Snow Cream

We are snowed in today after having a BLIZZARD yesterday!  I saw a few people raving about their homemade snow cream on Facebook, so we checked out the link and gave it a shot!

Snow Cream

Ingredients:

½ cup milk

½ cup sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups snow

1. Mix together the milk, sugar, and vanilla until the sugar dissolves.

2. Add the snow and stir until ice cream forms!

3. Put it in the freezer to set up a little bit.

 

We loved it! We used chocolate milk to make chocolate ice cream, and we are already planning on making vanilla later! It tasted just like homemade ice cream but took only about 10 minutes. No I know why people rush out to buy milk when there is going to be a snow storm :-)

Recipe from Disney family.com

Badges of Fun: Eat Dinner Together

Last week, the girls earned badge number eight in Disney Family Fun's Badges of Fun challenge! The theme was Eat Dinner Together. Because we already eat dinner as a family every single night, we wanted to change it up and do something totally different.  We had a picnic out in our back yard!

The girls laid out the blanket and set out the plates and utensils.

It was fun and a nice change from our everyday dinners.  The girls had chicken nuggets, pineapple, puffs, and cheese.  Mike and I had kabobs :o)  Yum!

I think that the girls would agree with me when I say that we definitely turned dinner time into family fun time :o)

They earned their badges and got their certificates, after their bath, of course!

Great job girls!!

Badges of Fun: Winter Fun

The girls recently earned their seventh badge in Disney FamilyFun's Badges of Fun challenge!  The theme of this badge was Winter Fun.

Jaden, which I'm sure you've figured this out by now, has a heart of gold.  She is always concerned about others.  When winter arrived, Jaden was worried that the birds would not be able to find enough food under all the snow.  So, for our Winter Fun badge, we decided to help out our feathered friends!

First, we made bird seed cakes to hang on our shed.  

We used a really long string of yarn to connect all of the cakes.

Then, we made a couple of feeders to stick in the bushes in the front of our house.  To do this, we spread peanut butter on a toilet paper roll core and then rolled it in bird seed!

After letting our treats sit out in the cold garage overnight, we headed out into the snow to deliver them!

Our shed has an overhang where we store wood, sticks, and fallen limbs.  This has become a nice nest for a bunch of birds :o)  We hung our bird seed cake string across the shed.

The girls had a lot of fun with these projects.  The birds killed these treats in only a day or two!  Jaden and Taylor successfully earned badge seven!

Great job, girls!!

HAIR!

Jaden's hair is gorgeous!  She has thick, naturally curly hair that is the perfect shade of strawberry-blond.  I would give ANYTHING for her hair.  I would shave my head bald if I was guaranteed to have her hair when it grew back. When the movie Tangled came out, Jaden decided that she wanted to have hair as long as Rapunzel's! 

She was determined to grow her hair to the floor.  There was just one teensy problem.  Girlfriend HATES getting her hair washed!  It was so long and thick that she had to lay back under the faucet for me to get all of the shampoo out.  She would get water in her eyes, and I don't care how big they put "No More Tears!" on the label, there were still tears.  Her silly little head is also so sensitive to every little pull so brushing her hair in the mornings was such a chore.  I put her hair in braids every single day because the dry weather had made it a static mess! 

I started talking to J about getting her hair cut.  No way, now how.  She wasn't going to do it.  Every time I brought up the idea, she cut me off and was dead set on having long, beautiful hair forever and ever!  Why?  Her reason for not getting her hair cut was, "I don't want it to turn black!"

If you've seen the movie, you know that in the end, Flynn Rider cuts Rapunzel's hair and it turns brown because the magic is gone.  Jaden did not want her hair to turn black so, she wasn't going to get it cut!  Well, it just so happened that Taylor was in need of a trim on her bangs.  It was the perfect opportunity to show Jaden that I could cut Taylor's hair and it would not turn black!  After seeing that and having me explain to her that she wouldn't have to lay under the faucet to get her hair washed, she gave in and let me make an appointment.  This decision was made after weeks and weeks of me begging and pleading! 

She loves it!  I love it!  I can't get over how stinking cute that cut is on her!  Also, she got tinsel in her new do!  You can kind of see a little blue streak on top.  She was so cute on Saturday.  She was constantly walking by the mirror and catching a glance.  I asked her if she liked her new hair cut.  She replied, "Yes!  I keep checking to make sure it doesn't grow back before my friends can see it!"  I love that kid.

Badges of Fun: Preserve Family Memories

The girls earned their fifth badge in Disney Family Fun's Badges of Fun challenge!  The theme of this badge was Preserve Family Memories.  Disney Family Fun offered many great ideas on how the girls could earn their badge, but like always, we decided to make up our own activity to go with the theme!

To earn their badge, the girls put together a Family Tree Book.  I created pages for each of our family members to fill out. 

   

 

Then, we took their picture to place on their page. 

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

When we got the photos printed, the girls matched up the photo with that person's page! 

 

They had a lot of fun putting their book together and we will always have it to treasure.  The best part about this book is that we can add to it and keep building our family tree!

UPDATE: These pages (38-page printable PDF) have been added to my Etsy store!

The girls successfully earned their badges and we continue to add family members to our book!

 

 

The next badge in the Badges of Fun challenge is Start a New Tradition.  We are excited to start a new tradition with the new year!