Hand print bag

This is a belated Mother’s day present idea since we didn’t get to give my mom her present until she got home from Hawaii.  This is what we made for her!  I think she liked it.

It’s just a canvas grocery bag that I used fabric paint to make   flowers from all of the grand kids on. One side for each set of two. 😉

Oddly enough, Nancy was the most patient of all the kids. who would have thought it.

Peanut Butter Bees

I went to my childhood home on Saturday.  As we were driving up to it, I told Clara that this is where I lived when I was her age.  Her response was, “Oh, okay.”  Then she thought about it a little while and said, “Do you still live there?”  Ummm.  No.  So much for sharing.  The whole Mommy had a life before my existence thing is just mind-boggling to a three-year-old.

Anyway, also the other day, I was paging through a cookbook and found a recipe very similar to a recipe that I used to make in that very same house.  I think I learned it at Girl Scouts.   Or maybe I took them to Girl Scouts.  I know there was something to do with Girl Scouts attached to these.  But, I knew that my girls would just love to eat them, and since I was in reminiscing mode, anyway, today was the perfect day.    The book called for crumbled shredded wheat rather than wheat germ, but that was what I always used, so I switched it.  These are super wholesome and yummy.  They are packed with protein and fiber, not to mention cute.

Peanut Butter Bees

1/2 C.peanut butter

2 T. honey

1/4 C. -non-fat dried milk

2 T. sesame seeds

1/4 C. wheat germ (or crumbled shredded wheat)

Cocoa powder and sliced almonds for garnish

Combine all ingredients except the garnishes in a bowl and stir until completely combined.  Shape into small ovals (about two dozen).  Using a toothpick dipped in cocoa powder, make three stripes on top of each oval.  Stick in to almond “wings” and serve to your favorite kids.  Or eat them all yourself.  They are super good.

Sick kid vs. Not so sick kid

Last week Clara was super sick.  I mean throwing up, diarrhea, fever, the whole nine yards.  It was quite a week.  And it was spent primarily at home all day long.  Nancy has never had days like that before, because when you are a second child, you just get carted along to everything that your older sibling has to do… playdates, dropping off and picking up at preschool, swim lessons, etc.  So, they learn to go with the flow and that life is just full of action.  And then, suddenly, we didn’t go anywhere or do anything.  And all big sister wanted to do was lay on the couch (how out of character!).

So, I had to entertain an (almost) one year old by myself, which is something that I haven’t had to do in almost three years! We made a lot of towers and knocked them down.  I tried to read her a bunch of stories (although she just is not as into them as Clara was at the same age).  She walked around and around the house, holding my hand (because she just hasn’t made the mental leap that she can walk on her own yet.  And then in a fit of just wanting to sit down for a moment, I made her her own play kitchen.  A cardboard box, a couple of real pots, and some blocks to put in there to cook and stir with a wooden spoon.  Brilliant!  This bought me at least a half an hour a couple of times.  You know, so I could start laundry to clean up vomit.

Building Sand Castles

The past couple of weeks have involved a lot of snow, rain, and cold, cold, cold.  Then some packing.  Because we left all of that behind and flew off to paradise.  We are visiting Grandmoo and Pa in Maui.  So fun!  So, we won’t have many crafty projects to report on for the time being.  Except for our many, many sand castles.  So, here are a few sand castle tips for your next vacation in paradise:

1)  Make sure that the sand tastes good!

2) Add some water.

3) Mix and stir a lot!

4) Its really all about the process.

Easy, simple baby toy!

All around me it seems that there are babies who need Christmas presents, babies turning one, and well my own baby always can use a new fun activity while I’m trying to make dinner.  This is the perfect present for all of those instances.  Its super easy to make and super, repetitive fun for little ones.

Gather an empty kleenex box (of course there are tons of these around this time of year!) and some scrap material.  Cut the scraps into three or four inch wide strips.  I like to have a variety of colors and textures to make it  more interesting for baby.  Shove all of the scraps into the kleenex box.  That’s it!

Now hand it to your favorite baby for tons of fun with pulling out and putting in all of the scraps. Hours of joy from the simplest thing ever!