Time To Wake Up This Blog!

Although I haven't been keeping up with this blog, I still have many loyal readers who email and want to know what's going on in my neck of the woods :)

I'm going to be making some changes around here very shortly, one HUGE change being the name. yep, I'm changing my blog name! HOLY COW! Because really, being defined by wearing flipflops is a little lame :) haha. I'm not releasing the new name just yet though, you'll have to wait and see. I'll still be The Flipflop Mamma, there's just no way to get around that since it's my "name" on every forum I'm a part of.
I'm also going to incorporate my raw food blog into this one. I'll be talking a lot about going raw again (doing so much better this time around!) and sharing yummy rawcepies :) with you all! I'll still talk about my family and still have reviews/giveaways (I'm actually behind on a few!), and hopefully be a bit more regular on the posting :)

So, without further ado, I thought I'd jump start with a raw cupcake recipe that I created today.

Raw Chocolate Cupcakes:

I adapted the recipe from goneraw.com. the recipe called for:

the pulp from 2 batches of almond milk
9 dates, soaked
2 T coconut oil (x2)
2 T coca (x2)

I don't have almonds or a nut bag to make almond milk, so I used:

4 C soaked walnuts
2 T cocoa
3 dates
2 T coconut oil

ground it all in fp. It didn't taste right, so I added about 3 more dates, some agave, and more cocao. Processed til smooth.

Frosting (from some of the ingreds above)

2 T cocoa
6 of the dates

this didn't taste right either and was way too thick so I added more cocoa, a packet of stevia, and some honey.

I put the "batter" into cupcake papers and froze while I made the frosting. Then I frosted them. They are sooooo good!!!!!

How "Crunchy" Am I?

I took this silly quiz on facebook that said I was a Crunchy Mama, and then I saw a post over at Steph's talking about how crunchy she was, so I thought I'd share my crunchy stats :)

• I have dreadlocks (I think this gives me HUGE crunch points!)
• I strive to be a minimalist
• We eat mostly fruits and veggies
• I babywore (past tense since he prefers to run everywhere these days)
• I use Seventh Generation or Huggies Naturals disposable diapers (stopped cloth diapering because Popeye's skin was being irritated by the micro fiber in the diapers I was using)
• I take hand-me-downs for myself and the kids with open arms, and buy tons at thrift stores or the clearance rack :)
• We co-sleep with both little ones (and love it!)
• I'm still breastfeeding Popeye (he's 21 months now)
• I make my own dish washing detergent
• If you opened my cleaning supply cabinet you'd find all natural cleansers with Clorox clean up hiding way in the back in case the stomach flu breaks out in our house :)
• I make all of our lotions, and lip balms
• I buy our soap from an etsy shop :)
  
• We recycle (duh!)
• I have a little container garden on our little patio this summer :)
• When the weather is nice we walk around town instead of driving
• We're looking into getting a water distiller (I'm so excited about this!!)
  

That's all I can think of...
All that, and I don't even like granola!! haha.

You got some crunch in ya?

My Blueberry Monster.


This is what happens when you think your son is eating his blueberries like a nice little boy, all the while he's rubbing the juice all over his whole body.





And this was AFTER his bath :/

Summertime.

We have an awesome community out here in our little apartment complex. Everyday we're outside with the other moms and their kids. I've never been an outdoorsy person, so me taking my kids out everyday is HUGE! I usually pull out my travel hammock (love that thing!) and sit under the trees while the other moms are sun bathing.

Even all lathered up in sun block and with me sitting in the shade, the kids and I are getting a quite the nice tan :) Nothing harmful, at least I don't think...
and if you saw me you probably wouldn't even notice that I'm tan because I'm seriously that pale. I just look normal now. haha.

What have you all been up to??

What I'm Into.

I don't normally blog about TV shows, or books, but I'm totally addicted to a couple things right now and thought I'd blog about them :)

TV:
American Idol!! OH.MY.GOSH. Who is going to win? I love all 3 guys that are left! It's really so hard for me to chose an absolute fave. Adam has amazing control of his voice, Danny I've just loved from the beginning (and not because of the sympathy card), and Kris is just talented all around.

Books:
Twilight Series. I'm on book 3 (Eclipse) and am sooo in love with Edward Cullen! I don't think she could have written his character any better.

Movies:
Twilight (duh!) and Marley and Me. I just bought these for myself on Mother's day and there's always one playing in the background :)

Drinks:
Iced Vanilla Latte's, Baby! Made daily by yours truly.....yum, yum and yum!!

Food:
Baked fries with sour cream. If you haven't tried it, you're missing out!

What are you into??

Popeye, 19 (ok, almost 20) Months.

So many bloggers that had babies when I had Popeye are pregnant again! I feel so left out, yet at the same time I would be so overwhelmed. Having these guys 21 months apart just about does me in some days. Of course the days that they play together and run around occupying each other a great, but few and far in between! Ha, most days it's someone hitting someone, or Popeye stealing the Beast's blankie, or Popeye stealing her cup, or breaking something of hers.

Talk about ALL BOY! ha.

He's now 33 1/2 inches tall and weighs 27 pounds (2 pounds more than big (little) sister!).

For those of you that don't keep up with me on facebook:















I've been really considering weaning him. They say to continue nursing for as long as both mother and child mutually desire, and I'm really getting tired of it. He wants to nurse all day long, and sometimes I distract him with a sippy cup of milk but it doesn't always work. He has no interest in weaning so I'm not sure how to go about it. On the other hand, when I think of my milk drying up it makes me a little sad. Geez. I'm so torn. Any advice???

Have a great day!

TheBeast is all about the computer these days. We've actually had to set time limits because she will play computer games all day. Her love for the computer has actually surpassed her love for the television, oh boy...it's in her blood!! haha.

We were introduced to storyfort.com and fell instantly in love! Story Fort specializes in interactive digital books for kids, ages 3+. There books are designed to engage young readers' imaginations and encourage their sense of learning. The company's first book is called What is Bothering Carl? [www.storyfort.com, $15].

From the press release:

What is Bothering Carl? is the tale of a cyclops named Carl whose laid back life is disrupted by a
single nuisance. The book includes:
* 19 illustrated scenes that come to life with the simple click of a mouse
* Full (optional) audio narration by the author
* Highlighted phrases to help your child read along
* Illustrated keywords to build vocabulary
* Two original songs with animated music videos
* Bonus memory game with 3 difficulty levels

The book is entirely digital, and can be downloaded straight from the internet to a home PC
computer or laptop, for your child's immediate enjoyment. Now not only am I going to be giving SlowMo itunes $, I'm going to have to give theBeast money for Story Fort! lol.

Story Fort was founded by Andy Hull, a former toy designer at Melissa and Doug who
has created several best-selling toys that have won Toys of the Year at Family Fun and Child
magazines and been featured on The View and in Cookie magazine!!

Enter discount code: FFMAMMA to get $5 off the price of one book!! That's 1/3 off the retail price!! Code expires May 8th, 2009!