Two and a Half

Kaiya officially turned two and a half at the end of March and this post is all about her and her life as two a half year old. I shared earlier about her fear of the sand while we were in Florida. Well despite all the efforts by her daddy to help her overcome her fear, she just couldn't believe that there were not spiders in the sand. She had a few emotional breakdowns on the beach (screaming with sheer terror at the top of her lungs as everyone looked on), but as soon as I would take her to the water, she turned into a different girl. So fun to watch her joy as she played in the water...pulling her away was a different story....more tears. Oh the drama of a two year old girl. There is certainly a lot of drama that comes with this cute little girl. She still loves to pick out her own ensemble of clothing and that usually includes something pink, something with tulle and we don't bother with socks because they usually come off only a few minutes after we put them on.

Pink is her favorite color. She loves Cinderella. Counting goes something like this...1..2..3..9. Mommy is her favorite person right now and she declares every night that Mommy is going to put her to bed...not Daddy. She can't go to sleep until we've recited all the verses we've learned so far this year.

Her favorite foods are macaroni & cheese, hot dogs, and any kind of fruit. She turns her nose away from most desserts including chocolate desserts & ice cream. Crazy girl! She loves to give lots of hugs & kisses.

On another note, I love the frozen frappaccinos at Starbucks, but don't like paying the big $$ for them. So in doing some searching online, I found a couple recipes that come pretty close to the real thing. We made this one in Florida and it tasted so cool & delicious.

Mocha Frappaccino

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, plus
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/3 cup strong coffee
1 cup ice
Directions
1in a blender, combine everything but the ice, and blend until sugar has dissolved.
2add ice and blend until smooth (sometimes you will need a bit more ice).

I also LOVE the Strawberries & Creme Frappaccino so did a search for that one as well and was shocked when I saw how many calories that one includes. A whopping 420 calories and 12 g of fat...yikes! Here is a yummy alternative that I think comes pretty close and is maybe even a little better. It includes soy milk, which I despise but you seriously can't taste it in the finished product. 135 calories and 1 g of fat in this puppy...that's more like it.

Ingredients:2/3 cup frozen strawberries (just plain- NOT in syrup!)

5 oz. light vanilla soy milk

2 tsp. Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee-mate powder (dissolved in an oz of warm water)

1 oz. Sugar Free Torani Strawberry Syrup

3 Splenda packets

3 large ice cubes

Fat Free Reddi-Wip

Place all of the ingredients in blender, except for the whipped cream.

Blend on high speed for 30-45 seconds.

Pour, and top with Fat Free Reddi-Wip.

Strawberrylicious!