Barnyard cupcakes

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/barn-cake-with-farm-animal-cupcakes/2a0223c9-5aa3-455f-8a23-a9c4cd3aab27

Again, I'm going to drone on and on about my daughters hoedown (Finally it's tomorrow!!) I had to bake 125 mini cupcakes this morning. Needless to say, my house smells great:

 

 And I cut an entire bag of mini marshmallows in half:

Since the kids are going to be doing most of the decorating in class and I had a few extras so I let my 5 year old make most of each one to give me an idea on how long it will take to make them.

COW:

2 halves of  mini marshmallow and 2 mini chocolate chips for the eyes.
pink icing for the mouth and two more mini chocolate chips for the nostrils
two mini yellow M&M's for the horns

Ice the cupcake white. Add a pink mouth, eyes and horns.


PIG:

 2 mini Chocolate chips for eyes
2 mini chocolate chips for nostrils

Ice the whole cupcake pink. Add two triangles for the ears. Add snout.

CHICKEN:

Since there are kids allergic to nuts, we used yellow sugar instead of coconut.
3orange mini M&M's
2 mini chocolate chips

 Ice cupcake yellow, quickly dip into yellow sprinkles (to make sure it sticks). Add eyes, beak and feet.

SHEEP:

Mini marshmallows (halved)
2 mini chocolate chips

Ice cupcake white, add pink for face (kinda in the middle) Add a pink dot of icing for nose, and the eyes.


OTHER ACTIVITIES WE ARE DOING FOR OUR HOEDOWN:

farm animal hats,
 barn door back drop.
Twig frame
Salt Dough animals
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Lasso the cows (Cow cut outs and hula hoops)
Line Dancing
Sack races
Horse shoes

Stick picture frame

http://pintrestchallenge.blogspot.com/2013/03/barn-door.html
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024662126/


As some of you know, we're getting ready for our hoedown at school. We've already got the farm animal hats, and the barn door back drop. Then the teachers came up with a really cute idea: twig picture frames that the kids will kind of help make and give out to their parents for Mothers Day.

You'll need
*Some twigs in the size  you want for the photo. For a 4x6 picture we're using 9x7 twigs.
*Cardboard or construction paper (we did 5x7)
*Twine
*ribbon
*Hot glue gun (optional- this might help with the twig binding part. I didn't use mine- i wish I did, but I couldn't find it!)

You start by cutting the twigs down to the size you desire. Next I tied that group of stick together  to keep them from sliding.

 

After that I began wrapping it around the second set of twigs (tightly) then tie off. Repeat all the steps until you have a frame.

Take a hole puncher and add a hole to the top and bottom of the paper. Thread some string through and tie to a part of the picture frame. I don't have my finished project until Mothers Day!

OTHER ACTIVITIES WE ARE DOING FOR OUR HOEDOWN:

farm animal hats,
 barn door back drop.
Twig frame
Salt Dough animals
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Lasso the cows (Cow cut outs and hula hoops)
Line Dancing
Sack races
Horse shoes

New Salt dough

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024716679/
http://www.snugasabugbaby.com/make-your-own-play-doh/

Again, it's for the Hoedown for my daughters school. One mom came up with the idea to make clay animals, but didn't have enough resources to pull off all the colors. I volunteered to make white.

2 cups flour,
 1 cup salt,
 2 cups of warm water,
2 tablespoons canola oil and
1 tablespoon cream of tarter

 

Combine all these ingredients  into a small sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until it begins to get kinda lumpy and clumpy (like thick mashed potatoes)

 

 Let it cool before kneading it (not like me.. no, no. thought I was too good to wait and burned myself. Ah, it's one of those days.)

OTHER ACTIVITIES WE ARE DOING FOR OUR HOEDOWN:

farm animal hats,
 barn door back drop.
Twig frame
Salt Dough animals
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Lasso the cows (Cow cut outs and hula hoops)
Line Dancing
Sack races
Horse shoes

Growing Carrots

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024588374/
http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/small-kitchen-garden/soda-bottle-carrots-a-very-small-kitchen-garden

So We have always wanted to grow carrots. I've heard it's very hard and that you really should use sand. I saw this pin and thought we had to try again.

Day one: March 23rd
First thing first: we needed a soda container. Now, that actually is hard for us because we typically don't drink soda/drinks in a 2 liter. But, because of Super Bowl I won a free Pepsi Next and so we drank it (not bad) and then used the container.

 

Check back during the next few months to watch it grow!

April 11th:
We went away on vacation for spring break and were surprised to see our garden in bloom!


You CAN see the roots starting:

May 5th:

May 16th
(notice how clean and sharp the photo is from my phones camera?? Amazing)



May 31st. Loot at those roots!

Easter Card

http://familyfun.go.com/fathers-day/fathers-day-crafts/fathers-day-cards/thumb-bunny-card-662916/
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915022119824/

 

You'll need some white paint (or in our case nail polish) and stamp their thumb and pointer finger onto the paper. Let it dry and with sharpie add the detail for the bunny. We also wrote "Have a 'hoppy' Eater on the inside of the card and left a photo of the girls.

Oatmeal Chocolate chip Cookies

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024662143/
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/48acadc3-f7e1-46b5-bb33-33bee95f6cf7?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Pinterest&niseg4=BettyCrocker&nicreatID4=Post

This seems to be my most popular pin on pintrest right now, so I thought I'd give it a shot!

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired


In large bowl or mixer,  stir brown sugar and butter until nicely blended. Next stir in vanilla and egg until light and fluffy Add in oats, flour, baking soda and salt, along with the chocolate chips and nuts.  You can always add more Chocolate chips- I won't tell ;)

Now, because I cut mine in half I had to add a little extra flour (because of the egg) Also, mine was still a little soft (from the butter) So I let my set in the fridge for an hour.

 

Preheat over to 350 and drop by spoonful onto the ungreased cookie sheet. Just for fun we did half the batch on parchment paper to see it there would be a difference. There really wasn't

Verdict: Super good! Much better than the last batch we had made. 

Amish Cinnamon bread

http://www.redflycreations.com/2012/10/the-amazing-amish-cinnamon-bread.html
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024537702/

Batter:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk or 2 cups milk plus 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar mixture:

2/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine butter,  sugar, and eggs. Cream them together.  Add milk, flour, and baking soda.  It will resemble the thickness of cake batter.

 

 Pour batter into loaf panS (mine made 2 regular sized and 2 small!!!)

In a separate bowl add an additional 2/3 c sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle ontop of each loaf and swirl with a knife.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min.  or until toothpick tester come clean.

 

Cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Verdict: It was good. Kinda like a butter cake mix. The only issue I had was that the top is a sticky and would stay on teeth. We're prone to cavities, so I cut the loaves up and sent them to the school's teacher lounge with a note. The teachers loved it.

Barn yard animal hats

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024621031/
bhg.com

So, if you're following you know my daughters class is doing a barnyard theme and the end unit is an actual hoedown. We've already made the barn cut back drop for the picture opportunity. Now it was time to make the silly hats.

The original post says to measure a party hat and trace it out bigger onto a new sheet of paper. I tried that:

It's took small for some reason. once it's measure onto a childs head (something I should have done BEFORE running 100 off!)That's about when I freaked out because I had already run 100 off on the schools copy machine. That's when I got the idea to wrap the paper my own way and measure it on my daughters head. It fit! So, I just cut all the hats out myself. here is a new template on a 9x12 piece of construction paper. To cut costs, we did not use foam. I used construction paper. I also did not make sheep because of the cost of cotton balls
:

Next, came the "faces"of the animals, which the original site does not give you. Thankfully I can cut out things and "eye" it. So, I did. Because of that, I'm sharing this with you:

COW:

 

Snout:

 

Ears:

Horns:

Bend slightly at base

PIGGIE:

Snout

Ears
Bend at base, curl the tops

 

DUCK:

BILL

The light line is where you fold. The triangle in it, is to help with the bend.

FEATHERS:

 The lighter lines are the fold marks. You will have to get the tops to line up.

For the mean time we taped them together. Eventually we will glue them or staple it all together.

OTHER ACTIVITIES WE ARE DOING FOR OUR HOEDOWN:

farm animal hats,
 barn door back drop.
Twig frame
Salt Dough animals
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Lasso the cows (Cow cut outs and hula hoops)
Line Dancing
Sack races
Horse shoes

Saint Patricks day nails

http://pinterest.com/pin/109634572150766179/
http://fancyfrugallife.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-shamrock-nails-hair-clips-st.html

So our school celebrated Saint Patricks day today and everyone wore green. Lucky even caused some mischief in kindergarten.

Now, I love adding small details to the girls outfits to make their holidays extra special. My oldest will sit still long enough to let me make wacky designs in her hair (we tried a shamrock this morning, but no luck. We don't have enough hair).

Making a shamrock is simple. You make 3 hearts. The first one at the top, the other two on their sides, connecting to the first.

 

we made a horse shoe and the word "luck" on her thumb. It was supposed to say "lucky" but she has tiny hands :)

 

Fun Fact: The "four" leaf clover was worn by Saint Patrick and used as a teaching tool to represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

MY OTHER SAINT PATRICKS DAY STUFF:
Irish Soda Bread
leprechaun visit
 Cupcakes
 rice krispies
leprechaun hand
Lucky Penny neckalce
Decorations
giant cookie

Irish Soda Bread

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amazingly-easy-irish-soda-bread/
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915022126690/

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
 1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup margarine, softened 
1 cup buttermilk 
1 egg 
1/4 cup butter, melted 
1/4 cup buttermilk 

*Quoted from original source because blogger wont let me edit it into my own words**

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet.




 In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. 

Alrighty, Mine has been in for over 30 minutes, I re-brushed it with the buttermilk/butter mixture and it just doesn't seem "done" still in the middle. I had to  cover spots with tin foil so that it wouldn't burn... I think I should have made this two small loaves instead. Why am I always trying to do big? 

 

Verdict: It's good, it's a little thick and heavy for our taste. Cut as thin slices it's great with a very thin amount of butter. When the girls got home I told them a leprechaun must have come because I went to the bathroom and when I came back it was green.

Barn door

So, my kindergarteners class is learning about farm animals. To end the unit they were supposed to go to the zoo...now, they are having a petting zoo come to out school for the kids. They enlisted the room parents (i.e. me and a few other moms) to help them prepare for this event.

The first thing I thought of was a cute little back drop (barn) So I started searching pintrest for everything, it's like my google. I found a few I liked, but also kinda chose to switch it up a bit.

http://mrsosterman.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-05-27T19%3A38%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024620967/

First thing I had to do was get the supplies from the school. I took two red sheets of paper and cut them longer than a door. I also brought home some white and yellow. Oh, and brown and black construction paper for the roof and window.

When I got home I placed one on top of the other and made a slight angle (roof) and then a flat top (also roof) Then I unfolded them , lined them up and taped them down. It should look like this:

 

To make the bard door and shutter for the top, I accordion style folded the white paper (then realized it was too thick and had to fold that in half too) Remember: it's always better to have it a little too big so you can cut it down rather than have to start over because it's too small.

 

 So this is where it got annoying and kinda tricky. You can place the lines down to show the door, but don't glue it down unless you're starting with the X's first. I accidentally started with the vertical lines and then when I tried to pull it up I pulled up some of the red too. So again: make the doors, start by gluing (or taping) the X's first, then the frame.

 

For the hay I cut the yellow into rectangles (then I thought they were a little big and cut them down a little-I used the scraps for the chicken coop in the window) To give it a frayed edge I snipped it with my scissors really crazy and then added black sharpie marks as the twine.

Roof: Brown construction paper folded into 1/4's  and taped down.

 

The window is a kinda square black piece, with some left over white strips as shutters (black sharpie drawn in) Some left over hay and a thin brown strip . I found a chicken coloring page, made it a little bigger in paint, printed it and colored it in. Then I added the outline again with sharpie.

OTHER ACTIVITIES WE ARE DOING FOR OUR HOEDOWN:

farm animal hats,
 barn door back drop.
Twig frame
Salt Dough animals
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Lasso the cows (Cow cut outs and hula hoops)
Line Dancing
Sack races
Horse shoes