Friday, October 31, 2008
Sticker Giveaway Winner
Fun With Bubble Art
First note!! Make sure you do not INHALE only EXHALE!!! Place water, soap, and food coloring in bowl. Blow into the straw and create bubbles. Place paper flat on top of bubbles and the bubbles popping will create cool artwork.
I think the best part of this activity was watching them blow bubbles through their straws. I always tell them at the dinner table that if they are going to use straws they can't blow bubbles. So, today they thought it was cool that they were able to do it and create art at the same time.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Great Minds Think Alike
Tonight as Mandee was making dinner Brandy called. We were talking about a food drive that our youth are doing for the Care and Share. Then Mandee said, "I need Cream of Mushroom Soup for my dinner tonight". Brandy says, "What are you making?" Mandee replies with,"Stroganoff". Brandy chuckles and says "Me too"! Ok, this is getting super crazy.
What do you think it is that makes two people think the same? Do you think it is possible if you spend a lot of time with someone your minds somehow link???? Anyways, we thought we would share both of our Stroganoff recipes:
Brandy's Stroganoff
1 lb. stew meat
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 t0 3/4 cup sour cream
1/8 Dehydrated diced onions
Garlic, sea salt & pepper to taste
Fry meat with onions and seasonings. While this is cooking I do my noodles. I add a little bit of chicken bullion paste (gotta throw in my Alison's Pantry prodcuts) to my water so that it gives my noodles more flavor. Drain noodles. Add soup and sour cream to the meat. Stir until blended. I mix my sauce into my noodles, so mix everything together and your done!!!
P.S. I don't measure, I just throw things in. This is the best quess I can give you. but it's pretty close.
Mandees Stroganoff
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Few Last Minute Details
I love Family Fun!! They have so many great ideas. Mandee and I are both doing this activity. We went through their printables and picked out 10 Halloween pages and made a little mini activity book for the kids to work on at the party, but also so that they can take them home with them. CUTE STUFF!!
The Toyshop has some creepy stuff!! Lot's of printable Halloween toy's and masks. Just print and make! Cool place!
Skip To My Lou has this darling little skeleton that you can make simply by printing out and adding some brads. I printed these out but have yet to make them. Check it out here.
Just a few more ideas as Halloween is coming up fast!! Hopefully this will give you a few last minute ideas.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Chicken Broccoli Casserole
1 lb. of frozen, chopped broccoli
6 chicken breasts, cut into pieces and cooked
1-10 1/2 oz. cream of chicken soup
1/2 C milk
1 t lemon juice
3/4 C mayonnaise
1 C grated cheddar cheese
Topping:
2 C stuffing mix
4 T melted butter
Cook broccoli by package directions and drain. Arrange broccoli in a greased 9 X13 casserole dish. Arrange chicken over broccoli. Combine next 6 ingredients and pour over chicken and broccoli. Combine stuffing mix and melted butter. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until bubbly.
Thanksgiving Place Tags
A Little Something to Get You In the Halloween Spirit
Has anyone noticed that there is no Halloween specials on television this year!! What's up with that? I checked the local listings and I believe it's channel 4 has It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on tonight at 7:00 P.M., mountain time, so you'll all want to check your local listings. I hadn't even thought about looking online for videos!! Tyson and I had fun watching this video and we checked out some more. Thanks to Erin for the idea!!! Does anyone else know about any others??? Have a happy Tuesday!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Peanut Butter Waffles
2 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (used white)
2 & 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs (whites separate if using a belgian waffle maker)
Belgian Waffle Maker: Combine flour, milk, peanut butter, oil, salt and baking powder in large bowl. Seperate egg whites in seperate bowl, and add egg yolks to flour mixture. Blend egg whites on high speed until fluffy. Blend flour mixture until combined. Add egg whites and lightly stir just until combined. Pour batter in hot waffle iron and bake to your liking.
Normal Waffle Maker: Combine all ingrediants and blend until combined. Pour batter in hot waffle iron and bake to your liking.
Great Fun Site
I am always trying to look for fun things to do with my 10 year old son. He has quite a few health problems and I really have to look hard for things that he will be interested in and that he will stay focused long enough to do. I found a great site that I am so excited about. It is called Paper dolls for boys. There are so many fun ideas here that I am sure any boy would love!!! I just had to share.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
$1.00 off candy coupons
Chicken Roll Ups
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
4 T. butter, melted
Any amount of cooked turkey or chicken (canned chicken works great too)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. chopped onion, optional
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls
Bread crumbs(I use italian seasoned ones)
4T butter, melted
Blend cream cheese and melted butter. Add turkey or chicken, salt, pepper, and onion. Mix well. Seperate crescent dough, sppon mixture near base of triangle. Roll up and seal edges. Dip in melted butter and roll in bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes at 350.
Pirates and A Great Christmas Gift Idea
My cute little buddy is having a pirate birthday party today. So I wanted to follow the pirate theme. I love giving homemade presents. It's just what I do. So the other day Brenden was at my house and saw some of the holiday tins that I was making and he said he thought they were cool. So I made him a cool one with skull and crossbones on it. Of course I filled it with some fun little pirate treasures. Then I decided to make him this fun little magnet set. I made about a million of these magnet sets two years ago for just about every kid I knew. I did them in nativities and pirates and oh, so many other things. I can't even tell you where I got the tins because I ordered a ton of them for a super Saturday project 3 years ago and ended up with dozens of them left,
The magnet's are sooo EASY! You buy a roll of magnet at Robert's. Make sure you use your 40% off coupon, it helps a lot. I paid about $6.00 a sheet for magnet and you can do oodles of magnets off a sheet. Peel the stickers off and stick on the magnet and cut out. The stickers work better if they are clear on the edges. I have done jungle sets, farms animals, Cars, Kung-Foo Panda, bugs and just about anything popular that kids like. These are the BEST Sunday toys. Stick them in the diaper bag and they keep kids busy forever.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Please send us your mailing address to mandeeandbrandy@yahoo.com so we can get this in the mail to you. We want you to be able to enjoy it before Halloween! Thank you and stay tuned for more giveaways!!!!!
Swap Sign Up Over
We are so excited for our first swap and hope to hold more. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm, it is going to be fun. Hopefully those that weren't able to do it this time will be able to join us next time.
So, please email us at mandeeandbrandy@yahoo.com and we will get those questionaires to you hopefully some time this weekend. Please get the questionaire back to us by November 1st at the LATEST. The packages will need to be in the mail by November 17. Thank you so much.
Mandee and Brandy
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Clarification
Deck Your Halls Christmas Swap
Are you a tricker or a trunker??
I FINALLY DID IT!!!!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Just a Helpful Hint
I originally went online looking for bikes at Walmart so I could help Santa and tell him exactly what the kids want. Well, I found the perfect bike for my daughter and it was $72.98 before tax online so I thought "Okay, that will work". So, my husband and I go to Walmart and the SAME bike is 120.00 at the store!!!!! I about died!! I went back to walmart.com and ordered it from there. Also, if you do it that way you don't have to pay shipping and handling. They have a Site to Store option and they send it to the closest Walmart for you.
This was about 10 days ago and Santas delivery showed up today at Walmart (gosh, I hope my kids don't read my blog!). I am now looking for a bike for my son and saw the SAME bike I got for my daughter is now 92.78. It has gone up twenty dollars. Crazy.
But before you shop at your local store check out the website first and don't forget to do the site to store option for shipping.
I STILL CAN"T BELIEVE WE ARE THINKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS!!!
Tastes Just Like a Frosty
1 & 1/2 cups ice water (I decrease mine to 1 cup, it was way too runny the other way)
2-3 cups ice cubes
1 & 1/2 cup non-fat dry milk powder (I use Morning Moo and it tastes great)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 Tbsp. veg. oil (I use canola, it acts as an emulsifier)
Place ALL the ingredients in the blender, including the oil. Use less water for a thicker milkshake or more for shake that is easier on your blender motor. With lid on, process for 2 minutes. Makes about 4 shakes.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Great Halloween Book
The illustrations in this book are amazing, bright and clear. The best part of the book is at the end there is a recipe for Pumpkin Pie and I must say it is a great one. So, I hope you will find this book and read it and enjoy it as much as we do.
Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!
Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!
Cheese Cloth Ghosts
You'll need white material of some kind, we used cheese cloth, because it's what we had. Googly eyes or a black marker to draw with. Twisty ties and foam balls. We found a package at the dollar store that had assorted sizes.
I cute the cloth into random sized squares. The kids then put it over the foam balls and tied it off at the base with twist ties. Draw a face or glue on some eye's and your done. Easy, wasn't it?
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Roasted Potatoes
12 Peeled and chopped potatoes
4-5 Lemons
2-3 Cups Chicken broth
1/4 cup shortening
olive oil
Garlic (fresh or powdered)
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Wash the potatoes. Cut into quarters lengthwise, and place in a large and deep enough baking pan. Sprinkle or lightly brush the potatoes with olive oil. Put the chicken broth in the pan, add the juice from 3 lemons and top off to about 1 cm deep with water if needed. Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, oregano, and finely chopped garlic or garlic powder. Turn the potatoes over and repeat the seasoning. Cut 1/4 cup of shortening into cubes and place evenly around the potatoes. Cover the pan and place in the oven at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender inside. Uncover the potatoes and broil for a short while to brown and crisp them as desired. Squeeze a lemon or two over them for an even better taste!!!
It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
Every year I buy several egg dye kits on clearance. They come in handy for the strangest things. Such as dying eggs in October!! I found these darling stickers at the dollar store and I bought them, knowing we would do something fun with them, but not knowing what.
I loved this picture. Look at the look on J.D.'s face. He pulled the egg out of the purple dye and said, "It's kinda pinkish!!" Silly kid. They had so much fun. I think we might be making red and green eggs in a few months. Who knows???
Friday, October 17, 2008
Blogs We HEART
First to Sharla over at My Little Gems!! Your ideas are great and your blog always fun to read and I love stealing ideas from you. Hope you don't care. You deserve this for just being so fun and upbeat!!!
Second to Kelly over at News From Kelly's Brood! Your comments are like gold to us and we love the fun upbeat spirit of your blog!! Thanks so much for sharing your ideas with two, crazy girls from Utah!
You ladies are awesome! Pass along some LOVE to others and make someone's day!!
Out of the Mouth of Babes
Imagine this, Adam got home from work and we sat down around the table to eat our dinner. Every evening we go around the table and talk about our "high" and "low" moment of the day. We do this to encourage conversation and try to eliminate table arguing amongst siblings.
Anyway, we all went around the table and shared our thoughts. There were a few moments of silence (not too many of those moments at the Dover house). Then BayLee said "Hey, at school we are learning about skeletons and bones." She points to her head and says "This is my cranium and this is....." She pauses and I am thinking ok, she will need help with tibia, or something like that so I am ready to help when she says "Mom, where is my Flatulism bone?"
OH MY GOSH!! Adam and I about fell out of our chairs. And Logan says(as we are laughing and BayLee is all of a sudden very self-concious) "Uh BayLee, Flatulism is another word for farting". (I didn't make Logan sit in the corner five minutes for saying that word this time-gave him a free one for trying to help) :)
Although a little crude,t his is one of those moments I don't ever want to forget. Pure innocence. I LOVE BEING A MOM!!!!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Balloon Spiders
I got the instructions off of Executive Homemaker and we modified them as we went. You'll just have to type in Halloween in search engine and you will find them. But here is my version.
First we tried to do it Laurie's way by using one balloon. DID NOT WORK FOR ME!! I was to worried about them popping, plus every time I did get a pipe cleaner around the neck the air would slowly go out. So we blew up our big balloon first for the body and tied that balloon off. Then we blew up a smaller one to make the head. I then tied that balloon off by tying it to the stem of the other balloon. (I would have taken step by step pictures, but at this point it was mass chaos and children were screaming, blow up my balloon over and over. Oh, and the pesky baby was eating balloons. Choking hazard, ya know.)
At this point all the kids had to do was to wrap pipe cleaners around the two stems. Then the curled the ends under with their fingers. Add two glue dots to some googly eyes and you've got your face. Then a little marker, which doesn't stay on very good, but the kids loved to give them tattoo's, as they said.
P.S. Don't let the kids try to move the googly eye's once they are on the balloon. It will cause the balloon to pop, which has been known to cause tears, stress and drama!
Haunted House
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Our First Blog Award
Greek Village Salad
I also think it is important to open our kids eyes to new foods. I try to make at least one "international" meal a week. This is my familys favorite salad. I love it because it doesn't have lettuce. :)
4 Ripe Tomatoes (I prefer Roma)
1 Cucumber
1 onion
1 green pepper
1/3 lb. Feta Cheese
Olives (Kalamata are the best)
1/2 cup Olive Oil (at least)
Oregano
Salt
Cut the vegetables in slices and mix in a salad bowl. Top with the olives and oregano and cover with "crumbled" feta cheese. Pour the olive oil evenly on top. Mix before serving. *The more feta the better. :)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Fun Places For Halloween Ideas
Matthew Mead has darling templates for Jack-O-Lanterns, cats, owls and much more!!
The Happenings has a great activity for every day during their 30 days of Halloween.
Abby over at A Feather Nest has a fun idea for dinner in a pumpkin. I think we are going to do this and possibly make a tradition out of it. Have to see how well it goes over!
One of mine and Mandee's favorite sites is Tip Junkie. Laurie is amazing. Check out all of her fun Halloween ideas by clicking here. Laurie also has a blog called Executive Homemaker and it is one of my favorite resources for great ideas. Check out her Halloween stuff here!!!
Hope some these will give you some great idea's! I know I've found a few great ones!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Dang Cute Diaper Cake
Step 2: Once you have all three layers made and they are nice and tight place them one on top of each layer.
Wrap each layer with ribbon, also have seen them with each layer wrapped in receiving blanket for a fondent look. Both ways are very cute!!!!
Finished product. A great decoration and a great use for the baby!! Brandy made one for me and I didn't use those diapers until I really had to. They are so cute!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fried Rice with Steak Stir Fry
Crockpot Applesauce
About 20 apples, cored, peeled and diced
Apple Juice
1/8 to 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 cu p sugar if desired
Pour about 1 inch of apple juice in the bottom or crockpot. Add apples and top with lemon juice and sugar. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours stirring frequently. I mashed mine with a potato masher and it turned out perfect. I got this recipe from My Little Gems and Sharla's was pretty chunky. I actually turned my heat to high for about the last 2 hours because it didn't seem to be making enough progress. Super Yummy and good for you.
Apple Crumb
5 large apples
1 cup rolled oats (I use instant)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
6 T. butter (I use margarine)
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 T. apple or orange juice
Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking pan or a casserole of equivalant size, then dust it with flour. Peel, core, and slice the apples and arrange them in the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, salt and allspice on low speed until it forms a coarse meal. Crumble the mixture evenly over the apple slices and sprinkle with the juice. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the topping turns golden brown. Serves 6.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Haunted Houses
I spent only about $3.50 for this activity. I bought a bag of M&M's and a bag of Brach's Autumn mix candy. Everything else I had at home.
My 3-year-old had more fun doing this than my 6-year-old. He was singing Jingle Bells the whole time that we were making it. He keeps calling it his Jingle House! We have only made gingerbread houses at Christmas. This was our first Haunted House.
What you need ~ Candy, graham crackers, something for a base. We cut up a box and covered it with tinfoil.
Haunted House Frosting
2 eggs whites
1 pound Powder sugar
½ tsp. cream of tartar
Beat egg whites until stiff and add tartar and mix. Then add powder sugar and mix until creamy and stiff. Put in plastic baggies and cut the tip of the bag at the bottom corner to create a frosting bag. You can add food coloring to your frosting to add a little bit more coler. Remember not to eat this frosting. It is for decorating only! Probably wouldn't hurt ya, but better safe than sorry!
My 6-year-old was excited for our after holiday's tradition. We usually take our gingerbread houses out and use them for target practice on New Years Day. That was the first thing he asked when I told him we were making these. I'd imagine so!!!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Free Shipping at Oriental Trading
Oriental Trading is a great place to stock up on crafts, scrapbooking items or fun holiday decor items. Thanks to Making Life Sweet, One deal at a Time for the tip!
Oatmeal Crispies
Oatmeal Crispies
1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 & ½ cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups quick oats
½ cup pecans (optional)
In a large mixing bowl cream butter with both sugars until well combined. In a separate bowl beat eggs together. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix carefully into the sugar mixture until well combined. Now add the quick oats and mix well again. You can add pecans at this point if you would like.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.
(To freeze ~ divide dough in half and place each half of the dough onto a sheet of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a log and then wrap it lightly in the waxed paper. Now you can either chill or freeze the dough until later or you can go ahead and slice the dough evenly into cookie rounds and then freeze.)
Marble Spider Web
Put a dab of paint in the middle of the plate inside of the pie pan. Place the marble in the paint and roll the marble around to make a spider web design on the plate.
BayLee had fun doing this. Logan started to add WAY to many marbles and it turned into a mess. :) But it was a fun and easy project. I even jumped in and grabbed a plate and marble. I love Halloween and I think the projects for it are soooo much fun.