Magic in the batter: 3 ingredients to a yummy breakfast

With limited ingredients and an appetite for pancakes I hit the web for some ideas and ran into Paleo pancakes. This recipe only uses 3 ingredients! Bananas, eggs, and cinnamon; we added m&m’s to ours just cause I have to get rid of them.

Mika loved helping me break the eggs and mix the “batter” almost as much as she loved the taste of her creation!

On a side note:

with hair as curly as our little Zombie has it's often difficult to keep it untangled for more than a day-and-a-half (really though!) So I decided before going to bed I would try a braid-out and see how it held up. I LOVED IT! It was as simple as undoing the braids, shaking the roots and viola! A chic, voluminous summer style for our precious Zombie toddler.

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Just a couple of twenty-year olds for a day

In an attempt to bring some normalcy to the craziness in our life, hubs and I took a day to reconnect without the baby; and ride all the roller coasters at Bush Gardens, Orlando. Unfortunately the one ride we left for last (Kwazi) is now closed down! This ride was all wood and has been there for years. making a wooden coaster in Florida should've been better thought out; every morning the engineers had to replace a piece of wood until it was finally decided it was getting too expensive. Now the question is what addition will they make next! I will keep you all posted. It was a day well spent, and although maybe now it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere. I'm sure looking back it was a baby step towards a better foundation in our relationship.

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Father's Day 2015: Loving the heaven sent chaos

This year for father's day hub's decided to switch things up a bit and take us on a hike to Split Oak Forest; thankfully we waited till 4:00 when the sun wasn't directly overhead- Enter summer in Florida.

After driving 15 minutes back and forth between campground sites, getting mugged by a white frog, and crashing a maternity photo-shoot we eventually found our trail. The path isn't exactly easy to follow and don't worry about picking up a map at the entrance as IT WILL NOT help in any way shape or form. I was far more successful using my natural wilderness instincts.

Mika's favorite part was the Bambi(s) we saw during our drive out of the park.

Bambi Dialogue: "Oh, hey guys, don't mind us we're just eating grass and stuff while you're parked 100 feet away from us squealing your heads off like you don't see at least one of my kin every other day!"

YEAH! Beautiful, elegant, ethereal and sarcastic, who would've known these animals could be so fiesty?! At one point a teenage deer and I had a staring contest; when it's furry tail started swishing fast I swore it was going to stampede towards my car in a fury.

The heat called for something that would give you a brain freeze so to the Froyo Shop it was!

I hope you all had a marvelous father's day with your loved ones. Don't take being a parent for granted. It's the best kind of chaos there could ever be!

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Unexpected Treasure Found in Youtube

I don't know how many of you like going to the dentist but I, for one do not. I hate it. There is no time in my schedule that can be cleared to pencil in a visit to the nearest dental office. I'm just far too busy.

For the last few weeks I have spent every 3-4 hours dosing up on pain medications due to a wisdom tooth that's halfway gone and a moral that's in desperate need of a root-canal right beside it. The pain is so sharp it numbs half of my face; my ears ring with torture, my face burns as though I have a fever and my eye nerves twitch uncontrollably.

So we know a visit to the dentist is out and WebMD is no help, next stop: YOUTUBE! I found some great videos on how to overcome tooth decay and prevent cavities all-together! The process is called mineralizing your teeth. The truth is many of the tactics we're given actually weaken our oral hygiene. I won't bore you with specifics on the topic as I'm not fully specialized in this so instead I'll give you all the link here There's tons of other videos but this one will at least get you started. It's natural and will save you a ton of money and time!

With my new-found knowledge and pain medications going into effect, what better way to spend the afternoon than lay around with your equally sleepy toddler.... even God rested on the 7th day. Clearly Sundays were made for naps!

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A Feel Good Burger Romance

This past week has been insane, and finding a moment that has not already been compromised has been tough. But tonight, in honor of the very patriotic burger, we made a trip to “Junior’s Colombian Burger”. I have been hesitant to try it out as my friends have for years hyped about this place; but boy am I glad I finally made the jump! The up’s: Their sauce options! Their chipotle and Zizu sauce (secret recipe of garlicy goodness) are a must try! The burger is not only HUGE but it has potato chips and a slightly sweet pineapple sauce.

The downside is it can get messy and the lettuce and bun do get soggy which hubs wasn’t thrilled about. Overall it was a great experience, nice ambiance and certainly a burger joint I’m looking forward to trying out once again!

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Fine China: Night at the Lantern Fest

“Zoominations” is Lowry Park Zoo’s nighttime Chinese Latern festival. This was perfect Monday night play-date for our little Padwan and Zombie as the colors kept them amazed.

We got there pretty early and got to see the lanterns during sunset and later when it was fully dark out. The lights are beautiful but the park is pretty small as most animals have been put away for the day. A few pretty neat ones that we did get to see were the Indian Rhino and the Clouded leopard!

The zoo also offers two show times for the Chinese Acrobats acts at 7:00 and 9:00 pm. Hubs and our special guest Jeff got the opportunity to be a part of the show honorary circus entertainers; minus the rainbow afro. BEWARE: At-the-door prices are far higher than I would pay BUT lucky for us there’s a Groupon which gets two people in for $25.00!

While I'm sure most parents would prefer to make this a weekend trip; we like a little adventure and went for mini-road trip on a Monday night! Packed with play-mates, ice cream, lights, and animals. What’s not to love about this budget-friendly option to get the kids away from the mundane for an night!

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Just the RIGHT Amount of Edge

Since finding out I was pregnant 3 years ago I knew Homeschooling was the ONLY option for us. I work full time but I’m on the road literally every 2 months (work hard play hard, right?) I knew we’d have to make some drastic changes to our lifestyle if we chose to enter Zombie into the public or private school system. I wanted my daughter to view learning as an everyday experience not reading out of a textbook for an hour per subject. I wanted her to learn without realizing it was happening because honestly, living IS learning. I don’t want her to read about the Great Barrier Reef, I want her to scuba dive through it and experience it for herself and let curiosity be her teacher.

So BOOM you make this huge decision which by the way is the ultimate burden on your conscious and you start to question your capacity to teach this little human all they need to know to be successful in the “real world” So now where do you start?!

There are hundreds of thousands of curriculums out there to choose from, plenty of activities to keep you busy and more than just a handful of blogs to read up on the various homeschool topics. Yet with all the resources available to homeschool parents via the internet and public libraries why is it I still feel so alone and vulnerable? How will you ever know if you’re doing it right?

It’s scary how all we want as young parents is to be unique and fun and have just the right amount of edge to a life that is always in danger of becoming mundane and when you get it, the power is almost more than you can handle.

So in an act of desperation I ask, are there any parents that would be willing to meet-and-greet with this amateur homeschool mommy? I’m willing to fervently take notes on the tips and best practices you share and I’ll forever be in your debt.

Signed,

An anxious Wanderlust Momma

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“Mami, Tu ta arriba- O tu ta bajo?”

I miss the stories you’d tell of the days when frizzy curly haired children running around a big house in Little Havana as you screamed around the house in red lipstick and high-waist shorts.

Every little gesture, annoying voicemail, and expensive taste in mother’s day presents each year makes this first year without you the hardest. Your smile that shone like sunlight through the delicate peonies petals is our wake up alarm in the morning, pushing us to be the people who you always wanted us to be. We miss you each day more than the last and on behalf of your favorite Princesses and little Prince, Happy Mother’s Day Mami.

We miss you each day more than the less, and although no amount of tears or anger can bring you back, So this time I’ll just remind you, Mami, nos vemos arriba…

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Sister-Cousin: the Greatest Lifetime Sibling Replacement?

As I near my 3rd year of parental life everyone I speak with has an opinion about my decision to stop having children once I reached #1.

“She’ll have no one to play with!" “she’ll grow up spoiled!” “She’ll be all alone once you die!”

Well Let me alleviate some of your concerns.

I could rant about how it’s my body or how being a Millennial influences my decision of having kids to begin with. But that isn’t the point I want to make.

My daughter already has an older sister; my niece “La la la” and like gossiping teenagers these two speak EVERYDAY. Having a relationship that’s so close like theirs has made me realize I don’t NEED to have another child for her to reap the benefits of having a sibling! Four out of the seven days a week these two spend time together. They fight. They share. They dance and spread mischief.

I don’t intend on having anymore children because we have other goals we want to attain before even considering expanding our family. My schedule barely enables me to spend time with hubs, my toddler, school, and extra projects. How I would fit a newborn into this madness? I wouldn't know where to start!

Now please don't get me wrong. I think big families are beautiful and God bless those who can do it! For now, I’m loving the simple life.

I highly recommend this article by Katrina Alcorn on Millennials and their views on planning for children.

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