3-2-1 Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

I do not bake much. Using the word rarely is even stretching it. Rex doesn’t eat chocolate or cream cheese as they both give him migraines and on top of that, he isn’t a big sweet eater. So guess what ends up happening? I eat it all with some help from Charlie and Jack, but it is mostly me. When I do make cookies or a cake, I enjoy the raw batter or dough just as much as I love the finished product.

Now that I am pregnant, the days of licking the spoon have come to a halt since I don’t want to eat anything with raw eggs. But, leave it to Liz of Little Bitty Bakes to save the day. I found Liz’s blog through Bake at 350 (which I blogged about here). Liz has the most delicious sounding food, and it is not hard to make. Case in point her 3-2-1 Funfetti Cake Batter Dip (which I am eating right now!).

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

3 tbsp. Funfetti cake mix

2 tbsp. plain yogurt

1 tbsp. cool whip (or whipped cream)

Wisk cake mix and yogurt until smooth.  Fold in cool whip.  Refrigerate until serving.  Serve with pretzels or animal crackers. 

It is even better after it has been refrigerated and Charlie had fun stirring it up. I made this for his friends at school today. Can’t wait to hear how they liked it!

Picture Books

Rex and I both love reading to our kids, and fortunately they both like being read to. Jack is really into lift-the-flap books, while Charlie likes all the Miss Nelson books. Jack has been sick with pneumonia for the past couple of days, so we have been doing a lot of reading. I am also currently working on a project that involves picture books and thought that I would share some of my favorites with you. It is so nice to see favorites from my childhood become favorites of my children and also find some new good books along the way too!

Catch Santa In Your Home

Want to surprise your kids by capturing a picture of Santa in your home? Capture the Magic allows you to do so by uploading a photo of your home to their website and  dragging a picture of Santa into your picture.

Here is a picture of Santa in our den ready to unload all of the toys.

There are hundreds of different Santa images to choose from and you can adjust the size and contrast once he is in the photo. I did this whole thing in about two minutes.

To create your own picture, just click here and follow these three easy steps:

For $9.95, you get three photos credits that do not expire. It might be fun to add this to your family traditions. Leave the camera out before going to bed on Christmas Eve and tell your kids that you have set a motion detector on it. Then you can all be amazed when the picture is opened Christmas morning!

Gift Card Snow Globe

Even though I wrote a post last week about teacher gifts, up until today I did not have mine purchased. Unfortunately, I was hit this week with a terrible bug that kept me in bed for most of the week. I didn’t even turn my computer on for two days and haven’t checked Facebook even longer than that!!

Since my house is a wreck, my body is still recovering, and I temporarily misplaced my wallet (it was found tonight at HEB!), I resorted to the standard gift card. And, contrary to my earlier post, I did not have a clever gift to go along with it.

Fortunately, the ever so crafty girls at One Charming Party posted this quick and clever snow globe idea. I would post pictures of mine, but I can guarantee theirs look much better and I am still waiting for the glue to dry.

For the full tutorial, click here.

Portable North Pole

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen for kids. Santa sends your child an email containing a personal message. Not only does Santa speak your kid’s name, he also gives information about your child such as eye color, hair color, and city and state where you live. One of my friends introduced this to me last year and Charlie was even more excited to see it again this year.

The way it works is simple. Click Portable North Pole for the link. Fill in a short questionnaire about your child. Then, wait for the magic to appear in your inbox.

I have hyperlinked the picture with the message that I created for Charlie so that you can preview it before you do it for your child.

If the link doesn’t work, click here.

Elf on the Shelf

 

Look who finally made it to our house tonight!!

We L-O-V-E  LOVE the Elf on the Shelf at our house. Not only is the elf darling, but the book that comes along with it is pretty cute too! The elf “flies” off to the North Pole every night to report to Santa whether your child has been naughty or nice, The next day he appears in a different spot. Charlie enjoys looking for him each morning to see where he has landed.

The book asks the child to name their elf. Our creative genius Charlie aptly named his “Elf on the Shelf” when he was two. Each year I think that he will get a new name, but it has yet to happen. What are your elf names?

Etsy Find: Christmas Photo Booth Props

I have been a fan of Paper & Cake for awhile and yesterday while having some fun browsing Etsy during lunch, found the cutest holiday photo booth accessories. Photo booths are becoming increasing popular. Not only are they a great way to break the ice at any party, they also add some fun to your party pics! While Etsy offers props that are already assembled, these from Paper & Cake come in a downloadable file, hence giving you more for less (less money that is!) They would be a hit at either a kid’s party or an adult party.

For $9.95, the set includes a Santa hat and beard, Mrs. Claus spectacles, mustaches, lips, reindeer antlers, Rudolph’s nose, and banner. What a deal! Click here to purchase.

Thanksgiving Crafts

While these may not be edible (see previous), here are some other Turkey Day crafts that you and your kids can do together.

Turkey Centerpiece

Thankful Tree

Plymouth Rocks

Give Thanks Banner

Colorful Turkey

Candy Experiments

I was reading Parent’s magazine last month and they had a section called “Play With Your Food”. I flipped through it, not paying much attention until something at the bottom caught my eye - a rainbow made with Skittles. I liked the idea of this because it looked really fun, but mainly because I really like Skittles.

Here is how it works:

Take five cups and pour 2 tablespoons of water into each cup. Divide skittles among cups: 2 red, 4 orange, 6 yellow, 8 green, 10 purple. Skittle will dissolve in water. *I might warn you that this takes longer than you might expect. The directions say to heat if they are not dissolving fast enough. I found this to be a big mistake. Plan on it taking a good 2 hours to dissolve*

Once the skittles are all melted. A waxy film will develop on the top. Microwave for 5 seconds and stir.

Pour the purple liquid into a glass cup. Don’t use anything too big. Remember you are using 2 tablespoons of water. Next pour the green mixture. The instructions say to pour slowly over the back of a spoon. Again, this did not work for me. I used a medicine syringe and it worked perfectly. The idea is that the less dense liquids will float on top of the denser ones. Repeat with yellow, orange, and red, respectively.

And, viola! You have your own candy rainbow!

(should have found a cleaner glass!)

You can find this experiment plus many others here.

Or, if all else fails, do what my mom suggests and make a batch of cookies. Cut up all the Halloween chocolate, and throw it into the mix. Yummm…sounds scrumptious!