Reindeer Food {Guest Post: Laura}

My son and me on the first day of school this year.

I'm Laura over at Now Things are Cookin', where I'm learning to cook all over again, and A Special Den Leader, where I discuss activities we do with my 8 year old son's Wolf Scout den.  It's so nice to be visiting Susie's blog again.  She featured me in her Searching for Super-Mom series a few months ago.  I'd like to thank Susie for having me here again to share with you a Christmas tradition my son and I enjoy.

Measuring ingredients.  Check out his tongue.  Is that not the cutest thing ever?

A few years ago when my son was really starting to really get into the whole idea of Santa, he wanted to know what we could fix for Santa's reindeer.  It was Christmas Eve and we had no carrots in the house, which was my first thought.  My son didn't think that was a very good idea anyway.  Probably because he hasn't met a vegetable yet that he likes.  So rather than making a frenzied dash to the grocery store for carrots, I turned to my good friend Google.

By typing in "reindeer food," we came up with several recipes for a yummy, easy treat for Santa's reindeer when they stopped by on Christmas Eve.  The ingredients are simple and it's friendly for any other critters, like my YorkiePoo, who might happen upon the leftovers.

Stirring.  And still the tongue is sticking out in concentration.

Even though this year my son "knows" who Santa is, (anyone who has love, goodness, kindness, and generosity in their hearts, of course), he still wants to make reindeer food.  In fact the other day he told me "Mom, reindeer are just like regular deer, except they can fly.  When can we make reindeer food this year?" I felt a little sad that he mistakenly thought all reindeer could fly, but very happy he would like to continue our little tradition a little bit longer.

Here's the original recipe for reindeer food that we found on Google.

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup decorators sugar, your color of choice

Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle on lawn.

Finished.  He had to make sure I got the shot.

It's a perfectly fine recipe, but lets be honest for a moment, mommas.  Chances are, your dog, your neighbor's cat, or some random squirrel is going to end up eating the reindeer food.  Frankly, I'm not interested in feeding any of those creatures that much sugar.  So we have traditionally cut both sugars by half.  We used quick cooking oats when we made the batch for this post because I had some on hand to make my own instant oatmeal packets.  Regular oats are fine too.  And because my 8 year old marches to the beat of a drum no one else can hear, he also added some rainbow sprinkles.

The red decorators sugar is more important than the brown sugar.  It sparkles under the moonlight streetlights so the reindeer can see it and come down off the roof for their little snack while Santa is inside.  And truly any color will do.

Close up of the reindeer food.  Don't you think Rudolf will love this?

I have seen recipes for reindeer food that include real glitter.  I do not recommend using real glitter because it's made of mica or plastic particles that could injure digestive systems of wildlife or neighboring animals.  Decorator sugar may not sparkle as much, but it's surprising how much it does sparkle once you get it in the pale light of the moon or streetlight.


Thank you so much, Laura, for this awesome guest post!
You can visit Laura at Now Things are Cookin', A Special Den Leader, Facebook , Google+, and Pinterest.

Traveling With Kids: Part 2- Hotel Tips

In Part 1 of Traveling with Kids, I talked about using Milestone Packs to keep the kids occupied and happy during a long trip. Well, once you survive that, you will need to survive the hotel! There are a few things that you can do ahead of time to make sure your hotel stay is nice and hassle-free.

One thing that makes a hotel stay better is to make a couple of checklists. One checklist can be used when making your reservation, and the other can be for preparing for your stay. I've compiled a couple of lists to get you started. These are things that I've learned over the years, and we use whenever we travel.

Reindeer Feet {Guest Post: Amanda}

Hi! I'm happy to introduce you to a bloggy friend of mine, Amanda! You may remember her from her Searching for Super-Mom interview that I posted a while back. Amanda blogs at Natural Living Mama. Give her a visit and say hello! You can also keep up with Amanda via Twitter, Facebook, and Pintrest.
Take it away, Amanda!

Times are tough for a lot of us. Money is tight and life is stressful. I have also noticed a nasty trend of the “gimmies” during holidays that are supposed to be spent giving thanks, with an emphasis on the word GIVING. Because of this we have decided to have a handmade Christmas this year focusing on gifts custom made for the people we love.
Kids are young for such a short time so these homemade reindeer feet are the perfect keep sake for years to come. We made ornaments out of some, and made copies of others for our e-mail Christmas card and yearly letter. 

This is so much fun and so easy to do! Both my two year old daughter and my 8 month old son were pros, which I am sure had a lot to do with the help of their very patient and artsy grandmother.
Supplies:

• Heavy stock paper. We used both 150lb water color paper and card stock. We tried construction paper but it was too flimsy and not as pretty looking.
• Bronze acrylic paint
• Sponge brush
• Red ½ inch pompoms
• Googly eyes proportionate to the size of your child’s feet
• Glue
• Sharpie or black marker
• Scissors (optional)

Directions:

• Paint the bottom of the child’s foot with the paint and make an imprint on the paper.  We did that by having the kids sit in Moms lap or in the high chair and pressed the paper up against their foot. You can also paint their feet and let them run across a bunch of paper. My floors decided that we would do the less messy option.
• Press the paper against the feet and hope the child does not squirm while doing it. You can fit about 4 feet on one sheet of paper.
• Draw antlers between where the toes and foot meet on both sides.
• Cut out the reindeer.
• Glue nose and eyes on. We placed the glue dots where the eyes and nose went and she placed them. There were a few reindeer with mis-matching eyeballs but she was so proud of her self we just left them.
• Punch a hole in the top of the head and add a string if you are giving them as ornaments or glue them to your Christmas cards for a special holiday greeting!

Are you looking for some other handmade gift ideas?
Cinnamon ornaments- This super easy project is a fun one to do with kids. It has two ingredients and is loads of fun!
Homemade Vanilla Extract – This requires two ingredients and some patience and will make any food lover happy.
Herbal Bath Salts – These salts are great for both men and woman. They encourage relaxation and healing in stressful times and are really easy to make.
Lotion Bars – Three basic ingredients is all you need to make these moisturizing lotion bars.
Coffee Honey Sugar Scrub – This decadent sugar scrub is simple made with ingredients you have in your kitchen, smells amazing, exfoliating, moisturizing and reduces cellulite. What is not to love?

What are you making for the holidays this year?

Hand Print Christmas Tree

I want to share with you a fun craft that we make nearly every year- a Hand Print Christmas Tree.
It's a lot of fun, and with just a little guidance from you, your kids will be giggling and decorating their tree in no time... well, mine were, anyway!
Seriously, how cute are these, that my 3 youngest made?

Here's how easy they are to make:

A Lesson in Flexibility

I've always known that it is important to be able to be flexible with things.
Sometimes things just happen and we have to adapt. This is one of the reasons that we don't keep to strict daily schedules for things.

Flexibility also comes in handy for chronic procrastinators.
This is a lesson that I have learned many times.
Like the other day.
The very day before Halloween, to be exact.
The day evening (procrastinator, remember?) that I went to Walmart to buy a pumpkin for the kids to carve (more on that, later), pair of yellow sweat pants and a yellow sweatshirt for my 2 year old's "Pikachu-chu" costume, and a piece of brown felt (to make the 2 stripes on the back) to complete it. I had already crocheted the hat/ears and tail. Easy, right?
WRONG!
Walmart did not have anything yellow.
Nothing.
I looked in the toddler department. I looked in the girl's and boy's departments too. Nothing. Not a plain yellow shirt of any kind. Not a pair of yellow pants to be seen anywhere. I even looked for tights! Nope.

I had to be flexible.
I had to adapt.
I finally settled on buying a yard and a half  of bright yellow fabric and 3 inches of brown fabric. Yes. That's right. 3 inches. I looked at the little felt squares, and they were completely out of brown. I refused to but a whole yard, or even half of a yard, so three inches, it was. I bought a little package of elastic, and I knew I had some Stitch Witchery at home.
Can you guess what I spent most of Halloween day doing?

Crochet hat and tail pattern coming soon! :-)

Now... about that pumpkin...

I See Faces, Fun

Do you see faces in things?
Yesterday, when I toasted an English Muffin for breakfast, I spread some Smart Balance on it, and I swear it made a smiley face as the spread melted. haha!

Later, I was eating chips.
I saw this:

 Do you see it?
My oldest son didn't.
He laughed at me.

Autumn Poetry Printables for Kids

I just love autumn!
The leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler (finally!) and I am inspired to cook lots of yummy, things! (I've already made a Pumpkin Roll, and some Soft Ginger Spice Cookies, among other things.)

A few days ago, as I was helping my daughter with one of her homeschool lessons, I got the idea to put together a little poetry  lesson/activity for the kids.
Given the fact that it was a math lesson... place values, more specifically, that I was helping her with, I have no idea how the thought of poetry got into my brain!

At any rate, it did, and here we are.
I put together a few poetry printables with an Autumn theme.

I loved doing Cinquain poems when I was a kid. One of the things I like about them as an adult, is that they are a good way to reinforce or introduce parts of speech.

The basic format for a Cinquain Poem is:

Noun

Adjective, Adjective

-ing Verb, -ing Verb, -ing Verb

Phrase

Noun (Synonym of original noun)

Here is the worksheet we did:

I made this one, and a couple others as printables, to share with you!

How to Make a Pumpkin Pinata

***This is an old post moved here from my old blog.*** 

    We have always incorporated a bit of Halloween in our October birthdays. This year, our youngest turned 1. I thought a pumpkin pinata would be perfect! It would be a great activity/decoration for a Halloween party, as well. OK, technically, it is a Jack-O-Lantern, but I like the ring of Pumpkin Pinata. Say it a few times... sounds better, hu? Well, whatever you decide to call it, it's a fun and easy project. It takes a while to make, but it is well worth the time.

    A lot of people use a flour/water mixture for the paper mache paste, and some even use starch. I decided to use a mixture of white glue and water because I wanted the pinata to be non-perishable. Here's how we made ours:

Pumpkin Pinata

What you need:
old newspaper (recycle bin)
white printer paper (optional- I used this for the final layer so that we could use less paint)
glue (I bought white Elmer's School Glue when it was on sale for back to school- 40cents each at Walmart)
water
paint and brushes (I got cheap poster paint at the dollar store)
balloons (I bought a pack of 2 punching balloons from the dollar store)
colored tissue paper or streamers (dollar store)
disposable bowls or pan (dollar store)
paper towel tube
a pencil
small wrapped candy and/or little toys

Instructions:

1. Spread a few sheets of newspaper over your work surface.
2. Tear some of your remaining newspaper into strips about 1-2" wide by 3-4" long. Have a good supply ready for you.
3. In your disposable bowl or pan, mix equal amounts of glue and water. (Make sure you have some glue left over for applying the tissue or streamer later).
4. Blow up your balloon and tie it off tightly.
5. Dip newspaper strips into the glue mixture and lay over the entire surface of the balloon except the very top of the balloon. Leave a hole about the size of the paper towel tube uncovered on the top.
6. Repeat step 5 until you have 3 or 4 layers of newspaper.
7. Now do one more layer using the plain white paper.





8. Let it dry completely. (overnight)

Once the paper mache is dry, you can pop the balloon and remove it. Then continue on to the next phase:

1. Paint the paper mache pumpkin orange, and paint a Jack-O-Lantern face on it. 
2. Cut the paper towel tube to use as a stem and paint it green. Let it dry.
3. Use a hole punch or a nail, or something sharp (I used a small screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit) to punch 2 holes near the top of the pumpkin. You can attach string here to hang it up.
4. Cut 1 inch square pieces of tissue paper or streamers. Put the eraser end of the pencil in the center of the square. Twist the paper around the pencil and either dip the paper into the glue, or spread some glue onto the pumpkin and apply it. Do this for the entire pumpkin. We used orange streamers for the pumpkin and black for around the eyes, nose, & mouth. Then, we used yellow tissue paper for the insides of the eyes, nose, & mouth. ***





5. Attach the paper towel tube stem to the top of the pumpkin, leaving the top open so that you can fill it later. Cut some green tissue paper into squares and cut a fringe on one side. Glue these to the paper towel tube and around the area where you attached it.***

6. Fill the pinata with the filling of your choice.
7. Squish the top of the stem together and glue it closed. Let it dry. Your pumpkin pinata is now finished!

Our Pumpkin Pinata wearing my 1 year old's Birthday Tiara

*** You can cover the entire pinata with the "fringe" style tissue paper if you don't want to use the "pencil" method. I have to be honest, while I think that the "pencil" method looks better, it takes a LONG time to do. The "fringe" method is much quicker and it still looks good, so if time is an issue for you, this would be the better option.

How to Use a Cereal Box to Help You Buy Shoes for Your Kids

Yup.
You read that right.
A cereal box.
It's easy, really.

Sometimes I find a good deal on some cute shoes, but I don't know if they will fit one of my kids. Instead of guessing and facing the possibility of a return, I've come up with a more simple solution.
A cereal box.

It's easy.
Just tear open an empty cereal box and convince your child that standing on it will be fun!
Then, pin their little foot down with one hand and trace it onto the box with the other hand.
Even though it makes it a little more difficult, be sure your child is standing and their weight is evenly distributed. This gives you a more accurate measurement.

 It will look something like this (because even though you pinned the little foot down, toddlers have a way of making things difficult so that it doesn't turn out as pretty Mama wanted it to for her blog).

Grab some scissors and cut it out.

See. Nice fit.

Now, simply slip the "foot" into your purse and take it shopping with you.
If you have more than one child, it's a good idea to write their names on their foot cut-out.

Now, if you see a great deal on some cute shoes, you can simply pull out your cut-out and see if the shoe is a fit!

Wonder Box: Review, Discount Code, & Giveaway!

Have you ever visited Education.com?
I have.
A LOT!
It's been one of my favorite go-to educational sites since I first discovered it a few years ago. I love everything from the printable worksheets to the fun kids' activities!
You can imagine how excited I was when I got an email asking if I would like to try out and review one of their new products, the Wonder Box.  In fact, I may or may not have (mostly may) used the word "giddy" in my email response. Education.com's representative, Kat, is super cool and she sent me one right away!
Pretty Awesome, right?

It gets better!
Kat is offering all of my readers a $10 discount on any Wonder Box purchase! Just use the code: CAPE10 at checkout for the discount! (Code expires 10/01/12)
She is also providing a FREE Wonder Box to one lucky winner! Make sure you enter my Rafflecopter Giveaway for your chance to win!
Before we go any further, I want to disclose to you now, that I can sit here and tell you good things about education.com all day long. It is a wonderful resource for parents and homeschoolers, so make sure you bookmark it.
I'll wait....
I want to assure you that I will not let my love for my opinion of the site affect my honest review of the Wonder Box.

Wonder Box. 
The name says it all! From the moment we got it, my youngest kids were curious to see what was in it. As I opened it, we first noticed the cute packaging and the fun, and (I am assuming) friendly little Otter. As we explored further, we uncovered an array of neat little packages with tags and instructions. I have to admit, I was just as excited to see what all was in there as the kids were! After further investigation, I learned that we got the Once Upon a Time box!
The Once Upon a Time Wonder Box included 4 fun activities: a Story Cape, Build Your Own Puppet, Story Cards, and a Stone Soup book!

We decided to start with the Story Cards.
As I laid them out on the table, the kids were already getting ideas for their story. Once we began, they took turns choosing a card and making up their story. There was a nice variety of cards with many possibilities of how they can relate together for story, after story, after story! My kids have been playing with them every day since we got them. They use them on their own as well as using them to tell stories to each other. The more practice they have with the cards, the more elaborate and creative their stories are. I am impressed!

 

Next up was the Story Cape.
I spread the cape out onto the craft table and asked my girls for design ideas. They decided that it should be a Shape Cape, and they would decorate it with colorful shapes. They also wanted to write Up, up, and away! on it. My 5 and 7 year olds worked on it, and my toddler was able to get her hand in there to add her artistic touches to it as well. When they were finished, I ironed on the design to set it, then they took turns trying it on and "flying" across the room! It seems like someone is always wearing that cape! My 5 year old even tried to wear it to bed.
My girls wanted to make the Puppet next.
They sorted the shapes and colors on the craft table, then worked together to decide how to make their puppet. Okay, it wasn't that easy. They both started with different ideas. I used that opportunity to reinforce the concept of cooperation and to work on their negotiation skills. It ended up going smoothly and they soon had the puppet the way they wanted it. The only problem was that they were too impatient to let the glue dry completely and some of the shapes ended up falling off. I solved that issue with my glue gun. A few minutes later, they were playing with their puppet, now known as Mr. Funny- the Joke Telling Dragon.
We saved the book, Stone Soup, for last.
We read it and had a nice little discussion afterward. We talked about making our own stone soup and the kids shared which foods they would donate to the pot. They even decided that Mr. Funny would bring the beef, salt, and pepper! After that, they got to color the pages of the book!
We really enjoyed all of the activities. We had fun creating the cape and Mr. Funny. We explored many skills, including storytelling, imagination, shapes and colors. The kids had a blast with everything in the Wonder Box. Aside from the obvious educational benefits the Wonder Box offers for kids, it is a great value to parents. This isn't one of those things that the kids do, then it gets put aside. After initially spending a few hours working on the projects, my kids have been playing with everything since!

Here's what my kids have to say about it:
My 5 year old- "My favorite was making Mr. Funny"
My 7 year old-"I liked the Wonder Box so much that I just want to play with everything in it all day long! My favorite thing was making Mr. Funny!"
My 12 year old- "Okay, I admit it, I used the story cards too."
My almost 2 year old enjoys wearing the cape, looking at the story cards, and listening to the Stone Soup story.

Enter to win your own Wonder Box Below!

*For shipping purposes, the giveaway is open to residents of the contiguous US states only.*
Don't forget to use the code CAPE10 to receive $10 off of any Wonder Box Purchase!
(Code expires 10/01/12)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here to see which super parties I link up to!

Homeschool vs. Traditional School

There are many reasons that families choose to educate their kids at home and just as many for those who chose traditional school. I decided to highlight 10 common topics that are argued by both sides. Let's see if you can guess which side makes each of the following arguments:

OK... are you ready to see who said what?

My Healthy Foods (plus printable)

It never fails.
Every weekend, when we go to the store, it happens.
Our 5 and 7 year olds very sweetly look up at their daddy, and ask for a dollar.
And he, of course, hands one over to them.
Ahhh... if only they saved those dollars up. But no. They are eager to spend it. (Okay, I can't really blame them. I am the same way when I want to buy yarn or something.)
Every week, we go through the aisles and they look at the items. Will they put their money together for a larger bag of cheetos or a package of cookies? Or will they buy their own individual snack at the checkout?
Whatever they decide, it always seems to be junk food.
Last week, when we got back from the store, while my 5 year old was munching on her funyuns and my 7 year old was digging into her bbq lays, I had an idea. (By the way... smart kids! They saw that I was buying  a cake, so they chose salty snacks over sweet!)

Anyway, back to my idea. They We get enough junk food as it is (note previously mentioned cake), so do they really need to be wasting their money on  more junk food?
I didn't think so either.
I had to think of a way to get them on board the idea of buying healthier snacks.
I thought for a minute, then I said to them, "You know, you could have put your money together and bought a big basket of strawberries! That would have been yummy!"
You should have seen their eyes light up! "STRAWBERRIES???!!!"
They went on about how much they love strawberries and how they wished that they had thought of that at the store. It worked! I kept it going with suggestions of grapes, blueberries, string cheese, yogurt and more of their favorite healthy snacks. They got excited about it and started planning what they would buy next weekend.
Soon it was time for bed, but I told them that we would do a project together the next day.

Monday morning rolled around and they were excited for their project. I started by telling them that we are going to start eating healthier and when they choose snacks at the store, they have to start choosing healthy ones. We talked about the food groups. They wrote down the foods that they like and categorized them into the right groups. It was relaxed and fun. We talked about what foods are healthy and which ones aren't as healthy. They enjoyed learning about how many of the foods they love are so good for them.

The fun we had with this little project prompted me to create a printable project out of it, and of course, share it with all of you!

Click Here for the Printable

There are seven pages including the cover page. Your child can draw and list his/her favorite healthy foods from each group. Or, if you prefer, you can find some food ads and use those to cut and paste onto the pages. On the last page, your child can make his/her own healthy plate. You can print extra if you want him/her to create a plate for each meal.

Fun, right? I hope you all enjoy this activity as much as we did!

Kid Snack: Chocolate Graham Cracker Dessert

When my seven year old daughter grows up, she wants to be a chef and a veterinarian.
Her veterinarian aspirations are on hold for now because we don't have any pets yet.
Her cooking aspirations, however, are coming along.
We recently celebrated a birthday.  When one of our kids have a birthday, I make up little goodie bags of snacks for the other kids. This time they happened to include graham crackers and Hershey's Miniatures.
The other day, my seven year old asked to use the microwave because she had "a really yummy snack" that she wanted to try.
Now, to you and I, this is an old idea. Sort of a take on a microwavable S'more. Something we've all seen before. But to her, this is something new and exciting. 

I love it when this happens!
Here is her creation:
Something that she created. 
An idea that she came up with on her own.

Got Stress? Act Like a One Year Old!

This is my friend Cassondra's handsome
 little man, Logan! Isn't he a cutie?

Yup! You read that correctly!
The thought occurred to me the other night... or was it morning?
Either way, I was lying in bed and I remembered something that needed to be done. I looked over at my peacefully sleeping 1 1/2 year old and marveled over the stress-free life she has.
Ahhh... to feel like that.
Then I thought to myself, "what am I complaining about? I do feel like that... most of the time" and at that very moment, I realized why.
I act like a one year old.
There. I admitted it!
It's not a bad thing, though, if you think about it.
I mean, what does a one year old do when she gets upset?

The 20-30 Minute Workout: Exposed!

credit

credit

I saw these someecards lurking around online, and I love them!!! I thought they fit in well with this topic!

I've been working this post out in my head over the past few weeks because I think the truth should be told:

20-30 minute workouts are a joke!!!

There. I said it!
It's true.
You've all seen it.
Just 20 minutes a day to exercise.
Or...
Anyone can get fit only 30 minutes a day.

Can you believe it?
I don't.
I mean, if it really only took 20-30 minutes... yeah... sure... piece of cake! Mmmm.... cake... but I digress...
My 20-30 minute workouts NEVER turn out like that, though.
As a mom, here's what a 20-30 minute workout looks like: