Present To Big Brother/Big Sister: From New Baby

First of all, I wanted to introduce you to my 8 1/2 pound baby Boy,
Garren Tyler!

Such sweet moments for siblings to welcome a new little one to the family!
I wanted to have something SPECIAL for my two kids from their new baby brother! Not just a toy they were really wanting at the time! The other great thing about this idea is you can make this without spending any money!
I searched the internet for cute generic poems for a new Big Brother and a new Big Sister! I found these two on a mommy board! I'm sad that I can't give credit to whoever wrote them because they are BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT! If you have seen these before and know where they come from and/or who wrote them leave me a comment! 

I created a simple PDF file for you to use and print out!

There is also room to write a personalized note to your child from the new baby on the side of the poem! What I did was write about how happy the new baby was to finally meet Brother/Sister and about how lucky they were to have such a great helper around...etc. Personalize it with your child's interests, they will LOVE it and feel so special!

My Big Brothers Hands Poem My Big Sisters Hands Poem

After I printed out the poems and wrote a little note from their baby brother, I rolled them up like a scroll and tied them with a pretty bow! 

I grabbed a couple fun treats that they could have in the hospital and packaged them in a bottle! 

These bottles are ones we are going to use so we already had them! The kids thought it was fun to get there note in his bottle.... if your child will want to keep the bottle you could always package the stuff in a new fun sippy cup or a bottle from the Dollar Store! 

Here is picture of the first time the kids met their baby brother in the hospital, showing their present!

UPDATE: as of 2014 we have another new addition to our family!!! I did something new for the sibling presents and I also wrote two new sibling poems and made them FREE printables!

Just click on the picture below to see that post!

**A GREAT Idea For Siblings To Do For New Baby**

A great tradition we started when we were expecting our second child was to go to Build A Bear Workshop and have the older sibling make a special doll for the new baby to come! First of all, it really helps the sibling to get excited for the new baby. It also gives them something to bring the baby when they come to the hospital.

At Build A Bear, they really make it a special experience! You child will get to kiss and make a wish on a red heart and put it into the doll that they choose! They get to help stuff the doll!

   

And my FAVORITE part about it all is they can record a special message to the baby and whenever you squeeze the hand it will play!

My kids message to their brother says Keaten~"We love you baby Garren" Brenden~"You're our little Tiger"

I also wanted to add a few pictures of Brenden picking out a doll for Keaten!

In the message Brenden recorded to Keaten he says,

"Bee Kiki I Wove You" 

Which is, Baby Kiki I Love You!

I love pressing it and hearing his cute little two year old voice!

Such a great Keepsake!

You get to wash the doll when you are done making it!

**UPDATE**We are now going to have our 4th child, due December 2014! Click HERE to see what doll the three kids stuffed for him!

Also along with that post I show you how to make your own baby mobile!

A simple and fun way to personalize your nursery!

I also have an older post with another cute idea that older siblings can do for the new baby to come!

They can make a special onesie! It's super Easy and Super cute!

Click HERE to see how to make one!

Kool-Aid & Ice Painting

Here is a FUN project idea for a hot summer day! My kids LOVE this! All you need is Kool-Aid, Ice, and paper! The Kool-Aid acts as your paint when it gets wet with the ice! Kids love to smear it around and see the pretty designs they come up with!

Another FUN thing about this is it smells SOOOOOO good! Also, if your kids lick their fingers, it won't hurt them!

I will tell you it takes a couple of washes for the dye to totally come out of their hands! =)
****TIP, Grape is the only Kool-Aid I don't buy because it doesn't really come out purple, it's more of a brown! It is better to buy blue and red and put them close together to make purple!

I caught him RED handed! =) 

Then after you are all done, you can have some Kool-Aid to drink or popsicles made from Kool-Aid. Or if you want to stay away from the artificial Dyes.... Do what I did and just give your child a Pop made from 100% juice! A Yummy end to a fun craft! 

***Notice the hands in the picture below! This was after they washed them...

However, they were back to normal the next day! =)

PVC Bow and Arrow & Finger Glove for Girls

I was looking through a toy magazine a few weeks ago with my kids and saw that they were selling a GIRLS Bow and Arrow set! They were marketing it after the new movie Brave, which is coming out on June 22nd! They wanted almost 20 dollars for this cheap plastic Bow and Arrow set! I was looking closely at the picture and also there is no real place for the child to rest the arrow before shooting so I think MOST kids would have trouble actually shooting it!

Furthermore, I wanted to add to my post about the Hawkeye costume, which has been getting so many hits, and show you how you can change it up and make a PVC Bow and Arrow set for your GIRL! 

All you have to do is follow the instructions to make your bow HERE!

The only changes we made was we used the 1/2 inch PVC (instead of 3/4 inch) and shortened the two piece of pipe to 1 1/2 feet each (instead of 2 feet each)! This makes the bow 3 feet instead of 4 feet long! Since the bow is smaller, there won't be as much pressure on the center cross connector and it will stay strong!

Then choose your child's favorite color and spray paint the bow!

The next step is optional:

I went off the idea of the Brave movie and painted some celtic designs on the bow, with a K in the center for my daughters name!

If you paint anything on the Bow, seal it with Mod Podge by just painting over your design and letting it dry! I used a Glossy finish Mod Podge so it really makes my design shine! Below is a picture of what it looks like before your Mod Podge dries!

Then, follow the steps to make your arrows HERE! It's the same link as above! I just added a different step! Instead of using tape to decorate your arrows, paint them with pretty colors and seal with Mod Podge! For fun I taped all my wooden dowels together and painted a design across all of them! They turned out cute!

Lastly, I wanted to show you how I made a GIRLS finger glove! I gave this idea in my post about the Finger Glove and Armguard, click HERE to see how to make it!

The only changes I made were to the fabric and ribbon used.... and you don't have to do the step of cutting off the jewels on the rings!

This Finger glove is SO CUTE!!!

Your daughter doesn't need to be into archery to want one of these!

I've already had some little girls eyeing it on my daughter! 

They are so cute and fun to add to the dress up box!

   

Here is a few more pictures of my Kiki and her Bow! She love to pretend to shoot gum balls in peoples mouths instead of actually shooting the arrows!

   

Fun Father's Day Ideas (Dad or Grandpa)

Father's Day is 11 days away!!!! Here are some fun Ideas that we are using this year!

You have probably seen this idea floating around.....Fill a small box with money filled balloons! Most people use it for kids birthdays who live far away BUT why not use this idea for a Grandpa who lives far away for Father's Day! It works even better if your kids call him Papa.....because then you get clever and spell it out "POP-a!"

All you have to do is get your children to draw or write out a special note to Papa for Father's Day on a small piece of paper!

Roll up the cute note and insert it into the balloon. You can also add in some money for a fun surprise! Another awesome thing about this is you can call around to ALL of his Grandchildren and get a special note for each! My Father has three other Grandchildren in different states and he is going to be surprised to see a special message added to the package from them TOO!

 

Then simply insert your pump into the balloon and blow it up! 

   

Such a fun way to receive little notes from everyone!

You can also make this into a game for your kids, just for fun or a birthday idea!

Check out my post Pop The Balloon Game!

Father's Day Questionnaire 

Thanks to Pinterest and all of the examples of questionnaire's for Father's Day.... I came up with this next idea! I actually just figured out how to add PDF files to my blog so I made it easy on you! If you want this questionnaire just click below where it says "Fathers Day" and download the file to print it out!

Fathers Day

I put together my favorite questions which I thought would get the cutest answers from my children! They did really well at answering all of the questions and I am TOTALLY gonna save these for years to come!

I have to tell you what my daughter said when I asked her "his hair is....." she answered "one big hair!"  She also said My daddy is really strong and can lift a "Big Huge Cupcake!"

How can you not LOVE this idea!?!

Simple Golf Bag Pen Holder

Here is another cute idea for a Father or Grandfather who loves golf!

I blogged about how to make this cute golf bag pen holder. Click HERE to find out how!

Also connected to this link are some fun Photo ideas for Father's Day, Christmas, or Daddy's Birthday!

Here is another great idea that a child can do for daddy or grandpa!

A Sharpie mug designed by a child!

Click on the picture to see how we made this!

Delicious "Mall" Pretzels: Gluten Free! (also options for Dairy Free and Vegan)

No one in my family has a gluten allergy but I like to be able to change recipes for people out there who do! I could not imagine not being able to have certain kinds of foods again! How about those HOT, Yummy Pretzels you can get in the mall!?! Many People with a Gluten allergy CAN'T have them... or I choose not to buy them that much because I can't control how much white sugar they add to them! I am going to show you how to make them and you can adjust the recipe for your dietary needs!

Since I have your attention I just wanted to tell you how I made these pretzels GLUTEN FREE! It's all because of the one ingredient, Buckwheat! You can substitute Buckwheat with MANY of your favorite recipes to make them Gluten Free! Here is a few more interesting facts about Buckwheat: Although treated as a grain, it is not a cereal or grass, but it is actually a fruit that is closely related to wild rhubarb! It is considered a superior source of protein when compared to wheat, rice, and even millet. Buckwheat does not contain gluten like wheat does and therefore you can truly count on it to be "Wheat Free"! Some other facts about buckwheat are, just one cup contains 12 grams of fiber. It also contains the antioxidant Rutin, which can improve circulation and help prevent blood vessels from becoming blocked and it's also a good source of vitamin E. *Tip- after using Buckwheat flour it can spoil easily so be sure to store it in a ziplock bag AND in the fridge for up to 3 months!!!!

Ingredients you will need:

• 1 cup of milk (Dairy Free or Vegan option: Almond, Coconut, Soy etc.)
• one pack of Active Dry Yeast
• 3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup, or any other sweetener you choose
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter (dairy free or vegan option: Earth Balance or coconut oil)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups of Buckwheat Flour (this flour is Gluten Free... if you don't need to make them this way then you can sub this part for any other flour you have but I suggest not using white for nutritional purposes. I blogged about this before Click HERE to read!

• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• And for the end either melted butter and Cinnamon/raw sugar mixture or Course salt if you want to dip them in cheese etc.

Warm up the milk in microwave or stove top for about a minute and a half. You should still be able to comfortably keep your finger in it. If it's too warm it will kill the Yeast. Add your pack of yeast and let sit for 3 minutes.

   

Add the melted butter and maple syrup to the milk and mix together. Then slowly add in your flour and salt to the mixture. 

 Kneed for about 10 minutes by hand or with a stand mixer.

Now put your dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel and let rise for about an hour. 

Your dough should double in size!

Preheat you oven to 450 degrees. Divide your dough into 6 lumps for the large "mall size" pretzels. After making these I will tell you that I think it would be a lot better to make the pretzels a little smaller, especially if you are feeding kids. So, next time I make these I would divide the dough into 8 to 10 lumps! Now combine warm water and baking soda in a wide bottom bowl. Also get your greased cookie sheets ready right by you! Now you are going to roll out each lump of dough as thin as possible.

Form your dough into pretzel shape!

Then dip your pretzel into the warm baking soda water and throw on your cookie sheet!

I threw in a few pics of me doing this with my stomach in the way! =) 

As you can see, I set up a little station to roll, form, dip, and then place on the sheet!

  

If you are going to make these to dip in some kind of sauce you should sprinkle with course salt before baking! Then bake for 7-11 minutes! Me and my family LOVE the cinnamon/sugar pretzels so I just baked them without salt.

While they were baking I put about 1/2 cup raw sugar and 1/4 cup cinnamon in a large ziplock bag. I also melted about 4 Tablespoons of butter in a bowl.

When they were done baking, I dipped them in butter and then put them into the bag gently shook the pretzel in the cinnamon/sugar mixture!

Let cool a few minutes and SERVE!

Can you tell he is enjoying it!?!