The ABC Book by Dr. Seuss and Letter Matching

This week of course we are doing Dr. Seuss activities since his birthday is Friday. There are just so many neat and cute ideas out there but I decided that instead of trying to conquer 20 different activities I would pick 1 book a day and do an activity with each book. So today we read Dr. Seuss's ABC and as I was reading the book Alexandra found foam letters, put them on an alphabet sheet that I got from the awesome Dr. Seuss packet found at Oopsey Daisy.

Alexandra already knows her alphabet but the extra practice doesn't hurt and she enjoyed the matching game.

 This is the Alphabet Stamping printable that I found at Oopsey Daisy

 We used foam letters that I had in my stash of my teaching supplies. You could also use dot paints, stickers, rubber stamps, or whatever else works for you. 

 Camden wanted to get into the action. I had to put his pacifier in because I knew he wanted to eat those letters!!

 He lasted a good 10 minutes before he tried putting them in his mouth. I was pretty impressed.

After reading the ABC book we played The Cat in the Hat "I Can Do That" game. It's a cute game where you try to complete crazy tasks using Dr. Seuss props. You select a 1, 2, and 3 card and put them together like a puzzle to reveal your task. One of the tasks may be "Take 4 Giant Steps, with mother's new gown, under your chin". The cards with the number 1 tell you what you will do. Cards with a 2 on them tell you the prop you will use. Cards with a number 3 tell you where you will position the prop. It's a silly game to play and fun to watch. 

 The game setup: Just props and cards! Super easy! 

 Here are three numbered cards put together to reveal the task 

Here she is taking her 4 giant steps, with mother's new gown, under her chin - this one was pretty simple! 

Leap Year Snack

Today is Muffin Tin Monday and I actually was thinking of doing a Dr. Seuss lunch but then I remembered that Wednesday is Leap Day and I wanted to do a lunch for that and I could move Alex's Seuss lunch until next week. We love Dr. Seuss but since Leap Year only happens every 4 years I thought this was a great chance to talk about it with Alex.

So here is the lunch I made:

A frog made of Granny Smith apples green grapes with chocolate chip eyes

Lilly-pads made of American cheese....and I wouldn't want green cheese because that would mean it's moldy!

And a little pond made of yogurt with blue food coloring

Oh and a "29" for the day...but if you look closely it's really a backwards 5 and an upside down 6...because wouldn't you know it that the two numbers I couldn't find in my cutters happened to be those two. So I made due! 

Find more lunches for inspiration at Muffin Tin Mom! 

 

We Were In The Kitchen Wednesday

So it's Friday but on Wednesday we were in the kitchen but I just didn't find a spare moment to post about it. We made one of our favorite snacks and those snacks are...Granola Balls! I wanted to make a healthy (or somewhat healthy snack) and, well, oats are in them so they are healthy right?? True, the gobs of peanut butter hold them together, but at least you can get some protein!

To make the Granola Balls you will need:

Oats (I used regular and not quick oats because I like them to be a little chunkier)

Peanut Butter

honey

chocolate chips

Nutella

Oh, and this is one of my "dump and mix" recipes meaning I just dump in the ingredients and eyeball it without measuring them. Then, I stir it together and when it looks good I stop! It's not rocket science if my 3 year old can make them. 

After mixing the ingredients together form them into balls. I do like to put on some cooking spray on my hands because it makes it a lot easier to roll without half of the mixture ending up on my hands. Store them in a plastic bag so that they stay fresh. 

Homemade Popsicles

After making some individual chocolate mousse desserts that were topped with a single raspberry I had a whole bag of of frozen raspberries and wanted to use them up before they went bad. Alexandra loves popsicles and so I thought we could blend up the raspberries, add a little honey for some sweetness, and then we'd have some homemade, healthy popsicles. Yum! We've also made homemade yogurt pops, pudding pops, and other smoothie pops. I've even snuck in a few veggies before. Whatever works! 

Muffin Tin Fruit Dippers

Last week we skipped Muffin Tin Monday because I was taking care of two sick kiddos. My kids have been on and off sick with colds, fevers, croup, ear infections, and runny noses since January! So I am happy to be able to make Alexandra a lunch!

I really wanted to do some sort of theme lunch for either President's Day or Mardi Gras but really I just couldn't come up with anything so I thought I would have Alex make some fruit kabobs. She didn't actually make kabobs but instead she just used the skewers to dip her fruit. Hey, whatever works for her works for me. I happened to have fruit for every color of the rainbow except green so  I made her a rainbow fruit muffin tin and had her dip it into green yogurt.

Here is her colorful lunch:

red= cherries 

orange = mandarin oranges

yellow = banana

green = vanilla yogurt with green food coloring 

blue = blueberries

purple = grapes

Find other lunches over at Muffin Tin Mom

Alex's Valentines

Today I went into Alex's class to help out with her Valentine's Day party. It was so nice to go in and do that! I found this cute heart shaped tree to do as a craft with the kids. They had a fun time doing it too. Then I found a cute idea for Alex's valentines on Pinterest as well and so she handed those out. I think they turned out super cute! It was a task getting her to look at the camera, smile, and hold her hand out as if holding an imaginary lollipop but after about 20 shots we got one that worked! 

Dress Up Fun!

Alexandra has a whole collection of princess dresses to play with for dress up but I thought we'd play dress up a different way today. 

Today while Camden was napping I played dress up with Alex...in my wedding dress! I saw this idea on Pinterest to dress your daughter up in your wedding dress and then one day when she gets married (if she gets married) you give her that picture or display it somehow. She told me that she wanted to see me in my wedding dress but I told her that we'd have to wait until Nona comes because it takes two people to get me into it. I'm not even sure it will fit but I'll give it a try for her. But I put my camera on burst mode so that it would  keep snapping pictures. Alex doesn't always look at the camera but I got a few nice pictures! I guess when she does get married she'll be a pro at those candid "not looking at the camera" shots! 

Animal Muffin Tin Lunch

It's Muffin Tin Monday! For more awesome lunches go to Muffin Tin Mom

This week was one of those weeks where I kind of had to scrounge around the fridge and pantry to see what food I could come up with because we really need to go grocery shopping! But I was able to find some things to make a few animals for Alexandra in her lunch. Actually it's her second lunch. A few hours earlier we ran through a drive through since we were out and about at the library and running some errands.

When I placed the lunch in front of her I asked her to name the animals (to see if they actually looked like an animal to her). She named the penguin, butterfly, goldfish, starfish, and she called the bear a lion. She didn't know what the caterpillar was- I guess next time I'll have to add a face and feet. Also, when she was eating the bear she told me it needed feet. Ha. 

So here is the lunch: Do you think the animals resemble what they are supposed to be???? I hope so! 

Top Row: 

goldfish  (obviously!), bear, a butterfly

Bottom Row:

Penguin, starfish, and the caterpillar ( I tried adding little straw antennae - guess that didn't work!) 

Groundhog Day Snack

So looks like we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter! That doesn't bother me at all though because so far our winter has been pretty good! No major snow storms, one playable snow for Alex, and yesterday it was 65 degrees which was totally odd. Even today it's in the high 40's which I'll take any day over 20's and 30's! But winter isn't over yet. Last year, I believe near Valentine's Day we got a major storm. But I'm still crossing my fingers the rest of the winter is mild.

Since today is Punxsutawney Phil's day I made Alex a groundhog day snack. I found this cute snack at Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons although the link will take to you to the main page, not the actual snack page. I pinned this idea a while back on Pinterest and didn't check the link so you may have to go searching around to find the actual post.

But here it is. Isn't he cute??? I just used chocolate pudding topped with crushed Oreos for the dirt, a vanilla wafer for the head and paws, yogurt melts for the ears, a marshmallow for the teeth, a chocolate chip for the nose, and edible eyes.

Ice Cream in a Bag

We've been a little MIA for the last week because Alexandra and Camden both got sick. And that meant nothing was really getting done in our house! But today we are back (or yesterday rather) in the kitchen!

Since it was the last week in January I thought that we would do some activities with penguins and make a cold treat. Well we didn't end up doing the penguin activities because we just ran out of time before Camden got up from his nap -and once he's up - I need to be having a close eye on him. He's pulling up, cruising, and well just into everything! No longer are the days when  can lay him on the floor and be sure that he won't move!

Plus, yesterday in PA oddly, on the first of February it was 65 degrees outside! We ended up going to the park instead of staying inside, but we did make homemade ice cream in a baggie as a treat!

I found this recipe on 2 Little Hooligans which I found through Pinterest. I have a nice electric Cuisinart ice cream maker which doesn't even require salt but I thought it would be fun for Alex to make her own homemade ice cream!

All you need is:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup of light cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coarse salt (I used actual salt that you use for ice cream makers that require it, but next time I may try sea salt or kosher salt)**
enough ice to fill a half a gallon ziploc bag
1 gallon Ziploc bag
1 sandwich bag

All you do is mix the sugar, cream, and vanilla together in a bowl and transfer it to the small sandwich bag. Make sure it seals tightly!! Then fill the gallon bag halfway full with ice cubes. Squish the small bag down into the ice cubes and then pour the salt over the ice and then shake, shake, shake (over the sink!) for 5 minutes or more, depending on how thick you want your ice cream. Let me just say that I shook for 5 minutes and I feel like I got a mini arm workout!!! ** The reason I would use a different kind of salt is that this salt was a little too coarse and poked tiny holes in my small bag. A lot didn't leak out but next time I'll use a name brand stronger bag or use kosher salt.

After the 5 minutes is up check to see if you like the consistency.

We ate the ice cream right after making it and it sure was yummy! Not bad for 5 minutes...but don't eat it too fast or you will get brain freeze!!!!!

 Measuring out the sugar

 Pouring the cream

 Whisk, whisk, whisk

 Pour the mixture into a bag...Alex held the bag for me over the sink as I poured

 Adding the salt

 Ready to shake...she thought it was too heavy for her so I shook the bag

 Ahhh...ice cream! We made vanilla but I have some strawberry ice cream flavoring so we could have made strawberry...but she chose vanilla which is very odd! 

Yummy!