I don't," I reply. "But what a great idea!"

Isabel and her friend continue on the theme, "They'd need FOUR shoes, not TWO!" They delight and laugh. "She could wear FOUR colors!" "How would they stay on?"

"Well..." I call back, laughing between breaths, "I guess you could call them 'Croc-a-dogs.'"

American Idol, Grade One Style

Everyone and their mother loves American Idol. As a kid, I remember loving the way my hoarse voice sounded when I had a cold and grabbing a microphone and singing into a tape recorder for hours thinking I sounded like a rock star. Now that I'm all grown up, and still sing in the car (badly, thank you very much, but with passion!), I watch how my child and her friends play. Whenever she has a playdate, the first thing she and her friends do is rush into her room and change their clothes into "costumes". Then they put on Hannah Montana (the BIG fave among 7 year-olds right now), or Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney or High School Musical and they prepare a performance.

I, of course, am the audience. They, of course, are deadly serious, so I can smile, but not laugh. They LOVE American Idol and have perfected all their moves. Shifting the microphone from one hand to the other, fluttering their fingers on the mike to the beat of "Best of Both Worlds" and adding in a few hip-hop stylings that have a bit too much hip in their hip-hop. And they sing out loud, with passionate volume. Louder is better. Hitting the notes, not as important as the image. They'd never make it past the first set of American Idol auditions (actually, at 7 they wouldn't have the patience to stand in line for more than 3 minutes "how much longer, Mummy?" and "are we there yet? We've been waiting for a MILLION years!") but at 7, that is the coolest goal ever. To get up on stage and sing to an audience. But wait. I'll be writing about the talent show soon.

We got a dog!

After years of begging, the time was right. We did it. We found ourselves a lovely dog. Isabel wanted a teeny, tiny dog or a Great Dane. I needed a dog that I wouldn't be allergic to and hopefully not shed. My mother needed a dog that could be her walking companion every day. Enter Daisy. A bundle of squirming energy that we met at a pet rescue. She was about a year or a year and a half old and was labelled an Irish Wolfhound/Terrier mix. She had been cooped up in a kennel for about 6 months.

We looked at other dogs, but my mother started having dreams about Daisy. So, we got Daisy. She was about 45 pounds, sweet as could be, timid and we had no clue if she was even house-trained. But within a few days, it became clear that our little Daisy was quite smart, well-trained...and not too timid at all. In fact, my mother couldn't walk her, my daughter was afraid of her exuberence...and she shed hair all over the place.

By the end of the weekend, we knew she was ours. Daisy was a hungry little dog. In the past few months, she's put on muscle mass and about 20 pounds. She's possibly a labradoodle, but more lab than poodle. She's got a mind of her own, my mom still can't walk her, and Daisy's method of communicating is to jump all over us until we understand what she is trying to tell us. I love that dog like crazy. Last night, I watched my child, little Isabel, laughing and playing with Daisy, hiding under her comforter and trying to get the dog to lie down ON her. (My child is a bit like Daisy, too...) Peals of laughter, shrill dog barks, lots of licks and giggles. Yup. We got a dog.

Isabel's Recipe

Here is one of Isabel's favorite recipes that she created all by herself, so please try it!

1 Tbsp of Honey
1 Handful of Cheerios
1 Tbsp of Peanut Butter
1 Handful of Rice Crispies
20 Shakes of Sprinkles (chocolate or rainbow)

Put it in a small bowl or a big cup. Stir it all up with a spoon. Then eat a delicious dessert!