Going Out Placemat

This is an idea that I actually submitted to a parenting magazine and I was truly surprised when they didn't use it. That's how smart I think it is!

You know when your child is small and when you go out to eat you are still feeding them Cheerios or other finger foods? You don't want to request a plate for them because you know where it will go - on the floor! (Or in the case of this picture, it was just good to have under his plate so when he spilled he could still eat his food.)

I had heard of placemats with suction cups that you could take with you when you went out to eat at restaurants, but was never able to find any. So, I came up with my own, very inexpensive solution. I went to the dollar store and bought a cute roll of shelf liner. It's smooth on the top and can easily be wiped off, but grippy on the bottom so it won't move around on the table. Out of one roll I made 3 mats. And one of the best parts is that you can roll them up small and just carry them along in your bag!

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

During the fall season one can never have too much pumpkin infused food products.This is a simple recipe for cookies that kids can definitely help out with. And it's quick!

You don't need much - just chocolate chips, pumpkin puree and a spice cake mix. Nuts are optional. We double the recipe, hence the big can of pumpkin and two boxes of cake mix. And I don't love a lot of chocolate chips, so I only use half a bag for a normal batch.

Open everything up and dump into a bowl.

Depending on their age and the can size, the pumpkin might be to tricky/messy/heavy.

Let them help stir and then drop onto cookie sheets by the spoonful.

After spending about 12 minutes in a 375 degree oven, they should be ready to chow down on!

Easy Skeletons

 This is a standard oldie, but goody.

Grab a box of Q-tips, construction paper, scissors, glue, and a marker or crayon.

Draw a circle for the face (or if child is able, have then draw the circle as well) and let your child fill in the facial features.

Glue down the head and draw some glue lines for the bones to go. Again, this is something an older child can do. (You may want to pencil in a skeleton beforehand so they sort of have some guidelines.)

Cut some of the Q-tips in half.

Time to add the bones. This is a good time to let the imagination go and not try to make sure it looks nice.

There could be several variations.

And bones where you never knew they existed!

I also saw THIS varation online this morning.

Wall of FAME!

This idea is inspired  by my Mother-in-Law.  Her boys are all grown and have families of their own now.  In her home now she has a framed piece of artwork they did while they were in Elementary School.  I love visiting and seeing these pictures in her home.  They are priceless.

I will admit, I am a mom who HATES things on my refrigerator.  You will rarely see anything on the front of it.  It will be on the sides, hidden.  I felt guilty about this since my children LOVE to color, craft and create, not to mention all the wonderful things they bring home from school.  So, about 8 months ago I created The Wall of Fame in our home.  It is a blank wall in our hallway right off of all our rooms where we can view and admire my kids artwork multiple times a day.  I love when they create something & say to me, "Mom, can we put this on our Wall of FAME?"  ABSOULTLY!! So until they are grown up & I adopt my Mother-in-laws idea of a beautiful framed picture from when my kid's were little, here is to our Wall of FAME while they are little and we can display whatever they want from home & school.

FUN with Food

Mummy Pizzas:

We made these fun little guys for dinner last week.  I saw this on a local TV news station & just had to try them.  They are easy, festive & delicious!  Sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Start with Rhodes Rolls frozen dinner rolls (or something similar).  Let them defrost & rise, then roll out each one to a 3-4 in circle.  Poke holes in your dough so it doesn't balloon up like a dinner roll.  You can't poke to many hole.  Then apply about 2 TBS of Pizza Sauce (more or less to taste) on top of your dough.

Next have your kids peel pieces of String Cheese, the more the tastier & cheesier.  Mmmm!  Lay them across your pizza to look like bandages.  They can get as creative as they like.  After they laid them on their pizzas I took a knife and trimmed the cheese that hung over the sides.

 

Next comes the olive EYES.  Take an olive & slice 2 pieces and place then on your mummy for her eyes.

 

Then place them on a greased cookie sheet & cook them in the oven at 350 for 8-10min.  Your cheese will not be completely melted, add or subtract minutes to your liking. (The first picture on this post is a pizza fresh out of the oven)

 

Serve & Enjoy!


Ingredients:
String  Cheese
Pizza Sauce (About 2 Tbs per pizza)
Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls (1 per pizza)
Olives

Painted Faces

We went a little overboard on pumpkins at the pumpkin patch this year & our generous neighbors gave us each a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch. So instead of carving all of them on Hallows Eve, we decided to paint some for fun so that we we can enjoy them now. We have never painted our pumpkins before & really enjoyed it.

We gathered together our paints and created a little pallet of colors to choose from.  We then painted whatever our minds came up with.  I love watching my creativity come to life.


One of my girls finished products.  Don't you love the open, screaming mouth on this one.  She said it was scared!

My finished project!

 

Halloween Banner

I wanted to make a HALLOWEEN banner for my kids playroom.  Pretty much everyroom in our home has some sort of halloween decoration.  I decided to do a banner that spelled out HALLOWEEN and string it across the wall.

Start with any Halloween style scrapbook paper you would like to use.

You can make your own cardboard letters in a saying of your choice or I found one already cut out and strung on a string at a local craft store. Then trace your cardboard letters onto your scrapbook paper and then cut them out.  From there I  used Modge Podge to attach the scrapbook paper letters to my cardboard letters. After you apply all the letters let them dry completly. 


There you have your final project!  Hang in any room of your home & enjoy!