let's paint!

OK, be honest. Who shutters when they hear these words from their kids, "Mom, I want to paint!" I cringe, but I still allow it because I know that painting is a part of childhood. For her birthday in April, Mikayla got some fun paint markers that I recently found in the art cabinet after giving it a good cleaning and decided to give them a try. Why hadn't I done this sooner?! Have you ever heard of Crafty Dab Paint Markers? They are fabulous! The kids love them and even Austin can use them without making a mess! Now, that's saying something. What's even better is that these particular ones that we own are scented. Not only do they smell good, but we have the shimmery kind, too, so they sparkle on the page. These paint markers are so easy to use and with no paintbrushes or water they are a snap to clean up. I highly recommend these if you aren't a fan of having paint around the house for your kids to "experiment" with. They are non-toxic and washable! OK, now I'm beginning to sound like a salesman. Sure wish I could get me some free stuff for spreading the love. *wink*

{Visit I Blame My Mother for KFF!}

a winner...and a yummy breakfast treat for kids!

Thank you to everyone who posted the Monthly Craft Challenge button {holiday edition} on their sidebar or blogged about it. It definitely helps spread the word, so that there are many more ideas to be shared, and with Halloween/Fall season coming upon us, we all need more ideas!! For those of you who did this and left a comment on Tuesday's post, you were entered into a drawing for a fun, little giveaway.

The winner of this "surprise" giveaway just so happens to be my good friend Sarah at Our Pumpkin & Sweet Pea. I swear I'm not rigging these drawings just so my friends will win! I have my sweet little assistant who drew from a basket full of names. She doesn't know how to read, so she can't be cheating either! *wink*

And because of my habit of procrastination, I am giving myself a deadline to deliver this gift by next Thursday. Which just so happens to be our next MOPS leadership meeting, which Sarah is the coordinator of. However, there's one stipulation, my friend Sarah...you MUST start blogging more!! *wink*

Don't forget to get crafting!! We'll see you back here on Thursday, October 1st and "meet up to link up" our Halloween or Fall-inspired crafts. Hope you'll join us! Click below button for more information.

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Now, onto a fun little breakfast treat for the kids! This morning after sleeping in a bit (Mikayla came back to bed with me after getting up early with her daddy and ended up falling asleep!), we woke up ready to have some breakfast. I was fixing some (frozen) waffles for Austin and Mikayla says to me, "I want waffles with peanut butter and jam on it." Say what!? I've NEVER heard her ask me this before and I've never offered it, so I'm not quite sure where she came up with the idea. The only thing I can think of is that when I make my homemade waffles (usually on Saturdays) I'll have them with peanut butter and syrup.

Anyway, I figured that sounded like a great idea, so I suggested we make a Peanut Butter & Jelly Waffle Sandwich for breakfast!

~ 5 Easy Steps ~

Step 1 - Cut the waffle in half.
(We use the plastic knives from IKEA and they work
great for kids to help in the kitchen!)

Step 2 - Spread peanut butter on the waffle.
Step 3 - Add some jelly
Step 4 - Put the other half on top
Step 5 - Enjoy!
(And in the words of Mikayla..."This is "uh-licious!"
Translated? I'm thinking she means delicious.)
Optional: Finish off with a glass of milk!

kids in the kitchen - banana muffins

I'm joining in this week for my first Kids in the Kitchen over at A Little Fun with Me & Lu. I'm a day late, but we actually did make these on Thursday!

At Ryan's work each of his co-workers sign up to bring a breakfast goodie on Fridays. Usually it's something like store bought donuts or some store bought pastry. This week it is Ryan's turn to bring something, so of course I can't just let him bring donuts like everyone else...it has to be homemade! I've already sent random goodies with him before and his co-workers always seem to give them rave reviews (aw, shucks). There's just something about being "the wife that brings all the yummy homemade treats".

Today was the perfect opportunity to let Mikayla help out again in the kitchen. I try really hard to make something with her at least once a week. Last week it was chocolate chip cookies! Yum!

Mini Banana Muffins
(found via AllRecipes.com)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners.
   
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
   
4. Scoop into muffin pans.
5. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

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Some things that are easy for Mikayla to help with using a recipe like this are...

MASHING BANANAS

POURING IN DRY INGREDIENTS
STIRRING TOGETHER WET INGREDIENTS
PLACING MUFFIN TIN LINERS IN THE MINI MUFFIN CUPS
SO PROUD OF HER HARD WORK!
YUMMY IN THE TUMMY!
(Don't worry, I didn't make Ryan take the muffins
to work like this...I'll spare him that.)In addition to the muffins, he brought strawberries, grapes, and bananas along with some mini bagels and cream cheese. You have to please the masses!

HAPPY FRIDAY!
ENJOY SOME TIME COOKING IN THE KITCHEN.


Check out Sarah at I Blame My Mother for Kid Friendly Friday.

cooking with kayla, part two

This weekend I'm heading out of a town with a group of women that are a part of our local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) leadership team. Each of us will be bringing a snack (in addition to buddying up and bringing a meal) and I thought that the Chex recipe "Muddy Buddies" would be a yummy late night treat!

I was actually in a relaxed mood today despite my always growing "to do list", so I thought I might as well let Mikayla help out in the kitchen. She's a whizz at baking and it's a fun way to spend a little one on one time together, but still get some stuff done in the process.

Together, we read the ingredient list and I had Mikayla search for all of the ingredients with a few helpful hints from her momma, of course. (Ladies, going to the retreat...stop right here if you don't want to know everything that goes into this delightful treat. And, I will say that it is addicting, so don't say I didn't warn you.)

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MUDDY BUDDIES
COOKING WITH KAYLA

your choice of Chex cereal, chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, & powdered sugar

Measure 9 cups of cereal. I let Mikayla tell me when to stop once I reached the line I had pointed out to her. We ended up doing 5 cups Corn Chex and 4 cups Chocolate Chex.

Measure out 1 cup chocolate chips. I filled a small bowl of chocolate chips and let her scoop them into the 1-cup measuring cup.

Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup butter to the chocolate chips. Even letting kids do simple tasks like peeling the paper from the butter teaches them the art of cooking. We talked about how slimy it felt (and then she proceeded to wipe it off on herself...good thing she was wearing an apron!)

Microwave for 1 minute and then stir until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour Chex cereal into a large bowl.

Pour chocolate mixture over cereal and stir until covered.

Place chocolate covered cereal into gallon-sized Ziploc bag, add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and shake, shake, shake. She loved this part!

During this cooking adventure, don't forget to give your (almost) 2-year old a little snack...

...and some measuring spoons and cups to keep him distracted, I mean entertained.

Place finished yummy goodness on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet to cool and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator (the freezer is even better!)

As it was cooling on the counter, Mikayla kept asking me, "Just one more, Mommy. One more." And how many times do you think I heard that?

*FYI: You might notice Mikayla has a black eye in these pictures. She had a little run in with someone else's head last Sunday, so it's her first official black eye. She looks kind of tough, don't you think?



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

cooking with kayla

Wow! It's been awhile since I've participated in Kid Friendly Friday at I Blame My Mother. Do I seriously not do enough with my kids these days!? Maybe it's because the weather has been so gorgeous that most of the time is spent playing outside enjoying the sun, so there is no real "organized" activity.

However, we did squeeze in a little "cooking up some fun" the other day in the kitchen. Mikayla is at that age of wanting to soak in everything she can! Her new favorite thing to do is help me cook! For our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we had a speaker come share with us about cooking with our kids and I really enjoyed listening to the tips and suggestions she had to pass along. I was also able to do a little online browsing as I prepared for some cooking links we could post on the MOPS blog, and that got me inspired as well. It was fun to see the different recipes out there or things you could do in the kitchen with your kids to teach them to help and enjoy the process of cooking! (Here is a simple article with tips on teaching kids the cooking basics...there are so many other resources out there, too!)

At the end of last week I thought it was the perfect day to make a sweet treat, so we opted for smoothies. Mikayla loves smoothies and it is the perfect little treat to share...it would be Austin's first try. After realizing we didn't have all the ingredients, we decided to take a quick walk to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. On the way there Mikayla and I had a little conversation about what was on our "list". We talked about what ingredients we needed to make our smoothie and what we had at home and what we needed to buy. I told her that she needed to help me remember. It was so cute for her to say the list back to me. (A random side note: Mikayla has been calling bananas "manna" for the longest time, so we tried pronouncing it for her so she could repeat it back to us. Buh-na-na. Simple, right? She repeats it back to us like this: Buh-duh-na-na. I'm so going to try to get this on video because it is just too cute!)

Time to get a cookin'!

Step 1: Cut up the bananas.

Step 2: Pour in the milk
Step 3: Measure out the yogurt
Step 4: Add in the berries.
Step 5: Turn on the blender.
Step 6: Give mom a cheesy grin.
Step 7: Cheers!

Mikayla decided to take hers "to go"!
And it looks like the smoothie was a hit...

...every last drop!

Another little cooking lesson that I didn't capture on camera was her helping me with dinner the other night. When it's appropriate and I have the time, I plan on giving Mikayla little jobs to do in the kitchen with me. (While Mikayla was helping me, I gave Austin a few {new to him} cooking tools to play with while we worked to distract him.) She put the salad in the bowls (I must admit it was a bagged salad! Gasp!). She was also in charge of buttering the bread and sprinkling the Parmesan cheese on top. Just giving your kids a little job in the kitchen will bring a smile to their face. It might be an extra mess, but I think it's worth it! Just don't choose an evening that's full of stress! One of the tips that I learned was to pick one night a week that was set aside for Mikayla to help me in the kitchen. That meal could be something that would be easy and fun to do together!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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And, in other blogging news...I'm going to be enjoying an all day scrapbooking getaway on Saturday and heading out of town on Sunday until Monday night to visit friends, so you won't be hearing a lot from me, but most of you probably also have plans with the long weekend coming up. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend and we'll "see" you when we "see" you!