2nd Annual Academy Awards Party

We had so much fun celebrating the Academy Awards last year, we decided to do it again. (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2018/03/academy-award-party.html) The kids love to dress up and do "interviews" on the Red Carpet. This year we made Red Velvet "Carpet" Brownies and a trophy cheese bread.

Red Velvet Brownies

Ingredients: 

4 eggs

2 sticks butter, melted

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

red food gel coloring

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

1 1/2 cups flour

Swirl Ingredients:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat the eggs with a fork in a small bowl. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, place the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, red food coloring, and vinegar. Mix that well. 

Whisk in the eggs. Fold in the flour until it is just mixed. 

Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan, leaving out about 1/2 cup of the batter to place on the top of the swirl mixture. 

Make the swirl: Use a mixer to beat the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolk, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla in a bowl. 

Place spoonfuls of the mixture on top of the brownie batter that is in the pan. Add the remaining batter on top of that. Use a knife to swirl the mixture together. 

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Cool before cutting. 

We had fun using the photo board trophy we created last year too. 

Stuff the Orlando Magic Mascot Valentine's Day Box

On our trip to Florida over Christmas break, we decided to spend one night at the Orlando Magic basketball game. (Ironically, they liked this part of the trip more than the very costly Disney experience!) The kids loved the experience so much they both wanted to make the mascot, Stuff, their Valentine's Day box. Their favorite part of the box is the ability to shoot yellow things out of the nose, just like the real Stuff. 

The yellow blowout noisemakers are attached to condiment bottles with tape. (The tape has to be tight to create a seal around the noisemaker.) 

The box and toilet paper roll arms and legs are covered in tablecloth. We added felt for the jersey, styrofoam balls for the nose and shoes, and colored foam was used for the wings, arm decorations, and hair decoration. A pipe cleaner was used to go around the eyes and popsicle sticks and foam star stickers make the top piece. 

Valentine's Day Escape Room

For the past six years we have done a Scavenger Hunt for Valentine's Day. This year I decided to make it a little harder now that the kids are getting older. So...I came up with an escape room challenge. These envelopes will be posted around the room (in specific places identified in the clues or behind locks with specific combinations from the clues). 

This is what is in their first envelope.

The second envelope will be behind a picture on the wall that says friendship (the word they unscramble in the first clue). 

The second envelope has 12 squares that can be put together to make a picture. The numbers on the back of the picture make the code they need to find for the 3rd clue. 

The 3rd envelope has a joke. The answer to the joke can be decoded. The answer has the word sew in it. The 4th envelope will be found in the sewing machine. 

The 4th envelope has another joke. The answer to that joke has the word magnet in it. I highlighted the word magnet for them. The 5th envelope will be in the drawer that we keep the magnets.

The 5th envelope has cut up heart pictures. There are 8 matches in the envelope. Two hearts have an X on the back. Once they find the match for those two cards, they will get two codes. The two codes will unlock the 6th envelope. 

The final envelope has a list of words without vowels. Each of the words I boxed in are all related to flowers. One of the brain teasers that is in there is about flowers. The answer to that brain teaser is the final code.