Stuffed Animal Dinner Party

If you have little kids, make dinner time a fun one tonight. Let them choose their favorite stuffed animals and invite them to dinner. It might seem silly, but getting involved in your child's imagination can go a long ways. Showing interest in the things they love and taking time to be a little silly with them can add up to a lifetime of wonderful memories they will cherish. Hosting a stuffed animal dinner might not seem like much, but trust me when I say: you might be surprised how much fun this can be for everyone involved.

Valentine Rewind -- A few ideas for next year

I realize Valentines Day has already come and gone, but here are a few ideas you can pocket for next year.

Since I live in a house full of guys, I went off of the old standby: "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." But rather than feed my boys unpleasant chalky candies or other sugary treats that would leave them scaling the walls, I took things in a different direction. Pictured up above is the bento lunch I made for my eldest son. Every day for lunch I make him a bento and for Valentines Day I wanted to make him a special themed lunch. Inspired by the look of classic candy hearts, I placed a heart shaped cookie cutter in the middle of the bento box and filled it with strawberry yogurt (you can use whatever kind you like but strawberry or blueberry make for a fun pink or purple color which fit the theme). Next, I cut out Xs and Os from some cantaloupe. On the side I made kiwi hearts and strawberry roses (you can find the tutorial for the roses here: http://www.joyzz.com/article-1514.html ). I was truly surprised by how touched my son was by this. As soon as he came to the table, he looked at it and exclaimed "Hearts and flowers? For Valentines Day? For me? Thank you mommy! I love it!!!" His response was even better that I had hoped for!

Next we made a rainbow heart pizza for dinner. I'm sorry to say I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of it before it was devoured, but the experience was wonderful! I cut up a rainbow of toppings: purple onion, pink Canadian bacon, orange bell pepper, yellow pineapple, fresh green spinach leaves, and red cherry tomatoes. I rolled out and shaped the pizza dough into a heart, added the sauce and cheese, and then allowed my boys to toss on as many rainbow toppings as they wanted. They were thrilled with all the different colors! After it was cooked up, the whole family enjoyed a delicious Valentines Day dinner of rainbow heart pizza.

Lastly, for arts & crafts day with our friends, I created a little Valentines Day game for the kids to play called "Catch the Love Bug." I had some spare material in my craft box so I whipped up these cute, only slightly creepy looking, love bugs. Using the biggest cooking pot I had (although you could use a basket, bowl, or bag) we had one kid move around the room with the pot while the other kids tried to toss the love bugs into it. They had a blast! In the end, they each got to choose one love bug to take home with them too. It was another fun way to celebrate Valentines Day without the need for copious amounts of sweets.

Chinese New Year -- Year of the Ram

For the past couple of years, my friend and I have put together some fun crafts for the kids to do in honor of the Chinese New Year. It's a fun way to learn about another culture and honor their celebrations. This year, since it is the year of the ram for the Chinese zodiac, we decided to make ram horns for the kids to wear! It was a simple craft that cost all of $3 dollars to do, it was quick to put together, and the kids had a blast wearing their ram horns all day long!

If you really want to go above and beyond, you could also read your kids the story of the Chinese zodiac while they work on making their ram horns.
Here is a link to the story: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear/ZodiacStory.aspx

Also, if you go to the grocery store and look in the Asian food section, you can find a fun selection of sweet treats like rice paper candies, Pocky, or even fortune cookies if you want to serve a Chinese themed treat. Lychee fruit is another fun treat, or you can serve pot stickers or dim sum if you'd rather take the savory route. And you can never go wrong with serving up some nice tea!

As for making the ram horns, here's what you'll need (you can find most of this already in your home or at the dollar store):

2 paper plates
clear tape
crayons
1 headband
scissors
hot glue

Let your kids color the outer rim of the plates (the ribbed part) with crayons.

Once they are done, depending on their age, either they can cut or you can cut off the outside of the plates.

Next, cut a point on the end of each "horn".

Then, curl the horn in on itself.

Let the horn uncurl. It is now ready to attach to the headband.

Fold the bottom base of the horn over the headband and tape it to itself.

Lastly, put a little hot glue into the hole where the headband goes through the base of the horn. This will keep the horns from sliding around.

And there you have it, ram horns!

Valentines Day Breakfast Idea

A really simple but fun Valentines Day breakfast idea is: heart-shaped pancakes and pink milk! If you don't have a heart-shaped pancake mold (which I do not have), you can simply make pancakes and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter on them to cut out heart shapes.

As for pink milk, just add a few drops of red food coloring to milk and mix it it. Tada! Pink milk! My son liked the heart-shaped pancakes, but it was the pink milk that was really magical to him. It was so simple to do but it was a huge hit!

Valentines for our handsome little guys

Unfortunately, Valentines Day seems to have gone to the women. More often than not, it is celebrated by giving women chocolates and flowers, or going out to some fancy Italian restaurant for dinner. In the schools, kids might make disposable heart-shaped mailboxes and hand out Valentine cards complete with monkeys that say: "I'm bananas for you!" or purple puppies with heart-shaped spots that say: "I wuff you!" But while jewelry stores, chocolatiers, and florists might try to have you convinced that Valentines Day is for women only, I'm hear to say they are gravely mistaken. Now, I could easily go into a huge lecture about my true thoughts about Valentines Day and how grossly over commercialized it is, how completely materialistic it has always been, and how ridiculous I think our celebrations are for it. But, rather than ramble on about the negatives, I'd rather call to attention what I really see Valentines Day as: an excuse for people to say "I love you." And regardless of the cliche and probable cheesy way most people might go about doing so on Valentines Day, what's really wrong with taking a day to show a little extra love to the ones who matter most?

So how did a day to celebrate our love for one another turn into a day to spoil women only? In several different families, I have seen girlfriends, wives, mother's, and daughters all doted on for Valentines Day. Dads who want their daughters to feel like princesses, husbands who want their wives to feel romanced, and so on and so forth. But what about my sons? Am I supposed to ignore them on Valentines Day? Just because they are boys doesn't mean they don't want to be shown a little love. It doesn't mean they don't want to be spoiled or made to feel special. In fact, I've even come to find that they enjoy some of the cutesy heart-shaped fun that a lot of people associate more as a "girly thing" for Valentines Day. But who ever said girls held ownership over heart shapes? My boys like hearts and even the color pink (gasp!). And I can guarantee you they would LOVE a box of chocolates.

Even though I admittedly have some hopes of some romantic surprises for Valentines day for myself, I most certainly do not believe that the holiday should be celebrated for women only. I see Valentines Day as an excuse to show a little extra love to everyone, guys and gals alike, that you care about. So if you have a son, please don't forget to show him some Valentines Day sweetness as well. Just because little boys might not always be into the same "lovey dovey" stuff as some little girls, it doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy a little something special. Maybe make them their favorite breakfast. Maybe give them a special sweet treat. Perhaps play their favorite video game with them. Or maybe just take a minute to give them a hug and a kiss and tell them how much you love them. Whatever you do, don't let commercialism get the best of you and convince you not to consider your sons on Valentines Day. As I said before: girls don't own heart-shapes, nor do they own exclusive rights to pink, purple, flowers, or chocolates. Boys need to know they are loved too!

Pictured below is a little "love monster" Valentine I made for my son a few years back. I put it in his mailbox to find on Valentines Day morning. He absolutely adored that little monster! The picture of my son is a little blurry but only because he wouldn't stop dancing around with his Valentine monster.

No matter how silly it may seem, it's the little things (like silly homemade Valentines Day cards) that can mean the most to your kids. Whether you have sons or daughters, it's important to take any opportunity you can to show them that you care, even on a corny holiday like Valentines Day. ;)

Valentines Day Sun Catchers

Valentines Day is coming up, so if you are looking for an easy but festive craft to do with your kids, look no further. For this activity you'll need the following:

-scissors
-clear contact paper
-construction paper--cut into hear shaped frames (see pic below)
-tissue paper (we used colors like red and purple, but it really doesn't matter. Use whatever color your kids like.)--cut or ripped into 1 inch squares

First, take a good size piece of contact paper and tape it down to the table, sticky side up. (Taping it down will keep it from sliding everywhere while your kid is working.)

Next, stick on the cutout heart frames you made from the construction paper.

After that, let your kid slap, sprinkle, dump, gently place as many of the tissue paper pieces as they want within the heart frames. It doesn't matter if they stick tissue paper outside of heart shapes. You'll be cutting the excess away later anyway.

Once your kids are done, take another piece of clear construction paper and place it on top of the other, sandwiching the sticky sides together to "laminate" their work.

Lastly, cut out the hearts, leaving about 1/2 inch around the outside boarder of the heart. Tape up on the window and enjoy!

Tattoos

Fake tattoos are a great way to have fun with your kid. It doesn't cost much to get fake tattoos from the store and it can be a great way to bond with your child as you help them decorate themselves with their choice of tattoos. If you don't want to buy fake tattoos but you have washable markers, take turns decorating each others arms (or legs if you really want to get silly) with tattoos that you draw on one another. Ask them what they want and draw them a custom tattoo. You don't have to be a great artist, but taking time to be silly with your kids and do something as scandalous as drawing on your arms can make a great memory! Put on some music, decorate each others arms with tattoos and then have a fun photo shoot displaying your new tattoos. You might be surprised with how much fun your kids will have with this activity.

Carseat Sun Shade

We live in the Northwest so, consequently, we don't have to deal with the sun very often. But when the sun does come out, my poor Washingtonian kids desperately try to shield their eyes from the great flaming orb in the sky. Normally I can help them manage while we play in the yard. But when we are in the car, I can't exactly drive and cover their eyes at the same time. My eldest son can wear his sunglasses but my little guy absolutely HATES having anything on his face. For little Hayden, sunglasses are out of the question! Hats don't offer enough shade for his eyes, and the pull-down shade cover on his carseat only goes so far. When the sun is in the right spot, his poor little face gets blasted with sunlight and I'm left with one pissed off baby. And if you have a kid, I don't have to explain to you why a screaming child in the backseat of the car is extremely stressful and why you'd go to any length to get them to stop!

When Hayden was really little, I sewed this cute little blanket cover that worked brilliantly in the beginning.

Get the pattern here: http://cally-cruze.blogspot.com/2009/10/infant-carseat-blanket.html

But as he got older, Hayden started to push the blanket aside, or grab the bottom of the blanket cover and pull it up onto his face which I was not very comfortable with. So we said goodbye to this design and tried to figure out something else. We tried draping big blankets over the carseat but we still had the same problem of him pulling the blanket down, not to mention, it made it very hot for him under the blanket. But after a few trial and errors we finally found something that worked perfectly: a fitted crib sheet! We took a fitted crib sheet, hooked one end around the back of the carseat, and the other end around the back headrest of the seat of the car and ta-da! A perfect sunshade that didn't pull down (since it was hooked onto his seat and the back seat of the car) and it didn't over-heat him because of the thin sheet and the open sides. It also allowed him to still see his brother from the sides so he wasn't completely closed in (which helped to keep him entertained). It might look a little silly, but it kept the sun out of our kid's eyes, it stayed off of his face and couldn't be pulled down, and all in all it kept our kid happy. I call it a win!

Bath Paints

Sure, you could go to Target or ToysRus and buy a set of bath paints for your kid. But that's only if you want to spend money on something that you could make with items you probably already have in your home. Not to mention, we have used the store bought bath paints before and, honestly, they were kinda sad. It was basically a colored gel that, when painted on the tub, looked more like lumpy goop that hardly had any color to it at all. We have also tried store bought bath crayons which have great color and are a lot of fun, but they are a pain in the butt to wash off!

I just so happen to have a solution: homemade bath paints! It's inexpensive and easy to make, and it is super easy to wash off your tub (or your kid) when you are done! Here is what you need:

• Conditioner--I always use up my shampoo before my conditioner is all gone, so admittedly I have a few half bottles of conditioner stashed away. These worked perfectly for this project! You could also just buy a bottle at the dollar store if you're not a conditioner hoarder like me.
• Food coloring
• A squeeze bottle--You can typically find these at the dollar store. Or you can always wash out an old ketchup or mustard bottle and use that instead.

Simply mix the conditioner and food coloring in a squeeze bottle and let your kid go to town! My son had a blast squirting "paint" all over the tub and himself. I also gave him a paintbrush to use so he could paint all round the bathtub walls. So simple. So much fun. And in the end, his skin was silky soft from all the conditioner! ^_^