Sunday Night Meatballs

Sunday Night Meatballs

by Jessica

Tonight my mother-in-law came over and made meatballs with my daughter. Now to give you a back story, my little girl loves to help out in the kitchen. We even have a Kitchen Helper for her to reach the counter.  Tonight was her first experience making meatballs. She loved it! My little one with her crazy messy hair acted like she’s an experienced cook! She poured the spices in and mixed the meat together with her hands. But her favorite part by far was trying to roll the meat into meatballs and putting them into a glass dish. I have to admit this was so much fun to see.  Between myself and my mother-in-law we couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. She patted the meat in her hands, attempted to roll it and place it in the glass dish! Watching her make meatballs was the perfect way to end our weekend.

Sunday coffee wasn't made until 11:00 AM!

Stamford Museum and Nature Center

by Bethany

We recently visited this super fun farm and museum located just outside of Stamford, CT. We borrowed passes from our local library so the cost was free! Well, except for the tiny farm animal toys we just could not pass up at a stop at the gift shop before leaving.

When we first arrived, we walked up past the beautiful trees to the museum. Small, but nice. Quite a variety inside, from a model train to the bust of Abraham Lincoln to dinosaur footprints! They were running a special exhibit on ants at the time of our visit, so they had ant farms, molds to play with, and even the game Ants in Pants to play! The kids had the most fun in their children's room, though. Tons of Legos to play with. They could build for hours in there!

Just down from the Museum is an awesome playground. A treehouse leads to many different slides which no kid could pass up. They even have this cool pirate ship to play on! Imaginations can run wild on this playground.

Snacks are a must! All the play on the playground deserves a nice snack on a fun swinging bench! Almost everything in the playground is wooden (not the slides, of course), which makes you really feel like you are in a fun playland in the woods.

Most of Stamford Nature Center is made up of their farm. Every farm animal you can imagine is located here, such as donkeys, pigs, cows, horses, chickens, sheep, goats, and more. Kids can get up close (but not too personal!) with real farm animals. Watch those fingers, kids!

Just walking along the farm path makes you feel like you are somewhere else, on a real farm, far away from any city (remember, this is suburb of Stamford, CT!). A nice, wide open view on a beautiful, sunny day.

Some of the animals are more friendly than others! The cows seem to love people. They will moo at you and come right up to the fence.

The cows even followed us around the corner. Call him the Cow Whisperer! What a fun day trip, highly recommended!

Lots of walking + hot day = 

Large iced coffee for this trip 

Red Tricycle Article

My fellow mom Bethany just had her article published on Red Tricycle. Check it out! http://redtri.com/it-s-not-good-bye-it-s-see-you-later/

I'll see you one day, hot cup of coffee...

I long for the day when I can sit and relax with a nice, steamy cup of my favorite coffee. See the picture above? That is my coffee- from THIS MORNING! It is currently 3:15 P.M. Yep, never even pressed the button. It never was brewed.

I need (make that require) my caffeine first thing in the morning. But on days like today, which are rushed in the A.M., sometimes my poor old Keurig gets forgotten. As my afternoon headache looms, I think oh no, I never had my coffee! Welp, no better time than the present, so let's get caffeinated now. At the very least, I'll be energized for bathtime, right?

This morning we ended up in a rush to get going. Two kids seem like twenty when things need to get done! Everyone gets up at the crack of dawn, so that is not even an issue. The problem is usually getting them to eat the breakfast I prepare (and one they say they want). Hey kiddos, if you say you want a waffle, then you better eat that waffle!! Brushing teeth, getting dressed, putting shoes on, that takes hours. HOURS. Or at least it feels that way. Honestly, if we have to be somewhere at a specific time, I need to start getting them ready at least 30 minutes prior to departure. 

Things that make the mornings easier? Fun plates (see follow-up post soon!), 2 second showers, laying out clothes night before, forcing toothbrushes into tiny mouths, and my dear (usually finished as cold) cup of coffee. If I remember it that is.

The best part of my morning is of course making my coffee. It’s the first thing I make before starting breakfast. My two-year-old even helps me make my coffee. She passes me the pieces I need to put together my Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker. I’m kind of old school about my coffee thanks to my uncle. So my daughter favorite part is scooping the coffee grounds into the pot. She loves doing it and will flip if I do it instead. Once my wonderful Café Bustelo is brewing I feed my child. Got to have priorities coffee first! Without at least one cup my day always end up in disaster. It was essential I had a cup to tackle a big project that could end badly. My plan for the day was to go through all of my daughter’s toys and remove all the ones she has outgrown in front of her! I know I’m crazy. Who wants to do this in front of a kid. I have no other time during the day to do it and it needed to be done. The first place I went to her upstairs playroom. While she played I started looking through her toys and putting her baby ones in a garbage bag. She actually saw me doing it and never complained at all. I was so shocked I figured she would be pulling the toys out of the bag as soon as I put them in. But nothing! I was able to do the same thing with the living room toys. By the time I was done I had one garbage bag full of baby toys to put in the basement for our next kid. I even had a bag full of stuffed animals she never plays with to get rid of. Talk about an accomplishment! The entire time she continued playing and making a mess. Now that I look back on the day I feel like she thought I was cleaning up. I will admit we did not even have a conversation about what I was doing with the toy. But clearly it didn’t matter to her.

All right enough about my lame mom accomplishment of the day. Really who wants to read how I cleaned out my kid’s playroom.

 If you are a mom who feels like the only way you get through the day is by drinking endless cups of coffee, then this is the blog for you!

 I don't know about you but without coffee there is now way I can handle being a stay at home mom of a two year old little girl.  I guess I should start with introductions.  I am Jessica, a former special education middle school teacher. For the last two years I have been a full time SAHM to a beautiful, curly haired two year old named Faith. While I love being a SAHM it was difficult transition at first to go from working and making my own money to spending my days taking care of a little girl, two dogs and a home. I will completely admit it's great that I even had the option to stay at home. Thank you husband!!! But for the last year or so my friend Bethany and I have found ways to keep us marketable and making a little money. Who says that just because we stay home means we can't have something of our own?  So we both began writing articles for different websites, such as Babygaga.com. Our article writing led us both to the thought of why don't we create a blog were we can write about what we want.  To be honest, as much as we love to write articles and getting paid we have so many ideas and thoughts that aren't always able to get published.

We came up with a blog as a great outlet for us to write about anything and everything.  Just warning you we will mostly likely write about our love for coffee, our kids, traveling, fun activities and products we love.

Alright my part is over. Keep on reading to learn more about my wonderful friend and fellow mom Bethany!

Bethany here! So excited to be doing this blog with my dear friend, Jessica! We met while teaching, and have remained great friends over many years. You know, the kind of friend where if you don't see them for awhile and then you meet up, and it's just like it always was? Love it.

I am a writer, editor, teacher, and now a, woo-hoo, blogger! I am also a stay at home mom to two little kids, Joey and Samantha, who amaze me all the time. One minute they are fighting over a matchbox car (we only own 345,961 of them) while the next second they are hugging as best friends. It is pretty awesome. But I would not survive without my coffee! Thank you, Keurig!!

Like Jess, I love to write and have big plans for Moms On Coffee. Sit down, take a sip and enjoy reading and participating with our very cool blog, Moms On Coffee!