Easter Idea: The Bunny Cake

Mr. No-No's birthday is right around Easter so I usually make him a bunny cake. This one is easy, fast, and fun for the little ones to help with. Improvise with your own favorite colors and watch eyes light up with delight!! (Don't hate because he is in his mid-40s! ...just kidding! Anyway, I heard 50 is the new 30 so he's still young!!)

Directions for the bunny cake:
Bake two round cakes as usual (one box mix, if you are using, will make two cakes)
Leave one cake whole (this will be the bunny's face)
Cut the second cake to form two bunny ears and the left over section (in the middle) will make the tie under his face
Assemble and frost
Decorate as desired

For the bunny ear "fur" I used sweetened coconut in a container with red decorating sugar and shook until the coconut turned pink; I used raisins for the eyes and tie buttons; and I used green icing for the mouth because it was what I had in the cabinet. You could also use jelly beans for the eyes, licorice strings for whiskers, and white coconut all over for "fur" - if your family likes that much coconut!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!! Hope your weekend is wonderful!!

4th of July Headband Craft

I wanted to make something with my little one that she could wear to get ready for the 4th of July - I found this on the Parents Magazine website - it was perfect and easy, and best of all, she could help me with it!!!

What You Need:

• Blue Felt
• White (Sticker-Backed) Felt
• 2 Buttons
• Headband
• Glue gun

What to do:

• Make a template using thin cardboard (I used this explanation to get the star just right)
• Pin the template to blue felt and cut out two stars
• Trim the template down slightly (about 1/8") and then pin to white felt and cut out two (smaller) stars
• Remove sticker backing from white felt and stick to blue felt
• Using a glue gun, glue stars onto headband (in any way that you like)
• Glue-gun on buttons to the middle of the stars
• Let dry
• Celebrate!!!

If you make this, please leave me a comment and let me know - - I would love to see it!!
And check here to see places where I generally link up!!!
Cheers!
More later (:

Heart Shaped Crayons for Valentine's Day

Still looking for a cute Valentine's Day gift for your kids or your kid's class?  ...I know....it's nearly down to the last minute and you still don't know what to do, but now you don't have a lot of time, and you don't want to spend a mint trying to get it all together - and you don't want it to take up your whole Sunday (or Monday night!). What to do? What to do?

Today, Miss No-No and I made these great Valentine's Day gifts for her class!! The crayons cost me 47 cents a box (we needed three boxes to make 24 crayons). It's perfect and it doesn't take long!!

I originally found this idea on Pinterest (of course, where else? lol). But, it was perfect, easy, and it's something that I know that the kids will love, use, and be able to use up!!! <~ Something I always want in my house!!!

To make 24 crayons you will need:

• 3 Boxes of 24-count crayons
• A heart shaped muffin pan (I used a silicone "pan", but a regular one sprayed with vegetable oil would work)
• An oven  ;)

1. Unwrap all crayons








2. Break each crayon into at least 4 pieces

3. Put approximately 15 crayon pieces into each heart shaped muffin cup

4. Bake at 230F for approximately 14 minutes

5. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes (or until no longer warm to the touch)





6. Waa-laaaa - "instant" DIY gift perfect for toddlers!!!

What are you making for your little one's class for Valentine's Day?

More later!! (:

Hallway Hopscotch

It doesn't rain a lot in California - - and it's rarely as cold as it's been lately... But that doesn't mean we can't have fun inside!! (:
I found this on (...drum roll...) Pinterest (where you can also come by and visit me!) and you KNOW I couldn't resist!

It's perfect to keep my little one active and busy when it's too cold to go outside and play!
Here's what you need:
Ruler
Electrical Tape
Address Numbers
Erasable / Washable Marking Pencil

I got my address numbers from Home Depot - I think that they cost $2 or $3 for a whole set.

Since I have tiles in my hallway, I didn't really have to do a lot of measuring to make sure that the boxes were the same size. I did use a marking pencil (like the kind for sewing) to find the middle of the tiles where I needed to. I used the electrical tape (which we already had) to make the boxes, and trimmed them with a straight edge once they were overlaying the grout. You could also do this same thing by just cutting them to size if you don't want to take a straight edge to your flooring.

Initially, I just wrote the numbers in with the pencil, but after about a week, the numbers were almost gone. Instead of writing them in every weekend, I just went over to Home Depot and got the sticky house address numbers (which will probably need acetone or alcohol to get them off later, but...oh well!).

This has been lots of fun for Miss No-No and because it's neatly done, I don't feel like it's something I need to "take down" or get rid of if we have someone over. We have had this in our house for about 4 months now and it's in a high traffic area (our hallway!) and it's not showing any signs of wear.

The whole thing took me about 25 or 30 minutes to lay out, stick the tape down, and trim it up - - and it was TOTALLY worth it!!

See where I party!

What fun things are you putting in your house?

More later!! (:

Halloween Crafts

I found this idea on Pinterest, but loved it instantly:

It's so awesome and great for little ones. The skeleton's body is made out of Qtips (some cut and some whole) and then I drew the face and Miss No-No glued it on. We hung it up in a window next to our front door so that anyone coming to visit will see it on their way in!

It took about as long to do as it took to get all the supplies, but my little one loved it anyways!!

Here's what you need:

• 19 Qtips
• Black construction paper or card stock
• Glue
• White paper (to draw the skeleton's head)

Here's a great set of directions that you can use (if you need them)! Their skeleton looks better than ours, but I doubt they have a 4 year old doing their crafts!!

What fun things have you made?

More later! :)

A Week of Menus

I took Miss No-No and my 3yo cousin to see Cars2 last weekend! They loved it! :) To get them "ready", I made these goodie bags for them:

I also added snacks and candy braclets, silly bands, and the key chains that I told them went to Lightning McQueen's car :) I made each thunderbolt out of construction paper and then tied an old key to each one. For the bags, I printed out the picture (from Family Fun Magazine) and then cut it out and put it on the front of each (lunch-sized) paper bag. I put their names on both the key chains and the bags.

I thought that the keys were a great idea - - unfortunately, my little ones didn't understand why they were getting the key to the car and they kept wanting to know where the car was!!! But, they liked everything else in the bags!!!

I really am over-run with zucchini! I think that when my mom planted her zucchini plants, she didn't realize how MUCH zucchini she was going to end up with... And, secretly (shhhhh!), I think that she is pawning it off on me because she doesn't have anyone else who will take it...

Thanks to all your comments last week about what YOU do with extra zucchini! :)

This is what we are eating this week:

Monday
Zuke Boats
Spinach Salad
Brown Rice (or Couscous)

Tuesday
Baked Tofu
Zucchini "pasta"
Garlic Bread

Wednesday
Cuke Rounds with "Tuna" salad topping
Couscous

Thursday
Garden Burgers
Zucchini Slaw

Friday
Left over Bonanza
Make-your-own Salad

Saturday
Out for dinner

Sunday
Pasta Dinner
Salad
Rosemary Foccacia

Notes:

1. Zucchini (Zuke) Boats were something that I was going to make last week, but never got around to....So we will be having it this week! I pre-cooked the zuke shells / boats and the filling. When it's time to make dinner, I will pull everything out of the fridge, stuff the shells, put breadcrumbs on top and toast in the oven for about 10 mins, take out add (vegan) cheese and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes - and - waalaaa! dinner's done!

2. Baked Tofu: easy recipe! I cooked the tofu right after I took the zukes out of the oven and let them go for about 45 minutes (while I got the dinner we were eating last night served up and eaten), so that's ready for dinner on Tuesday. When I am ready to make dinner, I will pull that out of the fridge, put it under the broiler on low to heat up while I make the couscous. For the zuke pasta: I will use a spiralizer (or you could use a mandolin or veggie peeler) to make long pasta-like shapes and will put that on a baking sheet in the oven (with the tofu) to dry it out a little bit. You can top with (vegan) butter and some salt and pepper and maybe a little (vegan) cheese - or you can hide the "noodles" with tomato sauce. After the pasta dries out in the oven, it has more of a chewy, pasta-like consistency.

3. Cuke Rounds are like little appetizers at a fancy party. Cut the cukes into slices about 1/4" - 1/2" thick and using a sharp knife, take out a little section around the seeds (just pull out a little to make a depression - or you could cut all the way through, but leave the round intact - it's like a plate for the "tuna" salad). For the "tuna" salad: Take garbanzo beans (if canned, remove from can and rinse), put beans in a microwave safe bowl, cover with water and heat on 70% power for approximately 90 seconds. The beans should be very soft. Using either a knife or food processor, finely chop beans until they resemble tuna flakes. Add in some diced celery, some (vegan) mayo, a little bit of mustard, some salt and pepper to taste, a pinch or two of dried dill, and (optional) some kelp or dulse flakes (sold at Whole Foods or another health food store; this will give the "tuna" a more fishy taste). Mix to desired consistency and, using a teaspoon, mound a bit on top of each cuke round. It's perfect finger food for little ones!!

Thanks to everyone who left comments last week about what they do with extra zucchini!! I had been thinking about using the zukes to make "fake apple" muffins (subbing in zukes for apples), however two people suggested that I use extra zucchini to make chocolate brownies or zucchini chocolate cake!!! What?!?!??! I never thought of that, but you know now I.have.to.try.it!!! It sounds like a delicious, HEALTHY indulgence. And, for the sake of my readers, I will happily be your guinea pig and try it out and let you know how it is. It will be hard for me to suffer through baking and TASTING chocolate muffins and chocolate cake, but I will do it for you all. :) Overall, this makes me glad that I didn't use a lot of the zukes this weekend to make zucchini bread - which was my original intention but I ran out of time to make them last night.
Someone else suggested grilling the zukes - which I ended up doing on Friday night and putting over salad. MMMMMmmmmmm.

Thanks guys for your comments, keep 'em coming!!

I am hoping to link up to some of these parties this week :)

Happy Eating!

More later! :)

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Last Minute Easter Craft

One great last minute Easter craft: My little one was bored today so to occupy her for awhile we did the Easter Bunny Shoe Topper craft from Family Fun Magazine. So simple, so easy, and I didn't even have to leave the house for supplies! Yay!

Take one piece of craft felt and cut out two 3 x 5 inch rectangles. Using pinking shears, cut out a bunny face 'profile' to use as your base. Using another color of felt, cut out shapes to make the inside of the ears. Use craft glue and glue on googly eyes; Cut two slits (horizontally, about 1/2" long and about 1/2" apart) to make the nose; Pull a piece of ribbon through the slits (with the excess ribbon coming out of the back of the bunny face) to create the nose; Glue on two small pom-poms for the bunny cheeks; Add the smile and whiskers with a black sharpie.

Tie on to shoelaces or shoes (Velcro straps in our case!). And let your little one emulate the Easter Bunny's hopping. :)

Happy Easter!!! :)

More later!  :)

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Stay at Home Mom Try-Out

Got a good dose last week of what it would be like to be a SAHM! Miss M's school was closed on Thursday and Friday (and Monday!) so I took the days off to be with her. :) We had a lot of fun - We did crafts from FamilyFun.com on Thursday, so that meant a trip to the craft store....Unfortunately, we spent so much time there and looked at so many things that at some point (!) she put some of her stuff down and I didn't notice until we got home - - but, no big deal, I improvised with what we had on hand and what do you know.....I really didn't need to buy any of that stuff anyways. I think she was just as happy and proud (!) with my made up versions (even though they weren't as beautiful as the website "finished" pictures) - she showed SN about five times what she made that day! We also did some sewing (she helped me pick out the patterns and the fabric) - - crazy sewing - - well, I did the sewing while Miss M cut up the scraps of fabric. At one point, I asked her if she wanted to go outside and play and she told me that she was okay, she was just going to sew some more! We ended up making Miss M a tank top, a pair of capri pants (a little too big, but she can either wear them next year, or wear them for a finger painting day), a cute sundress, and (I still have to finish the hem...) another cute, longer, sundress that she will be able to wear this weekend - - if I can get on it and get the hem finished. I also made myself a new bag - - it was ALL sewing ALL the time. Hahahhaa! We also spent some time at the library, went for a long walk, and made a pit stop at the grocery store and Target one day. It was very nice to not have to rush - - like I usually do - - and I noticed that Miss M enjoyed taking more time to look at things and touch things and talk about things! I will have to make a point to slow down more and let her have time to explore (even in the library or the grocery store!).... our trips were less like chores and more like fun when I was like that. On Friday, we took SN out to lunch, but ended up at the park - - which was a lot of fun for Miss M. On Saturday, she actually told me that she was ready for a nap, and then later that evening, told me she was ready for bed! WOW!!!! That hasn't happened since she was about a year old. Hahhaha. 

The whole thing was very nice and I am glad that I took the time off of work and spent it with just me and her!

More later!

:)

I love this place, I love this market

Had such a fun weekend. Cousin K. "met" Miss M for an afternoon of playing around. The girls just ran and ran and were so busy with absolutely NO down time at all. I spent a little bit of time playing with them and chasing them around the house, but mostly, they were just busy playing with each other. We didn't have any problems with them at all (except for when they decided, for some reason, to draw on each other's faces with marker!!!). They really seemed to enjoy each other's company. Don and Roxana came, too, of course and that was fun to see them and hang out with them without them being busy doing other stuff. :)
Sunday, I had all these ideas for stuff to do - - we could go to MOLAA (for their Family Sundays), go to the mall and ride the carousel, make a paper maiche type bowl (from something I saw in a Woman's Day magazine), do a handprint mold (from one of the many that I got when Miss M was born that I was too tired to even try to do when she was first born), or something fun like that. Miss M wanted to go to the mall and we were on our way there when I remembered the Farmers Market in the Marina on Sundays. So we had a change of plans and headed that way instead. I figured why be inside at the mall on such a beautiful day? It would be more fun to be outside, walking around, looking at all the food, right by the water - - and we could get some awesome tamales(!). When I told Miss M that there had been a change in plans, she was not very happy. But, I think once we had been at the Market for about 10 mins, she told me "I love this place, I love this market". Yeah!!!! We ended up only buying organic kale, celery, and corn on the cob (they have soooo much more organic food there than we used to have at our Signal Hill FM). We also shared a pineapple tamale (which I will probably not get again...I would have gotten back in line for another one, but it was too long). Miss M didn't like the tamale so much, but she did REALLY enjoy all the guys there with guitars. I think her favorite was the guy who was actually singing. He must make a lot of money doing that because it seems like every FM I go to in LB, he's there. We were there for quite awhile...they now have an adjoining craft fair that goes on, too. I didn't see a lot of actual buying and it looked like most people were there for the Farmers Market and then just walked down to the craft fair to look around (like us).
Afterwards we walked over to Whole Foods for lunch (even though our WF is small in comparison, having lunch there always reminds me of how much we enjoyed going to WF in Seattle, trying different things, and just sitting down and relaxing). We ended up sharing the Raw Kale Salad, Couscous, and this (deeelicious) Sesame Tofu. For desert, Miss M had a little baby cupcake that she completely ate (it was the perfect size). We walked down and looked at the boats for awhile and then headed off to Target to pick up some stuff really quick.
It was very nice and relaxing - and something different. For dinner, we were gonna head over to Ninos on Atlantic, but (thank gawd) I got on yelp and looked it over - - we decided to just be safe and go to CPK in the Marina instead since they are so kid friendly. However, I guess we should have tried somewhere new since Miss M fell asleep on the way to the restaurant and didn't wake up again until we got home!!! :)
More later! :)

Snap, Krackle - Full Belly

What a wonderful way to start my day - - Miss M got to bed early last night - so we ALL got to bed early - aaahhhhhh!
I was getting ready for work this morning and she came around the corner, saw me, and said - Morning, Mommy. So beautiful and such a great way to start the day.
She had fun yesterday afternoon - making rice krispy treats for the first time!! She got to pour stuff in bowls, mix stuff up, and do some taste tests! I think that there was too much tasting - she never ate dinner! :( But, she did have fun!
More later!
:)

Halloween Parade 2009

Went to Miss M's Halloween Parade at school today - lots of fun...almost all the kids were dressed up! and there were almost as many parents as there were kids! Cool because last year at her old school, I think that there was one other parent there besides me... Very nice.
I dressed her up as a princess - I actually made the big puffy skirt and the hat myself (thanks to familyfun.com) last night!! sheesh - won't do that again - I was actually trying to fit it to her this morning because my guess-timate about her size was off a little bit - thank goodness for safety pins - I saw one other girl had them on her costume too!). She liked it -yeah!- but, not until it was finished. I kept explaining to her how it was going to go together, but I guess she couldn't see it.... Funny, once we got to school, she kept telling me -I need my one - and I couldn't figure it out...her one?...and then I got it - her WAND! Duh! I forgot it! what princess doesn't have a wand???? ;)
Next year, I really will try to start making her costume in the beginning of October just so this doesn't happen again. I also had to make little goodie bags for all the kids (thank goodness for WalMart, which makes me feel better about waiting until the last minute, because that place was MOBBED). I went all out - little stamps, markers, halloween rings, raisins, temporary tattoos and bubbles. Little did I know that just about every other parent was making goodie bags too!! I signed up on the list, but maybe I did it too late and no one noticed or something...I got the feeling that every holiday the other parents do this kind of stuff for all the kids (so - so - so nice - I feel like every week something (like this) that I see makes me happier and happier that we moved her to this new school).
Haven't decided what we are doing tomorrow....my parents want me up at their house so that Miss M can trick or treat, but I feel like I would rather keep her close since even if she DOES go out, it's gonna be early, and we are gonna be home early...no waiting until dark. And I worry about the whole conflict with trick or treating - - I can't imagine that she will come home with candy and really understand that I am gonna be throwing it all away - lol - sounds terrible, but it's the truth! My dad says that it would be fun for her to see all the other kids dressed up, and at first, I agreed with him, but the honest truth is she saw all that at school....I was thinking maybe the mall, but I know it will be crazy, so maybe the aquarium?? their special events are always fun for kids.... We will see!!!
More later! :)

Weekend of Fun

We had so much fun this weekend!
Saturday, we went to this chalk-drawing competition in Corona - really small, I think there were probably about 10 artists. But some of the stuff was sooooo good. Everything was almost finished by the time that we got there, so we were able to walk around and see what everyone had actually done (instead of walking around and wondering what the finished product would look like). But, there was this one guy there that wasn't quite finished yet. Miss M and I were watching him and she looked at me and said - I wanna draw with him. Hahhahaa. They did have a little spot for kids to draw so we took her over there and spent most of the time there. She had a lot of fun, she did a lot of drawing and me and mom helped her.
Sunday morning, we went to Kmart to grab Miss M a life jacket and a fishing rod for next weekend. We got there early so it wasn't crowded and it was generally much nicer than shopping in WalMart - for all that says, I guess. But, she had fun picking out her own rod and life vest. They also were having some kind of Dora promotion and they had this blow up Dora doll next to the front door. Miss M said hello and good bye to it on the way out. Who knew Kmart could be so much fun?
In the evening, we went to the AOP New Member Night. It was nice because it wasn't that crowded (like ususal) and they had little craft stations. I think Miss M was probably a little bit young for the whole thing - they had stuff that you could touch, but she wasn't tall enough - and it didn't start until 6:30 which is a bit late for us to go out and start doing anything, but she did have fun. We got there right after they sent divers into the big tank at the end of the hall and she got to walk right up to the glass where the guy waved to her a bunch of times. She also got to make a little jellyfish project (with curly ribbon and a paper bowl with holes punched around the edge) and then we took her over to compare it to the real jellyfish, but then it was late and we had to book out of there. But, it was still fun and like I told SN, since we will only be new members this one year, we would never have gotten to go again.
Nice to get a new idea for craft projects at home. We will be making those jellyfish again - at home - in a couple of months!
More later!
:)