Cookie Cutter Painting

Cookie cutter painting is another favorite at our house because, like the suncatchers, all ages can do it and it can be adapted to any theme.

Take a cookie cutter, dip it in paint, stamp it on paper.  Ta-da!

Only 2 more weeks until Valentine's Day!!! 

Valentine's Sun Catchers

I LOVE Valentine's Day!  Any holiday that is all about love and romance, pink and glitter...I'm all for!  Plus, with these dreary winter days, a little holiday fun makes everything seem brighter.

For the last few years, we've always done this same craft project and it doesn't seem like Valentine's Day without it.  It was a daycare favorite because all ages can do it successfully and you can customize this to any theme!  We've made apples, shamrocks, crosses, etc. before.

Take construction paper and cut out a frame.

Stick it onto clear contact paper.

Cut around the frame and hand it to your kiddos, sticky side up.

For younger kids, have tissue paper squares precut...older kids can tear their own.

Hang them up and enjoy!

Pretty and Printable Recipe Cards!

This project has completely consumed my last two weeks!  Remember this post two months ago where I said I wanted to make pretty, scrapbooked photo recipe cards for all of my recipes...it turned out to be a huge project!  Who knew we had so many favorite recipes?!?!  Instead of designing different cards for each individual recipe, I decided to make a template for each category, which cut down on a lot of time.

In any case, they're done!  For now.  Until I find a new great recipe tomorrow!  127 beautiful, photo recipe cards!

This is about half, the other half still need to be laminated.

Now I can cook wearing my pretty apron, using my pretty recipe cards, with my pretty daughter!  This makes my heart sing!

Making the Loaded Oatmeal Cookies...they turned out fabulous!!!

Being the kind, generous person I am (and humble too! :-P), here are the links to our recipe cards, ready to be printed.  If you want my original templates, so you can customize your own, send me an email.  I'll be happy to send them to you, I just didn't think they'd upload right.  Or go to this site and download free digital scrapbooking sets, and make your own designs!

Recipes

Appetizers-

• Puppy Chow
• Cucumber Sandwiches
• Cheddar Fondue
• Cocktail Meatballs
• Spicy Chicken Roll Ups
• Veggie Pizza
• Baked Chicken Taquitos

Dips and Spreads-

• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Spinach Dip
• Vegetable Dip
• Gingerbread Dip

Seasonings and Sauces-

• Fajita Seasoning
• Pizza Sauce
• Steak Marinade
• BWW's Caribbean Jerk Sauce
• Taco Seasoning
• Alfredo Sauce

Beverages-

• Confirmation Punch
• Hot Apple Blast
• Jello Slush Punch
• Rhubarb Slush

Breakfast-

• Cinnamon Rolls
• Baked French Toast
• Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake
• Whole Grain Waffles
• Mom's Coffeecake
• Caramel Rolls
• Egg Bake

Breads-

• Country White Bread
• Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Bread
  
• Big Biscuits
• Lefse
• Zucchini Bread
• Tortillas
• Breadsticks
• Soft Pretzels
• Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
• Pizza Dough
• Homemade Pasta

Soups-

•  Potato Soup
• Wild Rice Soup
• Basic Cream Soup
• Cheddar Broccoli Potato Soup
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Bestest Hamburger Soup

Salads-

• Jackie's Coleslaw
• Oriental Coleslaw
• Olive Garden Dressing
• Potato Salad
• Orange Jello Salad
• Mandarin Orange Salad
• Cream for Lettuce
• Strawberry Mousse
• Tortellini Pesto Salad

Vegetables-

• Sweet Potato Fries
• Grilled Asparagus
• Crockpot Potatoes
• Baked Kale Chips
• Potato Wedges

Side Dishes-

• Rice-a-Roni
• Easy Cheesy Potatoes
• Bowtie Pasta with Broccoli Sauce
• Homemade Pasta Roni

Main Dishes-

• Cheeseburger Pie
• Creamy Burrito Casserole
• Wild Rice Hotdish
• Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Spaghetti and Meatballs
• General Tso's Chicken
• Roast Sticky Chicken
• Sloppy Joes
• Japanese Chicken
• Grilled Pork Chops
• Peanut Butter Noodles
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Cajun Pasta Alfredo
• Beef Stroganoff
• Jeremy's Special Chicken

Cookies and Bars-

• Scotcharoos
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate 'n' Oat Bars
• Sugar Cookies
• Monster Cookies
• Loaded Oatmeal Cookies
• Salted Nut Rolls
• Peanut Blossoms
• Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bars
• Mounds Bars
• Cathedral Windows
• Nut Goodie Bars
• Peanut Butter Cups
• Rhubarb Oat Bars
• Lemon Squares
• Texan Cookies
• 7 Layer Bars
• Caramel Brownies
• Chocolate Mint Parfait Bars
• Fudge
• Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Cakes and Frostings-

• Jello Poke Cake
• Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
• Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes
• Marshmallow Fondant
• Buttercream Frosting

Desserts-

• Jello Cream Cheese Dessert (Slop)
• Apple Crisp (from scratch)
• Apple Crisp (from Jar)
• Pie Crust
• Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
• Strawberry Pie

Misc.-

• Avocado Beauty Treatments
• Fingerpaint
• Kool-Aide Playdough
• Laundry Detergent

Two notes:  

1.  These are OUR favorite recipes.  A lot are ones passed down from our family.  It's not meant to be a comprehensive cookbook by any means.  And I only made ones for the things I need recipes for (or reminders of what temperature to use, etc.) so we make a lot of other stuff not listed here. (This is for those of you thinking "She only has 5 vegetable recipes and a zillion cookie recipes!  What's that about?!!?!")


2.  Flickr was being weird.  I guess you can only upload 200 per free account...so some are on my account and some are on a one I created for Jeremy.  In case you were confused.

Penguin Playtime

Micah's teacher is doing a penguin unit at school.  We decided to expand the fun by making our own penguin play area.

I froze some water as shown.  The bowl with rocks was so the ice would leave a "swimming hole" for the penguins.

When it was frozen, I poured some hot water into the bowl and then was able to lift it right out and fill the space with water.  The penguins are Toob ones.  A lot of times, Michaels or Hobby Lobby carry Toob products and then you can use a 40% off coupon.

Micah was saying "EEE!  I'm cold!!!" in a penguin voice...or what he thought a penguin voice should sound like.  It sounded remarkably similar to his army men and aliens voices.  :-P

The kids had sooooo much fun playing with the penguins!  Micah was telling us all of the facts he had learned at school, and they were creating all kinds of storylines (Micah's involved fighting penguins and Liliana's involved penguin babies- big surprise!)

Next time, I would prop the container at an angle in the freezer so the penguins would have a sledding hill.  If we actually had snow, adding a little snow for them to hide in would also be fun!

And if you need a penguin song for while you play:

(To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot")
I'm a little penguin, black and white.
I waddle to the left, I waddle to the right.
I cannot fly, but I can swim.
So I waddle to the water and I jump right in.

(actions are self explanatory)

Squishy Bags

Dollar Store hair gel in a Ziploc bag...

plus neon food coloring and some glitter (OMG Glitter!!! <3)...

Makes a Squishy Bag.

Put over a white piece of paper for practice drawing letters or just plain sensory fun! 

With Micah, I would say a sound and have him write the corresponding letter (good practice for spelling later).  With Liliana, we just let her play with it.  After they get bored, I'll add in some foam ocean characters for them to squish around.

You could also use two different colors of gel to practice mixing colors or put the bag in the fridge for a bit or heat the gel a bit for a different type of sensory experience.

Listening Activity

I was looking for a listening activity online for a lesson I was teaching at church and had trouble finding anything decent so I made one myself.

The lesson was for 3-12 year olds, so there is a WIDE range of difficulty in the sounds.  Liliana (3) got some easily, Jeremy (30) missed a few...so I'd call this good for all ages.  Pause at the white screens if you need more time to think.



Learning to listen closely is a skill that doesn't come naturally for little ones...or some grown ups ;-) but is an important foundation for all other learning!  Have fun!

From Old Dresser to New TV Stand

Santa was good to us this year!  We've been wanting a new TV forever, but can't ever justify replacing something that isn't broken.  Thankfully (???) we have a very active three year old who was willing to help the cause and held a magnet wand up to our old TV.  Do you know what happens when you hold a strong magnet up to a TV...I didn't, but I sure do now!  You get a new TV, that's what.

So since we were splurging on the TV, we knew we needed to be thrifty about the stand to put it on.  I got the idea online to turn a dresser into a TV stand...so we started stalking Goodwills to find the perfect dresser.  And then we found it...

Isn't she a beaut! 

And because she was in such lovely condition (destroyed finish, chipped pieces, missing drawer slides, etc.), she was only $10!  $10!!!  And she came with two matching end table things that we're going to eventually refinish and turn into nightstands! 

We were ecstatic.  The people who sold her to us were confused. 

I happen to have an extremely handy (and handsome I might add) husband who went right to work. 

He took out the top drawers, pulled the slides off to use on the ones that were missing them, added a shelf in where the top drawers were, sanded it down, replaced some trim, filled some holes and painted it. 

And the finished product:

Ta-da!!!  Our $10 TV stand. 

It seriously rocks my socks off!  I totally love it!!  Well done husband.  Well done.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

No way!  It can not be this easy!  But it is.

Here's what you need:

And how to do it:

• Open paper bag.
• Pour in 1/4 cup popcorn.
• Fold edge over and tape.
• Put in microwave for about 2 minutes...watch like you would with store bought....mine only took 90 seconds.
• Season as desired.

Much cheaper and much healthier!  <3

Note- you can put a little salt and oil in the bag too before popping.  I was going for ultra-healthy and wanted to see if it worked with no oil, and it totally does!  Experiment away!