Product Review: Cupcake Plunger

I was shopping for my husband for Valentines Day, when I found something that I wanted for Valentines Day. I'm loving cupcakes right now, and have a whole bunch of recipes I want to try.
So, I thought for $4 I would try this out.

It claimed to make the hole and then fill it. It made the hole really nicely. But to fill it, you would need something really solid like ice cream. Frostings, etc, are too soft. But it wasn't really that hard to fill it with using a spoon. I probably could have found something around my house to makethe holes, but for $4 I think this was worth it. I give is three stars.

Destruction: Keeping boys entertained

Our trusty printer of many years bit the dust recently. Instead of feeding it to the garbage can, my husband suggested letting the kids take it apart. It sounded like kind of a pain to me, but when a four-day weekend came upon us, I decided to go for it. And they totally loved it. It kept us busy for a couple of hours.

Notice that I said "us". My kids weren't able to get many of the screws loose. So, be prepared with a few kinds of screwdrivers, old clothes in case of grease or ink, and lots of your own time. But it was worth it. They were totally excited to see it come apart and how everything worked.

So next time you have an electronic device break, let your kids go at it. Or you can also pick up something at the thrift store too.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

I'm on a bit of a Nutella kick lately. I looove it. It's good spread on graham crackers. Whenever my kids dare venture outside for a minutes in the freezing winter, they think they deserve some hot chocolate. So when they were sipping their store bought I kind, I wondered if Nutella would make some good hot chocolate. I was right! It was so rich and delicious.

Nutella Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
Milk
Nutella
Whipped Topping (optional)

Nuke some milk in the microwave and then add desired amount of Nutella and stir until combined. Then nuke again for another 20 or so seconds. Top with whipped topping.

Other Nutella Recipes I want to try:
Nutella Pancakes

Nutella Cupcakes

Now go grab some Nutella!

And I have to share my favorite thing I did for Valentines Day: My man-bouquet for my man!
I got the idea here.

Easy School Valentines Day Party

I'm in charge of the third-graders V-day party this year. Here is one game I thought up:
Taking the numbers of kids in the class and divide that number in half. Then find out how to say "I love you" in that many languages. Then I will print off two strips of each language, fold them up and randomly hand them out.
Then they have to go around the room saying "I love you" in their language until their find their match.

One of the other moms helping me is going to do "Do you love your neighbor?" Which I think the kids will like too. Click here for the instructions to that game.

"Love Bug"

I decided to do a cute little Valentine project with my 3 year old today. I got the idea from here.

We didn't do it exactly as this site suggested. But that's part of the fun!

You will need:Empty toilet paper tube
Valentine paper
Scissors
Glue
Pipe cleaners
Pom pom balls

Acrylic Paint

Foam Paintbrush

Small paintbrush

(You can really use what you have around the house, that's what I did!)

First, paint the toilet paper tube.

Let it dry.

We painted a little bit on the inside. Just along the top where you would be able to see it.

Glue a pom pom to the top of the pipe cleaner.
I used hot glue for this.

This is what you will end up with.

Cut hearts out of your Valentine paper.

(I used my Silhouette for my hearts. LOVE that machine!)

Decorate your hearts however you want and then tape or glue them to the back of your tube for the wings.

Next, use a hole punch and make two holes in the tube for the antenna to go and hook pipe cleaners to the tube.

**I made my holes close to the top, next time I would make them a little lower.**

Paint or draw a face on your "Love Bug"

Love your "Love Bug" :)

When we were finished with this craft, my little girl asked, "Are we going to do another craft?"

She loved it.

Guess I will have to come up with some more fun Valentine's activities.

Little things we've done lately...

Trying to beat the Winter Blues, we've done a couple things lately that the kids found fun.
First we made Banana Men for our "Family Night" treat. Basically you cut the banana in half and decorate it with chocolate chips, candies, whipped cream for hair and mustaches, etc. And please don't be jealous of the fine china we use at our house. :)



Then, for dinner one night I let the kids make their own pizzas. I made up some pizza dough, rolled out individual sized circles, and let them pick from a variety of toppings. Fun for everyone.


Also, here is another little trick I used this week. Red food coloring and corn syrup mixed and brushed onto a bandage and then dried overnight makes awesome blood!


I'm not really into gory Halloween costumes, but our school does a "Fake an injury day" for part of our spirit week. This works great for some fake-out blood!

Fun with Knit

My latest project was this dress (found here):


With this matching hairbow found here:

I'm kind of addicted to making these bows out of all our old t's! This was so much fun to make.