Weekend Amusement. #1.

I am not going to do a "What I Wore" post because well, honestly I usually look craptastic and no one cares that I got my shirt at Forever21 or my jeans at the Gap. I am not a fashion plate and on a good day I can barely get it together. I blame the fact that I haven't lost all my baby weight AND I love to drink wine and eat cupcakes. There I said it!

So with that being said....This is Weekend Amusement.

Saturday we hit up the Farmer's Market for some breakfast, a stroll around The Grove and to pick up some yummy stuff for our Super Bowl Sunday get together.

It is no secret I LOVE The Farmer's Market and The Grove. We are there almost every weekend picking out produce, meat, etc and eating breakfast. The crepes there are to die for and I found a great diner that serves amazing omelette's.

We occasionally pick up Famous Bob's Donuts that you can't walk past without drooling.

Produce is always so amazing and so good!

We never leave without picking up some good fruit or veggies.

Look at those melons! <----I had to put that in there. My hubs says that EVERY TIME we walk past the melon area. He really is in his 30's. I swear!

My trip to The Grove is never complete without a look see in Anthropologie. Didn't find anything I wanted, but I did like smelling all the yummy candles and such!

Baby D is infatuated with the water fountain at The Grove. I like to call it "The Mini Bellagio" fountain if you will.

Nothing brings a smile to this face quicker than saying "do you want to go see the fountain?" Seriously, he knows this! Genius!

It honestly was a perfect Saturday that ended with Thai food and Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt!

Sunday we had some friends over to watch the Superbowl.

Well actually to eat and drink. I mean who really watches the Superbowl?!? It is all about the commercials and food! At least it is at my house.

The hubs made The Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork.

It was AMAZING! So. so good and so easy! I highly recommend this recipe to you all. It will not disappoint.

from left to right : pulled pork, margaritas,

pulled pork and shrimp taco fixings,

and a huge mess thanks to babies!

We had some cocktails with friends, played with our kids, and watched the game. Honestly though, I couldn't tell you who won the game or what commercial was the best. The Super Bowl is not the same anymore with a baby!

This weekend was fantastic and just what my little family needed. We get too wrapped up in things at time and forget to do a lot of special, fun family things. These things will last a lifetime in the memory bank.

How did you spend your weekend?

xoxo

It's The Freakin' Weekend!

It's Friday!

It's the freakin' weekend baby, I'm about to have me some fun! <---- Stolen from R. Kelly. What?!? As if you didn't know that.

This weekend I will be getting my wine on thanks to you readers and your need for cheap wine on the daily!

I have a few bottles that I am going to try for my Wine Wednesday Post next week! I am so excited to share these cheap, yet good finds in hopes of helping you all out with your wine love and also saving a few pennies for some lattes during the week! We need both you know.

Here are my choices this week!

Smoking Loon is known for some good reds. My hubs can attest to this.

They have a Pinot Grigio that I am going and I'm excited to do so. I love me a good Pinot Grigio!

The next wine is Barefoot's Moscato. I am not a big fan of super sweet wines, BUT a few readers suggested I try it so I will do it...for the love of readers!

The last wine is a Francis Ford Coppola wine! I adore this man AND his wine is even better!

I am obsessed with all of his white wines and my husband loves his reds. We love Coppola so much we went to one of his resorts for our honeymoon! This is an obsession, people! We got our wine drink on that week. It was awesome!

Believe it or not I have never tried this wine because I stick with the one's I know from him, but this is supposed to be a good 12 dollar bottle.

I am excited to see if this is just as yummy as his other, non table wines.

There you have it!

Three bottles I am going to try this weekend.

I will be back on Wednesday to let you know which one I chose and my review of the bottle.

I am working on a button to get up for Wednesday so you can grab it and put it on your blog! Gotta represent!

For The Love Of Grapes! Wine Wednesday!

This is me.

The lover of wine.

The lover of good, cheap wine!

I am going against the grain in hopes of upping my wine lover count here. I am no longer doing a Wordless Wednesday. No more pictures of random things and my kid. Instead I am doing a Wine Wednesday!

Yes, readers, my love of wine has been taken to a whole new level these days and I want to share it with you because we all know we could use it after a long day of toddler tantrums and food throwing. Can I get an "amen!"? Plus this is a good excuse to try new wines and add them to my "wine swoon" list. Oh yes, this exists!

Here's how it works:

-Every Wednesday I will review a wine.

-It will be something under 12 dollars.

-Something that you can hopefully find in your local grocery or liquor store.

-Something that hopefully will put a smile on your face at the end of the day and make you say, "Good Lord that @mamainlalaland knows her wine biz!"

-And something that is white because I have a bad relationship with red wine. I broke up with it a few years ago and haven't looked back! BUT if you are interested in taking part and being my red wine guru, let me know! I need someone else on this wagon with me!

I am working on a button to have up so you can grab it and put it on your blog. After all we need to represent our love of the grapes!

Happy Wine Drinking!

Cheers!

xoxo

Guest Post! Boosting Your Child's Brain.

I met Tracy on Twitter and we became fast friends and bonded over our love of chocolate, wine and Rachel Zoe! Tracy is the genius mama behind Sweet Harper, the super fabulous hair clips for little girls. If you haven't checked out her site go there after you read her post below about boosting your little ones brain!

Thanks Alana for letting me get all teacherish today. Put on your thinking caps, sit up straight, and no talking with your neighbor...we're getting serious about brain boosting activities for your toddler and preschooler today. Just a note, I am a certified S.M.A.R.T. instructor, and a licensed pre-primary elementary teacher...so I'm not just any old looney toon. Please keep in mind while you are reading that not every activity may be appropriate for your child depending on their age and/or ability. Small children should never be left unattended with small objects.

First, let's start with the basics...crawling! Every now and then I hear a proud parent sharing that their child "just skipped the crawling stage" and I cringe just a little bit. Crawling is one of our very first experiences with basic coordination, and if a child skips this stage, they are missing vital brain experiences. I always tell those parents that although it's super that their child is walking, be sure they get plenty of time crawling too. You can do this by playing chase games around the house-crawling instead of walking. Put flat objects or cards on the floor and have them crawl like a dinosaur and slap them with their hands (modeling this yourself will help). Buy an expandable tunnel for them to crawl through, and play peek-a-boo on the other side. The moral of the story, even if your child skips the crawling stage, be sure they still have lots of experience crawling.

Cross Pattern Movement-This is all about integrating both sides of the brain and can help strength academic skills such as reading readiness through eye teaming, and hand eye coordination. Pretend that there is an imaginary line down the center of the body, the goal is to get kids crossing the midline with their hands and feet.

Cross Pattern Ideas:

• Place food and dip on opposite sides of the plate so they have to cross over their body to reach it. See the example pictured, the ketchup and fries are on opposite sides of the plate. (Not the healthiest example, I know!)
  
• Put on a fast song and have them mimic your movements, right hand taps left knee, left hand taps right toes, etc.
• When sorting or cleaning up, try to place the basket so that the child has to reach across their body to reach it.
  

Fine Motor Skills-This is the most asked question I get from parents, especially parents of kids on the spectrum. Fine motor is important for so many aspects of school-cutting, writing, typing, etc. However, so many students seems to be missing it. Surprisingly, studies have linked the fact that infants are placed on their backs for sleeping (unlike in the "old" days) and they are not doing simple and basic movements of pushing themselves up as often which helps develop fine motor skills. Babies should still always sleep on their backs, but it's just even more important to help our kids develop their fine motor skills.

Fine Motor Ideas:

• Making muffins-have your child use tongs to place objects into the cups of a muffin pan. Start with firm, easy to grip objects such as Legos, and build up to trickier items like cotton balls.
• Tweezers-use tweezers to pick up items and place them into a bowl (for preschoolers only). You can use rice, popcorn kernels, dried beans or lentils, etc.
• Bead stringing-using a thicker string with a large knot tied on one end, have the child slide large beads onto the string. Add an additional element and have them make patterns when they're ready.
• Clothespin Clipping-have your child use one hand to clip clothespins onto the bottom hem of their shirt. Start with their dominant hand, and have them progress to using their other hand.

Vestibular System- read more here as to why the vestibular system is SO important for proper brain readiness. It's just the tip of the iceberg, and SO important!!! Should I mention it again, did you read the link?

Vestibular Ideas:

• Helicopter spins-arms out, spinning in place, looking at feet for 15 second intervals. Then break, and stand still for 15 seconds. Repeat ten times in the same direction. (You can do the other directions the next day.) Add music to make it fun! You control the music and they spin while it's on (15 seconds) and are still when it's off.
• Log Roll-remember the days when you could roll down a hill? Kids just don't do this as often these days. Make a point to do it, because it's not just fun, it's good for their brains!
• Inversion-ADULT SUPERVISION ONLY! At the playground, have your child hang upside down by their knees for as long as they are comfortable. Have them say ready when they want you to help them up. You must stay within an arms reach of your child at all times during this activity-obviously!

Ok, that is just a small part of brain boosting activities for your preschooler (and some for your toddler)...are you feeling overwhelmed yet? Try doing one activity a day with your child and build up to more. Although these are fun activities, they also need to be done correctly and purposefully in order to best help your child. These are only suggestions; you know your child better than anyone so only do what you feel is appropriate. Most of all, have fun!

I'm Trying To Get a Handle On This Toddler Thing.

Yesterday I mentioned on Twitter that I was reading "Happiest Toddler on the Block" in order to get a hold on this Toddlerhood we are now entering! Toddlerhood is upon us and it is here with a vengeance! The meltdowns, the crying, the tantrums, oh my. I swear he woke up on his first birthday and another baby took over my sweet, lovable, mellow one!

We now are mad if we have a toy we wanted in the first place. Mad when he is not allowed to touch something. Mad when he falls. Mad when he throws a toy that he was playing with. Just mad and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the anger. I don't want an unhappy baby. It isn't fair to either one of us. But I do feel like it is my fault! Why can't I make him happy? I am supposed to be that person to comfort him and help him out. To wipe those tears from his eyes and make things better. I try to do just that and guess what? HE IS MAD! I can't win!

This is why I turned to reading a book. I never read any books regarding baby business when I was pregnant, or after I had Baby D. I kinda winged it and I feel like I did a pretty good job. My fear with reading too many books was that I would be bombarded with way too much information, be overwhelmed and do it all wrong. So I just kinda did what I thought worked for us and it was ok. Everyone is different though.

So here I am going against my own belief in over reading things and asking you all for advice! I am reading "Happiest Toddler on the Block" and would like to read one more book for another reference. 1, 2, 3 Magic and Toddler 411 were recommended to me by some tweeps. I am looking into those, but wonder if there are any others that you read that helped you through this tough time? Did you read anything at all? If not, what worked for you? I know this is a tough stage and it will get better. I just want to get a handle on the Toddler Meltdowns and help us both! Lord knows a happy baby makes for a happy mama!