It has been a year since we moved to Florida. We really miss our family and friends, but we enjoy living here. To celebrate our first year as Floridians, we had to make these yummy palm trees! The boys had fun, but still would not try the kiwi. I guess the furry skin was too much for them. (Sorry the trees are upside down.)
Last weekend my children were pouring water from a teapot to a cup. As they poured, they kept taking sips. Since my oldest son does not usually like water, I was very surprised. The idea of a tea party formed in my mind.
Yesterday morning, my children gathered some stuffed friends. They choose 3 friends each and asked their friends, “Do you want to come to my tea party?” Their friends rode the bus (laundry basket) downstairs to the party. Each friend received a cup of water, 2 grapes and 3 cheese puffs (gluten-free of course). Everyone had a great time at the party and Ben begged to do it again!
I was pleased that I found a way to get my sons to drink more water. I was also able to “hide” the following lessons in our tea party:
Thanks to Grandma for the inspirational teapot and cup!
© October 5, 2010 by Sarah Schwerin
A recent issue of a McDonald’s kid’s magazine provided quite a surprise for our family: directions for making a rocket. My four and six year old sons were delighted with their first rocket making endeavors. We gathered a few items from around the house: egg carton cups (1 per rocket), toilet paper tubes (1 per rocket) and small cardboard triangles (3-4 per rocket). After I hot glued their creations, the kids went crazy with the paint and markers. Once the rockets were dry, the boys took them on a trial run through the house. The mission was a success.
My sons were overjoyed when I let them chose a recipe from a Pampered Chef’s kid’s cookbook entitled, “Let’s Eat.” Of course they chose a desert, Mouse Cupcakes. Many giggles passed through our kitchen as the boys decorated their cupcakes. We decorated the cupcakes with the following: vanilla wafer ears, Hershey Kiss nose, Reese Pieces eyes, and Good n Plenty whiskers (not a hit at our house!). It was a good evening until the sugar high subsided….
Marshmallows, pretzels, chocolate chips, gumdrops, icing, and vanilla wafers, oh my! Our Saturday diversion was making marshmallow snowmen. I was so excited when I saw the recipe for cute marshmallow snowmen in the January issue of the magazine All You. I looked forward to the bonding time the boys and I would have while making these fun confections. I even envisioned giving the finished products to children at church on Sunday. Of course the finished product that I envisioned looked like the product in the magazine. Unfortunately, the images in my mind are usually out of touch with reality.
Making the snowmen involved lots of icing on the table and floor. The activity also involved me repeatedly telling the boys to not put their fingers in their mouth. Their reply was always the same. “But I’m hungrrrry!!” At the end of our bonding time, most of the snowmen leaned. The remainer of the snowmen lay face down on the wax paper. One of the snowmen had five eyes. Another of the snowmen had already found its way into my son’s mouth. Well, the time did not go exactly as planned and the snowmen looked nothing like the picture. However, we all had a good time. We ate a bunch of sugar and have marshmallow snowmen to show off to the kids at our church potluck tomorrow. Bonding time was a success!
If you would like to attempt this gooey treat, here is what we did. I gave each little guy a wax paper working place. Then we added the following ingredients in the following order: vanilla wafer, icing, marshmallow (body), icing, marshmallow (head), flat gumdrop (we used a cup), regular gumdrop (hat). Next we added ½ pretzel stick in each side of marshmallow body for the arms and chocolate chips for face. We used more icing for the glue. Don’t worry if you mess up, it creates great family memories and adds character to the snowmen!
Sarah
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