Joy School Play dough

1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 Tbs oil
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 cup water
Food Coloing

Combine all ingredients and stir over heat until ingredients cling together and form a ball.  About 1 minute.

Stone Soup

Today for Joy School the kids and I read the story "Stone Soup."  Then we made some.  I put a stone in a pan of water and had the kids add the ingredients.  It was so fun.  I did cook the veges a little bit a head of time so it wouldn't take as long to cook.  

1 lb ground beef (browned)

1 1/2 cup diced carrots

1 1/2 cup diced potatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup uncooked rice

salt and pepper to taste

6 cups water

1 tsp tyme

6 beef bouillon cubes

Simmer on the stove for about 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

Easter Bunny Smores in a Jar

You will need:

1 sleeve of graham crackers crushed.

6-8 peeps

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 cup pastel colored M&M's

1 qt mason jar

fabric and ribbon for the top of your jar, and paper to print out the instructions.

Easter Bunny Smores

Empty the contents of the jar into a bowl.  Snip the bunnies into pieces and return to the mix.  Add 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 tsp of vanilla and mix well.  Pat into a greased 9X9 inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins.  Cool and cut into bars.  You can also leave the peeps whole and just place them on top of the mix before baking.

I saw this idea here.  I thought they were so cute.  I decided to make them for the people that Pete home teaches, and the ladies that I visit teach.  The ones I made first weren't quite as cute.  They are the yellow ones.  Later I figured it was better to layer the graham crackers first, then the peeps.  I put the brown sugar in a sandwich baggie and then stuffed that in the middle between the peeps.  I put the M&M's on top.  Then I just cut some spring looking fabric from my scraps to add to the top.  After the picture was taken I attached the recipe using ribbon and a hole punch.  Super Easy and Super Cute!

You could do these for any holiday using the other kinds of holiday peeps and colored M&M's.

Easy Garlic Knots

12 frozen Rhodes rolls
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1. Thaw Rhodes rolls. Roll each dough ball into a rope-about 8 inches long. Tie in a knot. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise until double in size, about 30-45 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Gently brush each roll with melted butter. Sprinkle rolls with minced garlic and Italian seasoning.
3. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Serve warm.
Makes 12 garlic knots

I found this recipe here.

Crispy Basil Chicken

Crispy Basil Chicken

• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 ½ Tbsp. dried basil
• ½ teaspoons garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 12 chicken tenders
• canola oil

1. Place eggs in a shallow bowl. Place flour in a shallow bowl.
2. In another shallow bowl, combine both bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic powder, and  salt and pepper to taste.
3. Coat chicken with flour.  Then dip in egg, followed by coating it with the breadcrumb mixture.
4. In a skillet over medium heat, fry chicken in canola oil, on both sides, until the juices run clear, about 15 minutes. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

I found this recipe here.http://realmomkitchen.com/5860/crispy-basil-chicken/

Tooth Pillow

Lindsay had Dental Appointment the other day.  He told Lindsay she had a loose tooth on the bottom and mentioned that the Tooth Fairy would be paying her a visit soon.  She has been so excited about it.  We made a little Tooth Pillow to keep the tooth in when it finally does wiggle free.  Pretty cute huh!

Superhero Capes

 My Little Guy lately has been obsessed with Superheros.  He has some Spider man pajamas that we can barely get him out of.  He has some Spider man flip flops that he sleeps with at night.  We often here him saying "Super Landon to the rescue."  He told me he wants to have a Superhero Birthday Party.  He turns 3 in May.  I know we still have some time but I thought I would get a jump start and make him a Super hero cape.

He had a plain white shirt in his closet that is stained in a few places.  I decided I would add some fabric and make him a superhero shirt to go with his cape.

 Superhero Shirt.  

I just took some scraps and cut them into a diamond and an L.  Then I just zig zag stitched around it.

 

For the cape I used about 1/2 yard of felt.  I just kind of cut it into a shape I liked.  I added a square of felt and the letter to it and again zig zag stitched around it.  Then I took some ribbon and zig zag stitched it tot the top for the ties.

Of course every Superhero has a super sidekick.  Our Super Landon has a Super Sister and we decided she needed a Superhero cape too.

 

Here is Super Lindsay's Cape.

And here is Super Lindsay's Shirt.

Bubblegum Candy Dish

I saw this idea here and had to make one.  I thought they were so cute.  It was really inexpensive to make and really easy too.  I think you could swap out the ribbon for lots of different holidays too.  All that is missing is some candy to put in the dish.

Leprechaun Hands

The kids and I made these little Leprechauns with their hand prints today.  They didn't turn out as cute as I had pictured them in my head, but they had fun and that is all that matters.

Dr. Seuss Birthday

We had a fun Dr. Seuss Day on Dr. Seuss's Birthday (March 2nd).  You could also do this for St. Patrick's Day, or just any day you want to share some good stories and fun with your kids.

We started out by reading a few of our favorite Dr. Seuss Books.  We had a few and also checked out a few from the library.

 

After our story time we colored some pictures I got off the internet.  I just googled Dr. Seuss coloring pages and found lots.

 

 Aren't they cute!

The finished product

Then we watched the movie that we found at the Library.  It actually had a few stories.

We made snacks to go with our lunch.  Pretzel sticks with a little bit of melted white chocolate chips.  I just put about a 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips in a sandwich baggie.  I melted them for a few minutes in the microwave, making sure I stopped every 20-30 seconds and squished the bag a little.  Then I just snipped a little off of a corner of the bag and squeezed the chocolate onto the pretzels.  Then we topped them off with a green M&M's and put in the fridge til the hardened.

Then we enjoyed our lunch of green eggs and ham with our little snacks we made.  For the Green Eggs and Ham, I just made scrambled eggs with a little diced ham in them.  I also added a little bit of green food coloring, milk, salt and pepper.

 

We had a lot of fun.

 

Dr. Seuss Day was a success.  Here are the smile on my kids (all decked out in their greens) to prove it.