Fine Feathered Friends Celebration

This time of year we always like to think of our fine feathered friends living out in the cold.

Mary, at Home Is Where the Boat Is, inspired our plans for National Bird Day on Sunday, January 5th, 2020. Our bird neighbors will be getting this Gingerbread House built especially for them to celebrate the new year in style. Pop on over to her blog for the blueprints.

Mary is also the architect of bird cottages. Pop on over and get the plans including the edible glue, the essenntial ingredient for sturdy construction.

A few years back we surprised the birds with these easy to create treats. Join us Celebrate Celebrate with Your Fine Feathered Friends

Learn more about National Bird Day and what you can do to help!

Good Morning Pops

Have a happy Father’s Day with Pancake Pops for Pops! Surprise your Pops with these clever pancake pops.  We found this to be a true win win for pancake lov’n Dads and their kids. Melissa from Number-2 Pencil blog, will show you how to make these bite size pancakes from scratch using creamy Greek yogurt, cooked on a lollipop stick. We know Pops for Pops will be a favorite at our house, and not reserved just for Father’s Day breakfast.

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Thank you so much Melissa for sharing your fun recipe for Father’s Day.

Happy Father’s Day to all the great Dads out there.

Toys Taking Over?

Doth your playroom runneth over with toys?

You are not alone if you find yourself suffering the post-holiday buried in toys syndrome.

Take advantage of this time to do some decluttering and organizing your kiddos toys.

Make room for the newly acquired toys by playing a game of lining up and counting all of the new toys. Next, have your child match each new toy up with one that is no longer being played with.  An excellent opportunity for teaching your children a lesson in sharing exists here. Explain how happy some other children will be to receive the toys and how they will be new toys for the other children to play with.

If resistance is encountered,  ask your child to think about the last time a particular toy was played with, and if it’s been over six months, “wouldn’t it be nice to let another child play with it?”

There are charities all across the country that collect toys for various organizations. Almost everyday Totally Kids fun furniture and toys receives new and gently used toys donated for Twin Cities families affected by Autism. If you are in the Minneapolis St. Paul area please drop off any toys that you can spare.

We would like to express gratitude to all of those who have so generously donated toys over the last few years. Thank you!

Happy Boxing Day

No, Boxing Day is not a day for returning unwanted Christmas gifts. Boxing Day is traditionally celebrated in Great Britain on December 26th, a day when civil servants and tradesmen would receive gifts from their superiors.

This custom is linked to an older English tradition since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. (Downton Abbey-esque)

The employer would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food.  In general term, it’s a gift sharing day.

Happy Boxing Day!

Start Baking

Start baking!

Whether it’s for a bake sale or afternoon tea, wow your guests with these
easy slice and bake cookies. Create, bake in one of our ovens, and serve up! The set includes a dozen wooden cookies, a dozen wooden mix and
match decorating pieces, and toy wooden kitchen utensils.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words for Wednesday

Keep Egging Us On

 

There have been so many super Easter Egg decorating ideas sent to us. Here are a few more that you might find inspiring.

 

 

 

 

 

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Thumb print eggs were a rather “handy” idea from Family Fun.

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Life Hacker knows “it’s what’s on the inside that counts”. Learn how to make some Chinese Tea Eggs.

 

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If you find chocolate inside your egg, you know it is a “good thing“; thanks Martha!

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If you’ve been dying to find a safe eco-friendly Easter Egg coloring kit – search no longer. Included are dyes made from purple sweet potato, paprika, beta carotene, red cabbage and blueberries plus 2 soy crayons for decorating.

 

Then oh my goodness, hopping back to thoughts of tomato planting. Can you really believe that fish heads, egg shells and aspirin are the ticket to growing amazing tomatoes? Love Apple Farms has a colorful odorless pictorial of this interesting process.

Getting Stoned

I really meant “getting stones” to share with friends.

Skip to My Lou makes these perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, little Blarney Stones complete with a hidden surprise.

She tells us : “Tradition says if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will be given the gift of gab. You will be able to talk eloquently and convincingly.”

If they don’t look appetizing to you, please realize that ingesting is not the intended end result. They do have a fun little surprise tucked inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We always make Blarney Treasure Stones the weekend before St. Patrick’s day for our little neighbor friends. Hope that you give this a try too. It’s another great project to do with little ones from Skip to My Lou.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, come on. You too must have some friends that would enjoy getting stones on St. Patrick’s Day.

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Thought that I caught the luck of the Irish when finding this easy to make treat. It will be a big hit at our house without a doubt. Plus it is another perfect make together recipe for all hands, big and small.

 

KB Designs has the easy to follow directions with pretzels and white chocolate chips.

Recipe for Fun

What?! You say that you have no time to cook?

Then, Busy Busy Mama, look what we have for you.

Reindeer Noses that require no cooking we think are an ideal Recipe for Fun with the kiddos.

They  are packaged 8 brown and then the 1 red one; Rudolph’s nose! Can you name the other Reindeer? The brown noses are Malted Milk Balls, and unfortunately, some of them might not pass quality control so you may have to eat them during the packaging process. The red  nose is bubblegum.

Sweet Paperie makes these bags of all red Rudolph noses. Best of all they offer with the instructions, the colorful printable header.

Another one of our no-cook recipes  you may also like. Reindeer Poop for our friends, not enemies always a winner.

A Message From Santa

If you have not used this FREE message service before, you must give it a try! Santa Claus and his amazing PNP (Portable North Pole) console is online during the entire holiday season. With just a few clicks, this technological marvel will let your little loved ones receive a personalized message from Santa Claus himself, sent directly from his village in the North Pole. It is not only very cute, but FREE.  We started using it years ago and has now become a tradition.  You can create a fun little personalized video message to your child from Santa.

PLEASE HELP.

Help Santa out and keep him jolly. Be sure that he gets cookies at every stop. Share this jar with your friends and neighbors. Make It Do will show you how to craft the cheery covered jar and Bakerella has the recipe with the ingredients to fill the jar.

In a crafty mood?

Popsicle Stick Reindeer to make and hang on your tree or gift away. Expat Mom has the steps, one, two, three.