Fun Thanksgiving Craft Ideas & Inspirations for Kids

Crafts are more than just a way to keep your kids occupied, while they’re working to create their masterpieces they’re also learning valuable lessons that will stay with them long after they’ve finished. In addition to fostering creativity and imagination, by taking the time to put effort into their project kids learn a good work ethic and build self-esteem while at the same time they also learn about shapes, colors and textures.

If you’ve done any crafts with your kids you know this is not an activity that you can set them up with and leave them unattended – there will be a thousand questions and likely a huge mess if that’s your approach. Taking the time to spend with your child while you work on a craft gives you a chance to have some fun time with them while you step back from the craziness of life for a little while.

So in the spirit of promoting fun with our children, here are a couple of homemade craft ideas you can do with your child:

Keepsake Handprints: You will need Crayola Model Magic, paint and a small bowl or plate. Make a flat shape of your child’s choosing, just make sure it’s bigger than your child’s hand (you can use a bowl as a guide for the shape). Press your child’s hand into the model magic to make an impression, peel it off of their hand and set out flat to dry for 24 hours. After the Model Magic is set you can paint the handprint in your favorite color. Let paint dry and give as a great keepsake gift.

Homemade Sidewalk Paint: This is environmentally friendly, easy to make & inexpensive! You will need ¼ cup cornstarch, ¼ cup cold water and 6 to 8 drops of food coloring. Put the cornstarch in a small plastic bowl and gradually stir in the cold water. Add your desired food coloring and stir. If the paint still feels too dry add a little more water until you get the right consistency. You can make as many colors as your heart desires by repeating the process with different colors. This paint washes off very easily and will not harm plumbing or plants. If you mix it in containers with lids you can keep the leftover paint for next time.

Homemade “Stained Glass” Decorations: You will need good quality wax paper, inexpensive crayons (cheaper quality crayons are actually better for this project!), hand held pencil sharpener, shapes to use as stencils, a hole punch, some ribbon, an old dishtowel and an iron. Fold your wax paper in half, using enough to be able to get multiple shapes from. Using the pencil sharpener, sharpen the crayons all the way down until you have a pile of wax shavings. (Use any color or combination you choose) Scatter the shavings evenly inside the wax paper and fold flat over them. Lay an old dishtowel over the wax paper to protect the surface of your iron, which should be on a high heat setting without steam. Iron the wax paper evenly under the dishtowel until the wax shavings are all melted. Let the paper lie flat until cooled. Using your stencils (you can use cookie cutters too!), outline your shapes on the wax with a pencil and then cut them out. Punch a hole in the top of your pieces and hang it in your window with yarn, ribbon or string.

Please visit the following sites for more great ideas.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-age/

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/kids/index.shtml

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DIY Halloween Costume Ideas for Babies & Kids

Halloween is getting closer and it’s time to start thinking about this year’s costumes, if you haven’t already! My kids actually have their costumes planned out years in advance, there are just so many options to choose from and Mom isn’t buying more than one each year…nope, I’m not. For some of you this is your first year to dress someone up. Obviously babies won’t remember a
thing, but that’s ok – it’s not really about them, is it? There are so many adorable choices for babies out there, really you can’t possibly go wrong everyone will be cooing over them anyway. Since that first year with your baby comes with so many expenses, some expected and some not, here are some Do It Yourself baby costumes to consider.

Sweatsuit Costumes are the easiest and fastest way to make a costume for your child. With a basic hooded sweatshirt or jacket, matching sweatpants, felt and hot glue gun, you can make just about any animal you can think of and you have the added benefit of dressing your little one warmly. Here are some instructions on how to create a few different animals, once you have the idea
you’ll see you can do anything with this basic beginning:

Lion: Glue yellow felt ears (semi-circles with the flatedgeglued down) to a yellow sweatshirt hood. Glue several brown felt strips around the hood to form a mane. Cut a length & glue to the back of the pants for a tail, using some yarn for the furry tip. Black eyeliner for nose, whiskers.

Puppy: Glue long dark brown felt ears to the sides of a tan sweatshirt hood. Glue dark brown felt spots all over the rest of the hooded sweatshirt and matching tan pants. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Kitten: Glue folded black felt triangles to the sides of a black sweatshirt hood. Glue a length of felt to the back of a pair of black sweatpants for the tail. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Skunk: Glue folded black felt triangles to the sides of a black sweatshirt hood. Glue a length of white felt down the back of the sweatshirt. Cut a strip of black felt and after glueing a white stripe of felt down it’s center, glue it to the back of black sweatpants. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Some other ideas can be made up almost entirely from items you have already have. How about a Princess? Any fancy dress your little one already owns, a chop stick with ribbon glued around it & several more to it’s tip, a headband wrapped in ribbon with any additional flair you’d like to add. Or how about a Cowboy? Jeans, a plaid or demin shirt, bandana and/or cowboy hat. Voila!

For additional ideas, take a look at FAMILYEDUCATION.COM, they have links to dozens of great ideas! (http://fun.familyeducation.com/halloween-costume/halloween/33247.html?detoured=1)

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Tasty Recipes for Summer

As we are moving close to summer time, everybody’s preparing for this season of fun under the sun. Summer brings its own special activities such as its own food recipes. It’s going to be hot, humid and storms will take place in some places. Indeed, in hot and humid weather, certain foods can be really refreshing such as ice cream, a cold drink and more. These refreshments would really make you feel that summer time is the best time of the year.

Aside from desserts and drinks, there are so many recipes for summer that might interest you. Here are some recipes which can make your summer a memorable time for you and your family.

Let’s start with making a salad, a butter bean salad to be more specific. To prepare for this type of salad, you need:

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

5 Tbsp. olive oil,

¼ tsp pepper,

Chopped parsley (parsley can bring a lot of taste and a good aroma in salad so put in as much as you want)

2 (15 oz.) cans butter beans (rinsed and drained)

11 oz. corn can (drained)

14.5 oz. can zesty chili diced tomatoes (drained)

Small red onions chopped (not more than 3 pieces).

Simply prepare a big bowl and combine vinegar with olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure you mix it well. Afterward, add the parsley and start mixing again. It’s good to consider that you should mix parsley in the bowl well and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix them well, chill the bowl for two hours before serving and enjoy the salad.

Some people might not want to spend so much of time cooking in their kitchen. Eventually, they will decide to dine out and often this act can be a part of a lifestyle. If every material is ready and laid out on the kitchen table in an organized way, cooking can be much easier and faster than what you think. So make sure that you always carry out an organized approach in cooking. Now we move on to the main dish which is lemon thyme grilled chicken. Here are the ingredients you need:

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts (if you are serving more people then simply add to the amount)

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

3 cloves of garlic (minced, always keep in mind that garlic can bring a very good taste to your food so if you want to add a bit more flavor then its completely up to you)

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

3.5 tsp. lemon juice (it would be great if you use real lemon)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

To prepare this meal, you will first place the boneless skinless chicken in a bowl and pour lemon on the chicken breasts. Make sure the chicken and lemon juice are mixed well. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover the bowl and chill it in your refrigerator for 1-3 hours. Prepare the grill while the chicken is in the refrigerator. Initiate the fire a quarter of an hour before you bring out the chicken. Grill the chicken for 5-7 minutes on each side. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you want your chicken—some prefer their meat well-cooked while other prefer it rare and a bit juicy

With these two recipes, you will surely enjoy your summer time meal. To lean more about summer recipes, do some research online.

Fun Summer Activities for Your Kids

Summer time, summer time.

Summer as a season has its own advantages and people and families are excited about this time of the year. Everybody has a plan to accomplish and if you have a family, you certainly have plans of going somewhere or doing something with your family this summer time.

Traveling in summer time is one of the most popular activities and kids love it. There are numerous locations that you can travel to and visit. Some prefer to take a break from the heat of their environment and travel to cold places and spend summer there and some prefer to travel from their cold environment to warmer places. No matter what place you and your family choose to spend your summer time in, you need to consider taking the right measures for your travel. One great factor that you might want to consider is to travel light. No matter what sort of transportation you are using to reach your destination, traveling light can be a great advantage on your part. You will be able to carry your load everywhere you go. Make sure to choose the right items based on the environment that you and your family traveling to. Consider choosing the right spot so your kid or kids can enjoy a lot of activities such as swimming in the sea and skiing in cold mountains.

Aside from traveling and other sorts of activity to entertain your kids, kid’s summer activities can take place in your own house such as planting a garden. However, in some places, the weather can make it challenging to plant a garden so plant a garden with respect to your environment. Here are some plants you might want to consider growing: potato, tomato, cucumber, peas, carrot, turnip, sunflower, squash and etc. To learn about how to plant these plants in your backyard and what sort of environment is suitable for each plant, you can always conduct your research online.

Other kids’ activities that you might want to consider are watching any sports game or movies since these can be quite entertaining and fun. A car race can really keep them frozen in their chairs. Baseball games can make your kid jump in his chair from excitement and a sci-fi movie can help their imagination grow. For your child, anything can be entertaining as long as you provide enough guidance during the activities. One of the main things that kids love about these activities is the snack that you provide them with. So as long as you provide a tasty snack, you can expect that they will be on their good behavior and enjoy the activity at hand.

Aside from entertainment in summer time, reading a book can be a great activity to be introduced to your kid. So many parents tend to forget the joys of reading when they were young. However, if you just take the time to remember your own childhood, you might recall how somebody would read some stories for you while you would take a look at the pictures in the book and you will feel like you’re in a new different world. To lean more about kids’ activities this summer, you can surf the net for more ideas.

Going on Vacation with Your Kids

If you are preparing to have a vacation with your family then there will be matters that you will need to consider–where to go, what items to pack, how to reach your destination (airplane or car?). Many parents worry about traveling with their kids because they fear that it will be full of hassle. The truth is, with enough preparation, your vacation with your kids can actually go smoothly. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you are planning to go on a holiday with your kids.

Where to go

Naturally, the first thing you need to do would be to choose a destination where you and your family can go. “Fun for the whole family” is the phrase that you need to keep in mind when deciding where to go. You might also want to establish what you want your trip to be. Do you want the vacation to be fun and relaxing, educational, adventurous or all of the above? Based on this decision, you can easily narrow down your choices. For instance, if you want your kids to have fun, then go to popular family places such as Disney Land or any other amusement park. For an educational trip, visit historical sites and museums. For an adventure, have your kids try out camping or any new sports. When planning your itinerary for the day, make sure you make the activities short and varied. Since kids have a short attention span, it will be better to avoid activities that last the whole day long.

What to Pack

Packing for kids is another preparation that can be tricky if you don’t know how to do it right. If you are traveling with a baby, the first things you need to pack would be all the baby essentials—such as diapers, bottles, etc. The same goes for small toddlers. If your little one is used to drinking on his sippy cup and has a security blanket then you need to pack all these for the trip. Packing for older kids is easier and you can even enlist their help to give them a sense of responsibility. Keep your destination in mind when deciding what children’s clothes to bring. For instance, if you are going to tropical Hawaii, then your kid won’t need his snow boots.

How to get there

Lots of preparation is done before an airplane can take off—such as double-checking the engine, cleaning the cabin, etc. You should carry out the same meticulous process if you are traveling with a car. Always update and upgrade the items in your tool box and make sure they are compatible to your car. Have your car checked out by elite team of mechanics since you do not want to run into a conflict on your way. Prepare food supply enough for the passengers (your family) as well as enough activities for the kids. Children can get pretty impatient on the road (or on the sky if you are going by plane) so it’s important to have something that will entertain them during the travel hours.

Best Valentine’s Day Gifts For Her

We love shopping. Enough said! Give us an unlimited credit cards, a few hours in Bloomingdales or Nortdstrom’s and we can spend our entire life’s savings. And have an amazing time doing it.

Ok..back to reality!

Yes….Jimmy college fund comes to mind, the mortgage, utilities, ugh. I have living in the real world.

With that said, here is our TOP 10 list of what we would love to get for Valentine’s Day:

#1. MAC Book Pro!

Ahhh…the inner geek in my screams for this sleek shiny new machine. I can already imagine my fingers effortlessly gliding across the smooth keyboard building my next web project and planning my world domination! I can just imagine the possibilities – work at the kitchen table, in bed, ahhh the battery life alone is enough to buy this baby!

For a full review of this fabulous lap, check out Gizmodo’s Mac Book Pro Review here.

The Whopping price:  $2,499

#2. Jura-Capresso Impressa S9 One Touch Coffee Center

Ok..so I am not a morning person. I admit it. I can’t even speak before my morning cup of coffee, let alone deal with an uber active 2 1/2 year old’s tantrums and demands. Let’s just say my mental awakenss doesnt start before 2PM.

But I bet this fantastic cappuccino/coffee maker can change that. Even calling it a coffee makes is demeaning.  I’ve had my eye on this for about 6 months now. I cannot wait to get my hands on one! I dream big, what can I tell you?

Whopping Price:  $3,376.95

Yes, yes, we have expensive taste in gifts! Stay tuned for some more exciting luxury Valentine’s Gifts coming up next.

Baby’s First Valentine’s Day – Make it Memorable!!

Your baby’s first Valentine’s Day is special. As a dad, you want to make sure you do everything to make this a memorable day. There is no limit to your options—you know your baby best and can find things to do that you and your baby will both enjoy.

Here are some ideas for dads on celebrating their baby’s first Valentine’s Day:

1. Dress up your baby: Find your baby an appropriate outfit to mark the occasion. Think of something with cute red hearts all over—the perfect choice for any baby’s first Valentine’s Day.
2. Have a photo session with your baby: Take lots of pictures to keep the memories of this day alive. Let your baby pose with different people amongst your friends and family members, with pets, and in different situations. You can later compile these into a scrapbook and preserve the memories of your baby’s first Valentine’s Day.
3. Prepare a special treat: Serve your baby your love in the form of a tasty treat. Use heart-shaped pans to make your baby some Valentine’s Day cookies or muffins. Serve them as little red hearts with strawberry jam or red sugar crystals. An even easier option is to make your baby some sandwiches and cut them up to resemble little hearts.
4. Give your baby Valentine’s Day popsicles: Here is another novel idea to make your baby’s first Valentine’s Day special. Use heart-shaped molds to make Valentine’s Day popsicles for your baby. Simply freeze fruit and vegetable juices or pulp in the molds with little sticks in them. Give them to your baby to relieve teething pains.
5. Gift your baby a Valentine’s Day basket: Celebrate your baby’s first Valentine’s Day traditionally with a gift basket. You can put some new toys and clothes in it. Also, remember to include something to keep a record of the day, such as a baby handprint kit, or a picture scrapbook.