Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Spring Cleaning around the Corner...

Spring cleaning is right around the corner! Isn't it time EVERYONE decided to clean green? I think so!
With Shaklee's cleaning products you know your home is safe, clean and green. If you can not find it in yourself to get Shaklee for the environment, how about for your kids? Or pets? Or to save a few dollars?
Check out our celebrity endorsements, and my site for more deets! Happy cleaning!
Oprah!

 Rachel!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The birthday party that never was..

My tots turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and we had a rather cool ( I think!) birthday party planned for 10 am on a Sunday. It was to be at their dance studio (Integrated Rhythms), a really cool local dance studio for kids, where they go once a week for classes. We had invited about 10 kids, almost all had RSVP'd yes, and all was under control, more or less, by me and my mom-in-law.
It was a Super Why themed party- since that is/was the flavor of the week. For those not familiar- it is a PBS show, with spelling super heroes.
A fan of the show is very familiar with Super Letters. Red sparkling letters found throughout the show to complete a word or sentence at the end, to complete the story.
Anyways, to accommodate the theme, I prepared a number of fun crafts/treats. First I made large jars of home made red sparkling play doh. I also ended up making some blue, since I ran out of red food coloring *blush*.
I then tied a cookie cutter in shape of the first letter of the child's name to the jar- as a party favor to bring home.
Recipe for Play Dough:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • food coloring (lots of it)
  • glitter
    Mix food coloring and water with oil in a large pan. In a separate container mix flour, salt and cream of tartar. Add the dry mixture to the wet- and cook. Stir constantly- you will have playdough in less then 5 minutes.
    When the texture feels right to you, turn it out onto a silicone sheet or onto a counter to cool. When cool enough to handle, knead in desired amount of glitter. Store in airtight container.
Also- to accommodate the theme and said "super letters"- I made extra thick jell-o, got some pricey, but pretty edible glitter, and made edible super letters in the kids first initials. 

I also got some (too many) adorable, delectable cupcakes, ordered and picked up from our favorite local cupcake bakery, Happy Cakes. My mom-in-law made 50 mini ham biscuits, we had veggie tray, coffee, balloons, hats, fruit, snacks- you name it.

And at 5 am that morning I had to call 9-1-1 and my son and I headed to the ER. He had awful croup, and had to stay in the hospital until the following day, his birthday.
Needless to say the party was cancelled (via iPhone from the ER), and all these fixins' were, well, kind of useless. Of course the kids still had a lilttle party with the family, and enjoyed the Super Why theme alot. At least I can look back at this and think that this was all pretty irrelevant, and my little guy is healthy :)

Friday, February 17, 2012

This is why I've been absent..

This picture summarizes my life for the past few weeks. This, combined with sick kids can make any vigilant blogger loose steam on occasion.
Bear with me, I will return with lots of fun and goodies soon!!