Creative Kids

  • My Little Chef: Christmas Sugar Cookies

    Brina's Christmas Cookies

    A plate full of yummy egg and dairy free sugar cookies to enjoy!

    I love having my kids home for the Christmas Break!  It is always nice having extra time with them to have fun, relax, and do creative activities together.  Brina wanted to make Dairy and Egg Free Christmas Sugar Cookies so she make a batch, rolled out the dough, cut out the shapes, cooked, frosted, and sprinkled the sugar cookies.  The only thing I helped her do was get the hot pan out of the oven, but otherwise she did it on her own.  So excited to see her start doing more in the kitchen!  Yes, the cookies were delicious too!

    Earlier that day Brina asked me to braid her hair!  She wanted to wear it that way all day so she can have a crinkly hair style!  Plus, it is probably a good hair style to wear when cooking in the kitchen.

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    Frosting the sugar cookies!

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    She made one giant cookie with the last bit of cookie dough and put the phrase “I Love You” on it!

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    Decorating the cookies!

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    Pausing for a split second to look up for a picture!

  • Free Ebooks: Homemade Christmas, Gorgeous Natural Gifts, How to Use Evernote to Organize & Simplify Your Life, Cool Kids Cook, The Practice of Practice, Frugal Family Activities, My Dad is a Superhero, 100 Key Herbs with All Their Uses as Herbal Remedies for Health and Healing, and more!

    The price to download these books is currently $0.00 (although the price may change at any time, please confirm prior to downloading).  The ebooks are specifically for Kindles, however, you can click here and download the free application that allows you to read Kindle ebooks on your PC.

    Download a free copy of Homemade Christmas by Tawra J. Kellam and Jill Cooper

    Download a free copy of Beautify Your D.I.Y. – A Guide to Gorgeous Natural Gifts by April Anderton

    Download a free copy of Evernote – How to Use Evernote to Organize & Simplify Your Life by Andy Williams PhD  (Side note regarding the Evernote program itself – Our family has been using Evernote for several years now to share our grocery list as well as gift ideas and lists of books we are looking for so everyone in the family can see it. That way if my husband is already at the store he can see what we need and pick up items from that store without me making an extra trip, it’s really nice and convenient to use! It also comes in handy at the used book store to check to see if there are any books available that you have been looking for.  So if you are looking for this type of program to help you get organized and save time this may be a great book to read!)

    Download a free copy of Cool Kids Cook – Gourmet Everyday by M. L. Obermaier

    Download a free copy of The Practice of Practice by Jonahton Harnum

    Download a free copy of Frugal Family Activities – How to Keep the Children Busy All Year Without Spending a Fortune (More for Less Guides Book 13) by Annabelle Stevens and Carolyn Stone

    Download a free copy of My Dad is a Superhero by Lily Lexington

    Download a free copy of Herbal Medicine – 100 Key Herbs with All Their Uses as Herbal Remedies for Health and Healing by Christine Adams M.D. PhD

    Download a free copy of Mangia! Classic Italian Recipes by Gabriella Lepore

    Download a free copy of Meet Amazing Americans Workbook 40 by Like Test Prep Meet Amazing Americans

    Download a free copy of Homemade Jelly and Jam Recipes – 35 Recipes to Make Delicious James and Jellies from Scratch by Hillbilly Housewife

    Download a free copy of Janie and the Magic Box Christmas by Julia Dweck

     

  • Teaching Our Children: How to Build a Catapult

    A fun little experiment for the whole family

    The girls were talking with Jake recently about catapults.  He decided to make it a teachable moment for the kids.  They  worked on designing and building a catapult.  It was a lot of fun to watch them working together.  The girls were super excited to see how well their catapult experiment worked!  Thankful for a husband who takes the time to do fun and educational activities with the kids.  Great memories with their Daddy!

    Jake & the girls catapult design

    Little pieces of the catapult that the girls have sanded

    Brina working hard

    Karlie sanding her piece of the catapult

    Teamwork!

    Ready to launch the first unsuspecting acorn across the driveway!  It worked really well! 🙂

  • Recipes: Homemade Chicken Flavored Dog Biscuits

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    Homemade Dog Biscuits

    The dog at our house is super spoiled, even though she doesn’t realize it.  And at times she probably doesn’t deserve to be spoiled, like when she shreds our Wall Street Journal.  Guess she is no different than humans, we are spoiled and blessed with so much yet we tend to act out.  Overall she’s a wonderful dog, well behaved, and is super great with the kids even if she does get herself into trouble at times.

    There is a certain child in our family that especially has a soft spot for animals.  She has been BEGGING me to make dog biscuit treats with her for our black, furry, four-legged, mischievous family member!  Our family had a roasted chicken a few days ago so I decided it was time to experiment with Homemade Dog Biscuits.  The biscuits turned out really well and Skipper, our black lab, now has a giant baggie of homemade dog biscuits.  She seems to think they are AMAZING, but she is not a picky eater.  The girls love giving her the homemade treats too so everyone’s happy (or at least should be).

    Homemade Chicken Flavored Dog Biscuits:

    • 1 cup Hot Water
    • 2 tablespoons Milk
    • 2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
    • 3/4 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
    • 2 Eggs
    • 1 cup of diced Chicken pieces (we used the heart, liver, gizzard, and pieces of chicken)
    • 5 cups Flour

    Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.  Stir all ingredients together to make a thick dough.  Knead the dough on a floured surface for 3 minutes.  Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes (we used a dog bone and bear).  Place the cookies on the baking sheet and cook for 35 minutes, turn off oven and leave in the oven for additional 20 minutes.  The edges should be slightly brown.  Remove from oven and cool.  Store in a Ziplock bag or air tight container in the fridge.

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    Tray full of Homemade Chicken Flavored Dog Biscuits!

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    The puppy in our family is very happy to get her special homemade treats.

  • My Little Chef: Homemade Apple Crisp

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    Brina’s Homemade Apple Crisp was delicious!

    Brina wanted to make homemade apple crisp for the family.  She loves to cook and spend time with us in the kitchen.  Thankful for her willingness to learn how to cook.  She is becoming a great chef!

    Apple Crisp, Applesauce, Karlie's Book Report

    Mixing up the crisp, the spoon wasn’t working well so she used her fingers.

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    Freshly cubed apples sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

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    Homemade Apple Crisp ready to go into the oven.

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    Freshly baked apple crisp!

  • School Projects: Book Report on Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

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    Brina’s Book Report

    Recently, the girls had to the do a book report for school.  Brina read the book Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne for her book report.  She had to come up with a box or container for her book report.  Jake helped her put together this super cool tree house for her book report.  She had a blast picking out the perfect branch, helping Jake cut it, glue together the pieces, put the tree house together, and decorate it.  Karlie read the book Foal in the Fog by Ben M. Baglio for her book report.

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    Brina’s tree house had a slot in the top where she could store all her book report papers and items for her presentation.

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    Brina picked out a variety of pictures and put her information on the base of the tree house.

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    Her tree house turned out really well and she did awesome well on her book report presentation!  Her tree house was picked to be put on display in their school library!

  • School Projects: Book Report on Foal in the Fog by Ben M. Baglio

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    Karlie’s Book Report

    Recently, the girls had to the do a book report for school.  Karlie read the book Foal in the Fog by Ben M. Baglio for her book report.  She had to come up with a box or container for her book report.  The barn was the perfect box for this book report.  She was really excited about doing her book report.  Brina did a book report too on Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

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    Foal in the Fog with pictures of horses and ponies on the outside!

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      The other side of her barn with more pictures!

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    Her book report with all the details of the book per the teacher’s instructions.  Inside the box she put items that relate to her book – horse, black lab, saddle, pictures, bales of hay, fences, and horse shoes.

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    Karlie’s barn box for her book report turned out really well and she did a great job on her presentation!  Her barn is on display at their school library!

  • Free Ebooks: Smart School Time Recipes, 9 Types of Copycat Girl Scout Cookies, Baking with Kids, Just Desserts, and more

    The price to download these books is currently $0.00 (although the price may change at any time, please confirm prior to downloading).  The ebooks are specifically for Kindles, however, you can click here and download the free application that allows you to read Kindle ebooks on your PC.

    Download a free copy of Smart School Time Recipes: The Breakfast, Snack, and Lunchbox Cookbook for Healthy Kids and Adults by Alisa Marie Fleming

    Download a free copy of 9 Types of Copycat Girl Scout Cookies:  Your Favorite Copycat Girl Scout Cookie Flavors by Prime Publishing

    Download a free copy of Baking With Kids: Cupcakes, Cookies, and Just Plain Fun for Kids by Dennis Weaver

    Download a free copy of Just Desserts by Kemberlee Shortland

    Download a free copy of Easy Recipes for Back to School: A Short Collection of Recipes from the Cookbook Wholesome – Feed Your Family for Less by Caitriona Redmond

    Download a free copy of Best Homemade Bread Recipes: Delicious Bread Recipes in Quick & Easy Ways by Olivia

    Download a free copy of The Perfect Pie: A Handbook for Pie Lovers by Dennis Weaver

    Download a free copy of Slow Cooker Recipes: 30 Of The Most Healthy and Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes by Stacey Turner

    Download a free copy of Baking in Your Skillet: A Collection of Skillet Recipes by Dennis Weaver

  • School Projects: Science Current Event Articles

    School Projects - Science Extra Credit

    The kids recently did a school project for Science Extra Credit.  They had to compile a variety of science current event articles.  The articles were cut out of current local newspapers, Wall Street Journal,  magazines, and more.  They read the articles, glued them to construction paper, and wrote a summary about each one.

    The articles were on the following science categories – Animals, Electricity, Plants, Space, and Weather.  All the subjects are ones that the kids will be studying this year in school.  The kids had one week to put together all their articles for science extra credit.  The girls worked on their articles every day after homework, before school each morning, and even gave up some of their free time to do more articles.

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    We are so proud of how hard they worked all week.  By the end of the week they learned a lot about the various science subjects they will be studying in school.  They did more articles than we realized too.  Between the two girls these are the number of science articles they completed in one week:

    • Animals – 9
    • Electricity – 7
    • Plants – 8
    • Space -10
    • Weather – 8

    Way to go kids!  Thrilled that they love learning so much!  It will benefit them throughout the entire year!

  • School Projects: The Eye Ball Donut Creation & Writing Assignment

    School Projects - Cookie Creations and Writing Assignment

    A tray of “The Eye Ball” Donuts ready to take to school

    The girls recently had a writing assignment that they had to do for school.  Brina came up with The Eye Ball Donut creation.  For extra credit they could make their creations and share them with their classmates and teachers at school.  We came up with a cookie creation using all the ingredients she mentioned in her writing assignment and they turned out fairly well.  Instead of using cookies for Brina’s we used a powdered doughnut or in this case a munchkin for Dunkin Donuts.  The donuts were a perfect treat to share with her classmates instead of cupcakes on Halloween.  Karlie also did a cookie creation and writing assignment called Inside Your Feet.

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    The Eye Ball was super easy to put together and a big hit with Brina’s classmates.

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    Her tray of eye balls ready to be wrapped and delivered to school.

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    The Eye Balls did exactly what we wanted them to do – overnight the blue frosting that we used to attach the pupil part of the eye spread a little giving The Eye Balls blue colored eyes!

    The Eye Ball Items:

    • White Powdered Donuts (Dunkin Donut sells white powdered munchkins which are perfect for this treat, but you can make homemade if you want)
    • Blue Frosting (we used the blue writing frosting but you could use brown or green, etc…)
    • Edible Eyes (you can pick these up at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc…)
    • Red Sprinkles

    Once you have your white powdered donuts add a small drop of blue frosting and attached the pupil of your eye to your eye ball.  Dip the bottom of the donut into red sprinkles and place on a tray.  Let set overnight so the blue frosting will spread a little bit giving you a blue eye color.

    The donuts turned out well and were a big hit with Brina’s class.  It was a lot of fun putting these together with her and they were super simple.  These would be an easy Fall or Halloween treat to do for a party or for fun.