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Food pyramid and chess king

Posted on January 30, 2010 10:26 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL,

Each morning this week, you would ask the same question when you woke up. Once we figured out the Disney World count down, you would head off to get ready for school. Luckily you were focused at school (I think) and worked hard to get your homework done. So proud when the 107% came back yesterday from your spelling test. You truly are a spelling whiz and we are not able to keep secrets with spelling around you anymore. At Chess Club, I was told that you are doing amazing. The teacher in charge said that you shock him with your knowledge and ability and will continue to excel.

You have also been studying the Food Pyramid at school as part of health education. Thanks to this, you have been telling us what you need from the pyramid each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It did not stop there. You also used the Food Pyramid as inspiration to build the following with JSL’s LEGO blocks.

Now, we just need to work on making you feel better before Disney. You have been complaining of a sore throat and had a low grade fever last night and this morning. Hoping this is nothing serious and you do not feel the need to share with the rest of the family.

Love,

Mommy

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Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday nhl photos play time school

New OxiClean Products

Posted on January 28, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As the mother of two little boys, I have seen my fair share of dirt, grime, food and other stains on clothing. There have been times that I have actually "retired" some clothing because things do not come out after using our normal strain removing tactics.

Last Friday, when NHL got home from school and took his coat off, I noticed something on his back. Check that, it was all over his back, and something else was on the sleeves. I asked him what had happened. He told me that they had Art class that day and had been painting. Ugh! Typically, I remember Art day and would not send him to school in a lighter colored outfit. I am the mother that sent her child to daycare years ago in menu coordinating outfits to try to hide stains the best. I asked how the paint got there, but only received shrugs. No doubt in my mind that NHL’s shirt was the project of another child in the class. *sigh*

Friday night, when NHL took off the shirt I sprayed it with our usual stain spray. This is one that can be left on for a while before washing. Sunday, I did the laundry. When I pulled it out of the wash, some of the paint was still there. Can you see fumes coming from my ears? Well, that is when I kicked myself. I had just received some new samples of OxiClean Max Force Pre-Treater Gel Stick and Oxi Clean Max Force Laundry Strain Fighter & Booster Power Paks. Ooops!

So, yesterday morning, I decided to try an experiment. Would the soon to be released (mid-February) products by OxiClean get rid of the paint that did not come out previously? Here are the before photos:

I opened up my pre-treater, read the directions and set to fight that stubborn stain. I really liked that when you pushed down, just the right amount of gel came out. The nubs on top were great for helping to rub the gel into the stain. Then I went to the basement to change from cold water to warm (instructions said that works best) and waited to see what happened. BTW – Another brain issue. I goofed and turned on the machine and forgot the Power Paks upstairs. Oy!

More about the new OxiClean Products:

This winter, OxiClean announced two new products to add to your stain-fighting arsenal: OxiClean Max Force Power Paks and the Max Force Gel Stick Pre-Treater. You can use the Power Paks to give any load of laundry – whites and colors both – a boost, without dealing with messy liquids or powders. The Gel Stick Pre-Treater works best on tough stains – even ones that set-in on clothes for a week! Just rub the gel into the fabric and let it sit for a few minutes before throwing it into a normal load of laundry.

Each of these new products contains OxiClean’s "4-in-1 stain fighting power" so whether grease, oil, blood, or dirt, appears on clothing, you know that dabbing with OxiClean will leave the garment looking new again after just one wash.

When I took NHL’s paint stained sweatshirt out of the wash, the stain had faded more. Much less noticeable, but still there. I can not fault OxiClean at all since the item had previously been washed and dried. Next time, we have another stain pop up I will be sure to use the Max Force Pre-Treater directly on the item and toss the Power Paks (now downstairs so I will not forget). I will update how that goes in my comments here.

I know one thing, we will be buying more OxiClean because I liked that there was not a harsh scent, it worked to reduce already set in stain and has worked well on carpet stains over the years. Oh, I will also be tossing the OxiClean Pre-Treater in a bag to go to Disney World with us. Quick and easy vacation stain fighting is what I am all about!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of OxiClean and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
messy photos Product review

Brotherly tickle attack

Posted on January 23, 2010 8:20 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL & JSL,

This week, the two of you have been amazing to watch. Sure you fight from time to time, but most of the time you have been great with each other. You will both pile onto NHL’s bed and read books together. Other times, you will go into your room and play with the train tracks. Several times, you both danced around in the living room listening to songs playing on Pandora Radio via the Roku Player. One of my favorite moments was captured Monday night. You were both ready for bed and jumped onto the couch. I was getting a new picture of JSL with Tigger. When he was done, NHL took it. The little guy was a little jealous of this. He decided to do a tickle attack on big brother. Since I was standing right there I took photos of the events.

I hope that the two of you keep having fun together. One day, I may need to show this to myself to remember the days when you did not fight.

Love,

Mommy

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brothers Dear Kid Saturday jsl laughs nhl photos

Cousins then and now

Posted on January 22, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

TechyDad and I are both the oldest of two families’ children. His sister has two little boys that are similar in age to our sons, yet we are not very close with them. They live a few hours away, but things are strained at best. My brother has a little girl that is only a few months younger than JSL. They are also about a month away from welcoming a little boy into their growing family. We live about five hours away from Uncle I and Aunt M, but the boys adore them. They talk about Cousin S and Baby Peanut all the time. When they are together, they play really well, even NHL who is almost four years older than the current little ones.

Hubby was not very close with his first cousins; a fact that makes me sad, especially when I see what is happening on one side with our boys. My family was very different. My mother’s brother and his family lived in our city. I babysat them when they were little and was my one cousin’s Secret Pal for years. Although I am not close with them anymore, I have wonderful memories from years gone by. My mother’s sister lived cross country. We did not see Cousin M and D often, but when we were older (and I was not a bratty little kid) we really clicked. I have fond memories of them spending time during the summer here with our Nana and Papa. My father’s sister moved back to this area when I was older. I babysat for Cousin A and J and got to be very close to them. It amazes me that they are college graduates and so grown up. My father’s brother lived relatively close over the years. Aunt A, Uncle J and H, H, B and Y would come here for Thanksgiving and Passover without fail. Those holidays were always special seeing everyone together.

As my boys are getting ready to welcome a new first cousin into the family, my question for this week is:

How many first cousins do you have and are you close to them? For those with children, how many first cousins do your kids have?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #83

Categories:
Aloha Friday cousins family jl looking back photos

Pilot light out for the count

Posted on January 21, 2010 10:32 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday evening, when JL got home from work, I went over to the thermostat. The boys were both going to have a bath, so I wanted to get the house warmer for them. Of course, all day I had been sitting and shivering in the house. A few of my Tweets mentioned that my hands were numb. Seeing that I have troubles with my hands from a car accident in middle school, I didn’t think anything of it.

At 7:00, both of the boys were ready to head into the tub. NHL was already in there and the little guy was perched on his Diego potty seat. I thought it was a little cold, so I went over to the thermostat. I did a double take. It was set at 65 and reading 62. This was not a good sign over an hour after I had turned it up.

I went into the basement to check on the furnace and could hear something, but had a feeling it was probably the hot water heater and not the heating system. I went upstairs and asked JL to head down to check and see if the pilot was lit. Hubby went down and confirmed that the pilot was not lit.

Hubby and I have no clue how to light our pilot. We will both admit that we are afraid to do it since it involves the natural gas. We called the power company and told them. They told us that someone would be at our house at one point. About 40 minutes later, the doorbell rang and it was two gentlemen from the power company.

JL went with them down to the basement. As time went by, I was getting very nervous. Nothing was working. They were not able to get the pilot to stay lit. Eventually, they said they suspected that the thermocouple was no good on our furnace and it needed to be replaced.

Please picture my face draining of all blood. I seriously was freaked out about no heat. Our house was down to 60 degrees (normally at 63) and the night low was going to be in the teens. We could pile blankets on us, or go to my parents, but the old pipes in our house were susceptible. What happened next is what will warrant a call to the power company. The one gentleman took the old part off to show JL. He then took the time to explain exactly how to hook it back up and start the pilot. He also warned hubby that the thermocouple is easy to break, so to handle and uncoil it carefully.

Everyone left while I went to put NHL to bed. He was upset since he knew we had no heat and worried. Still, he settled and went to sleep. As I was trying to chase the little guy to bed, JL called from Home Depot. The thermocouple we needed was on back order for three weeks now, but thankfully they found ONE in the store that had already been partially opened. Oy! Thanks to my friend L, I got the number to Lowes and had JL call there to see if they had any. Nada!

JL came home with the one and only thermocouple in the area and all of the pressure in the world. I sensed he was worried about something happening to the part. I went down to the basement to cheer him on. If he can build a computer and make it work, I knew he could go this. When I arrived, he already had most of it set. Finally it was time to light the pilot. It was lit and appeared to stay on. At this point JL turned the nob from pilot to on and WOOSH – we saw the blue flame on the pilot.

I swear this sight was amazing! The fear of a huge bill, bursting pipes and more left my mind. We went upstairs to monitor the thermostat. In less than an hour we were up to 66 degrees. We turned it back down at that point and called it a night. TechyDad – you are my hero. Thank you for working so hard under pressure to fix the problem and keeping us all safe, I love you.

Stay warm everyone!

P.S. An extra special thank you to J and her hubby P. They were willing to help over the phone with the heating issue (with e-mailed photos). So nice to have such great friends.