Denim Daisies

Hello! As part of our regular schedule in the summer I have two hours built into every afternoon for us to do some type of activity. The mornings consist of a short hike in the woods, scootering/jogging, and time at the Y. Early afternoons gives time for rest, lunch, and doing a few chores. Later afternoons means creative time with puzzles, crafts, or baking and then we head out for our activities depending on what day. In no particular order we are into the following as our 'top' regular summer activities. 1. We Rock the Spectrum Play Gym - this is an indoor play place that is designed for neurodivergent children and neurotypical children to be able to play together. Even if your child is neurotypical you should really check it out, it's a great place with an amazing mission, and has everything fun that active children could need from ziplines to trampolines to a calm room when things get a little too much. 2. Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens - this is right next to Ci...

 It’s surprisingly chilly out this morning and so a warm cup of coffee while getting in some mental decompression at the Y is the best! 🥰

 Good Morning! World Otter Day is very important to my husband who, I'm pretty sure, still donates to 'Friends of the Sea Otter" and has for about 20 years.  There are 13 species of Otter, one of which you can currently see at  Cincinnati Zoo  and two additional are on their way. The river otters at the zoo are some of my favorite animals because they're just so fun to watch, especially for the kids. They're always playing and interacting and antagonizing everyone around them. Though, Grant and I always joke, that this was the one animal in Steve Irwin's early documentaries that he showed a little fear over. (Seriously check out the Croc Diaries on Discovery+ and you'll see these otters kick his butt in the most adorable and hilarious ways.) The zoo is celebrating World Otter Day and of course will always support conservation and reserach for conservation for all species. If you're looking for even more information check out the  National Geographic  wr...

 Can I say I love our house, it is my absolute dream size, dream color, and just totally fills my cottagecore heart. That being said, it's 107 years old and she needs some love... frequently, so even though the photos that I'll put up showcase what I'm most proud of, it doesn't mean that I don't constantly have a project or two going or that I don't get nervous that something could pop up with her that would give me a minor heartattack.  Here's our kitchen, I fell in love with the cottage feel of it from the start though we did remove the microwave and uppers because I kept hitting my head due to how much they stuck out and as a bonus it let in a lot of light. We also have the original built in that we use as a pantry which is beautiful. We are wallpapering that area as a bit of an accent wall and may one day install floating shelves that anchor to the ceiling, but the wallpaper will get done when I have patience and an extra set of hands again... probably i...

  “Sometimes moms just need 20 minutes.” Thank you sweetie for giving me that this evening.  I love you so much and Happy 12th Anniversary!!! 💛💛💛

 Ok, so real talk, I've been feeling very self-conscious about having a "How To" day on the blog to the point that I've been avoiding it. Instead I'm changing this to a "What I Learned" day so that I'm not feeling as though I'm being condescending or a 'know it all' even though the point is to figure out how to do these different things and share my experiences on what new thing I learned in the past week. I'm also not going to limit this to only sustainability and conservation because it's becoming a chore more than an outlet. Everything I do has that thought in my decision making process, but it may not be the overarching theme for what I learned in the past week.  This week the topic is Power BI. I do a lot of volunteering helping our local zoo with data processing. It feels good to do it, it fills my ego cup because it's something that I'm good at that doesn't involve social skills, and frankly it's building a ...

 If you do nothing else today, please look at this photo and read about her in the link. Madigan did a great job of telling part of Jenny's story on the 10th anniversary of her sacrifice. You're a bada$$, girl. CPT Jennifer Moreno

Hyde Park Farmer's Market is BACK on the square!!!! I love winter market at MadTree, but there's something special about the outdoor market on the square. We couldn't go together last week due to Leo getting sick, so this was our first week going together and it was, to quote Jamie, "So MUCH FUN!" Hyde Park Farmer's Market Here's the link for anyone interested! :-)

 So this is one of the Trader Joe’s options that I mentioned last Friday and it’s vegetarian and a crowd pleaser at home! #winning It takes about 10 min for prep and we like to sauté/char some peppers to go with and will start adding rice for Mr. Leo. 😋

 So big thing this morning, Jamie stated that he needed to get dressed, went upstairs, picked out his clothes, and fully got dressed on his own! Funnily enough he was wearing all red (shorts had to get switched out due to a later wardrobe malfunction) and I could not be more proud, so here’s a video celebrating him with Daddy and Leo sliding down the hill at our local school! 🥰

 Day 1 summer vacation 2024 is definitely going well! 🥰

 Happy Friday!!! We’ve recently jumped on the Trader Joe’s train as it’s right near the boys’ school and Jamie has started showing interest in new foods. Obviously having a picky eater expand their palate is cause for celebration and capitalizing on a potentially short window to introduce new foods! I love that TJ’s has a low price point and has a lot of unusual options! Our top 5 so far: 5. Sea salt brownies: I saw a review of TJ’s chocolate products that said these were awful, I could not disagree more. These are amazing and I have to stop me and Leo from eating a whole box the moment we get to the car! 😋 4. Butternut squash ravioli: ultimate comfort food with a little butter and cheddar cheese, we even paired it with air fryer brussel sprouts and figs, feels more like a fall meal, but we all need comfort food every now and then, even in the spring. 🙂 3. Pain au chocolate: just don’t forget to let it prove overnight! Absolutely delicious and Leo’s favorite 2. Thai Vegetable Goy...

 Last day of preschool for Jamie!!!! And finalizing registration for Leo to start preschool at the same school as Jamie next year! 🥰🥰🥰 We decided to park rather than go through car line this morning so that Jamie could give flowers to the amazing ladies who have been picking him up at car line every day. We love you Mrs. N, Mrs. M, and Miss K!!!

  Cincinnati Zoo Gladys the Gorilla has a new cast!  Lol, it sounds like the title of a sweet social story book to show kids in the hospital, but no seriously one of the gorillas at the Cincinnati Zoo broke her arm and needed a cast, standard ones for kids weren’t strong enough for her so GE designed a titanium one! I love it when organizations work together to help species and individuals. It feels similar to Fiona the Hippos first few months when the vascular team had to come in to help get her IVs set. I’ll get a picture next time I see her, probably post cast, but she’s still such a sweetie and Western Lowland Gorillas are very much endangered due in large part to habitat loss among other factors of course because it’s never that simple. We can help with this through supporting organizations that use only sustainable palm oil and never participating in animal “trophies” or using endangered animal products in “pseudo-medicine”/meals/whatever.

 This is my last catch-up picture from Monday.   My bedside table is pretty straight forward: 1. Alarm clock - I use a light based one and don’t use my phone to avoid any triggering feelings as a wake up  2. Candle - I love ambiance candles and the Bridgerton collection at bath and both works is a total guilty pleasure splurge 3. Ring box - keep the beautiful ring my husband designed safe 😆 4. Chargers - iPad, phone, watch, kindle 5. iPad - we stopped having a TV in our bedroom years ago but we still like snuggling to watch bake off sometimes in the evening 6. Hand lotion - Covid got me on this one, clearly I was one of those people who hadn’t been washing their hands for long enough and have had dry skin on my hands ever since, I love Aveeno lavender for a nighttime signal, we use the lavender baby one for the boys after their bath too! 🙂 (well… they mostly do that themselves now but it’s a great way to get them used to it for the upcoming summer sunscreen routine duri...

 Note sure if this is content as in material or content as in happiness, I’m going with the latter and am very content that my spouse and I are halfway through a wallpaper project and haven’t sworn once! 😆

 Jamie,  Hopefully one day you'll read through this and know how proud I am of you. You literally brighten every room that you walk into, your teachers adore working with you, and frankly you put such a positive face on things that so much of society finds scary. Seriously I'm beyond proud of you and the wonderful human that you are and will continue to be.  Now let's get this summer started!!!! True to form I did not take a ton of pictures, and I cropped this one to ensure other children's privacy, but this totally encompasses Jamie the morning of his preschool graduation, suspenders, bow tie, and all! Now I hear him pouring some type of liquid in the kitchen so that's all for today and onto the next 'project'!  💛 Jessie

 Two people waiting patiently, and reading some books from the school’s free little library, for Jamie to get out from his second to last day of school!!! 🥰🥰🥰 (Leo is having a shy week.)

 We go through a lot of milk at our house. Due to medical reasons we switched to plant based milk about nine months ago. We started with vanilla almond milk to make the transition easier in the kids. Almond milk isn’t super sustainable though so we’ve recently tried switching to oat milk which is also fun for the kids to make, much cheaper, and saves so many packaging materials. Here’s the recipe that we found, loosely based off of one that I found online but I’ve messed with the proportions a bit. Another win for oat milk is you can save the strained oats for cookie or oatmeal recipes the next day.  Ingredients: 6 cups water 1 cup oats 1/4 cup honey or agave 1 tsp vanilla 2 punches salt Put everything into a blender and crush for at least 30 seconds.  Strain into your container and put the liquid in the fridge overnight. Don’t forget to shake in the morning!

Happy Sunday! We had a lot of sweet wholesome plans for today involving the farmers market, church, a little gardening, thank you gifts for Jamie’s teachers, and that all shifted around 8 this morning when we arrived at Jamie’s tennis lesson and Leo projectile vomited all over the two of us.  Poor guy didn’t have a fever or anything but was a little extra tired and then all of a sudden had an upset tummy. So today turned into a couch potato day for me and him with lots of rest and simple foods, gotta love the BRAT diet (banana rice apple sauce toast for an upset tummy).

 An amazing school, a fun end of year color run, and two amazing little guys!!!

 So I planned on taking a picture of girls night with Lisa yesterday but as per usual we were so distracted talking and enjoying the evening that I totally forgot, so instead here is my toxic trait or rearranging our living room pretty much once a week. The latest was a recommendation from Jamie’s OT to help him with shoulder development by having an upright chalkboard available to play with. $10 at once upon a child!

  Wallet Bandaid Theraputty Hand sanitizer Chapstick Headphones Sunglasses Snacks Play dough Tissues Phone charger Sunscreen for me and for kids Reusable grocery bag Not pictured: work badge, Y passes, car key

 Happy Friday! Rainey day relaxation at its finest! So I’m putting mine, Grants, and the kids into this blog so I can remember this years down the road. 🙂 My list: 1. Under the Tuscan Sun 2. She’s All That 3. Downtown Abbey A New Era 4. Letters to Juliet 5. Mama Mia Grant’s list: 1. Kung Fu Panda 2. Star Wars Rogue One 3. Legend of Drunken Master 4. Iron Monkey 5. Final Fantasy 7 Kids’ list: 1. Paw Patrol Movie #2 2. Scooby Doo Camp Scare 3. Scooby Doo Kiss Crossover 4. Bugs Life 5. Buzz Lightyear Movie Honorable mentions as a family are Jumanji (the new one) and Jungle Cruise. Gotta love Dwayne Johnson. 😉 That’s all for today! Have a wonderful weekend! 💛Jess

 Tide has released its new laundry detergent and it’s getting a lot of positive attention for it’s effectiveness in cleaning and that there is no liquid and no micro plastics or plastic packaging!!! I can’t wait to try it!!! Tide Evo Once I get my hands on some I’ll do a comparison between this, the Pyrex sheets, earth breeze, the new A&H, and regular liquid detergent.  💛 Jess

  I’m so ready for another season! Especially one with so much positivity coming from the friendship to romance trope.  Bridgerton Series

 Seriously how did we miss this!!! We had not been a Bluey family until recently and boy have we jumped onto this train!!! I absolutely love the creative play and the ideas from the parenting. It’s also really great for giving Jamie more safety scripts which has been extremely helpful! I’d planned on having a more serious post today, but I’m just not ready for it, so for now I’m just going to snuggle my little guy and watch an episode of Bluey before bed while Jamie finishes bathtime.  💛 Jess

 We went to the zoo as a post-appointment pre-daddy pick-up and it was the best decision! 😆 Gotta love our Cincinnati princess Fiona and the rest of her hippo family!

 Hello! My favorite clothes are the ones that are comfy, fit just right, and just make me happy with fun colors or styles.  There are a few ways that I keep myself loving the same clothes for years, sometimes decades. 1. Invest in staples- this can also be through thrifting shops like thred up that have a great selection. 2. Alter your clothes to fit you perfectly- tide cleaners has a tailor option and we’ve been using this a lot more lately to either fix small issues or tailor to something more comfortable for me. 3. Use seasonal wardrobes and actually put away items out of season- this makes me feel as though I’m getting that same serotonin in rush of a new outfit without spending more or contributing to clothes waste, it’s extra fun to have holiday items as well because I can rewear a lot of these for years and always have the perfect “fit”.  I like fashion but want to be more sustainable in my choices so it’s a conscious decision to only keep what feels good and eithe...

 I’ve never seen roses more beautiful than here in Cincinnati. 🌹 

 One of my favorite spring and summer treats is strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream. 😋  It’s pretty easy to make as well, especially with fresh picked strawberries, bisquick shortcake, and whipped cream with a little sugar and vanilla. 🍰  💛 Jess

 Happy Mother’s Day! We had a wonderful day meeting with some friends for Princess tea time at the Kentucky Castle and boy did they deliver! Wishing the best to all mothers out there however you are a mother, whether that be with children here on earth, babies in heaven, dreams of this, caring for others, caring for the planet, however this fits you I wish you all the love!!! To my babies, thank you. 👦👦👼👼 💛Jess

 Thanks to a LOT of rain… we will be having lots of strawberries 🍓 on our plates in the next few weeks! 😋 

 So a day late again, but this has quickly become out Saturday routine!  Legitimately 2 hours of swim lessons between the kids and it was glorious. 

 Happy Friday!!! I like being in shape, I like it for my self-esteem, I like it for the fact that lifting my kids isn’t too hard even when that fireman carry or piggyback lasts a mile or more, I like it for helping to deal with stress. That being said in-shape is a relative term and also I don’t like “punishing” my body or even putting in a workout so hard that I can’t do what I need to for my kids later that day or the next day from being too sore.  My top five workouts are therefore geared towards improving my mental and physical health together and not necessarily where I once was of pushing my body to the extremes where it starts going into “save” mode aka losing my period and other biological indicators that I might be going too hard for me in this stage of life. In reverse order as always: 5. Resistance band workouts- I like doing these because I can push myself without punishing myself, there are also a lot of folks on YouTube that make it feel like I’m in a class even ...

 Nine pieces of pepperoni and more than nine of popcorn!!! 😆