Mr. Techie's First Father Day!

I hope you all enjoyed celebrating Father's Day with your family.  We celebrated Father's Day at my house one day early since we planned to celebrate Father's Day with my sister's family along with my parents.  By 7 am,  I was already in the kitchen cooking for our brunch.  True it was a lot of work for just my hubby and myself since the little one is only 5 months old...but I wanted my hubby to have a 1st Father's Day  he would remember.  The menu was going to include my hubby's favorite brunch items: eggs and bacon.

What was on the menu?  I ended up making roasted red bell peppers and mushroom frittata.  I got the idea from the Williams-Sonoma website.  In addition to the frittata I had the usual sides: warm rolls, potato hash browns, and some apple wood bacon.  Must not forget the bacon!  For refreshments,  I made some Pomegranate Cranberry Bellinis..something sweet and tart.  For dessert, I made peach cobbler from the All American Chinese Cookbook website.  This dessert is very easy to make and also yummy.  It tastes even better with vanilla ice cream which I also had.  I even took the time to decorate the table by taking out one of our yellow runners and placing the Father's Day cards on the table as decor.  I also created some garlands from scrapbook paper to hang on the chandelier to add a more festive mood.  For the center piece, I used star wands I found at Michaels.  It was Father's Day...and my hubby was the star for the weekend!

 Father's Day cards, Peach cobbler w/ ice cream, hash browns, Bellinis

When Mr. Techie woke up and walked into the dining room, he was very surprised!  He knew I was going to cook something for brunch, but he didn't expect a festive spread prepared especially for him.  I had hoped I made Mr. Techie's 1st Father's Day an enjoyable and memorable one, and after the brunch I knew I had fulfilled my mission.

Fritatta, Star center piece, garlands, bacon

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to our Dad, our husbands, and to our Daddy & Daddy-to-be readers!  Although it's a Sunday, we decided to post a poem for all the Fathers & Fathers-to-be out there.  Enjoy your special day with your family and close friends, you deserve it!

Happy Father's Day
"Happy Father's Day" means more than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things we never get to say.
It means we love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to us,
And that we honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means that we are thinking of...
Your happiness on this, your day,
with pleasure and with love.

~ Author Unknown

 http://www.making-greeting-cards.com/fathers-day-poems.html

How Important are Fathers?

Fathers or Father figures are so important in a child's life that even the U.S. Government got involved in promoting its importance last year.  On June 21, 2010, President Obama spoke about the Fatherhood and Mentorship Initiative and  The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NFRC) was created.

The NFRC's primary objectives are:

• Promote responsible, caring, and effective parenting
• Enhance the abilities and commitment of unemployed or low-income father to provide material support for their families and to avoid or leave welfare programs
• Improve fathers' ability to effectively manage family business affairs
• Encourage and support healthy marriages and married fatherhood

The NFRC website really wants Fathers to be involved in their child's life, child's school, and child's community.  It gives Fathers advice in what weekly activities to do with their child.  It also gives advice on how you can  help other children who are missing a Father in their lives.  In today's busy lifestyle, both parents need to participate in the child's life.  It's not all about bringing home the dough anymore.

King of the Grill on Father's Day

Do you have a father who's the King of the Grill in your family?  Or a father that just loves BBQ?   Try making these little brownies in shape of what else... a grill with grilled items on them!!  Of course they aren't real grilled items, they are candies made to look like grilled items.  This is a fun and creative way to surprise your father for Father's Day!

Ingredients

• Brownie batter
• Black food coloring
• White frosting
• Orange sugar

• Caramel creams
• Red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices
• Hot Tamales candies

Instructions

1. To make a batch of 12, place liners in a muffin pan, oil them, and fill them two thirds full of your favorite brownie batter, then bake according to the recipe directions. Let the brownies cool.
   
2. In a small bowl, mix one or two drops of black food coloring with 1/4 cup white frosting. Transfer the frosting to a ziplock bag and snip a small section from the corner. Pipe grate lines onto each brownie and let them set for 20 minutes. Add embers with a sprinkle of orange sugar.
   
3. Prepare the grill food as instructed below and press it in place atop each brownie.
   
   Kebabs = A caramel cream and red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices, cut into small pieces + toothpick skewers
   
   Pork chop = two thirds of a caramel cream, molded with fingers + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick
   
   Hot dogs = Hot Tamales candies + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick
   
   

   

   http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/grate-gift-for-dad-88883/

   
   
   

A Builder's Dream

Looking for fun projects that both kids and daddy can do together?  Try some ready made building kits from Lowes.  They have various ready made kits that kids can work on with their Daddy!  Below are some projects available for purchase all under $10!  It would make a great activity for the kids and their Dad on Father's Day!

Bird House

 

Pirate Ship

Fire Truck

School Bus

Urban Warriors Featured Monthly

We both are constantly thinking about this blog and ways to improve it, but the tough part is making it happen due to our busy schedules. Although we both enjoy blogging we both want to spend time with our families when we get home from work.  During the next few weeks you'll be seeing some changes in this site and for the better!

Every month we will be featuring a parent who is an Urban Warrior Mom or Dad!  We both think parents as warriors trying to battle the daily events and stresses that come with raising a family.  We will also be taking nominations from our readers!  Just tell us who you want us to post about.  It can even be your own mom or dad.  Let us know why you want this urban warrior featured on our site.  If your nomination is featured you get to write about them.

Now we all know once something is posted on the web it gets immediately stored somewhere and can be captured by other search engines.  Please be aware it will be made public for the whole world to see.  You may want to ask for permission first before nominating someone you know.  We aren't responsible for any disputes or issues which occur with a post.

Thank you for your continuous support!   We are accepting nominations, so if you have one send them
to urbanwarriormoms@gmail.com.

B&D

See What's Brewing for Father's Day!

http://brooklynbrewshop.com

Father’s Day is around the corner.  Are you looking for  something different to give this year?  For those Father’s who loves their beer …How about a Beer Making kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop! 

The kit includes a 1 Gallon Glass Fermenter, 3 piece chambered airlock screw-top stopper, 12” laboratory tubing, tubing clamp, racking cane, and sanitizer.

They even make 5 gallon kits for those Dads who really love beer and are familiar in making their own beer.

Their beer making kit comes in a various flavors:

• Grapefruit Honey Ale
• Spring Lager
• Tea & Toast
• Mustard Brown Ale
• Chocolate Maple Porter
• Rose Cheeked Blonde
• Peanut Butter Porter
• Everyday IPA

What's to Come on Urban Warrior Moms

We both hope you have a fantastic weekend!  Next week is a special week at Urban Warrior Moms. Father's Day is next Saturday, so we'll be blogging about great finds, DIY projects, quick & simple recipes, and our own plans for Father's Day! Stay Tuned! - B & D

Back to Reality

I recently went back to work a couple weeks ago, and I can tell you it was not easy. Yes, I missed my son but at the same time just trying to get used to the routine of getting ready for work plus taking care of my prince took some time to get used too.   Not having my daily afternoon naps was very hard for me, since these naps helped me catch up with my much needed rest from those night feedings.

During the whole time I was on maternity leave I handled most of the house chores and pretty much took care my baby boy..  I was the one getting up doing the night shifts while my husband, Mr. Techie (will call him Techie cause he loves hi-tech gadgets) was in bed sleeping sound asleep.  The only time Mr. Techie lend a hand with caring for our son is if  I  took a shower, cooked, or to handle our son's colicky phase.

It wasn't until I went back to work that he really helped out. I complained to him before hand telling him there was no way our previous routine would work when I go back to work, so he needed to start helping out with the night shifts.  Well, day 1 didn't pan out the way I wanted because I still ended up doing the night shift...lonesome me...while surprise surprise...Mr. Techie was in deep sleep.  The next morning I complained to Mr. Techie, and he told me I need to wake him up, throw something at him, or kick him.  So that night... I woke up Mr. Techie.  He got up from the bed and started caring for our prince.  After two weeks of waking Mr. Techie up,  he got used to his new night job and both of us were starting to get into the rhythm of our new routines.

Just a few days ago, Mr. Techie even offered to take care of our prince. Yes, I said offered!  I was speechless at first and paused a bit before I joyfully said YES!  I gladly handed over our son while I ate some cheesecake and browsed the web.  He even told me to take my time, no need to rush. I almost gagged from shock.  Later that night, while our son was asleep my husband asked me how I managed to cook, clean, take care of our prince, and do the night shifts all by myself.  He realized what I went through for 4 months. I just told him, "That's easy...for our son."

Nowadays, my hubby helps me out with taking care of our prince and doing the chores. He picks up after himself and does the laundry. During weekdays he drops our son off at grandma's house while I pick him up. When I'm too tired to cook, he gets dinner.  I do admit it was tough getting Mr. Techie into the groove of things.  Having a full time job and being a parent is difficult, and both parents need to discuss about each other's roles.

One Family One Meal

What is One Family One Meal?
One Family One Meal was founded on the belief that families do not need to feed children separate, pared down meals every night. The kitchen and dining room table can be the foundation for bringing families together to share healthy, nourishing meals. One Family One Meal simplifies cooking for busy parents by providing family-friendly recipes, menu plans, and customizable shopping and budgeting tools. By following the One Family One Meal program, your family can save hundreds of dollars every year. (http://www.onefamilyonemeal.com/about_us)

There are 6 reasons to join One Family One Meal:

• Eat together as a family
• Cook one meal for everyone
• Cut shopping time
• Waste less and save time
• Recipes for restrictive diets
• Feed your family a nutritious diet

One Family One Meal allows you to choose the recipes you are interested in , puts the recipes in your virtual recipe box, and creates a shopping list for you!  How cool is that?!  No need to go through recipe books and write down your shopping list anymore.  In addition, each recipe featured has $ codes that allows you to know the cost in making the dish. The more $ the more the dish would cost in making it!