The Mama Workshop

Slow Cooker Chile Con Queso

Slow Cooker Chile Con Queso is a must during Game Day! It’s delicious. It’s simple. It will soon become a game day favorite.

My husband loves to watch football on the weekends. It’s his way of relaxing after 12-14 hour days during the week. So, we make the weekend fun-football weekend during football season. So for snacks during the football games, I like to keep it simple.

To make Game Day fun for the entire family, do a fun victory dance every time there is a touch down, wear your favorite team’s jersey, and cheer for your team as though you are there at the game! It makes it so much fun and I am not really a football fan.

So, back to the Slow Cooker Chile Con Queso. Here is what you need:

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Pita Pizzas (A Quick Lunch Idea)

Pita Pizzas are a favorite in our house. They only take 7 minutes to make. Plus, a quick lunch idea that the kids love is a mom’s best friend because, well, you know why.

Pita Pizzas are awesome because you can top them with whatever you like (mushrooms and olives, pepperoni and sausage, pineapple and Canadian bacon, or go a little nuts and try fig and pine nuts).

We chose to top our pizzas with cheese, pepperoni, olives and fresh parsley. It’s so good. I think we will make these once a week.

We had a lot of fun as a family putting the pita pizzas together. The kids sprinkled the cheese and picked their toppings. I have little chefs in the making. One day they will be able to make it all on their own {enter a squeal of joy}!Continue Reading…

Toddler Activity: Learning Shapes and Colors

We are learning shapes and colors in our house this week. So, I made a toddler activity for my son to find shapes, learn colors, trace shapes and cut the shapes out.

I doodled it. You can see it on my Instagram feed. But, I made a digital version to share with all of you. I like to do activities more than one time; so, my son gets extra practice and can refine his skills. So, this will come in handy to print out a few for him to do at least twice a week.

With the doodle version, I had more shapes on it. We have been practicing these shapes out of books we have. So, he was familiar with all of them. I wanted him to be able to trace the shapes to practice holding a pencil more. And I wanted him to be able to cut the shapes out to practice using scissors.

He did rather well for only his second time using scissors (he’s 3 by the way – I forgot to mention that). He did the bottom 5 shapes in the picture below. They are a rectangle, circle, square, triangle and hexagon. With more practice they will be more recognizable. Continue Reading…

Keeping the Magic of Santa Alive

“There’s no such thing as Santa.” Those words burned in my ears and trickled down into my heart. I cried. I refused to believe what my neighborhood friend just told me. My 8-year-old heart couldn’t take the pain.

I yelled at her with tears rolling down my face, “there is a Santa!” Then, I ran home to tell my mom. I wanted so badly for my mom to tell me that what I just heard wasn’t true (that he did exist). Maybe she was taken off guard. Maybe she wasn’t prepared. Maybe she thought I was ready. But, she confirmed what my friend had told me that day.

I looked at her in disbelief. My life was changed forever. The magic of Santa was gone.

I ran to my room and decided, no matter what people told me, I was still going to believe.

Fast forward 22 years later, I’m now a mom of two little kids (a 3 year old and a 1 year old). So, of course they believe; and, I’m going to keep it that way as long as I can.

Why? I want them to be little as long as they can. I don’t want them to have to grow up too quickly. Taking away their imagination at such a young age takes away creativity. We need creativity. Great entrepreneurs need creativity to come up with innovative ways to start a new company. Artists need creativity to make masterpieces. Authors need creativity to write. And so on.

Yesterday, I heard a different view. He shared that we should tell the truth right away. That if we lie now about Santa, what else will our children think we’re lying about later. So, this made me think.

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Breastfeeding: What Some Moms Might Not Share

I wish I could share that my breastfeeding story was smooth and perfect and the most amazing experience. That is not what you will read here.

I am very modest. So, when I first found out I was pregnant, the idea of breastfeeding (especially in public) didn’t go over too well in my mind. What if my baby flings the nursing cover and exposes me to the world? What if my baby is loud and lets the entire restaurant know exactly what is going on?

Then, there were other questions like: what if I can’t get my baby to latch? What if he doesn’t get enough milk? All the questions that ran through my head were already making me feel like I was going to fail.

So, lo and behold, day one of breastfeeding was awkward.

First, nurses were in and out of the room while I’m fumbling to latch my son. So, I had to mentally block my emotions of feeling weird about being exposed to everyone and for having a nurse help me latch my son.

I like to describe nursing kind of like when I was learning to play string bass. My fingers were not use to pressing the giant strings down to make beautiful, musical notes. Practicing daily caused my fingers to develop calluses which were necessary for it not to hurt anymore.

That’s what happens to your nipples.

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