handprint beavers

It's nearly Canada Day, and I couldn't let it pass without doing a craft with the kiddos. This was a fun craft, and the kids loved  doing it. It has been a while since we last painted, so they had fun making a HUGE mess painting. Did you know that the beaver is the national animal of Canada?

Claire used some maple leaf cookie cutters to stamp leaves on the white paper. We let those dry over night. This morning, Simon and Claire painted their hands brown and stamped them on the paper. While we still had the brown paint out, I added little feet and little ears to the beaver. Then when it was all dry I drew the hands, nose, mouth (big teeth are key) and the details on the tail.

Whenever I do painting projects with the kids I always get them to do what I have in mind first ( in this case brown handprints). Then I let them paint whatever they want (including themselves!) If I waited until they were nearly done painting, there would be a lot less cooperation with me.

We're making cookies this weekend to take to the teddy bear picnic on Canada Day. The kids are so exited. Who else has big plans for Canada Day?


Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff & Today's Creative Blog &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

chocolate dipped chips

Don't know what to bring to the next barbecue you're attending? These chips are sure to get people talking. The best part is that they are so easy (& cheap) to make!

Buy a bag, or two, of your favorite ruffled potato chip. The kind that I bought were just $1.19 per bag. Then, I went to the Bulk Barn and bought a bag of milk chocolate wafers. Now, I bought WAY too many, because I always like to air to the side of caution. I'd rather have leftover chocolate, rather than not have enough. I probably used about $1.50 worth of chocolate. 

Have your ingredients? Now you're ready to get started. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler. You could also melt it in a microwave safe bowl. (Be sure to use short intervals if this is how you're doing it.) Line your counter with sheets of parchment paper. Once the chocolate has been completely melted, dip chips in chocolate to the half way point of the chip. Let dry on the parchment paper. This is the best way for the biggest chips. I didn't want to let all of those small chips to go to waste, but it was such a pain to dip those ones. I found it easier to lay out all of the small chips on the parchment paper, and then use a pastry brush to paint the chocolate on one side of the small chips. (I just painted one side of the small chips.) Once the chips are dry load them up into bowls to take to your get together- just don't expect them to last very long! (I recommend that you make these the same day that you'll be eating them. They're still good the next day, but they don't have the same crunch as they will the first day.)

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

fun pirate playdate

I decided to have two of our neighbours over for a little pirate playdate with Claire and Simon last week. I had found these plastic gold coins at Walmart (for $1) that I thought would be perfect for a treasure hunt. I drew a treasure map for the kids, and I was all excited to take them on a walk/treasure hunt.Sadly, the day of the playdate it was raining so hard that we couldn't go outside on our hunt. 

Oh well, the kids had fun playing inside, and they loved this lunch that I made. I used the sword toothpicks to skewer blueberries and small grapes. These were a big hit.

 I made cannon ball peanut butter and jam sandwiches. 

And the biggest hit were definitely the pirate jello sail boats. The night before the playdate, I made (ha, mixed together blue jello powder and water) and poured it onto a plate (with high edges). Then, I cut several oranges in half. (When you're cutting the oranges, make sure that you cut through where the stem was on the orange. If you cut the orange the other way, jello will leak out where the stem was. I hope that makes sense.) Scoop out all of the insides of the orange. I served mine to Simon for breakfast the next morning. I set the jello halves in a muffin tin, and then I filled them up with jello. Refrigerate until set (overnight). The next morning I cut the orange halves in half to make the boats. I printed the pirate sails from the Makes and Takes website. I cut a small slit near the top and bottom of the sails, slide a toothpick in, and then put the sail on the jello wedges. Then, I loaded up my jello boats onto the sea of jello and served them to the kids.

Lastly, we got out the pool noodles that I cut in half, and had marble races. The kids had a lot of fun sending the marbles down the tracks. It was a fun playdate- hopefully the next time the weather will cooperate a little bit more!

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

puppy dog sandwich

I want to say hi to all of my new facebook followers. WHAT! You don't follow me on facebook yet? You can do that here.

Remember the puppy Valentines that I made? Of course you do, my loyal readers. Well, that's what inspired this sandwich. We go through so much bread in this house, so it's not uncommon for us to have a few packages of it open at the same time. When I made this sandwich for the kids, we happened to have a grain bread and a white bread open at the same time. It could just as easily be made from all one kind of bread. 

I was making sandwiches for Claire and Simon. So I cut two hearts out of each kind of bread. I sliced the grain bread hearts in half to make the ears. I added mini marshmallows with chocolate chips to make the eyes. Mini chocolate chips, and a red smartie finished off the puppy face. That's it. It came together in the time I would have used just to cut the crusts off of the bread. Have you been making fun lunches for your kids?

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello