Birthday Snacks

KK turns 10 next week (it's seems like just yesterday my tiny little baby was born).

However, that means snack for the class. Her class alone only has 16 kids but they are often with the other 4th grade class which has another 15, and she wanted snacks for both classes (which she always does but doesn't always get). My only preference is to not be completely full of sugar- if you remember KL's last birthday was fruit, granola, and yogurt parfaits, which you would remember from the yogurt pops we made out of the extras. 

So we went online and looked for a few ideas but ultimately chose something of a mix of others- matter of fact, it's trail mix.

I came up with 4 "flavor" categories (sweet, salty, fruity, and grains) and then came up with 4-5 ideas to fit these categories, and avoid class allergens. From that list, I let KK choose 2 options from each category. When we took them in today, each kid will get to create their own trail mix choosing one item from each flavor selection. 

Here's the ingredients she chose:

For sweet- candy corn and candy pumpkins (I informed her they taste the same but she insisted)

For salty- cheddar crackers and Bugles chips

For grains- Multi-Grain Cheerios (or the store brand version of) and Honey Granola

For fruit- Raisins and Banana Chips

We served them in paper lunch sacks we always have on hand (for crafts most often) that we cut down a little so they're easier to reach into. And we scooped with  3 oz. paper cups. 

Here's a few shots: (only of my kids and the one's I know their parents won't mind, of course)

I was only able to get pictures of KM and KN, because KK finished passing out the snacks and left to hand out the extra to EVERY. TEACHER. IN. THE. SCHOOL. (Seriously- I didn't see her again until I went looking for her because the class was getting ready to leave.)

If you're looking to repeat here's a few other options:

Sweets - M & Ms, mini marshmallows, chocolate covered sunflower kernels

Salty - pretzels, sunflower kernels, peanuts (if allowed), almond slices, popcorn

Grains - Chex cereal, Teddy grahams, Life cereal, Kix cereal (and any of the cereals could be of the frosted variety if you want to add a little more sweetness)

Fruit - really any dried fruit will work: craisins, dried apple chips, dried blueberries, white raisins, coconut flakes

That's all for now, 

Jo!

Catching Up

I've officially finished the bathroom remodel (KL put me on a deadline so she could regain control of the TV in the toy room- which was unplugged to charge drills and run the extension cord).

The only "crafty" thing from there was a refinished mirror. Much like the medicine cabinet, we had one on the door in a wood finish that needed to be changed to black. This one was easy though, just a little sanding and then painting- viola!
Before:

 After:

Also, I may have an addiction to making hair bows.
Here's a few that I've completed recently:
Homecoming week included a school colors day, which meant orange and black bows, which I found I only had one ribbon of each color, so each girl got to choose points or loops (KK chose point and KL chose loops):

Then I made these because I had a rough week and crafting is my outlet. I just took a look through Pinterest to get a few ideas and here was the outcome:

Here's a close up of the flower, just because  I think it's deserved:

Other than that, I'm working on Christmas gifts so I can't post those yet. But once I finish the current project my next is just a skirt for my daughter so that will be post-able.


That's all for now,
Jo!

What's New

Here's a few things we've got done this week:

First, I bought a few packs of large buttons on sale at WalMart this week, along with metallic glue sticks that my KL decided needed to be tried out- more specifically as new hair bows.

She picked out the ribbons, designs, and buttons for each.

Here's the first one, my first of this style boutique bow:

She very much loves pink. And really wanted to use the heart buttons.
(My husband was kind of happy with this one because it ended 2 different rolls of ribbon, he thinks I have too many.)

Here's the second:

She wanted to help with this one, however, when she did she shifted the layer of red loops so one is a little out of place, but she didn't mind so I don't mind. This one she chose the star ribbon because I "haven't used it in a while" (I've got some ribbons I've never used but she's worried about the one's that have been a while since used). Then she chose the yellow and red to match and the blue star just seemed perfect to finish it all off.

The metallic glue sticks weren't really all that impressive. The only time I could tell it was a metallic color was when I would use a large spot, and even then it was really just a little shimmer looking more than full on metallic looking- oh well, they were cheap (cheaper than a pack of regular).


After we made new bows we tried a science experiment/DIY art supply- turning run down markers into liquid water colors. Here's how they looked just about 10 minutes after adding the markers. I'll edit later to see how they look later- they're supposed to sit for about a week to pull all leftover ink out.

You can see the water already pulling the color out of them.

This is approximately 18 hours later:

(We had neon dry erase markers that left those colors with an almost cloudy look, we will have to see how those turn out.)

Before I'm completely done I will probably cut the ink tube out to get the most out of them, but for now we will let them sit like this for the directed week. I'll update this post, or make a new one, when they're all finished.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Apple Pull Apart Bread

Fall is upon us, well almost, and that means all the wonderful flavors of fall are returning.

My parents have several apple trees that were thriving at the beginning of the growing season and then it dried out for a long period and the skins of the apples grew with a bit of fungus on them. However, it's all on the outside of the skin and most of it washes off- not that we would eat the skin, though- so they're perfect for peeling and baking.

Then I found this recipe for a caramel apple pull-apart bread. It is amazing you guys.

The recipes is there for you so I just have a few picture to show you.

This dough was so soft and easy to work with, the only problem was that it stretched a little because of just how soft it is.

Here's a quick look at how I stacked the layers, I found it easier to add the filling in the stack instead of covering the dough and then stacking.

(See, there's the stretching issue, but it really isn't a big deal.) 

Look how cute that little stack of apple, cinnamon, yeasty goodness is

Here's after they came out of the oven. I had a little bit of a hard time telling when they were done because of the moisture from the filling but I actually seemed pretty perfect (although a few extra minutes than given in the recipe) after cutting into it.

 And of course, here it is iced (and there may already have been a taste test off the top too).

This was amazingly delicious!! (I may have ate half a loaf the first day.) The recipe yields 2 loaves so I froze one for my parents (before icing- but it tells you that in the recipe) and it was still soft and delicious after thawing it out. (And since I knew it would be less than a week when I saw them to deliver, I just refrigerated the leftover glaze. It had to be reheated to pour easily but it kept just fine and saved me from having to waste some and then make more.)

That's all for now,
Jo!

Grandparents Day

Since we were headed to Grama and Papa's house last weekend, for a family event with the other Grama and Papa we decided to throw together some quick Grandparents' Day Gifts.

I'm sure you've seen Pinterest pins or Facebook photos about how to set Sharpie on ceramic mugs and how quick and easy it can be- so that's what we did. Three of the four grandparents wake up to coffee every morning, and the forth likes to drink tea so I figured it would be great.

Here's the shots:

Here was the final products.

KK coloring one.

 

KL coloring one.

KL was taking her sweet time. I went to take a picture of the three that were completed and she reminded me that they aren't all done yet. So I took a picture of her coloring the forth with the three completed next to her.

And one more picture because I think KL looks adorable in it:

Just admiring her work :)

After they finished we let them dry overnight, and in the morning put them in the oven at 350 for half an hour. I also sprayed a thin layer of acrylic seal (with the rims covered and the cups upside down so none got inside).

That's all for now,
Jo!