~A Cool Summer Refreshment~

I've found lately, through these so called "dog days of summer", that sometimes a glass of water just doesn't suffice. I've wanted a cool refreshment that wasn't full of sugar or artificial flavors. I love iced tea, it takes me back to my childhood, when my mom would put out a glass jar of sun tea almost every day during the summer. Well, the other day, a friend had mentioned a watermelon iced tea he'd had at a restaurant the night before, so i had an idea, I'd been putting watermelon slices through the juicer lately, to put in my infant's sippy cup, so i thought maybe I'd put some of the freshly squeezed watermelon juice into my iced tea. YUM~*~it was really nice~Now, i did have to try a few flavors of tea, but here's what i came up with:

The Republic of Tea's Child's Play tea is a nice fruity/floral tea with no caffeine. Either make a jar of sun tea, or brew a glass, and when it's chilled, put about 3 parts tea to one part watermelon juice. It's a nice refreshing afternoon treat for you mamas~

Another good idea, is to pour the watermelon juice into an ice tray, and when your tea is ready, use the watermelon ice cubes in it.

Ahhhh~Enjoy~*~

~Quick Tip~

Are you and your little ones feeling a little overeated this summer? Here's a little something you can carry with you while you're out and about. Get a spray bottle, travel size is easy to carry in your purse or diaper bag, or to be "green" re-use an old hairspray bottle or something of the sort, clean it out ofcourse, and fill it with water. Now, I'm sure you've seen this done before, come to think of it, I've seen water bottles with fans attached sold at stores, but, add a few drops of lavendar and chamomile essential oils to it for a calming affect~Keep yourself and your little ones cool and calm this summer~

Quick "green" tips

From time to time, i will be posting "green" tips. These are things that i have either done myself, or have seen seen elsewhere, that i feel are good for our planet as well as easy mama solutions~
Today's tip~re-using the plastic bags that onsies, etc come in.
Seriously, most of you have probably gotten lots of these little packages as baby gifts, right? and if your at like me, and don't like throwing things away that could potentially be reused, (a trait i inherited from my Grams), you have an abundance of these little empty packages laying around. Well what i have found lately is that they work really well as diaper bag organizers.
Here are some examples:
~medicinal needs~
i have a larger size plastic bag from my baby's leather shoes filled with things like teething drops, infant Tylenol, calming spray, rescue remedy, sunscreen, etc
~diaper care~
In a smallish size bag, i keep small travel size containers of diaper cream, baby oil, baby lotion, baby soap, and a few small towels
~snack time~
depending on the age of your baby, this will vary of course. I have a 7 month old, so, currently in our bag, we have a jar of baby food, a few baby spoons, teething biscuits, bibs, a reused baby food jar with baby cereal mix, a fruit strainer (I'll explain this one in another blog if you're confused)
These have all been very handy, so i don't have to dig around the diaper bag for loose items and whatever the need is, i can just grab the appropriate bag, and they all have a closer of some sort, snaps or zippers, etc.
Other clever uses for these bags: (some stuff my older children use them for)
~Yu Gi Oh cards
~pool / beach supplies (sunscreen, chapstick, I.D., goggles
~coupons
Have any of you come up with any creative uses for these bags? I want to hear about them~*~