Franken-Foot

Here's how to make a (not-very-scary) Franken-Foot monster.

The little guy's Franken-Foot

My big girl's "boy" Franken-Foot - complete with body
and pet drgaon!

What you need : - Green construction paper

                          - Black construction paper

                          - White paper

                          - scissors
                          - glue
                          - glitter glue & sequins (if you feel the need to sparklify your monster)

What we did - I had the kids stand on the green paper while I traced around their little feet with a pencil.  Then I cut out the feet and the kids stuck them on the white paper. 

While they were doing that I cut some shapes out of the black construction paper - for eyes, mouths & the bolts for the Franken-Foot's neck.  Then kids then stuck on the black cutouts.  At this point the little guy noticed the glitter glue and sequins that were still out from the big girl making masks earlier on, so they got incorporated into the picture!! 

It was great fine motor practice for the little guy, squeezing the glue & putting all the pieces where he wanted them.  My big girl ran with the creative aspect and drew a monster body for her Franken-Foot, including a dragon for a pet.  She even made a girl Franken-Foot & a boy Franken-Foot.

While these may not be the scariest monsters out there this halloween - it was still fun having both kids sitting down together working on the same project, with no fighting!!  Yay!!

Linking up to Tot Tuesday's over at "My Delicious Ambiguity"

Sunday baking.....

Yes, I'm still here and still preparing on a Sunday for the week ahead.  I know I don't update on here near as much as I should, but I want to!!  I really do, I have ideas and things to post - just not the time.  I'm working on it though....

So today I made:
* Granola Bars - peanut butter & cranberry.  These are the easiest bars to make, and yummy too!  I take one cup of honey and one cup of PB and melt them in a pot.  Just until they are runny, not until boiling.  Then I turn off the heat and add in 3 cups of oats.  At this point I also add in any extras - today cranberries were all I had, but it can be anything ~ raisins, m&m's, choc chips, nuts, pretzels etc.  Stir it all up, put it in a casserole dish and put it in the fridge to cool & set.  It's as easy as that!!

* Blender Wheat Pancakes - from one of my very favourite blogs Super Healthy Kids (you may have seen me mention her before), here http://www.superhealthykids.com/blenderwheatpancakes.html

* Hard Boiled Eggs

I didn't get around to the smoothies or muffins because I was missing ingredients.  I'm going to do peach smoothies, and cheese & ham muffins from this recipe here: http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/ham-and-cheese-muffins/

Hopefully I'll be able to make a post or two this week about something other than baking, lol :D

First Day Ever!!

So Tuesday afternoon was this little man's first ever day of preschool!!  It's hard to believe he's already so big :(  He did have a great day though, no tears at all!  He seemed a little quiet in class, but I think that's just because it was such a new experience for him - I bet he'll warm up soon.  At home he's a typical NOISY little boy!!

My favourite part of this whole experience has been going back to this particular preschool.  We had our daughter there too - she went to the toddler programme at 2, and preschool for ages 3 and 4, before heading off to Kindergarten.  So we've been there a while, and then took a year off last year (we decided that the little guy, and I, were not ready yet) - it's like going home being back there now.  Everyone is warm & welcoming, and I couldn't feel happier leaving my "baby" with anyone else.  The funny part is that the big girl had this very same teacher when she was 3, and I was pregnant with this little man.  So the teacher not only remembers her, but also the very smiley baby boy that came to drop off & pick up every day.  And now that baby is a big boy in her class!!

There are only 6 kids in his class, and he's only going twice a week for now - but for the moment it's the perfect introduction to school for him, and me :)

On a side note - I'm now in crazy panic mode preparing for my princess's birthday party on Saturday.  I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew!!

Back to School!!

We're one week into school here.  My big girl really is big - she's now in First Grade!!  I can't quite wrap my head around it!!  Luckily she's taken to it really well, which makes me happy.  She was a little nervous at first, but once she met her teacher & got in line with her class she was all smiles.  I think we're going to have a great year!!

A little nervous

Happy & looking forward to the first day

Her being back at school means hurried mornings, and packed lunches once again (she buys lunch once a week as a "treat").  This year I have resolved to try to rely as little as possible on processed, pre-packaged foods.  Some of them are fine, or even good, but most are over-priced and full of additives, chemicals and various other unpronouncable things.  I know I'll never eliminate them completely , because they are convenient, and I'm not the anal type - but I AM trying to make more of our own stuff.

In an effort to do this I'm spending a good deal of time on the weekends baking and prepping for the week ahead.  Here's this weekend's plan -

1) Fruit/yog/milk smoothies - we make them and freeze them in little gladware containers and I take them out of the freezer the night before so that they are defrosted in time for breakfast.  That way I know she's having something good to eat, even when she's too tired or rushed to actually eat.  This week it's raspberries, bananas & strawberry yogurt.  I even make extra for my husband to pack in his lunches.

2) Cinnamon Tortilla Chips - I take whole wheat tortillas, brush them with some melted butter & sprinkle a little cinnamon & sugar on them and I cut them into "chips".  Then I bake them for about 10min at 400F, until they get crispy. (Unfortunately the kids have already eaten the first batch of these, I'll have to make more!)

3) Strawberry Pear Applesauce - I made this before with equal parts strawberries & applesauce (the natural, no sugar added kind) but today I only had a few strawberries on hand, and a couple of pears that were getting over-ripe, so I added those in to the blender together with the applesauce.  Blended until smooth.  Yummy!

4) Granola Bars - I'm trying a new recipe for these tonight, I can't wait.  One of my favourite blogs is http://www.superhealthykids.com/, and I'll be trying out her recipe for granola bars.  They look delicious!

5) Granola - I have a recipe that I pulled out of a magazine ages ago for making granola in the crockpot.  I made it last week for the first time and it was scrumptious & good for you too :)  If anyone's interested I can post the recipe.

6) Pizza Rolls - I have a plan to try to make these with wonton wrappers like this.  I got a new Funtainer for the big girl and I'd love to pack these warm for her lunch.  I hope they turn out good!

I think that's it for this weekend - we already have pancakes & muffins in the freezer for breakfasts :)

This coming week my little man is starting preschool (no packed lunches for him thank goodness) - he's SO excited!!  I am not sure how I feel, so looking forward to getting a moment alone but also sad that my baby is no longer a baby :(

And then to top it off next weekend my big girl turns 6!!  We're planning a medieval type princess & knight party, with crowns & swords & jousting .....should be fun!!

When life (or friends) gives you lemons.....

Make Lemonade, Lemon Sorbet and Lemon Meringue Pie

Not so long ago we went to a friend's house for a bbq.  It was a lovely late afternoon and evening - grown up conversation, kids playing in the yard (and the little guy coming too close to a cactus more than once, lol) and just general relaxation.  My kids aren't known for keeping out of mischief though, and it wasn't long before they'd denuded this poor friend's lemon tree!  She very graciously let them bring all "their" lemons home.  They were soooo happy & proud of their harvest.

Ofcourse the big girl woke up first thing the next morning and started asking to make lemonade.  She asked and asked and asked and asked and asked, until finally I was ready (or I was just tired of hearing her ask).

I had to look up the recipe for lemonade, having never made it before - and what I found online seemed to be that the best recipe is this:

Lemonade
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup of lemon juice

* You heat the water in a pot and stir in the sugar until it dissolves.  Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, and viola you have a wonderful lemonade concentrate. 

* You need to add quite a bit of water to dilute it before you actually drink it, but it's delicious :)

So our first step was to juice the lemons.  We only have a very low-tech old fashioned juicer, but it worked.  The kids tried hard to get some juice out, but in all honesty I did most of the real work.

Then we dissolved the sugar in the water - the little guy was FAR more interested in checking out his reflection in my shiny new pots than doing any stirring....

I meant to get pictures of the kids drinking their delicious homemade lemonade, but somehow it all got drunk before I did!

To make the Lemon Sorbet I just poured some of the lemonade concentrate into ice cube trays and froze it.  I put it in the blender when we were ready to eat it.  It turns out that it is pretty soft when frozen and gets quite runny when blended.  It was a nicer consistancy when we just put the lemonade ice cubes in a bowl & ate them.

 

That said, this lemon sorbet was VERY tart - too sour for the kids, or even for my husband.  I love sour stuff and thought it was delicious!  I'm sure there's a way to remedy that -more sugar maybe, or more water??

As for the Lemon Meringue Pie - we haven't made that yet, it's on the menu for dessert on Friday night.  I'll let you know how it turns out!!

Linking up here:

Bits & Bobs Robot

The Girl Robot

This is an activity that we do fairly often now that we've got the "kit" together.  "Once upon a time" we raided the The Man's toolbox and found a whole bunch of little metal bits & bobs - screws, nuts, bits of bike chain and various other things that we don't know what they are.  We had some empty, clean soup tins on hand and some magnets. All together you have the makings of many great & creative robots!! (and I add to this kit whenever I come across little lost bits of metal - hinges of things, lids to jars, bolts etc). I still have to watch the little guy pretty closely with this one, but he does enjoy it.   My big girl can spend quite some time getting her robot "just right".  Here's her with her latest robot creation - she added a paper skirt because this was a girl robot :)

The big girl with her robot making kit

Fairy Castle

I know I know, I've been away from this blog for ages.  I don't have a reasonable excuse, just that with summer here we've been even more busy than usual, and something had to give a little.  I'm still around, still doing arts & crafts and other fun stuff with the kids - I just haven't quite got around to posting it yet :)

So the other day (weeks ago now!) my lovely daughter & I set to making this fairy castle.  We saw some examples of fairy houses similar to this while at the County Fair, and thought it looked like a lot of fun - and it was!!  We got some tins (washed & dried) and my big girl arranged them in the best "castle" arrangement - she's rather particular, lol.  Then I hot glued them together and hot glued some craft sticks around all the tins. We also added some yogurt tubs on top of the towers.  I had thought we were going for the "woodland nature fairy" look - but once I let her go with the paint I realised I couldn't have been more wrong.  Being a 5yr old girl - she went with PINK!  And glitter, and sparkles too ofcourse!!  We just dug through my "bits & bobs" box to find stuff to decorate with.

For a surface we just flattened a regular old cardboard box, covered it with brown shipping paper and then painted that.  We added a pond (a little lid of a yogurt tub stuffed with tin foil and painted blue, for a shimmery water effect), a swing (made from craft sticks, yarn and scrapbooking embelishments) and a table (from a cork, cardstock and even legos for the chairs).

Finally we got some "woodland creatures" and a couple of fairies out of her toys!  A perfect, PINK fairy castle - hours of fun, and best of all I got to spend time creating something with my big girl.  My husband had taken the boy on a "boys" outing :) 

Truth be told, it didn't take more than a few minutes for the little man to take all the pretty marbles & stones off the tops of the "towers" - so don't leave a project like this unsupervised with little ones around!