7th Annual New Year's Eve Family Party

Our 7th Annual New Year's Eve Party is just beginning! 

Every year I write activities down on a piece of paper and put them inside balloons. When the clock strikes the time on the balloon, the kids take turns popping the balloon to reveal the activity.  

List of activities: Time capsule questions

hot chocolate bar

Chopped challenge

play the card game Golf

play a board game

make Rice Krispie clocks

"One Word" painting

make soft pretzels

make 2020 cheese bread

elephant toothpaste in champagne glasses

brownie trifles

photo shoot/dance party

fire ice cream

streamer ball surprise

glow ring toss

candy clock transfer minute to win it game

tic tock game

toss through time game

Hershey kiss minute to win it reveal

stack attack game

New Year pictionary

What are you wearing game

Write thank you cards

fortune teller joke craft

New Year's mad libs

dandelion thumbprint painting

scavenger hunt

Would you rather game

This year, I also added traditions from around the world. We will do a different tradition on the hour of each hour from noon to midnight. 

Rachel and I made a balloon drop out of Legos a couple of nights ago as well for some added decorations. 

This link will take you to all of our past balloon activities. 

http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2018/12/6th-annual-new-years-eve-balloon.html

Little Mermaid Party

For the Live presentation of The Little Mermaid on tv tonight, we decided to throw a little themed party. We pulled out the photo board I had made for the school play last spring and hung green streamer on the window as a seaweed backdrop. 

Rachel did a Little Mermaid painting for a decoration. 

We made green grape seaweed and Ursula tentacles (pretzel rods with purple frosting and chocolate chips) 

These Sebastian treats are made from a red blob of frosting, a strawberry top and claws, and white frosting eyes with the tips of chocolate chips on top of the frosting. 

The jello "sea" cups were enjoyed by everyone with some whipped cream waves. 

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 can pumpkin (1 1/2 cups)

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Streusel:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

6 Tbps melted butter

Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp milk

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and milk together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

Fold until just combined. 

Fill a paper liner about 2/3 of the way with the mixture. (This made 19 muffins for me) Using a fork, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice with the melted butter. 

Top each muffin with crumb mixture, pressing the crumb mixture down a little with your hand. Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 350 (keeping the muffins in the oven the whole time). Bake for an additional 15 minutes. 

Remove to a wire rack. 

Mix the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and milk in a bowl. 

Drizzle over the muffins. 

Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients: 

Cake:

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tbsp butter, softened

3/4 cup can pumpkin

2 Tbsp milk

2 Tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

Streusel:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg, clove, and ginger

4 Tbsp melted butter

Glaze: 

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp maple syrup

1 1/2 Tbsp milk

Beat the sugar and butter until combined. Add the pumpkin, milk, and yogurt and mix well. Add the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the cake batter. Mix until smooth. 

For the streusel: In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and other spices with the melted butter. Use a fork to crumble the streusel. 

Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan. Grease the sides of the pan. Add half of the cake batter to the pan. 

Put half of the streusel mixture on top of the batter. Top that with the remaining cake batter. Then finish with the rest of the streusel. 

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. After cooling for a couple of minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. 

Mix the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and milk in a bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the cake. 

Note: I put the leftovers in the refrigerator, which gave it a new, delicious texture. So, this recipe is great warm or cold. 

Snickerdoodle Apple Bars

While looking for a new fall recipe, I came across these bars. (https://whatmollymade.com/snickerdoodle-apple-pie-bars/#_a5y_p=6753611) They are a delicious combination of an apple cobbler and crisp. They are best with whipped cream or ice cream on top.

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

extra cinnamon for sprinkling

Apple filling:

2-3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Spray a 9x9 inch pan with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars for about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined.

Put about 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the 9x9 pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the dough is baking, combine the apple slices, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. When the bottom layer is done, pour the apple mixture on top and press down.

Break up the remaining dough into small spoonfuls and place on top of the apples. Sprinkle with more cinnamon.

Bake for 35-40 more minutes. Let cool a little before serving. 

Oil pastel painting

I have been experimenting with oil pastel crayons. I found a YouTube video that showed the steps for this creation, so I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised how easy this was. It only took about 15 minutes. 

Tape your paper to the table. Using pink, rose, violet, and black, color these blocks. 

Use a piece of tissue paper to blend the colors. To finish off the piece, I used sketching pencils to draw the telescope and the grass. I used the white pastel crayon to make the moon. I added drops of white glow in the dark paint for the stars. 

Another oil painting I created from a YouTube tutorial.

Leaf Projects

Rachel and I have been experimenting with leaf paintings. In the image below, she used watercolors to paint a leaf and then pressed it on paper to make an impression. 

Here we taped a leaf on black cardstock and used oil pastels to outline the leaf. Then we used our hand to spread the pastel colors outward. We pulled the leaf off the paper and were left with our creations. 

String Art

While trying to find some projects my 7th grade students could do, I came across these simple string art creations. I found these small panels of wood at Joann's. I got the smallest nails I could find at Ace Hardware and drew a mason jar on a piece of paper. Then I nailed the nails around the drawing. I pulled the paper off of the wood and tied a piece of string around a top nail. Then I placed the string around each nail and tied it when I got back to the start. On some of them, I varnished the wood and put dried flowers in the string. I added real flowers in others.  

Rectangle School Lunch Pizza

After finding a copy of an old recipe for school lunch pizza, I had to give it a try. (I remember eating a lot of this pizza in the school cafeteria!) The recipe did not disappoint. The crust was exactly how I remember it tasting. This had a little more meat on it than I remember school pizza having, but it turned out pretty well.

Ingredients: 

Sauce: 

6 oz tomato paste

1 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 Tbsp oregano

1/2 Tbsp basil

1/2 tsp rosemary

In a saucepan, mix all of the ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes. I drained the oil off the top before putting it on the pizza, using a spoon and a paper towel.

Crust:

3 cups flour

3/4 cup powdered milk

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp salt

1 2/3 cup warm water

2 Tbsp oil

Whisk the flour, powdered milk, sugar, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl. Heat the water up in the microwave and add the oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Let the dough sit for 5-10 minutes. 

Topping: 

1/2 pound ground hamburger

1/2 pound bulk sausage

salt and pepper

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded from the block

Brown the hamburger and sausage and drain the grease. Shred your own cheese and set both aside for later. 

Spray a sheet cake pan with cooking spray. Place parchment paper on top of that. Then spread the dough on top of the parchment paper. Using your fingers, spread the dough. Bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes. 

Removed the cooked crust. Place the sauce, then the meat topping, and then the cheese on the crust. 

 Bake for another 8-10 minutes. Remove and let sit for about 5 minutes. Cut and serve.