Muffin Tin Monday...No Theme

I was very grateful for the "no theme" this week. It has been CRAZY around here. We had one of our new favorite meals...Ranch Chicken & I surprised them with a playdough cookie. Here is what they ate:



Top Row: Ranch Chicken, Mac & Cheese, & Playdough Cookie
Bottom Row: Ranch Chicken, Mac & Cheese, & Green Beans

If you want recipes...here you go:

The Ranch Chicken recipe is posted HERE.

I found the Mac & Cheese recipe on KEVIN & AMANDA.

The Playdough Cookie recipe is HERE. I just colored 1/2 of the dough red & left the other 1/2 regular & twisted them together as directed in the recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. A few tips to make the wait for dinner more pleasant with little ones:

♥ cover the "kiddie" table with paper & set out some crayons or markers. Then..let the little artists get busy.
♥ have a few simple crafts for the little ones to do like these finger puppets or this cute SIMPLE craft for a plastic spoon turkey. {We are doing the plastic spoon turkeys this year.} We also have Thanksgiving coloring pages/games {try HERE, HERE, or HERE}.

The Flu...

I promised a few commenters that I would put up step by step directions on my Thanksgiving finger puppets, but I have come down with the flu & have no idea when it will be over. I did find the original place where I found the turkey idea though. Here is the link:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/11/21/turkey-finger-puppets/.

Sorry! Now, I will go back to laying in the fetal position sipping on special daddy juice {Gatorade}. I am hoping to convince hubby to do MTM for me, but I'm not sure if he will have time to run to the store. Oh winter...how I dislike you!

Want to enter?

I recently found this great blog called A LITTLE TIPSY. Today she is giving away a great Melissa & Doug cutting food play set. I love Melissa & Doug puzzles & play sets. They are great quality! If you would like to enter. Just head over by clicking the link above (the blog name)! If I don't win...I hope you do!!!

Homemade Bread Day

Today's "holiday" is "Homemade Bread Day". We bake all of the time, but I realized that I have never had the boys make bread (or anything with yeast) before. What a magical experience for them.



Here is the recipe that we used:

Traditional White Bread

2 (.25 0z) packages active dry yeast
3 Tbsp white sugar
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
3 Tbsp lard, softened (I used butter)
1 tsp salt

1. In large bowl (I used my Kitchenaid w/ dough hook)...dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Allow to proof (get foamy). Mix in lard (or butter), salt, & 2 cups of flour. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time.
2. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place dough in bowl & turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp washcloth & let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
3. Deflate (or punch) the dough & turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half & form into two loaves. Place into 2 lightly greased loaf pans. Cover with a damp washcloth & let rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

It was pretty easy for the kids to do. I explained about yeast (what I know) & then they got to see the yeast proof. Then, we made the bread dough. They added everything & used the mixer. They were excited to see the bread dough double in size. It was like magic to them. Then, they helped form it into loaves & got to watch it rise again. When they got to touch the dough...they were surprised at how "squishy" it was. What a fun learning experience for them! If you haven't made bread with your kids before...DO!!!

The bread itself is pretty basic as baking bread goes. The flavor is very tasty & it is really moist.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

Another holiday for today is "Button Day". I have a baggie full of buttons...so we went to work. We made THESE cute little guys from Family Fun...nothing like pipe cleaners, buttons, goggle eyes, & some beads.

Get out your buttons & see what you can make!

Sorry...

I really had crafts lined up for the Thanksgiving holiday, but there are circumstances in our family that are making it hard for me to focus on that. So, instead...our crafts will be a little more random. I have a few crafts planned for the kids to do...not much in the Thanksgiving department. I hope that you can be patient with my lack of Thanksgiving posts & there will be plenty more for Christmas. I am hoping to do a few this week, but we will see! I will also post some pictures of our Thankful tree soon.

Party Time

Today is "have a party with your Teddy Bear" day. I was grateful for something to do fun with the boys. Kaden is home from school with strep throat & pink eye. Preston also has pink eye. YUCK! So, for lunch...I put out the table cloth & a tea set. For lunch they had crescent dogs, oranges, teddy bear crackers, & strawberry milk. I set the table for four, but gave the bears "pretend" food. I just couldn't bring myself to waste real food. The boys had no clue what I was doing. I invited the boys to go & get a Teddy Bear & come to lunch. Kaden picked "Elmo Teddy"...his favorite bear since he was 2. Preston picked "Preston"...all of his stuffed animals are named Preston. I put some puzzles under the bears to prop them up & make them at table level. The boys loved eating with their bears.





After nap...we are planning on building a fort {with our bears} & reading stories & doing puzzles. Why not have a party with your bear...even if it something simple!

Muffin Tin Monday...Foods We Are Thankful For

I loved the theme for today's Muffin Tin. I had each munchkin tell me 3 foods that they were thankful for. Then, I made their muffin tin with their 3 thankful foods & then their sibling's thankful foods. The boys always surprise me at the simplicity of the foods they choose. It just goes to show that they don't need anything extravagant (not that it will stop me for future tins)! Once again...my memory card decided that it didn't want store our picture...so I will just have to tell you!

Kaden picked: cheese sandwich, milky way, kettle corn
Preston picked: PB&J sandwich, raisins, & string cheese

Sorry about the picture, but by the time I went to retake...it didn't look appetizing anymore!

Silly Holidays!

I love funny, silly holidays. I was surprised to see how many there are out there. One day..I made an list of all of the fun holidays that I would use. I am going to start updating these holidays on my sidebar monthly. So, for now...you will have November's holiday list. If you need some inspiration or just want something fun to celebrate...check these out.

A great deal!!

If you want a great deal on Disney's UP. Click HERE to get your coupon for $10.00 off a blue ray 4 pack. It comes with the normal DVD also. I went to Target with my coupon & paid $9.99 for the movie. The normal single DVD is $15.99. Hurry...the coupon expires November 14, 2009.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I can't help but want to thank all of the men & women who protect our freedoms. We have been touched by so many wonderful people through the Army & have so many new friends since our adventure started.

I feel very blessed to have a husband who chose to volunteer & protect our country. I think of all of the men & women who are overseas & their families who are home worrying about them.

Please take the time to tell our Veterans how much you appreciate their sacrifices. I want to thank Grandpa Foster, Grandpa Morgan, my sweet & courageous husband, Chris (KC's uncle), Ken (Becca's husband), Jason, Morgan, Dejan, Farah, Jamie, Mary, & other other service men & women that I may have forgotten. Being on the other side as the veteran's spouse...I also want to thank all of the wives & husbands who hold down the fort while their spouse is gone. These are amazing people & they deserve our support. THANK YOU OUR VETERANS!!!





This is one of my favorite pictures. Kaden & his little friend Noah were sitting outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center watching their Daddy's doing flag duty. It was such an amazing thing to watch. This is the kind of impression I want to leave with the boys about our service men & women.



{reposted for our family blog November 2008}

Muffin Tin Monday...

I FORGOT!!! I have never forgotten MTM. What is up with my head? My poor, sweet boys were so understanding. As we were finishing dinner & remembered. Oh boy...I will have to fix my MISTAKE tomorrow.

Thankful Tree

I saw this last year & really wanted to make one. We are loving the Thankful jar. {Today is "I am thankful for mom" day...I can't wait to see what they come up wth!} I wanted to "inspire" the boys to come up with their own thing to be thankful for. We will each {including hubby & me} write on one leaf a day until at least Thanksgiving. I would like to take it to the end of November, but I may change to Christmas before then!!! Then we will stick the leaves on our tree. By the end of the month..our tree should be FULL!!!

First, I used a roll of kraft/packing paper to make my tree. I just drew a tree freehand onto the paper & cut it out. I used tape to hang it up on a closet door...so that we could see it often. (Sorry about the picture...it is on a really strange angle.)


I used construction paper for the leaves. At first, I wanted to cut out cute oak leaves, but decided that I would get tired of cutting those out. I went with a very simple leaf. After I cut out the leaves...I creased them down the center for a bit of dimension. I will show you the progress of our tree in a bit!

Festive Finger Puppets

Now..I want to start out by saying...I DON'T SEW!!! We made these cute finger puppets last year as an activity for the kids to do while they anxiously awaited Thanksgiving dinner. It went great & the kids loved the activity & then they had something to play with.



As I said...I did this last year & didn't do a tutorial or anything. It was pretty easy. I just started with felt & cut out a finger puppet shape. You need a front & a back. If you want to get really fancy...use pinking shears. Sew around the edges leaving the bottom open.

Then cut out your embellishments. I am not an artist, but it was really simple. We just attached the embellishment with felt glue.

**If you want step by step directions...let me know.

Done...for now!!

Ok..I finally got all of my changes for the blog finished! I have a few things that I would like to do down the road...but I am happy for now!

Thankful Jar

This Thanksgiving month..I really wanted to make my boys focus on being thankful & giving. AND we ♥ countdowns in this family. So, when I saw this super cute thankful jar idea...I was SOLD!! I have seen this at 3 different places, but can only remember 1. Sugar Doodle has cute cards that you can print out. My printer is currently having issues...so I just wrote mine out on paper strips. Then I folded up each word strip.



Then, I took a cute jar that I had & tied ribbon around it. I was going to decorate it all up, but decided that I wanted to be able to use the jar for other things too.



Everyday the boys will pick out one word strip & we will do whatever activity the strip says. I am also excited to do these things as a family!

Stay tuned...

I have some fun fall/Thanksgiving crafts coming, but we just haven't had a spare moment to work on them. I promise to get some done in the next couple of days...so please stay tuned!!!

Muffin Tin Monday...Outerspace

Today's MTM theme is Outer space. Kaden was out of school today...so I decided to do ours for breakfast.

Here is what they ate:

Top Row: planet (pancake "balls"), space rover (egg), alien (chocolate chip, banana, & strawberry) with space rocks (raisins), above that is the milky way
Bottom Row: planet (pancake "balls"), outer space with stars (blueberry yogurt with yellow sprinkles), meteors (hash browns)

Check out other Muffin Tins at Her Cup Overfloweth.