Kideos

My kids love to play on the computer.  And I have bookmarked all sorts of kid-appropriate sites for them.

PBSKids

Disney Channel

Nickelodeon

But my friend just found this kid version of YouTube and I think the kids will love it.  It's called Kideos and they have kid safe videos filtered out from YouTube.  Nothing rude or inappropriate, just a bunch of funny animals and cartoons.  The videos are divided up by age group, and go from baby to 10+. 

I think Sprout would like this one of the crowd at the Oprah show dancing to the Black Eyed Peas.

Tater would probably enjoy this one with a dog riding on a skateboard.

Of course they spent last night laughing hysterically at this guy - which is probably not at all appropriate.  Somehow he didn't get filtered into Kideo. 

Hmmmm...

Where is the fun??

I have totally fallen off of my fun bandwagon, it is sad.  We have been busy keeping warm, cleaning up after our dog, going to basketball practice, writing reports about the rainforest and the Dewey Decimal system, and of course watching way too much TV.

We figured out how to get movies from Netflix on our XBox and the kids have been demanding regular movie nights.  First we watched Benji, then Bolt and just now Tater and his dad finished watching some Tom & Jerry.  Lots of animal flick action!

I am busy writing over here at 43 Resolutions...and I did post a fun video of my dogs being silly, so maybe that will distract you momentarily while I get my act together to post more fun stuff over here.  I haven't forgotten about you!  Really!

Tater has been working on these little pegboard "fuse bead" projects (pictured at the top there) like a maniac. We have had them for a few years, and now he is coordinated enough to do them himself.  When the kids were smaller they would make me sort the different colored beads out for them, which was a bit tedious for me, but made them feel all management-like.

If you do a Google search on "pegboard beads" or "fuse beads" you can find them, or they are available at any craft shop and even in the toy department at IKEA.  Here are a few Amazon links to get you started: Perler Fuse Beads, Perler Small Pegboards For Fuse Bead Activities, Perler Fuse Bead Bucket Activity Kit.

We discovered that it is most cost-effective to buy a big tub-o-beads and the basic pegboards and then go print designs from on-line.  Google "fuse bead designs" and you will find tons of them for FREE!!

Tater does these en masse and then makes me get out the iron and fuse them all together.  I think he does this just for the novelty of seeing me with an iron in my hand.

Very rare.  With an element of danger that is very exciting...will I set something on fire??

I haven't yet.  But every time there is a chance!


Never a dull moment!

Showtime (and a recipe)

Oops. I went MIA there for a little while.  With Christmas and Winter Break and my new project and cleaning up Christmas...I just got a little distracted.  Sorry about that.

We did do a few fun things during the break.  The whole family went to see Disney on Ice at the Wachovia Center on December 28th.  The kids loved the show and the skating was really impressive.  They had a whole slew of Disney characters out there, including the new ones from the Princess and The Frog, which we also saw last week.

Aside from a Fantasia-like segment with skating brooms in the middle (that movie always freaked me out), the kids loved it - especially when the Toy Story characters came out near the end!

The deal on Disney on Ice Tickets is still going on through the end of this month, so if they are still performing near you, it's a fun event for the kids!

Another performance that we attended was the annual "Panto" at People's Light and Theater in Malvern.  This year it was based on Snow White - but the "evil stepmother" was an aging actress and "Snow White" was her sweet young daughter.  These shows are always fun - lots of audience participation.  Sadly, it ended last week - but check out other performances there - they do a great job!

As I mentioned, we saw The Princess and The Frog, which was very cute - and surprisingly, the heroine's mother survived the entire movie.  I think that is a Disney first!

We also saw Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and oh my...that is not a good movie.  Although the kids thought it was SO GOOD.  I wonder about them sometimes!

And, I know this is completely random, but since I can't eat cheese this month, I have been unable to make this meal for my family (because I would want to eat it!)  I made this a month or so ago, and everyone LOVED it.  And that hardly EVER happens!

So, if we can't be eating it, I thought maybe you could.

This is from the December/January issue of the Taste of Home: Healthy Cooking Magazine, which I may have to get a subscription for.

Echilada Lasagna

(I seriously thought the name alone would be enough to terrify my children - so I called it "Taco Lasagna")

1 lb lean ground turkey (I use the 93% fat free kind)

1 large onion, chopped (I used frozen diced onion)

1 large green pepper, chopped (I used frozen chopped peppers)

1 small sweet red pepper, chopped (I skipped this)

1 pkg fat-free cream cheese

1 tsp. chili powder

1 (10oz) can enchilada sauce

6 whole wheat flour tortillas

1 cup shredded reduced fat Mexican cheese blend (I like the Kraft 2% version)

1. In a large skillet, cook the turkey, onion and peppers over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.

2. Stir in cream cheese and chili powder.

3. Pour enchilada sauce into a shallow bowl.  Dip tortillas into sauce to coat (I did them as I used them rather than having a big slimy pile of tortillas - and I used a brush to coat them).

4. Place two tortillas in a 13X9 baking dish coated with baking spray; spread with half of the turkey mixture, sprinkle with 1/3 cup of cheese (I may possibly have used more...maybe)

5. Repeat layers.  Top with remaining tortillas and cheese.

6. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months or bake, uncovered, at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

7. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

8. Serve with salsa and sour cream (we use Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream) if desired.

9. To use frozen lasagna: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.  Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking and then bake as directed.

Yummy.

Happy New Year!

We hope the new year brings you health and happiness and lots and lots of FUN!

All the best,

Kristen, Mike, Sprout and Tater

You are My Miracle

Tater brought this sweet poem home from school.  Once I stopped sobbing, I thought I should share it.

You are My Miracle

I am your parent.

I am your child.

I am your quiet place.

I am your WILD.

I am your hot chocolate.

I am your marshmallow.

I am your nutcracker.
I am your cookie dough.

I am your gingerbread.

I am your frosting and goo.

I am your paper.

I am your glitter and glue.

I am your wrapping.

I am your surprise.

I am your "Don't peek!"

I am your wide eyes.

I am your "Bundle Up!"

I am your dash outside.

I am your uphill pull.

I am your fast sleigh ride.

I am your fortress.

I am your snowball fight.

I am your decorate.

I am your tangled lights.

I am your helper.

I am your "do-it-myselfer."

I am your Santa Claus.
I am your Christmas elf.

I am your glass ball.

I am your popcorn string.

I am your pageant.

I am your angel's wings.
I am your steady hands.

I am your rising star.

I am your stocking.

I am your chocolate bar.

I am your caroling.

I am your jingle bell.

I am your favorite song.

I am your First Noel.

I am your old stories.

I am your make-believe.

I am your "Go to Sleep!"

I am your Christmas Eve.

I am your "Hush now."

I am your lyrical.

I am your peace on earth.

I am your miracle.

And there I go again with the sobbing...what a sap...

Jingle Bell Wreath

I was trying to remember why I had jingle bells lying around, and then I realized that it was because we made this cute little wreath last year.

Jingle bells are crazy cheap at craft stores, I think a bag of them was about $2.  Or maybe I am deluding myself into thinking they are cheap.  I am still firmly convinced that greeting/birthday cards cost about $1.  I am always surprised that they are closer to $4.  For a card!!

Anyway, maybe jingle bells cost more than $2 a bag.  But they aren't very expensive.

We already had this and I thought, "How hard could it be to make that?"  And really, not hard at all.  Although ours isn't exactly the same.  This one is on wire, the one we made is on monofilament (fancy name for fishing line).

To make a little jingle bell wreath you need:

Jingle Bells - ours are all silver, but a mix of colors could be fun.

Monofilament - like heavy fishing line, you can find it in the beading section at a craft store.

Ribbon

1) Cut a piece of the "string" about a foot long.

2) String the bells on.  They will cluster up as you go.  You want them all packed together as tightly as possible.  We used about 26 bells.  But depending on the size of the bells and what you want to do, you could use more or less.  The kids love to do the stringing.

3) As you go, try circling the threaded bells into a wreath shape, when it holds the shape appropriately, stop stringing.  If you make it too big, it will be all floppy and unwreathlike.

4) Tie the string tightly.  Double knot.  Heck, triple knot.

5) Tie the ribbon in a nice bow (hardest part, I think).  I used the wire-edged ribbon, which is really pretty, but a PITA to tie.  You are probably better at it than I am.

6) You can either tie the ribbon right onto the little wreath, or use the "tails" from stringing the bells to tie the bow on.  Whatever works for you.  We used the tails.

7) Trim the ends of the string.

8) Hang up your cute little wreath.

I like to put these on doorknobs so they jingle when you open the door.

Next up - I am going to figure out how to make one of these.  I have no clue where to start, but I love the "grape-iness" of the way they are clustered up.

But right now, I have to go get gift tags, deliver a cello to school, and go for a LONG walk to unload some of the cookies that have jumped, unsolicited, into my mouth in the last few days.

Jingle on, my friends!  (Like "Rock On"...but jingly...)

Teacher Gifts - Candy Pretzels

This week we are still deep into preparations for Christmas.  Sprout had her Winter Concert on Thursday night and she performed brilliantly in the chorus and orchestra (cello).  The layout of her school "cafetorium" is such that about 10 people in the front row can actually see anything, so my pictures of the actual performance are awful.  But she sure was cute!

Saturday brought the "Storm of the Century" to Southeastern PA and we spent the day alternating between shoveling the driveway and working on our teacher gifts.  As my shoveling technique leaves much to be desired (mostly I desire not to have to use it!) I will tell you about the gift project instead. 

Candy-covered pretzel sticks!

I found a cute little Christmas Tree candy mold at Michael's for $1.99 and figured that melting couldn't be all THAT hard. 

So I also got these little melty candy things. 

We dumped a bunch of these into a plastic bowl and melted them in the microwave, following the directions on the package.  About 2 minutes at 50% power seemed to do the trick for us.  The result was this stuff that looks very much like melted crayons.  Yum.

I always thought that the candy resulting from melting and forming these things would be completely gross - like white chocolate, which I hate.  But it is actually quite delish if you can get beyond the color factor.  Much less waxy than I would have expected.  And with something crunchy and/or salty...mmmm....

I put the kids to work putting little dots of the different colors into the molds to make "ornaments" on the trees.  They used toothpicks to drop the red and green into the molds and did a very nice job.

They are a good work crew.  And very cute.  Especially in their jammies.

The melting and dotting of the red and green took a little while, especially since they were also (of course) watching something on TV.  But it seemed like on a jammie day in a blizzard, you should be allowed to take your time.

See how un-control freaky I was being?  Good, right?

Once the dots were done and had set for a little while we melted some white (with speckles in it...fancy!) and filled the mold about 1/3 of the way up.  They each did three and didn't even fight about it.  I love this project.

Then we took pretzel rods and rolled the ends in some of the melted candy. 

After the first batch I just started dipping them in the little bowl, which was actually a little easier.

Then the dipped pretzels went into the molds, so that they were about 3/4 of the way up the little trees, and then we covered them the rest of the way with melted candy.

We had to prop the ends up so the pretzels weren't flipping out of the mold while the candy hardened.  The Brookstone catalog worked nicely.

We waiting about an hour to make sure they were really and truly dry and hardened and then carefully (oh so very carefully) popped them out of the molds.

Not bad, right??

I figured out later that popping them into the fridge briefly made them a little easier to get out of the molds.  I am guessing that you could put some kind of non-stick into the molds to make them come out easier.  But then wouldn't the candy be greasy??

We also made green ones and red ones, with the other colors for the "ornaments".  

Then there was some extra melted candy stuff leftover so I hunted around for something to put it on.  I came up with graham crackers. I think potato chips would have been quite fab.  Wish I had had some.

I dressed them up with some sprinkles.  I also tasted a few to make sure they were good.  I am all about quality control.

I had purchased some cute little candy boxes, but once I realized that there were more teachers requiring gifting than I had originally planned, we moved on to plan B - some cellophane bags that I had left over from last year.

I put one of each color tree in the bag, and then two of the graham cracker squares (which filled in the bottom nicely, I thought).  I tied the tops with gold ribbon, but then I remembered that I had some jingle bells left from some other project from years ago.

And then when I was digging out the jingle bells (and dropping them all over the floor, scaring the dickens out of the dogs), I found some silver pipe cleaners, which were also left over from some other project.

So I put the bells on the pipe cleaners and made these funky little twisty things out of the pipe cleaners (wrapped them around a pencil).  I think the final embellishment is quite Martha.  Even though I am so totally NOT.

These are all packed up now for the kids to take to school tomorrow.  I am so hoping that there is no droppage or breakage.  But I know that taking them in myself is way too control-freakish.

Awareness is the first step.  Right?

This candy-molding thing was fun.  I would totally do it again - but it would need to be for some occasion where we give the results away.  Because really, yummmmm!