Food Foolery

A few years ago I got the sudden and uncontrollable urge to celebrate April Fool's Day.  It took a little preparation but it ended up being oh so worth it to see the look on my kids' faces when the realized they had been "fooled".  They were BEGGING me to play more tricks on them.  Of course, you can't play a trick on some one when they know it's coming.  So, the foolery stopped there.  But, looking at these pictures has me itching to play some tricks again.  And, I'm thinking that it doesn't need to be April Fools day at all....nope, I think I could blindside them on a random Tuesday and it would be even better. :) 

Here's how our last day of tricks went down:

When the kids came to the breakfast table they found bowls already full of Cheerios. We had rigged the bowls by putting drops of food coloring in them before we poured in the cereal. So, when they poured the milk into their bowls it was green! Then we did the same thing with their glasses of milk. We held the bottom of the cups so that they couldn't see the food coloring and they watched in amazement as the white milk turned green when it was poured into the cup....."Whoa!" is all they could say :) Then they commented on how good the colored milk tastes (I guess presentation is REALLY important to a kids' taste buds)  That's yellow MILK he has.

Next, I tricked both my husband and my daughter by putting a raisin in the end of their tubes of toothpaste.  It truly looked like a bug had crawled in and gotten stuck.  Try it, it's sure to get an "EEEEWWW!"

Lunch was full of tricky food too. Cheetos (I opened the bag, filled it with baby carrots, and then resealed it)  My kids did not find this nearly as amusing as I did and insisted on knowing what had happened to the REAL Cheetos.

We also had grilled cheese sandwiches (AKA: slices of pound cake toasted in the toaster and then spread with orange frosting)

I thought this looked so authentic and apparently it was so convincing to the kids that they hardly noticed the taste because after school I asked my daughter if she like the grilled cheese and she said "Yeah, it was so good" and I asked her if it tasted like cake and she she said (thoughtfully) "......Yeah, it DID taste like cake!" Apparently she had been so distracted by the Cheetos that it had never really sunk in about the cake :)

The finale of the evening was our FOOD FOOLERY DINNER. Can you tell which foods are a trick?...They all are!!!

CHICKEN NUGGETS:

Nutter Butter cookies coated in peanut butter and then rolled in crushed cornflakes.

ORANGE DRINK:

Orange JELLO set up in clear cups.  My son was totally baffled by this and kept tipping his cup higher and higher to get some to come out. Finally he announced "My drink is STUCK in my CUP!"

PEAS:

Green apple Laffy Taffy rolled into tiny little balls.  Yes, it took some time but my kids were totally surprised and asked for Laffy Taffy peas for a year afterwards.

CUPCAKES:

Meatloaf cupcakes with colored mashed potato frosting.We found this much more funny than my kids did.  I would reccomend having some real cupcakes on hand to soften the blow and to use as an incentive to finish the dinner cupcakes ;)

And, my kids even pulled a few little tricks on me.  See this piece of bread?....they covered it in drops of food coloring and them told me our bread had some weird mold on it....

It's just too much fun being a parent sometimes.

Imagination City

Every once in a while I can see that my kids would really love to do a project.  And, not just a little project. Something that totally engages them, something open ended and creative...something that that will cause thier mom to stop what she is doing and enter their world for a while.  A few days ago I could see it my sons eyes.  My four year old had asked me to play with him multiple times and I kept responding with "sure, right after I finish this..." or "just let mama clean up these dishes first and then..." I could see that he was needing some serious mom time. 

So, I stopped, looked him in the eyes, and said the thing that I knew would make him happy.... "Do you want to build a paper city with me?" His little eyes lit up because he knew what that meant.  It meant that we were embarking on an imagination project together that was serious business.  We've done this before so I knew I was devoting a good little part of the afternoon to this "paper city" but that was the point.  We both needed it.  So what is a paper city? It's whatever you want it to be.  It's imagination at it's finest.  It starts with a pile of paper, some sharpies, crayons, scissors, and tape.

 Then, we ask the question  "so what do you want in your city?"

This time my son started out with fish.  He wanted a fish pond in his city.  He drew some fish and then I cut them out for him. 

 Soon we were creating skyscrapers from posterboard and a zoo for tiny  paper animals.

We folded the bottom part of the paper to make a little ledge so that we could tape the pictures down and they would stand upright.

 He was creating storylines and we kept on drawing and cutting and taping.  When my daughter arrived home from school she jumped right in and made some houses and a school.

 We even constructed this bus with teeny tiny people in it.

 Then, when my husband walked in from his run he sat down on the floor and drew a football field and a stadium...and a golf course (the dream city :)  We were on our way to making a two headed man (don't ask me...I just cut the stuff out) and some other people who  lived in the city but eventually it was time for dinner and homework. 

I felt happy looking at our little city as I made dinner.  It was a little momento of an afternoon well spent.  I had talked and listened and laughed with my kids and that good lookin' imaginary city was a symbol of our time together.  And after all the kids were in bed I heard little footsteps coming back down the stairs.  Then I saw a messy haired child poke his head around the corner and say "Mom....don't throw away that paper city OK?"  I smiled and agreed (I usually end up keeping them for a few days to a week until the novelty wears off)  Then, in a few months we will be ready to create a new, and totally original Imagination City.  What a great day.

Try it out.  It's quite a relaxing way to spend some one on one time with your kids.

Bubble Wrap Hop Scotch

I was browsing some fun blogs the other day when I found this awesome idea on giverslog.com!  She has a section on her blog that features fun things you can send in the mail that weigh 13oz. or less. and  bubble wrap hopscotch was one of my favorites. This is not only a cool and lightweight package to send in the mail, but it's also just an all around fun thing to with the kids at home.  Because, honestly, WHO DOESN'T like bubble wrap?! So, of course, when I went to the store yesterday I had to pick up a roll of bubblewrap and try this out.

All you do is cut the bubble wrap into squares, use a sharpie to put numbers on each square, and lay it out in hopscotch formation.

 We ended up putting a little packing tape on the back of each square so that they wouldn't slide around too much when the kids "hopped" on them.

Then we grabbed a small toy to use as a marker and we were ready to go!  My kids LOVED this!  They played hopscotch OVER and OVER again and delighted in the popping sounds that filled the room .

And my baby just ran over the top of it over and over again and laughed.  There is enough "POP" in one set of these squares for the kids to play quite a few games of hopscotch.  One roll of bubble wrap was enough to make about three sets. 

Here's some tips:
1. Wear socks.  Bare feet can sometimes stick to the bubble wrap a little.
2.  A little tape on the back of the squares will make this game go MUCH better!
3.  Let the kids help.  The loved setting it up, playing the game, taking it apart, the whole thing!

So next time you have a rainy day or just need something fun to do with the kids try this out!  Even I wanted to jump on the bubbles and hear them pop.  Have fun hopscotching :)

P.S. Check out how cool this is as a gift to send to nieces and nephews or friends in the mail here

Shaving Cream Creations

All right, I've been a blogging dud for the past week.  But the truth is that this week I've been....boring.  Yes, boring.  Oh sure, we've been to the zoo and we went swimming and we read lots of stories but as far as creativity....NOTHING.  It's not that I don't have lots of ideas swirling around in me head waiting for me to use them.  No, it's that I feel a total sense of summer idleness setting in.  Luckily there's only a few weeks until school starts or I might melt into a blissful puddle of summer goo.  So, I decided to dig into my picture archives to find out what we did for fun when I was using full speed school year style brainpower.

And, this was a good one.  As you may have noticed from post such as shaving cream painting and shaving cream wars, I have an affection for shaving cream.  It's so smooth and moldable and washable and it has so much potential. It's like frosting, or paint...only...more shaving cream like.  So, one day a few months ago the natives were restless and I was trying to think of something to keep everyone busy until dinner time and we found two cans of leftover shaving cream under the bathroom sink.  Did I mention that I love the way that you can spray it out of the can into little designs?  You can use it to make moustaches, eyebrows, and beards.  You can add food coloring, mix it around and paint yourself.  Why would you want to do this?  Because your kids will find it wildly funny.

Then, if its still not time for dinner you can pull out some cake pans, and pretend that you are cake decorators.  We got out the pastry bags and tips, colored our shaving cream like icing, turned our pans upside down, and went to work.  We used spatulas and knives and made some mighty fine looking cakes.  If you try this be sure to put a bowl full of water in the middle of the table to rinse hands and tools in (they can get quite goopy.)

Meanwhile, we smeared it all over the table and then scraped it back into a pile and smeared it all over again. (make sure your table is shaving cream safe...no fancy wood or anything.  You might want to use your countertop)  My kids giggled with glee as they added drops of food coloring and squished their fingers into the goop to mix the new colors in.  It was pure freedom of expression.  And, when we were done we just scraped it all of the table with a spatula, rinsed the dishes in the sink, and wiped ourselves off.  Spontanaiety at it's best.  If you don't have cans of shaving cream on hand I would highly reccomend you stock up.  You never know when a you might need to host a last minute shaving cream creation fest.  Good times.

Experimental Cakes

My husband is the fifth of seven children.  By the time he came around there was no need to hire a babysitter if mom and dad had to go out.  There were older children to watch the younger ones.  I'm sure that many a great adventure was had when all the kids were left home to fend for themselves.  I doubt that I know even the least of them.  But, one thing I have heard about is their kitchen experiments.  When only the kids were home they would create "secret recipes"...aka crazy concoctions.  I imagine that the kitchen did not look pretty after these experiments.  And, my husband informs me that the recipes never turned out to be much good either.  But, it was good fun and he still loves to create his own masterpieces when he cooks.

With that in mind, today I decided to venture where I do not often go... I let the kids make their own experimental cakes. Anything goes.  They chose the amounts, proportions, and ingredients. Don't don't tune out on me mamas, it's not as crazy as it sounds, this was really fun.  Take a deep breath and tell yourself you can do this.  I gave them a little lesson before hand about what usually goes in a cake.  A cake always has:

Flour

Sugar

Eggs

Butter, oil, or some kind of fat

Leavening (like baking powder)

and some kind of liquid

I set those ingredients out on the table and with that, we set out into the unknown.  They looked so empowered as they debated on how much sugar they should add whether they had achieved just the right taste. 

They chose their components carefully. We even wrote down the recipes as we went along.

 My daughter chose to divide up her batter and  infuse each one with a different flavor (strawberry, coconut, and chocolate) and then layer the batters to try to make a neopolitan look.  I was impressed.

The batter was quite yummy, really it was.  We licked out fingers alot.

 I had serious hope that they may turn out to be Iron Chefs someday.  They could hardly wait until the cakes came out of the oven.  And when we got out first glimpse of them they looked......squished. 

Lovely but squished.  Perhaps the fact that each cake had only one egg?

After taking a look at the cakes we created our own icings, based again on the kids' ideas. 

Finally we all sat down to the table to sample their wares.  The first bite was, um, dense.  But come on, it was their first attempt at cake making. 

We each took a few bites and let them slowly mill around in our mouths before we helped them slide down with a glass of milk.  I tried to be positive.  "Thanks for helping me bake these cakes CHEF!" I said to my son.  He gave me a weird look and said

 "I'm no CHEF!  I'm weak! That was DISGUSTING!"

My wonderfully pleasant daughter tried to smooth over the situation.  "I tasted yours" she said to him "And I think it was...(I could tell she was searching for a polite thing to say that wasn't totally dishonest)  But, while she thought he filled in the blanks "AWFUL?"  he said.  "Maybe a little ROTTEN EGGY?"

I couldn't help it, I cracked up laughing.  The cakes were just not very good.  But we had a great time and they said they want to do it again..only with more eggs and....a little more research on cake making.  It tooks us a few hours to do this together and it was time well spent.  We talked and we learned things about baking and the kids felt important. It was the kind of afternoon that left us with happy, funny memories. So, the next time you are looking for something to do with the kids let down your guard a little and bake some experimental cakes.  Only, don't plan on serving them to company or anything.