april fools

In honor of the first day of April I served the children lunch in tiny lunchboxes!  They thought it was hysterical and asked if I could make it for them again.  I just put some mini cupcake liners in the metal lunchboxes than cut sandwiches in to tiny triangles, and added some baby carrots and pretzels.  Next time I want to put some baby goldfish in too!  For dessert they had tiny ice cream cones!  SO cute.  Even the baby had one.  For dinner I am making ice cream potatoes.  You can find the directions here.  Hope you enjoyed some giggles today too!

that's a wrap

Almost every time we return home from a vacation we find our fridge filled with the necessities.  My mom always makes sure we have milk, eggs, OJ, etc. so that we don't have to run out to the store first thing upon our return.  It is such a nice gesture and I wanted to do the same for some friends who returned late in the evening one day this week from their vacation.  When they left for their trip it was during the strange October Nor'easter that CT. experienced and they had NO power.  They gave us most of their food since no one was sure when the power would be restored.  I thought it only fitting to do the same thing for them that my mom does for us.  I stocked their fridge with milk, eggs, OJ, yogurt, fruit and made some homemade granola and pumpkin doughnut muffins for them too.  If you know someone coming back from a vacation or home after some time away, think about leaving a little something in the fridge for your friends and family too. I know they will appreciate it as much as we always do.

some where over the rainbow

This morning for breakfast I thought it would be fun to serve a rainbow.  I cut up different fruit in the appropriate colors and served it with some yogurt clouds and homemade granola.  It was a hit and I think we've started a new tradition!

tepee treats

(photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

(picture courtesy of Family Fun)

It was my turn to help out in my daughters pre-school last week. The calendar said they were going to read "The legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie de Paola and do a tepee craft. I always like to bring something fun in to school when it is my turn to help so I decided to make these tepees out of ice cream cones. I used mini cones and followed the directions for the recommended frosting. I had to put on two layers of the frosting and still wasn't totally happy with the results. I think next time I will use melted white chocolate instead. Instead of using cake gel to decorate them I brought in "easy writer" decorating pens. The pens come in the four primary colors and were a great way for the kids to personalize their tepees. I packaged them in small cellophane bags and the kids were able to take them home. This would be a fun activity for kids to make while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

mummy munchies

(photos courtesy of family fun)

For our Halloween play date this week I am going to make pizza and hot dog mummies. They are simple enough to make and hopefully will be a hit with the 4 and under crowd. You can find the directions on how to make these here and here.

october pizza & movie night

Friday in our house means that it's pizza & a movie night. Since it was the first day of October the kids got to open a gift from our countdown calendar. They got new spider web jammies! After changing into them we made pizza. We took store bought (whole wheat) pizza dough and shaped it into a pumpkin. We used orange cheese and the kids decorated it with their favorite toppings. It was easy, fun and delicious!

(picture courtesy of Amazon)

Then we watched one of our favorite Halloween movies.....

and munched on a favorite snack - popcorn and candy corn. It was a fun way to welcome October and an all around great way to spend a rainy night together as a family.

let them eat cake

Since this party was from 1:30-3:30 I only served snack foods. You can see my daughter running through the first picture with a handful of popcorn! I offered chips, pretzels and popcorn which I served from large white paint cans (I added some ribbon detail to the bottom with a glue gun). I kept the decorations for the cupcakes simple by making paper flags with scrapbook paper, and attempted to make Eiffel Tower shaped sugar cookies which were a challenge- but, tasted pretty good! I also had some fresh strawberries and water and lemonade.

munchkins

My daughter brought these treats to Pre-school today to share with her friends. Since I have to bake cupcakes on Sat. I thought that bringing munchkins in to school would be fun and easy.
To dress them up a little I put them in small, white cupcake liners and made round circle flags with some craft paper and a med. round hole punch. I put a "4" sticker on each one. I used the glue gun to attach the circles to toothpicks to make it easy to insert into each donut hole. I also made some chocolate covered strawberries and used the same sprinkles, cupcake liners and tray to keep everything uniform. A fun and simple treat for any occasion.

easter birthday party

It is hard to believe that Easter is in just two weeks. My daughter was born in April and her birthday usually falls right near Easter. Last year it was the day before so we decided to have an Easter themed party. I found paper plates form Target that had green grass printed around the edges. I used a combination of flowers and petite terra cotta pots for napkin rings. To serve the food I made my own cake stands by turning terrra cotta pots upside down and using the saucers for the platters. I served Peanut Bunny and Jelly sandwiches- just PB&J cut into the shape of a bunny with a cookies cutter. I also had little cupcake liners filled with baby carrots and another with cheddar bunnies- little cheese crackers shaped like bunnies. For dessert I served fruit (and even cut melon into little bunny shapes with a tiny cookie cutter) and carrot cupcakes. Over the next week I'll share more about the activities and favors. So, stay tuned!