E is for Emotions

Bailey just loved this activity! We played with it for a long time making different faces and then she wanted to make an entire family, but we might save that for another day. This project was super easy and inexpensive. I have tons of felt laying around my house so this was free for me but even if you don't have felt it is extremely cheap at your local craft store. All I did was cut out a circle for the face and used scraps to make hair, eyes, eyebrows, and different shaped mouths. She had to have bows in her hair per Miss B's request, so I also added some bows. Felt sticks to other felt pretty well so there is no gluing or velcro in this project especially since we just did ours on the floor. It was a great easy project to talk about our emotions and feelings. I wanted to call her Emotional Ella but B didn't like that idea. She thought it looked like her so she wanted to name her Bailey. Oh well.

happy

sad

Surprised or excited

Scared


Mad

5 months

Wow time is flying! I can't believe 5 months have already passed. Eli is truly a joy. This pic is a pinterest recreation and I thought it was just too cute.

Pink (and green) smoothie

Smoothies are one of the most easy, quick, portable breakfasts or snacks that you can make. They are healthy and you can put just about anything in them making them very versatile to suit everyone's tastes. This one is our typical "pink" smoothie: strawberry banana. I also add spinach to just about every smoothie I make to get more veggies in. You can't really taste it but it just boosts the health content up even more. I like my smoothies on the thicker side so I use frozen fruit. If you are using fresh fruit and you like a thicker consistency too, use some ice as well. If you use a lot of frozen fruit and it seems to thick for your taste, add a little water to thin it out. I also rarely use any kind of sweetener because the banana sweetens it up but if you don't have banana and it seems a little tart for your taste you can use a little honey or stevia. Here is my basic recipe but you can customize it to fit your needs. Some other smoothie ingredients are mango, blueberries, blackberries, nut butter, raspberries, coconut milk, etc.

Pink smoothie
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup plain yogurt( I prefer either Greek or my homemade
1 cup loosely packed baby spinach

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Add ice if you desire a thicker consistency and water for a thinner consistency.

Slow cooker chicken taco meat

Doesn't that look pretty! Looks like it took a while doesn't it? NOPE! Ten minutes tops of work on my part. The crockpot did the rest. This was a complete experiment and I was pleased with the results. I used this chicken to make chicken tostadas (sprouted corn tortillas in the toaster oven, topped with lettuce, chicken, cheese, salsa, and sour cream). I really wanted quacamole on it but didn't have any avocados on hand. :( You can also use it to put on salads, tacos, taco lettuce cups, quesadillas, etc. It was a quick and easy weeknight meal.

Ingredients
3 small thawed chicken breasts (I put mine in frozen but I wouldn't recommend it. You'll end up with scum to scrape off. Ewww)
1 partially drained can of Rotel or tomatoes with chilis
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions
Dump chicken and tomatoes in the crockpot. Cook on low for 5-8 hours. Shred with fork. Add seasonings, stir, cook for about another 20 minutes. Eat!

Note: You might be able to dump everything in at one time but I didn't try it. If you experiment with this, let me know.

Letter of the week- D

We didn't do a lot of craft projects this week. It was mostly an activity week. Here are the highlights.

Dog "D" (She went a little wild with the drawing)

Memory Verse


Bible story: Daniel and the Lion's Den (not pictured)

Domino stacking, counting, tipping, etc.

Dinosaur pretend play

Date with Daddy: donuts and feeding the ducks

Tracing page

D is for dinosaur

Beware! The pictures you are about to see may be intense for even the most mature audiences. Please proceed with caution. Here comes the most rare and ferocious dinosaur ever discovered. The pinkasaurous. Ever heard of it? I hadn't either until today. I had the pleasure of taking these rare photos. I'm sure a museum is going to be beating down my door after this post to confiscate them. Here they are.

There she is...beastly!

And a close-up. I was literally scared for my life getting this shot.

Look at those feet! Could have squished me with one stomp.

She finally took a rest so I could get a picture of her vicious tail.

Pinkasaurous and a wild dog in a scary confrontation! Yikes!

Hehe! We had so much fun with this. To go along with our "D" theme this week we made a quick dinosaur costume. It is extremely rough and took about 45 minutes to make start to finish with the help of Bailey. She colored the feet and stuffed the tail. The hat and tail were made out of felt and roughly sewn. If you're looking for a pretty sewing job, don't look here. It was just meant for fun pretend play so I wasn't going for precision. She had so much fun stomping around the house, chasing the dog, and growling for mommy dinosaur to chase after her too. She wanted Baby Eli to get in on the action but he felt more comfortable staying at a safe distance in his exersaucer. Can't say I blame him.

New pics

Look who's almost sitting up. A new perspective on the world.

Outside reading a book

Big blue eyes

Fake smile

Bed head, pjs, messy faces, naked babies...love it!