La Bump! This is what we're up to right now!

So, we've recently learned about this cool thing to do with our kids. It's called Baby Loves Disco (http://www.babylovesdisco.com) and we don't think there's anything more fun than this concept! Here's the premise (from their own website):

all across the country, baby loves disco is slowly but surely transforming the hippest night clubs into child proof discos as toddlers, pre-schoolers and parents looking for a break from the routine playground circuit let loose for some post naptime, pre-dinner fun. make no mistake, this is not the mickey mouse club, and barney is banned. baby loves disco is an afternoon dance party featuring real music spun and mixed by real djs blending classic disco tunes from the 70s, & 80s guaranteed to get those little booties moving and grooving.

They actually change a REAL night club into something that is family-friendly and safe for our little dancing queens (and kings). La Bump is proud to be a sponsor at 2 upcoming BLD events! We'll be providing face painting and stickers in addition to all the other fun and cool stuff that is always at BLD events. Please join us in:

Houston - November 1, 2008; 2-5PM; Rich's - 2401 San Jacinto St.

Dallas - November 22, 2008; 2-5PM; Purgatory Dallas - 2208 Main St # 10

See the BLD website for ticket information. We understand that it's best to purchase tickets in advance. Hope to see you there!

P.S. The pic was NOT taken at a BLD event. It's of Claire from several years ago at Jennie's wedding...CUTE!

The Hansens LOVE composting!

I just want you all to know that I LOVE composting. We initially started doing it because our trash can had a less-than-pleasant odor taking over our garage. But since then, it has taken on a new meaning for our family. It has become a pretty fun post-dinner event for the kids too! Our CP (as we call it) is about 20 yards from our deck in the back yard – so it’s a bit of a hike compared to the kitchen trash can, but it has been such a fun experience. The girls love to see what has disappeared from the day before and my oldest, Emily loves to take all of the neighborhood kids back there and tell them about how its good to “return the food to the earth.” She sounds like a tiny little scientist.

When we first started the CP, it was mostly just grass, weeds and leaves from our yard, but we quickly started adding watermelon rinds, bad tomatoes from our garden and other ‘outdoor’ trash items. It didn’t take long for us to include all of our “perishable” (or in my words garage-stinkable) food items. Now we take all of our scraps from meals, (apple cores, bones from meat, potato peels, onion skin, high-chair mess, and uneaten food from the kids’ plates) out to the pile. In conjunction with recycling everything that our city will take, this has significantly reduced the amount of trash that we are contributing to our local land fill each week. Now, our family of four typically only puts out 2-3 bags of trash a week which is MUCH less than last year at this time, when our super-stinky trash can lid was un-closable because of the amount of stuff we were throwing away.

Starting out, I did have a couple of gross-out fears with the idea of a compost pile. First I was concerned about an unpleasant odor or neighborhood dogs or squirrels routing around in the mess. To date, this has not happened. Second, I was told I would need to get some ‘bacteria’ (aka dog poop) in order for the CP to function properly – we have (thankfully) also found this to be untrue. BUT, should you have a family four-legged friend, I think this could be an added benefit for all of you dog owners! Third, the ugly post-dinner garbage sitting around on the kitchen counter really grossed me out. So . . . instead of that yucky option, we take the scraps out after every kitchen clean-up. It’s a fun little 3-minte breath of fresh air plus, its cute to watch my little 18-month old bark at the neighbors GIANT blood hound who chases us up and down his fence while we walk. Its great. So there’s my take on composting. I fully understand it’s not for every family but it is an awesome thing for ours. Now . . . if I could only find a way to compost those dirty diapers!

More opportunities to help with Hurricane IKE relief – PLEASE READ!

Please see the attached note about the 600 homeless families that are currently living in a “tent city” in Galveston. 55 of the people living in the shelters are under the age of 12 and 9 are infants. If you can help, please let us know or contact The Children’s Center (contact info is below). We are more than happy to collect items from you and deliver them to the Children’s Center. Of course, you can also send donations directly to the Center. The list of the most needed items is at the bottom of this post. If you would like to contact us directly about coordinating donation delivery, please email us at info@LaBump.com Thank you so much!


Dear Friends,
Hurricane Ike has left Galveston with a tremendous amount of homeless
families due to devastated or severely damaged homes. The Children's
Center, Inc. (TCCI), founded in 1878, is the only social service
agency in Galveston that has a shelter for homeless families. The website is: http://thechildrenscenterinc.org

As some of you may know, there are close to 600 homeless families
living in the Red Cross "tent city" in the area surrounding Alamo
School. Of that number, 55 of them are children ages 12 and under; 9
are infants.

Currently, TCCI is working closely with the Red Cross and the City of
Galveston to place the most vulnerable women, children and families
in the Family Crisis Shelter, and the Respite Care building. Due to
other shelter buildings being damaged, TCCI is only able to take a
select few, approximately 60 people, including children. These
families will be transitioned to the shelters at the end of this week.

Therefore there is a tremendous and immediate need for supplies and
household items in order to make the children and families
comfortable and safe. I have attached a list of PRIORITY needs in the
hopes that you may be able to help The Children's Center help these
most vulnerable families and children in Galveston.

Thank you, in advance, for your time and support.
Eliza

Eliza K. Quigley, LMSW
Vice President of Development & Community Relations
The Children's Center, Inc.
PO Box 2600
Galveston, Texas 77553
409-789-1112
elizaq@comcast.net

Rasins, Jink-a wata, and a Purp!

My little lady is learning how to read. How cute! In turn, she is also learning how to spell (and not spell) and wants to spell everything she sees, hears and talks about. This includes everything that I talk about as well spelling out what all of the neighbors are working on. My least favorite part about the spelling is the stringing along of an endless group of letters and then wondering what she has spelled. Mommy, it has to say something, just READ IT to me!! Yesterday I finally convinced her it was more fun to sound out a word and try to make an actual word than to just hope for a magical one hidden in all of the carefully scribed letters. So, she picked Jink-a. Mommy LOOK! I spelled J-I-N-K-A! You know, I wanta a jinka wata!

Shortly after the correction of drink starts with “d” (sound it out honey . . . dhh rrr iiinn kkk – oh I know you’ve all been there) there came the question of the raisin. “Mommy, sometimes I get hungry at school – can’t I just take one little raisin in my sock?” Gross. My husband suggested a hotdog or maybe a banana in her sock instead and I think she got the picture. So she went off to school and had a wonderful day and learned how to spell the color brown (to the tune of row, row, row your boat).

My dad is here keeping Julia this week (yaaaay Papa!) and was there yesterday to meet Emily at the bus stop. We did the daily after-school mad-dash that we all know and love including dinner, clean-up, quick trip to Target, Sheridan’s (for a free hot fudge sundae) bath-time, stories, crying about bedtime and rocking the baby to sleep for the hundredth time in the same day. It’s a much nicer dash when you have an extra grown-up to help out! We finally got everyone to sleep, I snuck to CVS for some free couponing, (go www.moneysavingmom.com) and Joe finally made it home from work. Whew, another day is done!

At about 2:30 this morning, I hear one of the many nightly calls from my two lovely ladies – this time it’s Emily. “Mooommmmm-eee!” I stumble to her room and she tells me she needs a “jink-a wata and a purp.” Poor kid, I forgot to give her the little purple Benadryl that helps her sleep cough-free through the night. So she gets her purp, gulps down the glass of water and out she goes until morning when we do it all again! I love being a mommy!

TX State Fair!

The Marlowe family headed out to the Texas State Fair last Wednesday afternoon (enjoying the discount admission of 3 soup cans + $1). We had a wonderful time! Started out in the petting barn where the girls could feed and pet all sorts of animals...favs included the tiny baby goats and the donkeys. Then they went through the little farm.

The good stuff...tornado taters, lemonade and Fletchers corny dogs were next! Claire wanted to ride all of the scary rides (in the kiddie section) including the roller coaster, the super high slide, the haunted house, and several other spinning delights. Nana offered to take Ava on the carousel, but Ava insisted it was too scary and sat it out in the stroller. She did manage to take 2 rides with big sister Claire, though. So CUTE!

We finished off with cotton candy, lots of bottled water and a cranky (not to mention sticky) ride home. Next year there will be another little Marlowe (probably walking by then) to enjoy the trip to the fair. A BOY BABY...2 weeks to go!

Hurricane Relief for Newborns

As you know, the La Bump team is committed to providing a non-invasive forum for you to buy sell and trade your maternity, baby and kids’ items. We are committed to providing that forum in a no strings attached way! With that said, we are reaching out to you today to ask for help with something that is very near and dear to our hearts. As you may know, La Bump was started by three sisters. One of us, my sister Beth, lives in Houston and has been dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. She was without power for two weeks but, thank goodness, she and her family are safe and sound. Lots of people in Houston are still very much in need, however. We think the La Bump community can help with one very specific need.

There is a critical need for items for newborns in the Houston community. Many relief efforts do not focus on this need. Please help me gather together supplies for these little ones! Many people are still rebuilding and trying to recover from weeks away from work without pay. We can help! We are willing to collect FORMULA, DIAPERS, and BABY FOOD and bring them to Houston's Local Infant Formula for Emergencies (LIFE) office (check out www.lifehouston.org). Beth lives in the Houston Heights and will be dropping off all that she can collect to that office. Of course, donations of money are also a HUGE help to Life Houston.

We have created a “Hurricane Ike Relief” location on www.LaBump.com where you can get more info about donating. Or, feel free to simply email me (Jill@LaBump.com) or Beth (Beth@Labump.com) to coordinate dropping off your donation. If it's easier, please bring your items directly to the LIFE office closest to you! Either way, please let us know what you plan to do - the La Bump community can make a BIG difference!!!

Putting up fruit

Hi there, Beth here. Jill and I got together a little early this year for our annual holiday gift making weekend. With Jill’s little one on the way we knew we had to get it done early or we wouldn’t have a chance. This is the weekend where we get together and mass produce as many holiday gifts as we possibly can in one 48 hour period. We try to make enough of whatever we’re making so that we’ll have gifts for co-workers, family friends, neighbors etc. etc. (you know how long that list gets!)

In past years we’ve made aprons, table runners and napkins and MILLIONS of cookies! Check out the photo of our cookie stash from last year! By the end of the 48 hours we are usually exhausted, disheveled and a tad sick from eating mass quantities of cookie dough – I just CAN’T STOP!!! Jennie was with us last year thank goodness – she’s been known to put ketchup on my personal cookie dough sampling stash because it’s about the only thing that will stop me. BTW, it’s quite an effective technique in case you’re looking for one.

Because we got together so early this year we had ditch the cookies and focus on something that will keep until the holidays. So we decided to try our hand at canning jam. We had tried making jam once before with less than perfect results BUT we had high hopes for better results this time. After lots of on line research and a trip to the farmers market we were armed with enough plums to feed an army! At the last minute we decided to throw some apple butter into the mix too (the apples are just SO good this time of year!)

The process started with blanching all those plums (taking the skins off so for those of you who haven’t gotten your fill of the Food Network recently). It’s sort of a yucky mess with the plums. Luckily, 7 year old Claire was up for the challenge! She did a fabulous job helping get all those pesky skins off of the plums.

We chopped boiled, thickened, sweetened and stirred ALL weekend!! I think I still have some sugar under my fingernails. At one point, I found a blob of jelly in my hair. It’s not glamorous work, Ladies! But I am very proud to report that at the end of it all we are proud to have “put up” as they say in the canning world, 20 jars of plum jelly and 10 jars of apple butter. YUM!!! The house smelled delightful!!!!