On a budget this May Day or Mother's Day?

Try this fun craft from www.kaboose.com.

Kids will have fun making it and

any grandmother, mother, aunt, sister or friend would love it!

click on picture to see original picture and craft

Let the children decide how to decorate the outside of the paper plates. The children can make their own flowers from construction paper to put inside. Any mother would love this, and so would a grandmother!

What you'll need:
2 Flimsy paper plates
Construction paper
Markers or paint, optional
Scissors
Decorative scissors, optional
Glue
Stapler
Hole punch
Ribbon or yarn

How to make it:
Cut one plate in half. Set aside one half for another project or for another child to use.
Decorate the outside (bottom) of the plates using markers, paint, construction paper, or whatever you wish. Let dry.
Staple the circular paper plate and the half plate together, outsides facing out.
Hole punch two holes in the top of the circular paper plate. (see photo)
Attach a piece of ribbon or yarn so you can hang the basket on the door handle.
Create flowers and leaves from construction paper. Glue pieces together.
Assemble in your basket. Glue in place.
Early on the morning of May 1st place it on your mother's bedroom door.
You can also make more baskets to hang on your neighbor's door, a friend's, or anyone special to you.
Remember, it's supposed to be a surprise!

My Ideas:

Fill with real flowers... even if that means using the dandelions from your yard.

Use cupcake holders and paper or pipe cleaners to make flowers.

Fill with candy!

Fruit Pie Biscuits

All I can say is I will make these for myself for Mother's Day if I have too... Yum. click on picture to see original picture and recipe

What You Need:

1 can Jumbo-sized biscuits

1 can of your favorite pie filling

Cinnamon

1 cup sugar
1-1 1/2 tbsp milk

1 sandwich bag

scissors

bowl

What You Do:

Bake the biscuits as directed on the can. Let cool. Wash your hands and dry them. Create a "basket" in the center of each biscuit by pressing your finger down into the center. Gently press the inside dough into the bottom of the biscuit, reinforcing it so that the filling does not leak through the bottom. Fill each biscuit with pie filling and lightly dust with cinnamon .

** At this point, the biscuits can be stored in a sealed container for up to 8 hours with no problems. To serve, place on a plate and drizzle with glaze. (see below) Warm Biscuits: You can reheat before serving (if desired) by placing one biscuit on a microwave safe plate and heating on high power for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and drizzle with glaze as directed below.

For the Glaze:

In a bowl, mix confectioner's sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Stir until smooth. Add more milk, a few drops at a time, until desired consistency. You can drizzle the icing with a spoon or use the following method:Fill a sandwich bag with confectioner's sugar icing, seal the bag and push the icing into one corner of the bag. Using scissors, slightly snip off this corner of the bag. Drizzle the icing liberally across the top of each biscuit. Serve immediately.

Celebrate Earth Day!

Click on the picture for an easy Earth Day project for you and your kiddos and it should be sprouting just in time for Mother's Day!

Want something yummy to eat on Earth Day?

Try this new recipe... looks deeee-lish!

Organic Old Fashion Strawberry Cobbler

Lemon Bars

These look divine!

click on above picture for website, picture and original recipe

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix with pudding
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Add the egg and oil; mix until well blended. Mixture will be slightly dry. Reserve one cup for the topping, and pat the rest into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spread the mixture evenly over the baked crust. Crumble the reserved cake mix mixture over the top.
Bake for an additional 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until filling is set and the topping is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into bars. Refrigerate leftovers

My idea:
Mix in some blueberries and top with whip cream!

Eat Dirt!

Here is a fun spring time treat for you and your kiddos!

Dirt!

Make Chocolate pudding and place in individual cups

Sprinkle/layer with crushed Oreo Cookie crumbs

Top with a gummy worm

click on picture to see original picture

Kids will love it!

What's for dinner tonight?

Ground Beef Curly Noodles
click on title for original recipe and website

"This is a quick and economical recipe I've posted on Allrecipes a few years ago and it's received pretty good feedback. Kids like it a lot. It's tasty as written, and it can be further spiced up as desired. Some like to double or triple the ramen noodles. It's really good the next day wrapped in a tortilla." -Michelle Jones creator of Frugal Family Recipes

1 lb. ground beef
1 package ramen noodles (I use oriental flavored) with seasoning packet
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes

Brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain fat. Crush ramen noodles in their package to break them up slightly. Add noodles, seasoning packet, can of corn (undrained) and diced tomatoes (undrained). If using extra noodles add 1/2 cup water or broth for each package. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover. Stir occasionally to continue to break up noodles. Simmer for 10 minutes. Yields 4 servings.

My Ideas:
Use other broccoli, peas and/or shredded carrots instead of tomato's
Use shredded chicken instead of beef
Wrap in lettuce for a yummy lettuce wrap

Oh yes I did!

I never thought I would, but I did. Here it goes, I am going to say it.... I recently bought a child harness for my sweet 18 month old. See, I am pregnant and due early June. My outings will be filled with keeping track of a creative 4 year old, very busy 20 month old and a newborn! The thought of it overwhelms me. When my husband mentioned that we should get a child harness, especially for a family vacation coming up, I started researching... this is what I found: http://www.jackaboo.com/ I don't feel the least bit guilty about it and to be honest, my mind is actually at ease.... Can you guess what pattern I ordered??

FYI: Target, Walmart, Amazon and Toys R Us all have different types of child harnesses. If you have a busy toddler and you feel like your hands are full, its worth looking into!

Spring Time Treats

I know most of you have heard of ants on a log, I have never like celery so this has NEVER appealed to me... HOWEVER! Have you heard of Apple Ladybugs? They are so simple and sound so much more appealing..... give it a try!

click on picture to see original picture, recipe and website

Ingredients:
1 red apples
1/8 cup raisins
4 mini pretzel sticks
peanut butter

Directions:
Slice apples in half from top to bottom, and scoop out the cores with a melon baller or knife. Place each apple half face down on a plate. Using dollops of peanut butter as a 'glue', add raisins to the apple skin to form the ladybug's dots and eyes. Insert pretzel sticks into apple as antennae for the finishing touch!

Some of my ideas:
Instead of raisins, use dried blueberries or chocolate chips
Use a green apple to mix it up a little
Use cream cheese instead of peanut butter

Plastic Easter Eggs

Now that Easter is over, what are you going to do with all of those plastic Easter eggs??? Here is a very clever idea from THIS LITTLE PROJECT. Do you have 26 eggs laying around? If you are like me I am sure you do! Here is what you do: With a sharpie write an uppercase letter on the top of the egg and the same lowercase letter on the bottom. Separate the two parts and have your kiddos try and match them together. Do this with the whole alphabet and you have a fun, educational and colorful game!

Click on picture to go to see original picture and website

Coupon!

For those of you that live in the Salem area and want to see the Easter Bunny... click here!

If you do not live in this area find a website to the nearest mall and see what Easter specials they have! It will be worth it!