Monday, June 29, 2009

Grass Heads

Tonight Lu and I made Grass heads, isn't it adorable?? Sometimes I lack in the craft dept, so every now and again I try and remember to do something fun!
And.... it sure was a frugal project, they only thing that cost money was the grass seeds for $1 the rest we had on hand EXCEPT for the saw dust, I was told from a friend filling it with saw dust rather than soil was better, made the grass grow faster, and was less "muddy" Lowes was happy to give us an entire bag full for free *smiles all around*

I had an old pair of panthose, which I cut and we filled the bottom with the seeds, then saw dust, we used a beach shovel, and that worked WELL!
I had to push the saw dust down quite a bit, packing it in firmly and forming the "head"
Then Lu dipped it in water for a couple seconds, and we let it dry for about an hour or so. We went on a family walk, and came back to a mostly dried grass head.

Laney made a cute face on it, and it had to have hair, so we used "blonde" pipe cleaner.

And voila! We will have to put an updated picture on here when the grass starts to grow! We put it in an old sour cream container so we can water it!



NOW ......

This deserves its own seperate post!! Made my night, was so hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing long enough to snap pictures!


Before we started our grass head I was gathering the supplies, and came back to this!! Don't you love it?!! Hilarious! She said there are her PANTIES haha



Sunday, June 28, 2009

Balloon Guy at the Library

I have to say, this summer has been really delightful, we've found tons of stuff to do! Thursday Lu and I went to the Library with my dear friend Christina and her children to watch the balloon guy! It wasn't just some normal balloon guy that made balloons for all the kids, and then went about on his way!
He made different characters from balloons and told STORIES!! It was great entertainment and his show lasted for over an hour, the kids stayed still, quiet, and content the whole time! Best part is it was FREE everyone has to love that right?!

Laney is a princess ... See her crown at the top, and those beatiful blonde braids! Such a pretty princess!
After the show, the balloon guy was nice enough to let our kids play with all the balloons, there was probably 50 or more kids there! Kaitlyn is trapped in tis butterfly net!

And DJ is the CUTEST little mosquito that I ever did see! He made the coolest balloons!
This guy played the princess to the story of Shrek! It was totally funny!

And this little girl played shrek! We had a nice time, UNBELIEVEABLE the stuff you can find for you kids to do that doesn't cost much! Afterwards we went to the park and had a picnic, and let the kids play, the whole day was full of free activities, and spent with dear friends! Next time we go to the library Lu and I are gonna get books and have story time!





Friday, June 26, 2009

My New Blog Button

Hi Everybody I wanted to let you all know I got a button for "Kids in the Kitchen Thursdays" *my new blog carnival/meme* Thanks to my friend Gina, at the Shabby Chic Cottage, Gina did an awsome job on my button and she did it quickly too! Thanks Gina! She has an awsome blog you all should check it out!

To get my button just click right on it, and you could display it on your page too :) thanks ya'll! Also please give me feed back on how you think it looks!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Kids In The Kitchen Thursdays - Marshmallow Pinwheels

*Just a Quick note before we start, Mr. Linky is not working due to the OVERLOAD of people signing up, I ask that this NOT stop you from participating, PLEASE just put your link in my comment section, and your page will be visited, I apologize for the inconvince, last week I said I should have it up and running this week, but that hasn't happened, so I won't make any promises as to when, but it should be soon, and even the people that already have Mr. Linky have been having problems as well!

I Look Forward to seeing everybodys recipes this week!

Today we are making Marshmallow Pinwheels!
This is the only 3 ingredients you'll need, a box of any flavored gelatin, 1 and 1/2 cups of marshmallows, and 1/2 cup of water .. how simple is that? I had all the stuff on hand!
Oh yes... and you will also need your chef, don't forget that!

First you will need to pour the gelatin in a bowl (for ours we used grape, Lu's choice of course bc it happens to be purple!) Then you will need to pour the 1/2 cup of water in with gelatin and stir until gelatin is dissovled! Then you will need to place in microwave for 1 and 1/2 minutes.
While gelatin is in microwave we cut the marshmallows in half, the recipe called for mini marshmallows, I only had big ones, so we modified them. *This was Lu's first time cutting with a "real" knife so she thinks shes was a big girl chef now!*
Next you will put the marshmallows in with the hot mixture of gelatin and place it back in the microwave for 1 minute.
The marshmallows will be PARTIALLY melted, not fully, but thats ok, because you want to whisk it, and when you whisk it they will completley melt.

Next ... this is IMPORTANT, spray or grease your baking dish so that the jello lifts easier, then pour your mixture into your baking dish and place in fridge for 1 hour.

After it has hardened and cool, an adult will have to lift it from them pan, because it is very tricky, but once it starts to lift it comes of really easy!
My next picture wont upload for some reason, but once you get it out of the pan, roll up the gelatin tightly, and cut it into pinwheels.
It should end up looking like this. Next you will put it back in the fridge to set up more (although they tasted just fine without putting them back in for longer)

*Notes* We thought they tasted like a cold fruit roll-up, I think it would be easier, to not "pinwheel" them because when you are eating them you won't have to worry about it coming unwraped, so next time I will cut them in long strips or make shapes from cookie cutters. We did like them though, thought they were nice on a hot day!
Thank you to all of those who participated our first couple of weeks "Of Kids In The Kitchen" Please post the link to your page in my comment section, hopefully next week I will have everything up, running, and working properly.Include kid friendly recipes, kid friendly cookbooks.....or anything that helps to get your kid in the kitchen! Hope you find something useful! Thank you for participating
Since Mr. Linky isn't working I'm doing it my own way LOL .. I am gonna put link right below so everyone can get to them much easier!
Shannon's kiddies have some great looking cresent sandwhiches what a good idea for lunch!
My niece and nephew over at Adventures of a Flake whipped up some yummy looking Lemon Glazed Candied Ginger Cookies.
My dear friend Christina and her kiddies made no bake cookies, how great is that!?
Be sure to check all those links out, hopefully it makes it easier for everyone to view, hope to see all your kids in the kitchen next Thursday and be sure to tell your friends so they can participate as well!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Playdate at the Petting Zoo

Today my mommy group went to Boyette Grove, which is a small petting zoo near by, It was very neat, I have never been there before.
The owners basically rescue "unwanted" animals, from deer, to alligator, birds, monkey, llama, zebra ect ect...
The kids had a wonderful time feeding the animals, and seeing which animal would eat the most.
It was pretty fun to see which child picked which animal as the one to "warm" up to, I think Laney and Kaitlyn both liked the birds, and turtles.
And the Llmas ate like it was nobody's buisness, I believe they actually got the most food, because they ate right our of the palms of hands!
And of course the Ostriches were a huge hit, this picture of Sara is one of my fav. I wish I would have snapped it at just the right time, because when she threw the bread, she jumped with it! Too cute!
We all packed a "picnic" style lunch and ate inside (where there was some nice AC blowing) after we were finished the owners gave all of the kids ice cream of their choice! It was a nice day! I am loving the summer, it has given us awsome opportunites!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Family Beach Trip

As promised I went to the beach again, I am trying to go with my family more this summer, ad I think last summer was thrown by the waste side a bit! This trip was a little different than our trip 2 wks ago to Treaure Island, this time instead of just the 3 of us, we went with my mommy group to honey moon island! It was so nice Of Krystal and Jay (very active members of the group) put on a "Pirate" show for the kids!
Lu always makes friends so quickly!

The kids had the cutest games to play like "Don't spill the swill" where they had to pass water to each other from bucket to bucket hoping not to spill, in this picture they are running down to the water getting ready to play!
There were a few games, I don't remember them all, some included bubbles, buckets, and instead of simon says it was captain says!

For all the kids effort and participation they recieved coins and with the coins they got "Loot". It was so great, each family donated some gently used books, or gently used toys that our kids didn't play with any longer, and that became the kids treasures, they had SO MUCH to choose from, infact each child got numerous toys and we still had alot left over to donate to the kids in need!
Everyone brought a snack to share, we played with our kids, chatted with the girls, and just had a ball! What a wonderful family beach day with my mommy friends and their hubbys!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Kids In The Kitchen Thursdays-Cornflake Cookies

*Just a Quick not before we start, Mr. Linky is not working due to the OVERLOAD of people signing up, I ask that this NOT stop you from participating, PLEASE just put your link in my comment section, and your page will be visited, I apologize for the inconvince, I should have Mr. Linky up and running by next week*

Welcome to the Second Week of Kids In The Kitchen Thursdays
Here we go, this week Lu and I are making cornflake cookies, I got this idea when thinking about the cornflake Christmas wreath cookies that people make, and I remembered eating, so I looked on the internet for them and up popped just a regular everyday cornflake cookie, so I sat out on a mission to make them, and after 2 weeks of thinking about it, and after purchasing cornflakes *which I know won't be eaten in this house as just cereal because they aren't sweet enough* Lu and I made them.

First you will need to Preheat your oven to 325 degrees
next you'll need to beat 3 EGG WHITES until they are stiff (not your arm the egg whites of course)

Add to that 1 and 1/4 CUP OF SUGAR

and 1/4 TSP. SALT
as well as 1/2 TSP VANILLA, mix well (I used my handheld blender)
In a SEPERATE bowl put 1 and 1/2 CUPS OF CORNFLAKES (I actually added a extra handful, so I'd say I used 2 cups)
To that bowl also add 2 CUPS OF COCONUT and gently mix together with hands or spoon whichever you prefer, we used our hands of course!
To the Cornflake/Coconut mixture, ADD the Eggwhite mixture.
and stir with big spoon (I must say it is gooey and hard for a young child to stir the mixture fully, so I took over after a min or so)

After this step you will drop small spoon fulls of cookie mixture on waxed paper and put into your preheated oven for 15-18 mins.
Your finish product will be a light and fluffy cookie, was pretty tasty, very different but none the less good!


Thank you to all of those who participated our first week Of Kids In The Kitchen Last Thursdays , Please post the link to your page in my comment section, hopefully next week I will have everything up, running, and working properly.
Include kid friendly recipes, kid friendly cookbooks.....or anything that helps to get your kid in the kitchen! Hope you find something useful! Thank you for participating

Father's Day Card

Today Lu chose to stay home from camp with me on my day off, and when I asked her what she wanted to do .. "Well Mom unless you want to go buy Joshy a card from Walmart, we have to make him one!" She does have a point, smarty pants! I was thinking of the stuff we could make and I asked Lu if she wanted to make the Tool Box pictured HERE, but she said I think Joshy likes his truck better, we should make a truck .. WHAT? are you serious kid you want me to draw and cut a truck? Don't you know I am craft Challenged?? So I pulled up a picture of his truck on the web, and tried to draw it exactly, I did an ok job I must say so myself!
Then Lu glued on all the parts the tires, head lights, lights, and windows.
And then she thought of what to say, and asked me to spell a few words, she came up with what she wanted to say by herself.

Which read:"Joshy you are Handsome!!" and on the other side it says "I love you!"
On the front reads Happy Father's Day! and that is our finished product!
The marker bled through a little, and when Lu noticed it, she said "Thats okay my Joshy will love it anyways"