2nd Annual Christmas in July Party

Christmas in July is something we all look forward to doing in the middle of summer. This year, we had a day full of activities. 

I always try to find holiday tablecloths and supplies in the after-holiday clearance bins for events like this. We also pulled out our Elf photo board for some picture fun while we watched Elf. 

All of the day's activities were placed in these cups. I just hot glued them to a piece of cardboard. Then I attached a square of tissue paper with a rubber band. 

The kids took turns punching out a cup to find the next activity. The only one that was placed specifically was the top on. (That was their Christmas tree waffles for breakfast.)

We made pipe cleaner circuit trees.

We always play this game at my mom and dad's for Christmas. Grandma heard we were celebrating today, so she brought the kids the supplies over to play the oven mitt game. She wraps up treats and little presents with a lot of tape. One person puts on the oven mitts and tries to open the present. Meanwhile, the next person in line takes two die and rolls until they get doubles. As soon as they get doubles, the person unwrapping must stop and pass on the oven mitts. The person that gets the present open gets to keep the present. 

We had Rudolph cheesebread for lunch. 

Christmas tree cinnamon rolls

Decorated cookies

Made light-up canvas paintings

Played a 5-marker challenge with Christmas pictures. Each person closes their eyes and picks out 5 markers. Those are the only colors they can use to color their picture and they must use all 5 colors. 

We had frozen hot chocolate and Rudolph smores. 

We figured out a Christmas sweater logic puzzle, played "Would You Rather" with Christmas statements, and Christmas charades. 

We also made reindeer toothpaste (Combine one Tbsp of yeast with 1/2 cup warm water. In a big plastic ornament, we added about a Tbsp of dish soap, a few drops of food coloring, a few drops of Peppermint essential oil, and 1/3 cup Hydrogen Peroxide (40)--stronger peroxide can be found at a hair care store. Add the yeast mixture to the soap mixture and the reaction will take place.) 

We finished the night watching Elf. 

Winnie the Pooh Photo Board

Winnie the Pooh was my favorite cartoon as a kid, so I was pretty excited to hear about the new movie coming out in August. Today was pretty rainy, so I took advantage of the time indoors and painted a new photo board for the movie Christopher Robin. 

I started by sketching the characters with pencil. Then I outlined the sketch with black Sharpie. 

Using acrylic paint, I painted the characters. Then I cut out the faces with an X-Acto knife. 

Summer STEM Night

Rachel loved our Winter STEM challenge, so we decided to try a summer one. Using the materials in our home makerspace, we made a water slide, a bird's nest, and a tent. Each team made their own creation and then shared the finished designs with the other team.

Baked Apple Hand Pies

These pies are delicious! 

Ingredients:

1 box of refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts) or your could make your own dough

1/4 cup butter

3 medium apples peeled and chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 Tbsp flour

1 egg white

Glaze: 

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

Start by peeling and chopping your apples. Place them in a skillet with the butter, salt, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cook this for about 5 minutes, or until the apples are soft. 

Add the flour. Stir and continue cooking for about a minute. 

Unroll your pie crusts. Using a circular cutter (mine was 6 inches in diameter), make individual circles for the pies. Fill the pie with a scoop of filling. 

Fold the crust over and crimp the edges together with a fork. I also picked the top of the pies with a fork to allow for steam to vent. Place the pies on a mat or parchment paper. Brush each pie with the egg white.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. 

When the pies are slightly browned, pull them from the oven. Whisk the powdered sugar and milk in a bowl and spread the glaze over the pies. Place the pies on a piece of parchment paper to cool and let the glaze harden. 

The glaze only takes a couple of minutes to set. These are best warm. 

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt #6

Well, I am a few months behind on posting...These were our St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt clues this year.

Clue #1: The scavenger hunt starts now.
And the clues will show you how
To get the next spot
And go cold to hot,
So run off towards our chow

Clue #2: Our kitchen needs a little fixing
So it shines when Mom does the mixing
But we need some cash
So where is our stash?
Maybe the movie where a candlestick's singing. (Doesn't quite fit the rhyme scheme, but it works!)

Clue #3: The room in here is a pig sty
It's not fit for a queen or a king guy
So let's clean up the floor.
And then clean some more.
The vacuum is now your bulls-eye.

Clue #4 We always are cleaning our dog's hair.
It's messy but we really don't care.
He's old but he's happy
His mood is never crappy.
And he wants you to find a teddy bear.

Clue #5: Just one more stop on your trek tonight.
Soon you'll be done and it'll be alright.
You'll get gifts in a second
But don't you dare wreck it.
Go and look behind the red brake light.

Incredibles II Photo Board

We decided to make an Incredibles II photo board for the release of the new movie this week. We can't wait to go see it! 

Using this picture as inspiration, I drew the images on a trifold presentation board and painted it with acrylic paint. 

Monkey Bread

The ice storm kept us inside this weekend, so we decided to try some new recipes. This is definitely a recipe I will be making again! (I found this recipe at https://iamahoneybee.com/2017/01/02/homemade-monkey-bread/ and altered it a little.) 

Ingredients: 

1 Tablespoon of yeast

1 1/2 cups warm milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

5 cups flour

Topping: 

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

Optional glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk

Start by measuring the milk in a glass measuring cup. Place the milk in the microwave for about 1 minute or until it is warm. Stir in the the yeast and 1/4 cup sugar. Let that sit for a couple of minutes to proof the yeast. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add the proofed yeast mixture. Add two cups of flour. Stir with a wooden spoon. Add two more cups of flour and stir. Using the hook attachment of the mixer, add the remaining 1 cup of flour and let the mixer knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm location for about an hour. (I turn my oven on to 170 degrees for about 30 seconds to create a warm location.)

Punch the dough down and place on a floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1x1 inch squares (mine weren't all quite that size; I did put some of the smaller pieces together.) 

Butter a bundt pan. 

Combine the 3/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon. Sprinkle some of it on top of the squares. Roll each square into a ball and place in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. David had the job of rolling each dough ball into the cinnamon/sugar. Place a layer of the dough balls in the bundt pan. Sprinkle the layer with brown sugar. Add another layer of dough balls and sprinkle that layer with brown sugar. After two layers, I added a little bit of the melted butter on the top. 

Then add layers of the remaining dough balls and brown sugar. When finished, pour the remaining melted butter over the top. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and the center circle to let the butter run down a little. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 33 minutes. 

Turn the bread onto a serving plate. I put about 1 cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of milk in a bowl and drizzled that glaze over the top. (That would be an optional step.) Serve the bread warm. 

Music Theme Dinner Party

We are getting ready to see School of Rock, the musical, so we decided to have a dinner and a movie family night tonight with a musical theme. 

We started with a vegetable music note. 

The theme continued with guitar cheese bread,

chicken "drumstick" tenders,

piano keys and drumsticks (or a xylophone),

musical note soft pretzels,

 and microphone cupcakes,

All of our plates were music notes, and we finished the night with a fruit "melody" smoothie. 

Academy Award Party

We decided to throw our own party for the Academy Awards tonight. (Complete with our own red carpet!) 

I made this Oscar statue photo board out of a cardboard box. The base of the statue is a piece of black foam board that I cut up and hot glued together. 

Along with our cheese bread, burgers, red rope Twizzlers, and onion rings, we will feast on these red velvet carpet cake rolls. 

Homemade McGriddles

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 1/3 cup flour

1 1/4 cup milk

2 Tbsp sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

Start by lining a sheet cake pan with a silpat liner or with parchment paper. 

Pour the maple syrup in a pan and boil over medium-high heat. Keep stirring constantly when it starts to boil. 

You need to boil it for about 10 minutes. If you have a thermometer, it should reach 265 degrees. It will darken as it boils. 

Pour on the liner. Let the syrup cool. I put it in the refrigerator to speed up the process. It only took about 15 minutes. 

When it is cool, the syrup will break apart into crystals. 

Whisk the remaining ingredients (flour, milk, sugar, egg, salt, baking powder) in a bowl. This is the pancake mixture. Make  small pancakes. (I used my large cookie scoop to measure the pancake batter.) Place the maple sugar crystals on top of the pancake batter. Flip the pancake and continue cooking. 

Put whatever you want on the inside...sausage; bacon, egg, and cheese; sausage, egg, and cheese; etc.