Fruit Kabob

Fruit.... delish... refreshing, sweet, colorful! I was going to a crab cook out that my friend was having and I wanted to take some fruit! But I did not just want to take a fruit tray so I got a little creative. I got different types of fruit then made kabobs. I also bought a large pineapple and stuck the kabobs in it!!!There were a couple left over so I put them on the tray.  It was easy, fun and I thought it looked so cute!!! Here it is ... Well minus some of the kabobs that had already been eaten!

 

 

When I worked at the Y the kids would love to make fruit kabobs!!! They would gladly wash their hands and get to work making their own snack! Here is the before pic ... The kids ate it to fast for me to get a pic lol ...

 

 

YUUUMMMMMMM.... I cant wait to be snacking on fruit and sitting by the pool!!!!! Well untill next time ...XOXO... Kali

An "Egg"cellent Lunch

Just got done making a fun Easter egg inspired lunch for my kiddos. I will do just about anything to make veggies fun for them and we have a "must try it" rule in our home. We tell our kids that before they say that they don't like something they must try it at least once. Usually they end up liking it and if they don't we add a few drops of ranch or veggie dip and it usually fixes the problem:)

 Today we went to our local egg farm to pick up a few flats of eggs. Yes we eat so many we buy by the flat. While there I asked the man at the window if I could have a small carton and he happily obliged. We got home and I washed 6 plastic Easter eggs with warm soap and water, placed them into the carton using both sides of the eggs. Then I just filled up with veggies, fruits, nuts, fish crackers and a mini snickers bar:) My kids loved it and I loved not having to tell them to eat their veggies 500 times. I think I may do an egg carton inspired breakfast with mini muffins and different fruits and maybe an egg carton dinner with mini hot dogs and veggies. Have fun with your food! XOXO~Jenn

And just wanted to share these super simple Easter pails for some special boys:) Check back soon for my BIG DIY personalized Easter idea!

Auntie Day!

Happy Friday everyone!!! Thursdays are my favorite day of the week!!! Weird righhhtt?!?!? Well I love Thursdays because it's Auntie Day!!! I get to spend the whole day with my nephew and we do whateevvveeerrr we want!! Let me tell you..  by the end of the day we are both tired! We do all kinds of fun stuff. We go places, visit cousins, playdates, park , make fun lunches, and do "projects!" I wanted to share what we did last week and this week. Yeah sure going and doing big things is fun but its the simple things that they love!!! Don't get me wrong we go to buy random stuff (toys) at Toys R Us and Target but sometimes its the cardboard box that captures his attention and imagination for hours!!Just like the leprechaun trap!

Here is what we did last week!!! 

After playing in the backyard alllll day we went
  to the pet store.. a mini field trip.. great way to see lizards, fish , turtles, birds, cats ect. all in one building. Quick and fun! He loved it and was ready for a nap soon after getting back into the car!



This week we....

So I hadn’t noticed how dirty the outside of my car was because of wind, dust ect. I had a great idea.. after being out and about all day.. running from one place to another I decided to take Maximus to the carwash. I just wanted a quick rinse (something is better than nothing right!?) So off we went! He was so excited! Sure the inside of my windows have hand prints and smudges because he was trying to grab the bubbles lol but it was so fun!!! He loved it! And of course at the end he asked if we could go again!!! Maybe next week haha....

Sometimes its the simple things that are so much fun! Think outside of the box!! Looking forward to sharing more Adventures with Auntie!!! Until next time.... XOXO...Kali



DIY Cranky the Crane

Just wanted to share a Thomas the Train Party for all you Thomas fans out there:) I don't know about you but just about every 3 year old boy I know loves Thomas! So needless to say when my sons third birthday came creeping up we knew Thomas would be the theme. Now my son not only loves Thomas but his favorite character on the show is Cranky. For those of you who are not up to date on your Thomas characters Cranky is a large, green, grumpy crane. I knew I had to recreate a large Cranky for my sons party and lucky for you I'm going to share the super top secret really easy tutorial. Here is a list of what you will need.

1. Boxes (ours were from Home Depot) you need them in 2 sizes. 3 large and 2 small.
2. Craft paint in an army green color. Ours was from Michael's not sure what the name was sorry. Remember to use what you have on hand. It's really easy to mix paint to get the color you want. You also need, black and grey.
3. Painters Tape
4. Two-Sided Tape (the good stuff)
5. Paint brushes-1 thick and 1 really thin (we used the thin one from my sons crayola art set:)
6. A good friend or cousin to help
7. Some good drinks to bribe them with:)

First things first...get one of your large boxes and tape the box shut with painters tape. I used painters tape because you can actually paint on top of it. It holds the paint really well as opposed to packing tape where the paint would just wipe off. Repeat this step with all of your boxes. Once all boxes are taped off use your green paint and give the boxes a few coats. We were going for an industrial look so it didn't bother me that the Home Depot wording on the boxes was showing through. But if you are like Kali and it will make you all crazy and all OCD you could always add brown craft paper like I did when making the Rubix Cubes here. Once you cover all boxes let the paint dry. We gave it about 1/2 hour because I'm  impatient like that. So now you will have 5 green hopefully dry boxes. Now take your black craft paint and your 5 boxes and have your super helper friend (hopefully a good free hand painter like mine) paint a large X on all four sides of the  boxes leaving 1 side of one of the large boxes without an X. Once all the X's have been painted set them aside and grab the large box with no X and paint a large grey rectangle leaving about a 1" green border all the way around. Once the grey rectangle is dry you can start working on the face. I can't take credit for this, it was all Kali:) she pulled up an image of Cranky from Google and free handed his face onto the box. Now take your two sided tape and use it to tape the middle of the boxes to make the crane stick together. That's it! Now you should have yourself one large Crane for an awesome Thomas Party.
 *Side Note- The day of the party was really windy so we ended up cutting a long slit in the bottom box and slipping a 20lb round weight in there. It held together perfect:) Here are some pics for the party! Have fun creating your own! XOXO~Jenn

Teacher's Gift

Happy first day of Spring everyone! You know what that means... it's almost time for our kiddos to say goodbye to another teacher:( My kiddo has been lucky enough to have a pretty awesome teacher this year so saying goodbye will be extra hard on him:( Just wanted to share a quick project I made for his teacher and teachers aide last year. The credit for this goes to Tip Junkie:) check it out for more pics, the super cute printable and of course the tutorial. Thanks once again Tip Junkie:) You make life so much easier! Stay tuned to see what cute DIY personalized gift I'm making for this years teachers! XOXO~Jenn

St. Pattys Day!

Hi Everyone!!! I was so excited for this weekend and I posted about a special breakfast and Leprechaun trap!! I thought I would do a follow up and let you see how it went!!! Jen, Chelsea and I all participated in "Opperation Leprechaun Trap!!" Oh and a special Rainbow breakfast!! Here are some fun pics!!

 

This was so much fun!!! At first the kiddos were a tad disappointed because we didnt catch a Leprechaun but then they were excited to see treats that were left!!!! Cant wait for the Easter bunny to come next!!!!!! Have a great week!!! ....Xoxo...Kali

Leprechaun Trap!!!!

Yay!!! Its Thursday!! My Thursdays are my FAVORITE!!!!! This is because very Thursday is Auntie Day!!!!! All day long I get to hang out with my nephew!!Just me and him!! We do all kinds of fun stuff!! We go vist cousins for playdates, go out on lunch dates, go to the park, play games, play and play and play!!! OOOHHHH and of course sometimes we make a huge mess!!! But these are days that I will always remember and I hope he will too!! (He's only two but has a prreeetttyyyy good memory!) We do so much on our days together that usually by the end we have tired eachother out  =) I posted about a fun activity that Im planning for this weekend. I found something to add!! So  I wanted to share it . It's also one of the fun activities we did today!!!

I found an idea of making a leprechaun trap ..you can see the link here. So much fun! I cant wait to add this to my plan for Sunday morning!(You can see this AMAZING plan if you scroll down and see earlier posts)  Im going to set up the trap with him on Saturday night and in the morning I will put some treats that the leprechaun left with a note saying "You almost caught me!!!Im to tricky! Good luck next year!!!" (or something like that) .Then breakfast will be served.. Im so excited!
Here is my 2 year old nephews masterpiece!

 

 

We used anything and everything that he wanted to use! This included a large box, green and gold paint, markers, felt, pipe cleaners, glitter, glitter glue,foam lizards and frogs!! We only made  a little mess but worth it because he was so proud of his creation and kept saying, " The Leapor-kaaann is going to love it!!!"  "We going to try to catch him gently!!" lol He cracks me up! I hope this fun and easy activity will get kids imagination going! Until next time !!! Smile ...XOXO... Kali

Easy Mantel Decor

Just got done with a quick mantel change. I love quick and easy mantel decor and usually just change out a few things to get the look I'm going for. One thing I always leave on my mantel is the red frame. Why you ask? Well because it's a versatile piece that can easily be updated for each holiday. I painted it red because it goes with most holiday decor like Valentines, Christmas, 4th of July and doesn't really look bad with St. Patrick's Day or Easter decor. I usually just print out a subway art for this frame, change the banner in front of my mirror and switch out the holiday lights (I always find lights in the dollar section of Target. My mantel decor is as simple as that. I usually update my mantel while my son is at school or the kids are napping. I love seeing there reaction to each new holiday. As a kid my mom always decorated for each holiday and it's something I'm hoping to pass on to my kiddos. These are super simple ideas you can use in your own home. If you keep it simple decorating for each holiday can be fun! XOXO ~JENN

DIY Rubix Cubes 80's Theme

Happy Tuesday!
Today I'm going to share a "totally awesome" craft that is perfect for an 80's party! My friend asked if I could make some rubix cubes for her husbands 40th surprise birthday celebration! Of course I was so excited that I told her I could make 10, then reality hit (2 kids) a 4 year old and a 1 year old, t-ball team mom, laundry, dinner, teething etc. I quickly realized 10 wasn't going to happen! So I decided to do 5 and to make it even easier I went for the "new" rubix cube look. You know... before it's all mixed up with different color squares on each side. Here is a tutorial so you can create some for your own 80's party.

Supplies:
Cardboard boxes- ours were from Home Depot in size small.
Craft Paint- red,green,blue,yellow & orange
Electrical tape
Craft paper
Pencil
Scotch Tape

Once you have gathered your supplies you will need to lay out your craft paper and begin tracing one side of the box with your pencil. The boxes are more of a rectangle than a square so you will have 3 large rectangle pieces and 2 squares to make one cube. Note: I did not paint the bottom of the cube. Once all the sides have been cut use your scotch tape and tightly tape the paper on all sides of the box. Now treat yourself to a nice glass of wine if that's your thing! I did! It's defiantly my thing:) Once the paper is secure it's time to paint. Paint one color on each side of the box so that you use up all 5 of your colors. Now set the box aside to let it dry. Once the box is dry use your pencil and draw lines on all 5 sides of your box. Sorry I forgot to take exact measurements. Once you get all sides drawn out so there are 9 squares on each side start going over your pencil line with your electrical tape. Once all lines are covered start working on the edges. I used around a roll of electrical tape per box. You can pick it up at home depot for around .75 a roll. So these are pretty cheap centerpieces or a pretty cheap 5 foot rubix cube tower:)

Here is a picture of them in action at the party.

Hope this inspires you to throw a totally awesome 80's bash of your own! XOXO~Jenn

St. Pattys Day Fun

Hi everyone!!!!
Happy day light savings time Monday!!!!  I cannot wait for Sunday morning!!!! I have big plans for my nephew... surprise plans that is!!!!! I am going to do some simple yet fun decorating. My inspiration leprechauns, gold, green, treasures and rainbows! I am also going to make him breakfast ... wait I mean the leprechauns that come to visit and leave a mess/ decorations are making him breakfast!!!!! I found this idea here and the picture is below!!!!

How Fun!!!! I will also make him a small treasure hunt! The leprechauns that visit are going to leave him the treasure! I cant wait and would have liked to put up more pictures but I wanted to make sure I gave others the idea before St. Patty's Day in case you might like to do it also!!! Until next time...xoxo...Kali