Family Fun Friday

Read with Me Monday: Dot Art

2012-02-06T12:50:00.003-08:00

I came across this fun art project on Pinterest and it immediately reminded me of the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. I just had to take a closer look... so I headed over to the Helping Little Hands blog from a link on Pinterest. The picture above is from there. Click HERE to visit the site and learn how to make neat dot art with just crayons, a candle, and card stock. We sure did have fun (Although I forgot to take pictures.) I told my son, "Just make a dot and see where it takes you." This activity with the book made a perfect Read with me Monday!

Apple Pie for breakfast? SURE! It's tasty Tuesday!

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Steel cut oats is one of our favorite things to eat for breakfast. (My kids have no idea that they are eating a healthy breakfast... Shhh. Don't tell.) This is by FAR our favorite way to make them, not to mention the easiest!

To make Apple Pie {slow cooker} oatmeal...
You'll need:
1 1/4 c. steel cut oats (also called pinhead oats or Irish oatmeal. I do NOT reccomend rolled oats. They get WAY gross and mushy)
4 cups water or 3 cups water and 1 cup apple juice
1/4 c. brown sugar or honey
1 packet spiced cider
3 apples; cored, pealed, and diced
1/2 tea. cinnamon

Place the steel cut oats in your crock pot (I use my small crock pot. Using a large one may cause the oats to burn and stick to the edges. If you don't have a small crock pot, I recommend doubling the recipe. Don't worry, it stores well for about 2 weeks). Add water and spiced cider. stir. Top with apples and cinnamon. Cook on LOW for 5-6 hrs (or high for 1 hr and warm until you wake up if you're lucky enough to sleep more than 6 hours.) When you wake, it is hot and ready for you. We top with vanilla soy milk. SO delish!!

Cake Batter Pancakes

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have a birthday this month. I saw this great recipe on pinterest and thought it would make a perfect birthday breakfast. I thought I would share. They look so yummy.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cake mix
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
assorted sprinkles
Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed. I suggest a small taste test as well to see if the pancakes are flavored enough.
Preheat a skillet on medium heat (I use an electric grilled and turn it to 250 degrees). Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with vanilla glaze.

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
assorted sprinkles
Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

Cars 2 FFF

2012-01-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

(Blogger wont let me load pictures here... so enjoy some lovelies taken from Pinterest. :) )

About *mumble mumble* (Reads: waaaaay longer than I care to admit to.) we had an adventure-packed Cars 2 Family Fun Friday. SO.Much.Fun!

I have been trying to incorporate more educational games into our FFFs lately. (Starting with this one, actually.) We played a riveting game of Park That Car. You call out a word (or number) and the kids drive their car into that spot and park it there. Easy. Educational. FUN!

Using masking tape, we taped off our version of Radiator Springs and played with cars.

Then, it was time to race. I sure wish I could upload the picture of the back rub shirt I made for my husband for Christmas... It's so cute. My kids and I drew a figure 8 race track on the back. Using their hot wheels, they can drive their cars around and around on his back. It's super awesome.

(kinda like this... but not really.)

Anyway, after each kiddo had won a race, we watched Cars 2 and ate chocolate covered pretzel rods. Delish.

It was a winner.

If you have a Cars FFF, let me know what you do! I love hearing all about the fun FFF adventure you're all having!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

2012-01-03T21:23:00.001-08:00

Have you read the bookMr. Popper's Penguins? Probably back when you were in Elementary, second or third grade, perhaps? I remember reading it in Mrs. Dean's 2nd grade class and thinking it was the greatest book of all time. Here we are 20-something years later, and there's a new movie out based on my 7 year old self's favorite novel. I would be crazy not to plan a FFF on it, right? Right?

As it goes with most my book-based Family Fun Friday activities, My kids and I dove right into the book. To summarize, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a children's book, written by Richard and Florence Atwater, originally published in 1938. It tells the story of a poor house painter named Mr. Popper and his family, who live in the small town of Stillwater in the 1930s.Through unexpected circumstances, they come posses a penguin... and another penguin... and those penguins make 10 more baby penguins! The book illustrates their adventures in raising a house full of penguins and the mischief that it brings. It is cleverly written (as far as children's books go) and it is a quick, delightful read.

After we finished reading, we received the movie as a gift! It was perfect timing. I hopped on Pinterest (Because I am a pinning junkie. ha ha) and searched out penguin themed party ideas and snacks. Let me just say, this FFF was one of my favorites! Here is what we did:

We made these uber cute penguin appetizers. (Carrot beak and feet, cream cheese bellies and olive heads and wings.) Cute, huh! I am telling you, you can find all sorts of brilliant ideas on Pinterest!

While they were chilling, we played a few games. (such as, pass the ice cube using spoons, and penguin balloon waddle) And we made these cute little penguins with our feet (this one I borrowed from Pinterest)!

Finally, dinner. What do Penguins eat? Fish, of course! And so did we.

You can find this easy peasy recipe HERE

Then, it was movie time. The movie didn't follow the book as closely as I thought it would, but we still really enjoyed it. Definitely one I am glad to own. We will watch it again and again.

Anyway, if you plan to have a Mr. Popper's Penguins FFF, let me know how it goes!

Read with Me Monday: Snowmen

2012-01-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

It's January, and although it's not too cold out (At least not where we live) hot chocolate makes a great winter drink. So, why not mix up some hot cocoa and cuddle up with a good book for a perfect Read with Me Monday? You could make it a snowman theme. The other day we made these super cute marshmallow snowmen with black and orange frosting for our hot chocolate. I think marshmallows and hot cocoa belong together.

I've been wanting to make my own hot chocolate so I googled recipes. I think we'll make Candy Cane Cocoa (Click here for the recipe) or Laura's Hot Cocoa Mix (Click here for the recipe.) I also found this cute poem/song on the website with Laura's Hot Cocoa Mix. Here is how it goes...

Snowman Soup

When the weather outside is frightful

Snowman Soup can be delightful.

May it warm your spirit and your soul.

Let it snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

When you feel a chill or burrrrrr.

Use the peppermint stick to stir.

Add hot water and sip it slow.

Let it snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

There are lots of snowmen books. Here are a few of my favorites...

*All You Need for a snowman by Alice Schertle

*The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll

*Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

Do you Pinterest?

2011-12-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes. It is super addicting!
Click the button below and you can follow me in my wild pinning adventures. :)

Happy pinning!

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

2011-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter has a birthday in December. It makes things a little crazy around here. We will be taking treats to her Kindergarten class that day and these are the cookies she requested. So, we thought we would share.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candies or candy canes (about 3-ounces)
additional powdered sugar for rolling

Directions:

1. Sift together dry ingredients- flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and beat until blended. Add egg whites and extract and mix well (mixture will look grainy). Gradually beat dry ingredients into butter mixture. Stir in peppermint candies.
3. Gather dough into a ball. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Position rack in middle of oven. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment, or spray with nonstick spray.
5. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Using tines of a fork, flatten each cookie, creating crisscross pattern.
6. Bake until cookies are golden on bottom, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

I found this recipe here.

Read with me Monday: The True Meaning of Christmas

2011-12-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

I want to make sure I teach my children about the true meaning of Christmas so, for our Read with me Monday we read:

The Christmas Baby by Marion Dane Bauer

Who is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate and

Mary's Baby by Jane Chapman

Then we retold the story of the birth of Jesus with our magnet and finger puppet Nativities (I've posted about these before.)

Today we took time to
Remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas!

Read with Me Monday: All about Christmas

2011-12-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

Our December Read with Me Mondays are going to be... all about Christmas!

Growing up every year for Christmas my mom bought us a new Christmas ornament. When I got married I had a box full of ornaments for our first Christmas. I started this tradition with my own kids too. Last year we decided to make homemade ornaments instead of buying them, and we had so much fun that I decided to start a new tradition. So for our first December read with me Monday we started by making salt dough Christmas tree ornaments. I found several recipes online. This is the one I used...

4 Cups of Flour

1 Cup of Salt

1 1/5 Cups of Water

1 Tbs. of Vegetable oil

Mix ingredients together then knead the dough. Roll the dough out and use cookie cutters to create your ornaments. Using a toothpick create a hole at the top of each ornament. Place the ornaments on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 1/2 hour. (I cut the recipe in half. You also might want to bake them for a little longer. Some recipes said up to 2 hours or you can skip the baking step if you let them dry over night.)

while our ornaments were baking we cuddled up and read some fun Christmas books.

After reading we painted our ornaments.

We also made a count down to Christmas Jar. Every day since Thanksgiving my son has asked, "Is is Christmas Day yet?" I decided we needed some way to count down the days until Christmas. At our house it is tradition to decorate the Christmas tree with Candy Canes. Each day we will take a Candy Cane from the jar and place on the tree then we will count the remaining Candy Canes to see how many days left until Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Read with me Monday: Thanksgiving Treats

2011-11-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

We decided to make our November Read with me Mondays all about Thanksgiving. There are lots of fun Thanksgiving books. For our first Read with me Monday (Last week) we read the book, The Thanksgiving Surprise. We talked a little about Pilgrims and about the first Thanksgiving. After reading we made these Pilgrim Hat Treats! They're super easy to make. Here is what you'll need...

1. Marshmallows
2. Cookies
3. Chocolate Chips
4. Yellow Star bursts or yellow frosting.

Melt the chocolate chips, dip the marshmallows in the chocolate, place the marshmallows on the cookies, and using yellow frosting add a little buckle (We used yellow star bursts.) Place the pilgrim hats in the fridge until the chocolate hardens.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bully Proofing your kids.

2011-11-09T00:35:00.000-08:00

My son came home from school last week in tears. A boy in his second grade class had called him a very mean name, and although he didn't quite understand what the name meant, he understood it was meant to hurt...and it did. It broke my heart to see him so upset. My first thought (after comforting and talking to him) was to march right down to the school and demand something be done to rectify the situation. But, after weighing my options, I decided upon another route. Bully-proofing my kids.

I started with a little demonstrations I found to teach my children that bullying hurts, and to prevent them from retaliating against children who might bully them. A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of plain white paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it, yell at it, call it names, and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now, even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.My children had the same reaction. They understood, with this simple object lesson, how damaging their actions had been.

I found an amazing article about Bully-proofing your kids - Starting when their son was 3, psychologist Tammy Hughes and her school psychologist husband started teaching him. At night, they'd say, "Tell me three good things that happened to you today." This helped him make the distinction between events and his feelings about them. Once he had that mastered, they added, "Tell me three good things that happened to someone else (lesson: the world includes me and other people, their feelings and actions)." Next they asked, "Tell me something you did that worked out well. Now, tell me something that someone else did that worked out well for someone else." "These simple questions help children differentiate themselves and others, and (teach them) cause and effect. If you can connect these ideas and feelings, then it helps children to prepare to identify bullying -- negative versus positive behaviors -- and who did what to cause the outcome" We've implemented this technique in our home with all three of our kids. And, so far, I feel like it has been a success.

There are so many stories of bullying which have tragic endings. It is heartbreaking. If we'd all take a proactive stance, children will be better equipped to handle these situations. And maybe, if we'd take the time to teach our children, bullying could become a thing of the past.

Just a little food for thought.

Tasty Tuesday: Snowmen Donuts

2011-11-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Oh, it feels SO good to be back and posting on Family Fun Friday! My poor computer got a virus and was out of commission for quite a while. But, thanks to the lovely people at the computer doctor, we're up and running again! Woohoo! I have SO SO SO many fun things to post about, so stay tuned!

Today's post is a fun one. And simple, to boot! For this Snowman Donut Tasty Tuesday you'll need:

1 bag powdered sugar donuts

a handful of candy corn (we used Brach's Milk Maid Caramel flavored candy corns)

dark chocolate mini chocolate chips.

To make these adorable little snowmen, simply press the candy corn in the center hole until the base color is not showing. Then give your snowman two chocolate chip eyes and a big chocolaty smile and VOILA!! Simple and delicious! (We ate ours with hot cocoa and we watched Frosty The Snowman... yes, yes, I know it is November...I just can't help myself!)

Happy Baking!

Tie Onesie

2011-11-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

We are expecting baby #3 in the Spring. We don't know what we are having yet, but I have had baby projects on the brain. I thought I would share my latest project. I just cut out a tie out of scrap fabric. I also cut out a piece of Wonder Under. I ironed the pieces onto the onesie and then stitched around the tie with a zig zag stitch. I think they turned out really cute. You could do any shape you want, flowers, cupcakes, guitars, etc. So fun!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

With Halloween just around the corner...

we made our own Halloween Skeletons. We used Q-tips, black and white paint, and construction paper. We read Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler and Funny bones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

We also made Rice Krispie Treats. We shaped each treat to look like a pumpkin and added a Tootsie Roll stem. We then read The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis.

Personalized/Decorated Notebooks

2011-10-19T13:06:00.001-07:00

We just did this last night for a Young Women's Activity for the youth in my church. They loved it! Some of them even brought their own-already used-notebooks that they have been using for school. I thought it would be fun to try with my own kids. They love to draw and color, and how fun would it be for them to pick out paper and design their own notebook!

It was SO easy! For Spiral Notebooks, just cute a piece of scapbooking paper to fit your front cover. Glue it on using either Mod Podge, or Rubber Cement Glue. (I tried it with both, they both work equally well.) Then decorate it. Above I stamped my name onto a strip of paper, and added a button to match the paper. I also tied streamer to the spiral binding. You could also use ribbon or even rick rack! How cute would that be!

This one was simple and it is probably my favorite! I just hot glue gun-ed some twine on. Then I took my black ink pad and "dirtied" up the edges.

We also made a few using composition notebooks. Some of the kids have to have this type of notebook for their classes. This was slightly more complex but still easy!

Just take a 12 by 12 sheet of scrap paper and cut it in half making 6 inch strips. Those will be your main color. Then cut a 4.5 inch strip from the color you want your binding to be. Glue them on, wrapping the edges around the cover. You will have to cut your binding piece around the edges where they don't fold over. Then trim the seam with anything you want! I used ribbon, lace, and twine. If you want you can cover the inside cover with a sheet of card stock so the edges don't show.

Some girls used puff paints on theirs, others cut out elaborate designs with paper. We glued on fake flowers and even used sparkles on some of them. Get creative! There are no limits to what you could do!

Monkey See Monkey Do Monkeys Like To Have Fun Too!

2011-10-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

Read With Me Monday Story Time Idea

(I know I'm posting this on Tuesday)

We recently celebrated my son's birthday with a monkey themed party. I was thinking a monkey story time would be fun too. The story time activities, food, and games could all be centered around the children's story/rhyme The Five Little Monkeys. Here are some of the monkey things we did ...

monkey hand print craft

Monkey cupcakes

You'll need: Cupcake mix, chocolate frosting, M&Ms, Vanilla Wafer Cookies, Red frosting, and Nutter Butter Cookies.

and a monkey cake

You could even have have a banana cake.

Here is Lindsay recipe...

You'll need: 1 cake mix, 3 bananas (smashed), and 2 eggs. Bake as directed on the cake mix box.

We used donuts and Vanilla Wafer cookies to make a monkey face.

Monkey Bags!

We made these bags with brown lunch bags, wiggly eyes, brown construction paper, and brown pipe cleaners. You could put monkey faces on paper cups too. Maybe you could drink a banana smoothie out of a monkey cup?

Just go bananas and have fun!

Pillowcase Mattress

2011-09-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

We recently had some company at our house. My kids share a room, and we let our guest use their room. That meant the kids slept on the floor in our room. Then I saw this cute idea on pinterest. I made two of them for the next time we have company come visit.

You will need 4-5 pillowcases per mattress. I made the first one with 5 but it seemed really tall for my little kids. I think 4 would be plenty. The pillowcases don't even need to match. Then just sew them up together and fill each pillowcase with a pillow. It makes a great mattress for sleeping on, or just a fun little place to lay down when you watch videos or listen to books being read.

Bear Paw Print Cupcakes

2011-09-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Teddy Bear Day is in September. September 9th I believe, but why not celebrate any ole' time in September. Snuggle up with your favorite teddy bear and read some good bear stories! Then make these fun bear paw print cupcakes. Each paw print is made with a cookie and three Junior Mints!

Read with Me Monday: Patriotism and Tolerance

2011-09-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

In remembrance of September 11th I wanted our Read with me Monday story time to focus on Patriotism and tolerance. We read...

F is for Flag by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and Meet Our Flag, Old Glory by April Jones Prince

We said the Pledge of Allegiance and talked about what it means. The books lead to a discussion of gratitude for those who have and continue to fight for our freedom and that our country is made up of lots of different kinds of people. After reading these two books we made the hand print flag above. Then we talked about tolerance (In kid friendly language) as we read...

Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester, Hooway for wodney Wat by Hellen Lester, and Just the way you are by Max Lucado.

Hollyhock Flower Dolls

2011-09-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is a post that I did 2 years ago! But it's that time of year again-when there are Hollyhocks growing EVERYWHERE! I used to do this all the time when I was a little girl, and so it was something I wanted to share with my kids! (And you!)

You will need:
-Hollyhock flowers
-Hollyhock buds
-toothpicks

Step One: Harvest Hollyhocks
-Find some hollyhocks that no one is using. :)

-Pick the prettiest ones.

Step Two: Assemble Hollyhock Dolls
-Attach the bud to the stem of the flower with a toothpick for the head.
-Brake a toothpick in half, and insert the pointy ends into the flower to make arms.
-Inside the flower, place 3 toothpicks to form a tripod to help the doll stand up.
Step Three: PLAY!

Read with Me Monday: Ant Story Time

2011-08-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

Recently at our house we've been using Monday afternoon for a Read with me Monday story time. We make an effort to read EVERY DAY, but on Monday we make it a little more special by having a story time theme with fun activities, crafts, and/or snacks connected to books. Lately my son has been interested in ants so that's what this week's theme was about.

We decided to make our family fun night all about ants too. We found this cute Ants in the Pants game on sale at Walmart and then after playing we enjoyed some yummy ant hills. To make these you just need... chocolate pudding, crushed graham crackers, and raisins.

Today we continued with our ant theme with a fun story time. We found some books about ants at the library. We read Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg, An Ant's Day Off by Bonny Becker, Ants in My Pants by Norma Vantrease, and The Ant Bully by John Nickle.

We made an ant out of an egg carton. I thought I had black pipe cleaners in our craft drawer, but I only had yellow...oh well.

And we went outside to take a closer look at ants.

FFF Summer games!

2011-08-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our summer was our Family Fun Friday Summer Games event. It was awesome! probably the best Family Fun Friday we have had.

We started by setting up a few game stations:

Mini Golf,

an obstacle course,

paddle ball,

swimming,

and the tree-to-tree dash.

Then we let the games begin. There were no winners or losers. And everyone got in on the fun! It was a blast racing, playing and laughing together! At the end, everyone won a gold medal. (Find the recipe HERE.)

It really was the perfect way to round out our Summer before school started. I am seriously considering a Winter Games... Any suggestions?

Happy Family Fun Friday!
Love ya!

Back to School Traditions.

2011-08-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

What are some of your favorite first day of school memories? Mine include things like, New clothes, walking in to class for the first time and looking for familiar faces, and warm chocolate chip cookies after that long first day. My oldest, Talmon, is headed into 2nd grade in the morning (Eek! Where did the time go?) and I am racking my brain for some new "First day of school traditions."

Here is my plan (thus far)

Fabulous butterscotch bubble bread for breakfast.
"First Day" picture in front of our house before school.
Taking him to school and dropping him off, promising not to cry
crying all the way home.

After School

greeting him at the bus stop.
Eating warm homemade chocolate chip cookies
talking about his day
making pizza pockets together for dinner.
Snuggling up and reading before bed.

So tell me, what do you remember about your first days of school? Do you have a first day tradition with your kids? Is anyone else sad to see the summer end? Email me at FamilyFunFridayBlog@gmail.com and I will feature YOUR ideas!

Happy New School Year, everyone!

Water Sponges

2011-08-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

My kids and I made some water sponges to play with in the back yard. You need 3 sponges to make 1 sponge ball. Cut each sponge into four pieces. Then just hold them together and tie up with dental floss or little plastic hair elastics. Fluff them out the way you want them and they are ready to go. Get them wet, and throw. Fun way to cool off in this summer heat. I found the idea here.

Read with Me Monday: Reading Activity

2011-08-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

The other day as I was googling fun summer snacks I found a cute snack idea to go with the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. So today we made our own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is such a fun book!

I can't remember the website where I found this cute idea, but the directions said to use a green apple (Cut into pieces for the leaves), a wafer cookie (For the trunk), 3 purple grapes (For the Coconuts), and alphabet cereal. I didn't have any of those things so I used peas from our garden, cherries, a big cracker, and smaller crackers with cheese to write the letters. You can use what ever you'd like to make your own tree for example you could use a half of a peanut butter sandwich for the trunk or candy whoppers for the coconuts. We had a lot of fun building our tree and then reading the book. As we read we would stop to add cheesy letters to our tree. After reading we gobbled up the tree.

Bubble Art

2011-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Make your own bubble solution by mixing 1/4 cup of dish washing liquid, 2 cups of water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Then divide the solution into bowls and add food coloring to each bowl. Gather items to use for blowing bubbles. We used cookie cutters, straws, and plastic cups (Just cut holes in the bottom of the cups.) Then have fun blowing bubbles and catching them on white paper to create bubble art.

Back to School...in July?

2011-07-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yep. At least for me! My kid(s) go to school in one month! I will be sending my first kindergartner out into the world. (sniff sniff.) We have been working hard all summer on getting her ready, and now it's time to get her excited. We made a special trip, just her and Mommy, to the store to buy her school supplies. She has already picked out a backpack and a lunch box. Clothes shopping will come a little later. But now we are going to focus on a few of these projects!

An adorable school bus-perfect for getting over those first time bus ride fears!

Homework Sign
This is meant to hang on your front door so that you don't have to answer the door for 20 kids wanting to know if "Billy" can come out and play.

Reusable Sandwich Bags

Fabulous Notebooks

Supply Holder

Personalized Picture Frame

And THIS is a cleaver printable, so that you always know what grade your kids were going into when you look back at old pictures! What a great idea!

Read with Me Monday: Infant and Toddler Books

2011-07-25T08:22:00.001-07:00

At what age should you begin reading to your kids?

The answer...from birth. Reading to your infant can help him/her develop language skills. There are lots of different books designed for infants and toddlers. There are cloth books, lift the flap books, shape books, touch and feel books, sound books, toy books, and much more.

Tasty Tuesday: Strawberry-Melon Slushie {and Ice Pops.}

2011-07-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, since it is HOT out, I thought a Popsicle recipe would hit the spot. So, here you have it! Today's recipe comes to you from my absolute FAVORITE cooking blog Our Best Bites. Check them out... right after you make this yummy treat.

Strawberry-Watermelon Slushie
Recipe from Taste of Home
2 cups cubed seedless watermelon
1 pint fresh strawberries, halved (I actually used a little less than a pint. Maybe 3/4 of it)
1/3 C sugar
1/3 C fresh lemon juice
2-4 C ice cubes

In a blender, combine the watermelon, strawberries, sugar and lemon juice; cover and process on high until smooth. With blender running, gradually add ice cubes until desired consistency is reached. Pour into chilled glasses and serve immediately.

Yield: 5-7 cups
AND- the best thing? I had some left-over, and left-over slushie just doesn’t work very well, so I just poured it in some Popsicle molds. These were some of the best Popsicle we’ve ever had! They reminded my husband and I of the whole fruit bars we love. Super yummy! I might even make the whole batch into pops next time!

Harry Potter FEVER!

2011-07-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Back when FFF first started.... My kids and I thought it would be fun to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But what is more fun than just watching??? Playing along! And with HP7.2 hitting theaters this weekend, can you think of anything better?

So we brewed up a pot of Polyjuice potion, carefully adding and mixing the ingredients. (Kool-aid)

When adding ingredients to a potion, it is most important to concentrate.

Look at my little boy's concentration!

My oldest son demonstrated his knack for potions as he stirred the Polyjuice with such care. After which he exclaimed, "Must be ready... it smells like swamp!"

After mixing up our potion, we made a Basalisk Stromboli. The two wizards couldn't wait to eat it!

Finally he was all ready to eat!

We were super careful not to look the Basalisk in the eyes.

He was sure yummy!

(See recipe below.)

No wizard is complete without a wizard hat.

What about a wand?

Oh, we had those too! Tootsie Roll wands are AWESOME!

Watch out! They're ready to cast spells!

You can't have movie night without treats! We had Gummy Basalisks, Bertie Bots 'Every Flavor Beans' (Jelly Belly Jelly beans would have been better... but they were nowhere to be found.) and Jumping Frogs. SWEET!

I like to think you can tell how much fun a boy is having by how dirty his face is. What do you think? Looks to me like this super cute wizarding boy was having a BLAST!

**********

How To Make Basalisk Stromboli

Thaw out a loaf of frozen bread dough and roll it out flat. Top it with your favorite pizza topping (everything except the pizza sauce, save that for dipping). Roll dough up around toppings, tuck in the short ends, and secure with tooth picks to prevent the dough from separating during baking. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until deep golden brown. Slice and serve with pizza sauce for dipping. Yum!

For more wizarding fun...

visit HERE for party ideas

visit HERE for wizarding games.

visit HERE for more recipes

Read with Me Monday: Children's Magazines

2011-07-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Reading with your kids can be a lot of fun

And you don't always have to just stick to reading picture books. In our home library we have a section for magazines. Each month we get a new Highlights High Five magazine. We have really enjoyed this magazine. It's full of fun stories, poems, crafts, puzzles, and recipes. You can subscribe to this magazine HERE. There are lots of fun children's magazines. I googled children's magazines and found THIS SITE with a list of different ones.

Feel the Force, you will.

2011-07-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

My oldest son turned 7 this past month....
And being a Star Wars fan... We went over the top with a Jedi Training party.

Here are our Light Saber cuppies and Darth Vader cake.

For treats we had:

Leia Buns
Ewok Gummies
Light Sabers
Yoda Soda
Boba Gum
Star Wars fruit snacks
Han's Rolos

you can find fun printable treat labels HERE.

All of his little friends arrived.... Then ...

Surprise!! He had NO idea!

After his shock had worn off, we went on an Asteroid hunt... (I wrapped tin foil around small toys and pieces of candy and hid them around the room.)

Played "keep Darth Vader away from the Death Star" (keep the balloon off the floor), Pin the Light saber on Yoda.

. . . And then, Darth Vader made an appearance. With their Light Sabers (made from Styrofoam noodles cut in half and a duct tape handle on one end) . . .

the Jedi quickly vanquished their foe.

Next it was time for cake. Yum!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Talmon! Happy Birthday to you!!

Make a wish!!

The Force is strong with this one.

Happy Birthday, Pal! And happy Family Fun Friday to all of you!

May the Force be with you!

For more party ideas, visit THIS site.

Homemade Ice cream

2011-06-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

With the Summer heat we decided to make homemade ice cream.

Here is what you'll need...

1. 1/2 cup of chocolate milk

2. 1/4 cup of sugar

3. 1/2 cup of whipping cream

4. 2 zippered plastic bags (1 quart sized bag and 1 gallon-sized bag)

5. Ice cubes

6. Salt

Pour the chocolate milk, whipping cream, and sugar into the quart-sized bag. Squeeze all the air out of the bag and zip it closed. Then put ice cubes in the gallon-sized bag and add salt. Place the smaller quart-sized bag on top of the ice cube and add more ice cubes and salt. Zip the bag shut and begin shaking. Shake for about 10 minutes!

When the mixture is frozen you'll have your chocolate ice cream! This would be a fun 4th of July activity to do with your family. Of course it's fun for any HOT summer afternoon!

Superhero Capes

2011-06-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

My Little Guy turned 3 last month and he really wanted a Superhero Birthday Party. So we had one and we had a blast. We made these super cute and super easy superhero capes for my kiddies to wear to the party.

I bought some felt and just cut it into a cape looking shape. I measured my kids to see how long I wanted it. I cut a square of another color and the letter "L" out of another piece of felt. (You could use your child's first initial of their name.) I sewed the letter on the square and then sewed the square onto the cape. Then I just took ribbon and sewed it to the top of the cape. I also took plain white t-shirts and sewed a square of scrap fabric onto it also with the letter "L" for their super shirts.

There are lots of better tutorials online. I googled Superhero capes and found lots of cute ideas.

My kids are loving their Super outfits. They make a great addition to any dress up box.

Tasty Tuesday: Rice Crispy treats

2011-06-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe we all know and love. You can find it on the back of just about any package of marshmallows... and most brands of crispy rice cereal. Rice Crispy Treats are one of my most favorite treats and my kids LOVE to help out when I make them.

To Start, you need:
1 package marshmallows (any flavor)
6 (or so) cups crispy rice cereal (any flavor)
1/4 c. (half a stick) of butter or margarine.
1 tea. Vanilla.

Melt marshmallows and butter together. mix well. add vanilla. stir in cereal. Press into buttered 9x13 (or sculpt into desired shape). allow cool before eating.

Look at some of the creative things people have done with rice crispy treats...

Yum! Fruity Pebbles treats!

How fun would this be to take to a 4th of July BBQ?

Oh, now they are just showing off...

Sushi! Yum!

Can you believe this is made from cereal treats???

And my personal favorite!

Happy treat making!

Read with me Monday: Reading Tip

2011-06-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

High frequency words are words that appear most often in the material that we read and recognizing high frequency words can help build reading fluency. As a parent you can help your child/children be successful in reading by teaching or introducing high frequency words.

At our house we have a word wall. Each month we add five new words. You could add five new words a week. In school your child's classroom may also have a word wall.
Click here for a list of high frequency words. If you'd like to learn more about high frequency words and why they are important to teach google teaching high frequency words... you'll get lots of information or leave a comment and I'll share some websites.

Remember keep reading EVERY DAY!

FFF: Gnomeo and Juliet

2011-06-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

I have been SO excited to share this Family Fun Friday idea with you! I took my kids to see this one in the theater months ago and have been storing these ideas for when the DVD came out.

In case you are unfamiliar with the story, Gnomeo and Juliet follows the same story line as another story featuring a star crossed couple... Can Gnomeo and Juliet, who come from opposing sides of the fence, look past the color of their hats and find everlasting true love? You’ll find out when you gather your family to “Fair Verona” (Verona Street, that is) and get your Gnome on!

Our pre-movie dinner was delightfully healthy! We ate Green Garden salad (because Gnomes love gardens) and Pink Flamingo Lemonade (raspberry lemonade). After dinner we made garden cuppies using green colored coconut and flowers made from cut marshmallows and colorful mushrooms sculpted from Starburst candies. (yeah, healthy went right out the window after dinner. ha ha)

To burn off the extra calories from our garden cuppies, we went outside and had wheelbarrow races, and had a dance off (because Gnome Barry breaks out in dance on the key board when ordering the lawn mower.) SO fun!

Before starting the movie, I made everyone choose a side, We wore red if we were Capulet and Blue if we were Montague.

I found a few other ideas that you may want to implement in your FFF...

You will find:
~ Gnomeo and Juliet printable HERE
~some fun facts about Gnomeo and Juliet HERE
~More Gnomeo and Juliet party ideas HERE

Happy Family Fun Friday!

Free Online Story Time

2011-06-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

I just came across the cutest thing ever! You guys are going to LOVE this!! Barnes and Noble is offering online story time on the website for FREE!! There are a lot of cute books offered (such as, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, Where The Wild Things Are...) and most are read by the author!

So... if you are looking for something educational to pass some time this summer.... check it out.

Visit Barnes and Noble HERE and listen to story time HERE!!

Happy Listening!

Love ya!

Read with me Monday: Reading Tip

2011-05-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today's quick reading tip: Take advantage of your public library. Visiting the library can be a lot of fun for both parents and kids. The library can provide your family with lots of book choices and that can make reading exciting. Now that it's summer....most libraries have fun summer reading programs. Libraries have other programs too like story time.

What fun activities have you done at your library?

Remember keep reading.

FFF: Gulliver's Travels

2011-05-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

I know this movie came out a while ago and you are probably wondering what took me so long to create an FFF to go with it. ha ha! We use Netflix... and the wait was SO long! But it finally arrived. And I am so excited! I think Jack Black is just about the funniest man alive... Did you see him preform with Casey Abrams on American Idol?? Hilarious!!

Anyway, I found this fantastic guidebook HERE you can download... there is even a little foosball game you can play.

Ok... Dinner. I thought it would be funny to pretend we were at the feast put on by the Lilliputians.

I made tiny pizzas (from THIS post), peeled clementine oranges, and we drank from tiny cans of soda. But, you can do anything... think tiny. Oh, the possibilities!!

After feasting, we played Giant Jenga... I bought THESE huge block and we pretended to be Lilliputians playing a game of Jenga with Gulliver. It was hilarious... and a little hard for the smaller kids to play. After a few minutes we ended up just building with the blocks... which, I'm sure, the Lilliputians would have ended up doing as well.

Finally it was movie time. I grabbed dessert (mini candy bars) and we enjoyed the movie... I have to warn you, it is Jack Black... we had to sensor a few times. But over all it is pretty good.

For more fun-filled Gulliver's Travels activities and games, check out THIS website.

Happy Family Fun Friday!

p.s. In the movie, Gulliver LOVES Star Wars... Now my kids are begging for a Star Wars FFF.... stay tuned.

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

2011-05-24T00:27:00.000-07:00

What is your ultimate comfort food? The treat that, no matter what kind of stress or troubles you're having, can soothe it all away? I'll tell you... for me, hands down, it would be chocolate chip cookies. Now, I'm not talking store-bought, packaged cookies (though, those might work in a pinch). I'm talking about, warm, gooey, straight from the oven homemade chocolate chip cookies. My mouth is watering just thinking about them...

(some serious chocolate chip cookie love! Cooper, 18 months. Oh, How I love this boy!)

I have a distinct memory of being about 10 years old in my grandma's kitchen (like I said before, she played a huge roll in my love for cooking and baking.) and her telling me the secret to perfect cookies. Ready to be enlightened?

1) Your cookies will turn out better if your bowl and most of your ingredients are cold. Having cold ingredients and a cold mixing bowl will effect how quickly the fats melt. If your ingredients are room-temperature, the fats will melt faster, resulting in flat (spread all over the place) cookies. If your ingredients are cold, the fats take longer to malt resulting in a perfectly crisp, but soft cookie. True story.

2) It is important to follow the directions. This one-- I hate to admit -- I learned the hard way. Instead of reading through the directions, I read the ingredient list, haphazardly "measured" and dumped the ingredients in to the bowl and mixed it all together.... the outcome was not pretty.

3) There is a difference between a jelly roll pan and a cookie sheet. A jelly roll pan has an up-turned side, whereas, a cookie sheet is flat. I have noticed that if I turn my jelly roll pan upside-down and cover it with foil or parchment paper, my cookies bake more evenly than if I was to just bake them in the jelly roll pan.

Grandma is a GENIUS!

Now, I know we all have our own favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe... But, just in case you want to try something new, or maybe you haven't yet found one you love, Here is the one one we use (on a very regular basis).

You'll need:
1/2 c. COLD butter (not margarine. It HAS to be the good stuff.)
1/2 c. butter flavored shortening
1 1/2 c. dark brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tea. baking soda
1/2 tea. salt
2 3/4 c. flour
2 tea. vanilla extract
1 package milk chocolate chips.
OR
1/2 package semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 package white chocolate chips.

Directions:
Place butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar in a cold bowl. Mix together until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes) add eggs, beat (about 2 minutes). Combine baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix well. Pour in vanilla. mix again. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Using a spoon, form dough into 2 Tbs. sized balls and drop on to cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 7-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Serve warm.

Happy Baking!

It's raining, it's pouring. . .

2011-05-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

... and it's been raining and pouring all week. I had plans for a fabulous outdoor adventure tonight-- I was crossing my fingers and toes that the weather would clear up. oh, well. There is always next week.

Tonight was still a blast!

This idea came from reader Emily B. She and her husband had just had a new baby when their anniversary rolled around and they wanted something fun to do at home. She had the idea to have a glow stick dinner. You know, like a candle-lit dinner. . . only with glow sticks! Can you believer her creativity??

This was our little spin off her marvelous glow stick dinner suggestion.

My kids go to bed early. . . I'm talking 7:30, lights out. So, before we could begin, I blacked out the windows with cardboard boxes and duct tape. (I shudder to think what the neighbors thought driving by seeing Huggies boxes taped up in the windows. Ha, worth it!) and closed up the blinds and curtains. Then I hung glow sticks all around the room. (Sounds expensive? It really wasn't. )

I was a little worried about the "mess factor" when I prepared dinner. So I made (non-messy) bite-sized finger foods and cut some veggies. Easy.

After dinner we played glow in the dark hide-and-go-seek. Hilarious fun! I gave everyone a glow necklace and then we played hide-and-go-seek in the dark. (after the kids went to bed we broke open a glow stick, rubbed the contents on a golf ball and played a little glowing mini-golf in the dark. AWESOME!)

For dessert... are you ready?

Glow in the Dark Jello.

How cool is that?

You can get the recipe HERE.

Oh, the hilariousness!!

Thanks, Emily B., for the suggestion!

You ROCK!

Make sure to comment and let me know what you did for Family Fun Friday this week!

Tooth Fairy Pillow

2011-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Tooth Fairy visited our house recently. It was the first time so it was a big deal. We made my daughter a special Tooth Fairy Pillow so it would be easier to get the tooth and leave the loot. I just drew a tooth shape on a piece of felt. I cut out 2 pieces and sewed a pocket on the back. Then we stuffed it, drew a face, and added googly eyes. So easy and she was so excited.

And, it worked. The next morning she found a dollar and couldn't have been more excited. She said, "Wow, Mom the Tooth Fairy turned my tooth into cash." Too funny!

Read With Me Monday: Reading Tip

2011-05-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Create your own home library. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. You can often find great books at thrift stores, yard sales, and even the dollar store. At our house we have a reading corner. I keep most of our children's books in baskets. This puts books right at my children's finger tips.

How do you store or keep your children's books?

Remember keep reading 20 minutes everyday!

Dinosaur Fun!

2011-05-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Most kids love learning about dinosaurs and that's just what we're learning about at our house this month with home preschool! So...

We made play dough dinosaurs.

Can you see the legs? spikes? tails?

If you want to make your play dough creations last click HERE for instructions.

We read dinosaur books!

We've practiced our alphabet with these fun worksheets.

Click HERE to print your own dinosaur alphabet sheets/book.

And we've been paleontologist...digging up dinosaur bones and piecing them together! Click HERE for a printable template. You'll want to print two copies. One to hide in dirt or rice and one for your child to use as they try and put the pieces together.

Read With Me Monday: Giveaway Winner

2011-05-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 8

Result: 3

*** Congratulations to Katie ***

Pinkalicious!

2011-05-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Today's FFF was inspired by my adorable sister-in-law, Amy. Her little girl turned 3 last month and they had a Pinkalicious party to celebrate! If you aren't familiar with the Pinkalicious books, there is a WHOLE website full of Pinkalicious fun. You can listen to the book, Pinkafy yourself, and play games (we just wasted about 45 minutes playing there). Anyway, when Amy told me she was having a Pinkalicious party it got me thinking . . . . we really don't do a lot of girly FFFs. My little girl is only 2 . . . my boys are 7 and 4 1/2, so they usually are more outspoken about what they would like to do on Fridays. I resolved to have a Pinkalicious party at our house. :)

we started our FFF by making beautiful pink cuppies.

Be careful not to eat too many—you may just turn pink, too.

While we were waiting for them to cool, we made our magic Pinkalicious wands.

and dressed up in our prettiest pink dress ups.

(the boys wore red, because "it isn't manly for boys to wear pink," as my Cooper informed me.)

(this picture is kinda old . . . my camera is still out of commission. bummer)

Before I would let them eat the cuppies we made, they had to eat something healthy. The theme of the night is pink. . . .so we ate Salmon.

We ate cuppies, turned on music and rocked out!

Even the boys had fun being Pinkalicious!

Bees!

2011-05-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to learn about Bees since it's Spring, and we are going to be seeing bees...maybe...if it ever stops snowing here in Wyoming. We read this fabulous book about a bee.
"The Bee and Me" by Elle J. McGuinness. This book is fun with it's "Animotion" pictures and lots of bee facts in the back of the book. Did you know that all of the worker bees we see are females? The males are called Drones, and they stay in the hive to take care of the Queen Bee's every need.

We made Peanut Butter Bumbles

Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I had to add 2 extra tablespoons.)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs softened butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
chocolate syrup for drizzling
1/2 cup banana chips
a handful of mini chocolate chips
Wax paper

Mix the first 4 ingredients. Roll into oval shapes. Drizzle with chocolate to make lines. Add chocolate chips for eyes, and broken banana chips for wings.

Yum! (Basically they are a peanut butter ball with bling.)

Then we watched "Bee Movie."

Read With Me Monday: Challenge and Giveaway!

2011-05-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Reading is so important and as parents we should read to or with our children at least 20 minutes every day! Your children will truly benefit from watching and listening to you read. When you read with your children you help them build vocabulary and language skills, gain background knowledge about the world around them, and develop a life long love for reading. So..... Here's a challenge.... Select a time to read EACH DAY with your kids. Make reading an important part of your every day schedule! With this challenge comes a fun little give away... 5 Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer.

Enter to win by simply leaving a comment. Let us know that you're taking on the 20 minutes every day challenge. Also share with us your favorite children's book. Your favorite book may be featured on a future FFF post. A winner will be randomly selected next Monday.

Annabelle's Angels

2011-04-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been a whirlwind. My Best Friend Sally's little girl was diagnosed with Cancer yesterday. Annabelle is 4 years old. Her and Kailey were born within 3 weeks of eachother and are best friends just like their mom's. It has been a really rough time for poor little Annabelle and of course her parents. They live in Montana, but the Dr.'s up there wanted to make sure she had the best care possible, so they referred them down here to Utah to PCH (Primary Children's Hospital). This has all happened so fast and they have no idea really how long they are going to have to be down here. Annabelle is having her 1st MAJOR surgery today to try to remove this tumor that has grown very rapidly in the last 4 weeks. I have been at lost for words and very emotional, so I can only imagine how Sally and Josh must be feeling.

I want to help them in any way that I possibly can. I know that their medical bills are going to start piling up, and with them being so far away from home, I want to do something to help bring a little piece of home here for them. So, I have decided to set up a Paypal Donation fund. I am calling it Annabelle's Angels. I would like to raise as much money as I possibly can. If you would like to donate it would be very much appreciated. Even as little as $1.00 would help, every dollar adds up. Please visit my blog http://www.montanabrandts1.blogspot.com/. The button is located on the top right sidebar. And, if you can't donate, that's okay all prayers are also very appreciated as well. Also to read more about Annabelle's story you can visit http://www.montanayates.blogspot.com/. Thanks to everyone!!

I'm moved to tears . . .

2011-04-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever met someone and felt that connection, and you become instant friends? I have a friend like that. She is on of those women who would drop everything to help you with a problem. Becca is warm, loving and compassionate and probably the most generous person I have ever had the privilege of knowing. She never ceased to amaze me.

When Becca heard we were trying to raise money for Andrew's Armada and the March of Dimes, she said, "I've been thinking and had an idea I wanted to run by you. You still have a couple of weeks to collect money for Andrew's Armada right? I want to come up with something to sell on Darling Deuce Designs that all the proceeds would go directly to your MOD fund. I would need to get on it quick. I was thinking some type of hair accessory . . . Something springy and fun?" Becca is just as beautiful inside as she is out.

Well, like I said, she never ceases to amaze me. Becca has created an adorable hair piece that is available for a limited time on her website, Darling Deuce Designs.

Purple is the signature color of the March of Dimes. Purple represents passion and it also represents life. Now through May 6th you can order this cuteness and 100% of the proceeds will go to Andrew's Armada and the March of Dimes.

I have been moved to tears by her kindness and generosity and I feel so blessed to call her my friend. Please visit her blog and read her story, and purchase this Passion For Life MARCH OF DIMES BENEFIT HEADBAND. Thank you!

Tasty Tuesday: Mini Pizzas

2011-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

A lot of my happiest childhood memories were created in the kitchen. I remember one particularly rainy day sitting on the kitchen counter helping my grandma measure and add ingredients for brownies. I remember feeling SO grown up carefully scooping the flour into the measuring cup, leveling it off and adding it to the mixer. She would always tell me, "you have to be so careful to get the measurements just right or the recipe wont turn out." I'm pretty sure that those special times spent with her instilled in me my love of cooking and baking.

Now that I am all grown with children of my own, i love, love, love including my them in the cooking and baking. It's an amazing how much my kids open up to me and how much bonding goes on while we work side-by-side creating something delicious. Which is why we've created 'Tasty Tuesday.' Every other Tuesday you'll find fun recipes for tasty treats, snacks and meals to make with your kids.

Today's 'Tasty Tuesday' recipe is Mini Pizzas.

For this recipe you will need:

Crust:

1/2 cup milk
3 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp salt
3 Tbs. shortening
1 ½ c. warm water (about 105*-115-)
1 pkg. dry active yeast (1 Tbs.)
5 ½ cups unsifted flour

Scald milk; stir in sugar, salt, and shortening. Cool to lukewarm. Measure warm water into large warm bowl. Sprinkle yeast; stir until dissolved and let stand about 5 minutes. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 2 cups flour. Beat well, until smooth. Add one more cup flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes). Form into ball. Place in greased bowl. Cover; let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Punch down. Let rest for 15 minutes. (makes 2 large pizza crusts. or about 12-16 mini pizzas)

-OR-
1 bag frozen rolls from your grocer's frozen section (we've used Rhode's Texas Rolls with fantastic results.)

Toppings:
Get creative. You can top your pizzas with anything you love. Toppings can be things like: pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, chicken, olives, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, pineapple . . . You get the idea.

Directions:
place all toppings in separate dishes. Roll crust dough until flat. place on cookie sheet. Let your kids create their own pizza by layering toppings of their choice on the the crust. Bake at 400 for 12-18 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. enjoy!
Your turn! Let me know how your mini pizzas turn out!
Oh, and if you have a recipe that you love making with your kids, email me at familyfunfridayblog@gmail.com

Family Fun Friday: A Bug's Life

2011-04-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Since it is spring and little creepy crawlies are starting to wake from their winter freeze, I thought it would be appropriate to have a bug night.

we started with a delicious dinner of Ants on a log . . .

these adorable lady bug cracker snacks (from reader Robin L.)

The Main course??? The PooPoo Platter (one of the bugs in the movie A Bug's Life orders this. Don't worry it's not really. . . . . It's meatloaf. :) )

Then for dessert, dirt cups. . . with all sorts of bugs in it! Yummmmm.

We read a few buggy books:

The Very Ugly Bug

The Very Busy Bee

and Bugs In A Blanket.

Then, we watched Disney Pixar's A Bug's Life.

After which, we dressed up with Bug wings, and took our dollar store butterfly nets and bug catchers outside for a bug catching adventure!

Amazing Layered JELL-O

2011-04-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

My AWESOME & AMAZING neighbor taught me how to make this amazing layered Jello & I have had several people ask me for the recipe, so I thought I would be kind enough to share it!!

Ingredients:

7-8 3oz. Jello packages

2 cans evaporated milk

9x13 glass pan

Directions:

Clear layer: 3/4 cup boiling water & 3/4 cup cold water

Creamy layer: 1/2 cup boiling water, 1/2 cup cold water & 1/2 cup evaporated milk

*Boil water, pour into a bowl (w/the gelatin in it). Stir with a spoon until gelatin has dissolved. Pour cold water and/or evaporated milk & cold water into the hot gelatin. Stir until mixed together, then pour into pan. Put into the fridge until set.

First layer takes 45-60 min. to set

Remaining layers with take 20-30 min. to set.

SHAPES:

To make a shape(s) you will need cookie cutters. Spray the cookie cutter(s) with Pam cooking spray & then place anywhere you want on the Jello BEFORE pouring the last 2 layers. You then pour the last 2 layers around the cookie cutter(s). When the last layer has set pull the cookie cutter(s) out. You then make 1 more package of Jello, clear or creamy, then pour into the cookie cutter holes to fill. Do NOT fill it completely to the top so it doesn't spill out, once you have placed it into the fridge, then spoon in the rest till it reaches the top. You will have some left over, so you can save it & eat it later!!

*This is the PERFECT thing to make & take to your Easter dinner. You will WOW your family and friends. And, with it being Easter you can get creative and use an Easter Bunny cookie cutter!!

Easter Bunny Smores in a Jar

2011-04-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

You will need:

1 sleeve of graham crackers crushed.

6-8 peeps

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 cup pastel colored M&M's

1 qt mason jar

fabric and ribbon for the top of your jar, and paper to print out the instructions.

Easter Bunny Smores

Empty the contents of the jar into a bowl. Snip the bunnies into pieces and return to the mix. Add 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 tsp of vanilla and mix well. Pat into a greased 9X9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Cool and cut into bars. You can also leave the peeps whole and just place them on top of the mix before baking.

I saw this idea here. I thought they were so cute. I put the brown sugar in a sandwich baggie and then stuffed that in the middle between the peeps. I put the M&M's on top. Then I just cut some spring looking fabric from my scraps to add to the top. After the picture was taken I attached the recipe using ribbon and a hole punch. Super Easy and Super Cute!

You could do these for any holiday using the other kinds of holiday peeps and colored M&M's.

Eastser Cupcakes

2011-04-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Since I am starting my own cupcake business, I need practice, right? So, I decided to make some Easter cupcakes!

Pretty easy, but just in case you dont know what to do...just bake your favorite cake into cupcake liners. Let them cool on a cooling rack(that way the don't get soggy). Frost, the put some coconut in a bowl and drop some green food coloring in. Dip cupcakes into coconut and then put jellybeans on top!

Missy

Here comes Peter Cottontail. . . .

2011-04-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Have you even had one of those weeks that just knock the wind right out of you? Crazy, stressful weeks that, once over, leave you wondering how you survived??? That is that kind of week we've have had here at my house. I am SO thankful we survived! But, I'm sad to report that I have nothing original to give you in the way of FFFs. But, never fear! A rough week wont get me down! I come bearing recipes and craft ideas. All of which are delightfully Easter-ish.

The first comes from my favorite cooking blog. You may have heard of it? Our Best Bites bring us the Peep Wreath. What a fun, colorful, adorable way to use the most vile and repulsive Easter candy out there. I love it. I am planning to make one for my from door.

Also from Our Best Bites, the Chicky cuppie! Almost too cute to eat. . . almost.

At our house, it is tradition to have a ham for Easter dinner. I found this recipe for Apricot Brown Sugar Ham and I am convinced that this is exactly what I'll be making. Doesn't that picture make you want to lick the screen . . . . just a little?? :)

If your kids are anything like mine, they love to help in the kitchen. This fun humming bird nest recipe, from Disney's Family Fun Magazine, is perfect for little hands . . .

and after cooking time, you can have them make this adorable little Pom-pom bunny or chick craft to decorate the table. Cute, right?

What is your favorite Easter Recipe or craft??

Happy Easter!

Andrew's Armada

2011-04-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Except what precious little I have shared here on FFF, I'm sure most of you don't know my sweet little Andrew's story... We miss him, and love him so much... I cry to think his story may be taken lightly or his life may seem less significant to some because it was so short. That being said, I think that his story must be told because his life was significant. He made such a huge impact on our lives, and the lives of all who knew of him. So, for those of you who would like to know our Andrew, here is his story-- as told by me, his Mommy.

I have to apologize in advance. This really is a long post.

When the pregnancy test yielded positive results, I was a little scared, worried what people would say. Cooper would barely be one year older then his next sibling. This was certainly not how I had planned it. I waited until I was well into my second trimester before I told anyone (except my mom, who knew at 10 weeks).

Andrew's was the easiest pregnancy I have had. I wasn't sick, I wasn't too tired, and by 14 weeks I had already started to feel movement. . . I remember his first kick almost like it was yesterday. I was lying in bed. It was early, 5:30 AM, I think, and everyone was asleep. I was thinking of names for him (I knew he was a boy from the minute the test read positive) when there he was. . . Almost like he was acknowledging that he was on my mind. At that moment, I fell in love with him. From that moment on, I delighted over every wiggle and stretch he made inside of me and looked forward to meeting my baby boy. He was mine and He was meant to be a part of my family.

December fifth, 2007 was the day I was scheduled for my official ultrasound. I was so giddy with anticipation! I arrived at the hospital several minutes early. I watched the time slowly tick by while sitting in the waiting room, I could barely contain my excitement. Finally, it was my turn. I positioned myself on the table and got all ready for the scan.

Almost immediately after she began, I could tell something wasn't quite right. The tech wouldn't look at me. She was just scanning and scanning. Not saying a single word. I started to think that maybe the baby had some sort of defect, though I couldn't imagine what. I said a silent prayer that whatever the tech had found I would be able to handle and that everything would work out and be all right. Just as I finished my prayer, she turned the monitor off and took my hand. She told me that my baby had passed away . . . . I went numb. I had expected some bad news... but not this. All I could think was that she had made some sort of mistake. I had already had two successful pregnancies. This sort of thing doesn't happen to experienced moms, I thought, She must be wrong. But as she turned the monitor back on and showed me what she had seen... I knew there had been no mistake. My baby had no heartbeat.

The next morning arrived at my doctor's office bright and early so that he could rescan and be sure that the diagnosis was correct, after which we were sent to the hospital to have labor induced. I had no desire to face reality. I joked around with the nurses and Brian, trying to hide the pain and how frightened I was feeling... but in our private moments alone, I told Brian that I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to do what needed to be done. It was just too painful. My dear sweet husband was so loving and supportive through it all. He comforted me. He reminded me that it just needed to be done... We had to be brave together and let our little angel return to Heavenly Father. I knew he was right. I am so thankful he was there with me. I know for certain that I couldn't have gone through it alone.

All the while, the laboring process took all day, starting at about 9:30 AM. Because I was only about 20 weeks along, far too early to be in labor, it was an extremely painful experience (although I only had to get to about a five). Finally, at 10:47 PM our sweet, tiny, sleeping baby boy was born. Andrew Collin Christensen weighed 12.5 oz and was 7.75 inches long and he was absolutely gorgeous. We held his fragile little body in our hands as Silent Night played softly over head, "silent night. holy night, all is calm all is bright... holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace," A heavy snow began to fall gently on the ground outside our hospital room window and we felt His peace.

Those moments we held our Andrew are some of my most precious memories. We could feel that he was a very special spirit. He was a righteous child of our Heavenly Father the comforting feeling we felt that night is unlike anything I have ever felt before or since. I have found it impossible to describe. My husband and I knew that our sweet baby was too pure for this world, and that he was where he needed to be. His mission here was complete. He was safely in the arms of Heaven.

Although his life with us was short, and his passing away was by far the hardest thing I have been through, we are so thankful for him and for the time he shared with us. His brief mortal existence has changed us for the better. He brought our family closer. He built up our testimonies and strengthened our faith. He has taught us compassion for others, he helped us to gain a deeper appreciation for the promise of an Eternal Family. We look forward to the Joy we will share when we will be reunited in Heaven. Because of him we are fully invested in Heaven. We hold our children a little closer and a little longer. We have a new appreciation for life and recognize how fragile it is. Andrew's life was not insignificant-- but rather inspiring. We are so blessed to be his parents and are so thankful to be sealed to him for eternity. We know families are forever... and we look forward to sharing forever together... as a whole family.

Each year our family walks in the March of Dimes March for Babies in memory of our very special little boy. This year our donation goal for the walk $1000. We need your help. Can you help us? Will you help us? Visit THIS LINK and learn more about the March of Dimes. You can also visit THIS LINK to sign up to walk with us or donate to our team, "Andrew's Armada." All donations, big or small, make a big difference.

Thank you all for your support!

Dr. Seuss Day

2011-04-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Dr. Seuss Day on Dr. Seuss's Birthday (March 2nd). You could also do this for St. Patrick's Day, or just any day you want to share some good stories and fun with your kids.

We started out by reading a few of our favorite Dr. Seuss Books. We had a few and also checked out a few from the library.

After our story time we colored some pictures I got off the internet. I just googled Dr. Seuss coloring pages and found lots.

Aren't they cute!

The finished product

Then we watched the movie that we found at the Library. It actually had a few stories.

We made snacks to go with our lunch. Pretzel sticks with a little bit of melted white chocolate chips. I just put about a 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips in a sandwich baggie. I melted them for a few minutes in the microwave, making sure I stopped every 20-30 seconds and squished the bag a little. Then I just snipped a little off of a corner of the bag and squeezed the chocolate onto the pretzels. Then we topped them off with a green M&M's and put in the fridge til the hardened.

Then we enjoyed our lunch of green eggs and ham with our little snacks we made. For the Green Eggs and Ham, I just made scrambled eggs with a little diced ham in them. I also added a little bit of green food coloring, milk, salt and pepper.

We had a lot of fun.

Dr. Seuss Day was a success. Here are the smile on my kids (all decked out in their greens) to prove it.

FFF: Tangled DVD premier night.

2011-04-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

I have been on pins and needles waiting and waiting for this movie to come out on DVD. I was first in line to buy it Tuesday morning. Today's FFF is based upon the incredible cute, incredibly funny movie

Tangled!!

During one part of the moviethe movie Gothel, Rapunzel’s kidnapper/mother, says, “I’m making Hazelnut Soup, your favorite!” So, of course, we HAD to make some. I searched and searched and finally found a recipe. . . on Disney's Tangled page (next time that will be the first place I look. lol). In case you're wondering, Hazelnuts are not actually an ingredient in the soup recipe, which is great because my 4 year old is allergic to nuts, they are actually a garnish to be sprinkled on top. It's very pretty and very tasty!

Along with our soup, we ate Baguettes and cheese, because when Flynn and Repunzel visit the village square for the lantern festival that is what they eat. Yum!

Inspired by the lake scene, the one where Flynn and Repunzel are boat watching, we made these adorable boat jello cups.

After our delish dinner, We made a few Tangled crafts FOUND HERE. We made Repunzel's crown, colored Wanted poster of Flynn, and made some paper lanterns. Yes, even my boys were totally into it!

Finally, when all our crafting was through, I gave each of my kids a Tangled movie ticket (I found these MUST have tickets on Mama's Playground. SO SO cute!!)

We grabbed our blankets and pillows and turned the movie on. Oh, how we loved it! Tangled is A . DOR . A . BLE!! And this FFF was a HUGE success!

Leave me a comment and tell me how YOUR Tangled FFF turns out!

Winner!! Winner!! Winner!!

2011-04-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to thank everyone who entered. I had a lot of fun reading all the fun comments and it makes me happy to hear that you've used our Family Fun ideas! I was surprised to see how many entries there were! A record 111 entries!! Amazing! I am especially grateful to everyone who donated to the March of Dimes, a charity very near and dear to my heart. Thank you all SO much!

I know you're all dying to find out who won our FFF Surprise pack giveaway. Let's give three cheers for our winner:

Zinna Eaton!

Hip, hip HOORAY!

Congrautlations to our winner! Zinna, you have 24 hours to email us at familyfunfridayblog@gmail.com and claim your prize. Hurry!

Thanks again to everyone who entered.

12 hours to go!!!

2011-03-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

You only have about 12 hours left to enter our FABULOUS FFF surprise pack giveaway! AND from now until Midnight (mountain time) donations to the March of Dimes using THIS LINK or the widget on the right sidebar will earn you 3 entries for each $1 donated!!

**Make sure you leave a comment letting me know you donated!**

April Fool's Day Pranks 2011

2011-03-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last year I had WAY too much fun playing silly pranks on my kids . . . I was almost positive that I'd never be able top it!

But I think I found a few new pranks that might just put last year's pranks to shame. . . Ba ha ha ha!

Tonight before I head to bed, I'm going to change all the clocks, FORWARD two hours. My poor husband and kids will all be getting up REALLY early for work and school . . . they wont even know it until they open the curtains and see how dark it still is outside!

I'm also planning to put a few drops of food coloring in the milk. When my son goes to pour milk over his cereal he will be so surprised that the milk is GREEN!!

When it is finally time for them to leave for the day, they'll notice a big shiny quarter on the sidewalk. Who doesn't LOVE finding money?? Of course they'll want to pick it up! Too bad it will be super glued to the concrete!! This is such a funny, innocent prank, I might even glue a few coins to the ground at the school bus stop by my house. . . Ha ha ha! ( Make sure you have your video camera ready to record!)

After a long day of pranks, I'm sure my kids will be hungry for a snack. . . that's why I will have this ready for them to eat...

"What? Ice cream before dinner," you say "You're crazy!"
Ha ha! They are actually mashed potatoes dished up with an ice cream scoop!

You'll need:

5 large or 10 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic
Canola or vegetable oil, for roasting the garlic
sage leaves (about 10)
¼ cup heavy cream (or half & half)
6 tablespoons cream cheese
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.

peel and trim the garlic cloves, then place in a small saucepan. Add enough oil to cover, then set over low heat and bring to a simmer. As soon as the oil is simmering, add the sage and cook until slightly crispy, about 1 minute.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the sage and transfer to paper towels to drain. Leave the garlic in the oil and continue simmering until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain and cool. Finely chop the garlic and sage. (I just use my bullet blender)
When the potatoes are tender, mash them. Add the cream, butter, garlic and sage, then use an electric mixer to beat the potatoes until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Use an ice cream scoop to form mashed potatoes to look like scooped ice cream. Top with caramel colored gravy and sprinkles.

Oh what a fun surprise!!

Finally for dinner . . . .

his delightful dish . . . Chicken NOT-pie . . . is sure to be a hit!

So, there you have it. Hopefully all my pranks will go off without a hitch. Make sure to leave me a comment and tell me what you do! I cannot wait to hear!

Easter Story With Easter Eggs

2011-03-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

With Easter just around the corner I decided that this year I wanted to do an activity that would help remind my family and I of the true reason why we celebrate Easter. I found directions for telling the Easter story with Easter Eggs on ehow.com and my sister-in-law found directions on sugardoodle.net. I found that both instructions were very similar. Here is what you'll need... 12 Easter eggs (numbered, you can number them with stickers or markers.) Each egg will contain an item or two with a scripture (written or typed.) Items for the eggs... 1. A small cup (Representing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane) and the scripture Matthew 26: 39 2. 3 dimes (Representing 30 pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot) and the scripture Matthew 26: 14-15. 3. A small knotted rope or string and the scripture Matthew 27: 1-2. 4. A small bar of soap (Representing Pilate washing his hands) and the scripture Matthew 27: 24-26. 5. A small piece of velvet cloth and a thorn with the scripture Matthew 27: 28-30. 6. Toothpicks glued into a cross and a nail with the scripture Matthew 27: 31-32. 7. A cotton ball soaked in vinegar and the scripture Matthew 27: 34. 8. Small rocks or soil (Representing the earth quaking) and the scripture Matthew 27: 50-51 and 54. 9. A small while cloth and the scripture Matthew 27: 57-60. 10. A large rock and the scripture Matthew 27: 65-66. 11. Herbs or spices and the scripture Mark 16: 1 12. Leave empty except for the scripture Mark 16: 4-6. I also used pictures to tell the story along with the Easter eggs. We started by discussing what we know about Easter. Then I held up a picture of Jesus and explained that Easter has a lot do do with our Savior Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. We went on an Easter egg hunt to find all 12 eggs and then opened one egg at a time and discussed the items and scriptures in each egg.
You could...

Use the eggs as an advent calendar and open one egg each day, wait until Easter morning and find the eggs right a long side finding all the things the Easter Bunny hid, play a game of scrambled eggs having your family match the scriptures with the items, or like us have an Easter egg hunt prior to Easter.

Read With Me Monday: ABC Fun

2011-03-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week we focused on letters. My daughter is only 2 (since the end of January) so we just did 4 letters today. When you are working on letters you want to keep in mind to just focus on a few.

We did a fun little activity. We made the letters A,B,C and D with Candy Melts.

Here is what you'll need:

Colored Candy Melts

Wax Paper

Letters to trace

Baggies (to put the melted candy melts in)

We followed the instructions on the candy melts to melt them in a bowl.

Then we put the melts in our baggies. BE SURE you let them cool a little bit before squeezing them out of the baggies (you'll have a little more control). Mine were a little too warm.

*Snip a SMALL corner of the bag with scissors

*Trace around your letters with one color (the wax paper is on top of your paper w/letters)

*Let cool (I put mine in the fridge)

*Fill with another color and cool

Our finished product.

They aren't super pretty--but my little girl LOVED them and LOVED to be able to help.

*While we waited for our letters to chill we reviewed the letters on the paper.

I would point to the letter and say "this is A-say A." After a few times I would say, "point to A." We made it a little game while we waited.

After our letters were done my little Bug played with her letters.

Try matching your candy melt letters to your printed letters.

YUM!

The best part. Taking a bite from B.

We finished off our letter adventure by reading a fun book about letters.

Alphabet Mystery

By: Audrey Wood

Illustrated by: Bruce Wood

This weeks reading tip: take it easy and slow when teaching new letters.

ONLY A FEW MORE DAYS TO ENTER THE FFF GIVEAWAY

Open Season Movie Night

2011-03-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

My kids have been suffering from a severe case of cabin fever! Since it's finally starting to warm up a bit, I thought maybe this week's FFF should be something outdoors. The movie Open Season is one of their favorite movies, We just love Boog, Elliot and all their forest friends!

In our backyard we have a fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and I taught my kids "The Teddy Bear Picnic" song (Beth sings this to Boog in the movie), along with a few other campfire songs.

Elliot is a deer who finds himself in trouble. Boog the bear comes to the rescue and saves him. Well, Elliot follows Boog home and finds him sleeping in the garage and starts to throw bunnies at the window. (I found this cute bean bag toss game HERE.)

Elliot tells Boog the he is intent on returning the favor by "freeing" him from his garage captivity. Boog likes his life with his friend, forest Ranger Beth, but he still goes with Elliot when Elliot shows him a Woo Hoo Bar . . .

(A Woo Hoo bar is a chocolate bar. We ate some, too!)

. . . and tells him that they can get more outside. Elliot begins to introduce Boog to a world of sweet temptations outside of the garage that he has never known. The two find themselves in bog trouble when they ransack a convenience store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth, Sheriff Gordy. Back home, Gordy tells Beth that it would be better if Boog were released into the wild

Boog wakes up the next morning and realizes he has been released into the forest!

The pair make a lot of fun forest friends and find themselves in some seriously funny situations. If you haven't seen Open Season yet, you should!

After the movie, we made homemade play dough and sculpted bears (because Boog is our FAVORITE!!)

Homemade Play Dough

You'll need:

1 CUP FLOUR
2 TEASPOONS CREAM OF TARTAR
1/4 CUP SALT
1 CUP WATER - ROOM TEMPERATURE
1 TEASPOON OIL
FOOD COLORING

Directions:

Stir all of the ingredients into a pan and cook over MEDIUM heat until smooth. Once the Mixture is cooled to the touch, lay the dough on the counter and knead until it becomes firm. This dough can be saved in an airtight container and saved to use another FFF. Play Dough will last longer if you place it in the fridge.

Have a fun FFF, and don't forget to enter the FFF GIVEAWAY!

Family Fun Sack

2011-03-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

This idea was actually for one of my Young Women lessons for church.

(I teach the 12-18 year old girls in my church.)
But I thought the idea was so fitting on here, so I had to share!

Recipe cards for Family Fun Nights! You can print them off HERE.
I think it would be cute to put them into a recipe box, but we made cute little bags out of paper sacks. They were very easy to make, and it literally took me 10 minutes to make mine. All I did was cut the top off the sack with fancy scissors, and glue on a tag. Then I added some ribbon around the edge! Wa La! You could add a handle (Or two.) You could color them with markers. You could add glitter or sequins. You could even find colorful bags!

Give everyone a handful of recipe cards, and let them contribute their own ideas to the bag. This way everyone, even the little ones, get their interests met. Then when things get dull around the house, (Does that ever really happen?) grab a card and have a blast!

Read With Me Monday

2011-03-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

On Mondays I will be highlighting some simple reading activities and tips. Reading is a fun way to spend one-on-one time with the kiddos or some time together as a family.

Today is the easiest tip of all! Read to and with you kids. As our kids get older we worry about making them read everything. By reading to your child(ren) you are setting a good example of reading fluency and everything that goes along with it (phrasing, voice, etc).

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is my 2 year olds favorite book right now. She loves anything that has to do with letters. We read this book everyday. Even though she is only 2 I still read to her, talk about the pictures and ask her simple questions (like point to the dog or where is the red ball).

So this weeks tip is super easy: Read with your kids!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY RIGHT HERE ON FFF!

Family Fun Friday Surprise Pack Giveaway!! CLOSED

2011-03-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

It's my Birthday!!

To celebrate, I'm giving one LUCKY FFF follower a Family Fun Friday Surprise Pack full of everything you'll need for your very own fun filled. . . .

Wonderful World of Wonka Family Fun Friday!
Which includes:
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory DVD
Lots of Wonka Candy
Fizzy Lifting Drink

~~To enter:~~

1) {Mandatory entry} Leave a comment telling me which FFF activity we've done you love the most. (make sure to leave your name or email address with your comment so that I know who to give the prize to)

~~you can earn MORE entries by commenting to tell me you:~~

~~2) are Following FFF (right sidebar).~~
~~3) "like" FFF on~~ ~~Facebook~~
~~4) Posted about this giveaway on your blog~~
~~5) Put our button on your blog.~~

~~Want to earn some BONUS entries?~~
~~Donte to The March of Dimes (using the widget on the right sidebar)! You'll earn TWO bonus entry for each $1 you donate... (I will track these entries through the~~ ~~March of Dimes page~~)

~~**Contest runs from today, Friday, March 18, 2011, Through Thursday, March 31, 2011. Randomly selected winner will be announced Friday, April 1, 2011.**~~

~~Good Luck!~~

St. PaTrIcK's DaY FuN!!

2011-03-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

Every Holiday I struggle with finding fun things to do with my kiddos. So, today I decided to google St. Patrick day activities and I was amazed with what I was able to find. We will be having a busy fun filled St. Patrick's day with all these ideas I found.

1. Go to this link to print out coloring pages, puzzles, crafts, and much, much more... http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-printables/

2. Don't these look delicious?!? Rice krispie treats are definitely one of my weaknesses. I could eat a whole pan all by myself. This is #1 on my list of things to make with my kiddos tomorrow. Here is the recipe....

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10 oz. about 40) regular marshmallows
OR
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies®
Canned frosting or decorating gel
Green decorating sugar (optional)
Why use Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®?

Why use Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®?
As the first crisped rice cereal, Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® has been bringing families together in the kitchen for over 80 years.
To experience the timeless flavor, make your Rice Krispies Treats® squares with the original Rice Krispies® brand cereal.
Where to buy

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool slightly. Using cookie cutter coated with cooking spray cut into shamrocks. Decorate with frosting and decorating sugar (if desired). Best if served the same day.

MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
In microwave-safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. Microwave cooking times may vary.

Note

For best results, use fresh marshmallows.
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème can be substituted for marshmallows.
Diet, reduced calorie or tub margarine is not recommended.
Store no more than two days at room temperature in airtight container. To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

3. How about topping off the day with a St. Patrick's day dinner. Making everything GREEN of course!! Here are a couple recipes I found that I thought sounded good and would be fun to make...

Here's a tasty new twist on the traditional St. Patrick's Day shamrock -- SWEET GREEN PRETZELS fashioned from canned refrigerated bread stick dough and coated with a sprinkling of colored sugar and cinnamon.

Ingredients

Instructions

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat it with cooking spray.
To create the clover shape, mold 3 sections of bread sticks into hearts and press them together as shown. Attach a small stem, decorate, bake according to the package directions, and serve them up to your lucky guests.

What could be better for a St. Patrick's Day dinner than GREEN PASTA?

Ingredients

Instructions

Chop basil leaves in a food processor or blender. Add walnuts and garlic. Process until finely ground. With the machine running, slowly add oil. Next, pour in grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper. Mix and then set aside.
Cook linguine or fettuccine according to package instructions. Drain and toss with the pesto in a serving bowl. Top with more Parmesan cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

* Those are a few of the ideas I found for the LUCKY day tomorrow. I hope you all have a very happy St. Patrick's Day!!

FFF: St. Patty's Day fun.

2011-03-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

I am totally frustrated this morning! My computer refuses to read my CF card. So, I'm afraid all my cute pictures of my family having St. Patty's day fun will have to wait. Until I can get them loaded, enjoy the image searched pictures that I thought closely matched what we made/did. :)

******

According to Irish legend, kissing the Blarney stone endows the kisser the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). So, of course, we HAD to make one of our own to kiss!

AS most of you know, a leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the Leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes in exchange for their release.

We thought this trap looked like it might just work to capture the miniature mischief makers. What do you think?

While we waited to catch a leprechaun, we made these cute, yummy Rainbow Cuppies. . . we were hoping a Leprechaun might be fooled into thinking he should leave his gold by them. After they were all baked and frosted we checked our trap . . . and LOOK! We caught one!

Silly Leprechaun even left gold by our rainbows!

We were SO LuCkY!!

Here are a few more ideas you could use for your St. Patrick's Day Fun:

Lil'Luna has a bunch of goodies you can bake and crafts you can make.

Disney's Family Fun magazine is ALWAYS full of fantastic ideas.

There is always this easy paper craft, too.

Oh, and don't forget to wear green! :)

Link Party!

2011-03-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the "Link Party" blog hop, hosted by Family Fun Friday!! Our Link Party is a great way to find fun new blogs, meet new people, and learn new things as well as increase your blog followers! So let's have some fun!! :)

If you want to be a part of our link party, this is how you do it.

1. Follow our blog. (Why not "Like" us on Facebook, too!)

2. Link up your blog name and URL with our Linky. (You only need to add your info once for it to be seen on all the blog hops)

3. Visit as many blogs listed in the MckLinky below and Follow them.

********** { Blog Fave of the Week } **********

Take It From ME!

This blog is where I was inspired to host a link party. It's such a fun blog! Kristin, Jamie and Melissa have a lot of fun giveaways posted on their blog right now! GO! Enter! WIN! :)

While you are there, enter their Welcome Wednesday Link up.

Now it's your turn!

March of Dimes

2011-03-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. It is a sad reality my family is all too familiar with. This year, We are walking in memory of our tiny baby, Andrew, in the March for Babies because we want to do something so that someday nobody will have to go through losing a child.

We'd like to invite you to join us! If you can't walk with us, please help by donating to our team. You can do so right on THIS PAGE. AND . . . This year, My Husband's employer has generously offered to match our team donations up to $1000!! What an amazing blessing it would be to donate $2000 in Andrew's name to the March of Dimes! Any amount will help. Will you help us? Your donation will help fund March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.

Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!

Megamind (Super Hero) Night

2011-03-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

So . . . I have to admit, I went into this FFF blind. I didn't know much about this movie, and I hadn't heard much, either . . . so I didn't know what to plan for.

With that in mind, I think this activity still turned out pretty great. I had my kids dress in their Super Hero shirts we got from Darling Deuce Designs. (if you are looking for SERIOUSLY cute, custom handmade clothes for your kids this is the place to shop!)

Then, since I knew this fishy-guy was part of the movie . . .

we made these. Our own Minions. Cute and yummy!

You'll need:
1 package Berry Blue Jello
2 cups ice cubes
1 cup boiling water
gummy fish
strawberries (cut into small pieces for gravel.)
Directions:
1. Dissolve jello in boiling water. Add the ice cubes and stir until the Jello thickens & ice cubes are melted(about 5 minutes).
2. Spoon the jello into wide mouthed cups.
3. Push a Swedish fish into each cup of jello. Refrigerate 60 minutes or until set.

While we let Minion set up, we ordered Pizza. I just have to tell you, this was exciting because Talmon (who is my first grader) has been reading A LOT. His school participates in Pizza Hut's Book It program and with all the minutes he had read earned (and saved) 3 pizza tickets. Being the nice big brother that he is, offered to "buy" pizza for his brother and sister. :) Cute, huh!

After filling up on pizza and jello, it was MOVIE TIME! Megamind is a cute movie with lots of action and adventure! We loved it!

Tell us what you do for your Megamind night!

Finding Nemo.

2011-02-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

He's cute. He's friendly. He's Brave!! Our fun, on this lovely Family Fun Friday, was inspired by the one and only Nemo.

We started our FFF with a trip to the Aquarium where we met all sorts of sea creature.

we saw beautiful fish . . .

. . . Sharks, penguins, sea turtles

and Mr. Ray the stingray.

Look! He's smiling!

Cooper's favorite had to be the Piranhas (they live in the Amazon.)!

They look terrifying. . . in a statuesque sort of way?

We even saw a few Darlas. . . :)

After we'd seen all the aquarium had to offer, we had a little lunch... fish-shaped sandwiches and goldfish crackers. Delish!

We read a few fishy books like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (Dr. Seuss) and The Rainbow Fish (Marcus Pfister)

Pretty soon my little underwater adventurers were tired. After splashing in the bath and getting all cozy in our jammies, we turned on Finding Nemo, our Hero of the night.

St. Patrick's Day Craft

2011-02-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Now that Valentines Day is over I have been looking for some fun St. Patrick's Day Ideas. I found this idea here. I thought it was really cute and that I could make one too. I had a hard time finding a frame like I wanted but I found a rectangle piece of wood at Walmart. I painted the edges green, mod podged some scrapbook paper on it and added some cut images with my cricut. I glued the ribbon on the bottom. I was going to just mod podge the picture on too but thought I might want to switch it out every year. So I glued a magnet on the board and then added a magnet to my picture too. I kind of like how it makes the picture stick out a little 3Dish. It will make it easier to add a different picture every year.

I am excited to start decorating for St. Patrick's Day and do some fun things with my family next month. I am one lucky lady to have the family I have!

Despicable Me Movie Night.

2011-02-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

When Despicable Me came out on DVD we were so excited! Since then, it's easily become our favorite movie.

For our FFF Despicable Me DVD premier night, we ordered stuffed crust pizza (Margo, Edith and Agnes beg Gru for stuffed crust pizza in the movie)

After dinner we dressed up as Minions ( in overalls and goggles)!

We played Freeze Tag (because Gru uses a Freeze ray a lot in Despicable Me)

I also gave my kids glow sticks. (there is one scene where one minion "snaps" the other minion and he glows like a glow stick. It's pretty silly.)

Like Agnes, My little one LOVES her unicorn.

It's SO FLUFFY!

In the movie, Gru is an Evil Villain who wants to steal the moon! After the movie was over, and the moon was up, we went out at looked at it.

To finish off our FFF, we read Goodnight Moon, our favorite going to bed book.

We had fun!

You could also: Write your own book, like Gru did for Edith, Agnes and Margo.

Make pancakes

Pretend to be on stage dancing to Swan Lake

Make Styrofoam moons

Winter Isn't Over Just Yet!

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

This winter season my family and I have had a couple snow and snowmen days and Before winter says goodbye for the year I want to share of few of the activities we did....

Now that the snow is melting this might be fun...

You could begin by reading my favorite snowmen book.

And then make these melted snowmen sugar cookies. I got this idea from Amy. Remember her post? HERE it is!

Although my cookies aren't as cute my son still had fun decorating his own snowmen.

And now the snowman we built in our yard is almost completely melted (Just like our cookies)!

Or you could make donut snowmen like the one below.

Or have some fun finger painting snowmen!

And since Valentine's Day was just a couple days ago and it is still officially winter you could make these heart snowflakes.

Fold a square piece of paper into a triangle. Fold the triangle two more times. Then cut hearts along the two folded side.

Enjoy the last little while of Winter!

Need a Last Minute Valentine?

2011-02-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

...And have a bowl of fruit handy?
THIS site is amazing. They have some of the cutest ideas. Which is where I got THIS one! (Where you can download the PDF.)

I loved it for three reasons:
1. It's super easy! And the kids can participate!
2. It could be used for more than just Valentine's Day!
and
3. It's great for those people who wouldn't really appreciate a big plate of sugar. (i.e. cupcakes.)

They can be printed out with the click of a button, AND if you are handy like that, you could print them onto sticker paper, and make it even easier!

I decided to wrap mine up into a tiny fruit basket for easy delivery, but I think even just handing someone a single apple would be cute!

Valentine's Day cards

2011-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry, my computer wasn't working, yesterday, for me to post this!
If you're anything like me , you hate buying those dumb Valentine's Day cards that you get at the stores. They are small, thin, and expensive! So, we made our own cards this year!
What you need:
Construction Paper
Scissors
glue stick
any other fun supplies to make them pretty or more fun!
This is the card I came up with

A Very Valentine's FFF

2011-02-12T00:46:00.000-08:00

I have so many loves in my life! Oh, how I love this face!

And this face!

And don't forget this one!

This one is pretty great, too!

For Valentine's day this year I wanted them to know just how very loved they are.

We started our FFF with heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphys. Yum! Followed by decorating and eating homemade sugar cookies! My favorite!

Then we snuggled up in a BIG blanket and read our favorite Valentine's days books.

After reading, we had a little extra time before bed. So we each grabbed one more sugar cookie and cuddled up again to watch our favorite Valentine's day move classic:

The next morning when my little lovies awoke, they found a little gift by their pillow. A little token of how much their mommy loves them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Treats for Neighbors

2011-02-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

I am sure you have seen other ideas at Christmas Time or Halloween like this. You make treats and leave them on your neighbors door step with out them knowing. My kid love this kind of stuff.

You will need:

Some kind of Container for your treats. I found this little mailbox in the dollar section at Target.

Some kind of treat to fit in your container. We filled ours with Valentine Candy.

This little note.
(fill in whatever container you have... bucket, box, bag, etc.)

This little Love Mailbox
is meant to express,
Love from a Neighbor whom you'll never guess.
Replace the goodie with a treat from you,
and pass it on to someone you love too.

Now go leave the treat on your neighbors doorstep, ring the door bell and run. Spread some love around your neighborhood.

Bee Mine!

2011-02-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

My goal was to have a family Bee Mine theme night however, we ended up doing the activities on two different days rather than one!

We started by making a Valentine for Grandma!

If you'd like to make one too you'll need....
1. flower pot (We had an extra flower pot from last Spring.) You could also use an empty soup can and cover the can with construction paper.
2. Yellow and white paint
3. A black marker
4. Tissue paper
5. pipe cleaners
6. Little rocks, rice or beans (To place in the flower pot. This helps hold the tissue paper flowers.)

We used our thumb prints to make the bee's body and our finger prints to make the bee's head and wings. After the paint dried we drew the lines, eyes, feet, stinger, ect. on the bees.

Then we made tissue paper flowers. There are several You Tube how to videos you can view if you need.

Take four pieces of tissue paper cut into squares. Fold the tissue paper accordion style (Like a fan) Wrap the pipe cleaner around the middle and slowly unfold the tissue paper layers toward the center. If this doesn't make sense, which it probably doesn't google how to make tissue paper flowers. Once you've seen a video it'll all make sense.

The next day we made this toilet paper roll Valentine Bee.

Click HERE for the template.

Then we watched DreamWorks Bee Movie!

Valentine Candy Pots

2011-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

These are a fun and easy project for your Valentine or just for decoration in your home.

You will need:
Some kind of a metal pot. I found mine in the Dollar Section at Target
Candy wrappers (waxy wrappers work best like tootsie rolls, or starbursts. The slicker wrappers like M&M's don't stick with the mod podge very well)
Mod Podge
Foam Brush
Ribbon to match the candy you picked
Candy to fill your pot with when you are finished.

Unwrap several candies. Apply to your pot with mod podge. Let dry and add another coat. Let it dry again. Then tie your ribbon to the top of your metal pot. Fill with your candy and show it off. These can be made for any holiday. We used Tootsie rolls because they looked like Valentines Day.

It's not valentine's day without sugar cookies!

2011-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

Flour- 6 cups
Baking powder- 3 tsp
Butter- 2 cups
Sugar- 2 cups
Eggs- 2
Vanilla extract or desired flavoring- 2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar till it becomes light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix them well.

Mix the dry ingredients and add a little at a time to the butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely integrated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Roll it to desired thickness and cut into preferred shapes. Bake on non-greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges

Valentine ABC's

2011-02-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I made this Valentine for my sweetheart. We still pull it out every year and have fun reading through it together. It was really easy to make.

I bought a little photo album at the dollar store.

And filled the pages with colorful pages. I added stickers and just printed out what I wanted to say. I came up with funny things that remind me of him or things I love about him for every letter of the alphabet.

You can get creative and personalize it for your sweetheart. It would also be something fun to make for our with your kids.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Homemade Valentine Stamp!

2011-02-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

When I was a young girl my mom bought me a Valentine's Day Craft Book. The book was full of homemade Valentine activities and among all the crafts my favorite was the potato Valentine stamp. So this year I decided to make a potato stamp with my son.

Supplies:
1. A potato
2. A knife
3. A Marker
4. Some Paint
5. Paper

First cut the potato in half. Draw a heart on the potato (Or any other design) and use the knife to cut around the heart making it stand out.

Then use the paint and paper to make cards or just have fun stamping away.

We used index cards to make homemade Valentines!

10 Things I Love About You

2011-02-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

Last year for Valentine's Day I made a 10 Things I Love About You for my hubby:

Here's an up close view:

It was pretty simple to put together:

You'll need:

Double sided card-stock (patterned)

Strips of Colored card-stock

Smaller Strips of white paper/card-stock

Vinyl numbers (or handwrite them)

I made a little pouch with my patterned card-stock.

Then glued my white card-stock to colored strips.

Then the fun part! I started writing things I loved about my hubby.

It was simple to put together and something he still keeps in his car!

It would be fun to do this for your kiddos too.

You could turn it into a "progressive Valentine." Make a pouch for each family member and have strips of paper out. Then everyday starting today each person could write something they love about each person in the family and put in their pouch. By Valentine's Day everyone would have lots of fun things to read from their progressive Valentine!

We'll be right back.

2011-01-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

Some very fun and exciting changes are happening behind the scenes of Family Fun Friday!

We will be back up and posting before you know it!

Check back again soon!

Super Easy Stick Puppets!

2010-12-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

You can buy these sticks and pre-painted animals at most craft stores. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. Just glue the animal to the sticks with a hot glue gun.

And have yourself a puppet show!

Thanks! Chelsi

Family Fun Friday

Read with Me Monday: Dot Art

Apple Pie for breakfast? SURE! It's tasty Tuesday!

Cake Batter Pancakes

Cars 2 FFF

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Read with Me Monday: Snowmen

Do you Pinterest?

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

Directions:

Read with me Monday: The True Meaning of Christmas

Read with Me Monday: All about Christmas

Read with me Monday: Thanksgiving Treats

Bully Proofing your kids.

Tasty Tuesday: Snowmen Donuts

Tie Onesie

Happy Halloween

Personalized/Decorated Notebooks

Monkey See Monkey Do Monkeys Like To Have Fun Too!

Pillowcase Mattress

Bear Paw Print Cupcakes

Read with Me Monday: Patriotism and Tolerance

Hollyhock Flower Dolls

Read with Me Monday: Ant Story Time

FFF Summer games!

Back to School Traditions.

Water Sponges

Read with Me Monday: Reading Activity

Bubble Art

Back to School...in July?

Read with Me Monday: Infant and Toddler Books

Tasty Tuesday: Strawberry-Melon Slushie {and Ice Pops.}

Harry Potter FEVER!

Read with Me Monday: Children's Magazines

Feel the Force, you will.

Homemade Ice cream

Superhero Capes

Tasty Tuesday: Rice Crispy treats

Read with me Monday: Reading Tip

FFF: Gnomeo and Juliet

Free Online Story Time

Read with me Monday: Reading Tip

FFF: Gulliver's Travels

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It's raining, it's pouring. . .

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Read With Me Monday: Reading Tip

Dinosaur Fun!

Read With Me Monday: Giveaway Winner

Pinkalicious!

Bees!

Read With Me Monday: Challenge and Giveaway!

Annabelle's Angels

I'm moved to tears . . .

Tasty Tuesday: Mini Pizzas

Family Fun Friday: A Bug's Life

Amazing Layered JELL-O

Easter Bunny Smores in a Jar

Eastser Cupcakes

Here comes Peter Cottontail. . . .

Andrew's Armada

Dr. Seuss Day

FFF: Tangled DVD premier night.

Winner!! Winner!! Winner!!

12 hours to go!!!

April Fool's Day Pranks 2011

Easter Story With Easter Eggs

Read With Me Monday: ABC Fun

Open Season Movie Night

Family Fun Sack

Read With Me Monday

Family Fun Friday Surprise Pack Giveaway!! **CLOSED**

St. PaTrIcK's DaY FuN!!

Why use Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®?

FFF: St. Patty's Day fun.

Link Party!

March of Dimes

Megamind (Super Hero) Night

Finding Nemo.

St. Patrick's Day Craft

Family Fun Friday Surprise Pack Giveaway!! CLOSED