Are You Wearing Your Mommy Shorts?

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Last week I came across an article called 21 Acts of Parental Brilliance that was a little life-changing for me. Then this week while perusing through Babble's Instagram feed, I came across a mom blog called Mommy Shorts! At this point it all came full circle...The article was written by Ilana from Mommy Shorts! She is also the mommy behind the new trend called Baby Mugging, where you take a picture of your baby while they are lying down, and the mug is close to the camera so it looks like the baby is actually in the mug :) Genius!
Well Ilana's blog is genius and HILARIOUS! I literally laugh at loud with every post I read and am so happy I found Mommy Shorts-it was love at first laugh :)
So while reading her blog I cam across a hilarious video from a series by Matthew Clarke where they enact a conversation with a two year old, only the two year old is being played by a grown man! I couldn't stop laughing and if you have a two year old at home this video will surely give you a good chuckle or two after a long day with them. 

Ha! I can completely relate since from time to time Sienna calls me "Mommy Princess." 

Two really is the cutest age to listen and laugh :)

Mommy & Me Time

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Giving birth to Daniel was one of the most bittersweet times in my life. It was and is truly a blessing to have such an amazing little boy brought into my life, but the beginning of life with les deux was a difficult time because I was forced to give up the alone time spent with my little Sienna. I chose to nurse Daniel as I had done with Sienna which was wonderful, but the downside to that was that I had to be the one to give Daniel most of his primary care. Danny definitely took control and helped with Sienna and now their father-daughter bond is stronger than ever and needless to say, Daniel is attached to my hip :)

This past week Sienna and I were fortunate to have not one, but two mommy and me dates. This was the first time since Daniel was born where we actually were able to go and do something fun, just the two of us. Of course we occasionally will get to run an errand together or we have our weekly baby ballerina class, but this was quality time spent together.

First Thursday morning, we went to see the new Madagascar Live show at Busch Gardens which was a great time! Then on Sunday I took her to see our first Disney on Ice show which was absolutely magical. I am so grateful to have my two beautiful babies, but this past week made me realize how important it is to spend some quality one on one time with each child.

Love you baby girl!

    

Insta Weekend!!

Hi there!! Happy Monday!! I know the weekend is over, but life has been pretty eventful and I have so much to share!! Plus Monday is always like my Friday since Danny has tomorrow off...

I also just came off of my first Alt Summit conference called Alt For Everyone and I am so excited for all of the new ideas I have for this year! It was one of the most #inspiring weekends of my life :)

Enjoy!

Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation

  Sienna and I were singing and dancing all morning while we attended a preview for the new Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation show at Busch Gardens in the newly renovated Stanleyville Theater! As a Tampa native, Busch Gardens has always been my playground growing up and I couldn't be more excited to spend time there with the kiddos. My family has annual passes so to say that we frequent the park is an understatement.     Before the show started we enjoyed some breakfast...  

  and waited to hang out with Alex, Gloria, and friends...  

   then lights...camera...action!  

 

  The show was spectactular! It was full of energy with singing, dancing, and even a live band!! It kept us moving the whole time.  

 

  Of course a Madagascar Live show couldn't be complete without the hit song from the movie, I Like to Move It!  

 And bubbles poured down over the crowd as we said goodbye...

  Until next time Madagascar friends! We now have a new stop on our weekly Busch Gardens trip!   The show starts this weekend, May 18th, at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL! They are having special events going on all weekend including shows with animal expert, Jack Hanna! Click here for more information on Madagascar Live!   Thank you Busch Gardens for hosting a great event!                        *We were not compensated by Busch Gardens to write this feature*

Dried Mango Chips

I couldn't be more excited that mango season is finally here!! I love the juicy fruit and they always remind me of when we went on vacation to South Florida as a child because the family friends we visited always had huge mango trees in their back yard. For Christmas I decided to get Danny a food dehydrator as one of his gifts because he really takes pride in cooking and I knew he would love to make his own beef jerky. Now this gift really was meant for him, but I thought I would test it out with the mangoes I picked up from the local grocer the other day.  Mangoes are such a difficult fruit to slice because of the awkward shaped pit, but after figuring out a great method, I threw them in the dehydrator and turned it on to 115 degrees. Now, initially I was following this recipe and it stated that it needed to dehydrate for 24 hours. When I went to check on it about 6-7 hours later the mango slices we dry, thin, and crispy! I think (well now I know) I sliced them too thin, but they were great for mango chips!  Either way they were amazing! They were crispy when you bit into them, but melted in your mouth after! They were the perfect healthy snack to grab and were just like potato chips where you can't just have one :) Check out this recipe here for a complete guide on dehydrating mangoes! Do you know of any other fruits that are great in the dehydrator?