Hanging Out with the ABCs

 I'm always scouring the internet for fun ways to teach my kids. One idea I stumbled on was for ABC organizing!

You need: 26 clothes pins, paint (optional),fine point Sharpie, hanger.

So the first question people ask is are the black ones vowels? And the answer is no. I had to search my house to find 23 clothes pins. (Thank goodness for a great neighbor who donated 3 pins to the cause. I didn't want to make a trip to the dollar store for 3 lousy clothes pins!) Some of them were painted black from another project. So . . . they stayed black.

I let my toddler paint the clothes pins with me, but while she was sleeping, I did the rest. Because some of my pins were black, I used white paint to add the upper and lower case letters to each pin. If you can use a Sharpie, do it! It was really hard to paint the letters neatly.

 But it was worth it. My toddler loves pulling them off and putting them back in order. It conveniently hangs from any door knob, so she can work on it in the kitchen or her bedroom or anywhere there's a door.

I'm gearing up to paint the numbers 1 to 26 on the back of the clothes pins so she can work on numbers as well. Wish me luck!

Headband Jam

So I don't know why, but the Fourth of July literally snuck up on me. I blame it on the middle of the week holiday. So it's ten o'clock on July 3rd, and my kids are in a parade at 8 am the next morning, but they have nothing patriotic to really show off their cute girliness. So in desperation, I turned to my go-to source for solving these problems: Pintrest! I found an awesome tutorial for Knotted Jersey Headbands! Fifteen minutes later, I had two cute headbands to spruce up my kids Fourth of July ourfits. And they were pretty stinkin' cute, but alas I didn't get a picture of them together. (Bad mom, I know!) Here is what the headbands look like:

Brittany over at Love Stitched gives such an awesome tutorial that you should visit her blog for the specifics. All you need is an old t-shirt, scissors, and the tutorial!

I did diverge from her plan by looping an extra piece of red fabric through the headbands to make them a little more patriotic. You can sort of see the back view here:

I took one 1/2 inch strip of red fabric and weaved it through the knot. There's no special technique. Just weave it through until you think it looks good. I didn't get a really good picture of the weaved headband, but this one might be better:  (Ignore the smudge.) 






I think these even work on adults. My husband says it makes me look youthful, but that can be a good thing, right? 

Grilled Cheesy Potatoes

Warning: these potatoes are highly addictive! If you make them once, you will crave them again!

What you need: 
BBQ Grill
4 to 6 Russet Potatoes or a bag of country style hash browns
2 Tbs Butter
1/2 white onion
2 green onions
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese
2 tsp minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
Optional: crumbled bacon!!!

The Process: 
Step 1: Preheat grill.
Step 2: Cut potatoes into small squares. The smaller the better. They cook faster. Or if you want to be lazy use the frozen hash browns, either way it tastes good! Place potatoes in a large bowl.
Step 3: Chop the onion and green onions. Add to the bowl. Then add cheese, garlic, and the salt and pepper to taste. If you have bacon throw it in the mix.
Step 4: Carefully mix so that all the potatoes are coated in cheese and seasoning.
Step 5: Roll out some foil. (I like to double mine to prevent leakage.) Slice 1 Tbsp of butter and place it on the foil. Dump the potatoes onto the foil and top with 1 Tbsp of butter.
Step 6: Put it on the grill over the flames. It takes my grill an hour to cook the potatoes through. So check your potatoes and stir once or twice to make sure they all get heated.
Step 7: Enjoy!!!! Everyone will think you're a grill master!

A Little Absent!

I just realized it's almost been a month since my last post. Talk about dropping the ball. I've found a TON of projects that I want to do. Now I just need the time to do them. I promise big things are coming! And you will all love it!

Grandma's Gift

 We like to get creative here for birthday gifts, especially gifts for the grandmas. My husband likes to say, "It's not a good gift unless they cry." This gift didn't cause any tears, but it was pretty sentimental because grandma can hold her granddaughters' hands when she is at home. I feel pretty silly for not thinking about this project myself! As with most of my projects it was inspired by multiple pins on Pintrest. It's so easy and it keeps toddlers occupied for two days! Okay, not two days straight, but it does provide two activities on two separate days.

What you need: Salt dough, patience, oven, acrylic paints, paint brush.

Day 1: Unfortunately I didn't capture a photo of day one. But day one involves making salt dough (I googled a recipe). The real trick is to get the salt dough the consistency of play dough. You might have to add flour or water until you get it right. Warning: it took me a little while. Once I had it right, I pulled out two portions and rolled and shaped them into a circles. (I let my toddler play with the remaining salt dough. We had enough for her to make a couple cut outs while I shaped.) I pressed my little ones hands into the dough and baked the salt dough creations in the oven at 250 degrees for three hours. Now this is also tricky because the time might very, so check the molds periodically to make sure they don't crack or burn. When this process is complete the molds will look like the picture above.

Day 2: Painting! That's right. I dressed my toddler in her baking apron and let her go to town on her cut outs with water-based paint while I used the acrylic paint on the hand molds. We had a good time painting our projects together. My toddler liked it so much that she even painted the table, hence the water-based paints!

When we were done, I thought it was hard to see the print with just one color, so I emphasized the print with white paint. My mom loved them!

Cheesey Chicken Veggie Bake

So I think the name needs a little work. I'm open for suggestions. Anyway this is one of my go-to recipes on a hard day!

What you need: 
1 box of Velveeta shells (or the knock-off brand, I buy Kroger)
1lb of Chicken
1/2 Cup of chicken broth
1 bag of frozen veggies (I use the bag with peas, carrots, and green beans)
1 package of dry ranch dressing mix (again I buy the know off brand)

What to do: 
1) Defrost the chicken but not all the way because it's easier to cut partially frosted chicken. Cut Chicken into small 1-inch pieces.
2) Place the chicken in a pan on the stove and sprinkle it with half the packet of ranch seasoning.
3) While the chicken is cooking, boil a pot of water for the shells. Once it's boiling add the shells.
4) Stir the chicken. When the chicken is no longer pink add the vegetables. (You may want to dump out a little of the liquid, but not too much because it has all the good juices! I'm just not a fan of runny cheesey bake.)
5) Once the pasta is cooked to your satisfaction, strain it and add the cheese from the package. Mix the Shells with cheese in with the chicken and veggies.
6) Let it warm for a bit and test it. If it's a little bland stir in the remainder of the ranch seasoning.

My family loves this recipe and because it's easy, so do I! In fact we love it so much that the last time I made it, I forgot to take a picture and it was gone. So I will make it again so I can capture a yummy picture for you. Recipes are more fun when you see what you're trying to make. Don't you agree?

Cookie Cutter Art

 What you'll need: Paper plates (or something to place the paint on), WASHABLE paints, cookie cutters, paper.

1) Let your child choose the paint they want on the plate. I like to guide my kids toward colors that will blend to make other colors so we can talk about it. (Red and Yellow make Orange, Blue and Yellow make Green you get the idea). Place the paint on a paper plate or other item sturdy enough for paint.

2) Help the child dip the cookie cutter into the paint and place it on the paper. It will make the image of the cut out. Then they can do it over and over again!

We chose Easter cut outs because we did this close to Easter, but it works for all sorts of holidays or all sorts of cut outs. Really kids just have fun with it. My little princess got so excited about it, she started to finger paint. It seems like that is how most of painting projects go these days! But here is the finished product:

Most people can't tell it was a bunny cut out, unless I tell them. It's pretty abstract!