XiaolinMama

TKD #3

TKD roundhouse kicks

Silva Tae Kwon Do testing day

Kiley is testing for her yellow senior belt. Lookin' good!

"Xiaolin Mama Reviews" Goes Live

Like many bloggers, on occasion I have been asked to review products, tv shows, alcohol, events and a whole lotta random stuff.  Most of the time, it is stuff for the kids or maybe something I would have never bought - but hey its being offered for free.  There have been a number of times when it confirmed for me that not everything for free is worth it.  NO the luxury milk bottle cover was not in line with my life style and NO strawberry nipple cream is not for me. LOL!  (that is a story to be told over martinins!)  But I have found pleasant surprises along the way, such as great dresses for my daughter, cool video games for my son and a very cute and indestructable purse for me!  Reviewing products has been fun and if you know me, you know that I am more than happy to share my opinion with you. 

So check out my new blog, Xiaolin Mama Reviews, where I am reviewing Estee Lauder's Advanced Night  Repair and Crystal Light this week.

On Dance Performances

My daughter is performing this evening in the big dance show of the year. I always feel so awkward- struggling to get her hair perfect, putting lipstick on her tiny lips and convincing her that panty hose is her friend. Despite all the drama, she absolutely loves performing and all that comes with it.

I marvel at her ability to make it all look easy. I am a klutz, but she can twirl her props and tap dance at the same time. Whew! She can remember her cues and where she is supposed to stand. Not bad for being six.

Great job sweetie. I am so proud to be your mama!

Gettin' ready for the Dance Affair show

Been practicing for months- finally here! Shoes-check. Bows- check. Costume-check. Real camera- doh!
Bad mommy.

Girls Night Out- TechKaraoke SF

With mah girls at TechKaraoke, where City Mama rocked Heart. Queen of Spain, Crazed Mom and I hit the stage with No Doubt's I'm just a girl. I am sure there will be some embarrassing video soon! Aack! Glennia threw back cranberry and vodka- nice! GNO will never the same without karaoke.

My Summer Camp Woes go National on CNN

Today CNN highlighted my challenges with planning for summer camp - aack!  Check it out here.  Well not really, so far summer vacay old school style has been great actually.  Day 3 and I have not hurt any children yet. I got the kids enrolled in a two week swim lesson and even bought a Costco sized box of hot dogs and stocked up on Crystal Light Lemonade (their collective new favorite!) ready for feeding the multitudes of kids that seem to have moved in.  I had two conference calls, worked on a report and event cleaned out the basement!

Whew - now back to eating bon bons!

Crystal Light's Water Way Challenge

The fine ladies at Blog Her and Crystal Light offered me a fun opportunity to take on a challenge to drink more water and lose some weight.  Now seeing that bathing suit season has officially begun, how could I pass that up?  Check out my new review blog where I will be putting up daily posts about how it is going.  So courtesy of Crystal Light, I’m taking the Water Way Challenge. Join me and other bloggers at the  BlogHer site to hear how we are doing.

Also today is the last day of school or first day of summer vacation for the kids - aack!
This is what we did today...

 A s part of my on going participation in the Crystal Light Water Way Challenge, this afternoon's exciting activity was taste testing Crystal Light's Lemonade versus making lemonade from real lemons. 

Making Real Lemonade

1. Convince kids to get lemons from neighbors' tree
2. Yell at kids for throwing lemons at each other
3. Gather supplies - sugar, water, pitcher, ice
4. Attempt to wash lemons
5. Yell at kids for splashing each other as they washed lemons (see a trend here?)
6. Squeeze lemons
7. Remove pits
8. Add water and sugar
9. taste
10. Add more sugar
11. taste
12. Add more sugar (Marvel and how much sugar kids want in their lemonade)
13. Add ice
14. Pour into glasses

Time to prepare: 1 hour (including time to visit with neighbors)

Make Crystal Light

1. Get pitcher
2. Add water
3. Open packet of crystal light
4. Mix
5. Add ice
6. Pour

Time to prepare: 5 minutes

The judges were my 6YO daughter and my 9YO son. I was also a judge - the one with the most votes.

The winner of the taste test was...drum roll please...
based on taste alone - real lemonade
based on time to make - Crystal Light
based on clean up time and having to break up battles - Crystal Light
based on whether it was the stuff of making summer memories - real lemonade

I was surprised to note just how much sugar we put into home made lemonade.  Yikes!  No wonder it was SO good - duh!  Thank goodness Crystal Light has only 5 calories per serving. We had a ball doing the taste test - but it is clear if looking for ease and good flavor, you can't go wrong with a pitcher of Crystal Light.  It is not as exciting as pummeling your brother with lemons, but does the job done for wetting your whistle quickly!  Real Lemonade will always have special place in my heart - but we'll have to figure out a better way to make it with WAY less sugar.

Afternoon at Santana Row

Taking pix while waiting for Pinkberry.