Tips & Tricks: Crayon Yuck!

These fun shaped crayons seem to be everywhere these days.

My kids had a bunch of broken crayons

so I decided to make some fun hearts for the girls and their cousins for Valentine's Day.

They turned out great...

except for a couple of things.

1.  The Twistable crayons don't seem to melt at the same temp. that regular crayons do, so don't try to mix the two.

2.  No one ever mentions what a mess this makes of your silicone mold!

I tried wiping out the greasy mess with a paper towel.  Nothin'.

Then I tried washing it in hot soapy water.  Nothin'.

Then I ran it through the dishwasher.  Somethin'!...

More mess! It made a chalky covering over the crayon mess.

So there my mold sat, next to my kitchen sink, a gross reminder that I was failing to find a cure!

Then the other day, I was removing the label from the vitamin bottle for the Childproof Bank.

I needed to get the sticky off, so I went upstairs and got the Goo Gone Spray Gel.

As I was walking down the stairs, I read the bottle.

"Removes Sticky, Gummy, Greasy, Gooey Problems

Masking Tape, Crayon, Stickers/labels, Makeup, Candle Wax, Gum, Glue, Tar/Bugs/Sap, Carpet Stains, Grease/Soot"

*Mental slap to the forehead!*

Of Course!

So I gave the mold a healthy spray down with Goo Gone

Let it sit for a few minutes

Then just wipe down with a dry clean cloth

Once you have it all wiped out, wash it with soapy water to remove the Goo Gone residue.

And good as new!

Well, almost

The purple stained the silicone a bit, but it's better than the mess I was left with before!

Hope this tip was helpful!

A Penny a Day

Have you ever walked into a room to find your child has taken the stupid bottom off their piggy bank and is shoving dirty, disgusting, touched by a million people coins in their mouth?

No?

Maybe it's just my kids.

Anywho!

I was giving my kids their vitamins the other day,

not long after said experience,

and a little light went on in my little brain.

Make a childproof bank!

So I saved the empty bottle of vitamins from the trash and put it to work.

The lid, while serving a great purpose, wasn't so cute.

So, what's cuter than buttons?

The hubby used his heat knife to cut a slot in the top.

This caused an unforeseen problem.

The heat from the knife melted the two parts of the lid together,

rendering the childproof part useless.

So the hubs took a sharp knife and carefully separated the two pieces.

Then I found another nice plus

The lid can twist so that you can't dump the money out the slot, either!

Bonus!

And it makes a fun little puzzle.

Line up the pieces to add more money!

Then just have an adult push down to open the lid when you are ready to remove the money.

This bank is for my sweet niece that just turned one.

So we filled it with 365 pennies.

A penny for each day she has blessed our lives.

No dirty pennies in this baby's hands!

Purple Smiles

No.  She didn't get into my lipstick.

She didn't get into anything, other than her lunch, that is.

The hubby bought me another toy while he was in Costco the other day.

He got me a nice, shiny new blender.

So for lunch, we made some of these:

Wow!  You could almost reach in and grab that!

Have you ever had one of Costco's smoothies?

I dare say these are even better!

It helps that I got their berry mix for these smoothies!

The kids loved them!  I loved them!

And I love that the kids loved them.

Good, healthy treat that gives you a healthy dose of fruit and dairy.

Fruit Smoothie

• 1 serving of favorite yogurt (I use lemon. Yum!)
• 1/2 c. apple juice
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 c. ice
• 1 c. frozen mixed berries (I got mine from Coscto.  It has raspberries, marionberries, and blue berries)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Add all ingredients in blender.  Cover and start on low speed.  Gradually speed up to about medium speed until it creates a vortex.  Blend for 1-2 minutes.  Serve immediately.

***This recipe makes 2 servings.  So put the other one in the freezer for later.  When you are ready to eat it, put it on the counter for a few minutes to thaw out a bit.  Then put it in the blender again and blend it up.  Good as new!

Whatcha Got Cookin' {Oatmeal Molasses Cookies}

Yesterday I mentioned I got a new toy...

Boy it's a good one!

**Cue the heavenly choir**

My awesome hubby bought this for me today (hooray for tax returns!)

I am not the only one that is in love with this little beauty.

So to show him how grateful we are,

We whipped some of these up

These things are like heaven on a plate!

I should send some up to that heavenly choir. Ha!

Sorry you can't sneak one off the plate like this little one is.

How about I just give you the recipe and you can whip your own batch up!

Oatmeal Molasses Cookies

• 1& 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Stir together in mixing bowl

• 1/2 c. butter flavored shortening (you can use regular, but it just isn't as good!)
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. quick cooking oats

Add and mix until smooth.

Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Makes 3 dozen.

These cookies are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  They are so good served warm with a nice cold glass of milk.

These cookies get the girls' stamp of approval

"These make oatmeal good!"

-Kota

Thanks Honey!

The Kitchen Aide cut the prep time in half!

Do You Like Green Eggs & Ham?

As you probably know, today is Dr. Seuss' Birthday.  So, to celebrate, we had a little impromptu dinner.

Of course, we had green eggs and ham.

But to incorporate more of the world famous books,

we made Green Eggs and Ham Wocket in Your Pockets!

We scrambled up some green eggs and layered them with ham and cheese inside uncooked tortillas

Then just grilled them up and Voila!  

A dinner that Dr. Seuss would be proud of.

It's Good!

After dinner,

We played The Cat in the Hat: I Can Do That!

Such a fun game!

You pick a 1,2, & 3 card, flip them over, and read the instructions.

If you are able to do what the cards tell you to do in two tries, you get to keep the cards.

If you can't, you put them back in the pile.

If you draw a STOP card, you have to put all the cards back but the STOP card.

At the end of the game, you add up the stars on the cards to see who won.

Charly had to (1) walk around the Trickamastick (2) with Mom's new dress (3) between her knees.

Chey had to (1) crawl under the Trickamastick (2) with the toy man (3) under her chin.

After the game, we watched the animated Cat in the Hat

while we ate some really yummy cookies I made in my new toy

Which I'll tell you all about tomorrow!

So did you do something fun to celebrate Dr. Seuss?

Big News!!! Name Change

Okay, here's the deal. I have been considering changing my blog name for a while now.  While I love the meaning behind my current blog name, it is kind of long and hard to remember.  I have also been making some other big changes that will coincide with my blog name.  It is for this reason that I will be changing over in the next few days to Momma Did It.  If all goes according to plan, all of you current fabulous followers will be making the move with me, and so will all of my past posts.

So here goes...
Momma Did It
***Sometimes it's fun to take the blame.

What a way to celebrate my blog's first birthday!

What a day!  Five sick kids and very little sleep for the past couple of days makes for a very bleary Mommy.
Which is probably why it took me the past 5 hours to make this:



I used this awesome tutorial from Momma Go Round.
She made it so easy...if you have slept recently.
Now that I have finally accomplished a blog button, I am going to go attempt to get some sleep!
Grab a button from my side bar!