Pizza Rolls

Tonight we had Pizza Rolls, or I guess they're really called Pepperoni Rolls, for dinner.  We changed up the original recipe a bit.  I used the Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust instead of the frozen bread dough, even though I still have 4 loaves of that in the freezer from when we made the Braided Spaghetti Bread, and we used turkey pepperoni, so no cool big deli slices for us.

This was fast and easy to put together.  I stuck it in for 10 minutes, then checked on it.  It was lightly browned on the outside so I cut into it to check that and the dough was still raw, cheese not melted.  The bottom was getting pretty dark however, so I moved it up a rack in the oven and stuck it back in for another few minutes.  I'm not sure how long, because I actually forgot about it, and when I went to check on it, it was really brown.  I was a bit worried dinner was ruined and we'd be calling up the pizza delivery guy but figured I'd at least try it and see if it tasted burned before I threw it out.  It wasn't bad!  It was actually pretty good.  The inside dough was just cooked so if you're going to use pizza dough for this one, it seems like the outside has to be pretty dark before the inside will be cooked enough.

Everyone liked this and had seconds.  We'll probably have it again in the future.

Fabric Scrap Bracelet

So I could have sworn I had this project pinned but I can't seem to find it on any of my boards and did it from memory, so I have nothing to link it to.

I was at the Salvation Army today, on one of my many thrifting trips, looking for things to re purpose and I found this beauty for .99.  I have been looking for bracelets in this style for awhile, wanting to try the project that I saw somewhere but can't quite remember where, but was having a hard time finding ones that wouldn't fall right off my 8 year old sized wrist.  This one fit and the price was right so I bought it!

Sorry for the world's worst picture.  I really need a camera.  Maybe hubby will buy me one?  You know, for the sake of the blog??

When I got home, I pulled out some fabric that I had laying around and ripped two strips from it.  I didn't measure but I'm guessing they were about 1/2" wide and 20" long.  I put a dab of fabric glue on the inside of the bracelet and just started wrapping the fabric around, gluing a bit more as I went.  That's it!  It was ridiculously easy and literally took about 5 minutes. Cute, huh?

Ingenious Chip Clip!

Well, there's not much to say about this one except that it's super easy and free!  Pinned it under my "Why Didn't I Think of That" board and when I was cleaning out my closet this week, I found a hanger like this, remembered the pin and here we go!  Perfect, since most of our chip clips have been lost or broken.

Caramel Cream Cheese Dip

One of the treats we had during our New Year's Eve party was this Caramel Cream Cheese dip. We actually had it for the first time a few nights earlier when we had some friends over but it was so yummy, and such a hit, that it was requested again.

It's super super easy with only 3 ingredients and takes about 3 minutes to make as well.  I topped ours with the Enjoy Life chocolate chips instead of the toffee chips to make it safe for everyone.  I also used light brown sugar instead of dark as that's all we had.  The original recipe says that dark gives a richer flavor but we thought it was great with the light!

I had apples, graham crackers, bananas, and pretzels to dip in it and the 3 year old had gluten free pretzels, gf animal crackers, and fruit for his.  We pretty much finished off the whole thing between just the 5 of us...so good!  I have a feeling this will become a stand by for get togethers and parties at our house.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Experiment

Going along with the anatomy lesson we did yesterday, today's Pinterest activity was a cerebrospinal science experiment.

The boys really liked this one! The 9 year old and 6 year old were both really interested in it and enjoyed trying different ways to shake around the unprotected "brain".  They tried doing jumping jacks with it, skipping, "acting crazy", and then dropping it from different heights to simulate a fall.  We weren't able to break, or even crack, the egg but I also didn't let them drop it from higher than 4 feet since the cover wasn't super secure and I didn't feel like cleaning up splattered egg today.  But there was a lot of brain rolling around and knocking into the sides of the skull so they got a good general idea.

They were quite amazed by how well Mr. Egghead was protected by the water being added.  They tried all of their same activities and were literally open mouthed with how different it was with the water there to cushion the jostling around.  We talked about what it would be like if we didn't have cerebrospinal fluid to protect our brains during activities like wrestling with their dad, playing football, exercising, or falling.

This one was a hit!

Christmas Gift Reviews!!

Now that the Christmas gifts have been opened and we've had some time to enjoy them, I thought I'd write some reviews from the kids on the things I made.

My prediction was that the Harry Potter Wands would be their very favorites and the heating packs would be what they were least excited about.  In actuality, switch that and reverse it.  Shows how much I know!

They liked everything I made but, far and away, their favorite has been the heating packs!  The 6 year old even put it in his top 3 gifts of Christmas.  They've used them every single day.  They heat them up each night before bed to cuddle with as they fall asleep and have used them when they come in from playing outside to warm up.

Their second favorite (or maybe tied for first but since I didn't make them, I'm going to go ahead and say they're second) is the swords their dad made them.  I didn't blog about these, as it wasn't my project, but I did find the tutorial and pin it.  After making the initial template, each sword took about an hour to make using a dowel, foam, glue, and duct tape.  You can find the instructions here but the guy writing them isn't in the US so we had to switch some things around a bit. These get played with every day too.  My dad even said he wants one of his own so we'll be making more in another month or so for his birthday.

They all say they can't pick which they like better, the Harry Potter wands or the peg dolls.  When they first opened the wands, the 20 year old was the most excited about them and she thought they were awesome.  The boys tried to figure out who's wands they were (I'm one of the few people alive who has not read any of the books or seen any of the movies so I was not aware that they should look a certain way) but the 20 year old saved me and told them that they were personalized just for them and now they had their own wands like Harry.  They pretty much sat unused for a few days but lately they've been playing with them more often and having spell battles.

The 3 year old plays with his peg dolls almost every day.  The 9 year old wanted his set up on a shelf in our family room so that he could see them each day and the 6 year old wanted his by his bed so he could see them when he went to sleep.  They all liked the characters I chose for them and they want to make more with my leftover peg people.

All in all, each gift was successful and well worth the effort to make.  It was actually quite nice to spend time crafting these things for them and both the kids and parents agree that we should do more homemade gifts every year.

Life Size Body Map

Now that the holidays are officially over (sniff, sniff, sob) it's time for us to switch focus from crafts, baking and gifts to school projects and home projects.

Today the boys and I did these Life Sized Body Maps for school.  The 9 year old really enjoyed this activity and, after initially saying he only wanted to draw on his organs and keep it simple, he got into being creative and was really interested in the different organs and how they functioned and why they were important.  The 6 year old was only semi-interested.  He, of course, thought the function of the large intestine was hilarious and he was also quite intrigued by the bladder.  I helped him find where his own bladder was by pushing gently in the area to give him the sensation of having to go to the bathroom and he had a major bout of giggling when I told him how he and his brothers used to use mine as a punching bag when they were in my tummy.  Boys! ; )

The 3 year old wanted his body traced and then drew all of his "organs" on his own...look Mama, my belly button!

I helped the 6 year old with the arm and leg bones, and we talked about what they were called, and also helped him with the bones in the hand and a bit with the large and small intestine but he took care of the heart, liver, stomach and bladder.  He's excited to show his dad and said, "I bet Daddy will be really impressed by this!"

The 3 year old was being helpful and telling him, "There's your stomach and your heart and your liver!"  We'll work  on it more with him. ; )

The 9 year old did everything himself, with a little help on the bones from me while he was gluing his finger bones (otherwise known as carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges!).  He also was very particular about using a sparkly crayon for his brain.  When one of the packing bag thingies we used for the lungs had a hole in it, we talked about punctured lungs and how our ribs protect our lungs.

This was a fun, hands on way to learn a bit more about where our organs are located in our body and how they work and what their functions are.  It inspired more creativity in the kids as well.  After we were done with the insides of our body, they wanted to be traced again and drew the outsides, complete with costumes!