The Impossible

"Everything is possible ..... the impossible just takes a little longer." ~Author Unknown

Oh Yeaahh!

Gourmet Mom on-the-Go shares some creative uses for Kool-Aid....




1. Make Easy Flavored Kool-Aid Frosting
Stir a package of Kool-Aid into a can of vanilla frosting.

2. Frosting for a Jello Cake
Fold in a pack of Kool-Aid into a container of thawed whipped topping. If the frosting tastes a little too sour, add in a little sweetener to taste.

3. Make Kool-Aid Lip Gloss
To make a fruity lip gloss put a small amount of petroleum jelly into a microwave-safe bowl. Stir some Kool-Aid in, enough to make it the color you desire. Add a little sugar, then, place the bowl in a microwave oven for about five or six seconds, just enough to soften it.

4. Make Sand Art With Kool-Aid
Draw pictures on paper, spread a thin layer of Elmer’s glue over one part of the picture. It's better to start at the top of the picture and work down. Sprinkle Kool-Aid over the glue and press it down gently. Shake off the excess powder off, and go on to the next color.

5. Temporarily Dye Your Hair With Kool-Aid
In a glass bowl mix a packet of Kool-Aid with a teaspoon of corn starch and just enough water to make a paste. Apply the paste to clean, dry hair and let set for five minutes, rinse the paste out.

6. Make Spooky Party Decorations
Just place some dry ice- don't touch it with your hands!- into a glass, and pour a packet of any flavor Kool-Aid into it. Kids will watch with fascination as the dry ice and Kool-Aid bubbles and mists.

7. Make Kool-Aid Clay for the Kids
Mix together 1 cup of flour, a 1/4 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar and a pack of Kool-Aid in a pan. Stir in 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Heat over medium heat stirring until the mixture thickens, remove from heat and let it cool. Knead the Kool-Aid clay until smooth. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator until use.

8. Remove Chlorine From Your Hair
Use Lemonade flavored Kool-Aid. Pour a little Kool-Aid in your hand, then add shampoo and lather up. Let the Kool-Aid/shampoo set on your hair for fifteen minutes before you rinse it and then shampoo out well. (and we drink this??)

9. Kool-Aid Water Colors
Pour Kool-Aid into ice cube tray, one compartment per color. Stir 1 tablespoon of water into each compartment; stir until the powders are completely dissolved.

10. Tie Dye with Kool-Aid
You can dye any cotton item such as tee shirts, socks, bed sheets, towels, as long as it is cotton. The article you want to tie dye must be clean and dry. Pour each color package of Kool-Aid into an individual glass bowl. Stir an ¼ cup of white vinegar into each bowl; make sure the powders dissolve completely. Gather the fabric up in several places and secure with several rubber bands. Dip each bunch into a bowl of Kool-Aid. Leave the rubber bands in place and set aside to dry. Once dry, remove the rubber bands and spread it out so it can completely dry. Put it in the clothes dryer by itself and dry on high for 15 minutes to set the colors in.

11. Use Kool-Aid to Check for Toilet Tank Leaks (this is funny to me)
Lift the lid off the toilet tank and pour Kool-Aid into the tank. The darker colors work the best. Don't flush the toilet! Just watch the toilet bowl, if you see the Kool-Aid float through from the tank, then you have a leak. The test can take fro 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the leak.

12. Removing Rust Stains
Remove rust stains on your driveway by mixing unsweetened lemon Kool-Aid with just a little water and scrub. (see #8)

13. Cleaning the Inside of your Dishwasher
Dump a packet of unsweetened lemon Kool-Aid into the soap dispenser, run the wash cycle. Removes stains and hard water deposits.

14. Dyes for Easter Eggs
Mix a packet of Kool-Aid in a cup with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and ½ cup of water

15. Kool-Aid Stands
Send the kids out to sell and play--they can sugar up other people's kids.:)

16. Decorating Cookies
Use in place of colored sugars, just sprinkle a little across the top

17. Science Project with Plants
Place a stalk of celery in water with Kool-Aid in it to demonstrate how the Kool-Aid is drawn up into the stalk with the water.

18. Coloring Flowers
Place carnations, daisies or any white flower in water with Kool-Aid in it and watch the flowers turn colors.

19. Demonstrate a Non-Newtonian Substance
Mix equal parts cornstarch and water that has been colored with a pack of Kool-aid. Mix with fingers and observe that this substance fluctuates between solid and liquid.

20. Shower Prank (look out, Gourmet Dad!)
This is a simple prank. All you have to do remove the shower head from your shower and pour in the kool-aid packet into the shower head. NOTE: Make sure you are not the next one to take a shower.:)

21. From Erika: For stampers out there, you can put koolaid into embossing powder and make scratch and sniff images!

As a side note:
A dab of toothpaste on a damp paper towel cleans up stubborn Kool-Aid stains off both skin and countertops.

Scenes from Superland's idea to make paper bag buildings is so cute!

Have a great weekend!

Animal School

Thank you to my friend CC who shared this on her blog. There is much insight to be gained from this video. I hope we can see all children with their 'unique blend of talents, personality and ingredients', who 'possesses their very own exclusive collection of gifts.' May we study, learn, and customize an environment as unique as each child that will allow them to excel as they are meant to.

Nathan's Hope

To say that Nathan Dorje Andrew is a “Miracle Baby” is an understatement. Nathan has Holoprosencephaly, a brain disorder that causes skull and facial defects, as well as severe developmental delays. In most cases the babies die before birth.

Here are the statistics for Holoprosencephaly:

His condition is about 1 : 20,000 out of every birth. (0.00005)
1 : 200 make it through full term pregnancy alive. (0.005)
less than 2% of those survive through the trauma of birth to their first breath. (0.02)
less than 1% of those that survive come out without health complication which will allow them to live during their short hospital stay. (0.01)
Total odds = (0.0000000005) or 1 : 20,000,000,000 chance. That is 1 in 20 Million.

In the California Super Lotto Odds = 1:18,009,460 (1 in 18+ Million).

Nathan Dorje Andrew
(aka. Mr. Smiles)
Born: August 7, 2006
Weight: 7lb. 9oz.
Height: 19 inches

Now, Nathan is 2 years old and has beaten all the odds.

Unfortunately there is no course of treatment for this disorder. Nathan has had to go through countless tests and treatments. Due to the nature of his disorder, he needs specialized treatments designed to treat the brain. These treatments are not covered by insurance therefore they have refused to pay for most of his therapies.

Because of kind-hearted people, we have been able to put him through some treatments that have helped him, but he is a long way off from walking and even further from being normal.

We refuse to believe that Nathan doesn’t have potential and we refuse to give up and just accept that he will be in a chair non-mobile non-verbal. Now of course we know and understand that it is a possible outcome and we accept that. However, we figure that if that’s his prognosis then if we don’t do anything that’s what’ll happen and if we do something it may still happen but there’s a chance that he will develop new skills so we want to do our best to explore the possibility of helping him develop new skills. All we have to lose is money and we’re willing to accept that loss.

So we have looked at and researched many programs that have the potential to help Nathan develop motor skills. Please see the chart below to review our research:



You can click on the chart above to see a larger version of it.

I have read and done research on brain plasticity and believe that if we follow different therapy plans it’s possible that maybe Nathan’s motor cortex will remap and enable him to gain some motor skills. We’ve already seen this as his occipital cortex seems to be absent yet his vision is perfect. So we’re hoping to extend this to the motor cortex.

Here’s what we’re currently doing:

Physical Therapy: 5 times / week (3 times at home, twice at a clinic)
Occupational Therapy: 3 times / week (at home)
Speech Therapy: 1 time / week for language/ augmentative communication, 1 time / week vital stim (at clinics)
Developmental Therapy: 2 times/ week (at home)
Group Therapy: will soon start twice a week at a clinic
Hippotherapy: 1 time / week

We have also been to Oregon and have done a program called Reach, which is similar to the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. Here’s a video of him doing a session of the program:

Reach Program Video

We were doing that 4 times a day but have winded down to doing it once or twice a day.

He’s had fetal stem cell infusions twice in Dominican Republic. They were given to him by Dr. Rader from Medra.

He’s been to an intensive therapy program at Napacenter.org. He went for 3 weeks, 4 hours a day. He got stronger, but lost the strength very quickly. We would like to go again in the near future.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Nathan started “diving” last October.

ABR (Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation): We went to Montreal for this program last October: abrcanada.com

G-therapy: We have the first 3 months ready to go and will start him on this program on the week of Oct 13th.

We are now looking at the following things: Future Treatments:

Biomedical Protocol: We are testing him for food allergies and will create a nutritional program specific to his needs. We’ll ge giving him vitamins and supplements to support his immune system and body. We sent the bloodwork, stool and urine samples and will wait for the results to start his diet protocol.

Neuro-fitness: a developmental program that is design to help him to overcome infant reflexes and stimulate new neural connections for movement. Neuro Fitness

After we get back we want to think about/look at some of the other programs listed on the therapy chart.

Our hope is to get Nathan strong enough to hold up his head and possibly his trunk, as well as to develop the ability to say some words.

Finally, we are finalizing the process of getting him a gait trainer so he can gain independent mobility. We’re getting him the Hart Walker and the Kidwalk.

Medically, Nathan’s only problem is Reflux for which he takes prevacid, and hydrocephalus for which he has a VP shunt. He feeds orally (mashed/pureed foods).

Nathan’s hope is that he will one day be able to hold up his head, control his muscles, sit unassisted, crawl, walk, and say words.

Nathan’s life is a miracle - his chances for survival and living past 1 year old were 1 in 20 million.

Nathan not only lives - he is full of life and joy. He is a happy child who loves elmo, his family, swimming in the pool, and reading books.

Nathan needs intensive intervention to achieve goals like head control, rolling, sitting, standing, and crawling.

If you would like to donate to help Nathan click HERE to find out how.

By Brian Andrew of Pray for Nathan

Grand Prize Winners Announced! & Talk to Me Tuesday

The hour is finally upon us, the moment we've all been waiting for, when we announce the winners of the grand prizes!

I was on the edge of my seat (okay, my couch) as I punched the numbers into my favorite winner-determining website, sure to include everyone who did a post announcing the kidz blog and also those who forwarded an email to announce the kidz blog.

And the winners are....

2nd runner-up, $50 gift card to Zappos, is Gayla from Where Are My Angels

1st runner-up, $100 gift card to IKEA, is Stacy from Stacy & Steve's Family Blog

and the Grand Prize,

a $200 gift card to Target,

goes to....

Tara Eagar for forwarding an email!

Congrats to the winners and Thank You to EVERYONE who participated in the kick-off week in any way. Thanks for helping to spread the word, adding your comments, sharing your insights..... I have been blown away by all of you! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now - the show must go on. So onto our routine posting activities....

By sharing an inspiring post with the rest of us, you will not only uplift those who stop by to check it out, you will also be entered into the drawing for the giveaway of.....



an Instyler! For those who don't know what an Instyler is, it's basically a smoothing iron with some bonus features. So hop on the Mr Linky to be entered to win!

Resources to Help Maximize Your Photos

Today I'm highlighting a subject near and dear to my heart.... maximizing personal photos. Whether you srapbook traditionally or digitally, or like to/want to create digital photo books, or simply want great photos to stick in sleeved albums or photo boxes, you should find at least some of these resources helpful....

Photography Tips:

Scrapbooks Etc Photog Blog

Shutter Sisters

Strobist

Take Great Pictures

Personal Photo Books:

Blurb Books Made By You

Scrapbooks Etc Stories By Everyone

Shutterfly Photo Books

Viovio Photo Books

Quotes/Sayings:

Creative Quotations

The Quote Garden

Scrapbook.com

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials:

Jessica Sprague

Scrapbook-Bytes

Shabby Shoppe

Fonts:

dafont

Fairytale Fonts

Font Diner

Fontgarden

Fonts for Peas

Free Typewriter Fonts

High Fonts

Lettering Delights

Scrap Village

Marci of Day by Day won the heart-shaped crayons for leaving a comment yesterday. Congrats Marci!

Today's giveaways are the grand prizes. It is still not too late to enter to win! If you haven't entered to win yet, go HERE to do so. I will announce the winners at midnight!

Thanks, everyone, for supporting me during the kick-off week. I appreciate it more than you know!

Shine Brightly

My new friend Estela shared this on her blog, and it was too good to keep to myself....

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Marianne Williamson

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ~Matt 5:16

Marie of Serendipity-Doo-Dah won yesterday's giveaway,

the playdough!


Today's commenters will be entered to win the heart-shaped crayons.

We're All in This Together

It's still not too late to enter to win the grand prizes. Go here to find out how!

The winner of yesterday's prizes are....

Rachael of Little Bites of Heaven won the popular 'Be Present' cuff bracelet!

and Beth of Odd Girl Out...? won the crayon roll-up!

today's giveaway is: Playdough from TurtleMommy!

We're All in This Together, by Ben Lee

Woke up this morning
I suddenly realized
We're all in this together
I started smiling
'Cause you were smiling
And were all in this together
I'm made of atoms
You're made of atoms
And were all in this together
And long division
Just doesn't matter
'Cause were all in this together

I saw you walking
In the city
We're all in this together
The city's changing
'Cause we are changing
And we're all in this together
Every twelve seconds
Someone remembers
That we're all in this together
In the kitchen
Of your rent-control apartment
We're all in this together

C'mon baby
I don't mean to rush you
I only wanted to reach out and touch you
I've gotta start to open my heart

I know you think
About jumping ship before it sinks
But we are all in this together
Ask a scientist
It's quantum physics
We're all in this together
And on the subway
We feel like strangers
But we're all in this together
Yeah I love you and you love her
And she loves him
But we are all in this together

Y'know baby
There's never been protection
In all the history of human connection
C'mon darling
It's alright to show me
You don't ever need to be lonely
Once you start to open your heart

I saw you crying
I started crying
'Cause we're all in this together

And then religion
It's a big decision
But we're all in this together

We're all in this together

I love this song because it represents the reasons I was compelled to start this blog. We're all more alike than we are different. Every person's journey has unexpected twists and turns, peaks and valleys. All of us can benefit from connecting... helping, uplifting and motivating one another. We truly are all in this together!

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

~Mother Theresa

I am grateful to the kidz featured in this slide show and their parents who have been willing to share a glimpse into their lives, and provide information and inspiration.

If you have a story, resources, or any information you would like to share, please email me at kidzorg.blogspot@gmail.com.


Thanks everyone!

Plant the Seeds of Greatness

The kick-off week has been a success so far, but it's not over! I'll be doing giveaways through the weekend, and the grand prizes will be given on Monday. It's not too late to enter for the grand prizes. Go HERE to do so!

Today's commenters will be entered to win....

This 'Be Present' bracelet cuff created by Cat

or this crayon roll-up pouch made by k9hanson.

The winners of yesterday's prizes were....

Dana of Laneah's Life & Family won the pearl drop earrings!

and Vickie of Vickie's Scrapbooking & Tidbits won the ouchie pouchie!

Congrats ladies!

Now, onto the fun family ideas....

Did you know February is 'Plant the Seeds of Greatness' month? It is! Here's epromos food for thought about this month:

"If you are unhappy with how your life is going at the moment, this month has been set aside to sit-back and reflect on what you can do to improve your situation."

Wow. That leaves a lot to think about, doesn't it? Here's an idea to give a visual reminder about the seeds you have planted to transform your life....

Mom in Madison teaches how to grow wheat grass

And, you may have noticed, I have a thing with the analogy of caterpillars becoming butterflies. What a beautiful symbol of true transformation. Here are a couple ideas to symbolize change......

Martha Stewart shows how to create this snowball caterpillar!

and who could resist Martha's butterfly cupcakes?

Speaking of cupcakes...

I adore Cynthia Rae's cookie monster cupcakes!

and I think Purple Lemon Designs'

free printable cupcake recipe cards are too cute!

If you and the kiddos are getting cabin fever waiting for spring, here are some ideas to help you feel like you're cruisin' even when you're still inside!....

Parents.com shows you how to build-a-train out of boxes and paper!

(The link shows how the train building, and many other indoor games teach children good behavior. It's worth a visit, there are lots of good ideas!)

Martha's stop and goo edible roadway is ridiculously cute!

Are you going to plant any seeds of greatness this month?