Chores for toddlers...they can help out too!

I don't want to sound like a 'slave driver' but we have started to do chores each day in our house.  We have a Chore Jar that the kids pick a stick out of.  These are some of the things that are on the sticks and I have two of each because there are not a lot of things a 4 year old and 2 year can do.

Dust

Clean kitchen floor

Help clean bathroom

Make Bed

Kids choice

Mom's choice

Day off

I got the great Printable from HERE but decided that most of the chores listed were not toddler friendly and just printed the blank ones and made my own!

The kids actually love helping out and it gets me to clean everyday!  Also they each have their own laundry basket (name written in the bottom) and help to sort the laundry.  This again gets them helping and makes folding/putting the laundry away go faster for me! 

Kids Play: Puddles, Cars, Washable Markers, and MORE

This is so simple but for some reason it really holds Parker's attention when I am working in the kitchen.  Just pour little puddles of water here and there on the counter and let them drive cars and trucks around...making tracks and splashing through puddles.

This is, of course, if you live in the Midwest and it is too cold to go do this on the driveway for months on end!

Take it a step further and let them color on them with washable markers, like brown for mud, and then let them give it a car wash.

Then if you are REALLY brave you can put some piles of 'snow' out, using foam soap or shaving cream.  Foam soap really works good, and hey, you are getting a clean countertop out of it, right?

Or, on second though, do all of the above in the bathtub :)  Parker has spent many hours playing in the bathtub with a bin of shaving cream and trucks.  Avalanches and blizzards and snow everywhere!
Speaking of snow...You can also set a bin of real snow next to the bathtub.  Again, the possibilities,,,!

Anyway, back to the counter-top.  You MIGHT even get a whole meal cooked while your child is occupied. At least until your husband comes in and puts an end to all the fun :)

Use a Branch and Sheet for your Curtains

In our room, our window is our 'headboard'.  We live in the woods, and in keeping with that theme I used a branch for the curtain rod, and just a plain white sheet for the swag.  Plain flat sheets at Wal-mart are just a few dollars, and the branch was free!

You could spray paint your branch white and use a bright blue sheet or another color for a totally different look.  In fact, I might do that in our other rooms, now that I think about it!

Update Your Old Flour and Sugar Canisters

I am a little bit obsessed with chalkboard paint these days!  I used to throw away EVERYTHING...In fact, I am the opposite of a pack rat, I throw away too much stuff.  But since I discovered Pinterest, and all the uses for spray paint and chalkboard paint, suddenly I am seeing the potential in everything from an old Folgers container to my Snapple bottle :)  It seems everything can be re-made using either spray paint and/or chalkboard paint!
Anyway, I was getting a little tired of my old, plain IKEA flour and sugar canisters, so I tried this idea:  Tape off a square, paint with chalkboard paint.  Let dry.  Apply another coat.  Remove tape, and you have this:
BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Homemade Vanilla

I made my own vanilla!  I've always wanted to because it is supposed to be so much cheaper and so much BETTER tasting that the store bought stuff.  It was SO easy.  All you need is vanilla beans and vodka.  You make a slit through the vanilla bean, and put in a jar with the vodka.  I used 3 vanilla beans per cup of vodka.  Then you have to let it sit about 4 months until it is ready.  The best part, the beans never go bad, so as you use up your vanilla you can keep topping off your bottle with vodka.  I made a lot, and when the 4 months is up, I plan to divide it up into pretty bottles, label with pretty labels, and give out to family and friends :)

This is just 2 of the 5 jars I made (I ordered the vanilla beans through Amazon, and had to use them all of course!) The hard part now is waiting the 4 months!

Farm play sets

Along with the construction site below, we also created a farm set for Parker.  Like the construction site, it is just a piece of plywood with 2x4's for the sides, then we used mainly dollar store stuff and toys we had on hand to create the rest of it.  Parker was very into John Deere when he was younger, so we have quite a collection.  He likes to plow the fields and take care of the animals.  Also pictured below is a farm play set mat, which ABBY made.  It has fields, a stream a pond, and more.  I couldn't find all the pieces for it right now, but again, we looked for cheap clearance finds, took apart plants to harvest, and animals from the dollar store.

We used PVC pipe for the silos, and Lincoln logs for the animal pens:

And here, we used a peg board and poked zip ties up through the holes from the bottom:

This was all in much better shape a few years ago.  We bought real dried corn and real hay for him to play with on it, and 2 years later after a lot of play, it is showing it's age! 

Easy and Delicious Oatmeal and Flax Seed Bread

I found this recipe online, but added flax seed and changed a few other things to make it healthier.  It is SO good and easy.  I always throw my ingredients in the bread maker and put it on the dough setting, and then take it out after it is mixed up, let it rise one more time, and then bake it in my oven.  I much prefer the crust on bread that is baked in my over versus the bread maker, but I like the convenience of the bread maker doing my mixing for me!  The best of both worlds!

By the way, this bread is delicious with the honey butter I posted about earlier.

Ingredients: 1 Cup Water
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/4 Cup Honey
1 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup rolled Oats
2 1/3 Cup bread flour (I use regular flour or half whole wheat, half white)
1/4 Cup Flax seeds
1 tsp active dry yeast

Throw all ingredients in your bread maker, set it on dough setting.  When it beeps, put it in a greased loaf pan, cover with a towel, and let rise until loaf sized.  bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Boys Room Play Construction Site Under Bunk Bed

Jeremy made this for Parker when several years ago and it has gotten more use than anything else.  We bought a used bunk bed from IKEA with the open area underneath.  Using a piece of plywood and 2x8's, we made an enclosed area which we filled with used scrap building pieces like pvc pipe, gutters, cardboard, etc, and filled it up with bags of rocks from the dollar store, and lots of construction vehicles, like diggers, loaders, skid steers, dump trucks, etc.  Occasionally we switch things up, like putting in sticks for logs, and then he uses his skidder and logging vehicles.  The possibilities are ENDLESS.  Also, you can't see it in the picture, but there is a garage with hinged doors for Parker to store his vehicles in!

Update on DIY decorative balls

I just thought I would quick post a couple of pictures of the finished DIY decorative balls that we did.  I decided to leave mine natural right now because they are in a white basket and I did not have the color of spray paint that I wanted to use. 

I can't wait to do another project this week....We are home from vacation too so we should have some more kids activities to post soon!!

Check out the Kids Activities Tab

Check out the Kids Activities Tab at the top of this page.  Sometimes Abby posts projects she does with her kids under that tab, and there are some great ideas to keep kids occupied in the house. 

DIY Pretty Tea Light Holders

Okay, Abby is on vacation right now, and she has all the before and after pictures on her camera, so I am going to just start this post and she can finish it when she gets back (thanks Abby :)).  This was our first real Thursday project.  We hit some thrift stores in the morning and found some various jars and bottles for about a quarter each.  We then brought them home, and wrapped them in yarn and spray-painted white.  Then you take off the yarn, and this is what you have:

Abby's turned out better than mine I think, so watch for her pictures to come.  Oh, and this idea came from Pinterest and now I need to figure out how to add the link.  If I don't get that up today maybe Abby can do that too??? :)


Thanks Janell for getting this going!!  It was one of those posts I kept meaning to do but needed to get the pictures downloaded.  Well, here are the step by step pictures of what we did and what mine look like!

Step 1:  We put tape around the inside so the spray paint would not get in there and to anchor the yarn

Step 2  Wrap the sting around tightly so it stays in place

Step 3 Spray paint and wait to dray (buy the fast drying stuff because if you are like us we can't wait to see what it looks like!!)

Finished product...I used all the same style glasses


Hope you enjoy and try this out sometime...it is SO CHEAP to do and adds a nice touch to a table or mantle!

Here is the PIN for the idea!!

Easy and DELISH honey butter

This honey butter is so good on fresh rolls, bagels, or any homemade bread.  Makes a great hostess gift in a pretty jar!  My family likes it on homemade bread for breakfast.

In a saucepan over medium heat combine 1 cup of honey, 1 cup of heavy cream, and 1 cup of sugar.  Stir continuously for a few minutes until combined well and all sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil for just a minute, then shut off the heat and add 2 sticks of butter (cut into chunks) and 1 tsp vanilla.  Stir until butter is all melted and combined, then let cool and pour into a jar.  Enjoy!

Grilled cheese roll-ups

Today we did our grilled cheese a bit differently!  I got it from this PIN.  Thank you Care's Kitchen for the idea!  The kids loved them and I did too :)

Cut the crust off of the bread and roll it out.  Put a slice of cheese on top

Roll them up

cook in some melted butter

Painting with Sweetened condensed milk

While doing DIY decorative balls today we had the kids doing some painting. I took a can of sweetened condensed and put it into ice cube trays and then added food coloring. The paint is sticky and thick. It was fun for the kids because it was a different texture and because it was shiney. Some of the pictures got a bit thick and are still drying (8 hours later). But the ones that have dried are really cool. Here is the PIN where the idea came from!

 

 

Thursday Project: DIY decorative balls

Well we got together this morning to do one of those things that you say 'why didn't I think of this?'  We took Styrofoam balls, a hemp or twine like rope and a glue gun.  Simple right?  The idea came from this PIN.  Basically you start wrapping the rope around the ball and glue as you go.  Here are a few photos!

So I would like to say we had time to get them all made and even spray painted, but that is not the case.  Kids painting,  potty training and a baby pretty much kept one of us busy the whole time so we took turns actually doing the project.  But from the pictures you get the idea of what we were doing.  I  (Abby) might leave mine natural looking or spray paint with a cream or bluish color. 

So that is it!  Simple this week but better then going out and spending up to $20 on decorative balls at Target.  Check out Kid Activities  to see the painting with condensed milk that our kiddos did today!

Light Strawberry Cupcakes

So this is my second cupcake post, which probably tells you a lot about me.  These are pretty much the opposite of the Salty Carmel cupcakes though.  I got the idea from this pin on Pinterest.  You buy a strawberry boxed cake mix and a can of diet 7-up.  Mix the two and bake as directed.  I found that it made less cupcakes (about 18) instead of the normal 24.  I put some whipped cream on top and then had a tea party with the kids!  I promise there will be a more interesting post tomorrow.  Janell and I are getting together to do a project and the kids will be doing some painting!

English Muffin bread

I spend much of my day in my kitchen with my kiddos doing a project and cooking.  If I have one weakness it is breads and sweets!  Today we tried a recipe from One Good Thing by Jillee.  English muffin bread.  This was so easy!!  It is ingredients that I always have on hand and you just dump them all in at one time...it doesn't get much easier than that with bread making!  I did cut the recipe in half because if it didn't turn out I didn't want 4 loaves.  But it did turn out and next time I will be making the full batch and either freezing it or giving it to friends!

You can click  HERE to get the recipe

While it was just lovely to eat warm out of the oven with a bit of honey butter we did use it to make french toast for dinner and it was also very good!  AND PLEASE SHARE ANY OTHER GREAT BREAD RECIPES THAT YOU HAVE!

'Mess' free painting

OK, we wanted to get a nice picture of all of our kids sitting and doing one of the wonderful activities that we found to put on the blog...so  Here is the project!

The bags before they started to play with them

The fun begins!

We did not use paint, but we did plastic bags with shaving cream and food coloring.  We put two colors in each bag so they could see what color it became.  We of course did not tape ours down and would strongly recommend, especially if you have little ones, to Tape the bag DOWN!  We had a bit of shaving cream and food coloring spilling out as they got squished around but they still had fun!

Salty Carmel cupcakes....

Yum, yum....that is what I said when I decided to make salty Carmel cupcakes.  After searching for a great recipe I decided on a brown sugar cupcake with a Carmel filling and salty Carmel butter cream frosting!!  Here is the link for recipe I used.  I am not a big butter cream frosting fan so I think next time I will make a lighter whipped frosting....still good though!

http://pinterest.com/pin/51087776992853379/

cupcakes after filling was added

added the frosting

Repurpose old cabinet

Ok, here is another Habitat for humanity Restore find.  I also used a $4 cupboard door and painted it white and then painted the center with magnetic paint and chalkboard paint.  This is found just as you are going into the kitchen.  I may end up using it for meal planning too!  I have three more cabinet doors in the garage that I got for a total of $3.  I am not sure what I am going to do with them, but will post it when I am done!

Add caption

Displaying Kids' Artwork

Once again, still playing catch-up on here and so I don't have before and after pictures.  I have wanted a way to display my kids' artwork, other than on the fridge for a long time.  I got this idea in part from Abby, and in part from various Pinterest postings out there.
I took an old sign that used to say SIMPLIFY on it, and painted it with chalkboard paint, then I just used ribbon and clothespins for the artwork.  I put it on the half-wall going down the staircase.

Weather

Learning about why it rains.....glass of water with shaving cream on top of it.  The shaving cream is the cloud.  Put food coloring on top and watching it rain!

Valentines day Fun!

This Valentines day we had fun making lots of homemade cards for family and friends.  There are so many ideas out there to do with paints (hands forming a heart, heart tree, hand and foot print flowers)
Here are just a few of the things we did.  Enjoy!

My baby boys hands to form a heart (His chubby little hands didn't work as well)