New House Guest

Yesterday while searching at the thrift store I spotted five little men I just HAD to bring home. . . .

I cannot WAIT to paint these! They are is great shape just need repainted with DETAIL! Yipee, I am sooooo excited to put these in the gardens. They only cost $1.99 a piece too. Good deal compared to finished gnomes selling for around $20.

Tile Coasters

How lucky am I that I found a box full of white tiles in our garage? A couple years ago, a gal pal of mine, made the most darling tile coasters as wedding favors. Unfortunately, she only used Modge Podge as a sealant and the paper began to peel and tear only after only a few uses. Even though they weren't properly sealed, I loved them and have been dying to make my own. 

To make the coasters, I first applied a layer of modge podge to the tile. After cutting the paper of my choosing to size, I placed it centered. Don't forget to smooth out all the wrinkles starting from the middle and push outwards. Once that layer dried, I added another coat of modge podge and let them sit for an hour. After the break I sealed them with two coats (waiting 15 min in between) of Krylon's Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze. 24hrs later, I glued a square piece of felt to the bottom.

Here's how they turned out! The vintage ones are most defiantly my favorite. I think I will redo my kiddos Easter picture coaster set. I  printed the pictures out on printer paper. The colors are just too grey for my liking. But with some editing and real photo paper they will be turn out just right. 

Freezer Meals

One of my goals of my spring break is to find and try recipes that can be made ahead of time. Baseball season just started and dinner, more often than not, is take out those nights. I do not want to go that route AGAIN this year.

I found a super great food blog overall, really. But what I like the best is her LONG list of YUMMY make ahead meals.

Joelen, of What's Cookin Chicago has AH-MAZING recipes.

Her post Freezer Friendly Make Ahead Meals has like 40 recipes! I have personally tried her baked shrimp scampi, best ever beef dip sandwiches, cheddar and cracker chicken, chili rubbed pork spar ribs and swiss mac n' cheese. They were delicious! We have only tried the pork chop recipe after being froze though. And I have to recommend that if you have little ones, you may want to cut down the amount of chili powder or red pepper.

Joelen has a million more tasty posts. I can't wait to tackle more of her recipes. I think it's well worth all of you taking a look, if you already haven't seen her blog :)

Hippity Hoppity Easter!

Wow. This week flew by fast. I had so much fun with the kiddos. Our last day of spring break was JAMMED packed full of Easter fun.

In the morning, a local craft store was hosting a Free Kids Craft Day. They had 10 craft tables, some were Easter crafts others were not. One table was a candy necklace project, which I totally plan to steal for Brooklyn's birthday party. We were there for almost two hours, it cost only $10 for both kiddos to do all the projects, and they had a lot of fun. This locally owned craft store has events all the time, I learned. Another kids crafts day is coming up in June. 

After the craft day, there was a special viewing of Hop at our local Dollar Theater. Well, not too local. About 45 minutes away. LOL. But I am used to having to drive far for something great!

After Hop, we went to a FREE Easter egg hunt. We've gone to this hunt for the last 6 years. And its still my favorite to attend. They have hot dogs, corn dogs, chips, and juice and pretty awesome prizes all for FREE. Also contributing the radness of it all, is the hunt isn't overcrowded. Our hometowns Easter egg hunt is and I hate it!! Oh and did I mention it is completely FREE!

The kids were so tired by the end of the night. I mean cranky, cry when your sister drops your plastic egg, stomp your feet and yell, TIRED! But I really, really wanted to try out glow in the dark Easter eggs. Guess I will save that for next year :)

Hope everyone has a GREAT Easter!

Playing with food

My kids love to cook! Especially Miss Bee. Tanner loves to eat :) Which is a big change from the awfully picky toddler he was. So today we experimented in the kitchen. . . ALL DAY!!!

Unfortunately, I was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures.

I woke the kiddos up with a pancake buffet. All the pancakes were fun shapes like mouse/bear, the first letter of their name, hearts, etc. The buffet was set up with a variety of cut up fruit, peanut butter, nutella, chocolate chips, whip cream, syrup, strawberry topping, jam and chocolate sauce. Of course, I supervised how many sweets were put on those pancakes :) My sweet boy had soo much fun making his own concoctions, he ended up eating four pancakes!!!

We were very full from the pancake smorgasbord, so we all cuddled on the couch and watched Disney's Ratatouille. 

For snack, we made peanut butter celery sticks with a twist. I saw this snack a while ago on Better Homes and Gardens. I knew the kids would have fun making and eating these! I used the left over fruit from breakfast too!

After snack we made the two desserts I planned to bring to Easter dinner. Both recipes I found via Pinterest.

Reese's No Bake Dessert

This dessert is so delishous, but it is very rich! I decided to leave out the powered sugar.

Strawberry No Bake Cheese Cake

Mmmhm, this cheese cake is delish and super easy! We topped it with the extra strawberry topping also left over from that morning!

My little chef's had a few too many tastes of these sweet treats.

We needed a healthy lunch, STAT! We had homemade lunchables, grapes, and a Blueberry smoothie.

Blue Berry Smoothie

1/2 cup of blueberries

1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of ice

Blend the ice, banana, honey, and blueberries on a high speed. I topped each glass with a few whole blueberries and a strawberry.

For mid afternoon snack, we had good old fashioned air popped popcorn. My kiddos LOVE watching our popcorn maker LOL

For dinner we made KABOBS!!! They kids totally enjoyed putting all the cut up veggies and pineapple on the kabobs. I put on all the raw meat, which they were a little sad about. But watching dad cook the kabobs over a flame was exciting :)

The kids were pooped out on cooking and still may have had a little too much sweets from baking earlier so we skipped out on dessert after dinner.

We had so much fun. I will defiantly be inviting my kiddos into the kitchen more often!

Meeting the Lorax + Printable

Today, the hubs and I took the kiddos to Dr. Suess' The Lorax. It was a cute movie. I still however, prefer the book, but Danny DeVito was excellent as the Lorax.

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The kids LOVED it. Our families all time favorite kids movie is Despicable Me, and the same team did a great job on The Lorax. (by the way, a number 2 Despicable Me is in the works, due out sometime in 2013 eek! love Steve Carell) The Lorax's  has a good message to SAVE THE TREES and a greener planet. I think they did a much better job at getting the healthier environment point across to the kids than Wall-e and Happy Feet.

Prior to the movie, I made up some Lorax mustaches. I thought it would be cute to wear at the movie. My kiddos so kindly pointed out immediately that the color was wrong. 

Bumble Bee and T-Bird did love their mustaches though. They played with them through out the night.

 In case you need one I made stencil below :)

Lorax Mustache Template

After getting home we made cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute if I don't say so myself. Tanner wasn't really interested in making them, but Brooklyn is always reading to bake. I can see her becoming a baker :) The cupcakes were chocolate with vanilla frosting. We used paper straws and cotton candy for the tree's. Tanner joined in, when it was time to eat.

We started some gardening after we filled our bellies with sweets. I felt it was a fitting way to end the fun day. Brooklyn and Tanner really enjoy gardening. . . okay, well they really enjoy digging in the garden for worms, but its better than nothing. 

Science is Cool!

How great was Bill Nye the Science Guy? I seriously want to archive all his episodes so my kiddos can watch them when of age. (If you don't know who Bill Nye is check him out here)

Bill Nye

Channeling my inner Bill Nye, the kids and I engaged in some good ol' science. Well mostly science, plus a little fun too! All experiments were based around the BALLOON. I wish I had thought of taking pictures of my little scientists at work. We had so much fun today.

THE FIZZ INHALATOR

Supplies Needed:

a empty plastic bottle

1/2 cup of vinegar 

balloon

Baking soda

What to do:

Carefully pour the vinegar into the bottle. Bow the balloon up once, then let go while still grasping it. This loosens the balloon up for maximum size. Fill the balloon about half way with baking soda. (The easiest way to fill the balloon is with a funnel) Carefully, wrap the neck of the balloon around the top of the bottle WITHOUT spilling any baking soda in. Lift the balloon up, so all the baking soda enters the bottle mixing with the vinegar.

How does it work:

The baking soda and the vinegar create a chemical reaction.The two chemicals work together to create a carbon dioxide, which is a gas. Gasses need a lot of room to spread out. The carbon dioxide fills the bottle and continues spread by inflating the balloon.

STATIC ELECTRICITY CAN ROLL

Supplies needed:

empty soda can

balloon

a head full of hair :)

What to do:

Put the can on a smooth surface, like a table. Rub the balloon up and down, back and forth, fast on your head o'hair. Hold the balloon close to the can without touching it. the balloon begins to come toward the balloon.

STATIC ELECTRICITY WATER BEND

Supplies needed:

indoor facet

balloon

a head full of hair :)

What to do:

Turn on the faucet just until you have a very thin stream of water flowing. Rub the balloon up and down, back and forth, fastly on your head o'hair. Now bring the balloon close to the flowing water. Do not touch the water. The stream of water will bend towards the balloon.

STATIC ELECTRICITY TISSUE JUMP

Supplies needed:

tissue tore up as small as possible (super small)

balloon

head full of hair

What to do:

Rub the balloon up and down, back and forth, fastly on your head o'hair. Hold the balloon close to the tiny pieces of tissue. If the pieces are small enough they will jump off the table to the balloon.

How does it work for ALL static experiments:

When you rub the balloon through your hair, invisible electrons (with a negative charge) build up on the surface of the balloon. This is called static electricity, which means "non-moving electricity" The electrons have the power to pull very light objects (with a positive charge) toward them - like the soda can, water, and TINY tissue pieces.

TEXTURE BALLOONS

Mainly for my three year old, I filled four balloons with liquids. Warm noodle soup, cold water, liquid soap and ketchup (had a bottle of knock off brand, something HAVE to be name brand). Each kid hypothesized what the substance inside was. If was fun they all guess the water right but none of the others. My neighbor got close to the soap by guessing gel. We discussed size, weight, texture, look in the light, sound, the way it jiggled. . . . and what a hypothesis is.

Lastly, for a little fun, all the kids that ended up joining in on the science (6!) grabbed a side of a blanket that I placed water filled balloons on. All the giggles and squeals were contagious as they popped the balloons up in the air. 

Next science day theme....WEATHER! And lab coats, I must buy them all lab coats!

Library Scavenger hunt! Free Printable

This week is T-Bird  and Bumble Bee's spring break. 

For the first time in T-Bird's life, Mommy won't be home for him (I am very sad). So while I am at school for four hours each day, T and B are going to the. . . . (dun, dun, dun) BABYSITTERS! Not that she is a bad babysitter, she is wonderful. It's just my kiddos are use to staying home with me in their own home.......with their toys.......and their neighbors....... their own snack bin.

I want to make it up to them. While I am DYING to share all the wonderful things I've been working on, I have to wait, because this week is KID week!

Today we had a Library Scavenger Hunt! While on our way home from the babysitters, we stopped by the post office.
That is where the kiddos received this postcard from Waldo.

(Mommy was a little sneaky! That morning I put the postcard in the mail box and headed over to the library and asked the nice librarian if she could please put a clue in Dr. Suess' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish right before 1:00. 

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Once at the library, the kiddos found our first book on the table in 'kid's area'. While reading this fav. Dr. Seuss book, I pulled the note out of my bag that was the next clue and read it once we finished One fish Two Fish. 

It read: "A told B and B told C, I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree." I got the cutest response ever! In a loud, very non-library voice, Bumble Bee shouted Chica Chica BOOM BOOM! 

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After reading each book, a new clue was given, The next clue was more about a series rather than a specific book. It read: These books are about a Chiwawa dude, not a Siamese cat!

Side note....We LOVE Skippy Jon Jones books, especially on CD!!! If  you haven't ever listened to it on CD your child is truly missing out. The author Judy Schachner does an incredible job reading in character.

 It took them a minute or two, but after I said the clue in my best Spanish accent, they got it. 

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Next clue read: Put on your best bathing suits and let's meet the hippo's at BELLY BUTTON BEACH! Bumble Bee has a thing with her belly b, whenever she is tired, she plays with it. It's like her security blanket. We love the author Sandra Boynton too!

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"This doggy doesn't like bones." Okay, Okay! So this clue wasn't my best. The kids had a hard time, I had to help with this one.

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Once they finished reading "If You Give A Dog A Bone," they were a little pooped out so while I still had clues for "Shark vs. Train," "The true Story of the Three Little Pigs," and "Green Eggs and Ham," I shortened the reading list up and cut them out. The last clue read "Mommy loves you to the moon and back." They instaintly knew the book but did not know the title. They called it the Bunny Love book. Cute.

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Finally after reading their last book, I gave them this last letter from Waldo.

So we went home and had ice cream sundaes :)

But guess what?

I made extra's!! Please have a library savenger hunt, have a 'Where's Waldo' party or just send a postcard or letter to someone from Waldo.

Just add you kiddos name and Waldo's signature. Or even erase the message on the postcard and add your own :) I give you permission to go WILD :)

Freebie Where's Waldo Postcard

Freebie Where's Waldo Letter