March Madness--Family Style!

March Madness has become a tradition for our little family. Early on in our marriage I realized that I could either dread this blessed "season" or embrace it. In the years since...it has become a really fun way for Greg and I to have something to follow together and talk about.

The honest truth is that we don't really watch basketball until the tournament starts. But, in the last couple days we have each read up online, etc. to become somewhat educated in making our "picks".

Some years we've had competitions with other couples...husbands against wives...with a get-together at the end of the tournament celebrating the overall winners. Each couple brings a dessert...made by either the husband or the wife...whoever was the low scorer of the two. Once again...creating a fun thing to talk about in the weeks of "play" and a great reason to get together in the end.

I have been surprised how much Nathan remembers doing this last year. He has been anxiously awaiting his turn this March. So, Greg had both Nathan and Joshua make their own "picks". We write the brackets on a big poster board and then have taped it and each of our picks up so we can easily keep track. Tonight...after the first real night of play...Nathan leads! And Joshua is a close second! So much for carefully "getting educated" on my part! I'm in last place!

Package from Grandma--Dinosaur Style!

We are so lucky to have a Grandma Franson who sends us packages of fun projects to do. This last week we got one with a dinosaur theme. I hope to post an activity a day for the next few!

The first project came from Michael's. I cute dinosaur bone skeleton to put together. Often these kinds of things are a little too tricky for Nathan (5). But, with Daddy's help...this triceratops was the perfect "difficulty level". Nice instructions included. No glue needed. Just punching out pieces and sliding them together. Really having a "put together" project is something we love having for Nathan and Greg to do together. There's something about creating something and having a finished product to show at the end that is definitely "bonding".

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's St. Patrick's Day morning and we've officially carried out our one main family tradition...green milk! (My mom would also sometimes do green eggs for breakfast.)

Our family could really use a reason to "celebrate" today (really we just need a little perk in life and a fun way to be together). So, I'm trying to think of fun ways to spend the evening.

One of my favorite websites for finding ideas to "Celebrate the Day" is:

Family Fun

They've got some especially cute "Leprechaun Traps"...that we might try if we get ambitious.

So, help me! What do you do to make St. Patrick's Day memorable for your family?

Beads - Beads - Beads

There are a few 'staples' that I like to keep around for entertaining kids. Some of them are predictable -- like Play-Doh. But a few days ago when we got out the beads for the first time in a while I thought I should post about it because they have killed many an hour around here.

My kids LOVE stringing beads. We have made more necklaces and bracelets than you can imagine. This most recent experience we made necklaces for the Webkinz in our family. It was great because their necks are smaller than human necks so the kids had enough of an attention span to make it clear through them.

Over the years we have collected some more 'exotic' beads, but we started with a big bucket of "Pony" Beads (that's what they call them) from Michael's (I'm sure I used a 40% off coupon so they weren't too expensive.) I also think Elastic Thread is worth every penny -- and really it isn't that much. Most bead 'kits' come with a plastic 'thread' that doesn't stretch and doesn't tie. It's mostly a frustration. But the elastic thread works well. Just tie a bead on the end and let your kiddo go to work. If they are too young for the thread to work for them, Pipe Cleaners work great (just bend the end around one bead to keep them on)! What do you do with them you ask? You can form the Pipe Cleaner into their favorite letter, you can make a candy cane or wreath for a Christmas ornament, or just be creative. If you allow it, I think your kids will have the best idea yet! (Heaven help you :) )

Beads can even be a good thing for killing time on road trips. I just give my kids some beads in a 5 oz. paper cup (another kid staple -- especially for road trips, but that's another post) and some string or a pipe cleaner and they thread away while we drive. And when we get to Grandma's house we have a new necklace just for her.

St. Patrick's Cookies

It's Joshua's week to take the snack for Nursery. I've hoped to pull off cut-out sugar cookies for the occasion. (You can picture them--shamrocks with darling sprinkles.) But, I just couldn't bring myself to do the whole messy process.

The cookies I ended up making still have green bits in them...and I think we like the taste even better! They are made with Andes CREME DE MENTHE Chocolate Mint Baking Pieces Bits ...found in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips. The recipe I've used several times is just found on the back of the package. (I always use half the bag of Andes bits per recipe.)


Nathan loves leveling off the cups of flour and pouring all of the ingredients in. Joshua helps count the eggs...and when Nathan and I are both feeling brave...Nathan even cracks an egg!

One of my favorite things to do lately...when I do get in baking mode...is to make a large batch. I bake one or two cookie sheets worth (12-24 cookies) for us to eat right then. And then scoop with a "cookie scooper" the rest of the dough into balls and place them in a 9 x 13 pan. I freeze them just until they are slightly solid and can hold their shape. Then I freeze in 1 quart freezer bags the little balls. 12 in each bag. Then later when we want to "make cookies" again, we just pull out a bag from the freezer and bake ourselves one sheet. You can enjoy the "fruits of your labors" for longer and slows down the consumption for all of us!