Showing posts with label Family Activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Activities. Show all posts

Monday, May 25, 2015

Black Bean Brownies

Looking for a healthy, but sweet and delicious alternative to your typical dessert?  Check out this fantastic recipe for black bean brownies.  Oh, and of course, inexpensive!! :)

I've been making these for over a year now, and they really are good!  My kids and husband all approve of these brownies, which if you know my family, this means a lot! :) 




It's so great not to feel guilty giving your kids a dessert before bed.  These brownies are packed full of protein with no refined sugar!  My only tip is to cook them a little longer then the recipe calls for.  I cook them for 22 minutes, and they come out perfect every time!!

Here's the full recipe:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/




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Friday, April 17, 2015

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I've had kids, I've been trying to eat healthier and become more aware of the foods that I feed my family.  However, with a 1 year-old and a 3 year-old, this becomes tricky!  But I have found a way to trick everyone, even my husband!


Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies




These cookies are chewy, delicious, and totally fool my kids!  These are a great alternative to traditional chocolate chips cookies, they are packed with protein and have way less sugar.  Plus they are gluten free.

You can find the full recipe at one of my favorite blogs, My Whole Food Life:

http://mywholefoodlife.com/2014/07/13/quinoa-cookies/

ENJOY!!


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Thursday, April 2, 2015

DIY Easter Bunny Picture Frame

With Easter only a couple days away, I decided to do some Easter crafts with the kids today.  My little guy and I talked about it, and he decided that he wants to make an Easter present for Grandma.  So this is what I came up with:


What you'll need:
  • Any kind of heavy paper (I used photo paper I purchased at the Dollar Tree)
  • Cotton Balls 
  • Pink and White construction paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • 4x6 photo



Take your heavy paper and trace the 4x6 photo on the back.  Then cut about 2 inches from the line that you traced to make the frame.  Cut out the pink ears and white middle ears, just a bit smaller.



Glue the ears together, and then glue to the top of the frame.  I then put some glue dots around the edge so my little guy could glue on the cotton balls.



Let that dry and then add the photo of your choice.  Just tape it onto the back of the frame.


And there you have it.  A simple, fun and easy DIY Easter Bunny Picture Frame any Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt or Uncle would be proud to hang on their frig!

Happy Easter to everyone!

If you like my post, please remember to vote below!  Thank you again!


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Monday, March 16, 2015

FREE Cone Day Today!!

FREE Cone Day Today at Dairy Queen!!


http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/

Make sure to check with your local Dairy Queen to make sure they are participating!

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Saturday, March 7, 2015

St. Patrick's Day Craft


St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, so I decided to do a craft with my little guy and decorate the house.  We decided to do a "St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Wreath".

What you'll need:

Paper Plate
Macaroni (any kind you have)
White Tissue Paper
Glue
Crayons
1 Package of paper Shamrocks from your local dollar store (or just cut them out from green paper)
Food Coloring

**I bought a package of paper Shamrocks at the Dollar Tree.  They came in packs of 12, 6 with glitter, and 6 plain.  This is the only item I purchased for this project, everything else I had in my house.

This is really a 2 day project.  First take the macaroni and put in a plastic bag with a few drops of green food coloring, and shake around to get all of the macaroni covered.  This dries pretty quickly, in a about 15 minutes.  Let it just dry in the bag, with the bag open.


Then take your white tissue paper.  Cut out 6 strips about 10 inches long, and about 10 smaller squares pieces.  Place 1/4 cup of water and 3-4 drops of food coloring in the bowl, and add a few strips and squares of tissues per color.  I used, yellow, blue, green and red.


Place the wet tissue paper on wax paper, and let dry over night.


The next day, take the paper plate and cut the center out to make a wreath.  Then let your little ones draw on it with crayons.


We then glued the shamrocks onto the wreath.  Next we glued the pasta and the square paces of tissue paper.  When that dries, turn the wreath over and glue the long pieces of tissue paper on, to make it look like a rainbow.


And there you have it, a pretty, inexpensive and FUN St. Patrick's Day wreath!  Enjoy!







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Friday, February 13, 2015

Valentine's Day "Kiss"

With Valentine's Day coming up, my kids and I have been doing lots of arts and crafts!  This is one of my favorites!  We made a "kiss" that I can save forever!

All you need is:

Construction paper
Tissue paper
Glue
Markers
Tin Foil

Since me kids are too little to cut our their own shapes, I did all of the cutting.  I cut out a "kiss", a piece of tin foil, and a heart on construction paper.


Then I took a piece of tissue paper, and cut a strip off.  I wrote on it "A Kiss for You"", because my little one can't write yet.  But, if you have older kids, they can write any message on it.



My little guy then glued everything together and decorated the heart in the middle. We then crumpled up the tin foil around his "kiss", to make it look like a real chocolate candy.




I think we are going to have one happy daddy tomorrow!!  I hope everyone has a Very Happy Valentine's Day!!  


**Please remember to vote for me at Top Mommy Blog!!!


If you like what you just read please click to send a quick vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs- The best mommy blog directory featuring top mom bloggers

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Valentine's Day Breakfast

With two little ones, cooking is probably the most stressful part of my day (along with eating, bathing, diaper changing, and everything else)!  So I wanted to come up with something cute and easy for Valentine's Day breakfast, and this is what I came up with:

Strawberry Heart Pancakes with a Mandarin Orange Heart

Choose your favorite pancake recipe, or you're favorite boxed mix.  Before you start putting together the pancake batter, take about 6 strawberries and mash them in a bowl.  I used a potato masher, but anything would work.


Then add the ingredients from your favorite pancake recipe. Try and leave out some of the liquid in your recipe, since the strawberries add so much.  The pancakes end up being more then crepes then pancakes, but you really need at least 6 strawberries to get that pink color.





Then I put the pancake batter into one of these cool "pancake pens" I have, but if you don't have this, you can use an empty ketchup bottle or even a plastic bag with the corner cut off.  



Make a heart in a hot, buttered pan.  (The one pictured was my 3rd try, so don't get discouraged!)





Then I took some mandarin orange segments and made a heart out of them, which made a perfect spot for the syrup!


There you have it, an easy, healthy and yummy breakfast, lunch or dinner!!  Good luck! :)



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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Monday, February 2, 2015

DIY Cereal Bird Feeder

Anyone that has been following my blog knows we love to use Froot Loops for fun art projects.  About a month ago I scored Froot Loops at Stop and Shop for $.50 a box and the kids love doing art projects with them!

Since we have been stuck inside for the past couple of weeks with all of this snow and freezing cold weather, my 3 year-old was concerned about what the birds and squirrels were eating.  So we decided to make Cereal Bird Feeders!

What you will need:

4 Cups Cereal
3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup water
3 T. Corn Syrup
Cookie Cutters




Put the cereal, flour, water and corn syrup in a mixing bowl, and mix with an electric mixer until everything is combined and cereal is broken down into small pieces.




Grease a plate and place the cookie cutters on the plate. Then stuff the cereal mixture into cookie cutters.  (My 3 year-old chose our Easter cookie cutters, so that's what we used.)  Then take a pencil or pen and make a hole at the top, so that a string can go through. 


We were able to make 6 bird feeders.  Let the bird feeders dry over night, so they can become hardened and more stable.


Then place a string through the hole, and hang outside!



This was a fun, inexpensive project that my kids enjoyed!!  It took a couple of days for the birds and squirrels to realize what was hanging from our trees in the backyard, but we woke up this morning to a bunch of empty string hanging from our tree, so I guess they figured it out!!  I love using up what we already have in our house and turning it into a fun, family activity!  ENJOY!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Snow Paint

Looking for something to do with your little ones on a cold, snowy day?  Why not "paint" snow inside!

My 3 year-old had a blast "painting" snow at our kitchen table yesterday.  What you will need:

Snow
Container to hold the snow (preferable plastic)
Food coloring
Paint brushes

I took a glass baking dish (because my plastic containers were dirty in the sink!), and filled it with snow.  Then I took blue, red and green food coloring, placed the colors in separate bowls and mixed with water. 


My 3 year-old had so much fun sitting as the kitchen table "painting" the snow.  He sat there for about a 1/2 hour painting, mixing the colors and then playing with his hands. 



This was a fun snowy day project that allowed us to stay inside, when all my little guy wanted to do was play outside in the freezing cold! :)  Hope you and your little ones have fun as well!


Monday, January 19, 2015

Froot Loop Bird Feeder

On days that we have nothing planned, and the checking account is looking bleak, I try and find some crafts that we can do by using things I already have around the house.

A couple weeks ago I scored some Froot Loops at Stop and Shop for only $.50 a box. They love it - it's a great way to do something fun and inexpensive, but the kids do eat as much as they can when I turn my back!!  Toddlers are quick!!

My 3 year-old and I talked about what to do, and we came up with an idea to feed the birds.  I decided to take some string from the garage and we could practice threading the Fruit Loops on to it.


I put a little piece of tape at the bottom of the string so it was easier to put the Fruit Loops on the string.


We did pretty good!  It took about a 1/2 hour, and some help from mom, but it was fun.  We practiced counting, and talked about all the different colors.


We then put it in the tree and the backyard and watched the squirrels and birds have an afternoon snack!


It's so great when you can do an activity with things you already have around the house.  Hope I have inspired you to do the same!!  Have Fun!! :)

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Homemade Snow Icecream

Living in New England, you never know what the weather is going to throw at you!  This week has been freezing cold and snowy.  It's so cold, that you can only play outside for a few minutes, which can be very frustrating to a 2 year-old who never wants to come inside!

So yesterday, we did a fun snow activity inside.  We made homemade snow ice-cream!  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Milk
1/2 Cup of Sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
6-7 cups of light fluffy snow

Mix the milk, sugar and vanilla in a bowl, and mix well.  (Cleaning up the spills in between!)



Then add the snow a little at a time until it becomes an "ice-cream" consistency.  It melts quickly - so make sure to eat right away!! 


My 2 year-old loved doing this!  We counted, measured and talked about the difference between hot and cold.  It's so great when they are having fun and learning at the same time!

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My New Years Resolution

So I've been thinking hard about what to do for my New Years Resolution this year.  I thought about yelling less, trying to stay calm when the kids don't go to sleep until 10:30pm, and arguing less with my husband.  But then I realized I really want to find something that I can stick to!!  Just kidding!! (Kind of!)

But seriously, I have decided this year I am going to have a clean car!  My car is by far the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.  It looks like a dump!!  I was going to take pictures to show all of you, but it is far too embarrassing.  There is a lolly pop stuck to the seat - that will NOT come off!  There are clothes, toys, french fries, and who knows what else covering the back of the car, to the point where you can't see the floor!!  The worst thing is I don't even know how all of this crap got in there - I think my kids are little hoarders and sneak all of their stuff into my car!

My mother gave me a dustbuster for Christmas, to keep in my car.  I think this was a very unsubtle hint!  Even though what I really need is a shovel!

So I told my husband tomorrow, we are cleaning out the car and there are going to be new rules!!  These rules include:
  1. NO eating in the car - EVER!
  2. Whatever you bring in the car - comes out with you when we get home.
  3.  If you must bring a toy in the car - you can have 1!
  4. And finally - no kicking the backs of the seats with dirty, muddy shoes!
I feel like this is an obtainable goal that my family and I can master for the New Year!!  Wish me luck!!

Happy New Years!!







Monday, December 29, 2014

Fun Winter Craft

Looking for a way to recycle all of this broken Christmas gift bags?  Turn them into craft paper!!

My little guy and I had fun making snowmen today.  I had a bunch of Christmas gift bags that had torn, or lost their handles, so I cut them up and turned them into craft paper - making great backgrounds for snowmen!


I cut out 3 white circles, small, medium and large.  I also cut out a black top hat.  I had my little guy glue everything down, and he decorated the snowmen with leftover Christmas candy - marshmallows for the snow, and the m&ms were supposed to be for the buttons - but most of them got eaten!



I love fun, inexpensive art projects!!  These are things I will treasure forever! :)



Sunday, December 28, 2014

New Year - New Organization

Trying to organize all of your kids new holiday clothes and toys?  Check out my list of 10 items to help you get organized for the New Year - all under $30!!



 IKEA 6 Tier Hanging Mesh Storage Closet Organizer on Amazon for $6.70 + $2 Shipping. 

Hanging Mesh Organizer









 Over the Door Shoe Organizer on Amazon for $9.29 (originally $12.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Over the Door Shoe Organizer









 Minnie Mouse Collapsible Storage Trunk on Amazon for $17.71 (originally $19.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Minnie Mouse Collapsible Trunk





Sterilite 3 Drawer Wide Cart on Amazon for $19.97 (originally $37.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Sterilite 3 Drawer Wide Cart











Mickey Mouse Foldable 3 Drawer Storage Organizer on Amazon for $24.99 (originally $29.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Mickey Mouse Foldable 3 Drawer Organizer







 Tot Tutors Book Rack on Amazon for $25.99 (originally $79.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Tot Tutors Book Rack








Munchkin Sarabear Toy Organizer (Small, Brown).  On Amazon for $26.44 (originally $34.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Munchkin Sarabear Toy Organizer










American Plastic Toy Organizer on Amazon for only $26.99 (originally $34.99).  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

American Plastic Toy Organizer









ClosetMaid Stackable 3 Shelf Organizer on Amazon for $27.99.  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

ClosetMaid Stackable 3 Shelf Organizer










Paylak Kids Storage Organizer Bins Fabric set of 3 on Amazon for $29.99.  Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Set of 3 Paylak Kids Storage Organizer Bins