Hello, again! Just wanted to share a very adorable update with you that I think you might enjoy seeing! Earlier this week for Earth Day I posted some pictures from our nature walk. One of those pictures was this Robin’s nest with 4 eggs in it.
I checked on the nest yesterday and guess what?! Yes, the eggs have hatched! 🙂
Look at those tiny baby birds! Awww, it makes my heart soft and mushy just looking at their cuteness! 🙂 Just wanted to share them with you to brighten your day!
Yes, it’s Earth Day once again! That means it’s time for our annual walk to look for signs of Spring and see what flowers and other nature items we can find. Pop your shoes on and let’s go! 🙂 Here are some things we found:
Our Creeping Phlox flowers are blooming and they are so beautiful! Here we have light purple…
Also white…
And possibly my favorite colors, pink and white.
Next we found a bush with red and pink flowers. (Sorry, I don’t know what kind of bush it is.)
I bet you know the name of these bright yellow flowers! If you said dandelions, you are right!
Oh, look who is hanging out and gathering pollen on this dandelion!
These tiny little wild violets are growing in our yard. Yes, all by themselves. We didn’t plant them.
Here is another pinkish-purple flower that grows all on its own too. It even grows up through stones!
Speaking of stones…look what we found in our driveway, of all places! Two Killdeer eggs! From what we read, it seems Killdeer often lay their eggs in not very safe places.
While we are talking about birds and their eggs, look what else we found on our walk.
Care to guess what’s hiding inside this nest? This is a Robin’s nest and look what a beautiful color their eggs are!
Here’s another batch of pretty white flowers.
We’re almost done with our Earth Day walk today, but keep an eye out for trees that have blossoms right now too!
I hope you’ve enjoyed going on this walk with us, but I hope you can take time outside to go on your own walk and that you will find all kinds of beautiful things in nature that will amaze you! 🙂
Yes, I found more awesome clearance prices on Lego sets at Walmart! Whoohoo! 🙂 Of course, this is just from our local Walmart store so there is no guarantee that the same set is available near you, but it’s worth a look! Without further ado, here we go!
#1.) Lego Star Wars Tenoo Jedi Temple #75358. Sale price $19.00, regular price $39.97.
#2.) Lego Creator Super Robot #31124. Sale price $5.00, regular price $9.97.
#3.) Lego Disney Peter Pan & Wendy’s Storybook Adventure #43220. Sale price $7.00, regular price $19.97.
#4.) Lego Friends Igloo Holiday Adventure #41760. Sale price $19.00, regular price $49.97. (Yep, this one went home with me!)
#5.) Lego Friends Beach Buggy Fun #41725. Sale price $4.00, regular price $10.97.
#6.) Lego Friends Sea Rescue Boat #41734. Sale price $32.00, regular price $80.00.
#7.) Lego Disney Twirling Rapunzel #43214. Sale price $3.00, regular price $9.97.
#8.) Lego Harry Potter Quidditch Trunk #76416. Sale price $27.00, regular price $68.00.
#9.) Lego Super Mario Dixie Kong’s Jungle Jam Expansion Set #71421. Sale price $16.00, regular price $26.97.
#10.) Lego Ninjago Cole’s Earth Dragon EVO #71782. Sale price $13.00, regular price $34.97.
#11.) Lego Ninjago Nya and Arin’s Baby Dragon Battle #71798. Sale price $17.00, regular price $34.97.
#12.) Lego Jurassic Park Velociraptor Escape #76957. Sale price $17.00, regular price $39.97.
#13.) Lego Marvel Endgame Final Battle #76266. Sale price $50.00, regular price $100.00.
#14.) Lego Botanical Collection Orchid #10311. Sale price $39.98, regular price $49.97.
#15.) Lego Jurassic Park Triceratops Research #76959. Sale price $24.00, regular price $49.97.
Those are some amazing prices, right?! I hope you can find some of these great deals at a Walmart store near you! 🙂
Spring seems to have arrived in Ohio and along with it comes the dandelions! Every year we have hundreds of dandelions and even though they are considered a weed, their bright yellow color sure perks things up. 🙂
Today I wanted to share a fun way to make a picture using dandelions. All you need is a piece of cardboard, some markers and dandelions. Oh, and an adult to poke some holes in the cardboard.
I show some dandelions in that picture, but it’s better to wait to pick your flowers until you are ready to use them. They wilt rather quickly. Let’s start by drawing a vase on the cardboard. It doesn’t need to be perfect. (As you can see mine is crooked. LOL)
Have an adult poke several holes in the cardboard above the vase. Your dandelions are going to go here so make the holes big enough for the stems of the dandelions to fit through.
I drew stems from each hole down to the top of the vase, but I used enough dandelions that the stems were covered up. So it’s up to you if you want to draw stems or not. 😉
You can color your vase to add some more color to your project.
Now you are ready to head outside and pick some dandelions! Pick one flower for each hole you have. Slide the stem of the dandelion in from the front to the back. And voila! 🙂 You have a vase of flowers!
I hope you are having some sunshine and warm temperatures wherever you are! 🙂 Till next time…
Happy Eclipse Day to all who are living in the path that can see the solar eclipse today! Or for those who have traveled to places so you can see it. We are some of the lucky ones and we will watch it from our yard! I just wanted to share a quick, fun and tasty eclipse project with you! All you need is a few Oreo cookies…8 cookies is enough.
Take 7 of the cookies and twist to open them.
If the filling doesn’t completely stick to one side of the cookie, you can use a knife to put the filling all on one side. Now you’ll need something flat to lay the cookies on. Like a place mat, a plate or a pizza pan, etc. I’m using the backside of a pizza pan. Start with one cookie with the filling side up. This represents the sun before the eclipse starts.
Now take another cookie, filling side up, and place the bare cookie piece so it just covers a little bit of the filling…the moon is now starting to cover the sun.
Place 2 more cookies with each one covering up a bit more of the filling. This represents the moon covering more and more of the sun.
At the bottom place one whole cookie.
We have reached the totality of the eclipse and can no longer see the sun!
Now add 3 more cookie sets to show how the moon gradually slides away from in front of the sun and soon you are back to seeing the full sun!
You’ve made a complete model of the solar eclipse! Pretty fun, right? 🙂 But now for the best part – you can eat the cookies! LOL
One other quick share…this sign is in front of our local grocery store. They were getting into the spirit of the eclipse today! Look what they have for sell! 😉
Happy Eclipse Day! 🙂 The eclipse is about to start here! 🙂 I must grab my solar eclipse glasses and head outside!
It’s that time of year again when we pull out all our silly pranks and play them on our favorite people! Happy April Fool’s Day! 🙂 Has anyone “pranked” you? Have YOU played a prank on someone else? Our family has had fun sharing the fun pranks of our day and we’d love to hear what silliness you’ve gotten up to! Here are some of the pranks I’ve heard about today…
#1.) Our daughter-in-law took 2 cereal bowls last night and poured some water in the bottom of them and placed the bowls in the freezer overnight with a spoon stuck in the water. This morning she added some cereal and milk to the bowls and served them to her 2 kids. As you might guess, the spoons were stuck in the bowls! 🙂
#2.) This morning I made my husband a little individual cake…a sponge cake. (Can you guess where this is going?) Yes, I used a real sponge. 😉 Here are a few pictures…
Icing the sponge cake…shhh!
It looks pretty normal, right?
Hey, my fork is bouncing off this cake!
Waaaaait a minute…this is the toughest cake I’ve ever seen…this seems very suspicious.
Oohh, its a REAL sponge cake! Very sneaky!
#3) I heard about coffee made with salt water…and coffee with salt instead of sugar added. 😉
#4.) There were stories about strawberries and blueberries and tomatoes being picked from the garden. (Which normally doesn’t happen till late spring and late summer.)
#5.) There was a rumor of a purple horse running through the property…
#6.) There was news about someone buying a new Gladiator… (No, he didn’t really.)
#7.) I saw news on Facebook today that Bob Evans restaurants are selling pancakes on a stick, today only. 😉
It’s great to have a day for fun like April Fool’s Day! 🙂 I hope you have enjoyed yours! 🙂
I’ve seen the suggestion floating around the internet to color eggs using Cool Whip whipped topping and food coloring, so I had to try it out. 😉 (I may have shiny object syndrome or something) Here’s how it went for me…
You will need a container of Cool Whip whipped topping, white hard boiled eggs and liquid food coloring. And a dish to do your coloring in…I used a cookie sheet.
Thaw the Cool Whip in the refrigerator. Then spread a bunch on the cookie sheet or dish.
Put drops of different colored liquid food coloring all around the Cool Whip.
Using a toothpick…or other small utensil…swirl the colors throughout the Cool Whip.
Roll the white hard boiled eggs through the colored Cool Whip and let the eggs sit on the cookie sheet. A word of warning…your fingers are going to be just as colorful as the eggs! 😉
Let the eggs sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Then rinse in water. Sit the eggs on a paper towel to dry. Here’s a look at my eggs after they were dry.
The eggs looked neat but most of the color was on the light side. (Maybe I did something wrong?) I had one egg in particular that didn’t take on much color even though I did it twice. Overall this was a fun process so you might like to give it a go too. 🙂
Let’s get the week rolling with some silliness! Are you kids ready for some goofy jokes and riddles? Here we go! 🙂
#1.) Why did the chicken go to the doctor?
Answer: For an eggs-amination!
#2.) What happens when ducks tell jokes?
Answer: They quack up!
#3.) What did the bee say to his girlfriend?
Answer: “You are bee-utiful!”
#4.) What do you get if you cross Little Red Riding Hood with a bird?
Answer: Robin Hood!
#5.) Why are giraffes not allowed to drive cars?
Answer: They would cause giraffic jams!
#6.) What do you call horses in adjoining stalls?
Answer: Neigh-bors!
#7.) How did the llama travel to the fancy party?
Answer: In a llama-sine!
#8.) What do you call a sneak attack by a pig?
Answer: A ham-bush!
#9.) What happened to the leopard that fell into the washing machine?
Answer: He came out spotless!
#10.) What do you call a dinosaur that delivers packages?
Answer: Fed Rex!
Hahaha! I hope those riddles brightened your day and set off a nice round of giggles! 🙂
Have you ever heard of a chaffle? Well, you know what a waffle is, right? Chaffles are made with cheese and they are quite yummy! So let’s take a look at how I made some chaffles for my husband and I. First off, I used my mini waffle maker that I found at WalMart for around $10.
It’s really cute and just the right size for 1 or 2 people.
There are lots of different chaffle recipes floating around out there but this is how I did it. You’ll need 2 Tablespoons of almond flour, 1/2 Cup of grated cheese, 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. These can be made gluten free. 🙂
I made 2 different batches of batter. For the first batch I used cheddar cheese and for the second batch I used mozzarella cheese. Both were quite tasty! 🙂 Put the ingredients into a small bowl.
Stir until all ingredients are moistened. This is the cheddar mixture.
And here is the mozzarella mixture. The egg I used for the mozzarella batch was larger and so the ingredients were more “soupy”.
Preheat your mini waffle iron according to the manufacturers directions. While it’s heating, make sure any assistants are ready to help you. This is my assistant, Rusty. 😉
When the waffle iron is hot, spoon some batter onto the waffle iron and close the lid. Make sure not to overfill the waffle iron or the batter will run out.
Check your chaffle after a few minutes and see if it looks done enough to suit you. Mine took less than 5 minutes to cook. This is the cheddar chaffle all ready for someone to take a bite!
This is the mozzarella chaffle that my husband very quickly gobbled up! 😉
This recipe made 2 -3 chaffles each. Chaffles make a great quick snack or even part of a meal. I bet they would be great with a fried egg on top. I added a drizzle of honey to mine and that made it even better. I hope you’ll give the chaffles a try! 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day! 🙂
Here’s a great super fast dessert for this Valentine’s Day! So fun and easy you won’t believe it and your kids will love it! It’s a Mug Cake, which means you mix it and cook it all in a coffee mug. You will need 2 cake mixes. 1 must be an angel food cake mix and the second one can be your favorite cake flavor. I chose Chocolate Fudge. The brand of cake mixes I used was Betty Crocker but others will work just fine too.
Pour both dry cake mixes into a bowl that you can store the ingredients in.
Stir together carefully as the powder will “poof” easily. 😉 Be sure its mixed together well.
Now comes the fun part! Put 3 tablespoons of the cake mix into a microwave safe mug.
Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir together. Make sure all the dry powder on the bottom and sides of the mug are mixed in well. It will look a little foamy.
Put the mug in your microwave oven and microwave for 1 minute and presto! You have a little individual cake! 🙂
Let it cool to your desired temperature. Top with a dollop of frosting or some whipped cream or ice cream. I used whipped cream and it was quite yummy! 🙂
Doesn’t it look delicious?!
Mmmm! Super simple and super tasty! A great way to have something sweet and it’s already a controlled portion. 😉
Enjoy your Mug Cake! 🙂 You can be sure I’m enjoying mine! 😉
The Kids Niche 