Kid Friendly Friday - Cinco de Mayo Recipe

I love Cinco de Mayo because I love Mexican food. Any reason to make it...or no reason at all. I am sharing a fun recipe for the wee ones I found in a Kraft Foods advertisement a few years back. Taco bowls are like mini taco salads. Cute and fun to eat (a little messy).

Mini Taco Bowls

Original Recipe Provided By: Kraftfoods.com - modifications added
Ingredients

8 Small Flour Tortillas
1 pound ground beef
1 cup Salsa (or a packet of taco seasoning)
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese
2 cups chopped lettuce
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup Ranch Dressing or sour cream

Cooking Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Microwave tortillas on HIGH 30 sec. or until softened.

Press 1 tortilla into each of eight medium muffin cups to form a bowl. Carefully fold edges of tortilla back to keep an opening for the filling. Bake 10 min.

Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Stir in salsa (or prepare meat with taco seasoning according to package directions); bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 min. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture into each tortilla bowl.

Top evenly with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Drizzle with dressing or dollop of sour cream.

So what kinds of things will you do for Cinco de Mayo? Join us for Kid Friendly Friday by adding your information to Mr. Linky below. You may certainly use an old post. Anything kid friendly is fine - doesn't have to be Cinco de Mayo related! Keep checking back for more good ideas. Thanks for participating and have a joyous weekend~

Three Things This Thursday - Randomness

Michelle over at Psalm 104:24 hosts Three Things This Thursday. I have lots of random stuff to narrow down to three things!

The picture of the standing kiddo is for my A Thousand Word Thursday picture at Cheaper Than Therapy. I'm condensing here folks!

1. I had a great week last week. I sold my first cake (to a friend, but still), ran my personal best 5K (23:43!), got to pick the first of my nasturtium seeds (it's one of my favorite things about these plants), and the weather has been beautiful. It's been nonstop smiles around here since the flu swept through a few weeks ago.

2. Little Bit has started standing. If you remember the baby stage then you know the drill...she pulls herself up on something, takes her hands away (and shows you them so you know she is not cheating) and stands there with a huge smile. She is excited as I am. She turned 9 months on Wednesday. Wow. I couldn't get a good smile shot....I'm too close to the action.

And now that she's pulling up and standing, I find her in all sorts of new places....

3. My husband coaches high school girl's fast pitch softball and they are doing well. They won their game Tuesday night and advance to the regional semi-finals on Friday. I'm not sure exactly where that puts them but I do know that it puts me at a HOME game. That makes me very happy! Good job Honey! Good job Bears!

Tempt My Tummy - Popcorn Cookies

Go see my post HERE about my love affair with my Whirley Pop...which makes perfect carmel corn for these cookies!

Popcorn Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 or 2! teaspoon vanilla

2 cups popped popcorn, carmel corn, or Moose Munch, etc. slightly crushed

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips - optional

1/2 cup chopped pecans - optional

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla mixing well. Stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Fold in popcorn, chocolate chips and pecans.

Drop by tablespoonfuls about 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 14 minutes or until just golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes!

Go-To Meals

Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl has a Penny Pinching Parade every Tuesday. My frugal tip is to have a couple of cheap and easy meals that can be made in a pinch. We don't eat out often but we are tempted on days that I dropped the ball and didn't plan ahead. We easily spend $30 or more on a meal out.....where I spend less than $10 on almost every meal I make. For occasions such as these you should have a back up. I have two that I can think of that are thrown together easily and I usually have the items on hand.

Yellow Rice and Sausage

Rice - $1.50

Sausage - $2.50

Onion soup mix - .50

Bag of frozen peas - $1.00

Complete meal for 4 - $5.50

Creamed Eggs over Toast

12 eggs - $1.30

Milk - .75

Flour - pennies

Bread - .75

Can't say it's a complete meal (no veggies) but only $2.80 for the main dish

I'm sure I have several others but the key is to REMEMBER them when the time comes. Go over to Penny Pinching Parade to see more frugal tips!

Aloha Friday - Teacher Appreciation Ideas

"In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response."

So head over to her site, An Island Life and answer her question but while you are here you might as well answer mine:

It's coming...Teacher Appreciation Week. Do you have any good ideas?

Thanks! And have a great weekend~

Kid Friendly Friday - Whirly Pop!

My kids and I are huge fans of popcorn. My dad made a batch every night when I was growing up. He had his popcorn pan that was well used. I never thought I could make popcorn on the stove like he did (I didn't have a popcorn pan :) and since leaving home had always used microwave popcorn. There is all kinds of bad stuff in microwave popcorn so when my dad said he had found the "BEST" popcorn maker, I had to take his word. It's the Whirly Pop and I am in love.


This pan makes popcorn quicker than microwave popcorn, is mess free, easy to use (I have never burnt a batch), and you know everything that is going into your popcorn. All you have to do it turn the handle the three minutes it takes to pop. You can use as little as 1 tablespoons of oil with a full batch (6 quart - 24 cups). I use organic virgin coconut oil (you can read about it's health benefits HERE). The clean up is non-existent. Occasionally I'll wipe it out with a paper towel - but that's it. You do have to wash it out after kettle corn or carmel corn but a quick wash is all that it needs - nothing sticks to it as it is seasoned.

I have made colored kettle corn for party treat bags (colored coordinated with the party theme, of course) or a quick batch of carmel corn when I need to take a treat to a get together. It is always very well received. Nothing like the bagged carmel corn. It comes with a recipe book filled with sweet and savory concoctions. Popcorn is a great source of whole grains, fiber, and iron.


I'll post my recipe for popcorn cookies next Tuesday.


To work it into a science lesson watch THIS


Enter your own Kid Friendly Friday post into Mr. Linky below. Recipes, reviews, crafts...you name it. Come back to see what other great ideas are posted. Thank you for participating ~ Enjoy your weekend.

Kid Friendly Friday Participants

1. Making of a Montessori Mum

2. Fun With The Kiddos - Woven Basket

Mel Gibson - Provocative Christian Living

I haven't thought much of Mel Gibson's divorce. I'm not a big fan of celebrity stories but I got this feed from a blog I subscribe to and wanted to share the article and the blog, Provocative Christian Living. The author, Dan Lacich, is one of the pastors at my church and a talented writer who has given me great perspective on Christian topics. I'm only including a little of the article so go to the link and read it all. It might just challenge you.

Provocative Christian Living
Is Mel Gibson a Hypocrite?
Posted: 21 Apr 2009 01:05 PM PDT
Okay, I never thought I would ever write about something that happened on “The View” but as they say, “never say never”. The subject of Mel’s divorce came up and he was called a hypocrite because of it. The reason is that he has a very public and very conservative Roman Catholic faith. Clearly divorce is not something that the Roman Catholic church condones. It is assumed that Mel Gibson must then also have a position, at least before his own divorce was filled, that said divorce is a sin or at least wrong. So out comes the hypocrite charge........[much more article here]

Is Mel Gibson a hypocrite? Nope, I don’t think so. Is he a man who has deep convictions about some things? Absolutely! Does he always have the strength to live up to those convictions. Absolutely not!

Can you take out Mel’s name from the previous paragraph and insert your own? I know I can. I am not the man Christ wants me to be. I am not even the man that I want me to be. I suspect that you are not the person that Christ wants you to be or that you want to be. That is called being human, being a sinner in need of God’s forgiving grace. Since we are all in the same boat, maybe we ought to all be giving each other a little bit of that grace. That doesn’t mean we never say that something is right or wrong. We must do that. But we must do it with grace and mercy. Why? because Jesus said to love others the way you would want to be loved.

Perfect Timing

On Friday I thought I got food poisoning. It came on suddenly but with an unmatched fury. Let's say that my body knows how to clean itself out very proficiently. My entire body ached. I wanted to sleep it all away. With 3 kids. Right. Mark had a game so my in-laws even came for a few hours to watch the baby on Friday night so I could sleep. That wasn't the worst of it. For the first night ever the baby woke up in the middle of the night and would not go back to sleep. Daddy was willing to put her back to sleep but she wanted Mommy AND she had no intention of going back to sleep. Then our middle child...who was sleeping with her sister - on the top bunk....threw up everywhere. Let's say these situations are not my husband's strong suit. So with a fever, an awake crying baby, a sick child, and what was the 24 hour flu, I had a miserable night. Saturday I felt a little better but just sore all over. Besides Bigs, who was gladly outside playing with friends, and Little Bit who was working on her crawling and exploring skills, we were a sad looking bunch. Me trying to get over sickness, Mimi miserable (I think her flu was the 48 hour variety) and Mark trying to catch up on sleep.



Then it came. The perfect package of relief. A few weeks ago Angela at Angel Eyes Adventures had a bubble contest in which we won 2nd place :) She had sent the most wonderful package of goodies (bubbles, bubble guns, wands, sidewalk chalk, paper pad, reusable bag, movie - 50 First Dates, which I haven't seen yet!, and a gift card). Wow! Her note mentioned that because her kids had been sick she hadn't gotten it out as soon as she would have liked. Little did she know that package made a huge difference for us that day. We actually went out and got some much needed fresh air and smiles. Just plain perfect.



Thank you Angela! You were our angel that day! I wish I would have gotten pictures of the girls playing bubbles but I used the little energy I had to tote around the baby. Apparently, she did not get the memo on sick day etiquette.

Tempt My Tummy - Sausage and Yellow Rice

Lori over at A Frugally Old-Fashioned Homemaker has some wonderful recipes! We recently tried her yellow rice and sausage and have fallen in love. It is a very simple and very cheap meal but best of all, oh so tasty. I like it better than our traditional yellow rice and chicken. Add some peas and your meal is complete.

Yellow Rice and Sausage Casserole - this link is to her post and gives additional tips - even a recipe for your own onion soup mix!

1 lb. sausage, mild or hot
1/2 pkg. dry onion soup mix (her recipe states 1 package but it was too salty for us)

2 (5 oz) tubes of saffron yellow rice (I have used bulk yellow rice as well)
3 cups water

Brown and drain sausage. Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
Add water, rice, and dry onion soup mix to baking dish and lightly stir.
Place drained sausage on top.
Bake for 1 hour.

Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes! OR Five Ingredient Friday
at Paige's Place for this fun blog carnival.

Kid Friendly Friday - Early Reading

Is it Friday already?!?!



Our middle child is such a character. She picks things up pretty quickly. When big sister learned how to read this year she wanted to as well. I started using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann We don't do more than a couple of lessons a week but she is picking it up and retaining it. She knows several sounds and can sound out a few words. The lessons are very structured and easy to use. Sometimes she doesn't want to sit for an entire lesson - which I have told her in advance is OK. I give her little certificates about every 5 lessons. She loves the accomplishment.



So why do I want my 3 year old to read? She is not the social butterfly that her older sister is. She struggles in social situations so unless she knows you she will not do well around you. She is fine at preschool because she is very comfortable there. What does social adeptness have to do with reading? When she goes to kindergarten in two years I want her to adapt easily. By having a head start in academics she can focus on adapting to the social setting, instead of trying to handle both. I want her to succeed and this may be one way. It sure is fun for both of us!






Join in Kid Friendly Friday and add your post to Mr. Linky below. Include kid friendly recipes, reviews, giveaways, crafts, games, books.....anything! If you have a kid related question that you would like folks to help you with you can add that as well. Hope you find something useful! Thank you for participating! Have a wonderful Easter weekend~

Friday High Five

Time for Friday High Five!
Join in the fun with Angela over at Angel Eyes Adventures!
Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE!

Top 5 Reasons My 3 Year Old Has Me Laughing

5. She uses words and phrases like "a googly"or "observatize". As in, "There must be a googly cheerios in this bowl." Or, "I have to observatize it to see if it's still alive."

4. She continues to tell me that the "sweets" food group gives ME a big butt. (Milk gives me strong bones. Chicken gives me strong muscles. Cupcakes give YOU a big butt.)

3. She looks at her 8 month old sister and often says, "Scarlett, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

2. She thinks a cannon ball is actually called a cotton ball so each time she jumps in the pool she screams "Cotton Baaaallllll."

1. She is always such a willing helper but today, while raking, she said, "Mommy, I would love to help you but it looks like you need the practice!"

I can always count on that girl for a good laugh!

Thousand Word - Wacky Wednesday Attire

It was Dr. Seuss week at preschool which culminated with Wacky Wednesday dress. She would be happy to dress wacky EVERY day!

Cheaper Than Therapy holds A Thousand Word Thursday each week. Go visit to check out other pictures!

Go see my newest creation (The QU Wedding cake) HERE :)

Wordless Wednesday - Peeps round two

I posted the picture from last year's Peeps contest awhile back. Here are a few from Saturday's contest....Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts HERE or HERE.

I was tagged....times two.

Kelli over at Outside My Kitchen Window tagged me for some Keeping it Real fun.
Here are the rules:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
No primping or preparing.
Just snap a picture.
Load the picture onto your blog.
Tag some people to play.
NO CHEATING!

I did play the right way (this picture IS from yesterday morning around 7am) I'm just a little tardy posting it...

So let's see you Keep It Real....but first one more tag (I'm going to tag you for BOTH games).

Hadley from Life of a Dairy Queen has tagged me in 8 Is Enough.

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:

1. This weekend with NOTHING scheduled on Saturday!

2. School ending for husband and kids

3. Summer road trip to MN and WI.

4. Scarlett's first birthday

5. Making lasagna - sometime in the next few days - and getting to have the leftovers for lunch

6. My peppers to grow

7. My nasturtiums (which are already blooming) going to seed - collecting the seeds are my favorite part of this flower - odd, I know, I should enjoy the beautiful flower more!

8. Husband and daughter coming home from school today :)


8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. grocery shopped

2. Made a QU wedding cake for the kindergarten class

3. Raked - doing this a little everyday to get it done

4. Cleaned toilets - WooHoo - still better than dusting

5. Had a friend of my daughter's over after school

6. Tried to go to the Y - baby isn't wanting to stay in child care so any longer

7. Made Buffalo Wing Sandwiches for dinner

8. Watched some of Mary Poppins with the girls


8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Cover an entire cake in fondant

2. Do a back flip

3. Upper body exercise - I am injured from a freak accident involving my daughter calling from the potty and a rouge chair. Everything hurts.

4. Knit

5. Pass the kitchen without snacking.

6. Run a 23 minute 5K - I'm at 25

7. French braid - with 3 girls this would be a great skill to have.

8. Write an entire post without interruption.


8 Shows I Watch:
8 shows?!? I barely manage my one!

1. 90210 - the only one I watch every week

2. America's Next Top Model

3. 24

4. Biggest Loser



Now I'm supposed to tag 8 people to do this (and the keep it real one as well). . .so here goes:

Anne at Teaching Two
Shannon at Shannon's Creations
Vivienne at The V-Spot
Shelby at Schweri Stories
Annissa at Learning Together Hand in Hand
Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl

Tempt My Tummy - Pecan Sandies

I made a double batch of these over Spring Break - Easy and yummy! The recipe is from Everyday Foods (so is the picture).

Pecan Sandies
Makes 18
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined. Fold in pecans.

Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, and place on two baking sheets, 2 inches apart. With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.

Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire racks, and let cool. (To store, keep in an airtight container, up to 5 days.) I froze some of mine.

Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes!

Making Baby Food - first foods

Don't be scared of making your own baby food. It is so simple. You can also start with baby steps. The first food your baby usually eats is rice cereal. Go ahead and buy a box of that. I'm not hard core enough to make it myself, although making your own oatmeal is easy when it is time (just put quick cook oatmeal in a blender and blend until it's a fine powder).

With our first child I made batches of food with blender and an ice cube tray. For my second two children I only used the freezer/ice cube method if I had a bunch of overripe bananas or avocado that I couldn't use in time. If you don't want to commit to making bulk batches just pick up a Baby food mill and have baby eat what you eat (or simple fruits and veggies if they are younger).

For beginning eaters rice cereal, bananas, avocado, and sweet potatoes are recommended. All easy to do for each meal with no commitment.

Banana: when ripe - cut the banana (peel still attached) into about 1 inch sections and store them in a container in the refrigerator. These are perfect for little meals. Put a peeled section in the food mill for perfectly mushed meal that costs barely anything.

Bananas won't get any riper once they are refrigerated so one they are at the perfect ripeness throw them in the fridge. The peels will get brown but the fruit will be unaffected.

Avocado: Cut the top off. Scoop the flesh of the top into the food mill. Store the rest still with skin and seed intact. Each time you need some scoop a little out. The avocado won't brown much this way and it's easy to scoop out small portions.

Sweet potato: cook it (I usually bake it or microwave with the skin on. When cool cut a slice off, discard peel, and puree in food mill.

When baby gets older you get to be a little more creative and baby can usually eat what you are eating (pureed or small bits). Tonight I steamed cauliflower for us (1/2 cauli, 1/2 potatoes for my mashed potatoes) and will feed little chunks to baby. You must make sure that the food is soft enough and small enough - but I think you can handle that!

Cheap. Easy. Really.

I love the book Super Baby Food - it gives you step by step and lots of advice. See more about it HERE.

Visit Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl for more frugal tips at Penny Pinching Tuesday. Or Check out more Works For Me Wednesday ideas at We Are That Family.

Kid Friendly Friday - Easter Eggs

So what do you do with all of your hard boiled eggs? I like deviled eggs but my kids do not. One thing they do love is Creamed Eggs Over Toast, a recipe from my childhood. It's easy and it's a good way to use your Easter eggs....it's also a really cheap meal. And NO, I did not make this Easter Egg, isn't it beautiful?

Creamed Eggs Over Toast

1. Make a white sauce (I season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg)

2. Add sliced hard cooked eggs

3. Serve over toast (I take a pizza cutter to the toast to cut in pieces and serve eggs over top)

If you don't have a recipe for white sauce I use the following low fat recipe:
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups low-fat milk

In a heavy medium saucepan, whisk flour to remove any lumps.
Gradually add 1 cup milk whisking until smooth.
Add remaining 2 cups of milk and seasoning.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, about 10 minutes, until mixture thickens and boils. Remove from heat.

Join in Kid Friendly Friday and add your post to Mr. Linky below. Include kid friendly recipes, reviews, giveaways, crafts, games, books.....anything! If you have a kid related question that you would like folks to help you with you can add that as well. Hope you find something useful! Thank you for participating! Have a wonderful Easter weekend~

Wordless Wednesday and Thousand Word Thursday - Pics of Easters Past

2004
2005
2006

2007

I don't have one from 2008 :(Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts HERE or HERE.

Cheaper Than Therapy holds A Thousand Word Thursday each week. Go visit to check out other pictures!

TEmpt My Tummy follow up - Garlic, Garlic

Brenda asked about the garlic dip I make with the beer bread. I use the Tastefully Simple Garlic, Garlic mix for my dip (which got me hooked on the beer bread, as they also sold beer bread mix for big bucks) but I just did a search for a copy cat recipe and found one! Looks like I won't have to buy the dip mix anymore either :) This is good news as it's pretty pricey as well.

Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic Dip
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. granulated garlic
3 Tbsp. garlic salt
3 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1/4 C mayo
16 oz sour cream
Instructions:
Mix together all ingredients. Chill for one hour before serving.

Take Me Back - Senior Year Hippy

Welcome to Take Me Back Tuesday! You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.

I am going for more pictures of me in high school at the request of one of my old students (now an adult who reads my blog). I'm glad I did because I realized I cannot find many of my old albums. I'll have to start looking. So I first give you a picture of me as a sophomore. Typical 80's hair (although it was 1990). I had stick straight hair so really had to work at getting any sort of height....and with as much effort it took me to get the bangs high, I guess I didn't have any left for the rest of the hair. Funny. I know. So I was typical in 10th grade but something my junior year really turned me around. I'm not sure how it happened but by my senior year I was trying to channel a hippy. Long straight hair, beads, tie-dye, not much make-up, everything Jim Morrison. Oh my! I was against the grain.

I'm sure my bangs were tired of being man handled, but looking at this picture it seems that my 3 year old could have cut better bangs. This was right after a homecoming Mountain Dew slamming contest. Fun stuff. Don't try this at home!

And after all this bang talk, it is no wonder that now I have bang phobia. AND I can stop wondering what my real hair color is. It has been so long.

So let's see some of your old pictures! I dare you :)

Tempt My Tummy - Beer Bread

The easiest recipe you will find today. We are on Spring Break this week - you can't expect much from me.

Beer Bread

3 cups self rising flour

1/2 sugar

12 oz beer (you can taste the difference with different beers - I like a darker beer but Bud Light works just as well)

Mix all three together - just until combined. Don't over mix but don't be afraid to get out some of the big lumps either. Bake at 350 in a greased loaf pan for 45-55 minutes.

I always make this for an appetizer. I cut it into cubes and serve with a garlic dip. Easy peasy.

And if that isn't enough...here are some variations:

Dill & Cheddar: Add 1 cup finely grated Cheddar and2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill.

Garlic & Herb: Add 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, and 2 minced garlic cloves (or 1 teaspoon garlic flakes) to the basic mix. For fresh herbs, use 1 chopped Tablespoon of each.

Dill & Chive: Add 2 Tablespoons fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried dill) and 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives to the basic mix.

Italian: Add 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano (or 1 Tablespoon each chopped fresh basil and oregano), 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese to the basic mix.

Other Additions: Any dried or fresh herbs; 1/2 cup freshly grated asiago (or other hard cheese); 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped scallions; 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or 1/2 cup oats in place of 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. Or practically anything else you can think of--use your imagination.

Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes!

Aloha Friday - Spring Break

"In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response."

So head over to her site and answer her question but while you are here you might as well answer mine:

What did you do for Spring Break? Or what are you going to do for Spring Break?

Ours is next week. We are all just taking it easy. My husband is a teacher so we really have a nice week of vacation!

Kid Friendly Friday - Grass Head

Welcome to Kid Friendly Friday! I hope your week went well. Mimi brought home this grass head guy from preschool. It was a big hit and a fun thing to do with a little extra grass seed from seeding your lawn! It looks like rye grass to me - the bright and fluffy stuff.....not the crab grass they call St. Augustine here in Florida. Honestly, in MN we used to pull the "weeds" that our lawns are composed of here. Thick, course, not pleasant at all. One of the things our entire family gets excited about when spending the summer in MN is laying in the grass! It's a treat :) And no fire ants - huge bonus!!

You will need:
The foot part of a nylon(use the other leg for YoYo painting - see Momma Snail's post for more)

Grass seed

Sawdust

Rubber band

Googly eyes, buttons, pipe cleaners, pompoms, etc. to decorate

Instructions:
Fill the toe of your sock with grass seed. Top up with sawdust until you have a ball shape. Fasten tightly with the rubber band band. Make a face for the little man. Apparently they used super glue for this one as my daughter told me a story about the teacher's fingers sticking together, but I bet you could use hot glue as well.

Stand the stocking ball in a shallow dish with the grass seed at the top. Keep the dish topped up with water. After a few weeks your head should grow hair! You can even give it a hair cut, just be careful not to pull the hair out.

Join in Kid Friendly Friday and add your post to Mr. Linky below. Include kid friendly recipes, reviews, giveaways, crafts, games, books.....anything! If you have a kid related question that you would like folks to help you with you can add that as well. Hope you find something useful! Thank you for participating! Have a wonderful weekend~

Button Project....almost finished?

Heidi over at Blue Eyed Blessings does a monthly craft challenge. This month the challenge is buttons. Here is what she says about it...

"I'm so excited to be hosting the second craft challenge here at Blue Eyed Blessings! A whole month has gone by since our last craft challenge of sharing ideas using a scalloped craft punch...go check it out if you haven't gotten the chance! And, it's already that time again! My hope for these monthly craft get togethers is for you to be challenged to create something! It's simple: Each month, I give you an embellishment, tool, or idea and you get to create something fun to share with the rest of us! You have one month to work on the project (big or small) and then you can come back to share your creation on the first Thursday of the month."

My button project is unfinished. I was planning to make a reusable Happy Birthday banner with felt. I have the letters cut out. That's it. I still need to sew and stuff them, then embellish with buttons, and attach them to a ribbon. I'll get there. Here is what I have....

Go check out some great button ideas HERE!

Thousand Word Thursday - Spring Break~!

In honor of Spring Break next week. This is the first time we took Bigs to the beach....and as new parents forgot that she would want beach toys. All we could find in the truck for her to play with were a softball and a Slurpee cup. Can you say ghetto? Of course she didn't care :)

Cheaper Than Therapy holds A Thousand Word Thursday each week. Go visit to check out other pictures!

Wordless Wednesday - Fun with the Veggies

Bigs
March 2005

Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts HERE or HERE.