Head over to Teachers Pay Teachers for this cute Mother’s Day printable…
Archives for the month of: April, 2014
Everywhere you turn these days there’s another gotta try it DIY project. Looks like this weekend’s project is inspired by an older Marie Claire Idées using ping pong balls, upcycling an old lamp shade and a few cans of spray paint to create this whimsical pendant lamp.
Rescue an old lampshade, then remove the covering exposing the wire frame. Thrift stores are great places to find lamp shades if you don’t have an old one laying around. For the ping pong balls try a Dollar Store. You’ll also need heavy nylon thread, a sturdy needle and a hot glue gun.
Spray paint the balls in groups using a different color for each layer. If you are using 6 rows, you will need about 30 balls per group for a total of 180 ping pong balls. After the paint has dried, with a large needle, poke a small hole into each ball on opposite ends. Using nylon thread, make garlands of balls and knotting one end, then pulling the thread through each ball from one hole to the other. It’s just like beading. Fill up the garland until all of the balls fit around the diameter of your lamp shade’s frame. Tie the garland of balls around the lampshade structure. We will be using a hot glue gun to secure the balls to spots on the frame. Repeat each row of ping pong balls until the entire shade is covered. For the light, pendant cord sets are available at IKEA HEMMA.
Please share photos of your creations.
We wish all of our friends near and far away a very Happy Easter!
Some-Bunny Loves You
Butt, butt…everyone will love you when you surprise them with these adorable Bunny Butt Cookies which are this week’s recipe for fun. They take about 60 minutes from start to finish and the recipe yields 22 cookies.
Ingredients
1- roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated sugar cookies
- 1/3-cup all-purpose flour
- 1-container (12 oz) fluffy white whipped ready-to-spread frosting
- Pink gel food color, if desired
- 22-miniature marshmallows
- Assorted size candy sprinkles
Directions:
Hope that you and your kiddos will have as much fun with this Pillsbury make together recipe as we did.
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How about some Bunny Money for your honey? Crafty Journal will show you this alternative to candy for Easter gifting.
Funny Bunny? No way, he is really really scary.
Easter Bunny or a Yeti with bunny ears?
Never heard much about Mrs. Easter Bunny, have you?
Did you know that he has a sister?
Grandma Easter Bunny sightings are rare.
Terrifying, right?
He knows people in high places. (notice the balcony)
As for me, I’ll be hopping down the bunny trail with the chocolate rabbits. Hopefully these scary bunnies will be on other trails, or malls.
Have you heard the egg-citing news? Due to the advances in technology, it is now possible to see just where the Easter Bunny is on his route by using your mobile device – in real time! The free Easter Bunny tracker will begin tracking the whereabouts of the elusive rabbit early in the morning on Saturday, April 19th.
But now, please tell us, where does the Easter Bunny live?
Wikipedia states that the Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit (aka Spring Bunny) “is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs who sometimes is depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with colored eggs, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Father Christmas, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday
There is no mention of where the Easter Bunny lives, however, some believe that the Easter Bunny lives in a very deep hole in the ground somewhere on Easter Island? Or possibly in April Valley, Spring Valley or Egg Land. (like Eggland’s Best?)
If any of you know, or have a good hunch, please let us know where the Easter Bunny lives.
TRACK THE EASTER BUNNY
NORAD tracks Santa but can not track the Easter Bunny because the Easter Bunny does not fly. He just hops around the world, right? Once again, like last year, there is the iPhone 3D Easter Bunny Tracker app. This year you can track the Easter Bunny with The Bunny Tracker. You could also try this countdown – the minutes are ticking away…
We invite you to join us at Totally Kids fun furniture & toys on Saturday, April 19th from 10am-4pm for our Annual Easter Egg Celebration! Find just *one hidden plastic Easter Egg for a FREE prize plus a 20% off coupon for any toy in our store. Hop in and join the fun! Refreshments will be provided. *One prize per child 8yrs & under.
Totally Kids fun furniture & toys, 7876 Portland Avenue South, Bloomington, MN ( one mile from the Mall of America )
We hope to see you then!
We send happy wishes to all of our friends and family near and far away celebrating Passover tonight.
Passover or “Pesakh”begins at sunset today. It’s an eight day celebration observed every year by the Jewish religion. It commemorates the freeing of the Israelites (biblical name for the Jews) from slavery after centuries of poverty and oppression under the reign of the cruel Egyptian, Pharaoh Ramses II.
Families celebrate Passover by sharing a Seder. With special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration. Seder means order, and the passover story is read in order from a book called a Haggadah.
This wooden child size Passover teaching set includes a Seder plate, goblet, two pieces of matza, bottle of wine, prayer book Afikomen and matza covers.
Although there are a number of food-related traditions that are observed during Passover, perhaps the most important part of the celebration is the ritual retelling of the Exodus story. In the Torah’s Book of Exodus, Jews are exhorted to tell their progeny about the enslavement and escape of the ancient Israelites. The act of recounting this story in a ceremony known as Magid forms a key component of the Seder feast, and it is told from a special text known as the Haggadah. The ceremony is meant to be interactive and inclusive, and includes questions and answers, special blessings, discussions, and songs. The story is usually told in both Hebrew and the native language of the majority of the guests attending the feast, according to tradition.
Apples 4 the Teacher explains Passover:
Fearing that Jews were becoming too strong, a Pharaoh decreed that all male Jewish babies were to be killed. Jocheved and Amran, a Jewish couple, wanted to save their infant son – so they put him in a basket that floated him down the river. The infant was rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter and she raised him as her own son. She named the baby Moses, which means ” take from the water.”
When Moses grew up, he empathized with the Jewish slaves and tried to get the Pharaoh to free them. The Pharaoh refused – so there were 10 plagues sent down to Egypt: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, Cattle Disease, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, and Slaying of the Firstborn. The name Passover comes from the Plague of Slaying the Firstborn. The Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews who had put lambs blood on their doors.
After the 10th plague, Pharaoh agreed to let the Jewish slaves go. They gathered up their belongings quickly, and didn’t have time for their bread to rise, so they had to bake it and take it the way it was. This is why the Jewish people eat matzah during Passover.
As the Jews were fleeing, Pharaoh changed his mind, and sent his army after the people to bring them back. Moses parted the Red Sea for the Jews to cross, and as soon as they were safely to the other side, the waters closed on the soldiers, drowning them all. The Jewish people were free.
Happy Passover!
Not your second cousin twice removed’s wedding, but hip hip hooray let’s celebrate National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day 2014! Who doesn’t enjoy a good old grilled cheese? There are so many variations, and methods of grilling/cooking this comfort food.
My all time favorite is the Johnny Depp method. Wearing a ric rack trimmed apron in the1993 movie Benny and Joon, Sam cooks a stack of grilled cheese using a hot iron and ironing board. Have you, or do you even know anyone who has tried this method? Whenever I’m thinking grilled cheese, there is never an iron and ironing board handy. Besides, it sort seems like a “only in the movies” thing anyway.
With peaked curiosity look what I found? Real life people cooking the Johnny Depp way. Grilled Cheese Social has a step by step pictorial for those wishing to perfect this method.
Jamie Oliver has his revolutionary unconventional tipped on it’s side toaster way. I see an I hate Jamie Oliver cheesy mess of a toaster here.
The cooking method is up to you. Totally Kids fun furniture & toys has the equipment for cooking up some super good pretend grilled cheese sandwiches.
We have the iron and ironing board.
We have the toaster, bread and butter. You add the cheese.
We have the traditional kitchen.
We even have a deluxe stainless steel frying pan.
If you are looking for a more gourmet grilled cheese, give some of these recipes a taste test. Menue
- Ultimate Grilled Cheese – The Pioneer Woman’s thumbs up
- Avocado Grilled Cheese – Anything avocado has to be good.
- Hickory Smoked Gouda Grilled Cheese – Two Maids a Milking always have the right idea.
- Mozzarella Grilled Cheese – Almost a pizza.
- Smoked Gouda and Roasted Red Pepper Grilled Cheese – A complete meal here.
- Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich – Hot hot hot!
- Bacon, Egg and Maple Grilled Cheese – Breakfast with this one.
- French Onion Grilled Cheese – Soup and a sandwich all in one.
Grab a can of tomato soup and have a Cheesy Celebration!
This time of year, there are lots of these colorful little plastic eggs, like everywhere. This week’s Recipe for Fun is a tried and true one offering a tasty way to fill them. Round up the kids and whip up a batch of good old Rice Krispie treats and have some fun trying to fill them. Please believe me, the only not easy part is the disappearing filler.
Tried and True Recipe – Rice Krispie Eggs
- 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
- – OR –
- 4 cups miniature marshmallows
- 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
Direction
1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula stuff mixture into your little plastic eggs which are perfect molds.
Tip: If your house is anything like ours, you will want to double this recipe to compensate for the disappearing filler.
Bon Appétit
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