Harmony Says..

Imagination.
Harmony has decided that she wants to be Sharpay Evans from Highschool Musical and sang a wonderful rendition of "I am fabulous... fabulous.. and I WANT MORE!"  And you better believe that when she said "fabulous" that she used the quotation fingers.. oh YES.  Thank you Disney for creating such wonderful role models.  :)

Sharing.
Harmony and Mark are sharing a hot dog this evening.  -I thought it was rather strange that Harmony was "sharing" anything at all, not that she doesn't often share with her brother.  She says, "Baby Brother here, you can have half of that hot dog."  I say, "Harmony, awwwww.. that is so nice of you!"  Harmony replies, "Yeah..", she says with a shrug, "He got the pigs butt!"

Social Skills.
I was informed by my brilliant and beyond intelligent daughter this week that she often hears me mutter language that is inappropriate.  I loved the lecture that came after of how I need to straighten my act out before her brother starts learning such naughty words.  Needless to say, I was rather apologetic.

What fun phrases do you hear from your kids? 

Candice S.

Linking to

Healthy Additions and Happy Tummies: Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Look at her face!!  :)  Priceless.

This household can consume pancakes, preferably chocolate chip ones, at a ridiculous rate.  Actually, we have an obsession with chocolate chips but anything that we can stick in the batter to make it delicious is usually the aim!  :) 

Sunday was a breakfast night for us.. and here it is, Thursday night and I want pancakes.  "Harmony, do you think that you and your baby brother can eat some pancakes?"  .. I ask as if I don't know the answer.

Here's the recipe.  Yes, it is from scratch but literally took about five minutes to prepare, with about 30 minutes total IF that!

From Scratch Pancakes:

1 1/4 cups of flour (Wheat is a healthy alternative!)
1 cup of milk (We used Almond Milk)
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract (opt)
1 tablespoon of Baking Powder
1 1/2 tablespoons of oil (I use applesauce-healthier!)
1 tsp Salt
1 Large Egg
2 tablespoons of Chocolate Chips (opt)
1 tablespoon of Cocoa Powder (opt)

Add banana's, chocolate chips, apples, berries, etc. or cocoa powder 

Great recipe for a family of four.

Our breakfast for dinner consisted of chocolate chip pancakes, a boiled egg, sliced cucumbers, and thinly sliced apples.  It was amazing!  We topped it with sugar free syrup, or you can use one of our favorite's:  yogurt!

... and then we did a little bit of this...

Have a great evening!

Candice S.

Science Experiment Saturday: Chemical Reactions- with Color

We have had such an excellent preschool week- mainly having fun and playing!  For a while my household was off track due to our move, but we are slowly and surely getting back up and running.  I often wonder if those are the most receptive moments in a child's mind, when they are learning and exploring something that they enjoy.  Nothing makes me happier then seeing Harmony or Mark spark at a new adventure, whether it's a new project, or reading a book.  Children amaze me.  This week we have explored colors, read a million books, and have done quite a bit of arts and crafts.  This has definitely been an artistic week for us, which is why I think we've enjoyed it so.  Since we are learning with colors this week, I decided that this would be an excellent way to incorporate mixing primary colors into secondary colors, as well as, seeing the two different substances have a chemical reaction!  Boy oh boy, did we LOVE this!

We mixed our colors first- just a drop of food coloring, per color.  Then we added the baking soda, grabbed our camera, and poured in the vinegar!  I think the best part was Harmony's reaction after she poured the vinegar in.. 

After we tried it the first time, we kept on making our mini-magic potions of color.  This time, I got it on video.... yeah, I'm a dork- but it was too cute!

What science experiments have you done with your kids?  I would love to hear about them.. :)

Candice S.

Linking to ..

Simple Butterfly Craft

What you'll need:

coffee filter

food coloring

water

dropper (I used a medicine dispenser)

newspaper or something to lay down on the surface where you're working

pipe cleaner (opt)

This is a fun craft for learning to create secondary colors- plus, it's cute, easy, and more than likely, you'll be able to pull it off with just a few household items!

 Dampen the filter by having your child add 2-5 drops of water-

Have you child do the same for counting out the number of drops for each color- we used all types of colors.

You will notice the color starts creeping toward the outer edges of the coffee filter giving it a ti-dyed effect.

Then you add your pipe cleaner and you'll have a pretty little butterfly!  Total time to make was about 5 minutes and drying time was about 30-60 minutes.

Have a great day!!

Candice



Harmony Says...

"Harmony, what IS your brother doing?"

Harmony replies, "He's being a princess in a tower."

I reply, "Harmony, why aren't you the princess?"

She says, "Because, Mommy, my job is to keep the princess locked in the tower.  I'm the evil witch!"


....Just a glimpse of my daily life with my beauties.  Poor Baby Brother.  :o)

Healthy Additions and Happy Tummies: Alphabet Soup (Chicken and Veggies)

OOoOOOlaa who doesn't love yummy chicken, broccoli, carrots, and alphabet soup!!  It came out beautifully.  All I did was use the chicken stock from boiling one chicken breast (we stretch chicken around here!) and added a ton of spices and herbs.  Then I added the vegetables, as they take a little while to cook thorougly.  Finally, finished up by taking my soup off of the burner and added in the alphabet pasta. 

Total time was about forty-five minutes to one hour.
My children LOVED this!!  Mark Jr. who is 13 months old gobbled it right up and Harmony who is almost five ate it with EASE..  It is definitely beyond kid friendly and extremely fun!

Enjoy!

Candice

Color of the Rainbow: Preschool Schedule

051711 Preschool Week Rainbows

Click on the "Fullscreen" to see it in larger print.  Any questions, feel free to ask.  Most of my resources are included as hyperlinks, which I will have to test to see if they work for you.  Also, I will be posting on the crafts, projects, and videos that are utilized during the week as we learn!  :)  Stay tuned!

Candice

Healthy Additions and Happy Tummies: Chicken and Veggie Egg Rolls

Goodmorning!!  I do quite a bit of cooking.  One of my personal goals this year has been to develop and explore healthier ways of eating that allow your kids to enjoy the benefits, as well.  It's hard to eat healthy and to keep your kids geared towards fruits and veggies than it is to just feed them chicken nuggets and mac n cheese- nothing wrong with that though.  I'm pretty sure that I thank the creators of chicken nuggets and easy mac at least once a week!  We experiment at our house with new foods frequently so I've decided to start sharing some of these recipes with you once a week.  You would be surprised at the substitutions and minor changes that you can do for your daily meal intake.  You will see benefits around your waste line, you'll have more energy, and you will find that those yucky veggies you thought you didn't like before, are actually very good! 

Sooooo, here we go!  I made these AWESOME chicken spring rolls last night.  They were amazing.  I used my own portions of veggies and chicken and rolled them up into fresh egg rolls (which were on sale at Sweetbay for $1.00!!!)..

Started off by cooking the veggies:

1 cup of spinach (frozen)

1 whole zucchini

Handful of carrots

2 Tbsp of Ginger

2 Tbsp of Teriyaki sauce

Half of Green Bell Pepper

Half of Yellow Bell Pepper

Grilled Chicken on George Foreman- and then shredded

Take your egg roll and lay it flat.  Add about two tablespoons (or what you see fit) in a diagonal line from one point of the egg roll to the other.  Roll from one corner and tuck in sides.  Lay open end down on greased baking sheet or baking dish.

 Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes- flip over to brown other side.

Waaaaalaaaaa!! 

Now, on to the sauce- You can basically make a sweet n sour sauce out of any type of jelly or jam you have in your house.  Take about 2 tablespoons of jam, I used guava, and then 1 tbsp of Olive Oil, and 2 tbsp of vinegar.  There you have it, you're ready to eatttt!  :)

 This dish was a hit!  Harmony LOVED it and it was beyond filling.  We will definitely start added this to our menu.  Only downfall- prep time is a little on the longer side, with baking time probably about an hour to make this dish.  The plus side, egg rolls and sauce are under 100 calories and they are filled with nothing more than what YOU put in them.



Happy Wednesday!

Candice

Mother's Day Gift Idea's

Here are a few quick idea's of what you can give your Mom for as a gift for Mother's Day.  These are fun gifts that Harmony and I have created in the past from recycled materials and things laying around the house.

Sugar, Honey, Vanilla, and Brown Sugar Handscrub.  Simple ingredients, mix about a tsp of vanilla and equal parts sugar and honey until moistened.  The labels are made from recycled paper and modpodged on, as well as lids.  This handscrub can be made with various scents and oils, so have fun!!  They work GREAT for removing paints and craft glue from artist's fingers.  :)

Paper Weights from recycled baby food jars.  They say "Your love weights down my heart."  Made from food coloring and corn syrup.

Chocolate Covered Chex Mix.  Super simple and fast!  YUMM.

 Tissue Paper and Egg Carton Bouquet of Flowers.

Cherry Blossom Hand Print made from construction paper, brown paper bag (recycled), tissue paper, glue, and an old book that Harmony and I decided we were going to use for crafting.

If you need last minute gift idea's these are quick, easy, and super cute!  For more idea's you can visit Silly Eagle Books, Tip Junkie, and Martha Stewart.

Happy Mother's Day!

Candice

Elegant Tissue Paper Bouquet

I came across a brilliant post from Ms. Vanessa over at Silly Eagle Books, of a beautiful arrangement of tulips.  Vanessa portrays the amazing world of books, beautifully, and creates such unique crafts that allows a parent and child to portray the story in such a brilliant way.  Silly Eagle Books is inspiring, informative for new ideas for children/infant books, and beyond elogantly innovative.  You must check out her work! 

These are just a few pictures of our bouquet that was inspired by Vanessa's work.  I wanted to take a minute and share our's with you. 

 Harmony wanted to see "bugs" in her bouquet so we created a catepillar with dowels, pom pom's, googly eyes, and a pipe cleaner.

These make a perfect addition to our table.  The bouquet would also be a wonderful Mother's Day present!

Enjoy!

Candice

Cherry Blossom Hand Prints

Harmony added more blooms!  :)

I am in love with these beautiful cherry blossom hand prints- I have my daughter's pretty little hands to thank for this tree's very special shape structure.  This is the greatest Mother's Day Gift in the world! 

Mother's Love
~Author Unknown

"Her love is like
an island in life's ocean,
vast and wide

A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind, the rain, the tide.
'Tis bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the West,
By tender Counsel on the South
And on the East by Rest.

Above it like a beacon light
Shine Faith, and Truth, and Prayer;
And thro' the changing scenes of life
I find a haven there."

Have a joyous and relaxing, Mother's Day!!

Candice S