4 Year Old Birthday Fun... Little Mermaid Style!

I just love Birthdays... especially planning them!

This year, my daughter choice the Little Mermaid to be her theme for her birthday! I love princess Ariel so was ready for the planning to begin!

Welcome to the party! I painted this old piece of wood a light blue and added letters to create this sign. I laid down some burlap to make it look like sand and added some sea shells... that came all the way from Florida!

 

Clam Cookies!  these are made with mini wafers and pink frosting. I picked up white sixlets from Party City but you could use white M & M as well.

Octopus Marshmallow pops were a hit! The girls loved these! Very fun to make!

Melt pink melting wafers and draw a six lined star. Dip a marshmallow into the melted pink wafers and then put on the top of your star ship (which should be done on wax paper). I added a circle white sprinkle and to that just melted a little chocolate chips and added a dot for the eye ball! 

The sand is just crushed cookies and I added some color sprinkles.

 

We had pails filled with pretzel and goldfish crackers too!

Yum!

Mermaid Tail Cupcakes! How fun are these!

I used green melting wafers and traced out mermaid tails onto wax paper. Of course, I had to add some sprinkles :)

Once the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled, I frosted them with blue frosting.

Once the tails harden, you just add them into the "water!"

We also had a veggie tray and fruit on skewers! They were delicious. For the main food- I made croissant looking crabs! I did not get a good picture of them but all I used was a croissant roll with turkey and cheese. I used sliced olives and put one an a toothpick. Each croissant had to olive eyes sticking out to create eyes for the crabs!

 

Party Favor Time!

I used the Little Mermaid cups for the girls and then picked up Nemo for the boys!

Each cup had candy, a necklace, a Little mermaid Pencil and a water squirter necklace!

 

 

The party was a success and two days later... I'm still a bit tired!!

 

Thanks for reading! XOXO

Almost Fat Free Banana Bread!

I am home today with a sick boy! Having a fever is not fun :(
It does, however give me sometime to bake and blog.....I have not blogged for such a long time but continue to keep up with others!

This morning I was in the mood for banana bread!
You can check out my YouTube video if you want to watch it !

The ingredients :
1 1/2 C Flour
3/4 C White Sugar
1 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 Egg White
1 C Mashed Banana
1/4 C Apple Sauce
Optional: nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, craisins (adding so will not make this recipe (almost) fat free...please keep in mind!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir (or sift) flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add the eggs whites, mashed bananas, and applesauce. Stir together until just mixed.
Add any optional ingredients if you wish.
Bake for 50-55 minutes.



Enjoy!

Craft Show

Tomorrow is my first craft show!
I have been taking a lot of time off due to job, family, etc... BUT I'm back at it! :)
I'm super excited and I can't wait for it!

Long Overdue!

Hello 2011!!
Can you believe it... its already the 5th of Jan. and I am JUST sitting down to write!

Christmas was great. I just love to spend some quality time with my family. playing games. laughing. watching Christmas through the eyes of a 4 year old... my son was thrilled with everything he got. He was even thrill with what his 8 month old sister received and I have to admit, played with some of her toys!! Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year.

Now it is time to get ready for... VALENTINES DAY! I know, there is still a month to go, but the stores have filled up quickly with valentine candies (my fav.) and valentines for children to give and share! My son and I were talking about Valentines Day and he told me that he was going to get my hearts-chocolate shaped hearts. and flowers. He is so sweet.

We will be working on some more holiday crafts this week.... We are going to make a mailbox (for decoration) so I hope it turns out GORGEOUS so we can put it above our fireplace. Aidan just loved getting mail-so this will be fun for him. He is still checking the mailbox for those wonderful Christmas cards that we LOVE to receive!!!

New Years was a bust for us! My hubby and I had plans-a nice evening of dinner, drinks, and the casino. And thanks to the ever so slippery roads, we only had dinner and drinks. I LOVE to go to the casino and we were about to drive 1 hour (which would probably take us 2 hours to get there) and risk our lives! We had witnessed a serious accident earlier the day so it freaks me out..... O well! It was a nice evening-child free. (I did miss my little buggers though!)

Well.. its off to plan/work on that mailbox! Pictures to be posted shortly!

Crafts/DIY

Alright, if you know how to flip this picture- please let me know!?! Anyways... this is my DIY project me and my son did yesterday! We were playing out in the snow and decided to collect several sticks (different sizes, shapes, length-you know it!) We came inside and painted them. We choose WHITE! After they dried I grabs a vase (I made one for my kitchen and used a red vase and then the one below is using a green vase). I tied a ribbon around it and COMPLETE. A BEAUTIFUL arrangement for (essentially) free!!! Use any vase you have around the house, any color paint, and any ribbon and it will be GORGEOUS! There my quick DIY !



Alright-onto my Christmas crafts!
So, as I mentioned in my post earlier today... we LOVE doing crafts! Here is something fun your child can create for the coffee lover in your family!
We used: coffee filter, red paper cut in a triangle, small red rectangle shape, instant coffee pack, glue, and a small white circle.

My son drew a face on the filter to create "Santa." Then we glued the hat on and glued the white circle for his hat. On the back we glue around the edge of the rectangle shape and left the top part open. We inserted the instant coffee pack and it becomes a PERFECT Christmas present for that coffee lover!

Here is a project that requires patience! (From you as well.. not just your child!). Trace your child's hand out and allow them to cut around their hands. (Using children scissors, of course!) We glue them slightly layer each other and curled the fingers every which way to create a wreath! Such a cute, cute idea!

Alright this one is my favorite. Not to mention my sons as well!!! We cut out light shapes and I had him spell his name-one letter/light. I used black paper to create the top of the lights and string my ribbon through this. It is an adorable Christmas necklace! (We even had to make one from Grandma and Grandpa!)

We enjoyed a yummy Popsicle yesterday and decide to make some friends! We painted one white and the other brown and created these cute little Popsicle sticks! We just used some construction paper and ribbon and pipe cleaners!

Chocolate dipped spoons-yum!! Dip spoons in chocolate and sprinkle with some festive sprinkles! Wrap in wax paper and add ribbon! Great for a present!

Here they are drying...

Supplies used:

Wanted to show you our entry way/Christmas tree/stockings of our home....

Christmas time is such a special and magical time of the year. We all get hyped up about presents (even us adults!) but now is the time to remember. Give thanks. Say a prayer. Be appreciative.

~Enjoy your holidays and Season Greetings!

Easy Crafts!

As a mother to a 4 year old, I am always thinking about ways to entertain him! (Note: TV viewing is not something I encourage in my household during the day! You should be outside playing or running around the house not parked in front of the toons. Now-that is not say my son never watches tv I just monitor the amount he can watch).



Anyways-We love, love to do crafts and bake! He is my little chef in the kitchen and has been ever since he was one! He loves to stir and is now at the age where he counts and measures for me. It makes my job so much easier ;)



Some of our favorite things to do is drink hot cocoa on a nice, cold day after we have been playing outside for hours! I love how 1/4 of his cup is filled (or I should say overfilling) with marshmallows!

I also have been working on him with his handwriting. Here is a letter he wrote to Santa. Not bad for a little boy who just turned 4! We also work on phonics and I do "lesson plans" with him-almost daily. I want him to learn. Everyday. There is something that I learn everyday and I think it should be true to children as well.

Here is one of my favorite craft projects we did! We got to enjoy yummy Popsicles (Super hero Popsicles, of course) and then we saved our sticks. I painted one brown while he painted one white. Come on, as parents we are NEVER to old to participate in some fun! We cut out a cute snowman hat, looked for buttons, and ribbon and viola-we have created
*Adorable Reindeer and Snowman* out of our Popsicle sticks! Talk about re-use/re-cycle!

This one required a little more patience!

*A Beautiful Hand(no pun intended)Made Wreath!* Love it.

This is my favorite. We had cut out Christmas Lights. I think had my son spell his name using one letter/light. I attached black paper (to make it look like the top of the lights) and strung ribbon through. It is *A Personalized Christmas Necklace!* He loved wearing this all day long! (We even made one for his Grandma and Grandpa-that's how excited he was for this!)

Last but not least, who doesn't love coffee? We made these super cute *Santa Coffee Holders* from a coffee filter and some red construction paper! My son added a face on the coffee filter, we added a hat and flipped Mr. Santa around. We created a pouch and threw in a travel coffee packet. Soooo cute!

Potato Chip Containers for Gifts

If you have looked at my potato chip and chocolate recipe that I posted on my recipe page, I had noted that later in the week I would post my container. Well... I had some time last night since my hubby was watching the Packer game, 1 child was sleeping, and the other was playing with his toy story toys!

So, I decided to work on my containers. I will not be making the chips until Friday-Christmas Eve-that way on Saturday when we give out the treats they will be fresher!

To make-all you need is a container (I used old Oatmeal containers), paper coverings (such as scrapbook paper, brown bag, etc), ribbon or twine, and glue gun.

First I measure that brown bag a little big longer then my oatmeal container. The brown bag I used was an old one I had leftover from Panara Breads. After that, I used my hot glue gun and went around the top of the container with glue and pressed my brown bag around it. After I went around the bottom. I then tucked in the excess brown bag under the container and glued that down.

I ripped some scrapbook paper roughly the same length of my container and used my Tim Holtz distress ink to add a little worn look. I glued that on to cover the seam of the brown paper bag. I added twine and Voila! Beautiful!

For the cover, I cut a circle out a little large then the lid. Cover the lid by tucking the excess inside and gluing it down. Used some scrapbook paper and twine for the cover as well!