Fancy Nancy Party

The Decorations

We celebrated Ms. Harmony's fifth birthday with Fancy Nancy party that sported finger foods, tea sandwiches, fun fancy decorations, fancy sunglasses, and more!  It was a hit! 

Mark (my prince charming) and I scrambled Saturday morning, frantically at that, to clean the house, hang the decorations, and make the finger sandwiches.  Most of our "Fancy" decorations were made out of recycled articles, such as newspaper, book pages, and bottle caps.  I worked on the decorations every night for the past week, and had quite a bit of fun making them!

The Invitations

Fancy Invitations were decorated with scrapbook paper, ribbon, and sequins. Harmony decorated them all by herself and had a blast! On the back it read, "You are cordially invited to a Soiree. Soiree is "Fancy" for party!!" 

The Food

• Popcorn with Pink White Chocolate
• Teddy Grahams, Tortilla Chips, and Wheat Thins.
• Salsa and Hummus
• Strawberries and Blueberry Salad
• Cucumber and Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Finger Sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Fluff AKA Fluffernutter Finger Sandwiched
• Carrots and Celery with Ranch Dressing
• Watermelon Balls
• Publix Decadent Chocolate Lovers Delight Cake

Fancy Crew

TheActivities

The girls decorated their fancy and glamorous glasses inspired by Fancy Nancy.. and then made these awesome dessert plate hats inspired by Vanessa at Silly Eagle Books.

Of course we played a fancy rendition of tag, created beautiful pictures with side walk chalk, and blew a million bubbles- all the while, baby brother followed the girls around like a little puppy. :) We also made forts in the living room, ate a ton of cake with sprinkles, and had fun jumping in the massive amounts of balloons.

Overall, it was a total success!  Happy Birthday to my vibrant and spunky, Harmonious!

Happy Monday!

Candice S

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Happy Tummies: Bite Size Smore's

Making Smore's is what sets the perfect tone for summer!  We've had plans to make smores for some time now so we went out and purchased your typical smore ingredients:  marshmallow's, honey grahams, and instead of Hershey chocolate bars we bought the new Hershey Smore's Chocolate Icing thinking that it was for smores.  When we went to use it, we found that it's nothing more than icing for baking goods like cupcakes and brownies.  Bummer!  ..I really wanted smores and I wanted them bad so Harmony and I came up with our Bite Size Smore's! 

Kid crafted, super easy, messy, oooey gooey.. and FUN!  I bet these would be awesome with gummy bears, M & M's, and oreo's.. How do you make your smores?

Happy Wednesday!

Candice S.

The Perfect Playdough Recipe

I found this playdough recipe a few months ago and have been dying to try it!

Ingredients are as follows:

1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup of flour
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of salt
1 tbsp cooking oil  (I used olive oil)

Here's what you need to do..

You mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the water. 

Cook the mix in a pot on low to medium until mixture starts pulling from the sides of the pot and forms into a ball.

Knead the mixture and add your food coloring and scents after the playdough cools.

Waaaaa laaaaaa!!  After you've add your color, you have beautifully formed playdough!!  Prep and cooking time was about 30 minutes to an hour- kneaded the color in is the most time consuming part but well worth the efforts.  The colors we used were green and red- to make brown, pink, and green food color to go along with our flower thematic unit this month.

Enjoy!

Candice S.

Summer Family Fun Activities

Here are a few summer fun idea's that I have compiled together.  I plan on doing these with my family before Harmony starts school in August.  :)

1.  Play a game of hopscotch
2.  Have fun with ice cube painting
3.  Make puff paint
4.  Collect nature objects, rocks, twigs, flowers and place them into a display basket and use them for props or story time
5.  Make a nature book
6.  Blow bubbles
7.  Dance in the rain (a light drizzle- not recommended for dancing in thunderstorms! hehe)
8.  Go Hiking
9.  Go to the park
10.  Have a picnic!
11.  Camp out in your backyard
12.  Take a family bike ride
13.  Watch a movie under the stars (usually events like this are at your local theater, library, or within your community)
14.  Go to your local library and sign up for their children's programs- story time, family craft time, music, and art programs.
15.  Plant a garden or a tree
16.  Fly a kite
17.  Make homemade ice cream
18.  Make a puppet theater out of cardboard boxes
19.  Take a walk and explore your neighborhood
20.  Make homemade lemonade
21.  Eat lots of watermelon
22.  Start your own reading program.  Read a book a week with your kids to keep their minds fresh.
23.  Go to the beach
24.  Play in the water, pool, or water hose
25.  Start writing a pen pal
26.  Read a classic
27.  Go to your local flea market
28.  Make a sensory tub for your toddler/preschoolers:  You can make a garden sensory tub with seeds, soil, and a shovel.  :)

29.  Play tag outside your house and run aimlessly after each other (that's what we plan to do!)

30.  Have a family sleepover in your living room 

31.  Make homemade play dough

32.  Make smores

33.  Create a sun picture (place lemon juice on paper and place in sun)

34.  Use up your scraps from your art collection (example:  use extra broken crayons for making jumbo muffin tin crayons)
35.  Read the news
36.  Play a board game
37.  Play kickball
38.  Have a water balloon fight!
39.  Observe the clouds for rabbits, squirrels, and other fun shapes!
40.  Register for Lowe's or Home Depot's building program for kids (usually held on Saturdays and are completely FREE)
41.  Learn (or teach your child) how to jump rope, roller skate, or swim
42.  Make a sockpuppet
43.  Donate toys to your local charity
44.  Start a kids club for community clean up
45.  Play I-Spy
46.  Have a treasure or scavenger hunt
47.  Have a tea party
48.  Make tissues flowers
49.  Make a magazine holder
50.  Create a shadowbox
51.   Learn to sew
Most of all...stay safe, use sunscreen, and have fun!!

Candice S.

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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.

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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

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

February Sensory Box

Balloons

String and buttons (needle not included)

Art Toys

Pencil

Cookie Cutters 

Homemade Playdough 

Cupcake Liners

Confetti and Hot Pink Rice

Seashells for scooping

I wanted to share our sensory box with you.  I actually was running WAY behind on getting all of its contents together, seeing as its only a few days from Valentine's Day. 

Our sensory boxes usually end up with My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake Miniature Dolls, and other small gadgets that Harmony enjoys playing with.  It promotes fine motor function and coordination, as well as compliments imaginative qualities and artistic means.  I love it!

(Does anybody else end up picking up quite a bit of rice from all areas of YOUR house?.. hehe)

Happy Friday and Enjoy Your Weekend!!
Candice S.

Valentine's Paper Weight

Aren't they pretty?  They're paper weight's that Harmony and I made for Valentine's Day. 

Ingredients and Supplies:

Baby Food Jar

Corn Syrup

Food Coloring

Construction Paper

Mod Podge

Brush

Scrapbook Stuff

Hot Glue Gun

Total Time: 10 Minutes

I so love the fact that I found another great use for those baby food jars (and my husband LOVES to see them go!).  Fill the jar up with corn syrup, have your little one add a few drops of food coloring, and then stir away!  Mod Podge some construction paper (tray a larger lid for size) to cover the baby food jar lid.. and then add some jewels or accessories to spruce it up.  I also used some hot glue to seal the around the edge's of the lid so you can't remove it. 

On the label I wrote, "Your love weighs down my heart."  Super adorable and perfect inexpensive gifts for your loved ones!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Candice S.

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Cookie Cutter Art

I love creating our own special art, especially when my all time favorite artist does it.  

I saw this awesome idea for creating art by stamping cookie cutters!  Seeing as I just get so stinkin excited about using the resources I have on hand, Harmonious and I mixed our homemade paints and went crazy!

 There's my pretty little artist!

And the finished product of which I'm going to frame.  How beautiful, creative, and plain ol' fun!

Happy Monday!

Candice S.

Snowball Counting Game

This game was so fun!  I labeled an egg carton 1-18 and placed the snowballs/cottonballs all over our house.  Harmony loved finding them!  

This game promotes number recognition and fine motor skills.  Harmony held the egg carton and placed each one in the next slot.  I chose this egg carton because Harmony is learning to recognize numbers 11-20.  This was perfect and even slightly challenging.  Harmony did excellent!

For more winter themed ideas click here.

Happy Friday!

Candice S.