Volcano Fun ;-)

Want to wow your kiddos?

Here's a fun project perfect for you then and even goes right along with a current event too- the eruption of the Iceland Volcano.

so here goes...

How to Make Your Very Own Erupting Volcano!

Start off with a batch of homemade playdough. The kids loved helping make this. Hint: Grape and Orange Koolaid make the PERFECT brown color for your volcano. ;-)

Perfect Play Dough

2 c flour
1/2 c salt
2 pkgs unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 T cream of tarter
2 T vegetable oil
2 c water
Food coloring (I don't add any because the kool-aid colors it enough...)

In a large pot, combine all dry ingredients. Mix well and add oil, water, and food coloring. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is almost too hard to stir. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then knead until smooth and pliable. Refrigerate in airtight container between uses.

Check out real volcano's online so you know just how to make one. The kids loved watching video clips of the Iceland volcano erupting and several other volcanos... including underwater ones. We talked all about how they happen and the lava and ash and smell etc... and it was fascinating for the kids to learn about. We drove to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument this past fall and the kids thought all the black lava everywhere was amazing and it was neat to experience that first hand!

Next Step: Make your mountain volcano out of playdough around a canning jar or whatever else you have that would do the trick. The kiddos could have used a little more playdough but had fun creating their volcanos still!
Gather these few simple ingredients for your "hot lava." Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Food Coloring. (We used White Wine Vinegar since I was out of regular vinegar!)

Let the kiddos fill the container half full with the vinegar. Add food coloring. The kids LOVED getting to decide what color their lava would be. Then pour in about 2 TBS of baking soda and watch eruption! Mia was the first to do it and she couldn't believe it! I love her facial expressions!

All the kids didn't even know what to expect and were totally amazed. So fun to see their reactions!

Colby was thrilled with his blue green lava eruption...

And Sydney opted just for a bright blue and was in awe. So fun! The kiddos can't wait to do this project again sometime and learned a lot.

Then they decided they didn't get enough playdough time so we had to make a whole new batch... and they played with it for hours! They opened a restaurant and created all sorts of yummy creations... and even had a menu for what they could make. Fun! Gotta love Sundays. ;-)

Allie at 5 Days...

I can't believe Allie is already 11 days old! We have just snuggled our time away the last 11 days though and it has been pure bliss. Laundry, cleaning, preparing meals, and the everyday run around have been put aside for now. And we have enjoyed every second. (thanks to everyone who has picked up those dropped categories! We have been spoiled with some amazingly delicious dinners and great friends and grandparents who have done the running around!) Sleep deprived? yes. But really she is the best baby. She gets up usually just twice a night... only cries if she is hungry or gassy or has a burp... and is just so sweet. We are all totally in love. And feel so blessed that she is in our family. Lots more pics coming soon. ;-)

Scones! 2 Recipes...

If you've ever been pregnant, had a newborn, or have been otherwise sleep deprived... your dreams definitely get a little crazy. I literally dreamed of these amazingly delicious cinnamon pecan scones one night... They tasted so yummy in my dream... so I woke up and had to find a good recipe! Weird I know. But hey, it was a good dream for once and not too bizarre which was kind of nice. ;-)

CINNAMON PECAN SCONES

Candied pecans

• 1 1/2 c. roughly chopped pecans
• 2 tbs. white sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the oven to 350. In a 8x8 pan spray pecans generously with cooking spray and toss to coat. Add vanilla to the pecans and toss to coat. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, add to the pecans and toss to coat. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes watching carefully so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let cool.

Scones

• 2 c. all purpose flour (I did half wheat, half white)
• 1 tbs. baking powder
• 3/4 tbs. salt
• 6 tbs. cold butter cut in pieces
• 1 tbs. white sugar plus some for sprinkling on top
• 2 tbs. honey
• 1/3 c. heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops (I used skim milk)
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c. candied pecans

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the texture is very small crumbs. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. In a small bowl stir together honey, cream and sour cream, add to the well in the center. Add the cinnamon and pecans at this point also. Stir with a fork until a ball forms, take out of bowl and knead just a few times, don't overwork as this will cause a tough scone. Form into a 6x6 square on your baking pan, cut into 4 equal squares and then into 8 triangles. Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 20 minutes. When cooled you can drizzle a "icing" on top. Just mix 1/2 c. confectioners sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and enough heavy cream to make a glaze. (I added butter and vanilla to my glaze as well...) NOTE: Maybe because I used milk instead of cream I had to add more milk to the batter to make it a good consistency.

Yum! They were so scrumptious. I totally loved them. Very cinnamony... but I LOVE the chunky pecan pieces. I just halved my pecans instead of roughly chopping them. If you love nuts and cinnamon you will love this recipe. I can't wait to make it again!

Next up... Orangy Craisin Scones. Gerron's Mom used to make these for the kids in the shape of cookies so they called them "Grandma Cookies." Colby was so excited to make them again... and needed some Mom and Colby time...

so Allie had her first baking experience right up on the counter as we made the recipe together. He LOVES to make and bake and is so fun to have in the kitchen. BUT I guess it had been too long since he had had them... and decided once we made them he didn't like the craisins. DOH! Luckily he had the idea of adding frosting to them, which we hadn't done in the past. I was going to do a glaze but he insisted on the thicker frosting and they turned out super yummy! So he picked the craisins out and liked the scones with frosting anyways.

We also decided to add our own touch of sprinkling sugar on the top. Colby loved "painting" the scones with milk and helping to sprinkle sugar on top. Ger said he never liked the recipe in the past because the Craisins were too tart for him- but with the sprinkled sugar on top and frosting he thought the flavors balanced out a lot better- the sweet with the tart- and loved them.

Super yummy and super fun recipe to make! Here it is...

Orangy Craisin Scones

3/4 cup cut or chopped Craisins (Can use more if you want)

1/2 cup water

Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Drain and allow to cool.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (again I use half wheat/half white)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Stir together in a large bowl.

3/4 cup butter (can substitute half applesauce for half the butter)

Cut butter into flour and sugar mixture until crumbly.

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 TBS orange rind (optional- I don't add!)

1/4 cup orange juice

Add to drained fruit and stir liquid mixture into flour and sugar until just moistened. Grease cookie sheet. Then either cut into triangle shapes from spreading out dough into large rectangler shape (as described above) or scoop dough with cookie dough scoop onto cookie sheet. Brush tops with heavy cream or milk and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Can add glaze or frosting as desired!

If you have any yummy scone recipes we are on a scone kick here and would love to try it!

37 1/2 Weeks in the Making...

...and worth the wait.

Allie Dover

arrived Friday, April 9th 2010 at 2:56 PM.

I went into the Dr's on Friday... had been walking around for almost a month dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced with her dropped to a 0 and totally contracting 24-7... and now was totally effaced and dilated to a 6. Hallelujah- the wait was over! I was sent straight to the hospital VIP style with a room all ready for me. The hospital is brand new and was fabulous in every way. My nurse Pam was AMAZING. The paper work/blood tests/computer questions seemed to take forever (ok just over an hour, but I had already made two prior visits for pre-term labor so I thought it would already be taken care of!) and once that was out of the way I got an IV, Epidural, they broke my water, and less than an hour and twenty minutes later...

We welcomed Allie into the world! We were ecstatic to see her beautiful little face and perfect body. What a relief after such an emotional, rollercoaster pregnancy! She was perfectly sized..

7 pounds 9 ounces

20 1/4 inches long

I cried, she cried!

And Ger was such an awesome strength and support through the whole thing. He was so excited you would have thought it was our first.

The kids are absolutely in LOVE with her. They came to see her just a few hours after she was born and were so tender and sweet with her. They each held her three times- they couldn't get enough of her. Sydney is a natural!

Mia doesn't sit still for long usually, but I think she could have sat and held little Allie for as long as we would have let her. She just kept giggling and talking to her... telling Allie how she used to play with her and tickle her when she was in my tummy.

Colby just kept saying, look at her cute little nose! It's perfect! Look at her little lips! They are so cute. He gave her a gazillion kisses. He couldn't take his eyes off her, even when someone else was holding her.

I don't have many pics of her eyes open! Such a sleepy head... she wasn't even 24 hours old in this pic I took at the hospital! But her eyes are super dark obviously- who knows what color they will be?!? But her hair looks like it will end up light since it has a slight blonde tint to it... and it seems to have a little wave in it? Maybe it will be curly like Sydney's! She has a ton of it- lots in the back too.

It's hard to say who she looks like- newborns little faces change so much! But her features look like Sydney's baby pics and her face shape like Colby's maybe? Who knows...

But she is practically perfect in every way. We are so in love with her and feel so incredibly blessed to have her in our family. She is very sweet... I haven't wanted to put her down since Friday and have loved every minute. I am feeling great, though forgot how sleepless the nights are. bah! ;-) She is "sleeping" through the nights for the most part and is not awake, but between feeding and diapering and burping and not liking to sleep in her bassinet and diapering again we are adjusting. The kids have been great this entire time to be helpful and get along... and hold her or hold her little hands whenever possible! Colby LOVES letting her little fingers squeeze around one of his. If she starts to get sad he will ask, "Do you want to hold my finger Allie?"

Thanks so much again for all your prayers and thoughts and calls, emails, meals, texts, visits, etc etc! Sorry if we have yet to respond to you- we are in our own little world here... and enjoying every minute with Allie or catching up throughout the day on missed sleep! More pics coming soon. ;-)

Easter!

Whew! It was a busy weekend for us! Thursday the girlies talked me into letting them stay home to help me out with playgroup... 7 cute and fun playgroup friends + 2 "helpers" = 9 crazy energetic kids! I was actually so glad to have the girls though and they kept everyone totally entertained. We rode bikes and scooters, played pirates on the playground, jumped on the tramp, ate chicken nuggets & apples & chips for lunch, headed to the park for a few hours of fun, and had oreos and popsicles- yum. They all were so excited to show me their funny faces- what characters! They make me laugh... they are all such good kids though and Colby is lucky to have such fun friends from great families.

Friday the kiddos had off school. We spent the morning counting money and putting money in eggs which the kids loved and then headed to a fun neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. They had a great time and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was Indi's bday and since Lena just had her cute little baby the girls were excited to have Indi along for the day... we took her to lunch at Red Robins, out to Krispy Kreme for donuts, and then the kids just played played played the rest of the day. Colby had a tball game that night and did great too!

Saturday we LOVED getting to watch both sessions of conference and between sessions had a fun Bbq and Easter Egg hunt. The kids were spoiled rotten with lots of money and candy and had a blast. The food was so yummy and after everyone left I realized I forgot to serve up my homemade Berry Gelato for dessert. DOH!

We did the Easter Egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Dovers house 2 doors down and the guys got pretty tricky with the eggs but the kids loved the challenge.

Ger even got into the Easter Spirit- ha! The kiddos each bought their own Bunny Ears from the Dollar Section of Target and have worn them out practically! I can't believe how much they have worn them. I made them pay for them really because I thought they would not get used. Silly me. ;-)

A Conference Craft was making bird nests out of playdough and sticks... and the kids then insisted on filling them with birdseed. The birdseed is all gone already!

Easter morning was so nice and relaxing... to not have to run out the door for church at 7:30! The kids loved finding their hidden baskets and got a few new things to wear... a little bit of candy... and some fun crafts/markers/activities to do during conference.

Colby modeling one of his shirts... Almost all the kiddos clothes were bought at H&M. Seriously people I love that store. The girls dresses were $5 and Colby's shirts were $6.... I am sure I will post the cute newborn clothes I found for Allie there to for steals of a deal- ha!

Chris and Abby spent part of Sunday with us - it is always so much fun to have them around. Chris wrestled the kiddos, jumped with them on the tramp, chased them around, and did his best to wear them out! We enjoyed lunch together and just chatting and hanging out.

Whew! So that was our Easter weekend- lots of fun and also really relaxing. We loved conference and felt inspired and motivated by the amazing messages... how was your weekend!?!

Worlds Fastest and EASIEST Roast Beef Dinner

Ok, this is so amazingly easy and yummy...

Sunday Pot Roast & Gravy

3-4 pound bottom round roast

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 package lipton onion soup

1 can (using soup can) water

Mix together soup, water, and lipton onion soup packet. Put roast in crock pot and pour soup mixture over. Cook on low for 8 hours.

• Just before meal time heat Costco Mashed Potatoes* in microwave. Only takes 4 minutes.
• Heat up frozen corn in microwave... takes a few minutes...
• Shred/cut roast and serve with mashed potatoes and corn! The Roast should have plenty of gravy to serve over the potatoes and roast.
• If you have fresh bread or rolls that's even better. The easiest and fastest Sunday meal ever.

*If you haven't found the Mashed Potatoes at Costco you are TOTALLY missing out! We are picky potato eaters and they are SOOO yummy. Totally pre-made in microwaveable containers. Creamy and delicious- our kiddos love them too.

Things Accomplished on Modified Bedrest ;-)

It was an emotional rollercoaster to be have pre-term labor and the added stress of shots and meds and hospital visits and not being able to live my "normal life"... BUT it did make me appreciate the little things in life so much more... I had more time just playing with my kids than I have had for a long time. I think we have played every board game, card game, and done every puzzle in our entire house at least a few times over the last few months... and trust me... we have a lot of them! Here are the top few that we played again and again!

UNO is Sydney's favorite for sure... Mia really can't stand to lose... but even Colby gets into it and loves to play. It's a great game for our whole fam to play together.

This is a new game and Colby especially loved it and would say, "Let's just play to have fun and it doesn't matter who makes their cootie first, ok?!?" He is a good sport!

Mia and Colby love playing Dora Candyland... but both hate picking the cards to be set back. When they get a bad card Mia cries, Colby laughs!

I found a Marble Run at Ross or TJMaxx for Christmas for the kids and Colby LOVES building with this set over and over. Marbles are just fascinating for little kids and he loves sending them down all the different chutes. I actually got to be pretty creative at setting this up with him!

Zingo is another game we got for Christmas that is a fun twist on Bingo. It has pictures so kids of all ages can play!

My mom has this game and it is the cutest funnest game that ALL the kids love to play- when you land on spaces you have to answer questions about what you love about the player next to you or shout "HURRAY FOR ME" or give other players a pat on the back. It just is a happy cheery game that makes everyone feel good about themselves.

I even read a book! My sister Becky was so nice to mail us one of the kiddos favorite movies and a book for me. How thoughtful! It was always fun to get something in the mail since i was so stuck at home most the time. I highly recommend this book. It was set in WWII and is about a woman who helps with the war efforts... and about all that everyone did in those days to assist with the war efforts. It was a relaxing and easy read that gave me a lot of things to think about and I really liked the beauty of the message of the book. My kids though it was great that I was reading too! We are always talking about what books they are reading for the book lists and so they were so impressed when I finished it.

I also had a chance to do some fun crafty things I already had the supplies for... Jaime makes these adorable burp rags out of cloth diapers and I made a ton of them and it was so fun. You just buy 1/8 yard of fabric and then use any ribbons or ric rac along the edges. Super easy, even for a handicapped sewer such as myself. ;-) (Make sure to wash diapers and fabric before sewing together.) I actually had to use just whatever ric rac and ribbon I had on hand since I couldn't go shop for it, so it was a great way to use my stash. They sell for around $6 on Etsy and you can make them for less than $1!

When Melissa was here we had gone to Ribbons and Lace and gotten a ton of elastic and ribbon and flowers to do headbands with... It was nice to finally get to that stash and make them!

Here are some of the cute headbands...

And here are a FEW of the bows/flowers. I kind of went crazy and made a gazillion. And can you tell I like the bling! Ha! So much fun to make these- I really enjoyed doing it.

And you know I have had plenty of blogging time with my time stuck on "house arrest." So anyways, there are just a few things that kept me sane... Easter pics coming soon.

Every Egg a Golden Egg ;-)

Last year my friend Lena did money in her eggs instead of candy. How excited the kiddos were to get dimes, quarters, nickles and even pennies! I totally was thrilled about this idea too. Take whatever money you were going to use to buy the candy and pay your kiddos for their change. They love helping put a few coins in each egg- just enough to make them shake nicely ;-). You can even throw a dollar or two if you are feeling extra generous or want to hide the prize winning golden egg somewhere with the most cash. But really, the kids love it and it's better than more sugar. Especially if you are going to 2-3 Easter Egg Hunts this weekend! Other ideas you can do instead of candy are: stickers, bouncy balls, marbles, toy cars, cheap jewlery or even fake money or tokens (bunny money!) to buy something from your "Easter Store" after the hunt (All-a-Dollar, Targets Dollar section, or buying stuff on clearance after Easter for the next Easter work GREAT!). Let me know if you have any other creative Easter Egg Hunt ideas!

Spring Scavenger Hunt

Our kids are always up for an adventure, and a Nature Scavenger Hunt is as cheap and exciting as it gets!

They love coming up with the lists themselves. When they were little we drew (attempted to draw!) pictures of what they had to find. This time they listed some hard things... a birds egg, a smooth round rock, a "Y" stick, a purple flower, a bug, yellow leaf, etc!

ALSO! We had a separate list of things that we just had to see... a lizard, dog, black bird, birds nest, pink flowers, dog poop! etc.

They had a blast running around searching for everything on their list. It was amazing how many little details about your own neighborhood you notice when you walk slow and pay attention.

Colby and Ger collecting 3 leaf clovers...

In fact we were all surprised when we found a small egg shell from a bird on the ground and looked up to see it's Mommy and nest! So neat! They didn't really think they would find a birds egg so were SOO excited to be able to cross that off their list.

We seriously were out over an hour hunting for everything on the list but the kids were definitely not bored- we had to beg them to go home! ;-)

We found pine needles and taught them the game where you pull it apart and whoever gets the nodule on the end wins- they thought that was so fun.

Colby was dissapointed that the bird egg we found was so small so Ger ran home and cracked a real egg and put it in an empty nest in a tree by our house- ha! Just don't tell Colby that was actually a chicken's egg! Happy hunting! ;-)

Pinecone Bird Feeders

Everyone's made these at least once in their life... our kiddos LOVE collecting pine cones and making these ALL the time!

Kind of messy- definitely an outside project!

Make sure to use minimal peanut butter... supposedly birds beaks can become glued shut or they can choke on the peanut butter if it is on too thick! So spread the PB on first and then roll the pinecone in the birdseed.

They all started out saying they were going to make SIX each. Woah. It was so messy they all stopped after 2 or 3!

Colby is my clean freak but he luckily enjoyed himself and didn't get too stressed about the mess stuck to his fingers.

I even made a few! Kind of fun! We just couldn't love this weather any more- we are outside ALL the time.

Then set out for the birds to enjoy! You can also put yarn on the pinecones before you add the PB and birdseed but our best luck is to just set them out on the bricks by our house.

In just a day and a half they were all eaten! The kids loved watching the birds eat the seeds and running around to check the progress on each pinecone... so excited when the birdseed was eaten off of it. Next post: another of my kiddos favorites... Nature Scavenger Hunts!