Harrison's "Orange Pie"

Harrison loves to cook. He created this recipe by himself and it was surprisingly really good. It's a fun easy recipe that kids can do by themselves.

ingredients:
1 cutie orange
fruit flavored yogurt (Harrison used blueberry)
cool whip
chocolate chips

directions:
Peel and seperate cutie orange and arrange in bottom of mini pie tin or small bowl. Cover with yogurt. Spread cool whip ontop of yogurt. Decorate with chocolate chips. Chill in fridge for about 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!

dinner to the rescue

Evenings and dinner time have been so difficult lately. In the past couple weeks I have sent Jackson to bed early several times. I am so tired of the mid afternoon meltdowns. So I tried something new yesterday, and it worked! Around 3 pm I let my kids have a small snack then I started making dinner around 4:30 when they started asking for another snack. By the time Damon got home at 6 pm they had eaten dinner, desert, were in their jammies and had their teeth brushed. The result; less tantrums, more time for me to pick up the house, Damon and I got to eat together while the boys sat and did paint with water, and both the boys and I were happier when Daddy got home which made Daddy want to spend time with us!

Knights in Shining Armor

I love cardboard boxes. Their versatility astounds me...

I used a little cardboard, some aluminum foil, tape and hot glue and suddenly my boys are knights in shining armor!

ice sculptures

It is too hot to just send my boys outside to play. So we experimented with water. I let them play with cups of colored water, they learned about mixing colors to make new ones then we put the cups in the freezer. When the water was frozen they took the ice outside and used the different shapes to build with. It kept them busy and cool.
We also froze army men and other small toys in an empty one gallon ice cream container. I gave them hammers and let them hammer out the toys.

Easy Easter Baskets

I wanted to do something for my preschool class for Easter that was inexpensive, easy, and not full of candy. So I made them Easter baskets.
I used a plastic cup, punched holes in the side, then added a colorful ribbon!
I put fake grass inside along with a piece of candy and an egg with a toy in it. And there's my Easter gift!

Aggression Cookies

These are so easy and totally fun for kids!

3 cups quick oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Dump it in a bowl and mix it with your hands. The more you mix and pound the better the cookies.
bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Super Goop

I tried this easy Goop recipe with my kids. They really enjoyed making it. I let them each choose a food color and we mixed the colors. It was great to talk about what happens when water gets hot, the texture of the corn starch, and mixing colors. They got a little bored playing with it in the ziplock baggies so I will give it to them again and let them play with it in the bathtub before I turn on the water. Then they can paint their bodies and the tub and it will make for easy clean up!
*This can also be fun for older kids. They can probably make it themselves and what kid doesn't like goop?

SUPER GOOP
2 cups water
1/2 cup corn starch
food coloring

Bring water to a boil.
Add cornstarch and stir until smooth.
Add food coloring and stir.
Let cool.
Squish on table top or put in ziplock bag to mush and play with. (to minimize

Your in the doghouse!

My kids and their friend were pretending like they were dogs. I got tired of them running through the house and being loud so I pulled out some boxes and let them play in their "doghouse". Who needs to spend money on toys, just give them the boxes!

Colorful Cakes

I made a big batch of pancakes and added foodcoloring to make them more fun. When my kids had their fill of pink and blue pancakes I froze the rest. Now we can have a fast, fun breakfast just by popping the colored pancakes in the toaster!

(Thanks for the idea Ashley.)

Making Flours

I needed an activity for my kids to do while I made dinner. They went to town, had a learning opportunity, and had a great bath after!

Materials:
cookie sheets
flour
water
corn meal
food coloring
any other ingrediet you like

What I did:
I put flour on the cookie sheets and let them play.
When they started to get a little bored or distracted I added a new ingredient (water, corn meal)
As they played I cooked dinner and talked to them about textures, colors, and anything else.

It made a mess but it was easy to clean while they were in the tub.