"Hands on" Fun

Besides the kids learning about measuring out recipes and feeling new textures, these things keep them busy for hours!

1. Cloud Dough
We filled up an empty toy bucket, laid out a towel on the floor and broke out some of our smaller beach toys. This is by far Vans favorite of them all.
Cloud Dough is easy to vacuum up and leaves a fresh smell to the room!

Mix together 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil.

2. Rice Tank
Carolina rice, I find to only be tasty in rice pudding. So when the big bag was on sale at the supermarket I bought it strictly for play.
Dumping half of the bag into a large jar with a few drops of rubbing alcohol and food coloring I shook it a ton and left it laid out on a towel overnight to dry.

We went with a grassy green.
Van sat, wrist deep at the counter with an aluminum pan full of rice and little dump trucks every afternoon for about a week!

I warn, this isn't as fun to clean up.

3. Oobleck
This was NOT Vans favorite, but by far mine! One late night we whipped up a batch with friends and couldn't keep our fingers out of it!
Mix together 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch in a bowl.
Then, just dig in. Scooping it up as an almost solid and watching it drip through your fingers as a liquid is wild. If you've got a speaker available place your bowl of oobleck atop and watch it dance!

4. Goo
Van quit this before it was even done being made. I didn't push it with hopes that he'll be intrigued about it when he sees us playing in it later.
This goo makes a slimy and cold feel that their little hands are really not used to.
Mix together 1 teaspoon of borax in 1/2 cup of warm water. Pour into a bowl with 8oz of school glue. This will instantly become stringy.

5. Bored Bags

Ok, so we only did this once. But maybe my ONE idea could get your ball rolling!

I had three kids for the day and they were getting bored with everything offered to them. While they watched a movie I whipped up some cupcakes.. Felt cupcakes.

I grabbed every color of wool felt I owned and started cutting. Cupcake shapes, frosting shapes, stripes, polka dots, sprinkles, hearts and other shapes that they can get creative with. I laid out the pieces for them and let them get to building and my, were they some interesting looking cupcakes! When they were done "baking" we cleaned up the pieces into a ziploc.

Two other ideas I had were decorating a big felt Christmas tree with cut-out ornaments, and decorating a big felt face. Cutting out shapes for your template is easier than you may think.

Everything doesn't have to be perfect, just obvious. If I kid doesn't know that those are eyes for their cut-out face they will be easily confused.

Wool felt is cheap! Michaels sells small sheets and Jo-Ann's sells it by the yard.

Have fun! It's easy!

Children's Book of the Week

Any book that motivates an impromptu booty dance is getting a plug on this blog!

This book was real fun to read, and isn't going back to the library just yet. We'll keep it out a few more days for a few more laughs.

But on a serious note, another great book we read a few weeks ago was 'Can we save the Tiger'. It may have been a lot to read but kept Van's attention. The book is about the extinction of animals he has never met and the possibility of losing some of his favorites.

We had fun talking about future trips to see the bison in Yosemite and the moose in Utah.

Crystallized Easter Eggs

Hooray I finally bought Borax! I had an afternoon filled with craft ideas and when I got home, realized I forgot to buy extra glue. So we just did one craft, but it's a good one!
Line up big mason jars or some recycled tin cans in a safe place where they'll be untouched and will not be moved.
Grab some pipe cleaners and shape them into Easter eggs, twisting and bending to create your own. Of course skipping the theme and just shaping them into letters and shapes is totally cool too.

I think a cute little welcome sign is in order for my front door next!

Use some cotton string to attach your shape to a pencil, this will suspend your shape into the water. I used cans and the size eggs I made fit from top to bottom- it worked just as well as if I had the extra space.
Mix together in your jar or can 3 1/2 cups of boiling water with 1/2 cup of borax and an optional few drops of food coloring.
Put your eggs in and leave overnight. We made ours at 3pm and they were super crystallized at 11am the next morning.
It's a fun craft, the kids can be a part of each step!

Happy Easter y'all.

Margaritas!

Guys sister learned from working at an amazingly delicious Spanish restaurant; a simple and delicious Margarita recipe. What better way to celebrate warm but breezy nights than with a delicious drink in hand?
I'm ready for you, Summer!

I do not own a shaker so we used a mason jar to mix our drinks- works just as well!
Mix together 4oz. of tequila and the juice of a lime, some crushed ice and shake. Squirt some agave nectar in your mixer; about a tablespoon? until you've reached your desired sweetness. I put this as an afterthought incase you don't like sweets!

2011 was the year of sangria in this house, 2012 welcomes with open mouth the summer of the margarita! We just got started a little early...

Grammy's Hummus Recipe

Guys Mom is in town and shared her tasty and easy to make Hummus!

So, with her permission here is the recipe!

In the blender, combine all of the ingredients..

16oz. Can of uncooked Chickpeas

1/3 Cup of the reserved Chickpea liquid

(But save it all to the side, this way you can control the consistency)

4 Tablespoons of Tahini

2-3 Cloves of minced garlic

2-3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

1 Teaspoon of cumin

1/4 Teaspoon of Paprika

And some optional ingredients are a dash of salt & pepper, and some drizzled olive oil on top once the hummus is in a bowl.

Serve it up with some cut up pita bread and veggies! Enjoy!

Hiking we will go!

We love Hiking!

Staten Island doesn't have as much to offer but we make the best of it!

Normally we'd just head out, pick a trail and go until we've made a giant circle leading us up a mountain, over streams and far away from the traffic. Some other times we just go for the small adventures like scavenger hunts, hiking songs and the trail mix.

When Dad gets a minute and we get our scanner up and running again I will post a hand drawn list that we have planned out for Vans hike. In the meantime, we go to www.ScavengerHunts.com and get some of their fantastic lists. They give your little one things to watch for, listen and feel for, even smell!

We find our family hikes the best time to load up Vans brain with knowledge. So little distractions in the middle of the forest opens up a perfect opportunity for him to ask questions.

In our backpacks is a compass and binoculars, some water bottles, a map. We also bring along some trail mix! After a visit to Trader Joe's we made a big jar of it..

With about a handful of each, we loaded our mix with

Dried Apricots

Dried, Pitted Cherries

Banana Chips

Dark Chocolate Chips

Shelled Walnuts

Roasted, Unsalted Sunflower Seeds

Raw, Whole Cashews

Organic Raw Almonds

..and sometimes some Pretzel Goldfish!

Another great part of our hike is making up songs!

Get out there and enjoy a hike with your family.

A small ode to Red Peppers

Seriously, who doesn't love red peppers?

Three ways that I eat them pretty often are surrounded by egg, stuffed, or mixed in a salad.

Recipe for Stuffed Peppers

2 lbs of ground chicken or turkey meat

1 medium onion, chopped

Mix those two ingredients in a pan until meat is browned. While this cooks, prepare your rice (optional). Set your oven to 350.

2 cups of white or brown rice

Once your meat is browned, add to the pan..

1 Tablespoon of Chili Powder

1 Tablespoon of Cumin

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Cook these ingredients in with your meat and onion for a minute or two.

Pour your mix into a nice, big bowl where you'll add..

1 16oz jar of salsa (Or a cup of homemade salsa!)

1 16oz can of fat free refried beans

16oz of grated cheddar cheese (Sure, low fat cheese will do)

..And then add your rice. For Dad, I mixed him up a rice-free pepper.

Cut the tops off of your red (Or really, any color!) pepper, rinse out the seeds and stuff away!

Place them in a dish or pan that will keep them upright, cover up nice and tight with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes.

My suggestion is to check the peppers before serving, just cut a little piece out of the pepper to be sure it's nice and soft. Enjoy with some guacamole and sour cream!

This mix will stuff about 6 big peppers, Enjoy!

As for my salad that I throw together almost daily, I cut up a three pack of organic romaine, rinse and toss in a bag lined with a paper towel for the (near) future. This'll make about 4 salads.

In a medium bowl I grab 2 handfuls of chopped romaine lettuce, toss in about 1/4 cup of diced red pepper and add 1/8-1/4 cup of fat free raspberry vinaigrette.

On top of this salad I put in 1/8 cup of sliced and diced pepperoni, 1/8 cup of tiny cubes of parmesan, a small handful of walnuts and Trader Joe's dried cherries.

That't it. So delicious.

But I'll be honest, I've never actually used a measuring cup for this! I know the dressing can be used very sparingly and there is never enough walnuts!

Children's Book of the Week

This is a sweet book. Van is almost 4 and this may have been a little young for him but I enjoyed reading it mid-day with him. Though this book is perfect for winding down at night with.

Another book that we enjoyed reading as a family, Grammy included was 'Who has what' by Robbie Harris.

We are open about our bodies already in our home so this book was no shocker; We don't use too many coverup words for body parts and we answer Vans questions with honest answers.

Van giggled a little at the photos, as well as I did. Nonetheless it is a good educational, and cute book about the difference in girls and boys bodies.

The Summer of the Slackline

Dad invested in a Gibbon 80 foot, 2 inch wide Slackline. In this case we are lucky to have a tree lined yard so Guy can change the length of the line.
In so many more ways these trees aren't as great as one would think, or at least the canopy the branches make over the entire yard, preventing sunlight in to assist in growing grass and drying up the rain.
But anyway, Van and I have been trying this out for the past few weeks but have not come close to mastering it like Dad. It's fun to watch! Not to mention the leg muscles used to keep balance.
The line cost about $65, if you've got a few trees and some distance in your yard I'd suggest making the investment!

Macaroni Jewelry

I realize this is totally simple. But I posted it to 'maybe' put the idea back into your head; It is so simple, so you should really do it!

We colored so many pieces of macaroni for this craft that I can probably make an entire line of jewelry. I took some of my large jars and filled them with different types of macaroni, (i prefer the shorter pieces for the kids) tossed in as much food coloring drops as we wanted. After you've added enough drops to make awesome, vibrant colors, pour in; very sparingly enough rubbing alcohol to just about cover the bottom of the jar.

Shake, Shake, and shake some more. Leave it alone and then shake. Pretty much until the macaroni is the desired color. Lay out the macaroni on a towel over night, and by morning- or afternoon they will be dry enough to string on some yarn.

I am proud to say I wore my all green 'roni necklace pretty often, that is until we went to a farm and a kitten nibbled away a bunch of it. He didn't eat them- don't worry!

Children's Book of the Week

This little cutie was fun for me to read, some of the endearing names listed from different languages made Van giggle. For example 'Halipupu' in Finnish means Hug Bunny, anything that has 'pu-pu' in it tickles this kid. We learned that 'Myszka' (MI-shka) means little mouse in Polish.

Besides trying to have your little one pronounce the names in this book with you, another really fun interactive book; that happens to be one of Vans favorites is 'Can you make a scary face' by Jan Thomas. It's a real crowd pleaser!

Junior Felting

Well, I can't express in words my love for felting. It's a fresh love; I've been talking about it for years but took the plunge this past winter. Today? I introduced Van and his friend to it!
What we used was loose wool roving, 2 small, square buckets, bamboo knitting needles (or little fingers) and a small amount of warm soap water. You'll also need some fun shaped cookie cutters- we used a moose and a bear! I'm excited to do simple shapes too that don't have as many little spaces to fill.
I'd fill the bucket just enough to cover your cookie cutter, place the wool into the cookie cutter, as much as it takes to fill it all in. Poke poke poke to manipulate the wool and to start the felting. These guys were at it for no more than 5 minutes, then I took over before grabbing a spatula and scooping them out onto a plate (in the future I'd lay them out onto a towel) then just press it in a paper or cloth towel to remove the water.
Can you believe that was the last step? Well you can if you want, otherwise break out the sewing kit and start embellishing!
I just trimmed the little bear in black thread to give him a bit more of a shape, added little golden thread eyes and a pink nose, added some cute ribbon so he can be hung up and that was all!
I may have been a bit more excited than the kids for the finished product but they loved being hands on picking out the colors of wool and which cookie cutters.. Originally we were going to do letters but the animals won. Another idea is to mix colors, the roving can be found at Michaels Craft Stores and in so many colors.
What i would really like to do next is make a garland for vans room out of letters and shapes that he likes- let the hunt for more cutters begin!!!

Experience

We may be able to count on a few fingers the times we yelled 'VAN, NO!' and most of it had to do with riding his bike a bit too fast towards a street corner. When it comes to his experiences I am proud to say we are very supportive. Guy was raised with pocket knives, fishing poles, and the experience to handle tools and knowledge of things most kids wouldn't have a chance with.

I have this book on order and am pretty excited to read this with Guy.

If you haven't heard of Ted Talks start here and don't stop. These are usually about 10 minute long videos that each have a different topic, even those that you wouldn't think you'd be interested in- are interesting!

Play Dough Recipe

For Christmas I made this for a few of the great kids in my life, but I made it gingerbread scented and gave gingerbread man cutters with it. I don't know how the kids felt about it, but I loved how they came out! This recipe is just for plain ol' unscented play dough.

In a pan, heat all of the ingredients on medium low, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes) until a dough forms. Remove pan from heat and flop the dough on to wax or parchment paper. I knead it folded in the paper until its cooled down just a bit. Once it's warm and not hot hot; I knead it with my hand. Store in a jar or sealable container.

1 1/2 Cups of Flour
3/4 Cups of Salt
1/2 Tablespoon of Cream of Tartar
1 1/2 Cups of Water
1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil
Food Coloring (I used gel)

For Gingerbread Play Dough add

1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
2 Teaspoons of Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon of ground Cloves

...I attempted to post more photos but did not have much luck.

Children's Book of the Week

I was a little torn this week on which book to choose. But with just having applied for Van to start school; I decided to take the sentimental route.

This is a very easy read, Van understood every word and even leaned over and gave me a kiss half way through.

If you are looking for an interactive book for your kid, the book 'Press here' by Herve Tullet is pretty cute too.

Hot Cocoa for Two

We can not shake the chill in this house! So while Van snacks on some raw cashews with dad under a cozy crocheted blanket I went into the kitchen to surprise them with a hot beverage! I was able to squeeze out enough for the three of us but this recipe will make about 2 1/2 cups of cocoa to split nicely for two.

In a medium sauce pan simmer on low

1/4 Cup of Baking Chocolate Powder

1/4 Cup of Sugar

1/4 Cup of Water

1/8 Teaspoon of Salt

Once you've stirred the lumps out in just about 3 minutes; add 2 cups of milk and 1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla.

Let this simmer for about 5 minutes before pouring into your mug.

You should have enough space for a marshmallow! Enjoy!

My Future Graphic Deisgner

Easiest and greatest craft we've done! Van is turning about to be a great little artist, at least his proud Mama thinks so! So when I saw how easy it was to make a transfer with things from around the house I put him to work!

Without hesitation his first drawing was this happy little dude with purple hair and matching cheeks. He drew directly onto a piece of medium grit sandpaper. I took his white shirt and laid it out on the counter, turned his masterpiece face down on the shirt and ironed it. I just kept lifting the paper to see how well the transfer was going until it was all on the shirt.

Thats it! So easy!

We've washed this shirt over and over (even in the white wash) and the image is still there!

Elephant Appreciation

For just about a year I had my very own toddler group that met up in the back room of a cute, local coffee shop. I revolved the group around a craft that I put a lot of time in thinking up.. to the point of obsession. One week I wanted to honor the awesome elephant. So I went on pinterest that lead me to a google imagine of how to draw an elephant. I'm not sure if I'm breaking rules posting it on my blog but I really tried to find the origin and had no luck!

So what I did was I took the imagine and copied it onto card stock and made a template (but of course printing it would be easier.. I just like making things a tad bit more challenging for myself). Using my enormous stash of thick paper I picked out different patterns and made the feet, the ears, the body, the head, tusks and trunks.. I have a heart paper puncher and goggly eyes. I lined up the pieces for the kids, they picked out the patterns they liked and slapped them all together to make quite an array of unique elephants. Us parents were surprised at how different each little guy turned out to be!

I did this same idea with an owl and turkey; that I will attempt to recreate and post a (original) template. The owl was a huge success, especially with the parents.

Happy Paper Cutting!

Making Bubbles

Although this rainy day brought on a lot of coziness and movie watching I still can't wait for the nice weather. We finally have a backyard again after going without for almost 4 years and it's Vans first yard! It may not be perfect, not having grass and the deck half broken but we still like it! The swing and hammock are finally up, the slack line is tight across the yard and the work to clear out dead bushes has begun! So between my failed attempts at getting across the slack line, racking leaves and sweeping up dirty footprints I make bubbles!

I show in the picture that I used pipe cleaner wands but I'd recommend recycling old wands, I'm sure you have a bottle of bubbles somewhere in the house! Right? Well if not, the pipe cleaners is an easy stand in.

For the bubbles you'll just need..

I cup of Water

2 tablespoons of Karo Syrup

4 tablespoons of dish soap

Mix those together and poor into an empty container, I used apple juice bottles but water bottles, sample shampoo bottles or even just a cup can work!

Cheese Cracker Recipe

Cheez-Its are delicious but these are better. Ha!

But really, these aren't as crispy unless you get your dough rolled out thin enough but I liked how these came out, most were about a 1/2" thick.

In a mixer, (I used my Ninja for this) using a metal blade attachment blend together..

2 cups of grated cheddar cheese

1 cup of flour

4 tablespoons of cold, cubed unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

..until this mix becomes crumbly, then add 1 tablespoon of cold water in at a time until your crumbles have stuck together to form dough. Do not exceed 5 tablespoons of water.

Mold your dough into a disc and refrigerate for as little as an hour and up to a day.

Preheat your oven to 350 and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove your dough from the fridge and sandwich it between two large pieces of parchment paper. Roll your dough out to your desired thickness (keeping in my mind these crackers will rise as they bake to double the thickness). I used match & munch puzzle piece cutters, but you can just use a pizza cutter to make small squares.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the bottom is light brown, or longer if you'd like to give them a crisp. Once they're cooled down; enjoy!

Easy, right?

Bike Riding

Van hit a pretty great milestone this past October, at only 3 years old our little dude hit the 2-wheeler. With Spring teasing us I'm getting so antsy to get him back out there. We've gone out every time a glimpse of sunshine and warm air hits these skies but I can't get enough of those tiny legs working hard to get ahead of us. For his 1st friend a buddy of ours gave Van a scooty bike (2 wheels but no pedals) and at about 2 years old his feet finally reached the floor and then we couldn't get him off of it. Once Guy caught Van coasting comfortably on the scooty we rushed out to get him an upgrade. Without any training wheels he took to it like a pro. We spent that very afternoon turning heads in the park! My suggestion to those thinking about 2 wheelers, skip the training wheels and splurge on the "scooty" bike to practice balance.. It worked for Van!

Peppermint Lip Balm Recipe

This is a small but mighty gift to give. This past Christmas was 75% homemade from bags and jewelry to lotions and lip balms. Not everything was a success, between chains snapping and nauceating lotions I managed to pull together a successful batch of these cuties.

Having purchased these perfect lip gloss containers from a site so long ago I can't even remember which, and ordering up some Beeswax on Amazon Prime I was set to whip this up!

In a small pot I gently heated on medium-low, using a wooden spoon (or chopstick) and stirring constantly..

3 heaping teaspoons of beeswax pellets (or roughly chopped beeswax)

6 teaspoons of coconut oil (we like Trader Joe's!)

1 1/2 teaspoons of lanolin

3/4 teaspoon of Vitamin E

2 teaspoons of hard honey (Trader Joe's also carries raw honey perfect for this)

3/4 teaspoon of peppermint essential oils

The peppermint oil gives a great scent as well as that refreshing cool feeling on your lips!

Pour your mix immediately into containers, leave open to cool.

I made the labels by using mod podge to affix it to my containers.

Kettle Corn Cookies

Before I share the recipe I'd like to share a recommendation. Use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe but instead of adding chocolate chips and walnuts add kettle corn!

Here is a recipe, warn your waste line: trouble ahead..

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Stir together..

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl cream together..
2 sticks of softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Beat in to the cream mix..
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Gradually add in the flour mix, beating well.

Fold in..
4 cups Kettle Corn

Drop little tablespoon sized scoops onto an ungreased pan and bake for 8-10 minutes

Once these cooled I packaged them in Popcorn bags I found at Michaels Craft Store and gave them away QUICK!

But not after I saved a few to snack on,, Enjoy!

Childrens Book of the Week

We visit our local library once or twice a week just grabbing a few random books either recommended by our librarian or just plucked from a shelf. This past month we decided to ask Oprah what we should read before bed. Out of the 17 or so books she listed we liked about 4. This is one of them! So cute, I read it a few times a night for the past 3 nights..

This story is about 6 brave little wombats that encounter a sneaky dingo in the Australian outback. It's an easy read that kept Vans attention which is not always an easy task!

Enjoy!