plastic bottle stamping

Pin It Kirsten's flower stamps:





Kirsten's sunshine stamps:



Finally a craft where my diet pepsi habit came in handy. Well, it's not really a habit, but a need. I have a one-year old and a two-year old, I NEED caffeine. They NEED me to have caffeine so I can be a nice mommy. Anyway, ever look on the bottom of a pop bottle? It looks just like a flower - perfect for stamping. This craft was super easy and Kirsten just loved it.

What you'll need

plastic pop bottles - I used 2 different sizes
paint
paper

Instructions:

1. pour some different colours of paint on plates
2. stamp the bottom of the pop bottle in the paint, and then stamp on your paper
3. turn your pop bottle over and use the pop cap to stamp the centres of your flowers (or suns) Pin It

mirror image butterflies

Pin It This craft is awesome. So easy and produces amazing results. It took us doing a few to get the butterfly pattern right, but once I figured out where to glob the paint on the paper we got these gorgeous butterflies. A few of them aren't exact mirror images because we used a lot of gel paint and the colours ran a bit while drying, but they still look great. Kirsten loved rubbing the paper to get the paint to spread. Here's the instructions and the results:

What you'll need:

paper
paint
googly eyes
glue
sharpie

Instructions:

1. fold piece of paper in half
2. unfold paper and place globs of paint on one of the folded sides
3. fold paper over again
4. rub the folded paper like crazy until all the paint is spread
5. open up your folded paper to reveal your masterpiece
6. draw on antennae with your sharpie and glue on some googly eyes.













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alphabet craft: E is for elephant

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Letter E: E is for elephant

What You'll Need:

•Gray foam sheet
•Googly eyes
•Glue

How to make the 'E' Elephant:

1.Trace and cut an uppercase 'E' out of the foam sheet.
2.Using the extra foam, cut out an ear and a trunk for the elephant.
3.Glue the elephant's trunk onto the top section of the letter 'E'.
4.Glue on the ear.
5.Add a googly eye to finish!

Idea from totallytots Pin It

prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and basil panini

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My sister bought me a fancy cuisinart panini press 2 years ago for Christmas and I absolutely love it! I'm always looking for new panini recipes and this one is fantastic. Probably the best panini I've had. It's so easy and delicious, I can't wait to make it again. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
8 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
10 ounces thinly sliced whole-milk mozzarella cheese
12 tomato slices
12 large fresh basil leaves
1 loaf ciabatta bread, halved horizontally and sliced thinly


Preparation

Whisk olive oil, vinegar, and garlic in small bowl to blend; season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Layer prosciutto, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil over bottom of bread. Drizzle lightly with dressing, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Press top of bread over.

Prepare grill. Grill sandwiches until bread is golden brown and cheese melts, pressing occasionally to compact with large spatula, about 5 minutes per side.

From bon appetit via epicurious Pin It

backyard fun

Pin It We took the kids outside toys out yesterday. We went out yesterday afternoon and the kids were so excited. Kirsten absolutely adores the sandbox. I think she would play in it 24 hours a day if we let her. Here's a few pics from yesterday.











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alphabet craft: D is for dinosaur

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Letter D: D is for Dinosaur

What You'll Need

•Green foam sheet - 2 different colours
•Googly eyes
•Glue

To Make the Dinosaur

1.Trace and cut an uppercase 'D' out of the foam sheet.
2.Using the extra foam, cut out several triangles for the dinosaurs back.
3.Cut out four rectangles to use as 'legs', an oval for his head, a neck and a tail.
4.Glue the legs, tail and neck onto the back of the letter 'D'.
5.Flip the dinosaur over and add his head, scales and eye.

Idea from totallytots Pin It

Let's celebrate Earth Day!

Pin It Today is Earth Day. Today is a perfect day to think about what you're already doing to help preserve the earth and what more you could be doing. James and I are fairly environmentally conscious but I know there is so much more we can do. It's so important to make these changes so we can protect the planet for our children and future generations. My kids are still too young to really understand what any of that means, but it doesn't mean that we couldn't do something special. We decided to make a handprint earth craft and have a special dessert of dirt and worm cups.

Craft: handprint earth

What you'll need:

paper plates
blue paint
green paint
glitter and glue (optional)

Instructions:

Paint the back of a paper plate blue. Allow to dry. Paint both of your child's hand (palms) with green paint and stamp on blue paper plate. Allow to dry. Then if you're like Kirsten and want a 'sparkly planet' put some glue on your paper plate and sprinkle with glitter/sparkles. Done!

Kirsten's sparkly handprint planet earth (she insisted on the glitter!)



Camden's handprint planet earth




Recipe: Dirt and worm cups

What you'll need:

2 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
15 OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
10 gummy worms

Make it:

POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Let stand 5 min.. Gently stir in whipped topping and 1/2 cup of the cookie crumbs.

SPOON into 10 (6- to 7-oz.) paper or plastic cups; top with remaining cookie crumbs.

REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Top with gummy worms just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator. Dirt Cups can also be served frozen. Prepare as directed; freeze 3 hours or until firm

Recipe from kraftrecipes.com





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alphabet craft: C is for crab

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Letter C: C is for crab

What You'll Need

•Red foam sheet
•Googly eyes
•Glue

1.Trace and cut an uppercase 'C' out of the foam sheet.
2.Cut out two 'claws' for your crab, cut out four long, skinny rectangles to use as 'arms' and eye extenders for the crab.
4.Glue the legs and eye extenders onto the back of the letter 'C'.
5.Flip the crab over and add the eyes and the claws

Idea from totallytots Pin It

fruit loops necklace

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Today for fun we made fruit loop necklaces (or froot loops I guess they're called). I tried to find fruity cheerios in the store because I think they're a wee bit healthier, but I couldn't find any. Maybe they're only sold in the States? I don't know. Fruit loops are definitely a rare treat in our house because I don't buy sugary cereals (I know, I'm mean). Kirsten thoroughly enjoyed her necklace though! These are so easy to make and yummy too! Kirsten already knows all her colours and has for a while, but this would be a great activity to help little ones learn colours. We did ours in a colour pattern, which helped Kirsten learn about patterns/order.

Items required:

Fruit loops cereal or fruity cheerios
yarn

Cut a piece of yarn long enough for a necklace. Tie a large knot at one end to prevent the cereal from sliding off. Thread the cereal onto the necklace. Tie together when done. Eat! Pin It

cajun shrimp pasta in cream sauce

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This is delicious. Probably the best shrimp pasta I make. The whole family loves this dish and I make it quite often.

Ingredients:

1/2 - 3/4 box of linguine, cooked al dente
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled/deveined
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/2 small onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. flour
1 cup half and half
Cajun seasoning - I use clubhouse cajun seasoning and it's fantastic
salt, pepper to taste

Heat the butter over medium heat in a skillet. Sprinkle the shrimp liberally with Cajun seasoning, and then saute in the pan for 1 minute per side (you are not cooking it through here). Remove with a slotted spoon.

To the skillet, add the onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. Saute until the vegetables are tender. Add the flour and stir it for a minute or two, to cook off its rawness. Add the half and half and stir, thickening. Put the shrimp back into the skillet to cook through. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and more Cajun seasoning, if desired). Toss with hot pasta and serve.

Recipe adapted from Elly Says Opa Pin It

alphabet craft: B is for bumblebee

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Letter B: B is for bumblebee:

What You'll Need:

•Yellow foam sheet
•Black sharpie or marker
•White foam sheet
•Googly eye
•Black foam sheet
•Glue

Instructions:

1.Cut an uppercase 'B' out of the yellow foam sheet.
2.Cut out two wings from your white foam sheet.
3.Cut 2 antenna from the black foam sheet.
4.Using a black marker, draw lines across your yellow B
5.Glue on the googly eye, antenna and wings.

Idea from totallytots Pin It

alphabet craft: A is for alligator

Pin It We're going to start doing weekly alphabet crafts. Kirsten knows her whole ABC song and has for a long time, but we're working on letter recognition. We're going to make a few alphabet letter crafts each week. She loves this project.

Letter A - A is for alligator



What You'll Need:

•Green foam
•White foam
•Googly eyes
•Glue

Instructions:

1.Cut an uppercase 'A' out of the green foam sheet. Also cut two triangles from the green foam to use for the eyes.

2.Cut 5 small triangles out of the white foam to use as teeth for the alligator.

3.Turn the 'A' onto its side and glue the green triangles to the 'A' so that they look like eyes popping up.

4.Glue googly eyes onto the the green triangles.

5.Glue the white foam teeth to your alligator and enjoy!

Idea from totallytots Pin It

meyer lemon yogurt cake

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If you've never had a meyer lemon, you're missing out. I had heard of these so called "meyer lemons" on so many cooking blogs, but I had never seen them at the grocery store. I assumed they were just another more exotic fruit that I would never get my little hands on up here in the good ole' Sault. Well, to my surprise while shopping at Rome's last week, I came across bags of meyer lemons. I couldn't believe my eyes and just had to pick up a bag. If you don't know what a meyer lemon is, it's said to be a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange. It looks just like a lemon from the outside, but tastes much sweeter. They are a real treat, and not in season for very long. If you ever happen to come across these rare finds in the grocery store, pick them up. They're good! I had a hard time trying to decide what to make with these little gems, but ultimately decided on this lemon yogurt cake. The original recipe uses just regular lemons, so if you can't find meyer lemons, regular ones are also great. This cake was so moist and delicious. Pure heaven. Here's the recipe (note: If you don't have meyer lemons, this recipe is still fabulous with regular lemons).

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated meyer lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean (mine took 60 minutes).

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake Pin It

Hi, my name is Jill and I'm a Gleek.

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I am so excited that Glee is starting again tonight after a very long hiatus! It is THE BEST show on TV in my opinion. If you don't already watch it, you should. It's not only hilarious, but the music is great too. I've downloaded most of their songs onto my Ipod. Watch it tonight - 9:30 on FOX. Do it. Pin It

craft: cherry blossom branch

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Another spring craft. I absolutely adore cherry blossoms so I couldn't resist doing this craft with Kirsten. It actually looks amazing, you'd never guess it was a preschool art project. I love it's 3D effect. Here's what you'll need:

brown or black paint - watered down with equal parts paint to water
straw
paper or canvas
pink tissue paper
glue

Mix your paint with equal parts water. Put a glob on one side of your canvas. Using the straw, blow the paint/water mixture so it starts branching out. You can do as little or as much as you want - we went a little overboard, but I think it looks great. Allow paint to dry. Cut your pink tissue paper into small squares. Crumple up the small squares (this was Kirsten's favourite part) and glue onto branches. Done!

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random Kirsten

Pin It And now some pictures of the little lady. I can't believe she's turning 3 at the end of next month. Where does the time go??? She is such a sweet little girl and she loves to help her mommy. I love both my babies so much.

Having some fun at supper time:











Having fun at the park:

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random Camden

Pin It Say that title 5 times fast! Here's some random photos of my little man taken recently. He's getting so big. Such a cutie.

Cam after his nap with his favourite green blankie. He will NOT sleep without it!





Cam after supper in his highchair.



A blurry picture from the park, but I still love it!

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craft: thumbprint/handprint spring blossom tree

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Around here we have crab apple trees that get the most beautiful pink blossoms in the Spring. It's probably one of my most favourite things about Spring (besides all the snow melting!). We decided to make our own this week as a way to welcome Spring. First I painted Kirsten's palm and midway down her forearm with brown paint. Stamp on paper (or canvas like us). This serves as the tree trunk and branches. Next take several shades of pink paint and stamp little thumbprint "blossoms" all over the tree. This is so cute and I can't wait to do this same craft again the in Fall with colours like red, orange, yellow, etc. Beautiful.

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what to do with leftover easter eggs

Pin It So we dyed 12 pretty easter eggs, but what do you do with them afterwards? Eat them! I found the cutest recipe for chickie eggs for the kids in The Manga Cookbook. So simple and so adorable. The recipe actually called for black sesame seeds for the eyes. I didn't have any and I didn't want to buy them just for this so I substituted with the only little black thing I could find in my cupboards - chocolate sprinkles, lol! James and I just had egg salad sandwiches, but fancied them up a bit with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and onion. I like my egg salad pretty plain, just adding mayo, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I served them on delicious ciabatta buns. Pretty yummy.

Chickie eggs from The Manga Cookbook

1 hard-boiled egg, cut in half
1 carrot, slice out a small triangle for nose
2 black sesame seeds for eyes (or chocolate sprinkles if you're me!)



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