Sand Dessert - Yummy!

My son's 3rd birthday was a few weeks ago.  He turned 3.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he wanted a Cars cake.  He had a Cars cake last year, so I talked him into a tractor cake.  He loves to play in the dirt with tractors, so I thought it would be perfect!  I started scouring Pinterest for ideas and found this.  This lady did a great job and I thought I would tackle the task of making inside look cool too.  It ended up being really easy to make.  She had a great tutorial.  Bonus for my son, he got more tractors!  Here is what mine turned out like:

The best part was that you didn't need to have smooth icing on the cake because it was supposed to look like dirt.  Here is what a slice looked like:

The week before his party, we went to a swim party/barbecue at a friends house and I decided I would take the Ramen Noodle Salad from the My Family Meal Planner on the Grill and Sand Dessert that I found here on Pinterest.  Here is a picture of this bloggers Sand Dessert:

I had a brand new sand pail so I served mine the same way she did.  It looked so real and tasted even better.  While coming up with my menu for my son's construction birthday party, I decided I would make this sand dessert and serve it in his big dump truck that he plays with inside (don't worry, I cleaned it and lined it with Press N Seal).  It turned out better than I had hoped and it was a hit! 

Sand Dessert

1 pkg Vanilla Wafers
3 or 4 Oreos
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 C Butter
2/3 C powdered sugar
2 small pkgs French Vanilla pudding mix
2 3/4 C Milk
12 oz Cool Whip

Crush Oreos and Vanilla Wafers in a food processor. In your mixer, cream together softened 8 oz cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. Then add the pudding mix and milk, mix well.  Fold in cool whip. Layer into bucket or dump truck with sand, pudding, sand etc. 

The 3 Oreos really give it the "real" look.  It even feels like the sand on the beach.  You could also fill the dump truck with Dirt Dessert!  (That recipe can be found in the My Family Meal Planner.)



Easiest Banana Bread - 3 ingredients

I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest, but apparently they have since taken the link down.  Luckily I have it memorized! 

It is only 3 ingredients: yellow cake mix, 4 ripe bananas, and 2 eggs.  You can also add 1 cup chocolate chips if you would like.  My 2 year old and I like to make it together, so I turn it into a sensory activity for him and we mix it all up in a Ziploc bag.  Put your bananas in a gallon sized freezer Ziploc bag and close.  Now is the fun part.  Let your child smash the bananas.  My son likes to step on them.

and run and jump on them...

Then we add in the yellow cake mix (powder only) and the 2 eggs.  We squeeze the bag until it is all mixed together.

Now you can add in 1 cup chocolate chips if you would like.  Grease two bread pans, snip the corner off of the Ziploc bag and put an even amount of banana bread in each pan. 

Toss the pans in a 350 degrees F preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes.

Enjoy!

Creative Flower Planting

Creative Flower Planting

Tear up about 5 sheets of computer paper into small pieces.

Soak them in water.  Add them to the blender and puree.

Add 2 or 3 of your favorite flower packets to the mixture. 

 Do not puree with the flowers in the mix as it will ruin the seeds. 

We got these at the Dollar Tree (my favorite store)

(4) for a $1.

Grab your favorite cookie cutters.  We used hearts and flowers. Place them on waxed paper or parchment paper.   Add paper and seed mixture to the cutter squeezing as much water out of the paper as you can before you add it.

After yo have added it, use a towel to dab out any extra water you can.

It takes about 2 days to fully dry out, however, you can use a hair dryer to speed up the process.

Plant your fun biodegradable see pod, or give it to a friend.

Happy May Day!

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus

A great neighbor of ours got us started a few years back with this fun tradition.  Before the kids can open any Christmas presents on Christmas morning, we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ.  Each kid lets a Happy Birthday Balloon go.  We always make a trip to the Dollar Tree a day or two before Christmas.  A lot of the time we grab a few extras and share them with our friends. 

If we share them with our friends, we attache a fun little card explaining our tradition, and including a bible verse about Jesus' birth.

This is a picture of the kids letting them go last year. 

Even if your dollar store isn't open at this hour, you can grab one from your grocery store florist.

Whatever you choose to do to celebrate Christ's birth this year, we hope you have a very blessed time with family and reflect on a baby in a manger.

Gingerbread House Party

Last year my friend, Kim, decided to throw together this party that became a tradition!  She and her daughter sent out invitations to lots of little girls.  Every girl brings something fun to decorate a gingerbread house with.  The items are sorted into bowls, that each girl gets to use for her house.

Kim used graham crackers to create the houses, and placed them on upside down plates to create the yard of the house.  Last year she used thick frosting to put the houses together ahead of time. If you have ever done this, you know how hard it is for the frosting to dry and adhere the parts of the house.  This year Kim got really creative and used a glue gun!  She has the houses put together before every one gets there.  The moms fill pastry bags with the thick frosting.  They are on had to walk around and add frosting to the houses as the girls work excitedly on their houses.

Every girl poses for an individual photo with her house.

This is a tradition that is sure to carry on year after year.  Thanks, Kim, for your hard work on this super fun event I know my daughter looks forward to every year.

Rudolph Ice Cream

Tonight we had a fun Rudolph treat before bed.  I took a scoop of chocolate ice cream, added cool whip eyes and put a mini chocolate chip in the middle of the cool whip, broke a pretzel in half for antlers and then added a maraschino cherry for the nose.  The kids loved it!  I saw the idea here.

They weren't perfect, but the kids didn't mind :)



Upcycled Travel Activities

Trivial Pursuit for Young Players on the go

This is my new passion....Upcycling unwanted games.

I have a favorite junk store, located in Edwardsville, Kansas.  It is called "A Whole Lotta Stuff at Stan's".  With a name like that you can imagine what you might find.  I love to find old games and repurpose them.  I found this Trivial Pursuit game for Young Players for just $.69 cents!  I was able to take the box of questions and make 6 rings of questions.  We carry this in the car, take it to restaurants, or just sit around after dinner asking the questions. 

I hole punched each card and put them on a binder ring.  I also took each of the pies and pie pieces and drilled a hole in them to attach for a fun little accent.

Other great games to do this with are Charades, Pictionary, Sports trivia, and more.

Scope out your local thrift or junk store, and see how creative you can be this holiday season with repurposing.