Showing posts with label Family Night. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Night. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Treat Sharing Thankful Tom Turkey

At Halloween most people are familiar with getting boo'd. Where you get left a treat, a poem and a ghost picture. You usually hang the ghost up and are instructed to create treats and do the same for someone one else. I know I didn't explain that well, but oh well. I thought it would be fun to do something similar in November.
Something that was one step above sharing treats. Something that showed others why you are grateful for them. So here is something very similar. Thankful Tom Turkey. You can still make treats and door bell ditch your neighbors, only this time you get to add at least one thing you are thankful about them. It could be that they mow your lawn when you are out of town, or you saw them picking up litter when walking down the street. Maybe they always have a smile on their face, or know everyone name. Maybe they have a beautiful flower bed you love or always treat your kids with kindness. Whatever the reason, share it with them. Share it with treats. Then encourage them to pass it along.

Here is the link to download and print one yourself:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pxzSSwwAptk4vVjOnS7f6lsVsvqhlf-3jEVl6_n6Q04/edit?usp=sharing
Happy November!

Friday, November 14, 2014

School Days Nostalgia


Who remembers the cafeteria peanut butter bars? I do, and I didn't even have school lunch very often. When I did I picked either a day where they had pizza or peanut butter bars. Can you imagine had the school put those on the same day, it would have been genius. School lunch sales would have hit all time highs. I decided my kids needed to enjoy a little Delicious nostalgia from my youth. I looked all over for the right recipe, and I think I found it at www.triedandtriedagain.blogspot.com. Not too hard, but would be just as delicious as I remember them being. I think I found it. It actually was a pretty easy and quick recipe. My kids even had a blast helping make them.
Lunchroom Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars 
1 1/2 C Flour
1¼ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Baking Soda
¾ C Butter -best if at room temp
¾ C Sugar
¾ C Brown Sugar
1 ½ tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 C Creamy Reduced Fat Skippy Peanut Butter (split )
2 Eggs
1 ½ C Quick Oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. 
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C Skippy peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.  
Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated.   Then, s tir in the oats.   Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet).   Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.   Cool for 10 minutes.

  


Frosting:
½ C Butter (1 stick) 
3 ½ C Powdered Sugar
2 T Cocoa
¼ C Milk 
1 tsp. Vanilla

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaining ¾ C Skippy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.



Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Then pick you could pick out one of your favorite books from elementary school and have story time with delicious peanut butter bars.  Perfect blast from the past. 



In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Hormel Foods as part of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. Throughout the year I’ll be receiving product, coupons, giveaways and promotions. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

How to Make Taco Night That Much Better!


Taco night is one of our favorites. Since I'm Hispanic I grew up eating and learning to cook a lot of Hispanic dishes. When we first got married the only thing I really knew how to cook was Mexican food. Then when we went out to eat my husband would ask, "What are you craving?" I would innocently respond, "Umm, Mexican food?!" So here are a few tips that can help make your taco dinner a little yummier.

First off don't skimp on the taco seasoning! I don't buy taco seasoning packets; I buy my taco seasoning in bulk from Costco. This way I am not limited to the amount in a packet and can add plenty of seasoning. 

 Another little thing that can add some flavor is cilantro. I like to cut up cilantro with some green onions and mix them up. This adds a little freshness to your taco. Cilantro is kind of my food cowbell so to speak, EVERYTHING could use a little more cilantro.
 Next use corn tortillas. I never buy those hard shell, pre-made taco shells, that is nada bueno en mi casa ;) My roomate and I use to fry ours in oil when we made them. I did that until I started having kids, now it is faster and healthier just to heat them up on my griddle.
Don't forget yummy fresh produce! I have so many tomatoes from my garden I have been thinking of as many meals as possible to add tomato too. Then I suggest a good salsa. Store bought or from scratch I like chunky and flavorful salsa. I was nervous when Hormel sent me some salsa to review because I am kind of picky about my salsas, but we loved it! You can even see the onions and cilantro chunks in it. And no cilantro in your salsa and fresh on top is not too much cilantro!!! Next time you can't decide what salsa to try give Herdez Salsa Casera a try.
 Last but not least a good taco needs avocado or guacamole. Where I live avocados aren't always cheap. I prefer fresh avocados, but when they aren't a good price or ripe then try Wholly Guacamole. My blogging friend Utah Moms Life says one of her kids only eats his tacos with cheese and Wholly Guacamole. She taught me that you can freeze them. So last time they were on sale I bought several and froze them. It was a nice addition one time when I was low on groceries and literally only had tortillas, meat and cheese on hand. I was so grateful to have those in my freezer to make dinner  that much better. Now Wholly Guacamole has these mini 100 calorie cups you buy as well. They are great for on the go or when just needed to add a little to your meal and not wanting a whole lot. I put 2 in the freezer I will let you know how those hold up in the freezer in the future.

So next time you make tacos for dinner try one of this little tweaks to enhance your taco's flavor. Enjoy!



In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Hormel Foods as part of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. Throughout the year I’ll be receiving product, coupons, giveaways and promotions. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own 

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Guest Post on Family Friendly Projects

With spring break around the corner I was wanting some new, fun and fresh ideas to keep the kids and family entertained. Luckily Mary Kremer is our gust writer today to give us some fun ways to keep our family busy. That's the key right? To not let them get too bored, otherwise it's usually Trouble (that's right, with a capital T ;) Mary   Kremer  loves traveling, writing, and learning. In here spare time, she enjoys bugging her husband with everything that's on her mind just as he's about to sleep.




As a proud aunt, I’ve been trying lately to come up with unique and fun activities I can try with 

my nieces and nephews. I see it as “parent training.” Plus, I love being their favorite. This year, 

I came up with a couple different options that I thought would be really fun to try out (and share 

with all of you). Here are a few potential ideas for you to try out as the weather gets nicer.



Paper Airplane Contest

This one was one of my favorites because, not only was it super easy to plan, but my nieces 

and nephews really loved it. All you need is paper, and a few different models of airplanes to 

try out. I googled some instructions for different paper airplanes so that I could try putting them 

together with the older kids. When we had put them together, we went to a nearby park and had 

a little contest. All you need here is some tape to mark the distance each plane goes. Or, you 

can make several markers and see who can get past the furthest one. 

I also thought it would be fun to make some giant airplanes from poster paper...Oh yeah. You 

better believe they loved that one. If you want to get even more creative, you can let your little 

ones color their airplanes before starting, so each one is personalized. You might also want to 

break up your contests by age, if you have a large age range.


Foam Swords

This one was my husband’s idea (I wasn't surprised), but it was actually quite a favorite of 

the kids. Now, you can go all out when it comes to foam swords, and use PVC pipe to make 

handles and everything, but all we ended up doing what giving everyone a foam noodle and a 

cardboard cutout for a sword. The results were fantastic. If you want to step it up, take everyone 

to a park and divide up into teams. Have everyone pick a fortress and then send them all to war. 

Also, make sure they know not to go for face shots, or you might find out the hard way that kids 

think their faces are indestructible.



Hatch some Chickens

I’ll admit, this one cost a lot more than the other activities, but it was SO FUN! And everyone 

had a blast. What you’ll need to do this project is an incubator and some eggs. You can buy 

larger incubators, or you can do what we did and get a really small one that works for 2-3 

chicken eggs. We found one of those on Ebay for $30, and we bought the chicken eggs for 

about $4 each. 

This activity was also a bit longer than our other ones (say, oh, three weeks, instead of an 

afternoon), but I can’t tell you how much fun it was. Our nieces and nephews called us at least 

every day for an update, and we even decided to send out photo updates by phone and email 

to their parents every day. Taking care of the eggs was pretty basic. I called a local incubating 

company for tips (shout out to Incubator Warehouse for all their help), and was surprised out 

how simple the whole process was. And, as adorable as it was watching those fluffy little chicks 

come out, it was nothing to the faces of those adorable kids.

 I think I’d like to try this activity in conjunction with Easter, as it seems like there are a 

lot of great parallels to draw. Either way, it was a great activity to try at any time of the year, and 

one we’ll definitely repeat.




Thanks Mary for those fun idea's. I have actually wanted chickens my self. Hopefully soon we will finish our fence so I can get some. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

My Top 5 Favorite Valentines Movies for the Family

Today I am sharing my top 5 favorite shows to watch with my family around Valentines day. If you want some suggestions for just you and your husband that aren't on most people's romance favorites make sure to read yesterday's posting.

5. Up

How cute is the couple in this movie? It's rare for Disney to keep both parents alive till old age, even though the wife dies in the first 10 minutes. technically they lived a long happy life.  Usually Disney has single parents or dead parents right of the bat. I love how much the husband is willing to go through just to fulfill his and his wife's life long dream. I also love in the end when he realized all the things him and his wife really had accomplished together. I think too often we forget how much the little things in life count and can mean so much more than the big things.


4. Enchanted

Princesses, comedy, cartoon characters  and real life characters? Yup this is a perfect for my family. With only 1 boy and 3 girls, my son gets to laugh at the guy mocking love, and get the cool fight scenes, all while my girls get the gushy love stuff, big frilly dresses and other princess stuff. I like to see how many Disney Easter eggs my kids can spot in this movie when I watch it. Here is a little slide show I made of a few of them, but this movie is loaded with them.


3. Winnie the Pooh A Valentine For You
Winnie the Pooh is one of my favorite shows from my childhood. It's not something my kids like to watch too often, but every once in a while (like on Valentines Day) they'll sit through one with me. It's just a fun cute movie to sit and watch while the kids load up on the treats from school. It's fun for me to see all the fun personalities of the characters I so fondly remember.
2. Gnomeo and Juliet
What's Valentines Day with out Romeo and Juliet? Gnomeo and Juliet is a great introduction to the Shakespeare classic. Only this one has a much happier ending. I love the ninja scene where she sneaks out wearing a black sock.  I also love when the best friend is watching the person buying the new lawn mower, "Not the kitty clippers." 
Want to make this into a fun movie night? Here is the link to download and print 13 fun coloring and activity pages. http://www.gnomeoandjuliet.com/main/activities/flash/activityPack/int/pdfs/printables.pdf
1. Mulan
If you read my list of favorite movies for moms and dads this one shouldn't be that surprising. There's a love a story, but not the usual love at first sight lets get married Disney movie. Muln shows that she is more than just beautiful. She's smart, brave, honorable and besides "You don't meet a girl like that every dynasty."
I mentioned earlier that few Disney movies have both parents, alive, well, and competent through the whole movie. This is one of the few I can think of.  I love the history and culture in this movie. I also can't help but dance and sing along with all the great songs in Mulan. This is my all time favorite Disney movie and Disney princess. This is my kind of love story.
Here is a link to throw a Mulan movie night party. You can print and make a Mulan paper doll, make a sweet twist on Mulan's smiley face breakfast and make cute panda cupcakes.
Bonus-
The Princess Bride
I thought I would try something new this year. My kids are getting older and I thought maybe they were ready for a movie like this classic. Sure enough I was right, they loved it. Well at least the parts they watched and didn't ask a million questions through.
There were 3 scenes that were questionable with kids. One was the scene with the rodents of unusual size (ROUS's.) That freaked the kids out a bit, till I told them they were actors in costumes, then they laughed. However his bloody shoulder after the fact made them cringe. The second scene I thought would freak them out was when Wesley is in the pit of despair being tortured. Again they just laughed, they thought it was funny. At the end where Inigo Montoya finally fights the 6 fingered man was too much for them. The knife being thrown, then being stabbed and then ending in his death with  an obvious swear word. My son looked at me and said, "Mom is that a..." I just interrupted, "Yes, yes it is." (If you can't tell we don't swear in our home and my family are naïve to cuss words.) Really it was just 2 scenes with a little blood, but really not that bad.
The rest was great. My son loved the little boy who interrupted the story, cause it was almost the exact reactions from him almost mirroring the boy played by Fred Savage. He loved the fighting, catch phrases, and twists in the plot. My girls loved the princess, and silly saying they actually understood.
The fun part was for me to watch it again, and pick up on little things, or sayings that may have gone over my head when I was younger. I actually watched it again the next night just my husband and I.
If your family isn't all kids under the age of 6-8ish than this is a fun Valentines movie recommendation from me. If you have all tiny tots, then I recommend making it a date night and saving it for a few years.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Year of Firsts- Family Game Night




The other day I was watching a show and it hit me, I had never played Hungry Hippos with my kids! With my daughters birthday coming up I thought what a perfect gift for her. Then just a few hours after that thought a friend was cleaning out her house and had some things she was getting rid of. I decided to peek and see if there was anything we needed and there it was- Hungry Hippos. Free game of Hungry Hippos? Yes please! Not only was there that, there was one other classic game my kids have never played... Twister. I was so excited I couldn't even wait till my daughters birthday.  Well we played Hungry Hippos all day, and for Friday night, family night we played Twister.



 
 
The kids loved both the game and being the spinner. It was a fun way to reinforce left and right with our 5 year old. Especially when you get all twisted up like that. In the end it was a winner for my family. Now if I could just get them to fold it up and not have it out all the time.
 

 
What game from your childhood have your kids never played? Try browsing the game section and find something new. New games are a great way to add to your year of firsts. Maybe invite some friends over to enjoy a game night too. Tell them you'll have the food and they can bring something new to play. We love learning new games.
 

Queen of Chaos


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Valentines Cinnamon Hearts Popcorn Recipe

A little while ago my friend brought over this delicious popcorn to book club. I thought I'll just have a little bit, Wrong! I was hooked, It was surprisingly good. I've had cinnamon bears on my shopping list for a few weeks now and kept forgetting to get them. Last week I saw these cute heart shaped cinnamon bears and was so excited to finally make it.

It's really easy to make and would be so fun for a family night or date night with a cute love/Valentines movie.
 
Cinnamon Hearts Popcorn
 
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup Karo syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
  • 1 1/2 cups cinnamon hearts (or bears*)
  • 2 regular size bags light or plain microwave popcorn (or about 18 cups popped)

  •  
    * The original recipe chops the bears in half. I liked the hearts whole cause they were cuter, so you could do it either way.
     
    Pop the popcorn and dump in a large bowl. Make sure to pick out any un popped kernels (this is a great job for little helpers.)  Melt the butter, Karo syrup, and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and let boil for about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour over the popcorn and stir. Stir in the cinnamon bears and marshmallows.
     
    I boiled mine for closer to 4 minutes and it made the popcorn a little harder when it was all said and done. Next time around I want to stay closer to the 3 minute mark to make it more gooey.
    How easy is that? Thanks oneshetwoshe.com for this yummy recipe.