Binky Fairy – Part Three

As you know,

Super Coop turned 3 last week.

And in the grand Fitzpatrick tradition.

It was time to say goodbye to the bink via the Binky Fairy.

crafts   Binky Fairy   Part ThreeAfter quite a few tears…

Coop has held up like a champ.

Here he is proudly displaying his gift from the Binky Fairy.

Not familiar with the Binky Fairy?

Check out how we roll…

Bye Bye Binkies!

On each Fitzpatrick boys 3rd birthday the fateful day arrives.  

The day the Binky Fairy comes to town.  

Now it’s a simple enough idea.  By three years old you’ve had your binky long enough and it’s time to send it off to another deserving little boy or girl who doesn’t have a binky.  

We start prepping the story long enough in advance that everyone is well versed and knows what is expected of them.  

Doesn’t mean it goes off without a hitch though…

So first the brave little three year old must gather up said binks…

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Now you must gather up balloons left over from the joyous birthday celebration of the day…and attach all binkies to the end.

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Now be brave young warrior and offer up your binkies to the Binky Fairy in a sacrifice of great importance.

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See the Binky Fairy lives in the land of Stufftakorkenett when she oversees the production of the rare Binky Tree.  

The Binky Tree needs brave little boys and girls to surrender their own binkies to be planted in vast valleys where they grow into Binky Tree orchards.

crafts   Binky Fairy   Part Three

There the Binky Fairy watches over them to protect them from the dreaded monster…Chuzetollup

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Chuzetollup never rests and is constantly on the prowl looking for binkies and toys to chew all up.  

If the Binky Fairy is successful, and success only comes from the strength of little boys and girls who don’t cry without their binkies, then the Binky Trees can grow big and strong by morning.

 And when the tree is grown it flowers into wonderful toys that will be returned by the Binky Fairy as a thank you to the foot of brave children’s beds.

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So be strong young warriors and surrender the binks.  Make the sacrifice and good fortune will be yours…

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What brave boys they were….

crafts   Binky Fairy   Part Three

I think I’d rather have my binky.

No School No Prob part deux

More fun things to do while the kids are off school.

This week and next we have no less that 3 shortened days and 3 days off.

Ahh???

What’s a mom to do?

Get your craft on, and learn something in the process.

Like what?

Like…

What would Thanksgiving be without the Native Americans?

Well we wouldn’t have Thanksgiving.

We wouldn’t be here.

We’d all have starved to death during those horrible winters in Plymouth Plantation.

But now we have corn, and squash, and turkey.

Phew…

So here’s an ode to those wonderful people that showed the Pilgrims how it’s done.

Tee Hee Tee Pee Tents

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Prep Time:  5 minutes  Craft Time: 20-30 minutes

WHAT YOU NEED:

Toothpicks

Sugar Ice Cream Cones

White cake frosting

Various colored writing frosting

raisins

dried fruit

fruity cheerios

MnM candies

Jelly beans

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Frost your cones with an even light layer of frosting.  Turn the cones upside down on a paper plate. Next stick 2-3 toothpicks out of the botton (now the top) of your tee-pee.

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Let the kids decorate their own.  Using the writing frosting decorate the sides of the tee-pee.  Let them stick on candies, fruit, and cheerios on as they see fit.

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Voila…the teepees the first pilgrims came upon before their first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans, ok so that’s not totally historically accurate at all but I’m going with it for now.

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No School? No Problem!

Is it just me…

Or are there a ton of shortened school days coming up?

And not just short days…

But boatloads of days off too!

What’s a mom to do?

Get your craft on!

Here’s one of our favorites…

Turkey Tom Foolery!

Today we’re making turkeys…

fruity turkeys…

apple turkeys…

Fun turkeys your little ones can make in a flash and eat even faster.

Here’s our recipe for

Apple Turkeys

crafts   No School?  No Problem!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Craft time:  20-30 minutes

WHAT YOU NEED:

Apples (for the turkey body)

toothpicks

pretzel sticks

fruity cheerios

raisins

dried pineapple

dried apricots

marshmallows

crafts   No School?  No Problem!

WHAT TO DO:

After positioning your apple on its side.  On the bottoms of your apples, stick 4 toothpicks to give your turkey some legs to stand on.  You can stick a raisin or marshmallow on the bottom of each leg for his feet.

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Next let your kids decorate the turkey’s feathers.  Stick 4-5 toothpicks into the top/rear part of your apple (away from the stem).  Your kids can thread the toothpicks with raisins, dried pineapple, dried apricots or cheerios to make the turkey’s feathers.  Top each feather off with a big raisin or a mini marshmallow to keep things in place.  In between each feather you can add a pretzel stick for added color.

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We used big marshmallows or big pieces of dried fruit for the turkey head.  You could even cut some construction paper and color a turkey head if you like.  Get creative, have fun, happy turkey day!

Fall Rewind – Favorite Fall Crafts

I feel like Autumn just hit fast foward!

All of the sudden all the trees are bursting with color!

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It’s amazing out there.

That reminded me that it’s time for one of our favorite fall crafts…

Autumn Leaf Books.

Check it out…

 

crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall Crafts

 

crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall Crafts

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Contact Paper (I keep a large roll on hand)

Glitter

Leaves, sticks, and other autumnal themed paraphernaliacrafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall Crafts

Construction paper

Hole punch

Yarn

Stickers

WHAT TO DO:

crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall CraftsSend the kids out to gather the goodies.  Let them fill up their bags to the brim full of good outdoorsy stuff.

While the kiddos run themselves ragged outside get to work on cutting out your contact paper.  I cut a bunch of pages 9 inches long so that when I folded them in half they’d be 9×9 .

Cut your construction paper into 9.5 x 9.5 squares. (As a closet scrapper I always loads paper, stickers, and cutting devices on hand.)

Next tear back half of the backing off the contact paper.  crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall Crafts

When the kids come back inside set them up at the table with their leaves and pages.

Stick the leaves down on the sticky side of the contact paper.

Let them decorate with leaves, sticks, glitter, stickers, etc.

Now peel back the remaining paper and fold it over the page.

Now you have your first page.

Repeat until you run out of leaves.

crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall CraftsFinally let the kids decorate the construction paper for the front page of their books.

Stack your pages in the order you’d like and place their front page on top, and a second piece of construction paper on the bottom.

Using your hole punch, punch 2 holes through all your pages.  One and inch from the top on the left, and another an inch from the bottom on the left.  String your yarn through all the holes and tie a bow.

Voila…a book to keep forever.crafts   Fall Rewind   Favorite Fall Crafts

If you’re feeling really crafty, you can take a picture of your kids searching for leaves and add it in too.

Happy Fall, all!

 

Kids Fun Food Week – Meatloaf Cupcakes

Want to get your kids to eat?

Grab them and get in the kitchen and make these fun recipes together!

Back by popular demand…

Here is the recipe that started it all!

I couldn’t get the boys to eat meatloaf and mashed potatoes!

So foolish considering that they like everything in that dish.

But they wouldn’t actually put it in their mouth sooooo….

We came up with a fun way to make them together.

Meatloaf Cupcakes were born!

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Here’s a lighter turkey meatloaf version…we’re slimming down for summer!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 ½ lbs ground turkey

1 egg, beaten

1 clove garlic, chopped

½ c bread crumbs

2 T Worcestershire sauce

¾ c chili sauce (you can use ketchup too)

½ c onions, finely chopped

½ c carrots, finely chopped

½ c mushrooms, finely chopped

½ c red pepper, finely chopped

½ c canned fried onion strips

S&P

1 lb russet potatoes peeled and cubed

½ c milk

3 T sour  cream

2 T butter

S&P

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Place your peeled cubed potatoes in large pot of cold water over high heat.  Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender (about 8-10 minutes after water boils depending on the size of your cubes).

In a large bowl combine ground turkey, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, onions, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper, fried onions and S&P.  Mix together with your hands until combined.  Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.  Mold your meatloaf mixture into cupcake sized balls and place in muffin pan.  You’ll get about 8-10 cupcakes.  Place in oven and cook at 375 for about 25-30 minutes.

Drain your potatoes and return to pan.  Pour in your milk, sour cream and butter, and season with S&P.  Using a hand mixer whip your potatoes until smooth and set aside to cool a bit.  Take a large plastic Ziploc bag (or a pastry bag if you have one) and cut a small hole in the bottom corner.  Spoon your mashed potatoes into the bag then pipe out the potato on top of the meatloaves to look like frosting on a cupcake.   Serve ‘em up hot, who doesn’t love cupcakes?  Especially for dinner!

Meaty Morsel:  Decorate the tops of your cupcakes with BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, anything you or your kids can think of.  Let them have fun with this, they’ll have more fun eating it!

Easter Week – Easter Egg Mini Pies

This is a fun delicious craft to make with kids this easter.

They’re easy to make…

Fun to decorate…

And the bite size portions go down super easy!

baking with kids   Easter Week   Easter Egg Mini Pies

Easter Egg Mini Pies

WHAT YOU NEED:

Pie crust dough (you can use store bought or make your own.

Canned pie filling

4 egg whites

Food coloring

new paintbrushes

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out your pie crust and using an oval cookie cutter cut equal numbers of “eggs.”

baking with kids   Easter Week   Easter Egg Mini Pies

Place half of them onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Top each with a spoonful or two of filling then moisten the edge with egg white.  Top with remaining eggs and seal edges to close.

Add food coloring to your egg white then let the kiddos use the paintbrushes to paint on designs on top of eggs.

baking with kids   Easter Week   Easter Egg Mini Pies

Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

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