Bowling for Soap

Not to be mistaken for the band called Bowling for Soup. ;)

I am one proud (and amused) mama bear at just how creative my Baby Bear can be sometimes. For example, after returning from a shopping trip, Baby Bear dug through the grocery bags looking for anything I might have bought for him. To my surprise, he got pulled out the package of bars of soap, got very excited, and started exclaiming, "Blocks! Blocks! Play with blocks!" No matter how many times or ways I tried to explain that they were bars of soap, not blocks, he insisted he needed to play with them. I finally opened the package, intending on showing him exactly what I meant. Instead, he showed me exactly what he meant when he grabbed the bars and started stacking them like blocks.

Our family spent all evening playing with bars of soap!!! First, we built with them as Baby Bear had wanted. Papa Bear had fun finding new architectural designs. Baby Bear enjoyed knocking every new structure down. Then, we set them up like bowling pins, rolled a ball at them, and bowled for soap. This was a huge hit with Baby Bear! Remind me why we parents buy our kids toys again?!

 So, if you're facing yet another rainy, cold day and need a fun new activity to turn to, try bowling for soap! It's good, clean fun! (Wocka wocka!)

Snowman Ice Cream

As winter storms finish moving through part of the country, I thought I would share a snowman ice cream activity my Baby Bear loved. The ice cream recipe is my own, but the snowman idea is from Pinterest. To make the ice cream, I threw two frozen bananas (peel before freezing), some milk, a few ice cubes, and a little sugar into the blender. All of this was to taste. While trying to get yours to just the right consistency and taste, remember this: more milk makes the ice cream thinner but easier to blend, more ice makes it a little thicker but chunkier, more sugar make it sweeter but less healthy, and more banana makes it thicker. You could also try using coconut milk instead of regular milk for a tropical flavor. Once the ice cream was done and dished out, I quickly added a marshmallow for the head, mini chocolate chips for the face and buttons, and a cherry for the hat (Baby Bear doesn't like maraschino cherries, so his just got a small splotch of red frosting). This ice cream melts a little quicker than the store-bought stuff, so don't get too picky over the decorations! ;) Finally, enjoy!

Marshmallow Snowmen

This past week in my hometown it has snowed regularly and schools have been cancelled due to very low temperatures. First of all, let me just say I am thankful I no longer deal with such a harsh winter. Second of all, when it is too cold to go outside to play in the snow, you can still do some fun snow-themed activities indoors. Or, if you live somewhere that's hardly seen a winter this year, like me, you can pretend there is snow outside and make a not-so-cold snowman out of marshmallows.

For each snowman, Baby Bear and I used 3 large white marshmallows, two ice cream cone marshmallows (mini-marshmallows would have been fine too, but this is what we had on hand), black decorating gel, Ding Dongs cut into quarters, and toothpicks to hold the marshmallows together (pretzel sticks would have been much better so the whole thing was edible, but again, this is what we had on hand).

Baby Bear helped add the arms and draw some of the faces/buttons.

He LOVED his marshmallow snowmen!

Under Construction

My blog will be under construction for at least a week as I try to reload all the pictures lost in a Picasa picture mishap. It appears that this will have to be done one blog post at a time, and as I have over 200 posts, most of which are missing pictures, this could take a while. Thank you for your patience! :)

Light Cave

This afternoon while Baby Bear was napping, I was looking through friends' photos on Facebook, and I came across this little gem! C, from my mom's group, posted this picture of her daughter L about to crawl through a light tunnel she and her son made while L was napping. It's just a big box with an opening on each side (forming a tunnel), lots of holes poked through, and some lights poking through the holes from the outside in. It was too cute to pass up asking her to share. I think I know what I'm doing with Baby Bear this weekend! Thank you, C!

Gingerbread Cookies

One of my family's holiday traditions growing up was making and decorating gingerbread houses. My sisters and I would make them for our teachers, and then we would each have one of our own for at home. It was a LOT of work for my mom, but she came through and made them year after year after year until we began leaving home as adults. Call me chicken, but I wasn't quite ready to venture into gingerbread house making with my 2-year-old. I'm pretty sure he would start acting out The Three Little Pigs story and play the part of the Big Bad Wolf if we made one. I did, however, think it would be fun to make some gingerbread boys and girls with my son to go along with our copy of The Gingerbread Man. So, that's what we did! I used my mom's gingerbread recipe, and Baby Bear and I had a blast making (and eating!) them.

This is my mom's recipe along with a few of my own tips. (I used half of this and got about 3 dozen gingerbread boys and girls. This makes one small house as well as a few people.):
1C oleo softened
1C sugar
2 eggs
1C molasses
6C flour
1T ground ginger
3t baking soda
2t cinnamon

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. Mix in ginger, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gradually add flour. Chill for at least one hour (I highly recommend overnight). Roll on a floured surface, and dust both your rolling pin and your hands in flour. Lightly dust your baking pan with flour to prevent sticking. When making a house, use a pan that will not warp in the oven. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes (this is for the people, larger house pieces may take a little longer).

The gingerbread boys and girls Baby Bear and I made. He helped me make the dough the night before. The next morning, we rolled out the dough and had fun with the cookie cutters.

We used some leftover red frosting and mini chocolate chips to decorate the cookies because it was what we had on hand. It worked, and Baby Bear had fun.

Spend Time With Your Loved Ones

Close your browser. Turn off your monitor. For today, whatever day this may be for you, step away from your computer and go spend precious time with your children. Go make memories. Play their favorite games, make a snack together, color pictures, pretend, sing, make up games, push them on the swings. Ask them what they want to do, and then go do it. And then, when you're done, don't forget to hug them and tell them you love them.