The Macaroni Mama Blog – Paradise Travel by Christine

Summer Bucket List 2022

May 6, 2022March 29, 2023 Christine

Every summer I have a calendar where I write all the dates of classes, camps, events, and vacations. I love to keep organized and when I sign up for something, I don’t forget because it’s on the calendar.

My name is Christine and I am a planner. I love to search for events, happenings, and festivals around Denver and enjoy them with my kiddos.

We have 18 summers with our kids, it makes me sad, but it’s true. So every year, around this time, I gather the kids and we talk about our summer plans. What are the must-dos, sort of a wish list if you will?

Our Summer Bucket List 2022

Make it Monday-we try a new recipe and make it together
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo-I have never been all these years
Local Libray Summer Reading Program
Family Bike Ride
Free Movies
Go to a water park
Ice Cream for Dinner-a fun tradition and why not?
7/11 Slurpees
Family Hikes
Visit Rocky Mountain National Park
Picnic in the mountains
Visit fun new playgrounds
Visit a splash park
Horseback ride

Do you plan out your summer with your kids, or are you a take-it as it comes type of mama?

Needs help with your summer plans? Click here to get started with your vacation planning!

May Madness

May 4, 2022March 29, 2023 Christine

Anyone else feeling stressed over their calendars for May? I am so happy that we have gotten back to more gatherings and events, as a mom I feel like I missed out on a lot, like my youngest graduating from kindergarten, Christmas concerts, and field trips.

Fast forward to May 2022, and we are back baby! As I write this, my calendar is busting with events, science fairs, concerts, ice cream parties, graduation events, Mother’s Day Programs, end-of-year ceremonies, parties, Mother’s Day, and my middle’s birthday.

I am a planner so I have my calendar for social/school happenings and my work calendar. It is a juggle my friends and I am trying to take all the moments in and not stress myself out but IT IS A LOT.

I love my flexible work schedule and being able to attend field trips and ice cream socials but at times I feel like I am holding on by a thread. I know these days are fleeting, these moments are precious.

They say the years are short and the days are long and I completely agree. My oldest is 14 graduating high school and the picture above seems like yesterday.

Am I overbooked, stressed and holding on by a thread this month, absolutely. But I am also overjoyed, blessed, delighted, and lucky to have three beautiful children with whom I can have a scoop of ice cream in their classroom enjoy the bus ride with 45 1st graders on a field trip, and watch an 8th-grade graduation ceremony and partake in a 6th-grade ukelele concert.

If you happen to see me in the month of May, fellow mamas, we can smile, sympathize and enjoy these special moments together.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Cakes Pretty

May 24, 2021May 24, 2021 Christine

As a mother of three, we were invited to many a kid’s birthday parties. A lot of moms would have the cutest cakes and themes for their kiddos. I would be in awe of the details, all matching stuff, and the themed homemade birthday cake.

So after I had my second child, I vowed to be one of these moms. I signed up for a cake decorating class at my local Micehals store and my new hobby was born.

Now let’s back up to my childhood, my mom did excel in many things but being crafting was never her strong suit. At one of my baby showers, we crafted and she had no idea how to say Hodge Podge, let alone know what it is or what you use it for.

So growing up we did not craft, we didn’t make things, we didn’t have many hobbies as a family except going on vacation, going to the beach, and swimming so any wonder why I do what I do and love the beach so much.

I fell in love with making and decorating cakes for my kid’s birthdays. I start asking my kids months before their birthday what theme would they like. My middle was very into Minnie Mouse so we did quite a few parties on her. You can do so many things with Mickey or Minnie.

For my youngest’s 4th birthday, he wanted a fish cake with the candle in the eyeball. And here it is, it was a fun cake to make.

Every party had a theme, with matching invitations, decorations, favors, and cake of course, or cupcakes. And I loved it, we celebrate birthdays lavishly at our house.

We celebrate half birthdays too, we call them Halfy Birthdays, haha. I do it up, I search Pinterest because c’mon now, where else would look.

When my oldest was younger she said “Mom, your cakes are so pretty, you should open a store called Cakes Pretty!” We actually put a sign on our front window for Cakes Pretty and she was pretty disappointed that nobody came to our door asking for a cake.

And that is how Cakes Pretty was born.

Around Town, The Macaroni Mama Blog

The Summer of The Outdoors

May 21, 2021May 20, 2021 Christine

As summer 2021 approaches, it reminds of me how we survived the summer of 2020.

Our family coined it “The Summer of The Outdoors”.

We hiked every weekend. We are lucky to live in beautiful Colorado where we have many hiking trails within minutes of our home. We go up early to beat the heat and walked our little hearts out.

Another great sport we tried this summer was horseback riding. The kids have always wanted to take some lessons and they absolutely loved it. There were great options all over town and I must say the kids enjoyed this the most.

We were still under strict restrictions so we thought archery was another good option to social distance. The kids enjoyed going to their archery lessons each week. We had done a little archery while visiting the YMCA in summers past.

Our neighborhood has a pool where we didn’t have to make reservations to swim, so many days we headed over to the pool to cool off.

The summer of 2020 was not a normal one for us, but it allowed us to branch out and try new sports and activities we normally wouldn’t have even tried. So in a way it was a blessing for us to branch out of our normal summer activities.

I have to say I am looking forward to museum trips again, Denver has some great museums, zoo, an aquarium that we are used to visiting regularly, so the summer of 2021, you will probably find us there.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Summer Planning

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021 Christine

Well, we made it through the 2020-2021 school year, almost, and that means it’s time for SUMMER!! Can you believe we made it through the entire school year?

It’s been challenging and ever-changing for sure, just when you have a schedule figured out, you get the dreaded email that your child’s class has been quarantined and BAM, your schedule changes in an instant.

But as the end of the school year comes, I go instantly into planning mode because let’s face it, I’m a planner.

I get a calendar out and start week by week, I usually look up free activities around town, add in VBS, some trips to the museum or zoo, library activities, family trips and go from there.

Next time, I’ll share about our fun summer activities last year. We called last summer, “The Summer of the Outdoors” since we were still restricted, we did activities that were outdoors and let us social distance.

How do you plan your summer with your kids or are you not a planner?

The Macaroni Mama Blog

A Perfect Christmas Tree

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 Christine

So often we are scrolling through social media, seeing images of a perfectly decorated Christmas tree with ornate ornaments and ribbons and we feel envious. Any other ladies out there?

I wonder why my tree has gaps, no beautifully themed ribbon running up and down, full of solid beautifully matching ornaments in a solid color or theme.

But guess what, my tree is perfect for my family, for our stage in life. We are busy with our three kiddos, working from home, remote learning, activities, albeit mostly on Zoom right now, but hey, we are still busy. We just got a puppy so that’s a whole other topic for another day.

As moms we want it all to be perfect, a perfect tree, perfect Christmas photos, we put so much pressure on ourselves.

If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s appreciate what you have.

So, as I sit here sipping my morning coffee, I’m enjoying my perfectly unperfect Christmas tree. It’s full of ornaments that don’t have the same color, or same theme but it has ornaments made by children, ornaments from family trips we’ve taken, ornaments symbolizing family milestones and to me that makes it perfect afterall.

Around Town, The Macaroni Mama Blog

National Donut Day

June 5, 2020June 3, 2020 Christine

Happy National Donut Day! Did you that June 5th is National Donut Day? Today, many donut chains are offering free donuts, some with no purchase necessary. Check around your town to see where you can cash in with your free donut.

What a great chance to visit a local donut house in your area, maybe buy some other samplings to support small businesses while discovering a great new place close to your home.

Growing up on Long Island, we have Munchkins all the time for celebrations. Birthdays, holidays, or whenever you went over someone’s house, there were always Muchnkins involved. So donuts always remind me of a celebration.

Another great idea is to make some homemade donuts with your kids. We’ve done a super tasty recipe air fryer donut recipe using canned biscuit dough, so easy and you don’t have turn on the oven. Check out the recipe we use here.

Check out my Pinterest page for some more great donut recipes here.

Enjoy those donuts, friends!!

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Best Ways to Spend to Time With Your Spouse During Quarantine

June 1, 2020May 31, 2020 Christine

It’s hard with three children to be home all day for weeks and not have that spouse quality time. It’s so important to a marriage to make your relationship a priority right?

We’ve been struggling to find the time for ourselves. Between work, home school, chores, dinner, reading to the kids, by the time bedtime comes for the kiddos, we are beat. Some days it really is an effort to spemd that time together.

Some ways we have found to spend some alone time without the children are to watch a movie together after the kids are in bed or sometimes we will put a kids movie on for them in the basement and set them all up, then we watch ours together, alone, without the kids.

Another way we find to spend time together as a couple is to take a walk around the neighborhood. Let’s be honest, the kids are kinda tired of all the walks we’ve been taking these last few months so sometimes they are excited they don’t have to tag along. Our oldest is old enough to home with the others for 30 minutes while we walk around the block.

We’ve played restaurant. My kids helped me make an easy dinner, they set the table and played restaurant. I let my nine year old make us pudding for dessert, an easy thing for a kid to make. The kids put on “romantic” background music and loved serving us. They even dressed alike so they looked the part, they spend hours working on a menu and setting the table. I must say, the kids loved it and my husband and I had a blast too.

Good old fashion card games is another fun way to connect. SkipBo and Phase 10 are a few of our favorites. Sometimes it will bring out the competitiveness is either you or your spouse, so be careful with this one.

Now things are slowly opening and we have moved to a safer at home approach, I still see us staying at home quite a bit. But having the option to eat out and do something fun, outside the home with my spouse is something to look forward to.

What are some ways you are connecting with your spouse? Let me know in the comments!

The Macaroni Mama Blog

An Unusual May

May 29, 2020May 28, 2020 Christine

If you have school-aged kids, May is usually a very crazy time of year. Piano recitals, moving up ceremonies, Mother’s Day programs, science fairs, band concert, graduations, picnics, field day, the list goes on and on.

Usually, I’m bombarded by Sign Up Genius. Lists after lists appear and I’m scared to even open my email because of fear of another signup lurking.

But this year, May was quiet. May was different, there was no signup lists, no end of year ceremonies, no Mother’s Day programs, no preschool graduation for us. No scouts end of year party or camp out, no moving up ceremonies.

The school play was postponed until later this summer, no end of year choir concert, no end of year parties. We did a drive-by, pick up your stuff, and wave to your teachers. We all tried our best but it still felt cold and sterile.

Field Day was on your own and post your pictures online. The kids always look forward to this all year long. And I appreciate our school trying to fill that void for my kids.

Usually, I’m run ragged from running to one event to another for each kid. Usually, my calendar is FULL of commitments, food to bring, places to be or items to buy (thank you Sign Up Genius).

Usually, I look forward to the Mother’s Day programs, recitals etc. I mean we mothers eat it all up,right?

Usually, I’m beaming with pride watching my kid present at the science fair or reading a poem they wrote. Usually, I take home the program and place it directly in their memory boxes. Usually, my heart is overflowing from pride with all the year’s accomplishments.

Usually by the end of May, I’m exhausted, longing for summer break.

This year was so full of the unusual that I long for the busyness, I long for the usual. I guess the old saying is right, careful what you wish for!

We are all putting on a brave face but it’s such an unusual time, an unusual end to the school year and an unusual summer ahead.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Starbucks Vanilla Creme Drink

May 4, 2020May 16, 2020 Christine

We don’t go to Starbucks often, just as a treat and usually after a holdiay or birthday when we have a gift card.

Sometimes, I’ll treat one of my daughters to a coffee date where we can chat, catch up, and spend some one on one time together.

They both love the Vanilla Creme Frappe and always order it when we go.

Since we have lots of free time these days we’ve been playing around and trying to copycat the recipe. We think we found it and wanted to share it with you.

Copycat Vanilla Creme Drink

1 cup of milk

1 cup of ice

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of Cool Whip

Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until all the ice has been well blended and enjoy.

Quite refreshing especially going into the summer months.