Toddler Activity {Making Rain}

Hello there! Having two children at home all the time, gets them a little bored. This passed winter was so long and cold that we were looking for ideas on how to stay busy and not to loose our minds. My son Jonathan is 4 years old and loves all hands on activities. He loves cooking with me, mixing things and see what comes out. On a particularly rainy and cold day, I was looking for something to keep him occupied and found this cute idea on Pinterest, Honestly, I can't even find the link of the original blog post. But whoever you are, I give you credit for being so creative and finding a way to use common household things for such a fun experiment, We learning about rain and how it works because I'm sure God does have fun when it rains. So, I hope you enjoy making this fun experiment with your little ones over and over again, because we sure do. 

Things You Need
- Shaving Cream
- Large Glass Vase/Jar
- Colored Water
- Ramekins
- Syringe

How To

Pour water into a clear glass jar and leave room on top for shaving cream, about 3 inches. Mix colors of your choice with water and make sure it's really concentrated. It will become much  more pale when mixed with shaving cream and more water. Fill the rest of the vase/jar with shaving cream and set it up on a table. Fill the syringe with color of your choice and sprinkle all over the top of the shaving cream. Do not put it all in one spot, you will end up with cloudy mess instead of pretty drops. Keep going alternating colors and watch the colored water fall to the bottom of the vase/jar. After a while Jonathan got bored of the 'right' way of doing it and made cloudy with spraying syringe directly into one spot. After a while water was dark and cloudy and we started all over again. Enjoy! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Easter Table Decor

Hello there! It's spring time and I'm so excited! We have had a mild winter but last snow storm left us wishing for a little bit more sunshine. It's officially spring on the calendar it does not feel so outside. Even though, I have been bringing small pieces of spring inside my house. I definitely changed my front door wreath and started the Easter table setup. Not a lot of people (me included) have hundreds of dollars for table decor, especially since it's a very short season. I gathered what I had around the house and this is what I came up with. I did buy the flowers ($20) from Michael's and the M&M's  with eggs ($2.28 each) from Walmart. Thinking outside the box and using what you have on hand will yield most unique results. If you look closer you will notice that my drinking glasses are all different but that's even more fun. I used clothespins to hold name cards and simple plastic plates inside the real ones which can be used for salad (or dessert). There are no rules and as long as you like the finished result, that's all that matters. 

Hope you draw inspiration and get some ideas on how to set up your Easter table.

Materials Needed
Plates
Silverware
Ramekins
Paper plates (color of your choice)
Plastic eggs
Raffia
Flowers
Runner
Styrofoam Bunnies
Paper Grass
M&M's

Pistachio Cranberry Cookies {updated RECIPE}

Hi there! Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and enjoyed the best time of the year. I'm not really back blogging but after hosting another Cookie Exchange Party this recipe has been requested many times. So here is my recipe because I tweaked the original just a little bit. 

Warning: highly addicting and fast disappearing goodies below.

Ingredients: 

2 c. flour

½ tsp. baking powder

½ c. sugar
1 tsp light brown sugar

2 eggs
2 sticks of butter (softened)
pinch of salt
1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding mix
½ cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped
½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
*optional* green food coloring

Mix together all the dry ingredients and set aside. In mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whip together softened butter and sugar for about 5-7 minutes until light and fluffy, and add eggs.

***It is best to have all ingredients at room temperature so make sure your eggs aren't from the fridge. Let them sit out for up to 2 hrs on the kitchen counter or place in glass with hot tap water for 10 min.
Add the dry ingredients and mix for about 1 minute until you can't see the flour in the dough.

Chop up the pistachios, because I could not find chopped up pistachio nuts. And do yourself a favor and buy the shelled nuts.

Then do the same thing with cranberries. It all depends how chunky or tiny you want them in your cookies

Add pistachios and cranberries to the cookie dough and gently mix just until incorporated for about 30 seconds.

Drop by a teaspoon onto a parchment paper about 2-3in apart. Again it depends how large you like your cookies.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, just until they are set. Transfer them onto a wire rack and let coll down. Make sure not to over bake them. Cookies may look like they are soft in the middle but trust me, they are done. Do not keep them in the oven longer then 10 minutes.

Ingredients: 

680 g (2 cups) flour

3 g (½ tsp) baking powder

170g (½ cups) granulated  sugar
15g (1 tsp) light brown sugar

2 eggs
225g (2 sticks) butter (softened)
pinch of salt

1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding mix

½ cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped
½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
*optional* green food coloring

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325F.

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients and set aside. In mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whip together softened butter and sugar for about 5-7 minutes until light and fluffy

2. Add eggs to butter and mix well for another minute or so.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix for about 1 minute until you can't see the flour in the dough.

4. Chop up the pistachios and cranberries into small pieces

5. Add pistachios and cranberries to the cookie dough and gently mix until incorporated for about 30 seconds.

6. Drop by a teaspoon onto a parchment paper about 2-3in apart. You can also use cookie scoop - they will be more uniform and round.

7. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, just until they are set. Transfer them into a wire rack and let coll down. Make sure not to over bake them. Cookies may look like they are soft in the middle but trust me, they are done. Do not keep them in the oven longer then 10 minutes.

***It is best to have all ingredients at room temperature so make sure your eggs and butter aren't straight from the fridge when you starting to whip them. Let them sit out for up to 2 hrs on the kitchen counter. If you we pressed on time here are couple of tips. 

ONE: Cut butter into small bite size pieces and put it into microwave on 20% power for 1 minute. Stir it and if it's not soft enough place it back into microwave for 30 seconds. 

TWO: Place eggs into a glass with hot tap water for 10 minutes.

Thanks for vising and enjoy!