Bringing Back Memories

Well it has rained 

and rained

oh and then it rained some more. 

We spent some time in what we like to call our troll closet.

That's our tornado spot.  Luckily it's close to our books so we had something fun to do.

But then for a whole 5 minutes the sun came out.

And I was able to stare in complete happiness at this.

 It was a FULL rainbow!

Actually a double but the second one was so light it didn't even show up in pictures.

But a couple days ago when we actually had half a day of sun we worked on our motor skills.

Always a good thing to work on.

When I was younger and we would go to visit my grandparents my grandpa would sometimes get out blocks of wood, hammers and nails and light us up.

And we would look something like this.

Who knew hitting a nail could be so much fun????

Well I did because it's one of the things I remember from my childhood.

(I remember surprisingly little about my childhood)

If your kids are younger or get frustrated easily

You might want to start the nails for them.

It might save you a lot of crying.

And a few other tips.

Smaller hammers are easier for smaller hands and

the softer the wood the better.

Braeden loves hammering into the stump and the nails go in really easy.

I'm gonna have to see if I can find any pictures of me doing this.

Pretzel Art

Whew has life been crazy lately.

Braeden's out of school

Baseball and Soccer are in full swing

and Mason decided to start crawling and pulling himself to stand in the same day!

I really should have babyproofed ahead of time.

But today we are trying to get into a new summer routine.

I'm going to try and do some kind of craft with the kids every day.

This craft is also a snack so awesome double duty!

I started by making pretzel dough in the bread maker.

But then I left the room to put Mason in bed

and came back to this...

So tip number one would be to not leave the flour on the table! lol

So after we had our pretzel dough ready we rolled it out into strips.

And then I let the kids get creative making the pretzels into any shape they wanted.

We ended up with snakes and flowers and balls and butterflies and so much more!

 They actually asked to make more dough when we finally ran out.

Now that's success.

Just brush with egg whites and water and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake then enjoy.

Our New Pet

I love to watch my kids exploring things.

You know, when you can see the little wheels turning 

and the excitement when they find something new.

Well today my kids found a new pet.

Meet Caddy

Yeah he's kind of tiny.

I'm really not sure how Braeden found him 

but he did and they were best friends from the second they met.

He found him a leaf to camouflage him.

And a leaf for him to eat.

He's not in that picture so don't try to find him!

But I think he camouflaged him a little to well because he lost him.

Which was traumatic for about 2 minutes.

And then he was drawing pictures of birds.

Oh to be a child again.

Takin' Craft Time Outside

We have finally had a few nice days around here.

Sunny and Hot

A perfect turnaround from the gloominess we've had.

When it's nice outside my kids play ALL day.

I can hardly get them to come inside to eat or even pee.

So to throw off their routine a little bit I surprised them with a craft to do at their picnic table.

So what's the perfect craft to do outside?

Nature Collages

I gave them a basket to collect all their pieces of nature.

 Then they sat down at the table and glued them on cardstock.

 Even Mason explored Nature trying to eat the grass. lol

Super easy and cheap supplies.

Just make sure you let them know of any flowers you want off limits.

You don't want them picking all your pretty flowers.

Hope the weathers nice where you are so you can take craft time outside!

Last Day of School

Today is Braeden's last day of Preschool.

It's a little overwhelming to think this means Kindergarten is next

but I am sooo excited we made it through preschool.

(It was a REALLY rough start first half of the year.)

It's so amazing to see the change in him in such a short amount of time.

He really has grown a lot and learned so much

and I am so thankful to his teachers for all of their hard work.

So as a little thank you/end of the year gift I made them a little movie snack bucket.

I bought the popcorn that comes it the movie theater buckets, 2 boxes of theater candy and some soda.

I don't know about the teachers but my kids were in love with the idea.

So we will be having movie night sometime soon.

Here is what the buckets looked like 

and pictures of Braeden with his 2 favorite teachers.

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours...

I'm talking about recipes people!

I've been working on my menu for the next 2 weeks and I'm feeling in a rut.

We seem to have the same thing over and over again.

Part of it is my fault.

I really only like to make things that I have the recipe memorized for.

Kinda puts a limit on things.

The other part would be my picky family's fault.

There is nothing worse than slaving away in the kitchen and then no one liking what you made.

And then you have to make them something else.

I make my kids try everything I make but if they don't like it I don't force them to eat it.

I don't like being forced to eat something I don't like so why should I force them.

Feel free to disagree but that's just how we do it here.

Anyway...

I have one recipe that we all LOVE so I wanted to share it with you 

But in return I'd love for you to share with me your families favorite meal.

I think that's only fair

Right???

Creamy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, cubed

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth

1 lb. cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (I use canned chicken which makes this recipe a breeze)

16 oz. Frozen Mixed Vegetables, thawed

1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt

1 egg

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Cup All Purpose Baking Mix

Make It

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook cream cheese and broth in large saucepan on low heat until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently with whisk.

Stir in Chicken, vegetables and garlic salt.

Spoon into 9-inch pie plate.  Beat egg and milk in medium bowl with whisk until well blended; stir in baking mix just until moistened.  Spoon over chicken mixture.  Place pie plate on baking sheet.

Bake 25-30 min. or until golden brown.

And there you have it.

Quick, cheap, and easy on the taste buds.

Next time I make it I'll add a picture.

I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.

Glamin' Up The Hopscotch

My kids LOVE playing hopscotch.

And I must say I have quite a bit of fun with it too.

But today it needed a little something more.

So I glamed it up a little for Ava's liking.

Using one of her favorite things

HEARTS

You should have heard her squeal with excitement.

Instructions: Use hearts instead of squares.

Can't get any easier than that!

 Braeden was even brave enough to give it a try.

I'll have to use something a little more manly for him next time.

I hope you all can have a little blast from the past playing some hopscotch.

I know we enjoyed it!