Have Yourself A Lolly Little Christmas

This weekend the kids and I made Christmas gifts for their friends. My daughter saw me looking at Pinterest, saw these lollipops, and insisted that we make some. We got all the supplies and sat down to make them. That's when I realized I don't have a candy thermometer. I wasn't sure what to do next, so I turned to my good friend the internet. Did you know you can make hard candy in the microwave?? I know. I blew my mind as well. That solved our problem because you don't need a candy thermometer in the microwave. This is how the first batch turned out:

             The kids were in charge of sprinkles and sticks. They did a pretty good job, huh?
           
After we made the first batch, we tired using some white peppermint chocolate instead. The first    batch was prettier, but the second batch tasted better (in my opinion). 

 

The kids of course had to sample both kinds. 

It was hard convincing them  to only eat one of each kind. There was some grumping involved (especially from the youngest one). Then I had an idea: Bananas on sticks dipped in sprinkles! They like the banana lollipops just as much as the chocolate!

Bath Fizzies

While the littlest one was sleeping, my daughter and I made bath fizzies. The recipe was easy.

-1 c. baking soda

-1/2 c. citric acid (I'd never heard of this. We bought this at Sprouts Market, but I had to ask where to find it. I thought it would be a liquid but it was a powder. Surprise!)

-1/2 c. cornstarch

-2 T. coconut or almond oil (we used coconut, also found at Sprouts)

-1 T. water

-food coloring (optional)

You simply mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix the water and oil in a different bowl. Put the two together and mix, mix, mix. The consistency is about that of moon sand. The next step was to shape the mix into balls and place them on a baking tray.

This is the way my little girl lined them up. Later I learned that I needed to spread them out a little more because these puppies get a lot bigger.

They need to dry for 24-48 hours. It's really interesting to watch the process. First they get sticky, then they get dry and hard.

This was a really fun project and the kids love tossing them in the bath and watching them fizz.

Sun-Catchers

I just wanted to put up a quick picture of what we did with our sun-catchers. We put ribbon through each one and strung them on a string. Right now they're hanging over our window and they look so pretty when the sun shines through.

Catching Some Sun

If you are a Pinterest Junkie like myself, then you've probably seen these sun-catchers before. They are easy-peasy. You take a bunch of plastic pony beads, put them in a muffin tin (or if you are my 1-year-old then you put them in, take them out, put them in, take them out, put them in, throw them at your sister), and bake in the oven, creating a nice burnt plasticy smell, at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The next step recommended is to drill a hole in each one and hang them up. I thought to myself, great, I don't own a drill. So I came up with my own brilliant (if I say so myself) idea. I simply put a metal rivet in each muffin tin before I baked them and they came out perfectly. They are now hanging beautiful over our back sliding glass door.

Shutterfly

I love Shutterfly. I just made birthday cards for my sisters-in-law. With their card promotion, it ended up being like two bucks for two cards, and that included the price of the stamp. These are the pictures we used (except we changed the name on one of the cards):This is my favorite picture because the boy is actually pointing at her name!

Making Me

My little girl wanted to make a big picture, so we decided to make a picture of her. She laid on the poster board, I outlined her, and then she glued on hair and buttons and colored like crazy. I kind of wish that I would have had two pieces of paper the same color. I also wish that my attempt at drawing eyes, nose and mouth looked a little less like Napoleon Dynamite had drawn it. Even with my small regrets, my girl LOVED making a girl who looked like her.
*Just a note, it's harder than I thought to outline a wiggly two year old. That is why her legs and arms are two totally different sizes.

Car Ramp

Today we made a car/airplane ramp in the kitchen by propping a cookie sheet on a bowl. The entertainment lasted quite a while.

Ribbon Streamers

Tie some ribbon around a chopstick, unsharpened pencil, ruler, or any other long skinny object and Voila! The perfect dance toy. Put on some Raffi or Shakira and dance around the house. You may be questioning my little one's dance skills judging from this picture alone, but the action shots were too blury to include.

Food Blocks

Do you have baby food containers coming out of your ears? You can turn them into a plaything simply by washing them out an filling them up with fabric, colored paper, or stickers. You can quickly build up a large block supply that stack well and are cost effective. The catch is convincing your baby there is no longer food inside.