Snack Time: Strawberry Cream Cheese Sandwich

Few things taste better in the morning than home made breakfast. My personal favorite is waffles with cream cheese and strawberries. With that, you get a little bit of crunch/crisp from the waffles, smooth creaminess from the cream cheese, and the delightful juiciness from the strawberries. I'll bet you can even taste it right now in your mind and are trying to figure out if you have the necessary ingredients to make it. Fortunately, There are a lot of variations to it to suit almost any taste.

Here is a Pinterest link to some variations. 

My personal favorite is either cream cheese with strawberries on an egg bagel, or strawberries and Nutella on whole wheat toast. I just can't get enough of them.

What are your favorite flavor combinations?

Snack Time: Ghosts on a Log / Ants on a Log

I don't know about you, but I grew up eating ghosts on a log. Truth be told, I still eat them as an adult. That is how much I love them.

Ghost/Ants on a log are super easy to make. You slice some apples as thick or thin as you want. Then you spread peanut butter on them, and top with marshmallows or raisins.  Simple as that! You could also do celery and cream cheese or peanut butter, use mixed nuts instead of raisins, use another dried fruit, etc.

Here are some Pinterest links for more great ideas:

Ghosts on a log

Ants on a log

Thanks!

Activity: I love you because....

This is actually a game that my husband and I play when one of us is feeling really down, but it also translates well for a kids activity.

The rules of this game are simple. The first person says, "I love you because" and then says why they love someone.

The second person responds with "I love you because" and continues the same as the first person. This can go on and on and tends to move past the physical aspects of loving someone fairly quickly.

Here are some examples:

I love you because you make me laugh.
I love you because you are my sunshine.
I love you because you make me feel safe.
I love you because you giggle a lot and that makes me happy.
I love you because you are silly.
I love you because you are kind.
I love you because you are eager to learn new things.
I love you because your heart is beautiful.
I love you because you work hard.

There are truly an infinite number of answers that could be given in this game. The trick is to try not to repeat everything that your spouse or child or playmate says, which after a while can be much more difficult than it sounds.

And as a bonus, you could even use this game after your kids have been fighting and you want to remind them that they love each other, not hate each other. It would also work well in the car on a road trip since you don't actually need any materials to play the game.

Pom Pom Balls And Painter's Tape

With all of the different craft projects that I do, and all of the gross motor skill activities we try to fit in, I find that I always have painter's tape on hand in at least one color.  Why painters tape you ask? There are a number of reasons actually. The first being that it doesn't destroy your walls when you peel it off. I have not lost any paint, or left any residue after peeling off painter's tape, no matter how long it is actually there.  The second reason is that I can also use it on carpet, tile, laminate, and wood flooring without leaving residue, stickiness, or markings. So basically, in our house, painter's tape is gold. With all than in mind, here is an activity that uses painter's tape and is sure to keep your kids entertained when it is too wet or cold to play outside.

The credit for this idea comes entirely from a website called Frugal Fun 4 Boys,

The object of the game is to keep the puffy ball (pom pom) inside of the track that you made using the painter's tape. You can also use other items like marbles, ping pong balls, etc, but they might role too much for beginners. The puffy balls are very light weight, and won't role on their own, making them the best item to start with. To move the puffy balls, you can either blow like normal, or for more silliness and exactness, use a straw. Even crazy straws might work, or toilet paper/paper towel tubes. Basically you can use anything in the house that is hollow.

I can't wait to try this tomorrow with my daughter. Enjoy!

For more pictures and variations, please visit Frugal Fun 4 Boys.

Activity: Ball and cup trick

One of the things that I am very proud of is that my dad is an amateur magician. He's done many a birthday party for us kids, and even some church functions. But before you get all excited and ask what the secrets to his tracks are, don't even bother asking. I think that magic is a wonderful thing and I REFUSE to figure out the tricks...even the simple little kid ones. I still enjoy watching my dad practice and viewing him with the mindset of a 6 year old. And that's where the activity comes in. Kids love magic tricks too! So for this activity, there are a lot of choices.

1. Plan a magic themed birthday party (there are lots of people around that do some magic tricks, or you could learn them yourself).

2. Buy an amateur magician kit for play time with the kids (you may want to make a few extra capes if you have a lot of kids)

3. Find some science experiments (make gak, flubber, goo, etc.)

4. Watch a Harry Potter movie.

5. Color changing drinks (I think there is some clear kool-ade that changes colors or something).

6. Add peroxide and baking soda to a bottle of mountain dew (it will glow in the dark!)

7. Color with Crayola Color Wonder products.

8. Make a volcano erupt using baking soda and vinegar.

9. Spend some time on Youtube learning for easy and simple card tricks that your kids can learn.

10. Make some milk magic!

Candy Corn Art

Fall is my favorite season! I love the colors, the smells, kids being back in school, and all the excitement that it entails. I also love Halloween crafts. I love doing the crafts, saving them, and using them year after year for my Halloween decorations. My mom did the same things when we were kids. Like mother like daughter I guess! It is no wonder that I am constantly looking for new fun crafts that kids ages 3 and older can do. I went through my Pinterest Halloween page and decided on a craft.

Here is a summary of one that we did this week.

This is my finished candy corn. 

Candy Corn Artwork

Materials Needed:
Craft glue sticks or wet glue
Black, white, orange, and yellow construction paper
White crayons
Scissors


Directions: have either you or the kids, depending on their ability to use scissors, cut small squares out of the yellow, orange, and white construction paper. The amount of squares you will use will directly correlate to how many kids your have. If you only have one or two children doing the craft, then I'd only cut on page of each color into squares. You can always cut more if needed. We had plenty left over when we were done.

This is my 3 year old daughter's candy corn.

Next, using the white crayon, draw a candy corn shape (triangle with rounded edges) on the black construction paper. Then instruct the kids where the colors "should" go (orange on bottom, yellow in the middle, and white on top). And if you are anything like me, just let go of color placement perfection preferences now, or you will be pretty stressed out when trying to get a 3 year old to follow your color instructions perfectly.








Now and let the kids have fun! And remember, the idea of all crafts for children is to have fun, enjoy themselves, and develop important fine motor skills in the process.

This is how my daughter decided she wanted to craft instead.

Activity: Quote book

This isn't going to be your average quote book where a child cuts out quote from magazines. You and your child are going to create the book from the funny things you say. In college, we had quote boards to capture all of those priceless things we said. But instead of putting it on a poster board on the wall of the kitchen, you can make a book, diary, keepsake, etc.

All you really need is something sturdy to write the quotes in. I would suggest buying a small hardbound journal, or a small hardbound pocket book, rather than just a standard notebook. Your decision to buy a certain product should be made based on WHO will be keeping the book, and their age. For example, if your 6 year old is going to walk around with it, a hardbound book might be fine. But if I let my 2 year old have control, it would be better for me a buy a 50 cent spiral bound notebook. The choice is up to you.

As a mother/parent, this would also be fun for YOU to do, so that you can keep track of all the funny things that kids say. My niece used to say  "RORRY" before she could say sorry, and I still love to think about it even though it's been years since she said it. My daughter says "DOODLES" instead of noodles, and her cousin used to call noodles "KITTIES" (I have no idea why). My daughter has also been trying to say "UH OH, SPAGHETTI-OH", but says "UH-OH CEREAL" instead. It's things like that that may be hard to remember in 20 years when your kids are having their own children. I know that I still love to have my mom tell me stories about when I was a kid. My infamous funny saying that still gives me and my family giggles is "Spaghetti-OHs!" In context, I didn't realize until I was in my 20's that Spaghetti-ohs are spaghetti in the shape of ohs. Yeah, I know. Silly me.

Anyway, if you need some fun artsy ideas, or just ideas of quotes for your book (depending on if you make it family quotes, or just quotes you like) check out pinterest.com.

Have any of you done this before? Did your kids help you?

Activity: Big Ears

When I first found this activity, all I could think about what PSAT's, SAT's, ACT's, and any other kind of standardized test that you can think of. You know, when they have you read a story and the you have to correctly identify the point of the story, and various aspects about it? Yeah... I was never did excell at those kinds of tests, which is interesting because I love to read. But regardless of the tests, this activity is still fun for kids, and could actually make a great party game.

What you are going to do is tell a story with lots of descriptive words. If you don't have a story like this on hand, here is how to write one. If doing it for a birthday party, you could write a story about the birthday kid and do it as one of your games.

Before you begin the story, have the child or children clothes their eyes and focus really hard on listening (use their big ears!). Then tell the story, remind the kids to listen for descriptive words (you may want to explain what a descriptive word is at the start of the activity). Once the story is over, you can do a number of things.

1. Have the kids write down the answers to your questions
2. Draw pictures of the objects that they remember (pink dress, blue eyes, etc)
3. Have the kids try to retell the story (you can have one kid do this, or have kids take turns after a few sentences each)
4. Have costumes and things on hand to act out the story.
5. Have coloring pages for the kids to color correctly (again, pink dress, blue eyes, etc)
6. Whatever else you can think of.

That's about it! I would advise keeping the stories fairly short depending on the age and skill level of your kids. And the more you do it, the more you can add to the stories. You could even grab some library books and then add more descriptive words if you like. OOH! Or how about 

Have you done any thing like this? Do you have a descriptive story to share or recommend?

Activity: Half Day

This is an activity that can EASILY be used for Half-birthdays, Half-way though the school year, Half-way through summer, etc. All you need to do is pick a half day (I will be using a half birthday as an example), and start getting creative.

Picture courtesy of http://emilysneed.blogspot.com/2009/03/half-birthdays.html

For a half birthday, sing half a birthday song, bake only half a cake, and use only half the normal amount of candles.

You could also have lessons on fractions (what is half of 4?), sharing (if you have 1 apple but 2 people, how can we share?), Dates (using the calendar to find out what their half birthday is), Math (how do I divide a recipe in half), etc. So really the possibilities are endless.

Have you ever done a "half" day? What ideas, pictures, advice can you share?

Activity: Indoor Drive-in Movie

This activity has a lot of different components that can make it really fun. Here's a super brief summary of what the activity is.

You are going to create your own drive in movie theater, complete with box "cars". To make the box cars, you first need boxes, preferable big enough for a kid to sit in. If you have long boxes, you could double up kids as well. Once you have a box for each kid, get out the crayons, makers, colored paper, newspaper, paint, etc. and let the kids decorate how they want to. If the weather is nice enough, you may want them to paint while on the lawn, or at least put a large plastic table cloth down on whatever surface you choose. You can help the children draw windows, doors, lights, steering wheel, etc.

Once the cars are drying (if you used glue or paint), you may want to turn on some music for a dance party, have the kids help make cookies, or blend up some fun smoothies or fruit drinks to have during the movie.

And now the next part is where the difficulty lies. What movie to watch is a difficult choice for myself to make alone, and when you factor in the opinions of a number of kids, it can be even more difficult. So my suggestion is to choose the movie before hand, preferably either one that was just released on DVD or an old one that likely no one has seen before. Here are some of my favorite suggestions for girls and boys:

Girls
Sleepover (Alexa Vega)
Wild Hearts Can't be Broken (Gabriel Anwar)
Princess Bride (Cary Elwes)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Alexis Bledel, America Ferrara, and Amber Tamblyn)
Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter)
Frozen (Idina Menzel)

Boys
Princess Bride (Cary Elwes)
Harry Potter (probably the earlier ones) (Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliff, and Rupert Grint)
Goonies (Sean Aston)
Toy Story (Tim Allen and Tom Hanks)
Hook (Robin Williams)
Hugo (Asa Butterfield)
Sandlot (Tom Guiry)

There are of course TONS of other movies out there you could allow your kids to watch. I tried to list awesome ones that weren't too scary, because that might keep the kids awake all night. Do you have any other movie suggestions? Or picture of the cars you decorated?

Snack: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

I found this great website recently called iMOM.com. And on it, I found a quick and easy, AND gluten free peanut butter cookies. I can't wait to try these! Here is what you need:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix together the ingredients. Set aside in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Then take a fork, dip it into sugar, and press onto each ball dough to get the classic "lines" or "criss crosses". Next, put the cookies in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before eating.

For more ideas and recipes, check out these links:

Peanut Butter Energy Balls (LINK)
Green Smoothie (LINK)
Let's Make Pizza! (LINK)

Video: Teaching kids manners

How in the world do you teach kids manners when all they want to do is watch tv?

Family Newsletter!

I am super excited to do this one with my daughter and husband. It's kind of like sending out Christmas letters, but could include a lot more. You could essentially use any program from Word, to Open Office, or an actual Newsletter construction program.

Here are a few suggestions (I have not tried them personally, so use discretion when you choose one)

Word (Click this link for instructions)
Publisher (LINK)
Word Draw (LINK)
Smile Templates (LINK)

And now here's the hard part. You may be like me and want to share your news with family and friends all the time, in newsletter form, because somehow, it makes you feel important. Well I'm going to put the kabash on that idea right away! Who has time to write newsletters constantly? May I suggest that you stick to Easter  and Christmas? Or perhaps for each person's birthday? (This is an EXCELLENT way to start a family history book, btw). The choice is yours, but from personal experience, I would say to be careful not to take on too much. It's easier to start small, and do more newsletters later than to attempt a lot all at once. And now for the second hardest thing. Choosing what to include....

Choosing what to include will have a large bias depending on how many people you have in your family. If you and your husband have 5 kids, you might want to forgo drawings by the kids, whereas if you have one child, you will likely have space to include it. The choice is yours, but here are some ideas.

Recent pictures (any snapshot is fine)
Upcoming dates of importance (Dance Recitals, Graduation, Birthday Party, etc)
Current Address and Phone number (especially important if you recently moved like we did)
Family News (Graduations, births, etc)
Special successes (Aced a test, job promotion, etc)
New house (Or apartment, condo, garden, etc)
Family History/Genealogy story
Stories written by the kids
Pictures drawn by the kids
Family Vacation Summary (with pictures)
Favorites (Family Recipe, Game, Book, Activity, etc. You could also do this for birthday newsletters)

The options are limitless. And if you feel overwhelmed, just think what you would tell someone that you hadn't seen in years, and you were catching up over lunch. Start with that, and build from there.

Good luck with everything! Don't worry about it being perfect, especially in the beginning. My daughter's birthday is coming up, so I'm going to make a newsletter for her to send to family and close friends. What kind of newsletter would you try?

A special gift to the new addition

At some point, you may be wondering how to help your first child adjust to the idea of a new child coming along the way, or getting the older to do something nice for the younger. Here is an idea that will allow you to spend special time with the older child, while still doing something for the younger child. Let's take a 5 year old and a 2 year old for an example.

The point of this activity is to give the younger child a special ABC book that was made by the older child.

Buy a blank notebook for the 5 year old. Have an adult write each letter of the alphabet (one letter per page, or every 2 pages). Then, with the help of the 5 year old, think about what things start with each letter. For example, A is for apple, ape, antelope, avocado, etc.  You could also draw family members like Amy, or Aunt Agatha, or whatever it may be. Then draw the pictures on the correct page with the corresponding letters. When finished, have the 5 year old show the book to the 2 year old, and let them learn and study together. Your 5 year old will be proud of the book they made, and it will bring the two children together in a fun and learning environment.

You could also skip buying the notebook, and instead use large blank note cards, and then laminate (or use contact paper) them, whole punch them, and tie the cards together with ribbon or yarn.

Pennies for your thoughts!

Here is a simple little activity to help your children learn how to do word problems, and how to work with money. Here's how it works:

Simply search your purse for loose change (pennies would be preferred). Then create a word problem such as "if I give you 5 pennies, and you give 2 back to me, how many pennies do you have left?"

You could also get more complex and say "Max works for 3 days. He earns 5 pennies on the first day, 3 pennies on the second day, and 8 pennies on the third day. How much money did Max have after 3 days? After two days?"

Easy as that! All it takes is a little time and creativity, and only a temporary use of money.

Things to do with a one-year-old in winter

My friend Paige recently posted a "Things to do with a one-year-old in winter". She's awesome and her post is too. Check it out!

http://tobeperfectlybrunt.blogspot.com/2014/02/things-to-do-with-your-one-year-old-in.html

Activity: All About Me

This is a fun activity that can help the children figure out their likes and dislikes, do a craft project that is centered around them, and learn to take the initiative with only a little help from an adult (in the form of cutting and gluing).

Here is what you need:

Magazines (particularly kids ones)
Old Catalogs (kid or toy centered)
Old books
Family pictures
Markers
Glue/paste
Colored paper
Scissor

Now you can let the children cut out the things that they like and glue them to pieces of paper. These papers will become a book, so you may want to cut them in half or in quarters first. As it looks like the kids are starting to finish up, serve some sort of healthy snack (you can find ideas here and here) and allow the glue to finish drying. once dry, staple the pages together and you have a book all about what your child likes and/or dislikes. As a genealogist, I think it would be awesome to do with every year close to the child's birthday. But of course what I wish I could do and what I actually do don't always seem to match up, but we shall see.

What do you think? Have you tried anything like this?

Activity: Going on a WORD picnic

This activity is an excellent option for those that want to help their kids learn vocabulary, rhyming, sounding, etc., without putting too much pressure on them. And the best part is that all you need to do is set up a picnic....

Spread out the blanket, put the food in a basket or on trays, and get ready to be creative. If you pull a sandwich out of the basket, have your child think of another word that starts with the same sound as sandwich. The child will need to realize that sandwich starts with an S sound, and then think of another word that begins with S. You could also do a rhyming variation and pull out BREAD, and have your child think of a rhyme (dread, bed, dead, Fred, read, red, etc).

An activity like this could also be used outdoors in the summer to keep ideas fresh in the children's minds, even though they aren't in school. So what do you think? Have you played a game like this? How did it go?

Activity: (SAFE) High Wire Circus Act

I know that the name sounds confusing. A safe activity on a high wire for kids? Trust me. The kids won't even get off the ground but they will still be able to practice their coordination and balance.  Here's how it works:

You will need:

Masking Tape (or chalk if doing it outside)
Adequate clean space

All you need to do is make a "high wire" or "tight rope" using the tape or chalk by making a straight line on the carpet/sidewalk. For the younger kids, they will have fun just trying to walk in a straight line without falling over. You will likely need to demonstrate how to do this, since they might not be consciously doing it yet. And don't forget to teach them to put their hands out to the sides!

Preschoolers could even try to walk backwards, or on their tip toes, or both! And if your child is particularly acrobatic, try and have them do a hand stand, and then "walk" along the line.

That's all there is to this activity. Do you have any other variations to try?

Activity: I Spy Variations

I spy with my little eyes something... Red! Blue? Green? Plaid?

Instead of playing the regular eye spy where you spy colors, how about trying something else like this...:

I spy with my little eye something that is a triangle....
I spy with my little eye something dark....
I spy with my little eye something that moves....
I spy with my little eye an animal....

And if you are at a crowded place like a McDonald's Play Place, the mall, etc. try some of these:

I spy with my little eye someone who is dancing....
I spy... someone who is sleeping....
I spy... someone talking on their cell phone....

In any case, you can be as creative as you want with this game. You could even do it between rain showers when the clouds are all puffy. Whichever way you do it, have fun!

Have you done a game like this? What variations did you do?