Birthday Interview

As I've mentioned, Ava is turning 4 years old this month!!!  I collected a bunch of birthday interview questions from various pins on Pinterest and compiled my own list of 30 questions. I loved hearing Ava's answers to these questions and all the stories that she shared.  It will be fun to compare her answers over the years.


I typed up my questions and her answers and printed them on birthday stationary that I found at Hobby Lobby.


Here are my questions (in case you can't read them in the picture):

1.  The color of my hair is:
2.  The color of my eyes is:
3.  My favorite food is:
4.  My favorite drink is:
5.  My favorites fruit is:
6.  My favorite treat is:
7.  One food I really don’t like is:
8.  My favorite song is:
9.  My favorite color is:
10.  My favorite animal is:
11.  My favorite book is:
12.  My favorite toy is:
13.  My favorite game is:
14.  My favorite store is:
15.  My favorite movie is:
16.  My favorite TV show is:
17.  My favorite holiday is:
18.  The thing I like to do most with Daddy is:
19.  The thing I like to do most with Mommy is:
20.  My best friends are:
21.  My favorite thing to do outside is:
22.  My favorite thing to do inside is:
23.  The coolest person on Earth is:
24.  My favorite part of school is:
25.  The thing I do most awesomely is:
26.  When I grow up I’m going to be:
27.  If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go:
28.  Three words that describe me are:
29.  If I had one wish it would be:
30.  My best memory is:

Butterfly Birthday Party

Ava is turning 4 in April and she has been asking for a Dora the Explorer birthday party for MONTHS.  I have been planning and working on the decorations off and on since January.  Today she told me that she also wants to have a butterfly birthday party.  HUH?  I politely explained to her that she will be having a Dora party because that is what I have planned per her initial request(s).  However, I planned a butterfly party for Ava's 1st birthday and I still have a lot of the decorations.  So we've compromised.  I will continue with the Dora decorations and pull out a few favorites from her first birthday party as well.  Everyone is happy :)


Here are a few of the butterfly party decorations:


Pin the Butterfly on the Flower

I made this using a big piece of white poster board and I cut the flower and grass out of construction paper.  Then I stuck some butterfly stickers around the flower and had it all laminated.  I found some large butterflies for "pinning on the flower" and had them laminated as well.  Most of the kids were pretty little so we didn't blindfold them.  They just tried to stick the butterfly on the flower anywhere they could.  Here's Ava:

Butterfly Pinata

We gave the kids butterfly nets to "catch" the goodies as they fell out of the pinata.


Butterfly Craft Project

The kids used crayons and foam stickers to decorate their butterflies.  You can kind of see the example I made hanging in the background.


Butterfly Cake

I think I will be reusing some of these butterflies on Ava's Dora cake!


Butterfly Outfit

I bought Ava's outfit from Adrienne at Stitcheroos.  She makes the CUTEST tutus and outfits!  

Heart Crayons

Ava's 4th birthday is coming up this month and she's having a little party at her preschool.  The kids sing happy birthday and the birthday boy or girl brings a special snack for everyone.  A lot of times, the birthday boy or girl will also give their school friends a small gift.  I went to the Dollar Store and the dollar section at Target but it seems like all the good ideas have been done by now.  You know, bubbles, Playdough, bead necklaces, stickers, etc.  I saw these heart crayons on Pinterest and thought they might make a cute and relatively inexpensive gift.  Here's what you need:

• Box of crayons (I got a box of 48 crayons from the Dollar Store) 
• Wilton silicon heart mold (I found mine at Jo-Ann's)
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.  

Peel the wrappers off the crayons and cut them into small pieces.  

Place the heart mold on a baking sheet.  Fill your heart molds with crayon pieces and bake for ~25 minutes or until crayons are fully melted.  The time it takes to melt the crayons may vary based on the brand of  crayon you use.  Once the crayons are melted, take them out to solidify.  I popped mine in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.  Once solid, you can turn the heart mold inside out to get the crayon out.

I packaged the crayons in these little bags that I found at the Dollar Store with an eraser (also from the Dollar Store, I love that place!).  I gave the extra crayons to Ava and Sidney and they love them!  I hope Ava's school friends like them too!

Good Deed and Time Out Chart

We have tried many discipline techniques with our girls but Time Outs seem to work best.  This chart is great for two reasons: (1) Ava actively seeks out things that she can do to earn a Good Deed smiley face, and (2) It helps keep things in perspective.  When Ava is having a bad, misbehaving day, I can tend to focus on the negative.  This chart helps remind me of the good things she's done and I try to focus on that.

To make this:

1.  I bought a large, square piece of card stock and wrote out the details with a Sharpie.  I laminated the sign so that it would last longer.

2.  I made the smiley faces using my circle cutter with card stock.  I had them laminated too.

3.  I wrote the days of the week on card stock, cut them out and laminated them.

4.  Then I bought circle-shaped sticky Velcro for the smiley faces and the days of the week to stick to.  I put the soft side of the Velcro on the green card stock and the rough side on the backs of the smiley faces and days of the week.

5.  The back of the sign holds the extra pieces.  I just cut strips of sticky Velcro and spaced them across the back of the sign.

6.  Then I hole punched it and added a piece of ribbon and hung it up in the kitchen.

I know all kids are different and this won't work for all kids but it's certainly helped us.  When Tim gets home from work, he always asks Ava how her day was.  They look at the chart and talk about when went well and what didn't.  It helps Ava take responsibility for her good deeds and time outs!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This is my FAVORITE dish right now and it's super healthy!  We stumbled this recipe by accident.  My mom bought Portobello mushrooms and didn't know what to do with them so she gave them to Tim to figure something out.  Tim found this recipe here.  It's meant to be a side dish but it's so filling that it could be a main course.  Thanks Mom!

Ingredients:

2 Portobello mushrooms

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and black pepper

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups spinach leaves (at least, sometimes I use 4 cups because they cook down so much)

½ cup canned cannellini or white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F. 

Set the mushrooms gill side up on a rimmed baking sheet covered in foil. 

Combine the oil and vinegar in a small bowl.

Brush the oil and vinegar on the mushrooms.  You don't want the mushrooms to be soggy so don't go overboard.  Season with salt and pepper and bake for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with olive oil or cooking spray.  Place over medium-low heat and saute the garlic until it starts to brown.

Add the spinach a handful at a time, stirring constantly, until it cooks down.  Then, stir in the beans and salt and pepper to taste; cook for 1 minute to combine the flavors. 

Fill the mushroom cavities with the spinach mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 10 minutes until the mushrooms are warmed through and the cheese is melted.  Yum!

Easter Garland

I don't have a whole lot of decorations for Easter so I thought I'd make some this year.  I found a similar idea on Pinterest and it looked like a fun project I could do with the girls.


First, we went to Joann's and picked out some paper.  We decided on pastel gingham prints and matching solid card stock (except for yellow, I thought I had it at home but I was wrong):

Then I made a bunny template out of white card stock.  I folded the card stock in half to draw half of the bunny so that both sides with be symmetrical.  I also drew the ears separate from the body and taped them together:

Then, I traced the bunny on our paper and cut them out:

I decorated all of the gingham bunnies with cotton balls for tails (I used double stick tape - Elmer's glue warped the paper), then I hole-punched each ear and strung ribbon through the ears to hang them on our fireplace:

The girls decorated half of the solid pastel bunnies with Easter stickers:

Then Ava stuck the cotton balls on the other half of the solid pastel bunnies, hole-punched the ears and helped string the ribbon through the ears.  We hung the girls' garland over the entrance to the sun room/play room so they can look at it every day!  

It's starting to feel like Easter finally!