Rhinestones & Pine Cones

Letter of the Week....J is for Jellyfish

2011-03-03T15:11:00.008-06:00

Hello out there in blogland!

Here is our latest addition of Letter of the Week....J is for Jellyfish.

(Beautiful, right??)

We first ~~read~~ skimmed this Finding Nemo storybook....it was a little too detailed for my audience of a 2, 3, and 4 year old! But the pictures were great, and most importantly it has pictures of jellyfish. And it's Nemo! We love Nemo!

We then read a little bit online about jellyfish and learned some cool facts....some of the highlights:

- Jellyfish are not fish!
- Jellyfish have no brain
- Jellyfish eat AND "go potty" through their mouth (followed by a chorus of *eeeews*)
- Some jellyfish are reeeeally big (as big as Daddy) and some can fit in the palm of your hand
- Jellyfish have long tentacles that they use to catch food, keep themselves safe, and would sting you if you touch them!

I also found this video on YouTube that we watched over and over (and over) again. Very calming and peaceful! We might work this into our bedtime routine at the end of a busy night...

Moving on- our jellyfish craft (and stArt project!)

The girls first colored with crayons on the outside of a paper plate, then I cut them in half and they painted with watercolors- obviously you could cut the plate in half at any step, before coloring or after painting....I just chose the middle! Then they helped me tape crepe paper and curling ribbon to the inside of each paper plate and I stapled the two halves together. We hung them up on our kitchen light with fishing line and they were exquisite (that's fancy for beautiful....sorry, I sometimes speak as though I am IN a Fancy Nancy book at all times)

We hung them up on our kitchen light with fishing line and they were exquisite (that's fancy for beautiful....sorry....I sometimes speak as though I am IN a Fancy Nancy book at all times)

And we continued the jellyfish theme into lunch (thereby officially earning me the Mom-and-Babysitter of the Week award, methinks!)

Check out these FUN jellyfish-hot-dog-pasta creatures! I saw this in a magazine in a Dr's office - I don't know, maybe a year ago? And thought of it just as I was pulling out hot dogs for lunch on the Day-O-Jellyfish. I just did a quick internet search and can't find the source but I'm guessing it came from Parenting, Family Circle, etc...something like that! It was so easy- I just stabbed some uncooked spaghetti into hot dog pieces and threw it all in a pot to boil. The pasta that was actually inside the hot dog was a little crunchy for Gracie's liking but the other two didn't seem to notice or mind. Fun times!

And lastly, a sample J page in their ABC books.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out these great blogs as well.

stART
Ultimate Alphabet Crafts
RedTedArt
We Play
Someday Crafts
Preschool Corner
Read.Explore.Learn.
No Time for Flashcards

Letter of the Week....I is for Iguana

2011-02-25T14:50:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post on our letter of the week! One of the books we read to introduce the girls to the letter "i" was I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. It's about a little boy who tries to convince his mom to buy him an iguana, and has some great and silly illustrations. We also read Mañana Iguana which is a fun south-of-the-border take on the Little Red Hen.

I found an old Ranger Rick magazine (c/o my former schoolteacher mom!) that had some info and photos of real iguanas, so we learned where they live, what they eat, and what they REALLY look like. Then I remembered that on a recent trip to St. Thomas, my dad had taken some really great photos of an iguana sunning itself on a rock, and the girls were delighted at the thought of Grandad being so close to a big iguana!


© Terry Willson

After learning all about iguanas it was time for a project. I used a Sharpie and drew a quick (and rather amateur...) picture of an iguana on some painting paper for the two little girls (2 and a half and 3) and they used watercolors to bring their iguanas to life.

Side note: It really makes a big difference in how a watercolor painting turns out when you spring for the expensive paper vs. copy paper! The colors are so much more vibrant and really soak into the paper rather than pooling up on top.

We also did this fun little project that I happened upon from Totally Tots when I was searching for "iguana children's books." So cute! They used craft foam at Totally Tots but we used construction paper and googly eyes and it turned out great.

Until next time! Happy crafting :)

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Monkeying Around

Letter of the Week....H is for Hands (and hands are not for hitting!)

2011-02-18T16:22:00.008-06:00

Oh, sweet two year olds. I recently remembered a quote about little girls and Googled it and was happy to find it right away....

Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized. ~Margaret Atwood

How true is this?? This quote is from Ms. Atwood's novel "Cat's Eye" about the torturous relationships between pre-teen girls (on my must-read list....I hadn't heard of it but am a huge fan of A Handmaid's Tale, and I was surprised to learn that it was published in 1989, right when I was entering the "tween" years myself. Now as a mom of two girls I am desperate to arm myself with knowledge of girl culture, bullying, etc...but that is a whole 'nother tangent!) Anyway, this quote also applies to my own two and a half year old sweetheart and her BFF- who I babysit several times a week- and who have not yet entered the "relational aggression" stage and are still simply in the old-fashioned survival-of-the-fittest mode that includes, but is not limited to, pushing, grabbing, hitting, and sometimes biting. Sheesh.

Fittingly, in a particularly aggressive week, we landed on letter H. I know there is a book called "Hands are not for Hitting" which we do not have, and I didn't fit in a trip to the library, so I improvised and made up our own little mantra (complete with hand actions and ends with a group hug!!) The girls loved it, and we have used it and revisited as needed :)

And the H page from Greta's slow-growing ABC book:

Happy weekend, y'all!

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stART....The Queen of Hearts!

2011-02-10T15:12:00.004-06:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we have been reading Gracie's most FAVORITE Valentine story over and over....Ann Estelle: The Queen of Hearts. It is a really cute book- has beautiful Mary Engelbreit illustrations and the story has a good lesson. It is a perfect book for getting in the mood for making Valentines. Gracie was thrilled because today was FINALLY the day of Valentine's Day party at preschool (JUST like Ann Estelle's class, mom!)

Oh, how I love being the mom of two little girls. If you haven't yet figured that out by now! We have been elbow-deep in Valentine creations the past couple of weeks. I won't be showcasing them all in blogland, but here is one of a handful of impromptu-napkin-and-marker Valentine's that turned out surprisingly well given the materials :)

We made a few Valentines using a layered painting technique that I loved as a student myself and never thought of doing with my kids until now. While blog-hopping the other day I saw a tip about "framing" kids art (pre-creative process) with painter's tape to create clean edges, giving kids art a finished look. I thought it was genius and had one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments. I of course now can't trace the source but if you're out there, thank you!

So we made some Valentines using both the "framing" idea and also the layering technique. I put some tape on their papers and let them paint with one color family. After the first layer dried, I re-taped and gave them some other paint colors. The girls had so much fun and the Valentines turned out great. We will definitely be doing layer painting again on a larger scale!

Happy crafting!

Someday Crafts

Virtual Valentine's Day

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No Time for Flashcards

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

2011-02-10T14:29:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day is a much loved "holiday" in our house. (Hasn't always been the case....see this post for background!) Crafts, cookies, candy, hearts, everything red and pink. It is a little girl's dream.

Gracie and Greta surprised us last weekend with some Valentines, treats and a beautiful breakfast table (with Baba's help)...

Grandma used her school teacher skills and got in on the fun too. She and Gracie made some fun heart garland and decorations to make our house even more festive.

And I thought I would include this little treat Brian left for me this morning. I think living in a house of pink is wearing off on him :)

Valentine's Day craft....recycled crayons!

2011-02-08T09:39:00.007-06:00

For months we have been using well-used, broken, and scraps of crayons and when Target put out their Valentine's stuff in the dollar aisle, I saw a silicon heart-shaped muffin pan that I knew would be perfect for "up-cycling" our dwindling crayon supply.

The hardest part of this project was peeling all the crayons!! Not always easy for my 2 and 4 year old girls so this was primarily my job. We did this project 2 weeks ago and I think I still have crayon wax embedded under my nails! The best part of the project (in Greta's world) was breaking the bigger crayons into smaller pieces. I am a little nervous now about introducing a brand-new box of crayons to the little destroyer.....I have a feeling they won't survive long!

This activity was great for sorting colors. You can definitely just melt a rainbow of colors together but we wanted to maintain individual color families.....so the prep was great practice for both girls. I read a couple of how-to's on recycling crayons in this way but it seemed the directions varied a lot so I assumed it would be pretty hard to mess it up. So we filled the muffin pans with the pieces of broken crayons and I think I ended up baking them about 20 minutes at 200 degrees. I also was impatient at waiting for them to cool so I popped them into the freezer to quicken the process.

The results were great! And such a fun little Valentine gift for their friends.

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Letter of the Week....G is for Goat

2011-02-01T08:09:00.004-06:00

I wanted to catch up on my letter of the week posts, mostly for my own record-keeping purposes! Seems like many MANY weeks ago (well before Christmas) that we did the letter G. As you can imagine the letter G is very popular in my house with two little girls bearing it as the first letter of their name and even the name of the little girl I babysit starts with G as well. So we had some fun with "G is for Glitter" which, for the record, required clean up for several weeks afterwards with 2 two year olds elbow deep in glitter heaven...

Using small paper plates, paint, and black construction paper, we made stoplights for G is for GO! (and G is for Green and Green means GO!) We also had fun playing "red light, green light" and it is still requested almost daily.

But my favorite "G" activity was G is for Goat.....we read The Three Billy Goats Gruff and made little goat puppets. I read the story and they were in charge of holding up their goat when it was their "turn to speak." It was SO fun to see how they loved participating and it's such a fun story with the different voices of the troll and the three goats, lots of room for dramatic interpretation!

More letters to come!

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My abandoned blog

2011-01-25T14:39:00.005-06:00

Hello and welcome back! I got a little lazy over the holidays, and a little first trimester-y, then just plain out of blogging habit, so my little corner of the world wide web was altogether abandoned. But not forgotten! I decided to bring it back to life (again) and be a SUPER BLOGGER until everything that I wish to share with the world is permanently etched in url. So get ready for overkill.

To kick it off, I thought I'd share a couple of pics from a baby shower for my dear friend Kristin.

I wanted to fancy-up the cupcakes for the shower and found this great FREE cupcake liner template on Skip to My Lou. Then I just used a stamp, circle punch, and lollipop sticks for the flair. And although for some reason hardly anyone ate them, I was secretly thrilled to have LOTS of leftovers for the girls and myself :)

My girl Martha helped me out with some cheap and easy decorations....Tissue Paper Pom Poms. Awesome. And the link includes an easy step by step tutorial, so I will save some steam and pass on repeating, just click and learn! The only thing I did differently was that I simply used leftover twist-ties rather than "floral wire". Who besides Martha Stewart has floral wire sitting around?

I also made some fun gifts for the new baby....freezer paper onesies (more on that later) and this little piece of nursery art inspired by the incredibly talented Ashley of Lil Blue Boo. It is a mixed media hodge podge of fabric, acrylic paint, paper, painted paper, marker, cardboard, and one of my FAVORITE products- Mod Podge. The little monkey and owls were giving me trouble so I ended up drawing them on paper, painting over the drawing, cutting them out and mod-podging them to the canvas. I love how it turned out!

It's good to be back! Letters of the week coming soon.....

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Craft with me, 1, 2, 3....Gobble Gobble turkey craft

2010-11-23T07:59:00.008-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! In your rush to get your turkeys thawed, potatoes peeled, pies baked (or as in my case, purchased) why not take a break and celebrate the season with a delightful turkey craft?

Greta's finished turkey

You can pretty much use whatever you have lying around, but our list included a big piece of poster board (a July 2010 calendar from my mom's 3rd grade classroom), some fall-colored tissue paper, brown paint, googly eyes, feathers, sequins, and glue.

I first cut out shapes for the turkey bodies, and while the girls painted those brown, I cut out a rough shape for the turkey feathers then traced the same shape onto the tissue paper and cut that as well, then we used a glue stick to paste them together.

They then adorned their turkeys with feathers and sequins, and Gracie also decided to use markers to make hers "the most beautiful turkey ever."

They added googly eyes, and I cut out beaks and wattles.

Gracie's finished turkey

My turkey with her turkey

We also have been reading The Story of Thanksgiving by Nancy Skarmeas to help explain why we celebrate Thanksgiving. I think it is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and has just the right amount of information for them. We will worry about historically accurate accounts of Thanksgiving when they get older :)

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for healthy children, active grandparents, a great husband, financial security, fun and supportive friends, and a relevant church that motivates me to be a better person every week. What are you thankful for?

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Tot Tuesday

Letter of the Week.....F

2010-11-18T18:33:00.002-06:00

Another edition of Letter of the Week for your reading pleasure!

F is for......a lot of stuff. We I couldn't decide.

The best part about being on the letter F is that we got to read a lot of Fancy Nancy books, which are tres popular in our house. (tres....that's fancy for "very")

And here are the girls being fancy:

F is for Fall

This was SUPER easy and designed with an almost 2 year old in mind....however it did not meet his approval but his mom thought it was awesome and happily took over :) I cut the tree out of brown construction paper, stuck it to a piece of contact paper, then they covered it with torn paper "leaves" and then we stuck it to another piece of blue construction paper. They are still hanging up in my kitchen!

F is for Feather

F is for Funny Faces

And more Funny Faces!

All week we talked about words that start with the letter F and there are surprisingly a lot of them that came up naturally in our conversations......we did a lot of pretending to be frogs, drawing flowers, playing with our friends, talking about our faith......having FUN!!

Linked to:

Preschool Corner

Letter of the Week.....E is for Elephant

2010-11-11T15:24:00.007-06:00

Hello blogland!

Imagine for a moment the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell..."

Now put it to these words:

"The e says eh, the e says eh, Every letter makes a sound, the e says eh."

And now imagine substituting every letter in the alphabet and repeating over and over again for 35 minutes.....congratulations you have just watched Leapfrog's Letter Factory! And this new twist on the alphabet song will be stuck in your head for.....The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.

We recently ordered this Leapfrog DVD and Gracie loves it and it truly has helped her with all of the letter sounds. Who says television is bad for children.....

I'm told this also comes in the form of a refrigerator magnet, maracas, and a plethora of other types of handheld toys so you can hear this song any time of day, no matter if you are at home, in the car, or in line at the grocery store. Woo hoo! Get mama some earplugs!

Now that I'm done with my Leapfrog plug, let's move on to the Letter of the Week!

E is for Elephant

A couple of the books we read....

Eddie Elephant's Exciting Egg-Sitting was great for Gracie because it was a funny story and was specifically written to emphasis the letter E. It also had "elephant facts" in addition to the fictional story. This is apparently one in a series called "Animal Antics A to Z" and I've not ever seen these books before but I will definitely seek them out at the library now.

Elmer the Elephant is a sweet, sweet story about a multi-colored elephant who doesn't like to be different. It's got a great message as well as fantastic illustrations. My mom pulled this one out of her schoolteacher stash and even had an Elmer template for us all to color.

Gracie's Elmer

Greta's Elmer (with a little help from Grandad on the trunk)

Mommy's Elmer (if you can't tell, I REALLY liked this project...)

We also made elephants out of construction paper. I cut out Greta's shapes but just drew them for Gracie and she cut them out herself.

This SUPER fun game was a huge hit with all the kids....Elefun!

But E is not just for elephants......

E is for exercise!

E is for eyes! (this was a confusing one...I've definitely had better ideas...hello let's travel over to....EARS? EEEars??)

And of course....

E is for ELMO!

3 cheers for Elmo!

And lastly here is the E page from Greta's ABC book...

Happy ABC'ing!

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Mama's Gotta Craft

2010-11-04T09:15:00.007-05:00

I love me some kid crafts but I have been on a "grown-up" craft kick lately too. Kids in bed, kitchen cleaned (well....~~most~~ some of the time)....time for mama crafting.

I think I'll call this collection "While They Were Sleeping" :)

For a friend who recently had a sweet baby girl and was looking for a travel wipes container.

This started as a standard plastic Huggies travel wipes container with the pop-top. I traced the shape directly to the reverse side of this patterned felt (making sure to leave a little extra for the sides) and glue-gunned it to the container. I didn't have to worry about being too pretty about the cut/shape because the ribbon goes all the way around the edges and covers the felt borders. I covered right over the pop-top (so it can only be opened in the way that you would normally refill the wipes.) Then I glued a thin ribbon around the edges of the container (being careful to not glue it shut!) and after that I decided to decorate the front a little more with a bigger ribbon and a little embellishment that I found in an abandoned scrapbooking box. My technique definitely has room for improvement- I later came across this tutorial from Make it and Love It which is AWESOME....I will be attempting this for future babies! (friends' babies, that is!!)

And speaking of Make It and Love It, I also came across a great idea for holding and organizing the bazillion little girl barrettes that float around my house, car, purse, and pockets on a constant basis.

Same idea as a ribbon photo board which are available at every craft show and Target in America! I found a photo board made with elastic instead of ribbons (on clearance at Target for $4) so I didn't even have to do the hard part of preparing the board itself...just cut off the elastic and cut and attached my own ribbons- with an office stapler! It took me about 15 minutes. Here is a picture of it in the girls bathroom in all its glory:

I also took a piece of the elastic that I had removed from it initially and attached it to the bottom so they could hang at least a few headbands on it too. It is a fun addition to their very boring bathroom walls!

And since we're still in the aftermath of Halloween, I'll throw in a picture of my very simple, very homemade Cookie Monster costume :)

I found the hoodie and pants on clearance at Target and I was SOOOO excited because it was the perfect color and cost $11 total. The rest of the supplies were scrounged up around my house....ping pong balls, a black sharpie, glue gun, felt, and needle and thread. I wasn't sure what to stuff the cookies with and was too lazy to go downstairs to sift around in my craft room so I instead shoved some dryer sheets in them! Nice, fresh scented cookies. I sewed the cookies to the arm of the hoodie and attached a little fabric "ring" to hook the cookies to the back of my hands.

Yesterday I snipped the cookies off the arms and tore the eyes off the hood- the arms have no lasting effects but the glue spots on the hood remain- no biggie, as I wouldn't normally be wearing the hood up, unless I was trying to duck and hide after a grocery aisle disaster involving glass spaghetti jars and a tile floor. ~~Not that~~ that's a real scenario. Three cheers for a new mom-i-form to add to my collection- ha! Look for a crazy mom with dirty hair, dressed in a blue sweatsuit, pushing a grocery cart with two little girls probably fighting over who gets to hold the shopping list.

Until next time!

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Letter of the Week.....D is for Dinosaur

2010-11-03T10:00:00.005-05:00

I have been slacking in keeping record of our goings-on but wanted to write a little something about some of the letter-of-the-week things we've been doing in the last couple of weeks.

Greta has been interested in dinosaurs lately....one early morning coffee run (meaning- we roll out of bed, I pour two sippy cups of milk- one white, one chocolate- and we pile into the car in our PJs and head to the neighborhood gas station that I covet only because I like their Coffeemate dispenser and the fact that coffee tastes soooo much better when someone else brews it.) On the way to fetch mama some coffee we passed by a construction zone with some big cranes that Greta noticed...her imagination went into overdrive and she said "Mommy, dinosaurs!!! Dinosaurs BIG!! (whisper)Dinosaurs scare me....(now loud) Dinosaurs eat my sissy RAWRRR!!!" Silly bear.

Tangent aside, Greta's interest in dinosaurs corresponded nicely with the letter we were on that week, D. So we schlepped ourselves to the library and found some great dinosaur books like-

I read these first two books over....and over...and over....the third book was fun because it shows you how to draw different dinosaurs using shapes. Gracie and I had fun with that- we both drew the T-Rex a couple of times but she really liked coloring mine and naming the shapes as she colored.

After they got tired of drawing/coloring the T-Rex, we made a stegosaurus out of construction paper. It was great for Greta because is too little to attempt the drawing of the dinosaurs. I cut her shapes out and she named them as she glued them into the likeness of a stegosaurus (with a little guidance!)

And here is Gracie's stegosaurus (with a pterodactyl flying overhead, and the stegosaurus is about to eat that poor little mouse.)

But D is not just for Dinosaur.....it is also for Drum! This is one of our regulars at the library- the way it is written is perfect- has the beat of a drum to it and makes them want to parade around the living room. I had a couple of old oatmeal canisters saved, and we made them into drums so they had a prop to go with the book.

Lastly, just a picture of the D page in Greta's ABC book.

Linked to:

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No Time for Flashcards

Preschool Corner

DIY Halloween decorations

2010-10-26T23:12:00.005-05:00

Oh how I loooove Halloween and all the fun things that come with it. It is virtually impossible for me to walk into Target, Michael's, even the grocery store and be able to resist at least some sort of festive purchase. I am aware that Halloween has very ugly roots and I respect people's decision to ignore it completely, but my belief is that this is one Americanized, Hallmark'ed "holiday" that I can really get behind and I fully support the commercialism keeps the wheel of Halloween turning.

We didn't carve pumpkins yet because last year we did it too early and they were rotten by the time Halloween night rolled around. So this year we decided to postpone carving and in the meantime did some pumpkin painting. I saw some "chic" Halloween decorations in some random waiting room magazine in September and felt inspired. So here is our take on black and white chic for Halloween:

Black and White Halloween

We used acrylic black and white paint on a standard carving pumpkin and two gourd-like squash(es?) Gracie picked out some purple rhinestone designs in the clearance bin at Michael's which I didn't think was very festive at first but I loved the end result. And our squash goblins are super fun. I also sprayed them with an acrylic sealer when we were done.

One more shot of the reverse side of the squash:

Black and White Halloween

Another Michael's clearance bin finds were these cut-outs....it was a huge pack of a variety of Halloween images, and I have NO idea what I am going to do with all of them but at $2.99 for the pack, I will not be crying if I have to part with some of them unused. I grabbed a sitting-empty frame from my basement and put together a little "family portrait" which I think is so cute, and took me all of 5 minutes to put together.

My apologies for the blurry image! It was dark when I took the picture and my un-fancy camera doesn't do well with no flash, and the frame was too shiny to use a flash, so this is the best I could do!
Don't be surprised if these little monsters show up again on this blog.....

Lots of time has been spent in our house making Halloween cards and pictures, using stamps, stickers, and glitter galore. I neglected to take pictures of many of them but here are a few examples- classic, easy, and not too original!

Glitter Jack

Marshmallow Ghosts (from No Time for Flashcards)

Pumpkin Man (for some reason my personal fave!)

And one night after Baba (grandma) was babysitting, I came home to these fun monster treats.

We must be on a monster kick at our house, and Grandma Fancy was in on it too.

Play-Do monsters!

And just because it's my favorite, here is a picture of the Bear last year in her Halloween costume:

Yoda Bear

As I'm writing this I'm a little sad that we only have 5 days of left of Halloween themed snacks, crafts, songs, etc.....until next year. But I can't wait to post new pictures of the girls in costume. Assuming no dramatic change of events, I will be showcasing one cowgirl and one Elmo. Mom & Dad TBD.
Happy Halloween!

Linked to:

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By Stephanie Lynn
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Letters of the Week.....B is for Butterfly and C is for Caterpillar

2010-10-15T10:06:00.005-05:00

Just thought I would keep posting our "letter of the week" activities. The last couple of weeks we were working on B and C.

Worksheets for Tinkerbell from Confessions of a Homeschooler

And here are samples of the B and C pages from their ABC notebooks (VERY popular with the 2 year olds, by the way! In addition to loving everything having to do with stamps, stickers, and glue, they are so proud of their books and love to look at them.)

And some of our B and C projects:

B is for Butterfly

C is for Caterpillar

...but C is also for Car!

And my personal favorite- B is for baking brownies!

But when B is for Butterfly and C is for Caterpillar, how can you skip Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Presenting....our Life Cycle of a Butterfly book


("large rings" dried pasta)

(Three cheers for more gluing! Also talked about patterns)

(a couple of stretched out cotton balls wrapped around a caterpillar)

(more gluing! this time with tissue paper)

Side note: I love me some Eric Carle but it totally bugs me that he uses "cocoon" instead of "chrysalis." Cocoon = moth, chrysalis = butterfly. Right? At least that's what I remember from Mr. Grage and 7th grade Life Science?

And finally, after a busy day, B is also for Barney :)

And Happy Anniversary to my dear husband! 5 years, 1 dog, and 2 kids later.....I am one lucky lady.

p.s. Halloween crafts coming soon!!!

Letter of the Week.....A is for Apples Apples Apples

2010-10-06T14:48:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post a quick look at what we've been up to the last couple of weeks with the letter A and of course APPLES.....tis the season!

Practiced writing and recognizing the letter Aa for Tinkerbell: (worksheets from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

We started ABC books and we're going to have a letter of the week that coordinates with what Tinkerbell is doing at preschool. Tinkerbell's has both uppercase and lowercase. They can color them, use stamps, stickers, etc.

The Bear's (and the other 2 year old I babysit) have just uppercase, with a coordinating "things that start with...." page. They LOVE having "school" time when the baby is napping. They love love love using stickers, stamps, and anything involving glue. Tinkerbell is doing a "things that start with...." page like this for homework each week for preschool, so we are not repeating it in the ABC book we started at home.

For storytime during "school" we read Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss.

One afternoon after a trip to the apple orchard, we did an apple tasting experiment- Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, and Fuji. Before slicing them we talked about their different colors & sizes, how different trees produce different apple varieties, and where they were grown (Minnesota, Washington, and New Zealand.)

As they tasted them, we talked about how they tasted "sweet" and "spicy" were the only words they could come up with they learned a new word, "tart" :) Tinkerbell also ranked them with smiley faces and circled the one she wanted to make sure we get at the grocery store next time (Fuji). We also counted the apple seeds and talked about how seeds --> trees --> fruit.

Tinkerbell played a math game on this magnetic white board and had to put "apples" on the tree when she rolled the corresponding number.

We also of course did a couple of apple craft projects throughout the week. This one was based on Psalm 17:8...Keep me as the apple of your eye.

And how can I have an apple-themed week without some apple-printing!! I think we had at least 3 kids here making apple print wreaths who did not belong to me :) We cut apples in half, dipped them in paint, then made green thumb prints for the leaves. After they dried, we cut them out and glued them to a paper plate with the center cut out. So cute!

I am kind of sad that September has come to an end already......however with October comes Halloween, only some of THE best crafting of the year!! I am ridiculously nerdy, I know. Thank goodness I at least have kids now so I have a valid excuse to have an endless supply of construction paper, Elmer's glue, stickers, and glitter.

The Truth About Rainbows

2010-09-24T10:44:00.000-05:00

So you may have read my previous post with our rainbow promises that included "to be nice to my sister" and "to not hit my sister" as well as my own promise to "be patient with the girls"......ahhh, the silly pipe dreams I have sometimes. How does the saying go......if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain (pretty sure that gem can be credited to the often underestimated Dolly Parton?) In my house, the rainstorm doesn't always come BEFORE the rainbow. We cleaned up our mess from craft time (read: I cleaned up 99% of it while The Bear hid under the table and covered Buddy-the-friendly-dog in Hello Kitty stickers, and Tinkerbell s l o o o o w l y picked up 4 scraps of paper and made individual trips to the garbage can to dispose of them.) Our calm land-of-rainbows serenity lasted a few hours and then entered the Afternoon That Would Not End.

I'll spare you the gory details but I can disclose that we have officially welcomed a new standing addition to our household and that is The Time Out Chair. I remembered reading in my pediatrician's How to Raise a Child According to A Medical Doctor Who May or May Not Have Actually Had Children Himself* handbook that the time out chair should be in a separate room, facing a corner, and preferably should have arms to make the child feel enclosed, and should follow the one-minute-per-age rule.

We had the opportunity to run tests of The Time Out Chair for both the 4 year old subject as well as repeated tests for the 2 year old subject. 2 year old subject was found to require multiple placements in The Time Out Chair to make it to the recommended two minute mark, and on this inaugural day of testing The Chair was found to be ineffective in behavior modification.

Our research concluded that The Time Out Chair is most effective when Mommy sits in The Chair herself with Ear Buds, the latest issue of Redbook magazine, and a cup of coffee. Further testing is required to support the hypothesis that The Chair could be even more effective with a glass of wine in place of the cup of coffee. Feel free to test this one yourselves and report back to me.

*possibly not the technical title of said handbook

And as a funny addendum to this post, I will leave with you a picture that Tinkerbell drew the next morning. This picture captures one of the moments that sent The Bear to The Time Out Chair on the Afternoon That Would Not End.

This is an illustration of little sister pulling out a literal, non-exaggerated FISTFUL of big sister's hair, and big sister's subsequent and self-described "mad face." (It could be argued that Mommy was the one who had the mad face while Tinkerbell herself had a red, tear-streamed face.....)

In closing, a special shout-out to my girlfriends for a much-needed night out last night.....thanks for all the laughs and for the reminder of the coping mechanism that IS storytelling.

TGIF!

Our Morning Routine and the Hands-On Bible

2010-09-22T13:37:00.002-05:00

I recently got inspired by Homeschool Creations bought this Hands On Bible. It is an unabridged bible but has supplements throughout it that makes it engaging for kids. A lot of the supplements are aimed at older elementary children but for now I am keeping it simple and doing the activities that are age appropriate or can be adapted (and will probably make some of them up along the way)

Their website has some great free resources including a bible reading plan that I printed and have been trying to follow with the girls in the morning over breakfast. While the coffee is brewing in the morning, I skim the excerpt and then sit down with the girls at the kitchen table and read to them while they eat their breakfast. I read some passages verbatim but take breaks to explain it in preschool terms. We talk about it, say a little prayer, and occasionally do the accompanying activity (taking into consideration our schedule for the day). This routine is just as if not more beneficial for me too as it gets me more familiar with the bible and puts me in a good mindset for the day....well, morning at least :)

This morning we did one of the suggested activities that went along with Genesis 9:1-17 (God's covenant with his people) It was a huge hit with both of the girls! They got to do some of their favorite things- coloring, cutting, and pasting. Perfect.

Here is Tinkerbell's rainbow covenant (and mine on the lower left)

Shortly after this activity I had an opportunity to remind Tinkerbell of her promise to "listen to her parents".......and a few minutes after that she took an opportunity to remind ME of one of my promises to "be patient with the girls"......HA!

And here is The Bear's rainbow (Tinkerbell and I helped come up with her promises...she will probably need a lot of help remembering them- particularly the promise to "not hit my sister!!!")

We had more fun with rainbows while we were at it and I used some leftover paper to make a sequencing game that both girls did a couple of times.

I'm hoping this fall to focus on a "letter of the week" (in sync with Tinkerbell's preschool class) so I am going to save the sequencing rainbow to use again when we get to "R" in a few months...if this plan survives :)

Craft with me, 1, 2, 3....Cuties-on-a-stick

2010-09-01T22:59:00.002-05:00

September is always an exciting month- first days of school, first days of fall, fresh crayons and craft supplies. It is a time of transition, and in the spirit of new beginnings I decided it's time to get back to the blogging board. So welcome back, me!

For those of us lucky enough to live in or near the Land of Lakes, September also hosts the Great Minnesota Get-Together, otherwise known as THE State Fair. To get the girls excited for our trip to the fair this weekend, we had a "State Fair Day" at our house. We sat on the John Deere lawn mower under the deck, walked around the neighborhood until our feet hurt, watched Charlotte's Web, and had corn dogs, cheese-on-a-stick, and fruit kabobs for lunch. And we had SO much fun making our Kids-on-a-Stick craft. I might have had more fun than the kids.

Maybe.

Probably.

I printed a cropped picture of each kid (on normal weight paper- they would last much longer on cardstock though!) I cut out their faces then drew a cartoon body to go with each head- the kids colored them (headless- which they thought was hysterical) then they glued the faces and bodies on a craft stick (popsicle stick) and the final result is adorable. After we made these pictured, one of Tinkerbell's friends came over and we made her whole Family-on-a-Stick, complete with a Hannah Montana t-shirt on one sister, a ballerina tutu on the other sister, and a hockey-playing brother. It was fantastically fun.

Between the day's festive activities and our on-a-stick projects, I feel almost as exhausted as if I had actually gone to the fair today. But you will still find me there this weekend- probably engrossed in the 4H exhibits or camped out next to the Pronto Pup booth. You just can't replicate that roasted corn on the cob. Or Sweet Martha's cookies. Or the Dairy Barn milkshakes. Or.......

Summer Squash Sauté

2010-07-14T21:23:00.003-05:00

I have kind of abandoned this blog but B.R. so loved this squash I made tonight that I felt compelled to not only share but to keep the "recipe" in a safe place for future reference since it went over so well.
I was still hungry after dinner and after scouring the cupboards for a suitable supplement I threw in the towel and sliced a couple of yellow summer squash, a leek, and some dill and parsley and added some feta cheese and it made a great little saute.

2 small summer squash, sliced (about 8 oz)
1 leek, bulb only, sliced (about 4 oz)
1 T. olive oil
1 T. feta cheese crumbles
salt & pepper to taste
handful of fresh dill & parsley

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add squash and leeks and cook about 5-7 minutes or until tender.
2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir, remove from heat.
3. Put in serving bowl, add a handful of dill & parsley plus 1 T. feta cheese crumbles, mix, and serve immediately.

This makes two small servings at about 100 calories each. Not bad for what Brian declared as "the best vegetable of the summer" :)

YUM!

Mmmm...ushrooms + onions + freezer = quick and easy breakfast

2010-05-28T00:32:00.005-05:00

The incredible, edible egg. I have learned a lot in the past couple of weeks about eggs thanks to a wicked-smart and successful friend of mine who is a corporate buyer in grocery at a shall-remain-unnamed retail giant. My advice to everyone is to do some research and find out for yourself why you should or shouldn't buy cage free eggs.

Short story: cage free is probably not exactly what you picture! And unless you are willing to go vegan, which I am currently not, you may find yourself faced with a moral dilemma.....I love eggs, and I love lots and lots of products and foods that contain eggs, but I don't love YouTube videos that have raised the curtain for me on the sad truth that is the egg industry.....rats. My solution? Buy local! I haven't yet found a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in my area that delivers egg shares, but locally produced eggs are available weekly throughout the spring and summer at farmer's markets. By no means am I claiming to stop buying grocery eggs altogether nor am I going to be leading a movement to convince all Americans to do so, but I like supporting my local farmers anyway, and I just KNOW that these happy local chickens will make eggs that will taste better too......or at least, I won't be re-playing those scarring YouTube videos in my head as I bite into my cheesy skillet scrambler on Sunday mornings.

But I digress. There is a cooking tip hidden in this post somewhere, I promise. B.R. (that's my husband) LOVES eggs for breakfast and has an affinity for perfecting the art of omelette making. However he also has an affinity for instant gratification and doesn't love nor does he often have the time to labor over the fixings for said omelette.

Enter the Schwan's man and the discovery of pre-sliced, pre-oiled, pre-pared and frozen mushrooms and onions. For MONTHS the Schwan's man delivered this precious bag of goodies to our house, along with other items that I didn't want to buy but felt like I should to make the trip worth his while, until one day I flipped the bag over and looked at the long and hard-to-pronounce ingredient list. Ick. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could re-create this concoction on my own....as Oprah would say, I had an "a-ha" moment. And how silly did I feel! $4.99 for a pound of mushrooms and onions and chemicals and additives. Tsk, tsk.

So here's what I do now, fellow egg lovers, stir fry lovers, and general lovers of sauteed vegetables. Get ready to get schooled in omelettes-for-the-busy:

1. I buy the pack of pre-sliced and washed mushrooms, grab a couple of big fat onions, and chop it all up into egg-friendly size.
2. In a big bowl, mix it all together with some olive oil (or melted butter if that's your cup of tea, or a mix of the two.)
3. Spread the mixture over a cookie sheet in a single layer.
4. Freeze overnight or for several hours. Then use a spatula to transfer to a freezer bag or other freezable container. (This process prevents the mushrooms/onions from sticking to each other too much so you can take what you need easily without worrying about big chunks sticking together.)
When you're ready to cook, no need to thaw, just toss any amount into a skillet and you shouldn't even need to add more oil.

I now use the same concept for ham....I just ask at the deli counter for thick slices of ham for eggs and then cube it when I get home, faux "flash-freeze" and transfer to a freezer bag. You could easily add other vegetables to the mix- red, green, yellow peppers would be great. Just avoid anything with too high a water content or things could get mushy. I prefer to use plastic freezer bags and lay them flat in the freezer- takes up very little precious freezer space. When a bag is empty I rinse it out and leave it on the counter to remind me it's time to restock, then reuse the bag for the next batch. (I may not be the greenest girl on the web, but I'm suburb-green. Maybe seafoam?)

It strikes me as kind of silly that explaining this simple idea requires so many steps. (Maybe "requires" is used loosely here....I can be somewhat long-winded.) But anyway- perhaps B.R. is too easy to please, but this is something really easy for me to do that is truly appreciated by my hard-working man :) I actually hope that he doesn't read this post and discover my little secret. Better that he picture me slaving over the kitchen counter as he pops that first bite in his mouth in the mornings.

Any time-saving tips to share? Would love new ideas!

Easy project for the under-twos

2010-05-27T23:28:00.001-05:00

I am great at doing projects with Tinkerbell (who will be 4 in August) but usually either intentionally neglect The Bear (who will be 2 in August) by waiting until she's napping for "craft time" or scaling down crafts for her very much on a whim. So last week when Tinkerbell was at preschool, the little girls and I had craft time with no big sister around and they had so much fun. (Sidenote- I did intend that to be plural- I babysit a few days a week for friends of ours who have a 5 month old boy and 2 year old girl. It is fun and a small enough commitment that the experience has actually encouraged me to entertain the thought of having more kids- and I thought for sure it would do the opposite....backfire!)
Unfortunately since I was switch-tasking with the baby, I didn't take many pictures but we did several "hand" projects.....I traced the girls' hands, cut them out, and then helped put together some different spring scenes. The girls did the coloring and GLUING which always seems to be a big hit with the under two set. We made one into a bird, one into a flower, and one into a butterfly. They did a great job!

I personally liked the butterfly scene the best because we didn't glue the wings down so the butterfly could flap them and fly (and yes, this did take some coaxing (coercion?) on my part!) This is also a great thing to do with little kids if you remember to date it because it is a fun record of their little hands. Next week if I am feeling ambitious I am hoping to break out the paint with the little ones and make some hand/footprint art perhaps for Father's Day gifts?? Stay tuned!

Blueberry Muffins and a Moose

2010-05-14T14:56:00.011-05:00

Yesterday Tinkerbell wanted to read "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" of the well-known "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" series by Laura Joffe Numeroff. So we read it. And read it. And read it. And read it. Each time she laughed and laughed at the silly things the moose was doing. So then we decided to make some muffins ourselves, using this fantastically unhealthy recipe from Colleen at All Recipes. (although we skipped the topping this time but I can testify that it is DELICIOUS...)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I substitute apple sauce)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

While they were baking we read the book another 4 times, and when the timer went off we tested a few and then decided to share some with our neighbors. When we were walking out of the house to deliver them, Tinkerbell was holding the door open for me and announced "Here.....comes.....Big MAMA!" Hmmmm....perhaps should have reconsidered the fourth mini-muffin. Mental note to do Level 3 with Jillian later.

Finally, in attempt to keep the momentum going and I whipped up a little muffin "homework". I drew some muffins w/numbers underneath them and Tinkerbell drew in the corresponding number of blueberries. So simple, but she LOVED it.

I am thinking that with a little advance preparation I could try to start following in the footsteps of the many amazing mom bloggers out there who everyday have themed activities that inspire, educate and delight their children. Stay tuned, I'm a work in progress.

And as an aside, here is a picture of The Bear at meal time. One would think she was fighting over food with 6 siblings instead of one sister who eats like a bird. I guess she just wants to make sure no one takes anything away from her before she's good and ready.

Quick meal for busy nights (& a giveaway)

2010-04-30T06:41:00.002-05:00

Oh, where does the time go? Between starting a new childcare venture, enjoying the beautiful spring weather, getting sick, and then caring for two little girls with ferocious cases of the stomach flu, April has come and gone before I even wrapped my head around the fact that it was here. The days have been flying by lately and by dinner time I find myself frazzled at the day's events and at a loss of what to prepare. Enter the "Get Creative with Leftovers" mission. Here is a sample:

The target leftovers:
grilled chicken, cubed or shredded

Staple ingredients found in fridge:
2 tortillas
salsa
cheese
leftover rice (I had about 3/4 cup)
onions, chopped
sour cream

And from the pantry:
tortilla chips
black refried beans

This was thrown together quickly in order to avert an emergency pizza delivery!

Chicken "burritos"

1. Place tortillas on microwavable plates, spread refried beans and a scoop of rice.
2. Divide chicken and add shredded cheese.
3. Microwave until warm, add salsa, sour cream, and chopped onions as desired. (I prefer the onions fresh and uncooked on such dishes!)

Layered dip

1. Spread refried beans over a small plate. (One with a significant rim works well.)
2. Next layer sour cream, salsa, cheese, onions as desired.
3. Serve with tortilla chips.

Ready in 10 minutes, hardly enough time for a pre-dinner cerveza :)

And a sidenote, there is a great giveaway on "The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M." Good stuff, check it out!

More Easter ramblings

2010-04-07T23:25:00.009-05:00

Oh, where does the time go. I am late to provide ideas for this year, but just wanted to share a couple more Easter happenings at our house last week.

First, another craft that was SO fun and easy, and it is especially noteworthy (blog-worthy?) because the Bear fully participated in this without giving me anxiety. And it turned out beautifully!!! I got an e-newsletter last week from BabyCenter with the idea to make sun-catcher Easter eggs and it reminded me of something I'm sure I've seen before but can't remember where. Using contact paper, black construction paper, and brightly colored tissue paper, we made some really beautiful stained glass "windows" that we hung on our actual windows and admired all Easter weekend.

This was the big one that we all worked on together. After we hung it up (just using the contact paper around the edges- how perfect, right??) Tinkerbell saw the sunlight streaming through it and put her hand to her mouth and said "Oh, Mom! It's just like Grandma's church!"

The Bear hard at work. She thought this was GREAT.

One last picture of the front door display. These were so eye-catching; I noticed them every time I pulled into the driveway.

And some Easter-themed "homework" for Tinkerbell (she loves doing homework, although she sighs like it is a big burden, but that is all part of the act.)

I found a Williams-Sonoma catalog in a pile of mail that was put to good use for this activity. I just cut out some shapes (while the girls were working on the stained glass project) and traced them onto plain paper, and Tinkerbell used a glue stick to paste the shapes onto the paper in the correct spot as she named each.

Finally, in honor of Easter I wanted to post this video that I came across recently and was brought to tears over. It is one thing to read the Easter story but it is such a different experience when it is set to music and the magic of movies. (If you haven't seen The Passion of the Christ I think it is something that you should force yourself to do soon!! Hard to watch but something I think everyone needs to see.) This video is a montage of clips from The Passion of the Christ and is set to music by Casting Crowns. Take a few minutes to watch it.....I hope it moves you the way it does me.

Craft with me 1, 2, 3.....Happy Easter

2010-03-30T20:55:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Tinkerbell had an overnight at Baba's house (Baba is short for "Babička" which is Czech for grandma) and boy does Baba love her crafts. Baking crafts, that is. Luckily for Tinkerbell Baba fills in the gap that I leave in Gracie's crafting life- I am not a baker! Together Baba and I might get mistaken for Martha Stewart. Minus the rap sheet. And the millions of dollars. But I digress.

Here are some pics of some of the fun things Tinkerbell excitedly showed me when she got home from Baba's house. Cute stuff- no tutorial, but thought I would share a couple of their final creations. Perhaps it will inspire if not guide!

I loved this fun pot 'o flowers. They made and decorated sugar cookies, stuck them with kabob sticks and placed them into foam in the pot. Tinkerbell also got to decorate the flower pot and cover the foam with "grass"

Showing off her work!

Scotcheroos on a Stick....YUM (my weakness! I hold Baba almost wholly responsible for the many months that it took me to lose my baby weight!!!)

A closer look at some of the bunnies

Thanks Baba for the fun "guest post" :)

And a side story about my little Tinkerbell while I'm on the subject of Easter.....we have been trying to be intentional about the way we talk about Easter to make sure she understands what it is we're celebrating. This morning in the car I heard her explaining to the Bear who Jesus is, that he died on the cross for our sins so we could go to heaven, and how he came alive again on Easter morning. She said that everyone was so happy that he was alive and that he was the son of God and that is why we say "Happy Easter!" It was so fun to hear her telling her baby sister about Jesus (and for the record- she came up with that "Happy Easter" theory on her own!) It was one of those times that I wished I had a hidden camera recording the whole moment. My little evangelist.

So- a very Happy Easter to you all!

Craft with me 1, 2, 3.....The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2010-03-21T22:32:00.006-05:00

* I wrote this post yesterday but didn't publish until today after uploading a picture of our finished product :)

A couple of weeks ago I got a BabyCenter email with an idea for an egg carton caterpillar craft and Tinkerbell happened to be within computer-viewing distance and her hawk eyes immediately caught it. So after days of patiently waiting for the eggs in our refrigerator to disappear (ok- sometimes not so patiently), she pounced on the empty egg carton this Saturday morning after B.R. made breakfast for the fam. I thought I'd try to make it more of a "lesson" and we pulled out Eric Carle's classic "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to read as inspiration before we started.

No step by step photos but here is what we did.

Caterpillar materials:
-Cardboard egg carton
-Paint & paint brushes (today I used normal acryllic paint and added some dish soap to it but only because I was out of Crayola's washable kids paint, which I love!)
-pipe cleaners
-googly eyes
-mini pom pom balls
-glue

About ten minutes into painting, Tinkerbell decided that we should not only make caterpillars, but we probably needed to make a butterfly and a cocoon as well.

Additional butterfly materials:
-Toilet paper rolls
-thick paper or thin cardboard (I dug a shoebox out of the recycling bin)
-Sequins, glitter, stickers, etc

I put Tinkerbell to work with painting her caterpillars (one "6 eggs long" and two "3 eggs long") then after the butterfly request, I got to work prepping that. I found an empty toilet paper roll and used it to figure out what size wings to make with the shoebox. Cut the wings out, then "sawed" two slits in the toilet paper roll with a serrated knife (for some reason this was easier than scissors...) for the wings to eventually stick in. After the caterpillars were painted, next up were the butterfly wings. She suddenly exclaimed that we needed to make a cocoon for the caterpillar (and that is what the attractive brown egg carton lid in the picture is supposed to be...) While Tinkerbell painted that, I decided I could easily make a little lady bug and since Tinkerbell is game for anything that involves paint, it seemed like a good way to extend the fun. I just cut one small paper plate in half for the wings and had her paint those red with black spots, and she painted another plate black for the body.

We took a snack break while the paint dried and read The Hungry Caterpillar one more time. Then we got to work on getting the details on our creatures. Tinkerbell was in charge of the butterfly and I was in charge of the other bugs, and even B.R. came in and worked on the yellow caterpillar (and Tinkerbell got a huge kick out of the fact that her daddy couldn't get the eyes to stay attached without my help.)

We had lots of fun with this craft- Tinkerbell loves anything that involves paint- and I felt like I earned my mom points for the day with the pre-project book research :) Later this afternoon I was browsing through some "Mom Blogs" and learned that coincidentally today is in fact the 41st anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (enter Twilight Zone music!) How weird is that??

Thanks Allie at No Time for Flashcards for Eric Carle info. And a side note: there are SO many good ideas on Allie's blog- it is busting at the seams with good stuff- definitely worth checking out if you are a mom of little ones (Kandinsky-inspired preschool art, anyone??) It is amazing how quickly one can feel inadequate as a mom when clicking link after link to Mom Blogs from around the world.......ahhhhh, I have so much to aspire to. Apparently there are higher standards than reading a few library books to your kids and toasting yourself for a good day......but nevermind......where's the wine??

Craft with me 1, 2, 3.....Celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday!

2010-03-04T21:16:00.010-06:00

Monday morning Tinkerbell and I were reading the Dr. Seuss classic "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and later I heard on the radio that this week would have been his 106th birthday. Tinkerbell was asking to do a new craft so I decided to throw something together to honor the great Dr. Seuss.

This craft started with what I realized retrospectively were some lofty goals. My idea was to draw, cut out, and paint "fish bowls" and then use an apple to make prints of fish on the fish bowls. Easier said than done.

Before the girls did anything, I got the apple ready:

(This took some creative knife work as it was a really good apple and I wanted us to be able to eat as much of it as possible :)

Then I gathered some supplies. I like Crayola's washable kid paint...it seriously washes out of clothes, off hands, tables, etc, without much effort.

Next I drew a fishbowl on some construction paper and Tinkerbell was happy to work on her skillz and cut out her own; I of course did the cutting for the Bear's. Then we painted the fish bowls blue.

Yes, Tinkerbell's fish bowl was made out of blue paper, and she still needed to paint it blue. Because painting is fun.

This is where my organized craft activity took a turn toward chaos.

The Bear finished painting her fishbowl and we moved onto the apple printing portion of the program. I dipped the apple in red paint and showed the Bear how it worked, then turned to help Tinkerbell get the last of the blue paint out of the jar. As I was explaining to Tinkerbell the trick to scraping the bottom of the jar with her paintbrush in an effort to not waste any last drop of paint that might be remaining, she suddenly yelled

"MOMMY!! BEAR IS EATING THE APPLE!!!"

Before I had time to react, Buddy-the-friendly-dog, who until then was napping quietly under Tinkerbell's bench, startled and jumped up, hitting his head on the bench and tipping it enough to now startle Tinkerbell enough to fall off the bench with blue-paint-covered paintbrush in hand. (Blue paint scattered about the kitchen but- referring back to previous Crayola plug- I was not worried about the damage this might cause.) Tinkerbell is now screaming on the floor and in tears- due in part to the fall itself and in part due to worry over being in trouble about the splattered paint, and the Bear is in her chair, paint-dipped apple fish in hand, paint-dipped apple fish TAIL in mouth, and bright red evidence spread all over her mouth and chin as she laughs at the scene that has quickly unfolded around her. You may be curious about the order of operations that took place next, so I'll just say that the phrase "non-toxic paint" flashed through my head and I decided to help Tinkerbell off the floor before I fished the contaminated apple out of the Bear's mouth (pun intended). Ahhhhh, such is life. The most unfortunate part of this story is that I did not think to take a few seconds to snap a few pictures of the chaos to share with my beloved R&P readers (all four of you).

BUT- after the little bump in the road, there was still a Dr. Seuss craft to complete. We considered having tail-less fish but Tinkerbell didn't love the idea (because fish have to have tails, mom, or they can't swim), and we considered starting fresh with a new apple but I didn't love the idea (because, quite frankly, they were organic and expensive, only 2 left, and 2 days before next planned grocery trip!) so we settled with a much less exciting option B of making construction paper fish. Tinkerbell got on board when I pointed out that she would get to use scissors and glue (and after I promised that she could fly solo on this without any interruption from me.)

So here is the Bear's first fish bowl, and the only evidence of the apple print:

And the Bear's fish bowl #2 (I let her paint another fishbowl while Tinkerbell went to work with her scissors and glue) with fish contribution from mom.

And Tinkerbell's finished product.

This craft was a good lesson for me, and a reminder that I have an 18 month old whom I am attempting to include in these projects. Goal for next time: come up with crafts that are similar in nature but appropriate to different age levels. Hmm...

Anyway, happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Linked to:
Teach Preschool

Why I Stay Up Late

2010-02-24T00:15:00.004-06:00

My dad cut this great comic out of the paper for me the other day. It could not better capture my life and energy level by the end of the day today. On days like today, where I have started out the day as supermom with early morning kid yoga, back-to-back crafts, themed snacks, and a pancake lunch outing, and yet there still are shrill screams, demanding cries, and incessant begging for treats, I look at the clock obsessively and wonder if bedtime will ever come. BR often asks me why I stay up so late.....I always tell him that I need a few solid hours of time in each day to unwind without children underfoot, whether it was a grouphug-don't-we-all-love-each-other type of day or a rip-my-sister's-hair-out-and-give-mom-a-hernia type of day. Let's see, it's eleven minutes after midnight on a Tuesday....I'll let you guess which category today fell into!

This is the work of the genius that is Terri Libenston of the Pajama Diaries. (In case it is too fuzzy to make out, inside the glass case is a "Disney DVD" and a martini and shaker. Hits a little too close to home!!) You can check out more of her work and even can subscribe to her daily comic strip.

Thanks Dad!

Craft with me 1-2-3...Olympic themed ice skates!

2010-02-22T20:47:00.002-06:00

Oh, the Olympics. A time when channel surfing is limited and you find yourself getting lost in the excitement of winter sports you don't know the rules of and didn't think you cared about (curling, anyone?) In honor of our favorite Olympic event, Tinkerbell, the Bear and I crafted a pair of ice skates out of an old cereal box using paint, glue, glitter, embellishments, and ribbon.

The hardest part of this project is drawing the figure skate itself. I freehanded it and I tried to scan it so I could attach a pattern in these instructions but I couldn't get it to work- so my next best option was to outline the skate with a Sharpie and take a closer picture.

Next was the painting. I let Tinkerbell choose two colors, which unsurprisingly were pink and purple. Shocker. I cut Tinkerbell's out pre-painting but decided to wait on the cutting for the Bear's.

By the time we finished washing the paint off our hands, the skates were dry enough to decorate. The Bear required assistance; Tinkerbell refused it.

The final step was the ribbon. My initial plan was to actually punch many holes and "lace" the skates but at this point I was ready for cleanup time so we just went with the simple one-hole punch in each skate, and Tinkerbell helped thread the ribbon through the hole and we had a learning moment as I attempted to teach her how to tie a bow (sidenote: further lessons will be required). I also pulled out a Play-Do tool that looked like it would be perfect for pressing stitching into the skates....but then I remembered that my girls are one and three, and this project was for them and not for me- the simpler, the better :)

Go Team USA!

Update on the 5 Day Meal Challenge

2010-02-19T11:15:00.000-06:00

We are finally on the last day of the meal challenge, and it definitely has gotten progressively harder. This morning I woke up about an hour before I normally do and I'm convinced it was purely from hunger! My belly felt empty as I tossed and turned. Today I was signing an Easter package to send off to our World Vision sponsored child, 3 year old Thabo, and I felt especially close to him and his experience. While this challenge was definitely a challenge, we didn't come close to emulating true hunger and understanding what it would be like to not know when we might have a meal again. And I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish a parent must feel over putting a child to bed hungry (or to not even have a bed at all....or to not have a way to take care of a sick child....the list goes on and on.) If you're reading this, you're likely similar to me in having never experienced any of these things, and I ask you to say an extra prayer tonight when you tuck your children into bed, with their full bellies, and ask how you might be able to make a difference in some small way. And I encourage you to visit the World Vision website and find out more about sponsoring one child in need.

5 Day Meal Challenge

2010-02-16T15:44:00.004-06:00

This past weekend our church started a new message series based on Micah 6:8..."What does the Lord require of you? Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with God." This powerful video was shown and I encourage you to take the time to watch it.
The takeaway from the first message of the series was that with our overwhelming access to information, we clearly are not ignorant about the need in the world, but we tend to ignore our responsibility to respond. A question that I have asked myself before is "Why am I so lucky?" and the answer is that God has blessed me to be a blessing to others. And I have not lived up to my potential. While we can't do everything, we CAN do something. And we must.

We were summoned this week to participate in a 5 day meal challenge in which we would eat like the poor to help change our perspective of world hunger. As it said in the video, half the world lives on $2/day or less. The weekly grocery bill for my small family of four is typically over $100. We eat convenience foods, processed foods, fresh foods not in season and coming from all over the world, whatever meat or fish our hearts desire, decadent desserts and fine wines all without giving it much thought aside from staying within our (generous) budget. So this week is different. This week Big Richard (herein simply "BR") and I are drinking tap water and eating rice and beans....

Day One of the challenge was relatively uneventful. Going off of the "allowed foods" list of oatmeal, beans/lentils, rice/millet (millet- really?), cornmeal, tortillas, and water, we started the day with oatmeal and had 1-cup portions of rice and beans for both lunch and dinner. At dinner we allowed ourselves one small piece of cornbread. While we didn't go to bed hungry by any means, we did go to bed realizing that a day without sweets (me), meat (BR) and coffee (both of us) was no fun at all.

Day Two so far has been more challenging. This morning I ate a handful of Honey Nut Cheerios without realizing my mistake, and later two animal crackers were sacrificed before it occurred to me what I was doing. But harder than resisting the food is simply drinking tap water and nothing else....JavaMama needs some java! Or just some milk! Two days into the challenge and I am more acutely aware of how much snacking and sipping I do throughout the day and how much FOOD is readily available. Driving down the highway today, I noticed in a different way the exits marked for coffee shops, fast food, convenience stations, and pharmacies. We live in a world of abundance where everything we need or want is at our fingertips. Even when money seems tight, the stark difference in our lives compared to the world's super-poor is overwhelming.

Tonight's dinner plan is again rice and beans, maybe this time wrapped in a tortilla. BR and I already talked last night about incorporating the rice and beans into our weekly menu as a way to remind us of this experiment and to symbolically align ourselves with the "least of these".....it is humbling to realize how insignificant this is in the face of those who have no other option. Even knowing that we are doing this for just a few days makes it easier to stick to it because there is an end in sight. But even two days in, I know that this is going to have some surprising outcomes. One unexpected gem is how the simple menu has simplified my life. Sunday night I lovingly prepared a big pot of rice and beans in anticipation of these five days, packed it all up in 1 cup portions, and aligned them nicely in our refrigerator. So we had three days' worth of lunch and dinners all ready to go, shaving precious minutes of prepping, cooking and cleaning up off of my busy day, and allowing me more time to reflect, pray, relax, and be with my family. Who knew?

I'm looking forward to what the rest of the week brings, and to where God leads us after these five days. If you're interested in following along with the series, you can do so at the Eagle Brook website.

I'd love to hear what you think!

A recipe worth saving....Asian Lettuce Wraps

2010-02-14T22:19:00.014-06:00

I was craving P.F. Chang's last week and having no P.F. Chang's anywhere close to my house, decided to try to copycat our favorite appetizer- lettuce wraps. I found a recipe on RecipeZaar and decided it was worth working with. The following recipe is what I came up with. Two thumbs up from me and the mister! Most of the things I make consist of ingredients that I have on hand or buy on a regular basis, but I realize not everyone keeps sesame oil, rice vinegar, and chili paste in their pantry......however I highly recommend that you start, because if you make stir-fry-like meals often (or want to) it will make a huge difference in the end result.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 package tofu (extra firm)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can water chestnuts, chopped
sesame oil
About 1/8 tsp each:
   ginger
   garlic powder
   white pepper
Iceberg, romaine, or butter lettuce- anything with big leaves

Stir fry sauce:
2 T. reduced sodium soy sauce
2 T. brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar

"Special" sauce:
2 T. white sugar
1/4 cup water
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
generous squeeze of ketchup
squeeze of lemon juice
dash of sesame oil
1-2 tsp chili paste

Optional: crispy rice noodles

Directions:

1. If you're an old expert at tofu, skip ahead to #2. If you've never stir-fried tofu before, this is what it looks like packaged...

You can find it in the produce department, usually somewhere by the packaged herbs and refrigerated salad dressings. When cooking with tofu, you should start by pressing the water out of it. Extra firm tofu doesn't need as much prep as other tofu, but I still give it a shortened treatment. I usually put it in a colander/strainer, set that on top of a bowl, then put paper towels or a (clean!) dish towel over the top of the tofu, and set something heavy on top of it.

Leave it like that for 10 minutes or so, flip it over and repeat. Cut the tofu block in half and put one half in a freezer bag, give it an expiration date 4-5 months out, and stick it in the freezer. The next time you use tofu in a stir fry it will actually turn out even better and crumbly and be more ground meat-like....don't be afraid of the yellow/brown color it will inevitably turn, I promise that does not mean that it has gone bad.

2. Mix "special" sauce by dissolving sugar in water, then add remaining ingredients and whisk with a fork. Set aside.

3. Mix stir fry sauce by whisking brown sugar into soy sauce and rice vinegar. Adjust to taste. (And by this I mean stick your finger in it and lick it! If it's not sweet enough for your liking, add more sugar. If it's too sweet, add more soy sauce!)

2. Cut tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat small amount of sesame oil in a pan over med- med/high heat. Prepare stir fry sauce. Toss tofu in hot oil, add about a third to a half of the stir fry sauce and cook 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Tofu should be browned, and feel free to crumble it as you stir, esp. if you are looking to "hide" it from someone :) Remove from heat and transfer to bowl/plate and set aside.

3. In same pan, heat another splash of sesame oil. Saute onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, add turkey, ginger, garlic powder, and white pepper, and cook about 3 minutes...add water chesnuts and remaining stir fry sauce, stir until well coated, then add tofu and stir and cook until thoroughly heated.

4. Scoop mixture into lettuce "cups" and top with special sauce and if desired sprinkle with crispy rice noodles.

5. Serve as an appetizer for four or light meal for two, and prepare yourself to be complimented on your top chef-ery.

Craft with me 1-2-3...Valentine's Day

2010-02-09T23:30:00.010-06:00

Ahh, Valentine's Day. As a kid this was one of the BEST school holidays. I remember very carefully reading each Sweetheart before joining it with the just-as-carefully-chosen card. Always making sure to give "True Love" to the cutest boy in the class who shared his colored pencils with me and being very intentional when choosing "Neat" for the close-talking boy who always forgot to brush his teeth. And what could be a better day in the life of a third grader- dressing up in festive heart-knit leg-warmers (and perhaps a matching scrunchie, or maybe a red banana clip), passing the day with semi-educational Valentine craft projects, and ending it with an all-class party complete with love notes that the teacher wouldn't take away, all-you-can-eat candy, and over-sugared punch. As I grew older and the mandatory "give-everyone-in-the-class-a-Valentine" rule faded, I started to think that Valentine's Day was for chumps...a Hallmark holiday at best, a nasty trick on the naïve consumer, a dreaded mark on the calendar making single people of the world let out a simultaneous sigh of despair. I had a few lonely Valentine's Days myself- one of which I actually had a boyfriend and STILL didn't have a date! Eventually I rallied against the traditional Valentine's Day and declared February 14th Vagina Day! (explanation point mandatory!) Instead of spending the evening having an expensive dinner of forced romance with my sig-nif, Vagina Day! was a day to celebrate the fabulous women in my life and thank them for their friendship. Seemed a much more worthy way to celebrate.

Now that I am approaching my 30s and finally losing the self-consciousness that plagued me in my teen years and stuck around long into my 20s, my vendetta against this American tradition has been lifted to some degree- due to my own stability, an inevitable and ever-developing re-organization of energies, and also due to my girlfriends' respective stations in life- be they attached or single- and their similar "comes-with-age" confidence. But most of all, my re-discovery of the joy of Valentine's Day is due to being a mom of two little girls who are elated at the sight of pink and red decorations and approach all things Valentine with the enthusiasm of, well, a kid in a candy store.

With Tinkerbell's inaugural year of preschool comes her first-ever Valentine's Day party, and thus a reawakening of my own love for this cold day in February. Tinkerbell has an oft-read Mary Engelbreit book called Queen of Hearts that has made her privy to the details of Valentine's Day parties. When she came home with a letter from her preschool teacher announcing the day of the her very first Valentine's Day party she was literally jumping up and down as the words bubbled out of her. So this very long self-analysis and walk down memory lane has all been a verbose precursor to the real subject of this post, and that is the very simple Valentines that Tinkerbell and I created today for her preschool classmates.

Valentine's Day cards for kids

I am not at all exaggerating when I say that this is a quick, easy, and cheap little craft. All you need is some red or pink cardstock, a pair of scissors, a pack of pencils, a hole puncher, and some fun decorating tools- markers, crayons, stickers, stamps, etc.

Draw a heart onto a piece of cardboard or cardstock (or even print one off of your computer) and use it as a pattern to create your desired number of Valentines. If your kids are older they could help with the tracing and cutting once you have a pattern. Since my girls are three and one, I did the tracing and cutting myself; Tinkerbell and The Bear did the coloring, stamping, and adorning with stickers. If you are confident in your skillz just freehand some heart shapes with a scissors to shave off even more time to the preparation.

Once the hearts are decorated, punch or cut two holes in each heart and slip a pencil through like an arrow....and you're done!

Beautiful, unique, handmade Valentines that your little one will be proud to distribute and that even the strictest of dentists would endorse :)

(Click on picture for detailed view)

And, just because I can...

Happy Valentine's Day from Tinkerbell and The Bear!

Lastly, a special V-day! shout-out to my best girls. You know who you are. And I love you.

Thrifty Thursday- Mexico on a dime

2010-01-28T08:16:00.002-06:00

With two sicks kids this week, I was scrambling to make something for dinner that fit into two categories- cheap and healthy. Having not planned ahead, I didn't have any meat freshly purchased or thawed so tonight's dinner also fit in with one of my New Year's resolutions: to incorporate a vegetarian dinner into our diets once a week. Coincidentally, after I made this dinner with these thoughts in mind, I caught an episode of Oprah (so cliche, I know- a housewife watching Oprah!) but it was SO relevant to my current thoughts and truly made me pledge to be more conscious in my food choices. I really encourage you to check the truth about food . But I digress- here is the recipe I came up with for Thrifty Thursday.

Baked Black Bean Burritos

I don't know if this technically qualifies as a burrito, but Mexican-inspired dishes are easy to improvise- the ingredients and amounts listed below are simply what I used based on what I had in my cupboard and fridge, and you can adapt according to what you have at your disposal too. (For example- I used 3/4ths of a green pepper because I HAD 3/4ths of a green pepper, not because I thought a whole pepper would be too much or a 1/2 too little.

2-4 tortillas

1 cup cooked rice (can make ahead; I used brown Minute Rice)

3/4 green pepper

1/2 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 can black beans

1/2 cup corn

1 can diced tomatoes (like Rotel 10 oz.)

1/2 c. salsa

1/2 c. shredded cheese

APPROXIMATELY:

2 tsp. chili powder

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (start with a sprinkle and add to taste)

dash garlic powder

dash of Lawry's

Chop and saute green pepper, onion, and garlic in 1 T. olive oil over medium-high heat approx five minutes. Add black beans, corn, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and bring to a boil; reduce heat and sprinkle with red pepper flakes to taste. Adjust taste as needed (Lawry's, chili powder, etc) Add rice and cook until heated.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a baking dish with nonstick spray and scoop desired portions into tortillas. If needed, dip toothpicks in water and use to secure tortilla closed. Spread salsa over tortillas and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese, season with chili powder. Bake additional 5 minutes and serve with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

We also had a salad to go along with this....I saved a handful of corn and black beans and added that to spinach, romaine, shredded carrots, shredded cheese, onions, and crushed tortilla chips. Served with a mix of Western and Ranch dressing and it was a great accompaniment.

¡Que sabrosa! ¿sí?

Birthdays should be celebrated

2010-01-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

Tinkerbell will turn 4 in August and I'm sure it will be a fun day filled with friends, family, birthday cake, a few presents, and joyful celebration over the day that she was born. And that's how it should be. Birthdays are fun! For MY kids at least. But they are not special needs orphans living in the middle of Russia.

I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer today- it seems there is bad news everywhere we turn, and the daily updates about the earthquake in Haiti are tragic beyond belief. But I came across this story yesterday from a friend who has a sweet, lovable 4 year old with Downs Syndrome herself, and I felt compelled to pass it on.

Click here to read an unbelievable story, and make sure you watch the Today Show segment .

Craft with me 1-2-3...Tin Foil Etchings

2010-01-13T08:24:00.006-06:00

Running a little short on craft supplies and we are due for a trip to Michael's! However I pulled together a fun project that Gracie LOVED, and the star of the show was good ol' household tin foil.

Materials: tin foil (heavy duty would work better, but we had the standard stuff), a dull pencil, paint or ink, paintbrush, paper towels, newspaper

Lay out a rather thick pile of newspaper and spread out a piece of tin foil. Using a dull pencil, draw a picture or design.

Then cover the entire sheet of tin foil with paint.

Next, use a paper towel to wipe off top layer of paint.

After wiping with the paper towel, paint will remain in the etchings and you will get something like this:

Let dry and then post on to construction paper frames, or make into greeting cards, etc.

Tinkerbell decided to make this one a get well card for her friend who is sick with pneumonia.

And to this one Tinkerbell added more color with markers after the paint dried.

We'd love to hear your craft ideas too!

Thrifty Thursday- Rosemary Chicken & Potatoes

2010-01-07T20:57:00.001-06:00

This week I got a package of chicken thighs for TWO dollars....add a 5lb bag of red potatoes for $2.49 and I had myself the Cheapest Dinner on the Planet. Not counting some staples that I always have on hand, I estimated this dinner to be $0.65/serving. Take THAT Ronald McD!! I dare you to have a 65-cent menu.

4 chicken thighs
quartered or diced potatoes
onions
garlic (or garlic powder)
olive oil
rosemary
oregano leaves
salt & pepper

After dicing potatoes precook for 5 min in microwave....during that time take the skin off of the chicken thighs (unless you aren't worried about the extra fat!) and quarter onions and chop or mince garlic. In a large bowl combine chicken, potatoes, onions, garlic and some olive oil (just enough to lightly coat) Pour into a casserole dish (f you have it squeeze a little lemon juice over the chicken.) Season all of it with rosemary (fresh if you are extra fancy) oregano leaves, course salt & pepper. Rub the seasonings into the chicken for good measure! Ovens vary so you are better off using a meat thermometer BUT approx. 40 minutes should be about right. At the end I poured off the oil/juices and then broiled for 5 minutes. The potatoes should come out crispy and golden brown, and the chicken should still be juicy! If you have to, remove the chicken and cook the potatoes longer, then combine it all again for a broil before serving.

Enjoy!

New Year, New Me

2010-01-04T11:08:00.005-06:00

I love January. Yes, there is the sadness that comes with the end of the holiday season, and true Mother Nature has gifted us with subzero temps each day of this new year, but with each January comes a new beginning- a fresh slate, a new start, a symbolic do-over for all one's good intentions. I experience a mini-January ritual virtually every Sunday evening- each Sunday I have a plan in my head for the great things that will take place THIS week, things I will accomplish and things I will do differently THIS week. So the beginning of a New Week in a New Month in a New Year is brimming with such potential that I am nearly giddy with the confidence that surely this time I will follow through with all the good intentions that- until now- have just been living in my head.

There's nothing wrong with shooting for the moon when it comes to resolutions, goals, To-Do's, whatever you want to call them. I'll spare you my laundry list of needed self-improvements (as there are a LOT of them!) but one that I can proudly say that I got a jump start on is overcoming my sedentary lifestyle. I have Jillian Michael's to thank for that, and as of 10:07am I have officially completed Day One of her 30 Day Shred . Her workouts are 27 minutes including warm-up and cool-down...perfect for naptime and leaving room for a 5 minute shower, 10 minute dress & go, and a quick post-breakfast kitchen sweep. My goal is to do Jillian's workout every Monday and Wednesday, and to also do Bob Harper's Biggest Loser Yoga each Tuesday and Thursday. Quite lofty coming from one who has a spotty exercising resume, but now that it is officially recorded in BloggerLand, all the more incentive to follow through. Plus I am eager to watch my favorite show on television this season without feeling like a loser of a different kind while I sit idly by and snack on Chili Cheese Fritos. (Well the snack might still be in hand but the sedentary lifestyle will be absent...)

This morning between sneaking a blog entry in during snack time, and beds stripped and sheets already on the dry cycle, I'm well on my way to a productive new decade. Now if my angels will just cooperatively engage in educational play for the rest of the day, I can get on to the rest of my list....before you know it I will have cataloged digital photo files, a clean house, a blooming garden, a well-behaved dog and bilingual children.

Happy 2010!

Rhinestones & Pine Cones (how this blog got its name)

2009-12-18T08:03:00.003-06:00

I started thinking about keeping a blog- as a way to add a little more structure to my unscheduled day, to share recipes and other random thoughts with friends, and to have a record-keeping of sorts of our everyday life. So earlier this week when Tinkerbell and I were in the midst of craft time (which we usually do once a week or while the Bear naps) it dawned on me that *this* is how I want my kids to remember me as a stay-at-home mom....elbow deep in rhinestones and pine cones. And thus was born the (silly) name of this blog.

Here is the craft that was the inspiration:

Start with these supplies: pine cone, glue, paint, glitter, paper bag.

Mix white paint with some glue, and paint the pine cone.

Put wet, painted pine cone in a paper bag, sprinkle glitter inside, and shake it up!

Remove and let dry. Optional addition- Tinkerbell requested that we add rhinestones to her pine cone. Fab-u-lous!

Final product:

We will probably add a ribbon and a little jingle bell and add it to our Christmas tree. Crafty fun!

We also did this little "Elf on a Shelf" inspired Santa on the same day....no step-by-step pictures though, just the final product! We used a toilet paper roll for the body, some construction paper, paint, googly eyes, and two strips of felt for his legs.

Thrifty Thursday- Easy Chicken Broth

2009-12-17T10:11:00.000-06:00

An easy, healthy, and delicious way to make chicken broth at home. This is a compilation trial and error, and my favorite/easiest results.

Start with a rotisserie chicken, remove all meat, separate into 2 or 3 meals (I usually save white meat for recipes like Buffalo Chicken Wraps , dark greasier meat for soups)

Place all remaining parts of chicken- skin, bones, juice, etc into a slow cooker. Cover with COLD water and add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (I use Apple Cider vinegar) and let sit for an hour to extract all the nutrients- namely calcium.

Technically you don't HAVE to add anything else in the broth if you are going to save the broth for recipes other than soup recipes where the base IS chicken broth (e.g. Chicken Noodle Soup)

But if you have other ingredients on hand, the trifecta of celery, carrots, and onions makes for a super tasty broth. I usually cut off the ends of a bunch of celery (that normally would get thrown away), quarter an onion or two WITH the skin, and add an unpeeled carrot with ends trimmed (do not use washed, peeled baby carrots! They will do nothing for the broth, as they are essentially carriers of Ranch and have no flavor. But I digress.) The more carrots, the sweeter the broth will be, so it depends on your preference.

I also like to add some thyme (fresh or dried), a couple of bay leaves, and if I want a little extra punch some whole peppercorns.

Simmer on low in Crock Pot from anywhere from 6-12 hours, tasting as it cooks until it gets to a flavor that you like (or until you need it!) Now I usually scoop out the veggies, chicken carcass, etc until I am left with broth and I usually separate them into 1-2-or-3 cup portions in disposable plastic containers, and then refrigerate overnight and skim the fat off the next day. Not only will you be left with a healthier broth but it actually has a better texture when used in soup. After refrigeration the broth will seem kind of gelatin-y and this is a good thing! It means it is packed with good-for-you stuff. At this point you can label and freeze the containers and you will have great broth on hand when needed! Note that there is no salt added- usually if a recipe calls for a cup of chicken broth, it won't need extra salt, but if you are making a broth-based soup you can add salt to taste.

Sooo much healthier & cheaper than store bought broth, and VERY easy despite these lengthy directions :)

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

2009-12-17T00:01:00.001-06:00

Easy-peasy dinner tonight that B.R. (Big Richard) claims is on his top ten list. Good for late nights with a tentative arrival time.

Rotisserie Chicken
Frank's Buffalo Sauce
Romaine lettuce
Tortillas
Shredded Cheese
Ranch dressing

Instructions: Remove desired amount of chicken from bones, toss in buffalo sauce, distribute into tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese, add chopped/torn lettuce, top with Ranch dressing. YUM!

Saved remaining chicken for Buffalo Chicken Dip (thanks Jules) for church group this weekend. Used chicken remains for an amazingly easy chicken broth .

Sidenote to Cub Foods shoppers- organic Braeburn apples on sale, $2.98 a bag ($2.50 off normal price!) Apples are heavily pesticide-ed....buy organic!

7 things.

2009-12-16T23:55:00.000-06:00

1. SAHM, 2 kids, 1 husband, and a funny little dog.
2. Drunk and tone deaf are never a good combination.
3. Once a Mac & Cheese'er, then a Make & Taker, now a Do-It-Yourself'er.
4. Jesus is my homeboy.
5. Buffalo Chicken Wraps
6. Carly, Joni, Tracy C.
7. To blog, to clean, to teach, to laugh, to love.

(1. Stats, 2. Lessons I Learned from College, 3. How I Describe my Culinary Resume, 4. Religious Affiliation, 5. What I Made for Dinner Tonight, 6. Three of my Best Friends- Simon, Mitchell, & Chapman, 7. Goals for 2010.)