Homemade Lava Bottles

These have been on my to do list ever since I saw them over on Meet the Dubiens!  The question that kept coming to my mind was "how the heck is this going to work?"  And when that question goes through my mind... I have to figure it out.  So 14 months later... here we are.

I can't even begin to tell you how cool these are!  And how much my kids loved them.  Who am I kidding... I was pretty fascinated by them as well!  And so easy!
You will need:
*clear plastic bottles
* vegetable oil (or any kind of oil)
* water
* food coloring
* Alka Seltzer

Remove the label from the bottle and fill about 3/4 of the way with oil.  Fill the rest of the way with water.

Add about 10 drops of food coloring.  The food coloring will stay in tony beads while it travells to the water.  It will take a couple of minutes and then penetrate the water and turn it.  It's pretty cool to watch.

Cut up a tablet of Alka Seltzer into about 8 pieces. 

Add one piece of Alka Seltzer at a time and watch what it does.

I wish my pictures were better because this was so darn cool!!!  You can add as many pieces of Alka Seltzer in as you would like and watch the bubbles.  But be careful adding too much at once, it just makes a bubbling whirlpool =o)

I'm so glad we finally made these!!! 

I hope you make these too and enjoy them as much as we did!



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St. Patrick's Day Marble Cookies

It's never a good sign when it's 8:30 am and I'm almost finished with a diet Coke.   (Or maybe it is, I guess it depends how you look at it.)  =o)  Yesterday morning I was woken up at 6:00 am to "Mommy, mommy.  Knock knock.  Mommy, knock knock."  "Mommy, you're supposed to say who's there."  6 AM!!!  Holy smokes.  Here we go.  So we did the whole knock knock thing for about 30 minutes - giggled and had fun and then started a very busy day.

Part of our fun yesterday was building a giant fort in the family room.  I love that my kids do this - even though they use every blanket in the house (including the ones off the beds).  But my son wanted to sleep in said fort last night.  My daughter had a little friend stay the night and they wanted to sleep on the floor in the family room on air mattresses.  My question to them, "you guys will be good sleeping downstairs all night?"  Their eyes got wide and they all looked at each other.  "NO!" I heard in unison.  "You have to sleep down here too."  Well, we only have 2 air mattresses and the fort covered the couch.  That left the small couch.  (Are they still called loveseats?)  They told me I could sleep there.

Needless to say, we were up at 6am and I can barely move I'm so sore.  But the kids had a blast and it was a night to remember. 

So what do I do when I'm dog tired and every muscle in my body hurts???  I bake.  It makes me feel better!

We picked these very cool and St. Patty's looking cookies - Marble Cookies.  When I saw these last year over on Red Couch Recipes I immediately bookmarked them.  (Pinterest wasn't around then - gasp!)  And I'm so glad I did.  They are delicious!!!!  And they look so fun!  Thanks Joni for another fantastic recipe!!!

St. Patrick's Day Marble Cookies

Source: Red Couch Recipes

1 Cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. almond extract (or you can use peppermint)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (plus 1 Tbsp. for later)

1/3 cups milk chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. baking cocoa

Green foold coloring

Extra sugar for rolling dough in

Cream tigether the butter and sugar (about 5 minutes).  Add egg and almond extract.  (I just love the smell of almond extract!)  Beat until thoroughly mixed.  Add baking soda and flour, a little at a time, and mix thoroughly.

Divide dough in half.

Add green food coloring to one half.

Melt chocolate chips (being careful not to burn them).   Add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to other half and mix until blended.  If it's not stiff enough, add 1 Tbsp. of flour.

I used my Pampered Chef small scoop and made scoops of green dough and then scoops of the chocolate dough.  Roll each scoop into balls.  I had a fantastic helper with this =o)

Then take a green ball and a chocolate ball and roll into a larger ball.

Roll each ball in sugar and place on a silpat or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Flatted each ball slightly.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack.

My kids LOVED these cookies.  They loved how they looked (who wouldn't) but the taste was fantastic!  The combination of the almond extract and chocolate is fantastic!

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A Birthday Celebration With A Giveaway

My daughter is turning 7 today! Holy smokes. Where did the time go?!?! So in honor of her (and to try out the new rafflecopter widget) we're having a giveaway! Yep, one lucky reader will win $10 into their paypal account. That's 10 free dollars. I know it doesn't seem like a lot but we're getting ready for our big giveaway blog hop coming in April. You won't want to miss that!

To enter just follow the direction below!  The winner will receive a $10 credit in their paypal account.

So happy, happy birthday to my daughter and good luck!

Contest ends March 19th!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Milk Chocolate Covered Raspberry Creams

It's no secret that I love chocolate... and chocolate and raspberry together?  Oh man.  I'm hooked!  I absolutely love that combination.  When I made our chocolate covered raspberry jellies I was in heaven.  But they were a little messy to make so I wanted to try something a little different.

Last year we made homemade peppermint patties (delish, by the way.)  I wondered what would happen if we used the same recipe but replaced the peppermint extract with raspberry extract.  Oh yeah.  Good call (if I do say so myself.)  They were delicious!  And so easy!

Raspberry Creams

* 3 ounces cream cheese, softened

* 1/2 tsp. raspberry extract

* red food coloring

* 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

* melting chocolate (I always use milk chocolate)  =o)

Cream together cream cheese and extract.  Add a couple of drops of food coloring (as much as you want color.)  Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  You want it thick enough to roll into balls but not so it breaks apart and cracks.

I had a helper assisting me (which always makes everything more fun and exciting.)

Roll them into 1 inch balls and flatten slightly with your fingers.

Melt chocolate in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds, stirring after each time.

Dip each patty into chocolate and let harden on waxed paper.

They were delicious!

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and gobble them up!

We have two fun things going on here right now!  One is our handmade card swap.  Have you read the post?  If not, check it out here.  We have over 30 people participating and I can't wait to see what everyone creates!

The second fun thing is we will be having a giveaway starting Saturday!  It's my daughter's birthday so what better way to celebrate than to give away something?!?!

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Cinnamon Roll Waffles

Sometimes I wonder if I make these delicious breakfast treats for my kids or for me. For argument sake... we're going to say I make these for my kids.   Yah, that's what I do.

And it's no secret that we love pancakes.  The cinnamon roll pancakes we made were amazing.  My kids request them all the time!  And it's always fun to make colorful pancakes.   My kids also love it when I make shapes out of pancakes.   And our cake batter pancakes?  Oh man!  So how can I top all of that???

Cinnamon Roll Waffles!  So easy and so delicious!

I used a waffle/pancake mix and made some waffles.  You can make homemade waffles if you so choose.  But really?  At 6am sometimes I just don't want to!

In a bowl mix up

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

* 1 tsp. cinnamon

* 3 Tbls. melted butter

If you need to thin it, use some milk.

In another bowl mix

* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

* 1/2 tsp. butter, melted

* 1/2 tsp. vanilla

* 1-3 tsp. milk

Drizzle cinnamon "sauce" and icing over waffles.

Enjoy!

Have you checked out our Handmade Card Swap that's going on right now?  If you make cards you have to join us.  It'll be awesome!  Check out the post here for details.

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Classified Employees Week: Ideas for Gifts {Teacher Appreciation Ideas}

This week is Classified Employees Week in the schools.  Classified employees are all staff who work in the schools who aren't licensed teachers.  That's a TON of people!  And we can't NOT celebrate them!  They are the cooks who work in a hot kitchen everyday and the instructional assistants who help all of our students in the classrooms and on the playground.  Classified employees are the secretaries who have to deal with mad and irate parents everyday (yes, believe it or not, they do) and the custodians who have to clean up puke and all the mess from 600 kids eating lunch.  So not saying thank you is just wrong.  Right?!

We've made some fun gifts over the years as thank yous that are easy and quick but mean so much to the person receiving it.

This is a fun way to package a gift card to the local coffee stand!

 And who wouldn't love a "sweet gram" covered in candy bars?

This fun pencil holder would be perfect for the school secretaries or instructional assistants.

This is a fun way to say thank you - a sucker bouquet.

This is such an adorable flower pot from Kids Craft.

Tell them that they are o-fish-ally the best!

Domesticated Lady made these cute popcorn gifts.  Just substitute (ha!  no pun intended) "teacher" with secretary or cook, etc.

 I just love these cups!

I'm so stealing this idea from Pens and Needles!

 I wish a parent would give me this cute idea!  An apple and dip!

And who wouldn't want a delicious baked good with this cute printable tag?

Another cute idea from Room Mom 101.

The Fickle Pickle made these cute gifts out of juice and too cute tags!

 Nothing But Country made this cute idea and has free printables to go with it!  (This one says family but there are also tags that say "Star of our School".

This idea is so simple and so cute!  And there's even a free printable!  Yah!

Another simple but super cute idea (with printable!) from The Hip Mamma's Journal.

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Platypus Day

Did you know that today is Platypus Day?  Yep, you read that right... platypus day!  Agent P. is being celebrated today and we're helping him.  Why?  Well, because we love Phineus and Ferb.  That's why.  Because who doesn't love Perry???

If I were super talented (which I'm not), I would create one (or more) of these great things for my kids today.  Because who wouldn't want perry nails???

Perry Nails

 Perry Treasure Box

I just love all of the Perry desserts!

Perry Cake

Perry Cake Pops

Perry Cupcake

Phineus and Ferb Cookies

Perry Cake

Perry Mini Cakes

I totally want these shoes.  Is that weird???

Perry Shoes

Perry Shoes

How are you celebrating Platypus Day?  Don't forget to let your kids go to the Disney Channel website so they can learn the Platypus Dance, play Platypus games and print out a Perry t-shirt iron on.


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