o christmas tree

Some easy brownie trees for the preschool holiday party tomorrow!

lunch box love notes

Lot's of mom's like to tuck little notes into their children's lunch boxes, including myself!  Recently, I picked up these cute magnets for a few dollars at Marshall's.  I have been using them in my daughter's metal lunch box to leave her special messages.  Tomorrow she has library so I wrote "get books"!  She loves to see what the new message is and is getting some practice with letter recognition, sounds, and reading all at the same time.  Win, win.

watermelon whale

Last week my daughter had her pre-school graduation and I signed up to bring watermelon. Since her school mascot is a whale I thought it would be fun to carve the watermelon into the shape of a whale.  I found the directions in the book "Summer" by Susan Branch.  It was actually quite simple to do and the kids got a kick out of it.  This is a great thing to bring to a potluck or BBQ because you can throw away (or compost) the watermelon when the fruit salad is all gone!

hoppin' down the bunny trail-mix

If you are looking for a fun snack to send to school or to take as a hostess gift for Easter you can whip up a batch of this fun Easter trail mix.  Mine included:
bunny noses: pink jelly beans
cotton tails: mini marshmallows
whiskers: pretzel sticks
ears: pink & white candy corn
muddy paws: mini chocolate covered pretzels
I also dressed up some small water bottles with some ears and a cotton ball tail.  I found the ears and inspiration here. 

butterfly snack tray

It is my turn to help out in my daughter's classroom tomorrow.  I always like to do a special project or bring  a fun snack when I go in.  Since they will be learning about butterflies tomorrow, I made these pretzel snacks.  They didn't take long to make and I had everything I needed in the pantry.  I found the directions here.  Another fun tip is to use inexpensive box frames as trays.  I took out the card board insert and put in a piece of scrapbook paper.  You can coordinate the colors of your party with the paper that you choose and then you will always have the perfect tray for your food.  I am using a bunch of these in different sizes for my daughter's birthday party next week.

welcome spring

I made some "butterfly magic wands" with pretzels and white chocolate.  They came out pretty cute and taste great!  Hope you are enjoying the first day of spring too.

blue truck

One of my dear friends gave me this darling blue pick up truck filled with gorgeous flowers when I had my baby boy a few weeks ago.  I loved it!  Thank you, Kristi.  I love this truck so much that I knew I had to keep it long after the flowers were gone. I have lots of ideas for this truck and recently used it to hold peanuts.  Wouldn't this be perfect for a little boys birthday party?  I love using whimsical things to hold snacks in. 

happy birthday, dr. seuss

(photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

Today is National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss's Birthday!  We made these petite edible hats from mini yogurt covered pretzels and red sprinkles.  Aren't they cute!  How are you celebrating today?

frosty the snowman

My son is a little obsessed with Frosty the Snowman right now. So, for his library holiday party I thought these snowman pretzels would be the perfect snack. I found the idea and directions here. I bought the red and white gummy rings at Marshalls and the holiday colored gumdrops at the local grocery store. The scarves are strawberry fruit roll ups. My son loved them and so did his friends!

welcome fall

It's officially fall! That means that it is time for our local county fair where we enjoy taking rides on the Ferris wheel and playing with baby goats.

(photo courtesy of Barnes & noble)

The fair inspired us to start reading our very first chapter book. My daughter is enjoying listening to it as much as I am enjoying reading to her.

(photo courtesy of family fun)

We also made some of these mini caramel apples as a treat for my daughters pre-school. The directions can be found here. I wanted to make them with caramel instead of the suggested chips. Since regular caramel won't stick to the apples I used sheets of caramel (you can find them near the apples at most grocery stores). I cut them into circles using a cookie cutter before folding them around the apples. They came out cute and the kids loved them!

What are you doing to celebrate this glorious season?

a "whale" of a time

The mascot for my daughter's pre-school is a whale- whose name is Orsen. Today at pre-school there was a trike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and I wanted to bring a fun snack for all of the kids. I found the cutest whale shaped cheese crackers at target for $1 a box and put them in a regular beach pail. I used my alphabet stickers to write "Orsen says: have a whale of a time!" On the shovel I wrote "dig in." It was fun, easy and inexpensive....my kind of snack!

You're a good man Charlie Brown!

Now that I have small children I have enjoyed starting new holiday traditions with them. I thought I would share one of our Thanksgiving ones with you. We usually have our meal in the early afternoon so when dinner time comes around we are all starting to feel a little peckish. It is at this time that I gather the kids and put on our copy of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. I serve all of the things that Chuck serves his friends that day...popcorn, pretzels, toast, jelly beans... you get the picture. It is a fun tradition that doesn't take a lot of planning or cost a lot of money, but it serves the purpose of feeding them a little something and provides them with some great entertainment. Do you have a favorite tradition to share?

Want s'more?

Looking for something fun and different to bring to a Halloween party that both kids and adults will love? Make a s'mores platter! I cut chocolate graham crackers into the shape of a bat with a cookie cutter then, loaded the platter with marshmallows, and mini sized Hershey bars. For the final touch I wrapped a brown and white gingham ribbon around a bunch of bamboo skewers to roast the marshmallow on. A simple and fun snack for all!