Muffin Tin Monday...Circus

Today's Muffin Tin Muffin theme is circus. I have been really excited about this one! We have started doing our Muffin Tin meal for Dinner & it must be on MONDAY!!! Their dinner was served in a BIG TOP circus tent. I even sang a circus diddy for them while I served their dinner. They were really excited about dinner & then it got even better when I pulled out the party hat & clown nose. We laughed so hard! I think that this is going down as one of our FAVORITES!!!

Here is what they ate. It isn't a healthy dinner in anyway, but what healthy foods do they have at a circus?

homemade corn dogs nuggets (do you want the recipe?)
ketchup
peanuts
cotton candy
popcorn

Here are my cute boys wearing their clown attire...

Stick Puppets

This morning I came across THIS fun craft. I wanted to put my new "organization" to the test. *sigh* I worked PERFECTLY!!! I cut out the shapes (because we have a TON to do today) & set them out for the boys. You will need:



3 small circles (for the heads)
3 pieces of hair (any color..we did black)
1 triangle
1 rectangle
1 oval
3 craft sticks
glue
markers

Before we started, we talked about the shapes & the colors that were in front of them.

Take your 3 circles & glue the hair on..we did that first so that it wouldn't end up covering the eyes later. Then set the little ones loose drawing faces on the circles.






Once the faces are finished, have your kiddos decorate the triangle, rectangle, & oval bodies.

Then, put glue on the top 2/3 of your craft stick & have the kiddos put the body on the stick leaving just enough space at the top for the head. Then put the head on the top of the stick. Allow to dry & PLAY!!!

Here are our finished products:

KADEN'S



PRESTON'S

**Our puppets are dry now. The boys are sitting at the end of the couch doing puppet shows over the arm. I love listening to the stories that they come up with!!!

Getting Organized

I love to collect craft supplies for the boys. After I buy the supplies, I put them on my "kids craft shelf" still in the plastic bag. Sometimes...they don't even make it that far. Lately, my "kids craft shelf" has spread into my food storage area, my craft area, & pretty much anywhere else. I have started to get frustrated because I can NEVER find what I am looking for.

Today when I was at Ross, I found an over the door shoe holder for $4.00 that gave me an idea. I took it home & started getting organized!!!



I put the things that the boys can use without a lot of supervision towards the bottom. Towards the top...I put the paint, ink, & other things that they need me for. I am so excited to show them this!!! Now everything is at our fingertips & EASY to find!!!!

**TIP: The shoe holder has UGLY metal hooks that hang over the door, but if you use the 3m mini hooks it works perfect...just wait 24 hours before you hang the shoe holder on the hooks!

Teddy Bear Craft

A bit ago I signed up for KIDS CRAFT WEEKLY. I got my email this week & loved this craft. I already have everything for it at home. It is pretty basic & easy for the kiddos to do without too much interference. The best part is...it went great with our Teddy Bear Picnic (the post below). Here is what you need:



a paper plate
3 cupcake liners
markers
glue/tape

First we smashed two of the cupcake liners & glued them onto the back of the paper plate. This will be your ears.



Then have your little one draw a nose & mouth on the remaining cupcake liner. The directions taped cupcake liner onto the front of the paper plate...we smashed & glue ours on. Then, draw the eyes onto the front of the paper plate. My guys also drew headphones & glasses.

Kaden's bear has glasses (like his) & headphones:



Here is Preston's bear wearing sunglasses:

Teddy Bear Picnic

My boys ♥ teddy bears. They both choose teddy bears over any other stuffed animal. I thought that it would be fun to have a Teddy Bear Picnic with them. Plus it would be a GREAT excuse to use one of my NEW TEA SETS. We went to the library & I picked up some bear related stories. For lunch we had:

bear shaped pb&j sandwiches
chips
raisins
bear shaped cookies (I used THIS recipe & pre-cut a bear head out of the sheet of cookie dough...then I put the chocolate chips on for the inside ears, eyes, & nose. I also cut a little smile out. Once they were cooked, I just had to re-cut the bear head shape out.)
apple raspberry juice



The boys had no clue what their "lunch surprise" was. I invited them to grab a very special teddy bear & come outside to the picnic blanket. They were excited to have a picnic & use one of our new tea sets. While they ate their lunch with their "friends", I read them the stories that we got from the library.



Kaden held his teddy bear on his lap the whole time...it was so cute.



Preston named his bear cookie "Mr. Preston Polar Bear".



Tomorrow we are going to do a bear craft...stay tuned!!!

Muffin Tin Monday...Faces & People

Today marks a new chapter for Muffin Tin Monday. Next Monday Kaden starts all day Kindergarten. We have decided to move MTM to dinner from now on. I don't think that the boys would ALLOW me to move it to any day but MONDAY. It is Muffin Tin MONDAY after all. For MTM we decided to make pizza faces. We put all of the ingredients into their Muffin Tins & set them loose. I love to see the boys get creative. Here is what they had to work with (I ♥ their little pans that we got last year..they are so handy!):

Here they are making their pizzas. They thought it was pretty cool that they got to do their own sauce.

THE FINISHED PRODUCTS:

Kaden used olives for the eyes (& nose...but it got covered by pepperoni). He put pepperoni cheeks & pepperoni eyes. Last but not least....pineapple for hair!

Preston has a face somewhere under there, but then ended up dumping all of his toppings onto his pizza.

Reward Time!!

I wanted to give you an update on how our smiley rewards went this week. The boys loved getting smileys & were on their best behavior (for the most part). To redeem their smileys & make it more of a learning activity too...we brought all of the smiles that they earned to the table & lined them up in groups of 5. (All of our rewards were 5 smile increments.) As they chose their reward, they had to give us the smileys to "buy" it. They both opted to spend most of their smiles this time. Kaden had 3 left over & Preston had 2 left over. We will see how week 2 goes!

WARNING--SUGAR OVERLOAD

I used to ♥ rock candy. I remember going to certain stores & my parents would get it for me & my brothers. Last week I came across a post on how to make homemade rock candy. I tried really hard, but can't find the original post again. I hate it when that happens!

The boys had a great time stirring & adding the food coloring. Now, they have to have patience to wait for the crystals to form.



Here is the recipe/directions:

Ingredients:
•4 cups sugar
•1 cup water
•Food coloring
•Clean glass jar
•String, cut into 6-inch lengths
•Pencil/Skewer

Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, heat 2 cups of the sugar and the water. Do not boil! Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Gradually add a few drops of the food coloring of your choice and the additional sugar, stirring continuously until all the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the solution into a clean glass jar and tie the pieces of string to the pencil and suspend them across the mouth of the jar so that the ends hang into the sugar water.
Crystals suitable to eat will form in an hour and continue for several days to a week. Pieces can be broken off and eaten after the first hour. (But, try to hold out for big crystals!)
Although you may see quick results in small measure, the larger rock candy crystals you’re accustomed to seeing in the candy store will take some time to form.

Our Smiley Reward Box

I got the boys' reward box finished. I went to the dollar store & walmart for their goodies. I spent about $20.00. I assigned points values to each color of star sticker & then put a sticker on each item according to what they should be worth. We decided to start at 5 smileys & go up from there.

At the end of the week, we will total up their smileys. They will be able to "buy" stuff out of the reward box with the smiley points that they earned.

Postive Reinforcement

I have been trying to come up with an idea to reward my boys good behavior rather than focus on the negative. A while back I found these really fun & colorful Gems at Michael's.



I decided to draw a smiley face on the front on each gem. At first I used paint, but it came off too easily. For round 2 I went with a black Sharpie & that worked much better.



After I drew on the faces, I took my handy dandy glue gun & glued magnets onto the back of the gem. There were two sizes of magnets at Michael's..the small ones were just right.





Cute huh? Well, it is a great & cute idea, but I was struggling trying to figure out how to put it to work. Then I came across THIS idea at The Idea Room. It was a bit complicated for my boys, but I saw a way to execute the idea that I had started with.

Today we started giving the boys a smiley for every good thing they did. They have been so excited & willing to do things. I feel like sometimes we make a bigger deal over the negative things even though they do so many good things. This is a great way for us to focus on the good things that the boys do...no matter how small!

At the end of the week we will add up their smileys & then they can go "shopping" for their rewards. Tomorrow I am going to get the container ready to hold their rewards & then I will post it.

Muffin Tin Monday

I just got back from New York. We had so much fun! My Mom went in for surgery this morning & I am spending the day over at the hospital with my parents...so we did our MTM ahead of time. We decided to do a family movie night & do our Muffin Tins then. We took the boys to the store & let them pick whatever treat they wanted. I was surprise that they both picked fruit. We ate on the Family Room floor & watched Meet the Robinsons. We had such a fun night!!! Here is what we had:



Top Row: Pizza, blueberries (Kaden's choice), Red Vines
Bottom Row: My Mom's Yummy Popcorn, Bananas (Preston's choice), M&Ms

Muffin Tin Monday...Trains Planes & Automobiles

I tried to think "out of the box" or maybe "in the box" on this one. We did our Muffin Tin on Friday because as you are reading this I am partying in NEW YORK with my Mama. I flew out on Friday & thought that it would be fun to make the boys their very own "airplane meal". We had fun pretending that we were riding in an airplane while they ate their lunch!

Here is the box that their food came in:



Here is what they ate:



On the left side: 2 homemade mini roll sandwiches & a fun mini fork with a napkin

Top Row: Mixed Veggies (Carrots & Peas) & Peanuts (you have to have peanuts in an airplane meal)
Bottom Row: Animal Crackers & Mixed Berries (Blackberries, Blueberries, & Raspberries)

The boys LOVED it!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane....

Well, I am off to NEW YORK CITY!!! I am super excited. I have been there twice, but this time I get to do GROWN UP stuff. For my birthday (in January) my husband & kiddos gave me a trip to NY with just me & my mom. We get to go visit my brother & his wife & play for a week.

Super Cute & Easy Birthday Banner

I am posting the template to make this banner over on SIMPLY COMPLICATED. All you need is some scrapbook paper (trimmed to 8 1/2 x 11 if you need to), ribbon, & glue. It is SUPER EASY!!!

Oooo Oooo Ahhhh Ahhh

We had so much fun with Kaden's monkey party. If you want to see more or get a few ideas for your own monkey party go HERE.

Muffin Tin Monday--PaRtY/CeLeBrAtE!!!

This weeks Muffin Tin Monday theme is Party & Celebrate. For our house...this is party week. Kaden's birthday is today & then hubby's is Thursday. Today is Kaden's Muffin Tin!! He got to choose whatever he wanted to eat. He loved being able to choose whatever he wanted. His favorite food is mac & cheese, but he is having that tonight for dinner...so instead he chose pizza. I called & ordered the pizza & told him that it was going to be delivered. Daddy surprised Kaden & was the delivery boy. He was excited that Daddy came home for his special birthday lunch! We put a candle in his pie & sang Happy Birthday & then he got to blow out his candle! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN!!!




Here is what Kaden chose for lunch:

Top Row: blueberries & bananas on BLUE picks, mini chocolate pudding pie, & pea pods
Bottom Row: ants on a log, pizza, ranch (to dip the pizza in)