Munchkin Monday: Chore Charts

So my kiddos are old enough to help pitching in with helping around the house and I wanted to try and make it as fun as possible for them. I also wanted to be able to teach them that part of living in a family is helping around the house and not expecting anything out of it, but I also want to teach them about earning and budgeting money at an early age. I browsed around pinterest and looked at a lot of different chore charts out there and decided to combine two that I really liked and created my own. I debated on whether to use pictures or write what the chores were, but decided to go with pictures to make it more fun and so my almost 3 year old can see and understand what each chore is. To incorporate earning money I made a bonus section where my children can choose if he/she wants to do that extra chore(s) and if they do, they can earn money as a result-.25 a extra chore. At the end of the month I will add up how much extra work they have done and then with the money I'm going to teach them to split that up and pay tithing, themselves, and what's left is spending money. My girl who is 5 seems really excited about this and I am hoping that they work as good as these look. We have only been using these for a few days now, but so far so good!

To make your own chart like this you will need:

• 2 metal cookie sheets ( I got mine at the dollar store)
• Spray paint (I used my kids' favorite colors)
• paper tape
• clear pebbles that can be found at any craft store
• magnetic tape roll
• an adhesive of some kind for the pebbles. I used some Zots that can be found in any scrapbooking section at a craft store
• chores printable-you can browse the internet for some of these or make your own. I found some for free on http://homeschoolcreations.com
• scrapbook paper 

I first printed my child's name and the tittles off my computer, placed them on some scrapbook paper, and cut them out all nice. Next I cut out the chores and adhered them to the pebbles using Zots. This is what they look like all done:

Next you will cut small sections of the magnetic tape and place it on all of the stuff. After that spray paint your cookie sheets. I made sure to apply a clear finishing spray after the paint had dried to "protect" the paint. Next put a strip of the paper tape down the center of the cookie sheet so you can make a column for the To Do's and Done's. Next apply some magnetic tape of the back of the cookie sheet(s) so you can place them on your fridge or any other magnetic surface. The final step is to put all your stuff on. You now can use your totally awesome and cute charts!!!

Munchkin Monday: Reindeer Food

I know Christmas break starts today for most schools around us and those kiddos of yours are probably already looking for something fun to do, but then maybe some of you have kids that have their break all planned out and know what they're going to do each day. Whether you have bored kids or kids that have their break all planned out I have a great little activity for you to do. With Christmas Eve tomorrow what would be more perfect to do than make a little bit of reindeer food to help Santa's reindeer make sure and find your house! My family has made some of this before and then I know Trinity just made some cause her little boy and my daughter go to same preschool and he handed some out to everyone of his classmates. Reindeer food is way easy to make and your kids will love making some! They will love knowing Santa and his reindeer won't miss their house.

To make reindeer food all you need is:

Oats

Bird seed

Glitter in any color but it's more festive in red and green (or you can use colored sugar crystals)

There is no set measurements so just combine a little bit of each and viola you now have food for Santa's reindeer!

If you are giving this away to some friends or family make sure to include these simple instructions: 

"Sprinkle on the lawn at night, 

The moon will make it sparkle bright,

 As Santa's reindeer fly and roam, 

This will guide them to your home."

Munchkin Monday: Family Traditions

 I thought I would take a some time today and talk about one of our family traditions that we do with our kids. But first, I want to take you through a little of what happened with my lovely children this week. 

 In case you can't tell, that's diaper cream. I saw them at first on the couch being very quiet and painting each others faces with it. And the couch. Ahhhh!! Yes I still took a picture, it was to funny to miss. But we are still trying to remove the cream from the couch. So any ideas you have would be appreciated.

Now onto our tradition! I love going to the State Fair, always have. The fried food, smelly animals, and not so great entertainment just makes me happy. So of course the boys have been going with us since they were born. Our oldest came for the first time just a little after three months after he was born.

So how we commemorate our time is caricatures! It is such a fun way to document growing up and a fun family time. Above is the man who has done it every year so far.

 Here is 2010.

 2011

 2012

And this year. Aren't they fun? We are still working on ideas of how to display them but until then just having them done every year is such a blast. So what is your family tradition? If you can't think of one, start one! Make memories with your kids that they will remember throughout their lives. It doesn't have to be complicated to be memorable.

Munchkin Monday: DIY Days of the Week Closet Organizers

This is a repost from my other blog that I published last year and I have loved it SO much that I wanted to share it again with y'all!


I am obsessed with the dollar store. To the point where I may need some intervention.  My biggest weakness is for all the cheap organizational stuff. I find myself buying plastic bins with no idea what I will use it for... and they just collect in a happy, one-day-I-will-use-them heap in my basement. And it certainly doesn't help that one is VERY close to my house, either. :)

I also have wanted to create something that will help my daughter get ready faster in the morning (my gal is just not a morning person). I have seen adorable hanger cards but they just weren't what I was looking for (lacking durability). When I was meandering down the craft aisle at the local Dollar Tree and saw these foam door hangers at 3 for $1 I knew I had an easy, budget friendly solution! (side note: I really enjoy meandering down the aisles at the dollar store)

Here is my final product! Using 7 foam hangers and a sharpie! I know the dollar store has different shapes- the heart ones fit nicely on our hangers, so that would be my recommendation for anyone interested in making these. I also color coordinated the hearts on top by using red for the weekend, pink for school days, and yellow for weekdays with no school.

We pick the outfits once a week. If my daughter changes her mind about her outfit for the day she has every right to pick something else! This just gives her something to fall back on, for those late mornings. Which we have a lot of around here... :)

A closet door knob is a great place to store these organizational gems once the outfit has been worn.

We are not perfect at using this system. There are weeks that slip by where we haven't used our clothing organizers. But when we do use them its been a wonderful way to shave off some time deciding what to wear in those chaotic mornings. :)

Happy Teaching!
Keri

Munchkin Monday: Back to School Countdown

I don't have any school age kids. I know, I know, why in the world would I make this? Because. It's adorable. Right? I saw this idea on (where else) Pinterest and I couldn't help myself. The original idea came from the blog This and That.

I found a simple drawing of a school bus on Google image, picked out my paper and got started.

I started by cutting out my bus with an exact-o knife. I cut out the wheels separately because I knew I wanted them to be a different color. Your choice if you want to do that or not. I think cutting out the windows is a must.

Then I taped the bus to my paper and got to cutting again. I decided to flip my bus over so you could see the cute flower print on the final product.

I happened to have these cardboard letters from another product and colored them with sharpie for the side of the school bus. I also colored the wheels black. (I had no black paper)

I used this niffty tape I got from staples to stick everything on.

Then I made two inch squares of orange paper and taped/glued the count down numbers to them. (The numbers are just like the cardboard letters from above)

I attached small rectangles of Velcro to each square using hot glue.

And attached the other side to the green paper, all equal distances apart.

The finishing touches were writing the words, (the worst looking part in my opinion, I am not a huge fan of my hand writing) and adding the ribbon on the back to hang it. Just as a side note I used numbers 0 - 9 and made 1 and 2 twice. You could count down from 30 days if you wanted to. (To big of a number to start with in my opinion but 12 numbers looked better on my page than 11. :)

Hope this gets you and your kids in the mood for school. You could even involve them in the process of making it. Everyone have all their school supplies yet? I love school supplies!!

Munchkin Monday: Simple Paint Project

This little activity was inspired by Andrew begging to help me with a painting project I am working on in my house. So while I am not willing to let him help paint the walls of my house yet I still wanted my boys to get in on the painting fun. This is nothing ground breaking. It is paint, paper, brushes, and the outdoors.

The boys each picked a color of paint at the store and I picked the white as kind of a neutral contrast.

Yes they are naked. Sorry if that offends. Apparently I need to find a way to make some smocks. :)

Look at my little artists. They had so much fun and it turned out to be a really good lesson in mixing colors too.

 Jacobs Masterpeice

Andrews Masterpeice

And here is whats left of the paint. Explore and create with your kids. Make memories that will last, and then go give them a bath!!!

Munchkin Monday: Dessert Shish Kabob

Why is this a Munchkin Monday?? Well it is because my 9 yr old daughter is on a treat making kick! She is always wanting to make desserts and treats for us and her friends. 

This is her creation. 

1st make a box of brownies (I say box cause for kids this is her easiest option to use) 

2nd clean and cut your strawberries

3rd pull out your mini marshmallows

4th cut brownies into squares and roll into balls. 

5th put everything onto the skewers

6th serve and eat! 

p.s. If you don't roll the brownies into balls then they just pull off the skewers and fall right off. 

Munchkin Monday: Banana Muffins

I love my kids, but I HATE feeding them. I am not creative when it comes to meals and snacks and we tend to get stuck in ruts where they eat the same 5 meals for weeks on end. While I have looked online (Pinterest) and there are amazing Mom's out there who put together amazing meals and take beautiful photo's of them, and while I can admire what they are doing, I need a more practical way for myself to plan meals. So I am making lists!! Yay me! One for breakfast, lunch, and snacks with recipes to go with. This way I can look at my lists before going shopping and buy accordingly and when I get home and can't think of anything to make I have a plan in place. Now my hope is to pass on my awesome lists to all of you out there but I want to test out some of the recipes first. Lets get started.

So first up is BREAKFAST! These muffins were so tasty that we made a batch two days in a row and my husband ate six for breakfast yesterday.

I adapted this recipe from thriftyfun.com you can find that link here.

This is my crazy cute helper for the day :)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, sugar, and baking powder. In a separate bowl mix the bananas, egg, salt, and coconut oil. I think that using a potato masher is the best way to combine the banana mixture. Also if you would prefer you can use 1/3 cup of butter in place of the coconut oil.

Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients until just moistened. Its fine if its just a little lumpy looking.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. It took about 2 heaping tablespoons to fill my cups. (And yes they are left over from Easter) Sprinkle the extra sugar over the muffins. You don't need the extra sugar but I liked the little extra crunch it gave. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

All that is left to do is enjoy. These banana muffins have a satisfying texture that is not to dense and not to light. A wonderful fast and easy breakfast. You could mix it up and add a little cinnamon or some chocolate chips and they would store wonderfully in the freezer.  My only warning is that one batch only makes 15 muffins so make a double batch. You are going to need it. 

Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, sugar, and baking powder. In a separate bowl mix the bananas, egg, salt, and coconut oil. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Sprinkle the extra sugar over the muffins. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Munchkin Mondays: Summer Fun at Station Park with Radio Disney

Hey everyone I just wanted to share this fun activity with you. Station Park in Farmington, Radio Disney, and  Macaroni Kid is teaming up this summer the first Monday evening of every month for Family First Mondays.

From 5:30pm to 7pm you can go enjoy free family fun. I haven't been to one yet but we are planning on being at the next one on July 1st for the Beach Party Bash! It would be fun to see you all there.

The below came from the Macaroni Kid website. If you want to see more here is the link.

FAMILY FIRST MONDAYS

Radio Disney and Macaroni Kid are hosting Free Family Fun on the first Monday of every month in The Village at Station Park! 

July 1 Beach Party Bash
Aug 5 Planes’ Powwow
Sept 2 Sofia the First Shindig
Oct 7 Doc McStuffin Day

For all of you who have never seen or heard of Macaroni Kid it is a great website and group that keeps track of and creates fun activities for kids in the Farmington-Layton area. You can sign up to get a weekly e-mail from them listing all the activities in your area. Check it out and I hope I will see some of you there.