More Easter Ideas

Since it is Wednesday and Easter is just around the corner I thought I would give an idea on decorating your eggs without all the dye and mess. I love the dye and mess myself, but I know there are many parents out there that would prefer not to go that route.

A WAY TO DECORATE WITHOUT DYE

So this is a very simple idea and perfect for those families that don't have alot of down time to be able to dye their eggs.

WHAT YOU NEED:

craft or white glue
paint brush
craft supplies (sprinkles, sequins, buttons, beads, tissue paper, glitter,pompom balls,sticker etc.)

DIRECTIONS:

The easiest way to do this is poor the glue in a bowl, use a paint brush to brush the glue on the egg
Then decorate it, if you are using things like glitter or sequins your best bet is to roll the egg in it.
Then let the egg dry :)

Another thing you could do is put dots of glue on the egg or lines of glue and just cover the glued part with your decorations GO Wild with this


Here is a Quick and Easy Dinner~Takes about 20-30 min Makes 4 servings
CHICKEN LO MEIN

What you need
1 tablespoon oil-sesame or peanut oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin slices
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce or teriyaki sauce
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger or 1 teaspoon powder
1 3-ounce package chicken flavor ramen noodle soup
1 1-lb bag frozen mixed oriental vegetables
1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until no longer pink.
2. Add vegetables and lid. Cook until vegetables are cooked through, about 5 minutes.
3. In the meantime, cook the noodles (without the flavoring packet) according to package directions. Drain.
4. Add soy sauce, garlic, ginger and seasoning packet to water. Mix well. Pour over chicken and vegetables, add noodles and toss to mix.
~Big thanks to Family.com for this recipe

Easter Ideas day 2

Here we go with day 2 of Easter Ideas. I love Easter, this time of year brings about the best Candy. I would even go so far as to say I think Easter candy is better than Christmas candy. My favorite is the sweet tarts shaped like bunnies and ducks. Don't forge to check your local target, Rite Aid, Fred meyer/Kroger, Walgreens/CVS, Walmart, or Alberstons for great candy deals this week.
Here is a fun Easy Easter Craft

JELLY BEAN CARROTS~you have seen these in stores, but why buy them when you can make them for so much less :)

What You Need:

cellophane cone shaped bags or clear plastic icing bags (these are usually available at Michaels, or sometimes in the cake decorating aisle; in a pinch, you can fashion your own from a rectangular, clear plastic bag of some kind - simply fold the bag diagonally to form a triangular cone then secure the lengthwise seam with transparent tape)

orange and green jelly beans

green tissue paper

green curling ribbon

Instructions:
1. Fill the bag about half full with orange jelly beans. Add a layer of green jelly beans. Prop the bag inside a narrow vase or wine glass to hold it up while you work on the next steps.

2. Cut a strip of folded green tissue paper that is a little wider than the length now available from the top of the green jelly beans to the edge of the bag. Make sure the double-layered tissue paper strip is long enough to roll easily into a loose circle that will fit nicely inside the top of the bag. A generous overlap when you slide the ends of the circle together is fine and will add a little body to the top of the carrot.

3. Roll the tissue paper strip loosely and fit it inside the bag, pushing it down to meet the top layer of green jelly beans.

4. Tie one or two strands of curling ribbon around the bag, just above the green jelly beans, so that the ribbon cinches the bag tightly and holds the tissue paper in place.

Curl the ends of the ribbon.

If you check your local grocery stores many times they will have bulk Jelly Beans, this will make it easier to find the orange and green.
~Thanks to allfreecrafts.com for this great idea.




Here is an easy and quick Easter dessert: These could also make a great gift

BIRD NEST
Ingredients:

Chow mien noodles
chocolate chips or brick chocolate
Jelly beans
candy coated chocolate eggs
marshmallow chicks
peanut butter
wax paper
paper plates (colored plates optional)


Directions:

Place squares of wax paper onto to individual plates. Put chow mien noodles in a large bowl. If using brick chocolate, break into pieces. Melt chocolate chips or pieces in the microwave, or over low heat on stove, just until melted. Pour melted chocolate over chow mien noodles, mix together to coat.

Place mounds of chocolate/chow mien mixture onto several plates (on top of waxed paper). Have children form the mixtures into nests. Be sure the chocolate has cooled, but don't wait too long or it will harden!

Using peanut butter as an adhesive, "glue" down the jelly beans and candy coated chocolate eggs inside the nest cavity. "Glue" marshmallow chick on the edge of or inside of the nest.

These make fun gifts from kids to their friends, teacher and family members. You can also make these nests at birthday parties as a fun and edible take home party favor.
~Thanks to Familycorner.com for this fabulous recipe

Easter Week

Since Easter is this coming weekend, I am going to focus this whole week on fun things to do in preparation for Easter. All of the things I will blog about will be fun and frugal, which is always my favorite. This last weekend went by so fast, I lost track of time. Today is the start of school again, for the my husband, the kids, and myself. The busy life returns :) We will make the best of it as usual. The Friday family fun night will be in full bloom now.

So Here is a great Easter craft idea:
A Rabbit Windsock

What you will need:

white paint
tissue/crate paper (spring colors)
2 liter bottle with top and bottom cut off
string
stapler

Instructions:

Paint the part of the bottle you cut off which would be the middle. Let dry.

Glue on the eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

Staple the tissue/crate paper to the bottom.

Staple the string to the top and hang up.


Here is also a great sweet treat for all the marshmallow lovers out there:

What you need:

Marshmallows
Scissors
Toothpick
Food coloring

How To:
Using scissors, make a diagonal cut in the upper left corner of the marshmallow.

Gently lift the corner and make a snip down the middle.

Use your fingers to separate the ears and angle them outward.

From the point where the first cut was made, snip to the middle of the marshmallow.

Pinch the cut end slightly to form a rounded tail.

For the bunny's face, make an 1/4-inch horizontal cut midway between the base of the ears and the bottom of the marshmallow.

Create the feet by making a diagonal cut in the lower left corner of the marshmallow. Divide the feet as shown.

Using a toothpick dipped in food coloring, draw on the eyes, nose, and whiskers.



Check out this fabulous deal going on at Childrens Place online
Click here for amazing deal

There are so many great deals going on right now especially with Easter around the corner. You will find many stores are right now having great sales on Easter outfits and shoes, don't forget to take advantage of those too.

Friday wooohooo

I love Friday's for one it is the last day of the work week,but for two it is family night here. So of course we are going to have to vote on what we want to do, but my vote is going towards eating dinner out as a family and then bringing home a movie. You have to check out restaurant.com. They offer gift certificates for very great deals. I just had one of my blog readers contact me to tell me she spent $6.40 for 3 $25 gift certificates and 1 $10. The way it works you type in the zipcode or city you are looking for and then it will show what restaurants are in on this program. Almost all the restaurants do have a minimum purchase to use the gift certificates, but its normally min. purchase of $35 for a $25 gift certificate, so you only pay n$10 plus tip. It still ends up being a great deal. Also right now if you type in the code word COOK when checking out it will give you 80% off. Yay!!

Since Easter is right around the corner I will be featuring some different crafts for the kids over the next couple of days:

Supplies:
1 sheet brown construction paper
Contact paper, approximately 13” x 16”
Colorful tissue paper
Scissors

Fold the construction paper in half like a greeting card.

Cut out a cross from the construction paper. Carefully cut out the centers of the cross according to the pattern.

Carefully peel backing off of the contact paper and place it on the work surface, sticky side up.

Open the construction paper cross like a greeting card, there should still be one connecting side.

Place the right side of the cross carefully onto the left side of the contact paper and press down to adhere. The left side of the cross should be laying open like a greeting card, the right side of the contact paper will be needed later.

Tear or cut tissue paper and place all over the cross. Overlap colors as you go so that you do not have any empty spaces.

When all spaces are covered, carefully close the cross like a greeting card, lining up so that it matches up.

Fold the right side of the contact paper onto the cross and press down. Press out any air bubbles.

Use scissors to cut the cross out of the contact paper, trimming close to the edges.

Hang in a window and watch the sun shine through!

Here is a great snack idea:

Strawberries and Yogurt to dip. (Right now Safeway has their Strawberries BOGO)

Day 4 Of Spring Break

Just a quick note, don't forget to check out the new crafts/Deals/and recipes tabs on the top. My favorite section is the deals section, I am going to find great deals and post them their for you all to take advantage of.

Alright so only 3 more days and school starts for all of us. So I better enjoy these next couple of days. Today I want to take my kiddos to the zoo. Here is the trick with the zoo, I know a season pass costs a lot up front, but dang it is worth it. I know price all depends on where you live, but here the Oregon Zoo cost $79. Once that is paid you can go to the zoo year round for free. If you live in this area or are here to visit another great option is to go on Tuesday, they have a discount day. $2 per person is all it will cost for you to be able to take your kids. I love the zoo not only do you get to see all the animals, but you also can watch shows, learn new things, and have a picnic. The whole entire day can be spent at the zoo. At the end of the day, the kids will be so tired and ready for relaxation and bed time.



If you live in an area where there is not a zoo close by, see if there are any sort of children museums,aquariums or any other kid friendly place. Most offer memberships. If you still find there is nothing to do, try going to the Library. I know my kids can spend hours at the Library.



If none of this sounds fun to you or you just don't have the time try this:

dedicate 30 minutes of your time to sitting with your kids and read them their favorite book, but this time be sure to change your voice and facial expressions for the characters. If you are up to it, you could put down the book and act out a story instead. The look on the kiddos faces when you are done is priceless.



Great dinner idea:

Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner)

This is a favorite in our household we go all out.



Pancakes or hasbrowns

eggs

sausage/bacon



To make this even more fun, have everyone where their PJs to dinner. This makes it feel even more breakfasty. Then when everyone is done, they are all set for bed time :)

Day 3 of Spring Break

So here we are on Day 3 of our Spring Break. Needless to say the kids are getting a little restless so I need to find something for them to do. Since it is a nice day outside (and we are stuck in an apartment) I think we are going to go outside and have a Rock Band......ok well its us three attempting to make music with a few different sizes of rocks. I have done this once before and it kept us busy for about 2 hours. We each took turns being the music director, the director was in charge of deciding who uses which rocks and what kind of a beat they should make. I loved it just because it was very time consuming, and FREE!!!

If you are not into making a ROCK BAND, here is a great craft idea for the bored kids.

Making Rock Bugs.....

Pick some big and small rocks

Get some craft paint

paint brushes

Once you have all your supplies let the kids have at it, they can paint their rocks to look like bugs or anything they desire, let their imagination run wild.

The best part is if you let them do this while they are outdoors there will be hardly any mess to clean up.

Here is a cheap fun lunch idea

make your childs favorite sandwich then take any shape cookie cutter and cut out their sandwhich.

keep the outer ring of the sandwich, place fruit, crackers,pretzals or any other solid food you serve for lunch.

This makes for a fun lunch with no extra money involved. The best part is many times kids get bored with the same old sandwich,but when you make it look different it somehow becomes a totally different sandwich.

This is the Start

So here I am in a new blogging adventure. I was sitting at the park yesterday thinking about how much I wish I could do this all the time (sit with my kiddos at the park). I am currently on Spring break, so i am making the most of it, sitting there watching my kids play I realized there is no reason why I can't make more time for them and my family. I just have to be creative about it. Money is tight here too so I need to be able to find ways to spend time with my family on a budget. That is when this idea hit me, why not blog about what I am doing to spend the quality time needed with my family. Every family out there needs quality time. So this blog will hopefully help all the busy parents, single parents, even the frugal parents.
A little background on us. My husband works fulltime and goes to school fulltime. I lost my job about 8 months ago, thats when I decided to go back to school and try my hand at starting up my own business. My daughter is 9 almost 10, she loves to cheer for the youth cheerleading program here. My son is 6 and he just loves his video games and soccer. To save money we are going to be moving in May to another state, school, city. My husband will still have his job, but he will be taking public transportation which will save us gas money. The main hope is to find a place just a little bit cheaper than where we are at now.

First idea is a Friday Family Fun night (doesn't have to be on Friday this just happens to be the best time for us). We dedicate every Friday to family time after dad gets off work. We then vote on what we want to do. Many times it is renting some movies and vegging out in front of the tv. Others it is a game night. There are many things you can do, something for every budget. Games, movies, family dinner, craft night, picnic on the living room floor and much much more. We have made it a tradition that every other friday we go out to dinner. Nothing too fancy ever, but it is fun for the kids. The other nights we normally have a family dinner making event. Everyone has a job and the kids love to help cook.

So heres to trying out your hand at a family night, I am telling you even the busiest people have a couple of hours they can dedicate. That is the key though, you have to block that time out as family time or it will never work, something will always come up. Have fun trying this out.

Here is a great dinner idea on the cheap:
Goofy noodles (bowtie, or wagon wheel)
pasta sauce
salad
bread

Its basically spaghetti, but if you can find silly noodles it makes it that much more fun. Its easy quick and cheap.