Cinnamon Ornaments

Apparently, cinnamon ornaments are a thing. Did you know this? I never heard of them until this year! I guess you bake some cinnamon ornaments, and they leave a warm, cinnamon scent in your home all season long. No kidding! A friend mentioned them to me, so I went online and perused cinnamon ornament recipes.

Most of the recipes call for glue. I settled on the simplest recipe I found by McCormick: just applesauce and cinnamon. You can find that recipe right here. I worried it wouldn't hold as well without glue, but ours worked perfectly.

I combined the 3/4 cup of applesauce with the entire 4 ounce container of cinnamon. I mixed it with a spoon first to get the cinnamon moist, and then Oliver used the Kitchenaid mixer (he loves that thing) to get it mixed well. We rolled it out between two pieces of wax paper. 

Oliver helped me use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. I made a hole for the ribbon before removing the cookie cutter so the hole wouldn't warp the shape of the ornament. Because I worried the dough was fragile, I transferred each ornament to the baking sheet before removing the cookie cutter.

We got 9 ornaments out of a batch. I baked them at 200 degrees for two and a half hours. After the first hour and a half, I flipped them to make sure they dried evenly. The house smelled incredible as they baked! I threaded them with some ribbon and hung some over the back door and some on the tree.

Oliver loves any excuse to use the mixer. These were fun! I think they'll be an annual tradition in our household. We left them as is this year, but, next year, if Oliver is more crafty, we'll decorate the ornaments with glitter glue. Martha Stewart's website has some beautiful cinnamon ornaments decorated as birds. You can find them at this link. Hers are definitely too intricate for my family this year, but maybe we'll give that a try in another decade or so!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 86: Egg Shells

Months ago, I found an activity on Pinterest from a blog called Play, Create, Explore that looked promising. You can find the original post here. The mom on that blog washed and dried a bunch of egg shells and put them in a bowl for her son to play with. I pinned the activity to save for a day when I was using lots of eggs, and then I forgot about it.

Fast forward to Friday night. I found a breakfast recipe for an asparagus and mushroom strata that appealed to me because you prepare it the night before, and, in the morning, you just pop it in the oven (that pin can be found right here). We were having company on Saturday morning. I thought being able to make the meal the night before would save me from having to get up early, cook, and then clean up the kitchen. Anyway, it called for eight eggs. I was stacking the cracked eggshells in an empty egg carton, trying to decide if there was anything I could do with them, and I remembered the pin.

I washed the eggs, and then I spritzed them with some anti-bacterial spray. I left them overnight to dry. Normally, I try to let my kids get dirty and exposed to the environment, but salmonella isn't something I wanted to expose Joanna to. So, I made sure they were clean and sanitized.

In the morning, I put some egg shells in a shallow bowl for both Jo and Oliver. They were both very curious about the eggs and picked them up and examined them.

It didn't take Oliver long to figure out that he could use the palms of his hands to smash the eggs. I was a little worried the shells would be sharp enough to cut his hands, but that never happened.

Oliver really got a kick out of smashing the egg shells with his palms. He was disappointed when he finished smashing all of his eggs. It took all of two minutes, and when they were smashed, he was done.

Joanna, on the other hand, kept playing! I kept an eye on her to make sure she didn't try to eat shells. She enjoyed picking off little pieces of shells. Eventually, she started to smash them, too.

Smash!

And then she enjoyed making them rain:

Andrew and I both had fun watch the kids smash eggs. I like seeing the kids explore new things and think. The activity was fun for Oliver, but it was definitely more age appropriate for Jo. She had an absolute blast with those egg shells. They weren't too messy to clean up. I just had to give the kitchen a quick sweep.

This is an activity I'll definitely remember to do again, whenever I make something that uses a lot of eggs. Next time, I'll give the kids the potato masher like the mother did on her blog. I give this activity an A!

And, in case you're wondering how that strata came out, it was delicious. It smelled insanely good, and my mouth watered the whole time it was in the oven. It came out bubbling like a lasagna. The recipe is definitely a keeper! Both Pinterest pins were a win. Yay!

$10 Photo Book Deal

LivingSocial has a deal going on right now. For $10, you get a 20 page, hardcover photo book from Picaboo. I've never used Picaboo before, but the designs look promising. I just purchased this deal and plan on using it for the travel photos I'll have from our upcoming trip to Scotland (remember when we won airfare?).

You can find the $10 deal here. I think a photo book would be a great (and now affordable!) gift idea for grandparents. You can also use it to create a book for your kids (you can see what I made for Oliver on Shutterfly here for ideas). Enjoy!

Joanna's Birthday Cupcake

Happy First Birthday, Jo!

So, somehow, an entire year has passed since Jo's birth. I don't know how where the time has gone, but I suddenly find myself surrounded by not one but two mischievous kids that keep me on my toes, worn out, and laughing.

Joanna is such a sweet little girl. She's (almost) always smiling and loves to talk and babble to us. She lights up when she sees Oliver or when Dad comes home from work. She plays jokes. She grabs people's shoes and puts them on her hands, and then she crawls over to us and laughs. She loves playing peek-a-boo. She likes to grab her nose and my nose at the same time as if to say, "Look, Mom, we both have noses."

She is quite the talker for being 12 months old. Jo seriously has a list of words. They are: Gesundheit, more, Mom, Dad, bye, hi, and fan. Of course, she points and claps and waves and cheers. She's very interactive.

She hasn't taken her first steps yet. She sometimes stands without holding onto things, but she doesn't do it intentionally yet. She crawls up the stairs but has no fear of falling backwards. She likes being held and carried everywhere, and I can only get her to ride in the grocery cart if I give her an object to examine and distract her first (usually a leaf).

As of last night, Jo is officially weaned. I thought I'd be so happy to have my body back--the first time in nearly four years that I'm not pregnant or breast feeding. Instead, I feel a little wistful. Jo just grew up so quickly! She drinks whole milk now and eats lots of food. Jo is not picky and loves to eat. It seems like she's eating all the time!

Sleep is going well after a bit of a rough patch a couple weeks ago. Jo goes to bed around 7pm and sleeps until nearly 6am. She sometimes wakes up once around midnight and fusses for about 20 minutes. During the day, she naps once or twice but not for very long (maybe 45 minutes). Sometimes, I can get her to sleep a little longer on my shoulder after she wakes up from her naps.

At 1 year old, here is a list of Joanna's likes and dislikes:

Likes
*Bath time
*Milk
*Watching Oliver do fun things, like run through leaves
*Leaves
*Being held
*Pointing to things and having us tell her what those things are called
*Food (her favorite is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, diced)
*Watching me do the alphabet song in ASL

Dislikes
*Being put down
*When Oliver takes a toy away from her
*The car seat
*Diaper changes

Giveaway: Turkey Hats

What's the point of having kids if you don't dress them in hilarious outfits every once in a while? I've been busy all week crocheting some turkey dinner hats. I made some for my kids, and I made two extra to give away on my blog! I think they're so funny and cute; I'm determined to make more to give as gifts to some loved ones in my life. 

Read below to learn how to enter this toddler turkey hat giveaway.

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Rainy Mood Nap Time

Jo wakes up from her naps after about thirty minutes and then finishes her snooze on my shoulder. She's passed out as I write this post, and I'm listening to her little baby snores.

Oliver tends to Jo while she sleeps. He tries to pat her and kiss her and tells her she's tired. Then he forgets to be quiet and starts yelling. I shoo him away, and he runs off to bang around with his pots and pans.

I've found the best website to drown out his noise. It gives Jo a little extra sleep and me a little extra relaxation time. Bonus: We don't get many rainstorms here, and this gives me my fix!

Enjoy a little rain and white noise at www.rainymood.com.

Turkey Season!

It's November already! We're two and a half weeks out from Thanksgiving. I can hardly believe it.

Last year, I picked up a little wooden turkey from Joann Fabrics for $1. They keep a $1 section by their registers. Oliver wasn't into coloring at the time, so I saved it for this year. Even if this exact turkey isn't available, they likely have others. Oliver's gotten wooden fish and other projects like these as gifts.

They come with marks and a little stand. I just had to uncap the markers and put Oliver to work. He got a little more into coloring it when I told him what to color, like, "Color the nose!" 

And now we have a turkey for the centerpiece of our table.

Oliver kept telling me he was going to eat the turkey. I told him he had to wait until Thanksgiving.

Christmas Tip: Gift Exchange

You might have noticed me briefly bringing up MOMS Club in my blog. I don't think I've ever taken the time to actually share what it is.  MOMS Club is actually an international club, and it stands for "moms offering moms support." It's for moms who don't work or just work part time. They have local chapters all over the world. Let me tell you, I love the ladies at MOMS Club. Those ladies have a unique way of being able to laugh off all the stressful things kids do, like not sleeping. I have never felt judged with them regarding my kids. If Oliver is crabby, well--Sorry! We tried to come to play time, but it's clearly not working, so we're going home now.

At the end of summer, my MOMS Club group hosted a gift exchange. I waited until now to post about it because, really, how many Christmas tips do you need to get from me in September? One was plenty.

The gift exchange was simply for moms to bring in a couple toys their kids have outgrown (or, you know, to get rid of those toys that just drive them up the wall) and get a couple "new" ones.

Like I've said before, my kids don't care if toys are new in package or just new to them. So, I figured I'd go to the exchange and try to pick out a toy or two that I could save for Christmas time. Yes, I'm cheap. Who cares?

Here are the toys I took to the gift exchange:

You might recognize that tractor, which we bought at Costco back when we had our first annual Kid's Day. Oliver kind of liked it for about a week, when he decided it was the scariest thing ever. It shakes and makes loud noises and lights up. Apparently, that's not OK. He's three, and he's still afraid of the thing. I decided that I've hung onto the thing long enough (2 years!). It's time for it to go to a new home.

I also gave away the caterpillar pull toy, which both kids have outgrown, and a Little People ferris wheel set that Oliver had received for his birthday last year. Both kids love that ferris wheel toy, but it lets out noises of creepy child laughter. As my husband put it after the exchange, "I'm glad you were able to get rid of the ferris wheel. The laughter of small children when I accidentally bump that thing in the dark will not be missed."

In return, I selected this basketball toy:

Neat, huh? I think Jo will be the perfect age for it come Christmas time. So, I stuck it up in the closet so it can make its debut under the tree in a couple months.

I understand that not everyone has a group of parents they can just trade toys with. However, if you can find just one neighbor, family member, or friend with a child around your child's age, you can probably swap a toy or two. I'm not very skilled in the art of Craigs List, but I would think you could even post an ad to swap toys of similar value with parents in your city.

Remember, just because your kid didn't take an interest in a toy doesn't mean another child won't. At MOMS Club, a two year old boy got the tractor truck from Oliver, and he loved it. An item that causes fear in the heart of one child can be another child's treasure!