random activities/crafts

Addie and I haven't been quite as on top of things this past week or so (it's been busier than normal), but we've still fit in some fun activities and crafts. A lot of them have been sort of random, though.

1) Playing in a box. Addie isn't as big on this as I've heard other kids are, but she still enjoyed sitting in the box and watching a movie for a little bit. I've tried making cool things out of boxes before, but she hasn't shown much interest.
                               
2) Painting with water. This was a hit! The awesome part is that is was basically free and mess-free. The trick was finding paper that the water showed up on. With yellow, you could barely see the marks Adelaide was making. Addie really liked this.

3) Mixing paint around in a baggie. I just squirted some different colored paints in a baggie and let Addie squish it all around and then pretend to paint with a paintbrush. The paint I used was a craft paint, so it didn't mix around very well and I had to add some water, so this wasn't as fun as it could've been if you had finger paints or something. I didn't want to spend money, though, and Addie still had a little fun.


4) Popsicle stick and paint random craft. I invented this when we had nothing else to do. I put popsicle sticks and googly eyes in a bag with some paints and had Addie help me mush it. Obviously the googly eyes weren't really necessary since they got covered in paint. You could also use beads, buttons, anything really. Different textures, shapes, sizes, are fun for little kids to touch and mush around in the paint. After mushing, we dumped it out on a piece of paper and let it dry. It actually turned out pretty cool.


5) Crayons. We've been having a lot of fun with crayons. Addie likes to take them out of the container (which unfortunately she has figured out to do all by herself) and put them back in. She likes to put them in different piles around the room. She likes to color in places she shouldn't (the coffee table, her jeans, dad's sweatshirt, the couch). I try to encourage her to color on boxes or paper. I have a big roll of brown paper that I have used for making patterns or sending packages, and I just rip off a huge piece of that and let Addie color all over. I figured out that if I put a piece over the coffee table, she won't color on the coffee table. I still need to keep an eye on that girl! The other day she came over and gave me a hug all innocently and sweetly and then I looked behind me and she had a crayon about 1/4 inch away from my shirt. The little stinker!

6) We went camping....in my aunt's backyard. My aunt has a house they don't really use that has a large backyard with a fire pit. We wanted to go camping but we didn't want to spend a fortune ($18 is a lot of money to go camping I think!), so we camped there. It was SO FUN (other than Addie being up from 2:45-5:30am...). We went camping with my cousin's family, so Addie had a playmate and a bunch of grass to run around and play in and even a trampoline! It was perfect. After the camp-out, we went on a beautiful easy hike. It was nice because it was so easy that Addie walked about 1/2 the time.


7) We made pasta necklaces. I saw most "recipes" online required rubbing alcohol instead of vinegar, but I only had vinegar, so I tried that. It worked pretty well. I had to speed up the drying process since I dyed the pasta the day-of, so I put the pasta in the oven at like 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. Anyway, everything seemed fine until later that night when all the pasta started cracking and falling off our necklaces. I'm not sure if it was the vinegar or the drying in the oven or that I bought cheap pasta. Let me know if you know something I don't! Addie's a little too small to be threading the pasta onto the necklace herself, but she helped me. Addie picked which color she wanted each time. Then I'd put the string just barely through the pasta, and then she'd pull it through all the way. It was fun. She wore the necklace for about 3 minutes and then she was done. I realize I'll probably repeat a lot of these activities when Addie is older and they'll be more successful, but we're still having fun and at least we're doing something other than watching TV. Now that it's getting so cold, we can't play outside as much.

 

You can do simple crafts with very little money, supplies, or time. And it makes life more interesting for sure! I've learned more about Adelaide by how she reacts to certain activities. Her little personality is coming out more and more.

some sewing projects

Recently, I decided I wanted to make Addie a long-sleeve shirt. I knew I wanted it bigger than her current long-sleeved shirts so it would last all winter long. I had an old shirt from when I was a teenager that I definitely wouldn't be wearing, so I decided to cut it up and make it into a shirt for Addie. I should've taken photos as I went along, but I thought I'd share anyway. I used this tutorial, and I thought it was really well-written. It's for a sweater, but it worked great with just a long-sleeved shirt. I just cut a little bigger (and longer) around all the pieces of Addie's current long-sleeved shirt so it would fit her for longer. This is the result!


I also recently got a simple white shirt from a new store that opened near my house and was having a grand opening sale (Tiger Lily). I got the shirt for $1 and so I bought a few. I used part of the extra shirt to embellish the shirt. It started out like this:

and it ended up like this (excuse the closet mess and the peeking child):

I think it turned out pretty cute! I used this tutorial, except that I had to use a second shirt since I started with a short-sleeved shirt. It's definitely more fun than what it was.

Can I just say how much I love the abundance of free sewing tutorials online? The internet is awesome.

Right now I'm in the middle of making our halloween costumes. We're all going to be.....DINOSAURS! I have finished our dinosaur hoodies (there are a lot of tutorials on the web, mostly the same. The one thing I did do was sew the spikes on so that I can take them off easily and the jacket isn't ruined--more on that later) and I'm about to start on our tails....

being crafty

So a week or so ago, Addie and I made the caterpillars as I said we would. I was surprised how much she enjoyed the craft! She loved painting and was seriously thoughtful about it. She's usually the I-can't-sit-still-let-me-make-a-huge-mess type, but she was really careful and slow about it. It was great and now I know to look for/invent crafts that involve painting.

So here is the caterpillar activity link. The only thing I really changed was that I didn't use pipe cleaners for the antennas, only because I didn't have any and I didn't want to go out specifically to buy them. Instead I used some leftover ric-rac and hot glued some straightened paper clips to the back so they would stand up straight and be bendable. Random, but it worked great. So be creative!

For one of our cooking days, Addie helped me make/watched me make some gingerbread cookies, and then I helped her decorate the cookie like a ghost. She had fun doing that, but she had even more fun eating the cookie (as you can tell from the picture). I've learned that stripping her before giving her paint or frosting or anything else messy is a really great idea. We also like to invite friends over for our craft/cooking days. It makes it more fun for Addie, and more worth the work for me!

For the gingerbread cookies, we used this recipe and I had a cookie cutter the shape of a ghost, but if you didn't you could easily just cut the shape out of the dough with a knife (the shape was definitely more distinct before I baked the cookies, but I wasn't really looking for perfection here). We just used a basic white frosting recipe (I won't link to the one I used because it wasn't that great) and I had leftover black frosting from Addie's elmo cake from her birthday. 

Last week on our craft Friday, we did more halloween crafts. The first was found on pinterest, slightly altered since I was doing this with a 1 yr old. The link for the craft is here, toward the bottom of the post. First of all, I got the cheapest plates I could find, which were foam. I think paper plates would've been a lot better because it was hard for Addie to color on a foam plate. But I outlined the face with black puffy paint I had on hand and then just asked Addie to color inside the eyes and the mouth once it was dry--good for fine motor skills, etc. She did a pretty good job. I sort of forgot about the hands on the ghost until this moment, but I would've probably just done that myself anyway. I think this craft would be better for a 2-3 year old (or older).



Then we made mummies in a coffin. I used the Crisco box (after using the shortening for the gingerbread cookies). I just made this craft up so it wasn't great, but Addie likes her mummy and coffin and she had fun, so I think that's the point. I just took a couple jumbo craft sticks and wrapped it with some leftover white fabric and then hot glued the end so it wouldn't unravel. Then I drew a face with permanent marker. Addie mostly just watched me do this. Then I glued paper to the outside of the crisco container (you could do the inside too if you wanted and it would look cuter) and let Addie paint it. She loved it and definitely jumped into the painting faster than last time.

Dinner recipes we love

I love to cook. I didn't really know that until I got married, though. When I was dating Kenny, he taught me a lot about cooking and we really enjoyed cooking together. He is my inspiration! Since being married, I've tried a lot of new recipes, experimented a lot, invented my own recipes, and just had fun cooking! That is one reason why I have one day a week I want Addie to help me cook/bake something--I want her to enjoy being in the kitchen too! I think I've become a pretty great cook. I cook a lot of vegetarian dishes since I eat vegetarian, but I definitely cook meat dishes as well because Kenny and Addie love meat. Eating vegetarian as a family some of the time helps us save money...which I'm all about.

I'm just going to list some of our favorite recipes and include links when I have them. I use pinterest (and allrecipes.com) quite often to find new recipes and to keep track of recipes I want to try.

BLACK BEAN QUESADILLAS 

 This is a great quick dinner. Best quesadillas I've ever had, and they freeze well. I've used frozen cilantro on these before (since cilantro often goes bad quickly and I don't always make this right away after shopping).

CREAMY CAULIFLOWER SOUP
 We love this soup and just seems so fall-like. I usually use fresh carrot instead of frozen carrot since I have that on hand. I often add potatoes as well (would be a good use of leftover baked potatoes so they're already cooked). I have used cream of celery and other cream-of soups too. The potato one is great but I've found it tends to be more expensive (off-brands don't really make it). 

RICE AND BLACK BEAN CASSEROLE

 I've made some changes: 1 1/2 cup uncooked white rice (I felt like it could use a lot more rice and it makes it go farther for cheap); 3 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth; I omit mushrooms because I don't like them; I often use cheddar cheese instead of swiss because it's what I have on hand.

ROASTED GARLIC CAULIFLOWER

 Pairs well with pasta--especially alfredo pasta. Great side dish.

CRASH HOT POTATOES

 Pairs well with roasted green beans, recipe below.

ROASTED GREEN BEANS

 12 oz green beans, washed & trimmed and then dried

  2 t olive oil

  salt, pepper

1/4 t garlic powder

1 1/2 T shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up (totally worth wasting foil). Lay the green beans on the pan and drizzle oil over. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and toss evenly to coat (I never really measure the amounts on any of these, I just make it up). Cook 10 min, shake around. Cook 5 minutes more. Then top with parmesan cheese.

SALSA CHICKEN

 Great easy chicken recipe, pairs well with quinoa and black beans recipe below. This is Kenny's favorite meal ever.

QUINOA AND BLACK BEANS

 I make a few changes to this as well. I often add chopped zucchini (at the same time as the onion) to increase the flavor and healthiness of the dish. I also usually add fresh tomatoes (diced) at the end--great extra flavor. I usually don't add cilantro since it goes bad quickly and shop very frequently.

HOMEMADE PIZZA
 We love homemade pizza. I've finally found my favorite pizza dough recipe, however it does require a little planning. If you want to have homemade pizza within about 30 minutes, try this recipe. But if you can plan a little ahead, use the recipe below. It is so good. We have topped our pizza dough with just pasta sauce (you could use pizza sauce but I don't have it on hand so I just use leftover pasta sauce and it works great) or minced garlic. Both are great. We top the pizza with whatever we have on hand. We've done ham and pineapple, tomatoes and spinach, just cheese, etc. We then top with shredded mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and italian seasoning.

Dough:
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 t of yeast)
1 cup very warm water
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t olive oil
3-3 1/2 c all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt, and olive oil. Mix in flour and knead until smooth. Let rise in greased bowl for one hour. Roll out on floured surface as thin as possible (it rises really well!). Lay on pan and roll edges to form crust. Top with ingredients and bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

BLACK BEAN SLOPPY JOES

 This is a delicious, unique recipe. I usually make homemade buns (not that difficult!) to go with them, and it's delish. See below for that recipe. You could use store-bought buns too. Sometimes I'll make this recipe and a meat sloppy joe recipe as well so Kenny can have some of both. 

HAMBURGER BUNS

 You can make the dough for these in your breadmaker or with a mixer or by hand. I've done it multiple ways and it's always turned out great.

SPICY BEEF AND CHEESE ENCHILADAS WITH RED SAUCE

 This is a recipe I invented so it's not as specific with numbers. We really like it. You can adjust the spiciness to your liking. I do half the pan meatless for me.

Ingredients: 

Flour tortillas

Shredded cheddar cheese (I use a cheddar/monterey jack mix)

Ground Beef

Sauce

1 1/2 T olive oil

2 t minced garlic

1 t onion powder

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 regular sized can of red enchilada sauce

1 12 oz can tomato paste

1 T taco seasoning

3/4 c salsa

1 t cumin

1/2 t basil

1/2 t oregano

3/4 c frozen corn (canned would work too)

1/4 t corn starch (helps keep the enchiladas from getting soggy, but its probably fine without)

Combine olive oil, garlic, and onion powder on medium heat until garlic begins to brown. Then add tomato sauce, paste, all spices. Simmer for around 5 minutes. Add corn and corn starch, stir. 

Then cook the meat. I usually do this in the same pan once I scoop all the sauce out (saves dishes, gives it more flavor). I don't know how much meat I use (somewhere between 1/2 and 1 pound). I end up putting around 2-3 T in each enchilada of Kenny's, so it all depends on how many you are making and how much meat you like. Anyway, I just cook the ground beef with an additional 1 T or so of taco seasoning. If you want the enchiladas less spicy, you could omit cooking the meat in taco seasoning.

After the sauce and meat are done (goes really quickly), I get a 9x13 pan and put a little sauce on the bottom. Then I take tortillas, put some cheese and meat in them, roll up, and place seam side down in the pan. Then I pour sauce over all the enchiladas so they are covered. I usually use all but maybe a cup  or so of the sauce for around 12-14 large enchiladas. I usually save the leftover sauce for dipping sauce for quesadillas or something (I've also frozen it for later use). Cook at 350-375 (higher temperature if you like crispier enchiladas) for around 25 minutes.

GARLIC BREADSTICKS AND HOMEMADE ROLLS
 Here are our favorite roll and breadstick recipes. THEY ARE SO GOOD. I can't even tell you how good they are. The breadsticks are actually really quick. The rolls take awhile, but it is well worth it when you have the time.

Let me know if you have questions about any of the recipes. I'd love to know if you try them!

Keeping life interesting

Last year I worked part-time and it helped give each day structure. However, I decided I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom to Addie (even though I miss teaching). It has been hard adjusting to a life full of blank days needing to be filled with fun for a toddler. I often wake up in the morning and think--"what can Addie & I possibly do today to keep busy all day long?" I found that I was wasting a lot of time and wasn't feeling very productive.

Who wouldn't want to be at home with this cute kid?

I've implemented a few things recently to provide more structure to each day and week and I've found myself happier and definitely more productive!

The first thing is that I have a loose schedule of what I do with Addie each day. This is in addition to any errands we need to run, any playdates we have, etc. We've just recently started this, but it's been working great and I think will get better and better as Addie gets older. It helps to have a focus--or at least ONE thing we do each day other than play and eat and sleep.


Monday is our service day. We find some way to serve. This requires some sort of creativity. Last week we made muffins and brought that and fruit to a friend in the ward who had a baby. This week we ran an errand for another friend in the ward. I'm hoping to do more fun things for Addie like...return shopping carts in a parking lot to the store, or tape coins to vending machines, or other random acts of service.

Tuesday is our cooking day. I try to find something fun to have Addie help me with while cooking. Last week she helped me with pizza. I gave her a little piece of dough to roll out with her playdough rolling pin and then she helped me sprinkle the cheese. She loved it so much she cried when I told her we were all done. I'm hoping to have her help me with some fun fall treats. We'll post about those later.

Wednesday is our music day. We try to listen to lots of music, sing songs, and we go to our church for a mommy and me music class--Addie loves it! They sing songs, do actions, march with instruments, play with a parachute, hit sticks together, and dance with a ribbon stick. We dance at home too.

Thursday is our stories day. We go to storytime at the local library (they do a great job!) and try to read extra stories on top of the amount we usually read. I'm hoping that as Addie gets older, we can use this day to learn letters and things like that.

Friday is our craft day. Pinterest is my source of inspiration. Last week we made a stoplight using ripped up paper (it took Addie a little while to get into it, but then she enjoyed it) and ghosts for the door for halloween (we traced Addie's hand and then turned it upside down). Addie wasn't too into the crafts yet so I need to find things she'll be more interested in and/or be more patient. My plan for this week is to make this: egg carton caterpillar.


If you feel like your days have become BLAH (especially if you're a stay at home mom), you should try to come up with some sort of schedule. It helps so much! You can steal mine or make your own. I know Addie has been having more fun--and learning more--too!

A fresh start

My last blog wasn't so successful and I couldn't convince myself to write on it again because it had been so long since I last wrote. I decided to start fresh with a new blog and a new direction.

On this blog, I'm hoping to share not only the fun we have as a family, but also the fun things I do with Addie during the week (I'm trying to be a fun mom), the adventures Kenny has (maybe he'll be a guest blogger sometimes!), and the recipes I love and the sewing projects I do. Hopefully my blog can inspire you to do some fun things with your family too.