Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

Crafting with red (kidney beans), white (northern beans) and blue (black beans).

Old Photo Friday: The Memorial Day Beach Special

I will admit: I do love digging around the old photos on Fridays.

Tonight, I found this gem.

Me, around age 6, wearing a red, white and blue bathing suit.  How perfect for Memorial Day weekend!

This awesome, arty photo was taken by my brother who was all of about eight at the time.

And here we are, enjoying a nice summer day at the beach.

Nice visor, bro.

__________________________

I post old photos on Fridays. I'm not quite sure why. Happy Weekend everyone!

Red, White & Blue Muffins for July 4th, Memorial Day or Any Day You're Feeling Patriotic

My kids and I are having so fun making red, white and blue treats for Memorial Day that I got inspired to bake one more thing, so I made muffins with strawberries, blueberries and white chocolate chips. And they turned out really yummy.

Here's the recipe if you're planning to do some patriotic baking yourself over the long weekend!


Muffins for July 4th or Memorial Day

Ingredients:
2 cups white flour
1 tablespoon baking power
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup blueberries
1/3 cup cut-up strawberries
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F and butter muffin tins.
2. Mix together 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and sugar.
3. Add the egg, milk and melted butter to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.
4. Combine strawberries, blueberries and white chocolate chips together, and sprinkle the last 1/4 cup of flour on top. Stir them gently into the batter.
5. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each one about 2/3 of the way-up.
6. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Once baked, the muffins didn't come out as red, white and blue as I had hoped (in fact, the white chocolate chips had melted completely) so I topped them with an American Flag motif using cream cheese, whole blueberries, and strawberry jelly for stripes.

My oldest daughter pronounced that the muffins "looked odd," but she ate two so I'm still going to count this recipe as a success. And yes, I can admit they aren't quite Pinterest-perfect. But odd?

Happy July Fourth!
Happy Memorial Day!

For more ideas for celebrating the Memorial Day holiday, check out Memorial Day Breakfast: Three Easy Ideas in Red, White and Blue and Memorial Day: A Day of Remembrance.

Red, White and Blue Breakfast: Three Easy Ideas for July Fourth or Memorial Day

I thought it would be fun to make a red, white and blue breakfast for my kids in honor of Memorial Day on the last morning of school before the long weekend. These red, white and blue ideas would also work great for July Fourth!

My two-year-old and I hit up the grocery store and returned with blueberries, strawberries and these funky flat marshallows, ready to see what we could create.

Here are three easy red, white and blue July Fourth or Memorial Day breakfast ideas - all that can be made with just strawberries, blueberries and whatever else you have in the house - we had white chocolate chips just asking to be used up, and sweetened condensed milk. Both worked great for the "white."

1. Pancakes topped with a kabob made from strawberries, blueberries and marshmallows.

2. Pancakes cut-out in star shapes and topped with strawberries, blueberries and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. My kids loved this one so much they insisted on having it again for their after-school snack.

3. Oatmeal topped with strawberries, blueberries and white chocolate chips. I threw a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk on this too, because honestly, that stuff tastes good in and on everything.

I also made red, white and blue muffins, which turned out really yummy. I'll post photos and the recipe tomorrow.

Happy Memorial Day! For ways to celebrate the holiday with children in a meaningful way, including a few patriotic flag crafts, visit Memorial Day: A Day of Remembrance.

More Kindy Photos and a Lesson in Spontaneous Generation {Not So Wordless Wednesday}

Yesterday I posted a photo my daughter Magpie took last year at our town's Memorial Day parade. 

Shortly after the parade, my phone went missing. A new phone was purchased, which coincidentally was recently stolen by my son Ziggy and his kindy photos were last week's Wordless Wednesday. The photos and the old phone were forgotten about as we moved on with our busy lives.

In phone miracles, last week the old phone re-appeared from beneath the seats of the car which we had already searched 1,000 times. Clearly, I now have no choice but to believe in spontaneous generation because any other option is impossible - I am a really good stuff-finder now that I'm a mom.

Regardless of how it got here, the old phone has some great photos taken by my six-year-old that we had thought were gone forever. I'm glad they reappeared.

And now kids, you've had your fun. It's time to leave mommy's phone alone.

PS: Smart people - is spontaneous generation the correct word to use to describe my phone's reappearance? I'm thinking not, but couldn't figure out the right term. Transformation didn't seem quite right either. Help?

Leaving the Memorial Day Parade

My daughter Magpie took this photo on my phone at the Mamaroneck Village Memorial Day parade last year. It seems stealing mommy's phone runs in the family.

May Handprint Crafts for May Day, Mother's Day & Memorial Day

May is almost here. And that means we get spring weather and fun handprint crafts you can do with your kids!
Celebrating May Day? Make a May Day Basket from cut-out handprints and paper plates.

Photo from DLTK's Growing Together

And before you know it it will be May 8. A Sunday. Also known as Mother's Day. You could use any of the heart handprint crafts from Valentine's Day and just substitute "Happy Mother's Day" where the craft suggests "Happy Valentine's Day."

Or, if you think dear old mom will remember hey, didn't you give me something that looked just like this back in February? you could make this cute handprint tote from Paint Cut Paste:

Photo from PaintCutPaste.com

Or, choose from any of the truly touching I-might-even-cry-they're-so-sweet options over at Handprint and Footprint Art. She has choices like creating an I love you handprint in sign language and a handprint poem and picture frame.

And last, at the end of the month comes Memorial Day - Monday, May 30. I've always been moved by the reason behind having Memorial Day even if between barbecuing, beaching and generally enjoying a day off we forget how fortunate we are to have this day of lazy in the first place.

I think it's nice to make a small gesture of remembrance of the many who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and to honor their memory. You can find lots of ways to express patriotic spirit in handprint art, but my favorite from amongst the sea of flags and red, white & blue, is this Handprint Bald Eagle. You can paint the handprints or cut them out of brown paper.

Picture from AllKidsNetwork.com

And just one more.... if after this winter you're like me, you'll just want to celebrate the sunshine with a Handprint Sun:

Photo from About.com Family Crafts

Happy May!