Mermaids and Monsoons

The under the sea backdrop for pictures

Turning 5 is a pretty big deal. Its the age when your sweet little babe is no longer a babe. They are no longer, in fact, a toddler. They are a real kid! The birthday fairy sprinkles their magic dust on them while they are sleeping to make them one year older and, voila, your little one is all grown up! What?! You don'y have the birthday fairy visit your house for every birthday? You should really look into that!!

To celebrate my "new" kid we had an over the top birthday party. There was one theme: Mermaids. It was all so perfect. The kids were going to swim for most of the party s oI had lots of fun decorations around the pool. There was a walk the plank over a sea of sharks, a mermaid lagoon backdrop for pictures, kelp beds with lots of colorful fish along the walls, and about 20 hand made jelly fish hanging down. 

It really was magical...until the monsoon hit! A monsoon storm has high winds, lots and lots of rain, lightening and thunder. So much for the swim portion of the program! And so much for all my decorations. The balloons were ripped from their strings, the sharks were literally blown away, every fish and kelp bed was washed out to sea.  I was devastated for about 5 seconds. Then it was back to the fun of watching my kid run around with 15 of her friends laughing, playing and being silly inside until the storm passed. The decorations were really for me anyways. Sadly, I only managed to get a few pictures...

Even though the decorations ended up in a wet mess the food was still great! And of course all the food went along with the theme. 

Mermaid Menu

• Crab Sandwiches
• Squid Dogs
• Watermelon Shark
• Oyster Cookies
• Seashell Macaroni and Cheese
• Sea Cucumbers
• Shark Teeth

Croissant Sandwiches with eyes

Crab Sandwiches were part of the main course. I just filled croissants with typical sandwich fixings. Some were ham, some were turkey and all had lettuce and tomatoes.   For the fun part I simply glued google eyes to toothpicks. They were almost too cute to eat.

Next up were my world famous Squid Dogs. My 5 year old likes to call them Ursala dogs which makes them perfect for any Little Mermaid party. Follow the link to see how these guys get their amazing tentacles!

The most creative part to the menu was my watermelon shark.  I had a lot of fun making him! I am a self proclaimed pumpkin carving expert and felt that a watermelon wasn't that much different. I used a melon baller to hollow him out and to create the eyes. I used part of the mouth that I cut out as a fin. It was a bit messy making him as the juices ended up all over the floor. It was worth the mess!!

I had to dive into the world of pinterest to find these fun cookies. The shortbread cookies were perfectly shaped to look like an oyster shell. I then used frosting for the inside parts and a marshmallow for the pearl. I wanted to use white m & ms for the pearl because the marshmallow dries out and gets hard but couldn't find any.

This was a super easy addition to an under the sea menu. It was just shell pasta macaroni and cheese straight out of a box. Still creative though...right?

 I loved the sea cucumbers as an easy way to get some veggies onto a plate. I also had carrot sticks which I affectionately called "Crab Legs."

Some cut up white cheese made a perfect bowl of shark teeth.

It was a perfect mermaid party!

Mermaid Tails Craft

These party favours were an easy, no sew option. I bought hand towels and used rubber bands to create the fins. I took half of the bottom of a towel and wrapped a rubber band around the corner. I did the same to the other side. Then I rolled the rubber bands up until they met in the middle.

Next I glued ribbon to the top so that the kids could tie them around their waist. Be sure to measure out the ribbon so it makes an easy bow when you tie.

I then presented them in a sand pail with a few other prizes.

Edible (Kinda) Glitter

If childhood were a color it would be sparkle. No doubt about it.

With this in mind I ventured to try out this recipe to add a bit of childhood to anything. This isn't a new idea at all; it just inspired me to get creative. The pictures of this on pinterest show the most dazzling, twinkling glitter that you ever did see (check it out: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=edible%20glitter.) Do you see why I would want to try this?! AMAZING! 

Not really all that amazing, but still pretty cool. Under the right light there was some sparkle. Aside from the sparkle making colored sugar was fun (and less expensive then buying sprinkles at the market.)

What is actually very exciting about this is that you can do it with sugar or salt! Sweet and savory sparkles for everything!

What You Need:

• Sugar (or salt)
• Food Coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a container with a lid (I used a mason jar) add 1/4 cup of sugar to 1/2 teaspoon of food coloring. If you are using salt, use 2 Tablespoons of salt to 1/4 teaspoon of food coloring. Close the lid and shake vigorously.

Spread out the mixture onto a lined baking sheet. And pop it into the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. 

Sparkle (or color) away!

Tortilla Chip 2.0

Studies have shown that having a well stocked cookie cutter collection is essential to the joy and happiness of your children. Seriously! Look it up! I actually use only about 5: a star, heart, gingerbread man, butterfly and Christmas tree. I cut sandwiches, waffles, quesadillas, fruit roll ups, fried eggs, brownies, even chicken and hamburgers. If I could cut brussels sprouts to make them look more fun I would try but I still doubt anyone would eat them!

Like anybody we love our chips. Fritos are my personal favorite. I try hard to stay away from basic potato chips with the kids and instead offer up banana chips, pita chips, Pirate Booty, or veggie sticks. My kids have started to eat tortilla chips by the handful when we go out a Mexican restaurant (this basically means Chipotle, not very authentic but tasty!) So I thought to try making my own. The triangle shaped chip is now a thing of the past. 

Welcome to the tortilla chip 2.0.

What You Need:

• Tortillas
• Cookie Cutter
• Cooking Spray
• Cinnamon Sugar or Salt or some other topping 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lay out your tortillas on a cutting board. Using your cookie cutter cut out shapes from the tortilla (use any shape you want but for the most fun do not use a triangle shape!)

Lay out all the tortilla shapes on a baking sheet. Spray the tops of the tortillas with the cooking spray. Turn over and coat the other side. Sprinkle your topping on the tops of the tortillas. I used cinnamon sugar on the stars and salt on the hearts.

Pop them into your oven for 8-10 minutes. 

Pull them out and let them cool for a few minutes.  Its as easy as that to make your own tortilla chips. Serve them up on their own or with a tasty dip.

You can use this recipe during any holiday: Christmas cookies become Christmas tortilla chips; a bat shaped cookie cutter makes for spooky treats at Halloween; Four leaf clovers for good luck on St. Patricks Day, Easter bunnies in Spring, trees for Arbor Day, the possibilities are endless! This is the recipe that keeps on giving! 

Filled With Love

This weekend is Valentine's Day!

 

Maybe you are scrambling for some special treats to give to your little ones.  I always like to make a big deal about this day of love. I decorate the table in hearts, balloons and glitter and get the girls little prizes.

 

Filled with the spirit of St. Valentine I made these nutella and marshmallow hand pies this week (I also made heart shaped jello, heart shaped rice krispie treats, heart shaped pancakes, even heart shaped meat loaf.) You can say that my heart shaped cookie cutter has gotten a lot of use!

 

These little pies are very yummy and super easy to make with the store bought pie crusts. If you want something savory instead add some marinara sauce, cheese and a little meatball.

 

The filling ideas are endless!

 

 

What You Need:

• Store Bought Pie Crust
• Nutella
• Mini Marshmallows
• Sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Unroll the pie crust and cut into heart shapes. Line them on a baking sheet.

 



 

Add about a tablespoon of Nutella and a few marshmallows.

 

 

Then seal the sides of the heart so nothing oozes out. Sprinkle the top with a little bit of sugar.

 

Pop them into the oven for about 10 minutes. 

 



 

So easy and full of love!

Football Fiesta

Come Sundays (and Monday night and Thursday night for that matter) in the Fall you will always find a football game on in our house. Most likely it is the Patriots, my hubby's favorite. I don't complain because Tom Brady is pretty dreamy (Deflate-gate or not!) Now that the Patriots have ended up in the Super Bowl we are all excited here. To celebrate the big game I have decided to post this tasty concoction. Perfect for the kids and football lover in your life.

 

I found a version of this recipe a few years back. This meal has been a family favorite. The kiddos always clean their plates when I serve it up to them and that makes it a winner! To celebrate my baby daddy's team making it to the playoffs I made this tasty meal for him, but added a little something special to it. Go Patriots! (Or if you prefer Go Sea Chickens!)

(I never thought that guacamole could be used as a canvas with sour cream as my paint. There are many possibilities for this artistic combo. You could make this in a spring form pan and build it up, frost it with some guac and write Happy B-Day or something on the top: Fiesta Cake.)





WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1Medium Green Pepper, Chopped
1 Teaspoon ground Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Pound Ground Beef
1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
14 OZ Vegetable Broth (about 2 cups)
1 cup Frozen Corn, thawed

4-5 Flour Tortillas
1 cup Shredded Cheese

1 cup Guacamole (I could give you a recipe but, honestly, I don't have one yet. its so easy to buy it at the market now. I'm going to work on this though...stay posted.)
1/4 cup of Sour Cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dice the onion and green pepper. Mince your garlic.

In a large skillet sauté the onion, green pepper, cumin, and pepper in oil until the veggies are tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain the fat from the pan.

Next add beans and broth. Cook the mixture until the liquid is reduced to about 1/3 cup. Stir in corn and remove from heat.















Place a tortilla on the bottom of your baking dish (you may need to cut it to fit the bottom of the pan.) Layer on about 1 1/2 cups of the meat mixture with 1/4 cup of cheese. Repeat layers until you get to the top of your dish. Sprinkle the top layer with some cheese and pop it into the preheated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes.














Remove dish from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Spread the top with the guacamole. 

 

Now comes the artistic portion of the program...

Scoop sour cream into a baggie and cut a very small sliver from one of the corners. Now carefully pipe lines onto the top of the guacamole to resemble a football field (please note that I said "resemble.") Adding a few decorations helps to overcome the possible lack of Martha Stewart perfection. I used small skewers and pipe cleaners to create the goal posts. And I randomly had a football sticker from some past crafting project.

I used my computer to add on the Patriots flair but in past versions I simply printed out the team names and places right on top of the guac. It worked great but maybe you have another idea...

 

Enjoy the game!!

 

Elf Food

Christmas is my most favorite time of year! The good cheer, lights, presents, candy canes, hot cocoa, and music make it a true winter wonderland. But for me, the most exciting part about it all is experiencing Christmas with my children.  They believe so completely in Christmas magic that, for a moment, I believe in it again too.

I have very vivid childhood memories about Christmas. I remember how deeply I believed and how excited I was in the days leading up to Christmas. I can close my eyes right now and see the colored lights lining our house, smell the candles that were always lit on Christmas Eve, hear Nat King Cole Christmas carols playing on some cassette tape, and feel the increasing anticipation as we waited for Santa to arrive at our house. We always stayed up late on Christmas Eve celebrating our childhood while making the best family memories possible. I love my parents so much for giving this to me. It was a full sensory experience that is so ingrained into me that I have no choice but to recreate it for my children. I want to see them jump for joy when they spy Rudolph's nose in the distance,  burst with excitement when they hear the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh and squeal with delight at the sight of all their presents piled around the tree.

One thing that did not exist when I was young was the Elf of the Shelf. It is such a simple idea that it is brilliant (another million dollar mommy idea that I missed out on!) I have really run away with this idea trying to make it bigger and better (and sometimes totally inappropriate.) Here are some of the fun antics:

Contrary to popular opinion Elves are not limited to the 4 main food groups of candy, candy corn, candy canes and maple syrup. They love smores but hate the idea of getting close to an open flame (elves are fearful of fire so never but your elf near the flames!) Luckily I have a solution that is so easy even an elf can do it! And really whats not to love about this...marshmallows, chocolate, cereal... oh my goodness!

What You Need:

• 2 Cups Golden Grahams
• 1/4 Cup Marshmallow Bits
• 1/4 Cup Milk Chocolate Morsels
• Handful of Red M&Ms (picked and sorted out of a bag of Christmas M&Ms)

Directions: 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and serve. Seriously, how easy is that!! 

My little elves absolutely love this! Though this elf picks out and eats all the chocolate pieces (she`s smarter than I thought!)

Food Play: Peppermint Play Dough 

It is a rainy day here and we wanted to do a Christmas craft. I scrolled through Pinterest with my 4 year old and she rejected every art activity that had paint (thank goodness! that is always a mess!) and zoned in on the play dough idea. I had never made scented play dough and was up for giving it a try. We were all out of red play dough so we couldn`t make a full on candy cane theme. Green was just as lovely though. Pop the Elf even got involved!

What You Need for Play Dough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• food coloring
• drops of peppermint oil
• GLITTER!!

I added the first 4 ingredients to my mixer and began mixing. I than added the hot water followed by the food coloring until the desired color was achieved. Put in some peppermint oil to give it a nice elvish smell. Top it all off with a lot of glitter. The more the better!! If it feels a little tacky add some more flour.

Add in some cookie cutters and candy canes and you have yourself a play date.

Hoot! Hoot! Cupcakes

I love owls! It might not be apparent to people who know me, but I do. My affinity for these creatures can be traced back to one place: Chi Omega. This is the sorority that I joined way back in college at the University of Oregon. Our main symbol is the owl. For those of you that joined a sorority maybe the thing that you love is an anchor, key, dolphin, lyre, crescent moon, or arrow. If you did not join a sorority you may have no idea what I am talking about, but stay with me. My sorority meant a lot to me back then.  It gave me a sense of belonging at a large university but more importantly it was a place to call home. I got to share my college experience with some truly amazing women.  Oh the stories they could tell about me... Oh the stories I could tell about them! But, behind every chapter house is a national organization that works to ensure that the women who join their ranks are provided a fulfilling experience filled with ideals to which to aspire and purposes by which to live their life (it isn't all social!) Chi Omega still means a lot to me.

One of the few roles I hold outside of 'Mommy' is as an adviser at the University of Arizona's chapter of Chi Omega. It has been a way to connect to the community, to meet new friends and to remain an active part of an organization that I love. Moreover, it has helped me remember that I am more than just a mother (something that is easy to forget during the formidable toddler years.) So, last weekend I hosted about 20 of the active members from the U of A chapter at my house for an overnight retreat. They are some of the brightest, most hard working, and determined young women you could ever meet... they give me hope for the future! To honor them I made some Owl cupcakes. They weren't super fancy as I used whatever I already had in my pantry. I literally just winged it. (ha! ha!)

What You Need:

box of cake mix

jar of frosting

food coloring

assortment of toppings

• Fruit loops
• M and Ms
• Shredded Coconut
• Slivered Almonds
• Cherrrios
• White Chocolate discs (these are the kind you get for melting)
• Marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven as directed on the box. 

Mix cake mix. I mixed half the cake mix with lots of red food coloring. Then, I filled each cup cake with a scoop of each color to create a marbled effect. (Chi Omegas colors are cardinal and straw hence the 2 colors. But you can do this for any color combo you desire, or not at all.)

Once the cupcakes are out of the oven allow them to cool completely before frosting.

Once frosted begin to decorate your cupcake. I used a dab of frosting to stick the M&M to the white chocolate disc (or marshmallow.) I also used a Fruit Loop for the nose and eyebrows.

I think they turned out pretty cute considering I had a very unhelpful helper at my side trying to stick her finger in EVERYTHING and eat what she could.