Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This morning the girls woke up to this note. . .

They went on a hunt for Leprechaun’s Gold (yes. . .I spelled Leprechaun wrong in the note, but they didn’t notice)

Treasure Found.

Last night we made Rainbow Cupcakes for the girls to share at school today. I first saw these cupcakes at The Idea Room. Thanks for the great idea Amy. She got the recipe here.

You mix up the batter and split it into different bowls. You just need to decide how many colors to use. We decided to do four.

Here is the finished product. Yum!

Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your kids?

I am doing my Mamavation post over at my Unforgettable Childhood site today because this week my kids got in on my getting healthy challenge.

It was a big basketball week for us. Our hometown girls made it to the State High School Basketball Tournament so we watched a lot of basketball. That always gets the girls excited to play. So on Sunday afternoon we headed to the gym.

We all had a lot of fun and got some exercise while we were at it.

I did not get on the scale this morning. I have been maintaining, but not losing. It doesn’t help that my daughter’s Girl Scout Cookies arrived last week. . .I am trying to be good.

I am headed to my parent’s house this Wednesday for a nice long weekend. Which is wonderful for my mental health. The hard thing is that my dad is an awesome cook and my mom is an awesome baker. . .

I am hoping the weather is nice enough to get outside and run while I am there.  I am going to try to fit in a couple of trips to the gym in the beginning of the week.

The snow is finally starting to melt in South Dakota. I can’t wait until it gets a few degrees warmer so we can walk and ride bike instead of drive. We all need some nice weather to motivate us to get moving.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week full of success. Don’t forget to join Mamavation tonight for the finale of this Mamavation Campaign at 10pm EST/9pm CST.

The new Mamavation Campaign will begin on April 13th. You can start submitting your applications to be the next Mamavation mom from March 22-April 1!

A couple of weeks ago I received this package in the mail from Kroger.

I was really excited to try this new product. I received Shampoo, Conditioner, two different Body Washes, Hair Gel and Lotion. I have been using the products for the past two weeks.

I thought that the shampoo and conditioner left my hair feeling soft and clean. I wasn’t sure about the conditioner at first because it did not feel as smooth after I washed it out. However, after I got out and combed and dried my hair I was happy with it.

I have really dry skin and I thought the body wash offered a little extra moisture to it. I really liked the lotion. It didn’t leave me feeling oily, but it nourished my skin.

If you want more info from Kroger and a $5 off coupon go here. I received these products courtesy of The
Kroger Company for review and giveaway as a part of the Global Influence Network.

You can receive a package just like the one I received! Just leave a comment for an entry to win. This giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 17th at midnight.

Little one got left home on Sunday. Her sisters went to a friends house and she was not happy. I told her that we could make something, so she picked Chocolate Chip Cookies.

She said, “I want to pour everything in and I want to start the mixer.”

I took a deep breath, put her apron on her and really let her help in the kitchen.

She loves using the mixer.

And sneaking dough. . .

Do you let your kids help in the kitchen? What are you favorite recipes to make with your kids?

Thursday we continued to celebrate Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ Birthday with a Poetry Party.

We started by reading a few classic nursery rhymes. Then I read the girls Eugene Field’s Wynken Blynken and Nod Poem from my American Poems book. This book belonged to my Great Grandmother. The publish date is 1905. The girls thought that was really cool.

Of course we had to move on to two of my favorites, Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. After we had read a variety of poems we were ready to create our own. Each of the girls had a pencil in hand and a new notebook.

We started with Shape Poems. It took the girls a little thinking before they decided what shapes they were going to use. Taylor decided to write about Roller Coasters. She wrote her poetry in the shape of a roller coaster. Here is her poem:

Roller Coasters, Roller Coasters! Go Up, go down, around, upside down. Roller Coasters, Roller Coasters! Something you cannot beat! Make sure you don’t go on them right after you eat!

We moved on the Name Poems. This is always fun. Even Nadia joined in the fun.
Nice

Angel

Diva

Ice Cream Eater

Adorable

The girls finished their fun with Rhyming Poems. It was interesting to see what words that they came up with in their rhymes. For some reason Peru ended up in almost all of their poems.

Our snack today was Dr. Seuss Hats.

We started out melting White Chocolate Chips in a double broiler.

The only other ingredients were Oreos, Big Marshmallows and Frosting. Cover each oreo with melted white chocolate and place a marshmallow on top.

Place in freezer for a few minutes to set the chocolate. Pipe on red frosting lines for the hat.

Another day of Dr. Seuss fun is done. Today we finish off our week with Illustration Stations.

Our Seuss-filled week continued on Wednesday with the topic of writing. My girls love to write. I have never seen kids get so excited about empty notebooks and new pencils.

We started our activities with letter writing. We talked about how people email and text and they don’t send handwritten letters very much anymore. I gave each of them a notebook and envelopes to encourage them to write letters. I was thinking they would write to a grandparent or cousin. When I asked my daughter and her friend Calico who they were writing to, they said each other. . .

I wondered how Nadia would do today since the only thing she really knows how to write is her name. She still had fun. She drew a picture to put in her envelope.

Our second activity was decorating Composition books. I gave them each a new comp book and they went crazy with my scrapbook paper.

I didn’t think I would ever get the spray adhesive off of my fingers, but they really turned out cute. This would be a great gift for some of their friends, their very own Personalized Journals.

Today is our Poetry Party. We will be looking at different types of poetry and creating our own. This has been a great week for all of us. The best part. . .the tv hasn’t been on. Next week we talked about working on a play.

Yesterday we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ Birthday. After the girls got home from school they ate Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes.

After school we read There’s A Wocket In My Pocket” by Dr. Seuss. We talked about the bright colors and fanciful characters that are found throughout Dr. Seuss’ books. Each of the girls started to brainstorm their own Seussical Character. They drew their pictures on paper first.

Then they drew them on canvas and painted their creations.

We have Floom-A-Zoon by Madi (age 7):

We have the Smilies by Nadia (age 4):

We have Wikabeem by Taylor (age 9):

We have  Fleeket by Calico (age 9):

This project was a lot of fun. The girls were so creative with their characters.

Today we are celebrating Writing Wednesday. We are decorating journals. Check back tomorrow to see the activities I used to spark their imaginations.