Laura Lohr

Not Just an Alliteration

Back to School: First Day of 4th Grade

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I can’t believe I have a fourth grader! It happened so fast!

This morning was the first day of school for Allie. I had the alarm set and ready to go off, but she was already in our room a full 15 minutes before the alarm went off! She’s so excited about her first day of school. There was no hesitation at all about going to school! She had her outfit picked out days ago and was ready for school a full 30 minutes before we had to leave!

She has grown up so much in the past year! Here are some snapshots of my grown up girl. The FREE printable for the first day of school was created by my friend Heather of Baby Bump and Beyond and you can find it HERE.

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A New Year 2014. A Different Perspective.

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Sunset
This beautiful view makes me happy. It’s from our bedroom window.

It was a busy year.  It was an eventful year.  I welcome the new year 2014, with open arms.   2013 was a year where what we knew was flipped upside-down.  We have loved.  We have lived.  We have learned.  We have lost.  We starred evil right in its scary face.  Some of 2013 was wonderful and I am grateful for that.  Some of it has been painful and I guess some of that I am grateful for too.  I truly believe that although I never welcome the painful moments, there is something we learn when we walk through those dark times.  I have to admit that I still don’t know what those lessons are and what I need to learn.  We have gained some wisdom through some of it—that I know.   I contend that there is a purpose and I have to accept that there really is a purpose for everything—-even when I don’t understand or see that purpose fully.  There have been lots of prayers and that will continue.  2013 wasn’t an easy year for us and we have to have faith that things will work themselves out.  God willing, they will.

One of my very favorite photos of Mr. Bear and I in 2013.
One of my very favorite photos of Mr. Bear and I in 2013.

Today was my first workout of the year.  I am training for my first half marathon in a long time.  I have my sights set on the La Jolla Half Marathon.  It is one of the prettiest courses here in San Diego.  I am also doing a sit-up and push-up challenge with my good friends.  Tonight I did my first thirty minutes on the treadmill, while watching my guilty pleasure, “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix.  Then, I followed it up with 10 girly push-ups and 30 full sit-ups.  My goal is to be able to do 100 sit-ups and 50 push-ups a night, without any trouble by the half marathon.  I am so out of shape, however, what I don’t have in strength and endurance, I have in passion to get my girlish figure back.

I also re-started eating vegan/vegetarian.  I feel so much better when I cut out processed foods and eat my fruits and vegetables.  I am terrible about eating breakfast and lunch.  That is one of my goals—to do a better job with having meals and snacks—not skipping meals.  My eating habits have gotten so bad over the past year and my waistline has really showed it. Bleh.  I want to make that change and I want to make it a lifestyle change, not just a diet.  My two best friends and I did 6 weeks of vegan/vegetarian lifestyle before we all went to Las Vegas (Which was a fantastic adventure that I wish I had blogged about!  It was so much fun!).  We all lost weight.  We all got in better shape.  Then, the holidays came and we all dropped the ball.  It’s awesome to have good friends with the same goal.  We’ve been supporting each other and that accountability has been so incredibly helpful.

Allie is so grown up these days! She turned 8 in November.  She has been on the local swim team since July and she’s becoming such a good little swimmer.  She had her first swim meet in November.  She did pretty well, considering it was her first meet.  She is THRIVING in school.  I don’t think it hurts that she is such a likeable little girl.  Every time I volunteer in her classroom, the teachers rave about what a good little girl she is.  It makes my heart melt.  SHE makes my heart melt.

My little fish at her first swim meet!
My little fish at her first swim meet!

I am ready for 2014.  I am ready for good things to come our way.  I chose a word for the year.  My word is PREVAIL.  It seems like there were many times in 2013 when we were hit with difficult times.  This year, however, is going to be drama-free.  I have to believe that we will prevail in 2014.

May 2014 bring beautiful things to you, too, Dear Readers.

What is your word or resolution for 2014?

How to Make a Bottle Buddy

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When Allie brought home the latest school project I sighed at the prospect.  The task seemed daunting for a second grade project.  She had to choose a U.S. President to report on and create a “bottle buddy” replica of her president she chose.  We had two weeks to complete it. We’ve included the steps we took and the Bottle Buddy instructions to create your very own Bottle Buddy.

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My daughter and her Bottle Buddy.

We were given a gentle suggestion from the teacher to choose a president that was not George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Barrack Obama.  The teacher was looking to have some variety in the project.  We began searching for a president that would spark our little scholar’s interest and search we did.  I suggested my favorite president—Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  We suggested Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses S. Grant.  Mr. Bear’s dad’s name is Grant, so we were really pushing for Grant or FDR.  Nothing seemed to suit her.

Finally, she saw the picture of Grover Cleveland and she was sold.  She loved that he was a big guy and she thought he would suit her needs.  Mr. Bear and I couldn’t think of anything concrete that we knew about Grover Cleveland, so we acquiesced.  Grover Cleveland it is!

On the following library day, Allie came home with her Grover Cleveland biography book and she eagerly began learning all she could, while taking notes.  Who is this kid?  She did a great job retelling all she could about our 22nd and 24th president, which left the bottle buddy.

According to the instructions, a bottle buddy is made out of a plastic bottle and is fashioned to look like the president of one’s choosing.  We knew right away it was going to be a big project.  I headed over to Michaels and got all the supplies to make our fancy guy.

What You’ll Need:

We came home with our loot and I immediately questioned how we were going to do this.  Mr. Bear had some great ideas for the head.  I had no ideas.  They began by fashioning yarn “hair” to the Styrofoam egg “head.”  I don’t know how Mr. Bear did it, but it turned out amazing!

I began trying to figure out how to make clothing out of felt to dress a 2 liter bottle.  To say it was a huge task is an understatement, especially since I really didn’t have an experience with making clothes for a beverage bottle.  Try as I might, I was able to come up with some pretty good ideas.  Allie wanted a hat of course and she got it!  I hand sewed all the felt and even made the hat by hand.  It was a lot of work, but it was a success and she loved working on it.

So, yeah.  Allie’s project became our project.  She did a great job on her project and while my fingers were sore from poking myself with the sewing needle OVER and OVER, it was well-worthwhile!

Bottle Buddy Project
This is basically what our kitchen island looked like every night for at least a week.
Bottle Buddy Project
Here is what the outfit ended up looking like—well, before we added the final touch of buttons.
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Here is how Mr. Cleveland travelled to school.  Yes, those are plastic shoes in the lower right, from a Halloween pumpkin Mr. Pumpkinhead (a spin-off from Mr. Potatohead).
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My silly little girl giving Mr. President a kiss.  What a goof!

Have you done a bottle buddy project? What bottle buddy personality have you or will you create? Let me know in comments!

Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids

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Kozzi-healthy-lives-883 X 588I have been asked by quite a few people recently, how I keep my daughter’s lunches nutritious and convenient, without resorting to processed and packaged foods. I have to admit, I was pretty stumped when I first started preparing my daughter’s school lunches. There certainly was a learning curve and it took me nearly two years to get it down to a science.

I have been a stay-at-home mom since the summer before my daughter was born. Mr. Bear and I talked extensively before Allie was eating solid foods that we wanted to give her a great start with her eating habits. When Allie was a year old, I made her baby food from scratch. We worked very diligently to limit or avoid processed foods altogether. I have had to teach myself about nutrition and health in my adult years, by reading anything I could get my hands on. Mr. Bear taught me a lot about creating balanced meals. It was imperative to me that Allie was given the tools to make healthy choices later in life, by hopefully not creating bad habits in the first place—the way I had in my younger years.

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Are We There Yet? Good Times with the #Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tablet

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"Are we there yet?"

“Why can’t we just be THERE?”

“Why does Grandma live so far away?”

"How much further to Grandma’s?"

"How long is an hour?" (It’s two Phineas and Ferb episodes—FYI.)

Sound familiar? Yea. Fun times.

When you are seven years old, sitting in the car for long drives is, in a word, B O R I N G. It is also frustrating to us, as parents to answer the same questions over and over. We love our kiddo, but when she is bored, we are responsible to bring on the entertainment, or suffer the incessant questions. I remember how it felt on long drives. When I was a kid, we drove to Texas from California many times. My dad was not the "Pull-over! I got to pee" sort of accommodator. If you went to the restroom in New Mexico, you were holding it until the Texas State line. I remember it being a pretty boring drive, in some parts and I am assured that I drove my parents crazy with the incessant questions, just as my daughter does on long drives now.

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Mr. Bear and I make a lot of long drives to our parents’ houses. My parents live 2 1/2 hours away and Mr. Bear’s parents live about an hour away, depending on traffic. We make these drives several times a year, usually with our animals in tow. The last couple times we went to visit our parents, we had the Samsung Galaxy 7 inch tablet. To say it is a life-changer, it is an understatement. We put Allie in the backseat with the tablet fully loaded with educational (and not-so-educational) games to help pass the time when we were on the long drive. It sure beat the “Counting Call Boxes” game we tried to get her to play the last drive (she wasn’t falling for it!). We hardly heard a peep from her, in the back seat. Happy kid, happy parents! The drive went by so quickly for all of us.

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It really is amazing to think we ever travelled without one of these!

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Not only does the tablet keep her busy in the car, she really enjoyed using it for homework. It’s so simple to use, she was able to figure out how to find the information she needed for her most recent project on Grover Cleveland. We are very careful with appropriate viewing on the internet and monitor what we can, whenever we can. Of course, as parents, we need to monitor what websites and information kids have access to. We were able to find some helpful tips on setting up the Parental Controls, which helped us manage and create a positive digital experience for Allie. There are so many amazing applications out there that help to assist with homework. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. It made homework just a little more fun!

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The great part, is that the Samsung Galaxy Tablet is so portable and lightweight.  It fits nicely in the back pocket of Mr Bear’s pants and tucks nicely into my purse.  It is easy for Allie’s little hands to hold.  I was a bit concerned at first that the screen would not be large enough to view videos (Like our Netflix!), however, the screen is just the right size.  We have the 10 inch Samsung Galaxy Tablet and we love it—I didn’t think it was going to be possible to love the smaller screen, nonetheless, it’s perfect!

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The latest trip we took, Mr. Bear and I were able to have a pleasant conversation.  Allie was entertained and time passed by so quickly.  I don’t think we can ever travel without one of these again.  Please, don’t make us!

Disclaimer: I am a Verizon Wireless Ambassador, and I was sent the Samsung Galaxy 2, 7-inch Tablet to review on behalf of Verizon Wireless, for my honest review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I honestly love the Samsung Galaxy 2, 7-inch Tablet and enjoyed using it.

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