TIP OF THE DAY

Bad diaper rash? Coat inside of diaper with the same rash cream you use on your baby. The cream will stay on your baby´s skin longer.

ACTIVITY: Valentine Relay Race

Play this fun game at your child´s Valentine´s Day celebration at school or simply with friends or neighbors!

You will need:

Black marker

Scissors

Red posterboard

Cut out hearts from the red posterboard (12 hearts). Divide into two piles. Write different actions on each heart, for example: run, skip, hop, walk, walk backwards, crawl. Set each pile, facedown, at the end of a room, clear of large objects, or out in the yard. Make two teams, or two children, and have each stand about 12 feet from each pile of hearts. At your command, each child or team member will race to his pile of hearts, pick one up, and return to his place doing what the heart is commanding. For example, if they pick up the heart that says "skip", they should return to their place skipping. The team or child who finishes first, wins! If your children are too young to read, change words for stick figures performing the action, just make sure to explain beforehand what each of them mean.

DAILY RECIPE: Spinach Ham Soufflé

1 pkg prepared pastry dough
2 tbsp butter
1/2 stick butter
1 bag frozen spinach, thawed
1 cup heavy cream
garlic salt, pepper
1 cup ham, thinly sliced, in strips

Divide dough in two. Spread glass pan with butter. Place rolled dough covering bottom of pan. In a saucepan, over low heat, melt 1/2 stick butter, add spinach, cream, ham and season with garlic salt and pepper. Spread over dough. Roll remaining dough and cover, pressing firmly on sides. Make slanted cuts on top of soufflé to let heat out while cooking. Dot with butter. Bake in 350°F oven until dough is cooked and golden. Serve warm.

TIP OF THE DAY

When cleaning kitchen countertops, spray your favorite degreaser and let stand for 5 minutes. It´s much easier to clean afterwards!

ARTICLE: Learning to Wait - Mom can help!

It´s hard to make children wait these days. Thanks to modern day technology and the fast paced life we live everything has become "instant". From food to information everything is just a few seconds away. Remember when you used to want popcorn as a child. Your mother had to heat the oil, add the corn kernels and stir and stir, and wait and wait until they popped. Then you had to add salt and butter, and then you could enjoy them. Today: 3 minutes in the microwave and you´re done! Remember having a school assignment that you had to research. You had to visit the library, find the volume of the encyclopedia you needed, look up your topic, copy your notes to your notebook and then do your assignment. Today: google it and you´re basically done! Think of simpler things like thirst. If you, as a child, were thirsty in the car you had to wait until you got home for a glass of water. Today: just stop at a mini mart at ANY corner and buy a small bottle of water! The thing is, although all these things make our life much easier, children still need to be patient. What happens when the doctor is not ready to see you and you have to wait for an hour, or more? What happens when they have to wait until they´re old enough to attend a sleepover, or go to the movies alone or drive? How can we help? With the little things. One great idea: reading chapter books. You read one chapter every night and they have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens to Harry Potter or where the wardrobe took Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter to. Another great idea: baking. They can help you mix the dough but they will have to wait for the cookies to come out of the oven and then a little bit more until they´re cool enough to eat. I´m sure you´ll find other great opportunities to help your children be patient. Just keep this in mind: Good things come to those who wait.

DAILY RECIPE: Carrot Cream Soup

1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon margarine

4 large carrots

2 cups water
salt and pepper

Peel, slice and steam carrots until tender. In a medium sized pot melt margarine and add onion until lightly browned. Blend cooked carrots with salt, pepper and half a cup of water. Add to onion and butter stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the water (more if too thick) and check for seasoning. Serve warm with cheese cheetos as croutons.

TIP OF THE DAY

Carry a small box of crayons and a small notebook in your purse. They will come in useful when waiting at a doctor´s office, bank or even during a traffic jam. Toddlers will love for you to make drawings for them. Young children can doodle. Older children can scribble games like tic-tac-toe and hangman.

IDEA: Easy Birthday Parties!

Sometimes a busy schedule leaves us with a child´s birthday next week and no party planned! Stress out no more -- here are some quick solutions to this problem:

• Plan a pizza party - at your local pizza place (Peter Piper Pizza, Chuck. E. Cheese, etc.) They usually have birthday packages complete with pizza, drinks, cake, ice-cream and games, what´s not to love? Plus, you leave the mess there, not at your place! Be sure to ask other moms to chaperone just to be on the safe side, these places can get really crowded.


• Plan a bear party - your local Build a Bear Workshop will be delighted to receive your child and a few friends. Leaving a birthday party with a new plush friend? A happy day for everybody!


• Plan a diva party - Ask your local beauty salon if they can receive 4 girls for a quick hair - do and nails. Then head back home for dress up, photo shoot and cake.


• Plan a piñata party - Have some of your child´s friends over, eat cake and ice - cream and top it off with a piñata filled with candy and favors. Quick and easy!


• Plan a movie party - Take your child and 2 or 3 friends to the movies. A great day complete with popcorn and soda! Simpler version of this party - host your own movie party. Rent a favorite movie, add popcorn and drinks. When the movie is over you can serve birthday cake.

I´m sure you can think of more birthday ideas that can be kept simple. Remember, you don´t need weeks or months of planning, a few phone calls, reservations and invitations and don´t forget to pick out a birthday cake -- and you´re all set for an easy birthday party!

DAILY RECIPE: Easy Party Dip!

1 pkg crackers
1 small cream cheese
3/4 cups salsa

Open cream cheese and make small incisions with a blunt knife. Pour salsa on top, very slowly, until covered. Serve with crackers and spreading knife. Great for Super Bowl Parties!

TIP OF THE DAY

Remove white deodorant stains from sides of shirts by rubbing pantyhose on top.