Memorial Day Weekend Camping Menu

Typical Bianca. Instead of actually packing and preparing for the impending camping trip that we are leaving tomorrow for, I'm at the computer writing about it. My husband is so right that I'm a procrastinator incarnate.

But I'm going to justify that this is a way for me to organize myself ;)

Tomorrow morning we are taking off for a 4 day camping trip. It'll be our first one with Penelope, but at 15 months I think everything will go just fine. Naps might be a little tough, but if she doesn't want to lay down in the tent we can always put her in the Ergo and go for a hike or snuggle up in the Maya wrap at the campsite and bop around until she lulls herself to sleep. I'm flexible.

Now I'm going to preface that when I say we're going camping, it may not mean the same thing to everyone. To some people, that means packing a backpack and heading out into the woods. To others, that means loading up the camper - complete with DVD player, oven, and shower. For us, camping is sort of in the middle. We "car camp," as many might say. We go to campsites that definitely have running water, preferably showers, allow dogs and I use a Coleman propane cooktop to prepare most of our food. This time around, I am bringing my Lodge cast iron dutch oven and am planning on putting it to good use! I feel really legit now! ;)

We're camping with another couple and are splitting the meal responsibility, but I am excited to share what I am planning on bringing for us.

Tales of A Mountain Mama's Dutch Oven Stew
Amelia, thank you so much for posting this on such short notice for my benefit :)
Home made pasta salad
Dirty Gourmet's Campfire Breakfast Potatoes
Mommy's Kitchen's S'mores Trail Mix (and regular S'mores too!)
Martha's Turkey Sloppy Joes
Moms and Munchkins' Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

I haven't made any of these recipes before - but I'm sure they'll be a hit!  

What are your camping favorites?

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Summer Giveaway Hops and Opportunities

Hello fellow bloggers!

This summer I'm signing up for a few giveaway hops and blogger opportunities and I wanted to pass these on to you if you're interested. If you aren't a blogger (or aren't interested in participating), be sure to keep your eye out for these cool events
once they are live on my blog - I've got some neat prizes in store and other bloggers will too!

• This is a Summer Themed Event – that means anything you would use in the summer –  please keep things family friendly! This event will run from June 11th until June 25th. To sign up for this event and learn more details, please click here.

<a href="http://mommysfavoritethings.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r135/mditzzy2008/summer_zpsb35578d5.png" /> <

• This Blog Hop giveaway is going to be items that are meant for cloth diapering. It will run from June 21 - July 1. Click HERE to find the HTML for the announcement post and rules.

• Another cloth diapering event! Yay! This event will run from July 17th until July 31th. To sign up, please click here.

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Brighten Whites Using the Sun

A long, drizzly overcast winter leaves my cloth diapers a little...dingy. They're definitely clean but especially with a child who is on solids they're a little tougher to get out. This Washington mama is lucky because summer is around the corner and the sun is making its appearance more often- that means sun bleaching!

This was a concept I had totally forgotten about since elementary school. Oh yes, sun bleaching your hair with lemon juice, or science experiments with leaving a bunched up wet towel to dry in the sun for weeks. The sun does have some pretty cool powers.

Sun bleaching or "sunning" has a lot of great benefits:

• It's all natural. Why would I want to use harsh chemicals (like bleach or brighteners) on the cloth that I've worked so hard to keep safe for my baby's bottom? 
• It is so economical! How about free?! Even in Western Washington where true hot sunny days are hard to come by it's completely possible to sun stains out of fabrics. It just might take a little while longer on those damp days ;)
• UV rays from the sun are a great disinfectant. 

How do you do it? Really simple, silly! Just lay your stained item (be it a cloth diaper insert or even your husband's shirt that got stained) in the sun and wait few hours. Pretty soon your whites will be back to normal. I've even had success with sunning out a spaghetti stain on a white sweatshirt that has been washed at least a dozen times - that regular detergent was not able to get out.

Some additional tips:

• Use a clothes drying rack or hang a laundry line to get more sun exposure and aid in more effective drying. 
• Add a squeeze of lemon juice to give it an extra boost!
• Don't leave the cloth out for more than a few hours, because eventually the fibers will become damaged and weak. If it needs more time, wait a day or so and get it damp again and set it out for a few hours.
• This isn't limited to your whites, it's just easier to see the difference in them! 

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Free Blogger Opp: Christmas in July Cloth Diapering Giveaway

Attention fellow Bloggers! Here's some info for a free sign up opportunity to giveaway some Best Bottom Diapers.  Not a blogger? Well keep this in mind because in July you'll have the opportunity to enter to win too!

To celebrate Christmas in July, The Parenting Patch and a group of other cloth diaper bloggers are giving away a Best Bottom Diapers cloth diaper prize pack to one lucky winner.

Free sign ups for the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway continue until June 20, 2013 or when a maximum of 20 blogs have signed up. The Parenting Patch Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway starts on July 11, 2013 and ends on July 25, 2013.

One lucky winner will win a Best Bottom Diapers cloth diaper prize pack that consists of one (1) Best Bottom shell in color/print of choice, one (1) Stay Dry insert in size of choice, and one (1) microfiber doubler in size of choice. The value of the prize pack is $24.40.

The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway is limited to 20 participating blogs. Bloggers participating in the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway are eligible to enter to win.

Sign Up

To participate in the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway, participants must post about the giveaway event on their blog or website. Sign ups include both Facebook and Twitter on the Rafflecopter form.

To sign up to participate in the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway:
(1) First add the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway button (at top) to the sidebar of your blog or website. Please have the button link to this blog post. You may resize the button as necessary to fit your blog design. Please save the image and then upload the button to your blog or website.
(2) Post about the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway on your blog or website. Please include the sign up dates, the event dates, the prize pack, and a link to this post. Do not copy this post word for word.
(3) Ask to join the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway group on Facebook. Please ask to join as important information will be provided via the group. I will provide the HTML and the Rafflecopter code for the blog post via the group.
(4) Fill out this form.

The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway begins on July 11, 2013 and ends on July 25, 2013. Prior to the event start, The Parenting Patch will provide the post HTML and the code for the Rafflecopter form through the Facebook group.

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Guest Post: Simple and Effective Tips for a Healthy and Natural Pregnancy

I'd like to introduce Katie, the mama over at Moore from Katie. 

She blogs about being a SAHM, healthy living and baking.. My kind of gal! 

Read on for her guest post on a few tips on having a healthy pregnancy...

  
Many women do not think about living a natural lifestyle until they become pregnant.  There is something about walking around with a tiny baby inside you, knowing you are responsible for its health and safety that changes the way women think.  This knowledge propelled me into action and really triggered a new type of alertness in my mind.  The simple fact that I knew I was carrying my baby in my belly made me much more conscious of the chemicals I was around, the foods I ate, and how I took care of my body in general.  This awareness led me on a path of living naturally, and I would not change a minute of this exciting new journey!

To start off with, I should first say that embracing a natural way of living is a unique combination of affordable and expensive.  It can be very reasonably priced, or it can be a very costly way to live.  It all depends where you get your natural products and which type of changes you want to make to your lifestyle!

As I became more aware of my body and conscious of what I ate, I realized that my dietary habits needed these changes. Even though I thought I was making healthy choices, I realized that my diet was high in processed foods with unnatural additives, saturated fat, sugar and salt. With attention to the ingredients in food items, I was able to decrease the intake of processed foods quite easily without becoming a fanatic with eating strictly organically. Also, the transition to healthy eating did not cost more money as I originally thought.

For example, I realized upon investigation that many of the household cleaners I was using contained harmful chemicals that I was breathing in.  These breathed-in chemicals go directly to my baby!  To avoid this, I began making my own simple and effective household cleaners by mixing baking soda with vinegar and water.  Adding a little lemon or orange zest gives this simple and organic cleaning solution a light and citrus-smelling scent that makes my house look and smell clean!  This type of natural change really made a big difference, it was very cost-effective and it was an extremely easy change to make!  I saved money on expensive cleaners by making my own.

One area where it can be expensive to live naturally during and after pregnancy is purchasing clothing and other baby products.  It is important to read about the dye products that are in many new types of clothing materials.  To avoid purchasing clothing that may have harmful chemicals, you can shop for organic clothing, which is also called environmentally-friendly clothing.  Not only are these items typically free of harmful chemicals, they are also usually recycled and natural materials, which promote a more Earth-friendly environment.  You can also save money by stitching together your own curtains from your favorite old T-shirts and blue jeans!

Switching to a more natural lifestyle can be fun, easy and rewarding in the end.  I was fortunate enough to have a doctor who provided a wealth of information about many subjects including healthy eating, birthing options, cord blood banking and so much more.  Check with your doctor before making any changes during your pregnancy, and enjoy your new healthy lifestyle!

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26. Pin It Now!

Mother's Day Recap

This weekend I got the best of both worlds - a Mother's Day celebration in my honor and another in conjunction with my own mama.

Last year for my birthday we went to the Portland Zoo with 2 month old Penny, who slept through the entire experience. I saw that the weather was supposed to be gorgeous on Saturday of Mother's Day weekend so I made the request for a family outing to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. As we were getting ready, I was checking my facebook and my real life / bloggy friend Gretchen of That Mama Gretchen posted a picture of her family getting ready to go to the zoo too.. A quick text exchange followed and we made plans to run into each other there!

Since it was A) sunny B) Saturday C) Mother's Day weekend (1/2 off for mamas!) - parking was horrendous. If there is one thing that my husband can't stand it's trying to look for parking. We both grew up in the suburbs where parking is never an issue, but somehow I am more tolerant of this problem. He always teases me that whenever we go out to "treat" me, it's always in the city. Well, that's where a lot of the fun stuff is!

Nonetheless we trekked on, had a quick pow-wow with Gretchen (who was the cool mom and dressed up her family in preparation for their zoo visit!) and meandered our way around the zoo.

Thanks for the pic, Gretchen!

Penny took notice of a few animals - mostly the small and fast ones. Her favorites by far - the otters in the grizzly bear exhibit...

...and a mama wallaby with a baby in her pouch!

I'm really looking forward to many more visits this summer because an early birthday present was an annual pass so that Penny and I could take advantage of the zoo during less busy times and enjoy all the different activities the zoo has to offer (like feeding an elephant or giraffe for $5! Isn't that amazing?!).

 Afterwards we drove down to my family's for the weekend and surprised my mom. She wasn't expecting us because I had to gently remind her that I'm a mama now too - and there will be holidays where we celebrate on our own. Well, we visited anyways and on Sunday she and I had our annual Mother's Day pedicures and rounded out the weekend with some delicious grilled salmon and asparagus on the lake house's deck.

The weekend left me feeling particularly blessed for such a wonderful family. How did you celebrate?

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Farmer's Market Day

Farmer's Market season has officially begun! Penny and I ventured out and drove to a market that was about 30 minutes away to check it out.

It was a gorgeous day and the drive to the market is a scenic back road. Prior to becoming a mama I would have just pulled over and taken pictures of the magnificence, but for the most part there really wasn't a large enough shoulder to pull over on so of course I didn't risk it. But friends, I promise that very soon I will find a way to safely take a picture of what our drive looked like. Because words are not enough. So I won't even try. Just trust me - it was gorgeous!

This particular market was not a very big one, less than a dozen vendors, but each one was interesting and unique. There was a veggie stand, local grassfed beef, a jam & pickle man, apples & pears, a local pizza parlour brought out a portable wood fire oven and baked pizzas for you on the spot. The best find? A little mom and pop stand where they have probably 3 dozen different pastries set out and there was a line about 20 people deep. I *knew* this was the place to check out.

The person standing in line ahead of us was a very tan older man with a thick New York accent. He was clearly a regular, and he was talking with the lady-owner about his week and such. He turned around to me, suddenly, exclaimed how I must try their challah bread, and that my little girl had the cutest dimples and blue eyes. Thank you, I said with a proud smile, to which he replied that she of course gets it from her mom. Cue the blush. Then he asks her name, to which I reply "Penelope" and he looks into my eyes with the most sincere look that I would reserve only for the best of friends and told me that I couldn't have picked a more perfect name for her. Gosh, that man made my day over again.

So we bought a strawberry rhubarb pie for the hubs and an apple cinnamon bread that Penny and I shared while we walked around downtown and visited the little stores and played at the playground. This mama sure is blessed :)

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