MIY Play

MIY = Make It Yourself

Nothing like some activities from home to engage your child's fine motor skills. 

And these were things that I already had in my house.

The whole point of this activity was to pick up the objects & put them into the cups.

You could even get your child to sort the objects into different cups or sort the noodles by color.

The other point was to fill a cup and pour it onto the other cup, but Claire wasn't interested into doing that (she was actually more interested in eating the [uncooked] rice and noodles *facepalm*).

** Please be sure to watch your child play with small objects as they can be chocking hazards. **

Baked Rigatoni Recipe

We eat a lot of Italian in our house! Baked rigatoni is my favorite!!

Ingredients:

Rigatoni Noodles

Ground hamburger meat

Mozzarella cheese

Spaghetti sauce

First, brown the meat and boil the noodles. I only wind up using 1/2 the box of noodles. And you can probably get away with just using 1/2 a lb of hamburger meat, to be honest.

Combine noodle, meat, and sauce in a glass baking dish

(no need to grease the pan)

Then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese

I'm a big fan or mozzarella cheese so I like to add more on top ;)

Goes good with: garlic bread

Dollar Store Products: Yay or Nay

There are TONS of trial and error products at dollar stores; it either works like a charm, or totally sucks! I can't personally cover all items, because let's be honest, there's hundreds of products that I wouldn't personally use or I'd rather not trial and error with (or waste my money on)

Sand buckets = yay! No beaches where I live, but they're fun to play with in the pool, tub, and to carry toys in.

Cards = personally, a nay for me. I can never find one I like... maybe I just don't search hard enough?

Balls = I saw these and thought "Oh Claire would love these," but I went to pick up the blue polka dot ball and noticed they were foam balls. Nay for little ones who like to sink their teeth into their toys =/ But these would be awesome at the lake!

Glow sticks = YAY! There's bracelets, necklaces and wands!

Decorative marbles, glass rocks, and rocks = Yay. I have the light blue glass rocks in a pretty vase in my living room :)

Frames and mirrors = not a very fancy selection, but if you're crafty, you can make them all fancy. :)

Poster boards and foam poster boards = YAY! Definite yay!! 2 for $1!? Heck yes!!!

Wire-Mesh Desk Accessory Storage Cups = yay. They're rather small, but perfect size for paper clips and such. I could definitely put my key set in one.

Baby Blankets = NAY! Super thin and cheap feeling.

I don't really care for the baby section.

Boogie Wipes, Flushable wipes, baby wipes = YAY! Score!

Toilet Paper for a dollar? NAY! Maybe for RVs since I can only imagine how cheap and thin this tp is.

Storage Bins = Yay. I like to use these for my flour and sugar.

Renuzit Armoma air fresheners = yay. There's only like 3 or 4 smells, but I like the flower scent and the raspberry scent.

Anti-Bacterial Soap = yay

Sunglasses = yay and nay. They're cheap, but I suppose they could get the job done. Personally, I can't use them since I wear glasses, but my toddler breaks a pair of sunglasses rather quickly so I can't justify buying a pair of sunglasses unless they a dollar or less (like Target's dollar section, too)

Children's Books & Coloring Books = yay. They have a few hard books for the little ones who tend to rip paper books.

Scotch Tape = yay. I only buy my scotch tape from the dollar store now. They come in packs of 2!

Pregnancy Tests = yay. When I was pregnant with Sophia, a cashier told us that they just found out they were expecting and that his wife used the dollar store pregnancy test and it was correct. I've heard more BFP than BFN stories on these pregnancy tests. I've also heard that WalMart now has a pregnancy test on their shelves for only $.89.

Helium Balloons = yay. There's birthday balloons, metallic balloons, latex balloons, etc!

Trash bags = nay. 2 words: Thin & cheap.

Dog toys = nay. Dogs like to rough house and the dollar store chew toys don't hold up very long.

Hand sanitizer = yay.

Cotton Swabs = yay & nay.  They hurt, they bend too easily.. BUT I find they work good for cleaning up nail polish that goes on my fingers when I'm painting my nails.

Wash cloths = nay. The material is thin and I personally wouldn't rub these wash clothes on my face to wash it.

Batteries = nay. These batteries ran out of juice too quickly.

Socks = yay. But not the guy socks!!! I bought my husband a pair of the thermal socks and they did not do their job whatsoever. However, I bought a pair of the womens socks for when I delivered my toddler and thank goodness I did! My nurse got them dirty, needless to day.. she felt bad but I told her "no worries, I bought them from the dollar store just for this occasion." 

Lighters = yay.

Ziplock Bags = yay. I don't necessarily use the bag for food storage, but I do like to stuff poopy diapers in them to lock in the smell in our trash can since we don't use our Diaper Genie anymore.

Estracell sponges = NAY! They may look like the Scotch-Brite sponges but they absolutely suck! Not to mention, they smelt horrible to me!

Shelf liners = yay

The holiday stuff is a toss up. You can find some good things, and then some just aren't worth buying.

Is there anything you absolutely loved or hated from the dollar store?

Golden Grahams S'mores

S'more's is probably my favorite sweet treat so when I found this recipe, I knew I HAD  to make it!

I wish I could make s'mores by a campfire all year long (and guilt free!). But in reality, I live in Kansas where winter time  is longer than summer time, and I've got my health to maintain.

Just some pre-post side notes:
1.) I kind of ventured away from the original recipe I found and cut that recipe in half
2.) I'm sure there's a 'prettier' way to make and present these, but my main concern was that this was going in my belly, and I was happy with it!

What ingredients I used:

4 cups Golden Grahams cereal

2 1/2 tbls butter

2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1/2 cup chocolate chips

First off, place the chocolate chips in the freezer to cool them off, otherwise they'll melt when you pour the melted marshmallows over them.

Put the cereal in a big bowl too.

Spray a baking pan with cooking spray, and set aside.

Melt the butter over medium heat.

Then add the marshmallows and melt them halfway

(my toddler distracted me and they wound up all the way melted)

Pour the melted marshmallows over the cereal and then stir.

Next dump in the cooled chocolate chips and fold all 3 things so that everything is evenly distributed. You should do this rather quickly because the chocolate chips melt rather quickly.

Next, pour into the prepared baking pan and place in your refrigerator.

I honestly could only wait 5 minutes before I dug in!

Toddler Meals

My toddler can be a picky eater at times but the more stuff she tries, the better I understand her likes and dislikes.

Claire gets 3 meals a day, and snacks in between.

I will admit that sometimes I get lazy or Sophia isn't allowing me to do much, so I opt out for some real quick already made Chef Boyardee's or just some plain cereal, but that's not often.

Here's some things Claire likes:

Breakfast

Toast with a thin layer of cream cheese, banana slices, Gerber yogurt melts and flavored water.

Homemade pancakes, strawberry slices, and eggs.

(Claire isn't a big fan of strawberries, but I offer them to her because sometimes she will nibble on them if she sees us eating them)

Homemade cinnamon & sugar oatmeal with V8 Splash juice

(I like to make her oatmeal because I can add in my own ingredients!)

My "lazy meals" are just a bowl of plain cereal, waffles, or those NutriGrain bars, but she doesn't get them often because she gets the insides all over the carpet and it's sticky!

Lunch

Picnic lunch: Turkey sandwich, variety of snacks, grapes, and water.

BBQ chicken quesadilla, Gerber Lil' crunchies (ranch), water.

Claire's favorite lunch: Chicken nuggets, Gerber lil' crunchies [mild cheddar], grapes, and water.

And yes, that is bbq sauce. She loves bbq sauce!

Some of my "lazy meals" are Mac n Cheese bowls that you put in the microwave and those Chef Boyardee cups. I don't feed those to her often though because I have to sit down with her and feed her myself because she's a messy messy eater! 

Dinner

Claire usually just eats what we eat. If I know it's too hot, I'll tone it down for her, make her plate, and then finish off cooking how I would for me and hubby. Or if I know she won't like it, I'll make her something different.

Her favorite kind of food is Italian, so we have spaghetti, chicken penne, chicken parm, pizza, ravioli, etc. a lot!!

Her drinks are very constant: water, V8 Splash (I water it down), flavored water, and sometimes tea. Apple juice upsets her tummy, so she doesn't get that anymore.

Also, she will NOT drink milk from her sippy cup, not even chocolate milk, so she gets a 4 oz milk in a bottle around 10-11 am and a 6-7 oz bottle around 2 (which is her nap time).

* Note this isn't the only meals she gets. She has a big variety of meals I prepare for her.. this post is just example of some of her meals.

Puppy Chow

One of my favorite sweet snack recipes is Puppy Chow. Muddy Buddies, puppy chow.. whatever you call it, it's yummy!

I absolutely loved when my mom made it. And now I love making it on my own and sharing with my kiddos.. well.. one of them. My youngest can't have any yet.

All you need is:
9 Cups rice Chex cereal

1/2 Cup peanut butter

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 Cup butter

1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar

I've seen recipes that call for 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla, but I'm not a big vanilla person.

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter on low heat.

Keep stirring until it is a very smooth consistency.

This is the part where you can feel like the Lindt Lindor truffles chef and scoop some up on the spoon and let it drip off the spoon all heavenly like (I'm a dork).

My personal preference is that I only use 8 cups of rice Chex cereal. I feel like 9 cups doesn't get covered completely.

Traditionally, my mom would have a clean paper bag from the grocery store when we did these next 2 steps, but I only usually have gallon ziplock bags; but pour the chocolate over the cereal, seal up the bag (fold over a few times for a paper bag), and shake up so that the chocolate covers the cereal (hold the bottom of the bag if you use a paper bag).

I've seen other tutorials of people folding the chocolate mix & cereal in a bog cereal, but I make a mess every time I do that.

After the chocolate is covering the cereal, add in the powdered sugar, seal the bag again, and shake!

Shaking the bag was always my favorite part!! :)

Word of advice, you will need a drink when eating puppy chow! I like to drink milk with mine.

Happy Mother's Day!

This year is my second year of Mother's Day! :) But this year, I have two lovelies <3
I got an early gift from Antonio about 2 weeks ago. My small hair straightener broke so he bought me a new one. How sweet!

I woke up after I nursed my littlest one and made breakfast for everyone. That's right, I made everyone breakfast on mother's day. It really wasn't too big of a deal, and let's be real.. my husband isn't that good of a cook. What average man is, right?

Anyways, I made pancakes, eggs, and sausage patties. I also put some strawberry slices on everyones plate. :)

Every year, I try to figure out something new to get my mom for Mother's Day. I didn't want to get her flowers in a vase because I figured she has enough (good thing too because she thinks the 3 she has is too much lol!). So I searched Pinterest (oh hail Pinterest!!!!!!!).

I didn't really find anything that was at my age level... I don't think finger painting is as cute from me at my age anymore LOL.
So I just cae up with my own idea:

I went to WalMart and picked up a few things:

A flower pot, some pretty flowers, white paint, and those cute little wooden bugs. I had my own sponge paint brushes, glue gun, and potting soil.

All I did was give the flower put a few coats of white. I realized I didn't wave anything to make it water proof, so I just kinda experimented with some Water Proofer spray that Antonio had bought for his shoes. I don't know if that will help or not... so I just told my mom it's probably best if it stays inside in a window or on her porch where the rain can't get to it.

Then I hot glued on the wood bugs and put some soil and the flowers in the pot after it all dried.

It turned out pretty good and very whimsical :)

I think the flowers look really pretty with the butterfly and dragon fly.

It's very colorful.

Total, I think it all costed about no more than $15.

I hope all you moms had a lovely Mother's Day!!