Photo Valentine and Lego Valentine Box

I thought I would share with you all the cute Valentines we made for Brenden's Kindergarten class this year! I LOVE anything with a picture on it and suckers are my(and my kids) favorite candy! So simple and inexpensive!

First you need to take a picture of your child or children with their fist out. Then go get it printed in one hour photo... I got wallet size, 17 cents for two pictures! Then cut out your picture and with a knife cut two slits, one above and one below your child's hand.

You can give it to friends just like above but because my sons teacher wanted the children to have practice writing numbers and names we hot glued a paper backing onto each picture! He wrote out ALL 23 friends names, a number per child, and his name on the Valentines! It took a while but I'm very proud of his hard work! Good practice for any young child! =)

We were also supposed to bring a shoe box to hold all of his cards and goodies in for his Valentines party! Here is a simple and fun idea for your Lego lover! You can even do this for your child just to have to carry some of their legos in! If your child is like mine, they like to bring a few legos in the car and on short trips.

 All you need are a few empty TP/Paper towel rolls. I cut them about every two inches, for this you will need 12 two inch pieces. 8 of the pieces you will cut one opening and the other 4 you will cut completely in half (these will be used to make your circle a little larger).

Insert your extra piece in your circle to make it a little larger and tape or glue together.

Hot glue a piece of cardboard to the tops of each cylinder piece. I used an old cereal box. Then hot glue each cylinder to the top of your shoe box, the way a lego brick would look.

 Then spray paint the color of your choice and have your child decorate it the way they want to!

Lavender Blueberry Cupcakes

This year, for Valentines Day, I wanted to do something different. I thought I would try to make more of a gourmet cupcake. They turned out AWESOME so I wanted to share the recipe! What makes this cupcake so different is the edible Lavender flavor paired with blueberries and creme.To find the lavender I had to call my local Whole Foods and they told me where they buy their spices, so in the Kansas City area you can find lavender at Penzey's Spices (www.penzeys.com) . Also it's not very expensive. A huge plus to making this cupcake right now is fresh blueberries are in season! I ended up getting 24oz of organic blueberries for six dollars at Sams Club! One more thing, I actually used sugar and didn't substitute because I wanted to see how good the cupcakes were going to be. Now that I have made this once, I will experiment to make these healthier and then blog about it! But these are such a good sweet treat for the sweeties in your life!

Ingredients (makes 24 cupcakes)

Blueberry Cupcake:

6 Oz Fresh Bluberries

2 3/4 cups Cake Flour

1 1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons Unsalted Butter at room temperature

1 cup Sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup milk

Lavender Buttercream icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter at room temperature

3 cups Confectioners Sugar

3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons Dried Lavender Buds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Line two pans with baking cups and set aside.

Place the blueberries in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat for one minute until the blueberries puff up and some begin to pop.

 In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. set aside. *Side note: cake flour might be hard to find. If you don't have it at your local store, just use regular flour...It won't make too much of a difference.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix till fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.

 With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk. Incerase the speed to medium and beat till smooth.

Add the blueberries and mix until all are broken down and are fully incorporated into the batter. Yummy!

 An ice cream scoop is perfect to divide the batter, filling the liners 2/3 of the way.

Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into a few comes out clean, about 15-20min. Completely cool on a rack before putting on the icing!

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the lavender buttercream. Mix butter in a bowl until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar and salt and mix (gradually increasing in speed) until the sugar is fully incorporated, about 5 minutes. 

Add the vanilla and whisk until the buttercream is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in lavender buds.

To frost the cupcakes, I used a open star tip in a ziplock bag to make it look a little nicer. And top with fresh Blueberries!

 Here is a picture of how blue the cupcake looks after you take a bite! These were SO good! Be weary that the lavender is a taste some kids might not like.... I tested these on many friends/kids almost all approved but there were a few kids that the taste of lavender was "different". Hey, More for Mom right? =)

Great Valentines Idea to do for your kids!

What is Valentine's Day all about? Love, Right! This year I wanted to write Love letters to my kids! I thought it would be great to start February 1st and go all the way to Valentine's Day! They need to know that we LOVE them all the time and why not use this Holiday to deliberately tell them! 

Here is my idea! I found these GREAT mailboxes in the dollar section at Target. You don't have to buy these, you can make your own mailbox out of any small box and have your child decorate it.

I had my babies decorate theirs with puffy paints. They had SO MUCH fun doing this!

They got really creative!

Here is the finished product!

Now this is what I had in mind! Everyday in February (from the 1-14th) their father or I will write them a special love letter. Something personal about them, not generic! Maybe we will add ONE small piece of candy to sweeten up the letter or a cute trinket. Every morning when they wake up, their mailbox will be hidden. So it's also a fun search at the same time! My kids are so excited about this idea! I am letting you guys know about it early too if you want to join me in writing your kids love letters for 14 days! Or if that's too much, do it the whole week of Valentines day! Even if your child is older, I'm sure they will get a kick out of this!

How To: Spice Up Package Waffle Mix! (EXPERIMENT)

I had an experiment last night! I was happy and sad at the findings! I made waffles for a group of friends... There were two particular people that I was hoping would try them! First let me show you what I did! 

Look at this BEAUTIFUL picture below! It is of my food processor with raw carrots, baby spinach, Bok Choy and eggplant! I blended up these veggies, added a 1/2 cup of water to help the consistency, because we don't want chunks, and it only took a minute!

Before I move on, a friend of mine asked about my food processor. I own the Cuisinart 11-cup Pro. It works wonders for how I cook. I do have to say that there are MANY attachments that I rarely use and it is heavy to move around but it's wonderful! I've already gotten 9 years of use out of mine and the blade is as sharp as ever! Here is a website that will give you some info if you re looking for a good food processor!      

http://best-foodprocessor-reviews.org/ 

Ok, moving on, here is a picture of my raw veggies after I blended them all together.... I was NOT shy with these veggies! I think it made over a cup of puree! I got my trusty box pumpkin waffle mix out and prepared the mix as directed on the box. You will not be able to find this particular waffle mix at Trader Joes right now because it's seasonal... =( However, use any waffle mix you have on hand! Let me point out that I added OVER a cup of pureed vegetables to a DOUBLED box recipe.

Here is my beautiful mix with my veggies added AND you can't even tell they are in there! I just wanted to add one thing.... my box calls for water (remember I added 1/2 cup of water to my veggies?) so I subtracted 1/2 cup of water from my box recipe.

Then it's as easy as pouring your mix in your waffle maker and letting it cook! BUT, don't forget the mini chocolate chips! This is my favorite ingredient, it makes you feel like you are eating a warm chocolate chip cookie! *Another tip on what I do with these, double your batch and freeze your leftovers. These are great to pull out of the freezer and pop into the toaster when you are craving something sweet!

YUMMY! The finished product and no one can tell there are veggies in there RIGHT? Well, lets take it to some picky eaters to find out!

Now I will tell you about my little experiment! I know a 15 year old girl who hates veggies....We asked her one time what her favorite veggie was and she thought VERY hard and said..."corn?". Also, I have  an adult friend who is picky when it comes to veggies and he actually told me that if I put veggies in my waffles he would be able to taste them. So I brought these "Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles" over to a get together and said nothing about the veggies.... Right away the 15 year old took one, ate it and said "these are good" and walked away! Later the adult that I singled out tried them and had no idea! So I was VERY HAPPY that they liked my waffles.... Now here comes the part where I showed them the picture of my food processor.... I'll show you again!

They both were DISGUSTED and said if they knew this was in the waffles they wouldn't have eaten them!!!!! So my husband and I were talking about this, It's not the taste buds that HATE the veggies, it's something in your brain that tells you "THIS IS DISGUSTING BECAUSE VEGETABLES ARE NASTY!" Why is this? I know I singled out two people in this blog but they are like MOST Americans.... We need to start thinking about what we are teaching our children from a young age. How do WE as parents react to vegetables and fruits? Do we provide a wide variety of them in our home? Do we eat them even if our kids protest? Do we still try to feed them to our kids even if we know they have protested in the past? Do we educate them on what these foods really do for our bodies? I am not asking these questions to make anyone upset....it's just something to think about.... Why would our taste buds like the taste of something and then our brain overrides, tell us it's NASTY, so we won't eat it anymore? PLEASE COMMENT!!!! This is a wonderful discussion!!!!

* I just changed my comment setting to allow anyone to comment... Sorry if you tried and couldn't! I have one more question! If you are a person who cringes at the thought of certain veggies, Why do you think that is? What do you think happened to you growing up that gave you this view?

Cowboy Gun and Holster: made from stuff around the house!

My Son gets to dress up like a Cowboy tomorrow for school! He LOVES to dress up and won't miss the chance but he is more of a spy kind of kid, not so much Cowboy! Hence, He had nothing Cowboy and I didn't want to spend money. So I figured we could just whip something up out of the recycling trash! I drew a simple gun on some cardboard and cut it out with and Exacto knife. I actually made four guns, two for each kid!

Then I found two thiner paper boxes and used this to make my holsters! The other side of the box was all white inside.

You basically trace around the shape of your gun on the box and then cut out TWO shapes.... one of just the white shape and one with the brown part on top....This will be how you connect it to your belt!

I put duct tape over the part that was going to be attached to the belt for extra support. Then I held the belt up to it and cut two slits with an Exacto knife, about an inch apart, to weave the belt through.

The next step can be done many ways..... I chose to sew mine with a needle and thread(because I liked the look of it) but you can just hot glue the pieces together to form a pocket. Your cardboard guns will slide right in! 

To add to his costume I picked up a plastic Cowboy hat at US Toy for $1.60! Here is my boy ALL in black with his Guns and Holsters! =) YEEHAW!

"I see you're not from around these parts!"

FUN Writing/Counting Practice Game!

 If your child is not yet in Elementary, let me fill you in on a little secret.... It is A LOT of work!!!!! From the moment they step into Kindergarten, they are expected to learn a lot and quickly! I don't know where my sons school standards line with yours but by the end of the year he is expected to write the alphabet, upper and lower case, his numbers to 100, and know the beginning foundations of reading. This is a lot if you haven't really practiced much.... so my point is, start as early as possible but try to make it FUN!

My six year old son fights every minute of "BORING SCHOOL WORK". Like his mommy, he is a visual learner which can be tough when you get to school. Every child has to learn how to sit, be quiet, and write BUT they also have to know that learning can be fun as well. We want to start as early as possible making connections in the brain with learning and fun!!

 My son's teacher had a great idea to get him a small chalk or dry erase board. I went with the dry erase, 4 bucks at Target! I also bought a pack of fun small markers. Color is alway better! =) Here is my son being silly and showing off his new board! =) The board REALLY helps to make writing fun and new... not just on a regular piece of paper. Remember, don't let them have this all the time. Let it be only for special occasions when you play writing games! 

My son sparked the idea in my head of this fun writing game we now play. He just had his birthday this past week and he got himself a pack of Squinkies. If you aren't into the world of Squinkies yet, I will tell you what they are. They are just cute mini squishy, rubbery, figures. Of course they have them in your child's FAVORITE characters Princess, Cars, Toy Story, Superheros....etc. 

 My son randomly told me,"Mom, I have 36 Squinkies!" the SAME DAY his teacher gave me the idea of the dry erase board so I put the two ideas together! We put all of his Squinkies into a basket and randomly pull out a handful. Have your child simply count them and write the number down! After this step it is up to you to make it up as it goes. You could have them add more to their pile and then see how many are there, or subtract some from the pile and then count. The important thing is EVERY TIME you say a number, they write it down for practice. You can do this with all sorts of small items other than Squinkies...for example, legos, marbles, or even food (pretzels, goldfish, and cereal). With the food items, when you subtract from a pile, let the child eat them! =)

 At one point I pulled out 10 Squinkies from the basket...then I asked him, "What if we doubled this number or added 10 squinkies to the pile?" "What about 10 more...." He quickly got the pattern I was going for! You can use fraction words like half of and quarter. The more they hear these words, they will start understanding them!

 Here is an awesome hand out Brenden's teacher gave me for using the sides of a small dry erase or chalk board to write out 1 - 9. This is a great resource for younger children! My 3 year old daughter successfully wrote out every number by herself, with me talking her through it! The earlier the better! You see in the illustration that the square the number is in, is the edge of the board! It's hard to make a mistake because you cant draw out of the box! =)

I hope this helps inspire you to think of fun games for your child to play at whatever stage they are at! 

Baby Book Review!

Ok, I can't tell you how many women I know who are pregnant RIGHT NOW!!!! So much fun to see couples become parents for the first time and second, and third! =) Since 2005, when I first became pregnant, I was on a mission to find the BEST baby book out there! And I am convinced I did!!! If you are going to have a baby or know someone who is going to have a baby, tell them about this AWESOME baby book/journal! It goes all the way up to the first THREE years!

Click on the book to be taken to the amazon link!

This book has EVERYTHING!!!

In the beginning it has a section about father and mother where you can write a little something about yourself and what you were like when you were a child. It also has a section for a Family Tree! I love this because EVERY child has to do a Family Tree project sometime in school so all you have to do is pull out the baby book! (Side note: I wrote in my books to great-great grandparents....just add your own lines)

They have the normal sections for feet but they also have a hand section. I got the most PERFECT hand prints of my son in the first baby book we did but when doing my daughters hands, she wouldn't hold still! I was SO UPSET at how the hand page turned out and now when I look at it, I think its the sweetest thing ever! I remember how hard we worked to get her prints at 3 weeks old and look at this and laugh! =) This is an example of how you don't have to be PERFECT!!!

 My FAVORITE part of this book is they have a section of the first year where you write their weight and height every month and there is a page next to it for pictures. I drew lines to break up the page and put a picture of them in on EVERY month birthday! You don't have to be as anal as I was but it is so much fun to see how fast they grow month to month! I covered the stats but here are a page from my books of both of my kids first 6 months!

 When you have more than one kid, it is fun to get out the book and look to see what the siblings looked like when they were "the baby's age"! I had so much fun with this section that I added two more pages right after this and went all the way up to age three. Every month I would take at least one picture and print it wallet size and add it to the book. Sometimes I would be printing three months at a time to add to the book.... as long as you take the pictures, they are there to be printed whenever you get around to it! To remember to take a picture, I wrote it on my calendar!

 Here is a few more examples...so fun to look back on! When you can, try to write their weight/height for that month!

They grow SO fast!

I got smart the second time around and added a little more about the "before you were born" stage. I added a page about my cravings and my growing tummy....this is just regular white printing paper that I taped pictures on. 

 So if you are looking for the perfect baby book/journal to keep track of the first three years, I would totally recommend this book!!! There is so much more to the book but you will have to get it to see everything it covers! Another beautiful thing about this book is the quotes throughout.... I will leave you with one from the last pages: "Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs...since the payment is pure love." Mildred B. Vermont
ONE LAST COMMENT: after reading the reviews on Amazon I realized that some people were upset that there were some bible verses as quotes throughout the baby book! They aren't very big to really notice but I thought you should know that before you purchase just so you are informed. =)