Blogging madness: Updates on the way!!

When I first started this blog, I always said that this was going to be like a journal for my girls to read when they are older.  My life used to be an open book and I really didn't mind that all my adventures were in a public blog.  The end of 2009 brought so many changes to our life that it didn't seem right to keep posting in an everyday basis as I was not going to be able to write as openly as I liked.

BUT, I was looking back at my old posts and it makes me sad that I never wrote the day to day things from 2010 until now.  As we get older, our memory is not the same, and I confess that I can't remember details as much as I would like to.

Luckily, I did post some things in Facebook and I will take the time to update this blog with the main events from our life during these last few years.  Even though I stopped posting towards the end of 2009, there are some updates on us up to November 2011.  Back then, I made a post for each one of the girls with details and updates about them up to that point.  With that being said, I will post updates with the main events that I can remember (with the help of Facebook and my pictures) starting December 2011 until now.  I started yesterday and already made three posts December 2011... It's fun to look back and I'm sure I will enjoy these updates very much!  I will make a new post once the blog is up to date.

Also, I did a blog makeover and I love how it looks now, even though it looks better in the computer than how it looks on mobile version.

And just because a post without pictures is just too boring, I'm including pictures from the girls from this weekend with some of our pets (that's a another post) and also a picture from my oldest nephew (remember him?)

Task #85: Checked!

I knew this was going to be the second task that I was going to complete... After all, it was the easiest.. I just needed a little reminder!

I honestly cant believe that the photos on our about us page and top banner where A YEAR OLD!!!

Anyway, I did it, as you can see on the right side of my top banner, and you can check out the updated About us page here. I didnt change much, and mostly what I did was to update all FIVE ages... Also, added the middle names, and changed that Mia was an Elmo freak to being a Dora and Diego freak.

Just for reference, here is how the top banner looked and then how it looks now... Amazing how much ALL of three of them have changed:
Old:

New:


For a complete list of all tasks, go here.

101 tasks to complete in 1001 days! - Task #1: Checked!

I read this on another blog, and just a few days ago I was reading the rules at the meme's home. As my readers should know by now, I LOVE checking off completed tasks, so I think this project would be AWESOME for me... So far, the most difficult thing has been to come up with 101 things that I want to complete in 2.75 years. The idea is that "tasks must be specific with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined". As I complete each one, I will be making a post of it with the number of the task Im completing and photos and what not, about the task! Feel free to join me and let me know if you do!

I think this is a big challenge and Im merging in it some lists that I have made in the past for New Years solutions, the Blooming Buds strategy, as well as the Working on Healthy buds posts.

Here are my 101 tasks that I will have done by: June 23, 2012
#1 : Come up with 101 tasks to complete in 1001 days - That is another 100 tasks besides this one (Completed by 9-26-2009)
#2 : Potty train Mimi [In progress]
#3 : Pay off credit card [In progress]
#4 : Redecorate the girls room {including a new bed for Mimi, and comforters for all three girls} [In progress... Already got a new bed for Mimi]
#5 : Make a will
#6 : Get a family portrait taken for my new website having the girls wearing their colors: Purple, red and pink [In progress: already got Gaby's purple outfit]
#7 : For 2010, buy the holiday outfits from Prairie Mama and hair bows from Fifi's Closet, for the holiday card photo, take the photo and make the card by the first week of November at the latest (0/3) [Changed the year on this one as it didnt happen on 2009]
#8 : Burn a CD of my customers per year
#9 : Continue burning CDs with our photos per month [Done from Gaby's birth up to June 2006]
#10 : Clean up my Gmail [In progress ... Im already down from 99% full to 96%]
#11 : Clean up my MSN Email
#12 : Recuperate photos from Mia’s 2nd birthday and Mimi’s baptism with the photographer
#13 : Paint the house inside
#14 : Get my eyes checked again and get my prescription lens and frame (2/2) (Completed by 01/08/10).
#15: Get a sewing machine
#16 : Get a laminator
#17 : Get a bike for me
#18 : Move to a new and smaller place (Completed by Dec. 1, 2009)
#19 : Organize bookmarks on computer - Explorer and Firefox (0/2)
#20 : Get new dishes
#21 : Get the girls at least 15 new bows each and buy a nice bow holder to put them in their bedroom (Bows: 1/45, Holders: 0/3)
#22 : To have a Thanksgiving dinner and set up the Christmas Tree that same day [Changed the year on this one as it didnt happen on 2009]
#23 : Give life to my unused Etsy shop
#24 : Launch 3LF Creative Media blog
#25 : Launch 3LF Creative Media site
#26 : Launch the new version for 3 Little Flowers [In progress. Already purchased new hosting, just need to finish designing the site]
#27 : Put together printed party supplies designed by me for a photo for my new site [In progress]
#28 : Buy a new small camera for daily use (to replace the stolen ones)
#29 : Buy a DSLR camera (Nikon D90)
#30 : Reach my weight goal: 135 pounds [In progress... Already lost 40 pounds]
#31 : Have a breast reduction
#32 : Go to Ocean World with the girls
#33 : Get a binder for each girl and organize all their papers -medical, school, identification, etc.- (0/3) [In process: Already bought the one for Gaby and I still need to decorate it]
#34 : Finish my blog books from 2007 to 2010 (0/4)
#35: Invite for a sleepover my two nephews at my house for a weekend
#36 : Make and implement new reward system for the girls
#37 : Make at home the gifts for the teachers for Christmas 2010 by the first week of December [Changed the year on this one as it didnt happen on 2009]
#38 : Redecorate the playroom [In progress]
#39 : Get rid of all the toys from 0-2 years old [In progress]
#40 : Get rid of unused clothes of the girls and us (including maternity clothes) [In progress]
#41 : Get a new ironing board
#42 : Fix our car completely or buy a new one [In progress]
#43 : Tint the car windows
#44 : Give the car a makeover
#45 : Open a new Paypal account and back account (0/2)
#46 : Make a simply recipe book
#47 : Make a new budget
#48 : Make an standard shopping list to go food shopping
#49 : Get a new do - highlights (Completed by Dec. 15, 2009)
#50 : Buy a new pair of shoes for the day to day use {this one in Tribal brown or this one in chocolate or another similar one that I find at the moment} (Completed by Nov. 17, 2009)
#51 : To get new clothes for my new weight when I reach my weight goal
#52 : Read 10 books that are NOT mom related (4/10) [In progress... Read so far: Succubus Blues, Succubus on top, Succubus Dreams, Succubus Heat, now reading Succubus Shadows]
#53 : aGo out alone with my friends at least once per month for six months (6/6) (Completed... Will have to make a post about it soon)
#54 : Plan something for my mom's 60th birthday on 2011
#55 : Decorate a wall with photos
#56 : Buy makeup [In progress]
#57 : Give a creative use to the bedroom next to the laundry room (called the maid's room in this country)
#58 : Redecorate my bedroom
#59 : Make playdates with 5 different high school friends with kids (0/5)
#60 : Plan a nice joined birthday party for Mia and Mimi for 2011 - 4th and 5th Birthday
#61 : Plan something nice for my 29th birthday on January - which is something that I NEVER do - [Completed by January 29th... Post to come]
#62 : Make an alphabet book
#63 : Learn how to make bows
#64 : Learn how to sew
#65 : Buy a Blackberry for me (Completed by Nov. 28, 2009... Also updated it by May 5th)
#66 : Get a power generator (Completed by Nov. 21, 2009)
#67 : Take care of my blood pressure issue
#68 : Sponsor a child
#69 : Make 10 blinkies at no charge to other blogs in exchange for them to have my blinkie on their blogs
#70 : Visit our old neighbors in our old town
#71 : To get Gaby to get checked by an orthopedist for a second opinion on her bull legs
#72 : Get Gaby the neurologic tests done - EEG, Head MRI, plus some blood work with several tests. (0/3)
#73 : Work on my business mailing list and start it
#74 : Take the girls to the dentist (0/3)
#75 : Perform "surgery" to all books in need and protect them all with contact paper to the ones that need it
#76 : Find 5 things on the house that can be sold and sell them
#77 : Get a dentist check up for me
#78 : Make a cute card to 10 people just because (0/10)
#79 : Find a new home for Sassy once I found the new place (Completed by Nov. 29, 2009)
#80 : Learn how to make jam
#81 : Learn how to make bread
#82 : Get together with my cousins for a coffee and chat a bit (just the girls)
#83 : Organize all the medications and label them and buy an ear thermometer
#84 : Get hampers for each girl and a separate hamper for the uniforms (0/4)
#85 : Update the About us page on my blog and the photos of the girls faces on the top right (Completed by October 12th.. Click here to view ... Second update made 06/14/2010)
#86 : Plan or help plan a new get together with all my cousins and their kids for 2011
#87 : Host a get together at our house
#88 : Get an extra income of at least $500 bucks (Completed by Nov. 2, 2009)
#89 : Get Gaby to participate in some kinda of sport
#90 : Go to the movies with the girls
#91 : Get a Wii and Wii Fit
#92 : Convert one friend or family to cloth diaper
#93 : Pay off loan #1
#94 : Pay off loan #2
#95 : Go back college again
#96 : Get passports for Camila and Amelia (0/2)
#97 : Complete 2 courses related to design and/or photography (0/2)
#98 : Plan a sleepover with some of Gaby's friends or cousins
#99 : Get a comfortable chair for my computer
#100 : Get a cute case for my headsets
#101 : Buy a lunchbox for my job

Facts about us in 1001 days:
- Completition date is June 23, 2012 (Just added a countdown at the blog's bottom)
- Gaby is going to be out of 3rd grade, Mia is going to be out of Kinder and Mimi is going to be out of Pre-K. All 3 of them are going to be getting ready for summer and looking forward to 4th Grade, 1st Grade and Kinder.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Updates:
October 11, 2009 - Marked several as in progress
November 19, 2009 - Made a lot of changes due to some changes in my household
June 17, 2010 - Marked several as in progress and completed (big update for the blog to come in the next few days)

The Purple Lunchbox FAQ

I wasnt planning on posting againg about the Purple Lunchbox until next Friday, however two people emailed me asking me more about it to be able to actually participate this first Friday, so I decided to write a little bit more about it...

What is the Purple Lunchbox? It was born with the idea of keep me motivated to keep up with the HEALTHY and FUN idea of her brunch. Little details to make it more fun and appealing for my daughter Gaby. Each Friday, I will post pictures from what I sent to school for her to eat, and a brief description of what it is. In my case, it will be Brunch, but in your case can be breakfast, snack or lunch (whatever is that you send your child in his/her lunchbox to school.

Why is called the Purple Lunchbox? Simply because my daughter's favorite color is purple. Her lunchbox is purple, with pink and lilac dots everywhere.

How can I participate? If you want to play along, you will have to take pictures of your child's snack/brunch/lunch as many days as you can, and post it in your blog with the logo on the Purple Lunchbox (I will add the code at the end of this post)... Then, you will come back to my blog and post the link to your blog (I will have a Mr. Linky to make it easier) so I can go and check it out (along with all the others that participate if they want to)...

Any suggestions for what to pack? I will be also learning as we go, but the idea is to send a balance of carbs, protein, fruits and veggies... Something like this:
In my case, I may send more fruit and less veggies, but I will try to send more veggies and less fruits as the time goes...

Any "green" ideas to complement the idea? Yes, as Im living greener everyday, I will pack a cloth napkin, and the water or juice that I send will be in a reusable bottle. Also, I will try to send mostly homemade foods...

Why am I doing this? Because I think this is a great way to motivate us, as mothers (and dads), to send healthier food to preschool/school, and also to add a little bit of FUN to it.

Do I need to have a blog to participate? Certainly not. However, you will need to upload your photos "somewhere" so we can see them... I highly recommend using Flickr for that.

What if my child still doesnt go to preschool or if the preschool provides lunch, but I still want to participate? You can still participate... If your child is home with you, you can do this idea for the snak/brunch that you will make for him/her. You can even buy a lunchbox to make it more fun. Im sure that your chilld will LOVE that (especially if you actually homeschool). If in your case, the preschool provides the food, you can do this for the afternoon snack, or in the weekends.

So, if you want to participate this week, start taking photos so you can post them all on Friday. Gaby starts First Grade tomorrow and I cant wait to start!

To grab the blinkie just paste this code into your post and/or the sidebar of your blog.
<center><a href="http://www.3bloomingbuds.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="The Purple Lunchbox" src="http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg258/3littleflowersblog/thepurplelunchbox.gif" /></a></center>

Cloth Napkins

As I mentioned before, I have been green-iying our lives and one of the things that we havent been doing have been using cloth napkins.... I have never been a fan of disposable napkins, but we do buy them sometimes.

We are not close to be set with cloth napkins, but we ordered our first set!!! We are so excited specially since they are sooooooooooooooo stinkin cute!!!!! I order them from Etsy from a shop called Little Bit Designs by Girlie Momma. She is a very nice lady and the communication was GREAT! I will be contacting her very soon, cause Im planning to buy a set for my mom's house as a gift for her so her grandkids (my girls and my nephew) can use when they are over there... Cant wait!!

Here are two shots of the napkins... They have cute little animals in one side, and plain red on the other...

Here is a close up of the fabric:

The owner will be my customer too now as she will be ordering something from my shop... Gotta love how "mom shops" support each other!

Green-ifying our lives…

The more I read about it, the more I think on the things that we are doing or could be doing to give our 2 cents to help with the environment. There are simply some lifestyle habits or choices that we can change to make a difference. We wont be doing this drastically, and I wont be making my own facil cleanser, but Im positive about little things that we can do here and there.

Either to help the environment, or (let’s face it) to save money, here are the things that the blooming buds are doing (or will start doing) to have a greener life.

1 – Saving Energy. It is a norm in our house that every unused bulb is turned off. I must have gotten that from my mom, but it drives me crazy to see the lights on in an empty room. Also, our bulbs are compact florescent bulbs from EnergyStar. The only regular bulb we have in one from the front of the house that we hardly ever light anyway. However, we tent to leave the fans on, even if we are outside of the house. This doesn’t fit with the “saving energy” motto, but when we turn them off; the rooms are so hot and with humidity smell.

2 - Greeifying my computer. Let's face it... You all know my computer is ON all day long. But one thing that I do is that I always turn off the monitor when I get up from the computer. I can still hear the beeps from an incoming email or the messenger, but at least Im saving some energy as one of the things that makes the bill go higher is the monitor. I do that at school too. I NEVER set the screensaver... What's the point of that? I also turn off the speakers when I will be too far from the computer to hear any beep.

3 - Low printing. As you guys know, I dont print in my business (except for a few things like mommy and business cards), but mostly everything is without printing. Then, when my customers print, they only print the exact amount that they need, and dont have to buy extras (if I sell the cards with printing, the amounts will be rounded and people will end up with leftover cards). I also store my pictures in the computer and CD's, instead of printing EVERY SINGLE picture that I take. I cant even imagine what it will be like if I were to print every single shot that I take...

4 - Washing. I know sometimes I wish to wash with warm water, but we dont even have the hot water connected to the washer machine, so we are set to cold water. I also hand-wash little things instead of running the washer machine for little items.

5 – Gas. We all go to the same area everyday, which reduces our gas consumption in the car. We were both too far before, and saving on gas was one of the things that help us to make the decision of hubby changing job a few months ago. We also try to avoid several trips to the Supermarket or any other place that we frequent. When we need the pharmacy or something from la bodega, we call in for delivery. They use gas to bring it, but less gas is used in a motorcycle than in our car.

The building of the girls preschool is two blocks away down and then one block way right, and MOST people drive back and forth. We try not to drive when we need to go during the morning for one reason or the other. We try to only drive there when is to pick up the girls.

6 – Cloth Diapers. Everybody thought that I was crazy, but we started and it was great. When the girls started school, we kinda stopped using them, especially since Mimi started having rashes. Later I found out that those rashes where because of the detergent we were using on the diapers. Mia is Potty Trained already, but we plan to resume cloth diapering with Mimi this week. Still trying to find the right detergent to wash them. It is amazing the amount of trash that disposable diaper generates, and I really don’t want to continue adding to it. We also NEVER use disposable swimming diapers… We have always used cloth swimming diapers. We also dont use wipes since long time ago. We use cloth wipes or (most of the times) simply water and soap.

7 - Bags. This is something that we somehow need to start doing. I need to research a bit more, so I will leave this subject on hold while I do it. We do plan to buy some plastic containers to stop using the ziplocs that we are using for the school's snacks, but in the meantime, we are reusing the ziplocs when the teacher send them back (which is regular).

8 - Napkins. I have been googling some cloth napkins. I have never been a big fan of disposable napkins anyway, so I will stock up with some cloth ones so we dont even buy the disposables anymore. We wash everyday anyway, so throwing something extra wont hurt us anyway.

9 - Cleaning Supplies: I haven’t done anything in this subject but I plan to do it. I have heard of people using vinager, vaking soda and a few other things to replace some cleaning supplies. It wont hurt to try something to clean that doesn’t make you dizzy as most of the cleaning products make me. I promise to blog more about this when I do the proper research and start doing it.

10 - Food. I have always been very eager to make homemade food instead of buying ready-made food, incluing baby food. I have never understood what is the point of buying a banana babyfood, when I can simply buy the bananas and throw them in the chopper. If you guys dont own a chopper I hightly recommend the Ultimate Chopper. I got one since Gaby started solid months when she was a baby, and we CANT live without it.

I know there are tons of other things that I could be doing, and I plan to work on a few more once I became more aware of them. I also plan to teach my daughters on the day-to-day about how important this is.

My first Blogoversary!!!!!!!!!!

A whole year of blogging!!!! 392 post (plus 2 in draft) full of moments of joy or sadness, and simply everything that been our life for a whole full year.

What a difference a year makes... Im just amazed how much we have changed in just one year... The girls have grown so much, and hubby and I too.

Thanks to those of you that have been around since the very beginning, and thanks to those that come to my blog and that care about us. The whole point of this blog is (and will continue to be) a way to keep track of our lives so the girls can read it when they are older, but having people reading and caring about us is just a blessing.

HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY TO US!!!!!

Blooming Buds - Movie Night

Even though hubby and I managed to have a dialy 21 minutes break when we were watching the 10 season of friends (we finished like 3 weeks ago and we miss them very much), we are lacking with "official" date with the girls as a whole family.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with my dear friend Michele from Sew Posh Boutique and she told me: "Gotta run, the girls and husband are waiting for my for movie night". It got me wondering how we dont have set up activities with the girls anymore. We play with them, we do homework with Gaby, and we try to do activities with them, but they are not constant and they are definitely not the same day at the same time.

When it comes to watching movies and programs, normally hubby and I watch a movie on my computer, while the girls watch a kids movie in the room. We hardly do it together. As part of the project to "save the flowers", we decided to have: "Friday Movie Night".

We did some googling and came with some conclusions to make it possible, and here is what we plan to do (and already did today):

* Set a date: The first thing to do was to set a day of the week and a time. We decided we will be doing it every Friday at 7:00p.m.
* Fast and early dinner: We normally have dinner by 7:00pm, so that night we will be having dinner by 6:00pm, and it needs to be an easy and fast dinner. Anyway, we will have snacks during the movie.

* Make it official: I made, printed and laminated sign for the movie night that I hang on close to the TV.

* Make it yummy: The only way that Mimi will stay there is if she has some good snack to eat... We will be sure to have pop corn available every Friday night, and maybe some small crackers.

Cant wait!!

Blooming Buds: Family Project

Another item on the "Blooming Buds" to-do list is to have more family projects. Each week we will have a planned activity that cant be homework or an improvised activity. It will be an activity that will be planned ahead, and there will be materials and supplies to gather during a few days for these activities. Daddy will be in charge of gathering the materials and setting up the project, and it will be a project for all of us to do together.

Mimi may not always participate, as we cant penalize Gaby and Mia because of Mimi's naps, but we will try to incorporate her as much as we can. Then, in a few months, she can be incorporated in a dialy basis.

Hubby downloaded an awesome booklet for home activities, and we will be taking ideas from there (well, he will as he is the one in charge).

Even though regular homeworks wont count as family projects, big projects for school can count. The girls didnt had classes Thursday and Friday because of a Faculty Meeting, but they sent home a big project for the girls to do in family...

Gaby needed to make a Fish Tankfrom the story: Six Swimming Fishes. There was a booklet with the story, and she needed to complete the empty spaces with the correct word. Each fish was doing something and she needed to write the color that rhymed with the sentence. Then, she needed to cut (from another sheet) all the fishes, color them with the right color according to the story, and then put them in a homemade Fish Tank... So, the fun project was the make the Fisk Tank and here it is (the picture doesnt have a good angle but you get the point):

Mia's project was to make a "mobile" from a story that had animals from several colors... The school's camera died when hubby was ready to take the picture, so I will update the post later on with pictures of it.

Blooming Buds - School Snacks

Everyday the girls have (or should have):
* Breaskfast: We are working on this.
* Midmorning snack (for Mia and Mimi is around 9:30am, and for Gaby is around 10:30am)
* Lunch (which is always the main food of the day)
* Midafternoon snack
* Dinner

I will try to make a post about the strategies that we are going to come up for each food, and today Im going to talk about the Midmorning Snack in School.

One of the things that is driving us crazy is "packing snacks" for three girls everyday. We find specially insane the amount of money that we are spending on this, because the girls find the snacks, eat them at home, and then after a few days they have NO snack left, when they are suppose to last a couple of weeks.

I have been "cooking" an strategy to solve this situation, and here is how my solution looks like in the top shelve of my kitchen closet:
The night before, the only thing I will have to do is to take the bag that is signed with that day's date and the name of each girl and stuck them in the lunchbox as is. Preparing snacks has been a huge time consumer for us, and doing this will help us to save lots of time. I will still need to put in the fruit from the fridge, but it will still faster as it is only one thing for each. I will be spending an extra 4 to 5 bucks a month on ziplock bags, but I think is totally worth it as I know we will be saving a lot of money as the snacks will last longer.

I know you cant really tell by the picture, but each girl has 10 bags with her name and the date for 10 weeks, which means 2 weeks of school. Hopefully, if my idea works, I will be packing another 2 weeks of snacks by the weekend of the 8th and 9th of November.

Everyday I send three different snacks plus something liquid. Here is what a regular snack has:
* Something salty: Pack of crackers, a bag of pop corn, crackers with cheese, breadsticks with cheese dip......
* Something sweet: Strawberry cookies for Gaby, Chocolate cookies for Mia, and Vanilla cookies for Mimi... Also, it could be a small box of cereal, pudding, or a plain cupcake as a special treat for one day.
* A fruit: We normally alternate with apples and bananas, and sometimes is a fruity yogurt).
* Juice: We try to send them a variety of juices, and they mostly get Orange, Grape, Apple, Peach, or Strawberry with Carrots (Gaby's favorite).
* Water: We have been lacking with the water, as both water bottles got lost... We need to buy new ones as I like them to have water ALWAYS.

We were making the juice at home and serving it to each in a juice bottle, but everyday for dinner they will drink the remaining juice from the container, and I really dont want them to have juice two times a day. For a few weeks, we will be getting the juice boxes, until they forget about asking for juice in the house.

Mimi also takes milk to school and a sippy cup (thanks God for powder milk), and I fill out the powder containers everyday. Mia gets a milk box (pictured) that she get before her afternoon nap in school before we picked her up...

I will also continue to look for more ideas for fast and healthy snacks for them, and why not, for us too!

Introducing Blooming Buds

Notice something different on my blog?? Yes, you are right (actually hoping that you noticed)… I have a new name!! I WONT be changing my blog address, because Im still “Mom to 3 Little Flowers”, but there is a new “life strategy” in our house, and I want to reflect it on my blog.

Life with three little ones in preschool, and a mommy and a daddy with two full time jobs (I have the school plus my graphic design at home, and hubby has the school plus he is the director of the school's Afterschool Program), it sure is a busy one. The good thing is that we are young, in love, and willing to make it work.

In light of my health problems, we know there are several things that need to be done to reduce to stress level of the house, and still be able to do everything that needs to be done. Hubby and I were making a list of those things and we will work on, little by little, until we get on track.

We understand that we need to "bloom" into a healthier family with less stress, which will make us a happier family. I will make posts of the things we will accomplish, little by little, and our goal is to "Bloom the buds into happy Flowers".

If you notice the new logo, it has “buds” instead of flowers, but it still has the same colors: Pink for Mimi, Red for Mia and Purple for Gaby.

Have in mind, that I WONT be changing my business name… This is ONLY for my family blog.