S'more Treats

What do you do with a box of chocolate cheerios that no one wants to eat? Mix them up with marshmallows and small chunks of graham crackers. Rice Krispie treats meet S'mores! Mmm...

Because cheerios are bigger and heavier pieces than Rice Krispies, the treats end up much harder. Use a smaller amount of cheerios than Rice Krispie treat recipes suggest.

Great treat for a summer picnic where they can warm up and soften in the sun.

Doll Ring

Here's a craft you can quickly make for your American Girl doll.

All you need are brass fasteners, jewel pieces and a hot glue gun.

Glue a gem to the top of the brass fastener:

Open fastener and wrap around doll finger. Here's how it looked on my pinkie (sorry I didn't get the pic clearer)

Quick and done!

I Love You to the Moon and Back

This year's DIY Father's Day present was quite a success!

Supplies:

• Canvas, poster board or heavy paper
• Blue and black washable paint
• plastic plate or paint palate
• scrap paper
• double-sided tape or masking tape
• wooden skewers
• wooden popsicle sticks
• printer photo paper
• hot glue gun, regular glue
• silver glitter (optional)

1. Cut out a circle of  scrap paper and tape it to your canvas, using double-sided tape or a loop of masking tape underneath. You could trace something round to get a good circle (measuring cup, glass, masking tape roll, etc)
2. Mix blue and black paint on your palate until you have a night-blue color you like. Let this dry.
3. Pose children in a climbing position against a white background. We had them step up on our white stool so as to not see the floor in the picture. Take a picture of each child you will be including.
4. Print pictures and cut out.
5. Create the ladder. First we trimmed the skewers to fit the size of our canvas. Next, we hot glued them vertically on the canvas. 
6. Hot glue popsicle sticks across skewers as the rungs of your ladder. We also laid our people in place to figure out where to position the rungs. 
7. Glue people to the ladder.
8. If you like the idea of stars in the sky, brush some glue across the top and sprinkle glitter.

Don't forget to sign and date your artwork!

Upcycling old crayons

I've always wanted to try making our own molded crayon chunks. Well, it was one of the most successful projects of the summer in several ways.

First, we got out our big tub of crayons and sorted out all the tiny stubs. Great job for the kids to do on their own.

Secondly, the kids got to peel the wrappers off all the crayon stubs.

I broke crayons into smaller pieces wherever possible.

Finally, the kids got to fill the (greased - don't know if it's important or not) muffin tin with whatever combination of colors they wanted to create.

The next step is thanks to the hot summer sun.

We set the muffin tin out in the sun on a 90+ degree day and voila!

Popped right out of muffin tin after they were cooled. Melted crayon chunks.

Nice and big, easy for small hands to use.

Yes, kids are expensive. But also Priceless!

I have three daughters. Yup, just think about all those expenses that come with one girl, let alone three! Clothes, makeup, fancy dresses, shoes.... Yes, there is a middle ground and we try to spend our time there.

So my daughters love to dress up and dance around the house, as many young girls like to do. I avoided dance class as long as possible, but this year I bit the bullet. When the school year started, I shuttled them all to dance class every week until Christmas break. We learned what jazz shoes were and started searching for them, plus tap and ballet. We stocked up on leotards and tights also (lucky to borrow a few, too). That I could pay for their classes in a payment plan was a unexpected blessing, considering all the other costs!

I was relieved that the Christmas program was done simply. No costumes to buy, no tickets to sell, no dress rehearsal. Just show up as a family to the Rec center with the girls wearing whatever they wanted to wear. They were given a santa hat and red scarf to wear on stage with their dance classes. It was relaxed. Done. Merry Christmas.

After the holidays passed it was time to check in with the girls to see who still had the dancing bug and who had checked it off their list as done. To my surprise, only my youngest one was still interested. Spring dance is also pricier, so that was a bit of a relief - 1/3 the expense! The older girls tried gymnastics out, but didn't have it in them to stick with it.

So on we went, dancing one class per week. Along the way, kids were measured for costumes. Down payments were paid for recital fees and costumes. Costumes arrived and the girls' faces lit up, the excitement could not be contained!

Erin with her dance trophy

The night of the recital the kids were so full of energy, so happy and so incredibly adorable. I didn't sign up for the DVD, since I recorded their dress rehearsals. One expense I could trim off, right? But I was not prepared for their big performance. The backdrops were so cute! They did the best tap performance I'd seen all Spring. And then there was the ballet. My daughter got confused exiting  around the curtain, with the others following. It had me laughing so hard I was in tears! By the finale, I realized how much this night meant to not just my daughter, but me too.

Erin posing during dress rehearsal

So much time I procrastinated putting the girls in dance because of the expense. They were happy enough dancing around the house, right? But that night changed my perspective. All she felt was joy and excitement. She felt beautiful and happy. She loved her costume and tutu. And she had ballet friends that she loved to be with. Maybe it was a little tight getting everything paid for, but knowing how much it meant to her, I would do it all again. Heck, I'm pretty sure we Will be doing it all again for her. And for me, I ordered that DVD.

Erin, with Hannah and Kelcie after the show