Homemade Donuts

These homemade donuts are simple, and delicious!!

This was an activity my daughter did with her friends.  Then I also made a batch with my family.  Here's the recipe, you'll see how easy they really are!

To make the doughnuts you need refrigerated biscuit dough and hot oil for frying. 

First you need to flatten the biscuit dough.

Then cut out the donut holes.  I used the cap to the oil bottle and it worked perfectly.  Make sure to save the middles to make scrumptious donut holes!!

Heat the oil on the stove.

When your oil is hot enough then put your donuts in and let them cook.  You can generally tell when the oil is hot by flicking a few drops of water on the oil.  If the oil is hot, it will instantly start to spit and sizzle when the water touches it.  If the oil doesn't react, then it's not hot enough yet.

Also, be careful that the heat for the oil is not too hot or your donuts will cook too fast on the outside but still be doughy in the middle.

Half way through frying, make sure to flip the donuts to cook both sides evenly.

When done your done frying your donuts, place them on a paper towel or a cooking cooling rack to let the excess oil drip off.

Then you can coat the donuts with glaze frosting (see recipe below) or sugar and cinnamon.

GLAZE
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup Cold Water Or Milk

Mix ingredients together. The glaze will be runny, but will harden a little as it dries.

These donuts make a lovely family treat for breakfast or dinner!!

Christmas Lights Fun

A family tradition of ours around Christmas time is to drive around and look at the Christmas lights in the nearby neighborhoods.

 

I put this invite on the door in the morning.  Everyone saw it as they left for work and school.

{Click here to print your own Christmas lights invitation}

We have a few favorites of people who really know how to "deck the halls" each year and have the lights timed to music and everything.

We turn on Christmas music (it plays on several different radio stations) and we sing along, caroling in the car while we scour the town for lights.  It is exciting to try and find as many light displays as we can!  

{Tuesday's Tip} Appreciate the Arts

Recently I took my daughter to a local Christmas talent presentation.  It was relaxing and enjoyable to be together.  I think it is important to expose our children to different arts.  It does not have to be expensive Broadway plays, operas, and ballets.

At this time of year there are many different inexpensive performances happening in the community.  Why not try taking your family to a local showing of the Nutcracker, Christmas carol, or other musical performances.

In my town, there is a small Christmas opera that is playing this weekend at a local church, a ballet that is coming up, and a symphony rendition of The Messiah playing just before Christmas.  Each of these events are $5 or less and they all sound like perfectly fun events! 

So be sure to check out the local arts events that are going on in your community so that you help encourage your children to appreciate the arts.  Also, it can help to demonstrate to your children the proper manners and respect that is appropriate when attending such events.

Lord of the Rings Marathon Date

Okay, I admit it.  My husband and I LOVE The Lord of the Rings.  My husband has read the books many times.  And, as you all know, the Hobbit is coming to theaters this week, on December 14!  I am so excited (squeal)!

So for our fun date this week I wanted to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy to get ready for the opening day of The Hobbit.

I crafted a date card that read...

"My precious, 

Tonight we shall see if you can answer my riddles.  

If you pass the test, then we will watch these together!"

{Click here for your own free 4 x 6" LOTR date card}

Then I taped it to the movies and left it out where my husband would see it.

In the story The Hobbit, Bilbo is lost in the dark tunnels of the goblins.  That is where he meets Gollum.  Gollum does not know that Bilbo has found his lost ring--his "precious"--Bilbo needs help getting out of the tunnels.  So they play a game of riddles.  Whoever cannot guess the riddle loses and the winner gets what he wants.

So I thought it would be fun to play a game of riddles together with my husband.  Online I found this page with lots of riddles.  I typed up only the riddles (so we couldn't cheat) and then we took turns asking each other and guessing.  Then we looked up the answers on the website.

Here are a couple of examples of riddles with their answers.

1. It is greater than God and more evil than the devil.  The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die.  What is it? 
          NOTHING.  nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the devil, the poor have nothing, the rich need nothing and if you eat nothing you will die.

2.  I am the beginning and the end, and the end of time and space.  I am essential to creation, and I surround every place.  What am I?
        The letter E. End, timE, spacE, Every placE.

Clever, right! Did you guess the correct answers??  I didn't,  I had to cheat.  ;)  

So pick a few riddles that look fun to you and have fun playing a game. Then snuggle up and relax as you enjoy The Lord of the Rings!

Sporty Date Night

I know we talk a lot about family activities.  But we also need time as a couple to rejuvenate and have fun together.  If we are happy as a couple then our kids will be happier too.

It does not need to be expensive or an all night adventure.  My husband and I try to do something together once a week.  Whether it is a stay-at-home date or a let's-go-out-on-the-town date, it doesn't really matter--it is always fun!

For this date I wanted to do something active with my husband.  I decided we would play racquetball at our local gym.  I put an invitation by the door along with our racquets and ball, so when he left in the morning he would see it and be excited about it all day. 

You can use this invitation for any sporty activity you like.  Golf, soccer, basketball, bike riding, tennis...the list is endless.

{Click here to print your own sporty date night invitation}

Then of course the "loser" of your friendly competition gets to buy the treats.  You gotta have a treat to end off your date! :)

Fruit Pizza

Tonight we made individual fruit pizzas for our snack, and they were a hit!  They are fun because everyone can make their own just the way they like it.  

Here's what you do. First, cut up some fruit that you want to use as your toppings.  I used fresh bananas, strawberries, and kiwi but pineapple, mandarin oranges, or other berries would also make great toppings.

Then as the base I used snickerdoodle cookies (mmmm...my favorite cookie).  Spread cream cheese onto your cookie as the "sauce" for your pizza.  I found some whipped cream cheese at the store that was very easy to spread onto the cookie. However, I recommend adding a little powdered sugar to the cream cheese before you spread it to sweeten it just a little. 

Then add your fruit toppings and EAT!

These fruit pizzas are delish, sweet, and easy cooking activity for everyone--even the young ones!  Plus, after eating the fruit, these pizzas don't leave you feeling guilty afterwards, another bonus. :)

Cinnamon Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

With my kids I have decided to do a monthly learning theme.  This month has been cooking.  They have practiced measuring, mixing, pouring, etc.  That means that there will be quite a few recipe posts coming up because I'd really love to share the fun recipes that we've tried.  We made both dinner dishes and yummy treat--it's been so fun!!

We recently tried two new pumpkin cookie recipes we have made with that were both divinely delicious!

The first recipe was cinammon pumpkin oatmeal cookies which was in the Idaho Falls newspaper. Since I don't have the link to that article, I'd like to share it with you here.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups quick oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup raisens
3/4 cup cinnamon chips

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet with shortening.

Mix the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Set aside.

In the bowl of mixer cream brown sugar, and butter together.  Add the eggs and beat.  Add the pumpkin and beat.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.  Beat until combined.  Add raisens and cinnamon chips and beat in.  Do not beat more than necessary.

Drop dough in rounded mounds about 1 1/4 inches in diameter onto the greased baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 min.  Or until the cookies brown on the edges.  The centers will be soft.  Remove and cool on a rack.

The second recipe was pumpkin snickerdoodles, which I saw on Pinterest from this from.  These snickerdoodles just a add a subtle pumpkin flavor and a few more spices that coat the cookie on the outside, and they are fabulous!

Both of these cookie recipe are perfect for fall and winter, and I'm sure they would make great neighbor gifts for the season!

{Tuesday's Tip} Fun Things to Do in the Snow

It snowed at our house a couple weeks ago and hopefully we will get more snow throughout the winter months. I know that not everyone loves winter and snow as much as I do. It takes effort to get those kiddos in all their winter gear and then they are back inside after only a few minutes.  But I love all of the fun snow activities, and if you enjoy the snow with your children they will stay outside and play longer because they love being with you!

Here are 21 super ideas that you can play in the snow to enjoy your time together:

{1} Build a snowman.  Have items on hand to dress your snowman (hat, scarf, carrot, rocks, leaves, twigs, etc.)

{2} Snow ball fight

{3} Build forts to hide behind

{4} Play "Fox and Geese."  You stamp down the snow in a large circle.  Then stamp two lines across the middle of the circle making an "X."    After you have a nice path in the snow, it is time to play.  Your fox is "it."  The fox stands in the middle of the X, closes his/her eyes, and counts while all the geese move around the circle.  The fox opens his eyes when he is done counting and chases the geese.  They can only run on the paths you created.  If the fox tags one of the geese, then that person becomes the fox.

{5} Snowshoe on trails or in the mountains.  Hiking trails are like a different world in the winter than during the summer.  My favorite is snowshoeing by rivers, they are so pretty in the snow!

{6} Sledding

{7} Cross country or down hill skiing

{8} Make a pretend house in the snow by stomping pathways for hallways, bedrooms, etc. all over the yard

{9} Fill spray bottles or squeeze bottles with water and food coloring to color the snow or make a picture

{10} Make a big snow hill to sled down

{11} Shovel.  Have shovels that are kid-sized

{12} Use sand toys in the snow.  Pails, shovels, mods and make snow castles, or just practice digging

{13} Make an igloo using bread pans it make your bricks

{14} Ice skating

{15} Ice fishing

{16} Make snow ice cream. Use fresh snow, of course. ;)

{17} Find ice cycles

{18} Make snow angels

{19} Play "Follow the Leader"

{20} Blow bubbles see what happens in cold weather

{21}  Build snow sculptors

Then, when you are done playing in the snow, you can warm up together inside with some yummy hot chocolate or hot apple cider!

DIY Advent Calendar

My husband went on a business trip for a month.  That's a long time, plus I knew that he would not always have internet access.  So before he left I wanted to give him something fun and special that would help to remind him of  home.  

When I was at Target in their dollar section, I saw a dry erase board with a string and got an idea!  An advent calendar, that's what I wanted to make.  It would be small and easy to pack but give him a little surprise every single day. 

To make my advent calendar, I used an Exato knife to cut little windows out of scrapbook paper. I made enough windows for every day that he would be gone on his trip. Then I taped the scrapbook paper to the edges the dry erase board.

For each window, I hid a little note inside and taped the window closed. For some of the notes I wrote small messages on post-it notes for him, and on others our kids wrote notes or drew pictures for him. This way he had a little message or memento to remember that we loved and missed him. Then my kids helped me decorate it the calendar with stickers.

The day my husband left for his trip I slipped the advent calendar into his bag so he would be surprised when he arrived at his destination.

Butternut Tomato Soup

Soup is one of my favorite dinners during the fall and winter months. I came across a new soup recipe here at Deals to Meals and wanted to share because it turned out so yummy! It's creamy butternut tomato soup.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, cut in half & seeds removed
1 onion, cut into large pieces
Drizzle of olive oil or butter
2 1/2-3 c. chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 pint whipping cream or half & half
3 cans diced tomatoes (or fresh)
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 t. salt, to taste
2 T. brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. basil
2 t. Italian seasoning
2 1/2-3 t. chicken bouillon or chicken base
1 t. black pepper

Cut the squash in half and place on a cookie sheet. Cut the onions as well and place them on a cookie sheet. Drizzle the onion and squash with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes, or until the squash is soft and tender. My squash took approximately 45 minutes to soften. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a few minutes until room temperature.

Place the onions in a food processor and pulse until smooth, and then place in a large soup pot. Turn the heat to medium heat and saute onions in a littler more olive oil. While this is coming to heat, spoon out the insides of the squash and place in the soup pan.

Continue to cook for awhile until the onions are even more soft and then add the seasonings, garlic, chicken bouillon and the chicken broth. Continue to simmer for a few minutes and then add the canned tomatoes.

Let the soup simmer until it is warmed through and the squash has broken down nicely. If you like a really smooth soup you can use a hand wand to blend the soup or add ladles full of soup into your food processor and blend the soup until smooth.

Once the soup is simmering you can add the evaporated milk and whipping cream. Season the soup to your desired liking (more kick, add cayenne pepper, more sweetness add more brown sugar, more salt, etc.)

Serve this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches or warm bread out of the oven. Enjoy!

{Tuesday's Tip} How Family Dinner Helps Your Child's Language

Dinners are important in our homes.  First of all, if we are sitting around a table, we can see each other.  This is important to the socialization of families.  Sitting face to face, looking at each other, observing facial expressions and body language.  This is all part of our social experience.  Socializing at the dinner table can help us not only to feel more connected as a family but these face to face interactions can help our children learn so many social and language skills while at the dinner table. This Tuesday's Tip is all about sharing ways of...

Here are some that I've noticed with my own kids: 

{1} Children learn to follow simple directions.  "Please pass the carrots."  "Put a napkin at each person's plate."  "Put the milk, butter, and jam on the table."

{2} Simple directions also teach our children prepositions.  "Push the chair under the table." "Put the cup above the plate."  "Place the water in the center of the table." "Put the napkin on the plate."

{3} Children learn manners.  Waiting, taking turns, saying "please," "thank you," and "may I be excused."  We don't say, "yuck, I hate that," instead we say, "no, thank you."

{4} Ask your children open-ended questions.  "What did you do at recess today?"  "What was your favorite thing you did today?"  They have to figure out a response and become independent thinkers.

{5} Children can ask us questions.  "How do carrots grow?"  "What is this?"  "What are we doing after dinner?"  Children are curious and want to learn and be included.  Dinner is a great time to teach them.

{6} Little ones who are not yet verbal hear others speaking.  They recognize familiar words and learn new ones. They also watch how we interact with one another and learn how we treat each other.  They learn that there is waiting before the next person speaks.  It is amazing all the things that our little ones learn simply by observing!

{7} Families build connections and relationships at the dinner table which are so essential for trust.  Language is more fluid and natural when we feel we are in a safe place. These connections and trust can grow with the child no matter how old they are.

{8} Dinners can be a time to relax and enjoy.  Children don't feel drilled or that they need to perform.  This aids in more language and learning because when you aren't stressed about teaching,  it often happens naturally.

{9} Using idea's from this blog can make dinners fun, different, and enjoyable. :) A change in pace or trying new things at family dinner time may trigger more conversation with your children because you have them focused and engaged.  Maybe you will discover a new interest. 

{10} Children love routines. Yes, it's good to change things up to challenge our children, to find things that interest our children.  But, routine is also very important.  Young children thrive on routine.  They thrive on understanding what happens next. This helps them feel safe and comfortable, which allows them to relax and talk.  Ways to do this include: have dinner at the same time everyday, give your children the same dinner time chores, have your children do the same activities right before and after dinner (like finish homework before and take a bath after), etc. 

{11} Problem solving skills that are important to language can be learned at dinner time.  Children are learning how to scoop, eat with utensil, drink from a cup, try new foods, cut with a knife, etc.

These are just some of the reasons why it is important to try and have regular family dinners together. If our children are in front of a TV or playing video games, they will miss out on ALL of these social and language benefits. If we are always texting, making phone calls, using Facebook, or are just to busy, we will also miss out. Sure, there are times when life is so busy that it's all we can do to pass the happy meals back over the seat so the kids can eat before the next activity. (Been there done that!) But even in those moments, are there ways we can still take a minute to engage our children and help them learn these essential skills?

Kids with better language will do better in school because they will understand more of what the teacher is telling them.  They learn language by there interactions with us.  It does not cost anything to talk to our children.  IT IS FREE!  We just need to invest the time.

Thankful Chain

Beginning November 1st, my family and I started a thankful chain.

I cut strips of construction paper from several different autumn colors.  Every night before bed time we gather as a family and write something on a slip of paper we are thankful for that day.  Then we loop and staple the paper strips together to form a paper chain. The paper chain is decorating my banister and grows each day as we add to it. By Thanksgiving we hope to have a long chain of the many things we are thankful for.

 

My plan is to read all the paper strips together as a family on Thanksgiving day.  It is nice to be reminded of simple things we take for granted on a regular basis.

To give you an example of what things we are thankful for at our house, here are some of the things we have added to the thankful chain so far:

• Glad to have a car
• I like music class at school
• Thankful for my job
• I have good friends
• Enjoy watching movies as a family
• My monster high doll
• Safety in traveling
• I am thankful for heat in our home
• I LOVE my bed at night!  (I am grateful for this every busy day!!). (Haha!!)

{10 Days of Halloween} Felt Pumpkins

It's not too late to decorate a pumpkin for Halloween--especially felt pumpkins! They're portable, easy to clean up, and you can make them in less than 10 minutes!

All you will need are some orange and black sheets of felt, which are only about 25 cents at Walmart.

With a black sharpie I drew the outline of my pumpkin on an orange sheet of felt. I made mine small enough to get about two pumpkins out of one sheet of felt. Then I cut around the outside of the pumpkin outline.

With the black felt I cut out the face pieces. Then you are ready to put your pumpkin together! We had fun cutting out different types of eyes, noses, and mouths.

It was fun to mix-and-match the different face pieces. We also made a few silly add-ons, like the eye patch, fangs, and the top hat, to make our pumpkins more unique. 

These pumpkins will make a great addition to your flannel board set. If you don't have a flannel board, check out this post for some ideas of how to make your own flannel board.

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Day ten of

{10 Days of Halloween} Make a Costume Mask

Need a quick costume for Halloween? Try making a mask! They're cheap and easy to decorate.

These are the supplies we used:

masks (2 come in a package)
glitter
puff paint
pom poms
feathers

I picked up all of these supplies at Walmart and a few we already had on hand from other art projects. The masks are fun because there are so many ways you decorate them! We used glue and tape to attach the pom poms and feathers.

{cross-eyed clown}

We made one like a clown

{mystical lady in black}

and the other more mysterious and pretty.

Another good idea would be to make super hero masks. These masks are a quick way to get dressed up for any of your Halloween festivities--at a corn maze, Trunk Or Treat, Halloween party, or on Halloween night.

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Day nine of

{10 Days of Halloween} Pumpkin Family Night

For this activity we went to a local pumpkin patch and everyone got to pick their perfect pumpkin to carve.I wanted to make it special, so I made this invite for my family and posted it on the front door for everyone to see as we left in the morning for work and school.

{click here to print your own Pumpkin Family Night invite} 

After we went to the pumpkin patch, we took our pumpkins home and had fun carving them.

It is a little slimy digging out all those seeds but that is the fun part right?  We didn't throw them all away so that we could use them as part our treat for later.

The kids had fun helping to design the pumpkin faces and the older ones even got to help do some carving this year.

Some turned out more scary or goofy.

But each one was a little different.

After the pumpkins were carved we placed a candle inside each one--they looked so good!

Then we washed off the seeds and set them out on a cookie sheet.  We covered the seeds with a little butter and salt them put them in the oven until they were roasted brown.  Mmm, so yummy!

We decided to eat our pumpkin seeds while we watched Charlie Brown a the Great Pumpkin.  What a fun night! By the time the movie was over, we were all ready for bed.

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Day eight of

 

{10 Days of Halloween} Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner.  My family likes having breakfast for dinner, but I also had a new pancake recipe that I wanted to try. But we couldn't just have ordinary pancakes...they were Halloween-style, of course! We made ourselves some jack-o-lantern pancakes.

Here's the pancake recipe--it turned out really yummy!

Pancakes

2 eggs
2 ½ C flour
½ C sugar
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ C oil
2 C milk

Simply combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

After we made the batter, we added some food coloring to make the batter orange like a pumpkin. (I used about five drops of red and yellow food coloring for mine.) Then cook the pancakes like normal.

When the pancakes are ready, the fun part is letting your kids decorate their own jack-o-lantern pancakes anyway they want!

I set out a few bowls of toppings for decorating, like raisins, chocolate chips, bananas, and peaches. You can use any fruit or toppings that you like (i.e. sprinkles, nuts, whipped cream, etc.).

This was a fun way to engage my kids during dinner and make it fun to eat too!

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Day seven of