As you know from my previous daisy and korker bow tutorial, I love making my girls bows!  People ask so often where I got them and they are completely surprised that I make them.  Here is a new one I tried and I loved it!

Isn’t the bow so adorable?!?!

The steps cannot be easier!  All you need is an alligator clip, 5/8″ ribbon of choice, button of choice, hot glue gun, and 3/8″ ribbon to cover clip!

Step 1: Cover your alligator clip.

hot glue ribbon all around it

Step 2: Cut your 5/8″ ribbon into 6 equal parts and glue them.

cut strips equally and make sure you cut them double the width you want the bow (they are basically folded in half)

Step 3:  Glue strips around into the shape of a flower and glue button in the middle.  Then, glue bow onto covered alligator clip.

Cute daisy bow in my daughter’s hair

Okay, I couldn’t leave my other sweet babe out!  Here is the most simple clip ever!  All you do is step 1 and glue buttons on it!

Here’s another clip that is so easy.  Just repeat step one and glue buttons on it!

Perfect clip for her outfit.  It cost around 10 cents!

Sensory activities are soooooooooo good for kids!  They help promote social, emotional, and intellectual development!  There is even a positive correlation between sensory development and a reduction in biting in toddlers.  Very interesting!

During my turn to teach preschool we did an awesome sensory activity using spaghetti noodles.   They were so silly about it!  They told me how their parents never let them play with their spaghetti!  I think that made the activity all the more fun for them!

First the kids squished the noodles between their fingers.

Next they tried to make letters with their spaghetti

After that they wanted to paint the noodles!

They painted...

and painted some more!

In the end, all that was left was a big pile of painted noodles!  The kids really liked seeing what colors they could make the noodles when they mixed the colors!  This is a great way to incorporate science into your sensory project!

If you liked this activity you may also like these sensory activities:
Handprint Butterfies 
Painting with Ice
Hand and Foot Print Reindeer
Pine Cone Turkeys
Hand Print Turkey Feathers
Hand and Foot Print Creatures
Sensory Table Activities
Sensory Play 

It is also a great picture idea!

I often thought that my two (almost 3) year old would enjoy playing in the rain.  Boy did she ever!  She had so much fun that she cried when she had to come in.  You know… that thing called my little sibling just woke up from a nap screaming.  She was soaked head to toe by the time we came in, but I repeat, she had so much fun.

One of the most fun things she's ever done.

I encourage everyone to let their kids play in the rain.  It will definitely be a memory.  It also makes that dreary day seem fun.  My daughter couldn’t wait for her dad to come home and tell him how much fun she had!

Just a little puddle jumping!

Then, they have to come inside and take a bath.  Make that a fun experience too!

Happy Birthday to me!

This year my husband was extra creative!  He took a cooking lesson from a professional Italian chef and founder of Copper Pot Food Company, Stefano Frigerio.  We are lucky to have him as a good friend and neighbor.

My husband had Stefano teach him how to make homemade tortellini (one of my absolute favorite foods!).  Anyway, for my birthday he bought me a pasta press and from what he had learned from his cooking lesson, he had us make fresh Tortellini from scratch together for my birthday dinner.

It was a lot of fun, but more than that, the food was awesome!  There is something to be said about fresh homemade food!  I can see us forty years from now (retired hopefully!) making delicious gourmet meals from scratch with the freshest ingredients!

We went with a cheese filling this time since that is my favorite and after all… it was my birthday!  🙂  You can use lots of different fillings.  Stefano had Danny learn a prosciutto filling during is cooking lesson.

Here is the recipe we used for our cheese filling.

Cheese Filling:

1 (8 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 (4oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup cup provolone cheese, shredded
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

***Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Dough:
2 cups flour
1 pinch salt
1 tsp olive oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 Tb water
***I use 4 eggs instead of 2 as our chef told us you need 2 eggs for every cup of flour you use.  If you only use 2 eggs and mix the dough it is so dry it just crumbles instead of being able to roll out.

The recipe from Allrecipes.com has you dump the flour and salt right on the table and mix it by hand.  Then you form a well and mix in the liquid ingredients (that you first beat together).  Then knead for 8 to 10 minutes.

This did sound sort of interesting so we made two batches… one we mixed right on the table as the directions say to do and one we mixed in the kitchen aid.  I couldn’t tell the difference between them.

So, if you are adventurous and don’t mind a mess mix it right on the table, but really it doesn’t matter!  I will admit that the kneading gets a bit tedious when you do it by hand (Yes, Grandma I know us modern girls are spoiled!).  I did not refrigerate the dough for one hour either, but hey neither did our professional chef teacher.

Ready to get cut in to small pieces to feed through the pasta machine

Form your dough into a ball and place on a lightly flowered surface.  Cut the ball into small pieces (we did 4 or 5 smaller pieces).  Grab one piece at a time and feed it through the pasta machine on the thickest setting (there is a number dial on the pasta machine).  Add a pinch or two of flour to the rolled out dough, then fold up flatly and feed back into the machine on one setting lower.  Repeat this process until you have gone through to the 2nd to lowest setting on  your number dial.  You will be left with a very long thin, ribbony textured strip of dough.  Put the strip across a cleaned table.  Do this with all of your dough.

Rolling the dough through the machine

Here is a close up of the dial. Roll each piece of dough through each setting once.

Lay your strips of ribbon textured dough across a clean table.

For the next part, you need a circle cookie cutter, or just use the top of a kids cup like we did.  Cut out as many circles as you can using your strips of dough.  Lay your circles on a lightly flowered table and get your cheese mixture out.  Put just a small amount in the center of each circle (we used a baby spoon to dish this out).  If you use to much filling, you will not be able to roll your tortellini without the cheese leaking out.

FOLDING THE TORTELLINI
Beat one egg in a bowl.  Brush a small amount of egg onto the very end of the dough circle.  This will act as the glue.

1. Fold the circle in half pushing the dough together to seal the cheese in
2.  Fold the ends of the dough (not the creased part) up
3.  Pull the corners of the dough together around your pinky finger and squish dough together to hold

Once you are ready to cook your tortellini, fill a large pan with water and a pinch of salt and let it come to a rolling boil (a rolling boil is a strong boil that doesn’t stop even when being stirred or adding ingredients).   Add the pasta, stirring occasionally.  Cook until the pasta starts to float to the top… about  4 to 8 minutes.  Drain and add your sauce!

You can use any sauce you want really!  We wanted to use a homemade sauce made with all fresh tomatoes!  It was fabulous!

All fresh ingredients for the sauce! Delish!

A fabulously romantic birthday dinner!

If you look closely you can see the steam coming off the food in this picture!

We are getting down to the end of our alphabet here and seems like the last few letters are the trickiest to find activities for.  This week was my turn to teach and we were on Ww.  It took a little extra thought, but we ended up coming up with plenty of fun activities!

We had a very silly circle time for Ww.  We first reviewed past letters and sounds, then introduced the letter Ww.  There are a ton of gross motor activities associated with W so we took some time to do them during circle time using role playing.  Here are a few of the things we did:

• Wiggle like a Worm
• Pretend to be blowing in the Wind
• Swim and splash in the Water
• Pretend to eat a big piece of Watermellon
• Use a magic Wand to turn each other into a Whale, Walrus, and Worm.
• Lay down to make the shape of a W with our  bodies

We made cute watermelons out of paper plates, construction paper, and paint.  These are really easy and do not take a lot of supplies.  The kids really liked making them, especially after we had just pretended to eat watermelon during circle time.  This is a great cross curricular activity as well since you can incorporate both science and math into your art by teaching about fruits and having the kids count the watermelon seeds on their project.

First let the kids paint a paper plate green.

Then have them glue a red circle in the middle and have them glue black "seeds" made from construction paper onto the red circle. This is great for fine motor development also since the seeds are so small!

Don't forget to have a little mini lesson on what a fruit is and have them count the watermelon seeds so that it can be a cross curricular activity for science and math as well!

We also let the kids paint W’s with Watercolors.  This is a simple, but fun project.  It also looks great as a finished project to add to their alphabet books they have been making!

Painting with Watercolors!

Perfect letter page for our alphabet books!

To finish our obsessed Ww preschool day we ate yummy snickerdoodle cookies topped with Whipped cream!  Make sure to emphasize how whipped cream starts with W!!

To see more preschool letter activities we have done, check out the links below!

Letter B, Letter C, Letter H, Letter I, Letter K, Letter L, Letter Q, Letter R.

Just as perfect as if you bought it, for probably 1/10th of the price!

This is SO easy!  Now that I know how it is made, I’m in shock that places charge the same price for the foam soap as the regular.  I always buy the foam soap any way because it never leaves clumps in the sink and it always seems to last longer.

All you need is:

• Any of your favorite nonfoam hand soap (enough to cover 1 inch in your foaming soap bottle)
• Foam soap bottle
• Water

• Fill foam soap bottle with 1 inch of your desired soap.

All you need is 1 inch of your favorite hand soap and water!

• Fill the rest with of bottle with water.
• Mix around slowly from side to side and up and down (I wouldn’t shake because it will get all sudsy).

You’re done!

See how perfect it comes out!

Here’s a fun tip:

Go buy one regular bottle of foam soap and then buy the regular (nonfoam) in that kind.  Then, you can make 10 bottles for the price of two!

What is it?

The Austin Food and Wine Festival is a three day celebration of cuisine, wine, spirits and music in Austin, Texas. This in the second annual festival and will be held April 26-28, 2013 at the Auditorium Shores. It is presented by FOOD & WINE Magazine and is a collaboration of Texas’ most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs.

What can I expect?

Grand Tasting Tents have been erected where you can try cuisine from restaurants and purveyors. Chef’s that are located at interactive stations throughout the venue, will teach cooking tips and you can even taste the results. Cleanse your palette at the many wine seminars, where you will mingle and learn from Sommeliers.

The view from Austin’s Food and Wine Festival

Many improvements from the first year address the Austin Food and Wine Festival Reviews. The Grand Tasting Tents have been expanded to allow for more restaurants and purveyors. The Auditorium Shores, has been restored to a lush, green venue with the help of the Austin City Council. This will make the wine and cuisine taste that much better. Austin Food and Wine Festival Reviews stated logistical concerns. So events have been staggered and more seating created for attendees during the demos, wine tastings, and grand tastings.

Are there any special events?

The Austin Food and Wine Festival kick-off party, The Taste of Texas, will be held in Republic Square Park. The focus here is on Texas. You will find the most talented Texas chefs share their cuisine with the sounds and dance of Delta Spirit and Whiskey Shivers.

For some competition, The Rock Your Taco will showcase prior years’ winner Chef Tyson Cole. He will defend his title against Marcus Samuelsson, Susan Feniger, Tim Love, and more. You will even be able eat the tacos and see for yourself who is the winner, all to the sounds of Allen Stone.

What are the prices?

The Savor Pass – $850. This is the see and be seen pass with nothing spared. You get all the ultimate access with true VIP treatment. The special events, Taste of Texas Kickoff Event and Rock Your Taco Celebrity Chef Showdown, is included as well as access to the VIP Lounge. 2-Year FOOD & WINE Magazine Subscription in included.

The Taste Pass – $250. You will get general access to all the events. You don’t have VIP access or a dedicated lounge, but you do get a 1-Year FOOD & WINE Magazine Subscription. The Taste of Texas event and Rock Your Taco Celebrity Chef Showdown can be added at a charge.

Should I go?

This truly is a world class event held in one of the County’s best Southern locations. Whatever your situation, if you like great cuisine and enjoy drinking wine, the Austin Food and Wine Festival is the place for you to be in April.  Head over to the Austin Food & Wine Festival Reviews page on Yelp for more details.

We got WAY to much candy for Easter!  I want to eat responsibly, but with all this candy laying around… well, I just can’t.  So I decided that I  need to get rid of the candy asap!  I found the perfect method!  Candy bar filled snickerdoodles.  I got the idea from thebakerchick.com who filled her snickerdoodle cookies with caramels.  If caramels work, why not these easter chocolates?

Too much candy!

I ended up using Snickers, Rollos, and Reese’s peanut butter eggs in mine.  They were awesome!  All the cookies were on way tray and you never knew which candy bar would be in the middle.  It didn’t matter though… they were all delicious!  My favorite was the Reese’s!  The candy bars melted into the center of the cookies and were seriously soooooo yummy!

So all you need to do to get rid of all that Easter candy so you can start eating responsibly again is to invite a bunch of kids over and make these cookies!  They were gobbled up!  I was barely able to save one for my husband to try when he got home from work.  Here’s to no more Easter candy!

Candy Bar Stuffed Snickerdoodle Cookies
Adapted from thebakerchick.com

2 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 3/4 cup of sugar (put 1/4 cup of this aside)
2 Tb cinnamon
2 large eggs

1.  Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, and salt)

2.  Mix butter, shortening, and 1 1/2 cups sugar together until light and fluffily.  Add eggs, mixing one at a time.

3.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture gradually.

4.  Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

5.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Using a ice cream scooper, scoop up a ball of dough and roll into a nice ball.  Break ball apart and put a mini candybar in the center of each one before rolling back up.

6.  Roll each dough ball in the sugar/cinnamon mixture until it is well coated.  You really can’t overdo it here.

7.  Bake on 400 degrees for 10 minutes and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.

***She said this would make 48 cookies, but my batch only made 24.  Maybe my ice cream scoop was a lot bigger than hers.  Either way… they were yummy and I didn’t have to adjust the cooking time.

Isn't this so cute for hair clips?!?!

I didn’t think of this myself.  A couple of years ago, we went to a homearama in Norfolk near my in-laws house and I saw this in a little girl’s bathroom.  If you’ve never been/heard of a homearama, you need to check out ASAP if there is one in your area anytime soon.  Basically, it’s a set up of 20 or so model homes that are for sale, but they are decorated amazing and can give you tons of fun ideas!!

I went to the Navy Exchange and found this memo board (~$15) and wahlaa.  These aren’t bows that I made in case you’re wondering, I got most of these from Target, Wal-Mart or Clarie’s.  It is a great way to organize all of the hair clips and everyone that sees it loves the idea.  It’s perfect in their bathroom.

For a couple of bow tutorials, check out my daisy hair bow and my korker bow!

(Note from Dana: My sister in-law sent me a text stating she had some great uses for leftover Easter eggs and wanted to guest post.  I was like for sure!!!!  Read the post and check out her own blog here!)

Well the Easter bunny has done it again. I’m not quite sure how it happens. Especially since I am very close with the Easter bunny and monitor her spending habits very closely. It seems at some point in the preparation of Easter baskets, the Easter bunny placed a “bunny” blessing on our plastic eggs because they seem to be multiplying faster than bunnies do.

Just when I think I’ve tracked down every last plastic egg, I find another one in a couch cushion or my shoe. This wouldn’t be so annoying except for the fact that it’s usually not an entire egg: just half.

As a mother of three preschoolers, we accumulate a lot of plastic eggs. In addition to the Easter bunny, we have church egg hunts, family egg hunts and preschool egg hunts. This amounts to roughly 5,000 plastic eggs (maybe I’m exaggerating, but only by a little).

My kids' leftover eggs!

In the past, I’ve saved the plastic eggs for the following year. In five years, I’ve accumulated quite a stash of eggs. There is no need to keep new ones this year. Instead of throwing them away, I’ve found several uses for the plastic eggs.

• Use them as bath toys. Most eggs have a little hole in the bottom of the egg. My kids love to fill them up with water and watch the water drain out.
• Make an Easter egg wreath. There are a million ways to make these and they are all over Pinterest. This is a perfect time to make an Easter wreath because any additional accessories you might need (i.e. ribbons, additional flare, etc.) will be on sale.
• Make a set of “play” eggs. The next time you buy real eggs, save the container and fill it with plastic eggs. Your kids will love this new addition to the play kitchen.
• Use them to teach your child to read. Check out this recent post that uses eggs to help new readers learn new words.
• Use them as prize incentives. One thing I love about plastic eggs is their size; they perfectly hold a temporary tattoo or sticker. My kids love rewards and they love surprises. Keeping some eggs year-round to fill with little treats is a great way to motivate your kids.
• Donate them to your local Humane Society. Apparently, cats love to chase around plastic eggs filled with food. This helps with their mental stimulation and development. Not all Human societies collect plastic eggs so make sure you call before you show up with your bag full of eggs.
• Give them back. If you attended any community egg hunts, you might be able to donate your eggs back after Easter. Not all organizations want to store the eggs for a whole year but some might. It takes a lot of eggs to host a community egg hunt, so if they are accepting eggs this is an easy way to get rid of your entire stash.

Having trouble deciding which one to choose? And this list is just a start. There are a ton of craft ideas that use plastic eggs. The good news is you probably have enough eggs to do them all. Twice.