Chocolate Wasted

I let my son drink some sipping chocolate and this is what happened. 

click on the photo to see the video:

The Cranberry Sauce Taste Challenge

I'm going to start off by letting you know that I have never been a fan of cranberry sauce. I tasted several canned cranberry sauces and I detest it! For those of you that are thinking "That's because you've never tasted fresh cranberry sauce." Let me stop you, I have! My wife on the other hand loves canned cranberry sauce, but has never tasted fresh cranberry sauce.
I've always been a fan of trying new foods, my wife not so much. I try to eat healthier, my wife not so much. My wife has agreed to make a conscious effort to try to eat healthier, and is coming around. I've been making most of our meals using groceries from Trader Joe's as of late. She believes that is one of the main reasons for helping her to like healthier foods. So I thought to myself; can Trader Joe's do the same for me with cranberry sauce? 
So I choose two types of cranberry sauces from Trader Joe's. Canned Cranberry Sauce and Fresh Cranberry Sauce. The Now when it comes to ingredients, both are almost identical (cranberries, water, and sugar) save for the Cranberry Sauce which has pectin added to it. Both have 0 grams of total fat and slightly differ in grams of sugar. 
For the this taste challenge I enlisted the aid of my wife and two boys. This would be the first time that my two children will be trying cranberry sauce. My wife very fond of the taste of the Fresh Cranberry Sauce although she had a problem with the consistency. My youngest also enjoyed the Fresh Cranberry Sauce more than the Cranberry Sauce. My oldest grabbed the Fresh Cranberry Sauce container and began to shovel handfuls of the stuff right into his mouth. I think we know which one he preferred. As for myself...  Although I did enjoy both the canned cranberry sauce and the fresh cranberry sauce, I enjoyed the latter much more. I think I can now enjoy cranberry sauce, just in time for Thanksgiving. We clearly have a winner here at Casa Jimenéz. 

The winner is:

*Consider playing the cranberry drinking game while reading this post. What's the cranberry drinking game you ask? Well it's simple. Every time you come across the word cranberry, you must to take a shot. You'll be hammered in no time?

Review - Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap

In this post I will be reviewing Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap by Crayola. My son Nathaniel and I found purchased two tubes of Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap from Target. It can be purchased for the very affordable price of one dollar per tube.

We all know that the only proper way to use fingerpaint is to just get your fingers dirty... and everything else in the process. Followed by the inevitable bath for your childand just your child, if you're lucky. I want to just say that Crayola is genius! Crayola took all fun, mess and cleaning involved in fingerpainting and contained it to the bathtub. Bravo Crayola!
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I found Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap to have the same consistency as most other fingerpaints available on the market. The boys definitely enjoyed painting with them onto themselves and anything else within reach.
 
Now I realize that Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap would be easy to clean up immediately, so I didn't. I waited more than forty-five minutes to clean up the bath and surrounding areas. I found cleaning Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap be extremely easy. I did find it to harder to clean out of our grout which is unsealed. Crayola does warn that this product may stain porous unsealed surfaces such as grout. I found that applying a small amount of effort and a brush proved enough to solve this problem.
Conclusion
Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap created a fun filled bath with little to no mess. Cleanup was simple. This was extremely affordable and can be found at your local Target.

Laundry Room Gnomes... They do exist!

#LaundryRoomGnomes #TheyDoExist

I took the Ice Bucket Challenge

*sorry for posting so late after the fact

So my sister nominated me to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I accepted her challenge and being such the loving husband. I thought I should challenge my wife next. Here are the videos...

Complete with video of my wife taking the challenge...

Hello Everyone, Sorry for the long absence! - Lauren & Mark Plus 2

Lauren & Mark Plus 2: Hello Everyone, Sorry for the long absence!: Hi everyone, I know it's been awhile since I have written so here's a quick update. My hubby is working at Trader Joes, which I am n...

Toddler Activities: We planted Chia Herb garden and put up a shelf

Earlier the boys "helped" me put up a shelf in the kitchen. I wanted to have a place to grow fresh herbs. I thought this would be a good activity to include the boys. Lauren had got me a Chia Gourmet Herb Garden for Christmas that I had dying to use. I wanted to use the Chia herb garden to introduce them to gardening. I know it's not real gardening but since we live in a apartment I thought this could be a good start. I put the shelf using two Ikea shelf brackets and a leftover laminate flooring plank. As I mentioned earlier I used the Chia herb garden kit. I also reused two plant pots from an earlier craft since the kit came with a variety of six herbs and only included three pots. The herbs in the kit are (1)cilantro, (1)parsley, (1)sweet basil, (1)chives, (1)sweet marjoram and (2)dill. We planted five out of six of the herbs(we ran out of plant pots). It was a fun and not too messy activity.

*If your going to try to put up a shelf; please do not let your kids use your (power)tools!

Leaving The Nest

Rob Lowe wrote a piece for Family Circle titled "Letting Go"(sorry I didn't provide a link but it's on Page 60  of the August issue. To sum it up it deals with how he is coping with son Matthew leaving for college. It really made me reflect on how I would deal with my boys leaving the nest. Now if you ask my wife Lauren, she will tell you that I'm cold hearted and that when the time comes I'll probably throw a party to celebrate them finally being out of the house. She thinks this, because I'm always saying how I can't wait to push them out when they are of age. I do this in part because of some unwritten rule stating that I need to be the tough one in our relationship. The truth is I think that when the time comes I won't take it so well. For what it's worth my heart goes out to Rob Lowe. If you get a chance or come across the piece, definitely give it a read. I scanned a copy and attached it at the end of this post.

Adventures in Potty Training (continued)

In regards to potty training Nathaniel, it has been a trying year. I am pleased to share with you that after several accidents, and much, much patience. Nathaniel can successfully use the potty. If we are out in public, he's getting better at letting me know when he has to go. There has been a few accidents, but hey I know several adults who have had their fair share. I'm so proud of my little guy.