Recipe: Mom's Overninght Oats

Mom's Overnight Oats
 
1 crockpot
4 peeled and cut apples, any variety you choose (we love Fiji)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup agave or raw sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup fresh apple cider, or pressed apple juice
1 1/2 cups filtered water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon or 4 sticks
2 tablespoons raw wheat germ (optional)
2 tablespoons chia seeds (optional)
1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats
 
Place apples on the bottom of the crockpot first.
Add ingredients as they are listed above.
Do not mix!
Apples will help oats from sticking to the bottom of dish.
Set crock pot to low and enjoy when you wake up.
For extra goodness, add fresh berries on top in the morning! 
(Not ice cream as my husband tends to recommend every time I cook this!)

photo credit: thecuriouscountrycook.blogspot.com

Frugal Fashions: Superhero

I love that greenberries lets me shop the way I want to for quality brands on the budget I have! My son's really into super heroes right now. He's recently learned who the transformers are and why the autobots are awesome, and he's taken a liking to Spiderman and Batman as well. When I saw this shirt at greenberries I just knew it had to come home with us. I love that it has the playful comic book feel without being too covered in licensed characters and branding (a personal pet peeve of mine), and the awesome, stain hiding, lightweight shorts were a no brainer when preparing for a wild rumpus of a day out with my  active and messy boy. He's never far from his Keen sandals, either. I love that they are closed toe to minimize those pesky rocks in the shoes, which has us stopping less and playing more, and they go from wet to dry over and over without chafing or smelling funky, plus they wash so well.

Eon's wearing:

Gymboree Shirt: Retail} $16.95, greenberries price} $4.25
Gymboree Shorts: Retail} $26.95, greenberries price} $6.50
Keen Sandals: Retail} $50.00, greenberries price} $14.00 (I bought them when he was teeny, thinking I'd need them eventually, and I did!)

Total Retail: $93.90
Total greenberries: $24.75

I saved $69.15!!!

Thank you for celebrating with us!

 
Greenberries has been serving families in Howard County for 4 years and we have never been better! Our 4th annual birthday party was a huge success, thanks to our contributing business vendors and remarkable customers.

It would not be a party without cake! Thank you to Rosebud Gourmet Cupcakes and Oh What A Cake! for your sweet touch to our treat table. 


Our generous donors to our door prizes, such as SparTea Party, Dana Behan of Usborne Books, My Gym Columbia, Bikram Yoga Columbia, CookieRide, and Best Day Ever parties willingly contributed to our event. Cartoon Cuts gave mini manicures to our little ladies, while Monster Mini Golf gave out prizes to bean bag toss winners. Bricks for Kidz, My Princess Party, as well as Usborne Books were available to answer questions about their businesses and helped to entertain our guests. Casey from CookieRide was on hand with her scooter, giving away cookie samples and entertaining our greenberries families with tons of fun activities.

Our staff provided fresh popped popcorn,  "life changing chicken salad" (look for the recipe in an upcoming blog post), fruit kabobs, chopped veggies, pretzels, crackers, pink lemonade and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Peleides Face Body and Makeup Artistry gave some character to our already beautiful little visitors with face painting from 12-3.

We are deeply appreciative to our loyal customers who have supported us as a small business and have helped us grow with each visit to the store. We are committed to continuous improvement and building community, and hope to celebrate 5 years with you next summer! Here's to another record-breaking year!

Guest Post | Fun Ideas for Mom to Get in the Shot

 

In this day and age, with digital cameras and free film, most of us are doing an exceptional job of documenting our kids' childhoods through photographs. We have every milestone captured, like when they learned to walk or when they took their first bites of solid food, and hopefully plenty of everyday moments like bath time and riding their bikes. If you're like me and most other mothers, you're the primary family photographer and I'd venture to say that of the 12,384 photos you took this past year, you're probably only in a handful of them, if that. Today, I'd like to inspire you to step out from behind the camera and get in the shot. Do it! Do it for your kiddos and their kiddos. Do it, not just once, but on a regular basis.

I know, it's a lot easier to avoid the camera. Just about everyone feels self-conscious in front of it. I also think that moms have it a bit harder. With two children at home, ages 3 and 1, I seldom have the time to look my best. This is cruel because I need as much time as I can get to camouflage the grey hairs, dark under-eye circles, and extra baby weight I've acquired these past few years. I know I'm not alone here (or at least I hope not!).

Even with all of those factors, you know what gets me in front of the camera? Twenty years from now, I want my kids to have photographic proof that I was there too! I was there on Christmas morning to help them unwrap presents and share in their sense of wonder. I was there, with my funny looking haircut and out-of-style jeans, cheering them on and offering a helping hand when they took their first steps. As their mother, I feel that one of my jobs is to ensure that my kiddos have a loving and fun-filled childhood. When they look back on these photos, they're not going to see that I wasn't wearing make-up or that my hair isn't perfect, they're going to see that they were loved and happy. And who here doesn't think their mothers look gorgeous in old photographs, anyway?

 Now that I've hopefully inspired you, here are some easy and fun ways to get you in front of the camera:

 1.) Give the camera to your husband, friend, or other family member. This is the easiest way. 90% of the photos taken of my children and me have been taken by my husband. During most of our outings and once in awhile around our house, after I've taken some shots, I hand over the camera to my husband with all of the camera settings in place. He's always happy to oblige since he knows how important it is to me. Every Mother's Day, the one thing that I ask for each year is for my husband to take a portrait of my kiddos with me. I'm so happy that I thought of this idea. These pictures mean the world to me and my hope is that my children will feel the same way one day.

2.) Place your camera on a table or use a tripod, then set your timer or use a remote. Remotes are cheap and I think it's safe to say that every camera has a timer function. There are even timer apps that you can download for your smartphone. Every year, we use a tripod and remote to take our family photo for our Christmas card. I like knowing that we'll have at least one nice image of the family taken each year.

3.) When all else fails, hold your arms out. This is simple and always fun.

4.) Another simple and easy method is to use a mirror. Haven't we all done this at some point?

5.) Shoot from your perspective. This method won't include your face, but I still think it's a fun idea to throw into the mix once in awhile. I took this image of my 18 month old daughter and me one morning at a local pick-your-own-farm. I had plans of us picking some apples together, but all she wanted to do was hold my hand and walk the aisles between the rows of trees. This photo illustrates that moment between us perfectly.

6.) Another option is to let a professional photographer take care of capturing you with your family. Sit back and give the responsibility to someone else.

Jennifer Krafchik, owner of Jennifer K Photography, has been a wife for eight years, a mama for three, and a professional photographer for two. Capturing life through her lens is one of her greatest obsessions and she looks forward to sharing this love with you each month. Keep up with her life as a mama to two little monkeys as well as her latest work and promotions by following her blog and Facebook page.

Miraculous Homemade Shower Cleaner

You know, most of the time I pin things on pinterest that I'll never follow through on, but are great ideas. Some of them just cost too much money, or take too much time, or require items or ingredients I'll never remember to buy, or...well, you get the point. This one is one where it was a. cheap, b. fast and easy, c. required only two ingredients that I always have on hand. I had to try it, and I'm so very glad I did! It's amazing, and I'll always have some around from here on out! So consider this pin tested! I hate scrubbing showers, they're just awful. I don't like using things with tons of fumes or perfumes, and I don't want to break my back bending over a tub for hours scrubbing it out. Who does? This stuff does all the work while I waited, and with a light wipe down (not scrub, wipe down!), and a spray from my detachable shower head (or diaper sprayer, or a bucket of water), it was all done and looking oh so sparkly. :) Want the recipe?? Of course you do! Here it is!


Miraculous Magical Homemade Shower Cleaner

Dawn Original Liquid Soap (the blue kind)
White Vinegar

Mix equal parts Dawn and Vinegar, spray on your shower evenly, and let it sit for half an hour. Wipe down with a cloth or sponge or scrub brush for hard to reach crevices and drain parts. Rinse with clean water. Smile at how clean and easy it was! I was AMAZED and a little grossed out with how different my shower and tub looked. It's my go-to shower cleaner now. I've also started storing it in the bathroom in one of those hollow-handled soap dispensing scrubbing wands and using it any time I need to touch up in between full shower cleanings.

DIY: Easy Homemade Sidewalk Paint

Last summer we had so many hot days, and with a 19 month old boy to entertain, he wasn't content to just sit around the living room drinking iced tea, like mommy was content to do. So we had to come up with a solution, and fast. Outside play was then, and is now, Eon's favorite. How to play outside in the heat in our limited space, nothing but concrete steps and a big steep hill of non-playable lawn? Google came through for me, and I had the chance to combine two of Eon's favorite things in one fell swoop, outside and paint. As a bonus to me, it was cheap and easily made from stuff I already had! So if you find yourself in a hot, bored funk as we slide toward "real" summer, try this out!

Homemade Sidewalk Paint 

 Cornstarch 
 Cold Water 
Food Colors

You want equal-ish parts of cornstarch and water. I found it easiest to mix the cornstarch and water in separate containers from the beginning as opposed to dividing it later. It tends to settle a bit no matter how freshly stirred it is, so this way they all have equal opacity. You can use more or less water to reach the consistency you want, ours was about like 2% cow's milk in appearance. The paint may seem very thin but that's fine, it may even look like you're hardly using a color at first, but it will brighten considerably as it dries and on a hot day like today it was drying very quickly. We went with about 2 Tbs. of cornstarch and 2-3 Tbs. of water per cup, and we did 4 cups of color. Add food color drops until it's the shade you want, I'd err on the side of a few more drops than you think you might need, the actual color of the dried paint will be more pastel than the shade of wet paint. Eon picked Purple, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Take a variety of brushes out with you, and have fun! It can wash off with rain or you can spray it off later and it's fine for plants and animals and even tots, if they get some in their mouth. There is a possibility of staining, though our clothes didn't, so play in clothes meant to get dirty.

Diapers, Dads, & Drafts: Join us for a celebration of fatherhood!

 

  Here's to you, dads! At greenberries we love our dads who are regulars and our new dads as well. We wanted to celebrate Father's Day for our dads in the best way we knew how: serve up some tasty food and drink and have some of our  most popular classes condensed down into fun, informative, and bite size crash courses, all geared toward dads.

Babywearing Basics will be taught by our in-house babywearing expert, Amy. Her recent guest blog post on babywearing in the summertime is one of our most visited blog posts to date, and her knowledge and expertise, taught in a laidback and approachable style is more fun than work, and you come out knowing something more as well. Bring your questions, let Amy bring the answers, and settle in for a crash course in wearing your kids!

Cloth Diapering 101 will be taught by our in-house cloth diaper expert, Alicia. If you've come into the store with cloth diapering questions, you'll recognize Alicia as the lady with the answers. She'll boost your cloth diapering IQ as well as your confidence and have you diapering like a pro in no time. Learn how to decode the lingo of cloth diapers as well as choose the right ones for you and how easy it is to care for your diapers, which in turn are caring for your bank account!

Supporting Mom in Labor and Birth will be taught by Cortney, our pregnancy guru and birth doula. Learn what the most common "mistakes" birth partners and labor coaches make and what can be done instead, so you can confidently support your partner in getting the birth she wants. Learn the "tricks of the trade" and impress the rest of your birth team with your awesome labor suppport techniques!

We'll have more learning opportunities, plenty of great food and drink to toast to you, Dads! So how can you get in on this event? Well, start with an RSVP, click here for our Evite!  Then share this event with all your friends. Let's have a party, and no one likes to party alone!