GOOP!

Indoor Winter Fun

Living in Calgary during the winter time with small children at home allows you to think of some very creative and fun activities to do indoors, or if you're like me that is what Pinterest is for! Here is the most popular activity of all of the fun things that we have been up to.

Goop!!!!

Goop is a fun activity to not only make but also play with. I made this one at home with my children, this not only kept them entertained for a couple hours but my husband and I had a hard time resisting playing with the goop as well. I got the recipe from Sugar Bee Crafts. We ended up making a few colors and it ended up last up to 3 weeks before it started to leek some gross liquid out of it. 

The kids loved using all sorts of baking and play-dough tools on the goop. We also made one with clear glue as well, it was fun but broke apart in crumbs and made more of a mess. I prefer the white glue goop. This was honestly their favorite activity to do for a couple weeks. 

Here are the directions:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of white glue
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/4 warm water
• 1/2 tsp of borax
• food coloring

Mix the white glue and water together in a bowl, add a few drops of food coloring (not too much we made that mistake and had blue hands for a couple days). In a separate bowl add the borax to the warm water and let sit for 15 seconds then mix together. Add borax solution to the glue solution. As you mix it you will see it is going to clump together. The more you play with it the more it turns into a solid clump of goop! 

Have fun! 

Pins that Have Improved My Life

Just like many of you out there I am hooked onto Pinterest. I have pinned more projects than I can ever manage to find the time to do and more food than I can eat in a lifetime! I have tried out a few pins and here are my favorite.

1. Menu Board

I found this wonderful pin and just had to try it out for myself. I have always tried to meal plan, but to sit down and write it out on a calendar just didn't ever seem too fun. Here is the one I made. I just used spare fabric on the back of the frame and on the card holder boxes (made from Dove soap boxes). I made a list of 40 dinners and printed them out on construction paper then cut them out individually, and finally laminated them. I glued card stock onto clothes pins with what day of the week printed on it. I make sure that I add new recipes (that I most likely have also found on Pinterest) every now and then to keep it exciting. 

2. Bow Kite

This is a super easy project that you can whip up in 20 minutes. I found this pin here. It is a kite made from a wire hanger that you can clip all of your little one's bows and barrettes on. This one looks so sweet hung up on the wall too. To make it I first stretched out the hanger to make a diamond shape. Then I straightened out the hook part. I hot glued my fabric to the hanger and then added the cross of ribbon on the front. Then I wrapped ribbon around the part of the hanger where the hook part of it was, glued it in place and left a long piece hanging. I also painted on an A for my daughter's first initial. Both she and I love this project!

3. Memory Jar

This is another really simple project that will mean a lot to you and your family. This pin popped up a lot right after new years, and I just had to try it. Essentially all it is is a jar and you write down things that have happened to you and your family throughout the year, then on New Years Eve you can all gather around and read all the funny, sweet and wonderful things that have happened. I cannot wait to go through these with the kids on New Years Eve!

4. Anything to do with Jars

I have a feeling that Pinterest has a stock in Mason Jars, because you can find a million uses for them on that site! And this is where I started my obsession with any sort of jar. I love the way they look all lined up together, I love how they can organize a messy cupboard, and I love how they keep stuff so well. I have bought a lot of jars at Dollarama (best place by far to get jars). I use them to keep my baking stuff in, and spices. I now just need to buy some adhesive labels or chalkboard paint to put on them...oooh the possibilities! I also have a few that I use for the kids, my Calm Jar, and my Incentive Jar. I will discuss those ones a little later.

5. Lunch bins

I LOVE organization, it really does make me feel soo good! I also dislike very much making school lunches, I tended to leave it to the last minute and then I would have stuff all over my kitchen counters in the morning while trying to rush to get everything ready. This pin has greatly improved my mornings! I bought two plastic bins at Dollarama, one for the fridge and one for the cupboard. On Sunday night I cut up all the fruits, veggies, cheese and other refrigerated snacks my son will need for his lunch and then bag them and put them in the bin. Then I bag all of the dried snacks, goldfish crackers, animal crackers, raisins, granola bars, muffins, popcorn and whatever else we have and stick them in the snack bin. Because we buy a lot of our snacks at Costco and in bulk this works great, then I don't have to have huge bags and boxes of stuff cluttering my cupboards. I also find making a big batch of popcorn then bagging it right away in smaller bags helps with my snacking too, makes it easier to grab something healthy when I am wanting something salty.

I put the fridge bin at the bottom of the fridge so that my 2 year old can pick out her own snack when she wants something too, she loves this!

6. Chocolate Covered Katie

I cannot say enough good things about this site!!!!!!!!!! I have been trying to follow my IBS diet restrictions,  along with trying to lose weight, but I still love to have treats and this site is my favorite!!!!!!! She makes wonderful decadent treats, but with all healthy and vegan ingredients! There is a chocolate pie to die for that is made with tofu (even my husband who gags at the site of tofu loved it!), cookie dough dip made with chickpeas, 1 minute chocolate cake and sooooooooo many other treats! You HAVE to check out this site and try some of her recipes, you will not be disappointed!
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

7.  ALL OF THE FOOD PINS!

Pinterest is a foodies heaven! I LOVE looking at all of the wonderful recipes, and I have tried out quite a few of them as well. Here are my favorites:

Spinach Pasta 

Black Bean Brownies

Lasagna Rollups

Four Cheese Ravioli (I made this for Valentines Day)

Slow Cooker Tikka Masala

Cheesey Quinoa Cakes

9. Calm Jar

I sometimes have trouble getting my son to calm down when he is upset or frustrated. I saw this on Pinterest and Facebook so I thought I would give it a shot. It really helps him calm down enough for us to be able to talk about what is going on with him. I will give it to him when he starts to get really angry, I tell him to think about whatever seems to be the problem at the time, and then I tell him we will discuss it after he is calm. I shake the jar and he knows to just watch it until all the glitter has settled. He has even started to ask for the calm jar when he gets upset. I really like this idea, it gives both of us the time to collect our thoughts, rather than trying to deal with him right away which never seems to be a good idea. 

10. Incentive Jar

This is a new one for us in the last couple days and I am already seeing the benefits of it. I bought a bunch of Jelly Belly's and filled a jar with them. I told my kids that they have to earn a jelly bean if they would like one. In order to earn a jelly bean they must clean something up without being asked to. It can't be something like making their bed or cleaning their room because that is already expected of them, they must find something that is out of their usual chores to do all on their own. My son has really got into this, he is cleaning up messes before I can even think of getting to them.

5 Easy and Fun Activities for the Little Ones

I love finding new activities to do with the kids that a) are fun for the kids, b) don't cost very much and c) get their minds working. Here is a list of some of the things that we have been up to lately.

1. Monster Pet Rocks 

This craft is great! You will probably have everything you need in your craft supplies and in your backyard. 

What you need:

• Rocks (cleaned and dried)
• Acrylic Paint
• Googly eyes, or you can paint some on
• Hot Glue

First make sure you clean and dry off your rocks, then get them to paint the color they want their monster to be. Let them dry, hot glue their eyes and paint on a scary or crazy mouth. That`s it! They were super easy and the kids loved making them! I think they enjoyed finding the rocks just as much as doing the craft. 

2. Color Fizzies

I saw this one on Pinterest, all you need is a small bowl or plate with baking soda in it, then add some food coloring to a bit of vinegar. Get the kids to fill up an eye dropper with the colored vinegar and make drops in the baking soda. The vinegar and baking soda react and make a colored fizzle. Both my kids loved this one, and my son learned about chemical reactions while we did this activity. 

3. Growing A Plant

I bought some bean and sunflower started seed and pot packs from the dollar store a month ago. I then got the kids to watch a youtube video on how plants grow and what they need to survive. Then we planted out seeds, the kids liked getting their hands dirty. I got both the kids to water their plants and see how much they've grown each day. We had to replant all of the plants once they got a bit bigger, so we also made that into a project by painting each of the pots. The beans have taken off and the sunflowers aren't far behind. I have to say having the little bit of green in our house makes me happy.

4. Baking

My children LOVE to help me bake! Anytime we need to make a banana bread or cookies they are always willing to lend a hand. I enjoy this time with them because they get to see all of the different things that go into our food, and then enjoy the outcome! My biggest tip for baking with the little ones is to measure out your ingredients first, so that they can just dump them in and stir. If you are cooking with older children you can turn it into a teaching moment by asking them to help get the right measurements. 

5.Naked Egg 

We found this idea on Pinterest, like so many other great activities. Ultimately you stick an egg in a cup of vinegar and then let the vinegar eat away at the egg's shell over 24-48 hours. Once the shell is gone you have a rubbery naked egg. My son (age 6) loved this activity! He liked to watch the vinegar bubble away while it was eating the calcium on the shell. He then had a great time holding and gently squishing the egg afterwards. This was a great one for the kids to watch and learn. 

Grow Your Very Own Pineapple Tree!

My husband read something about growing a pineapple tree from the pineapple you buy at the grocery store. So after cutting up and eating our delicious pineapple we decided to give it a shot and see if this really works.


The first step is to cut off your stem and then make sure to cut any pineapple flesh that may be left on it, if you don't it will rot and that would be gross. Make sure you cut down until you can see little specks on the stem. Then cut or peel off the leaves from the bottom of the stem upwards about an inch.

Next you need to leave your pineapple stem to sit for a day or two to allow the roots to repair themselves.


Plant that little guy in some dirt (I need to buy a bigger pot!)

Finally, wait about a year to for a pineapple to grow!




Now I am going to have to do some research into how much water they need and sunlight, but fingers crossed in a year or so we can eat our very own pineapple!


Here is an interesting pineapple fact, did you know that a pineapple is actually a bunch of berries that choose to  live all together?! Crazy!