Dairy-free, soy free, gluten free and peanut free "ice-cream"

My daughter has some food allergies so it's always wonderful when we find good frozen treat alternatives for her.  I'm going to give this super easy recipe a try.   We have SunButter in the pantry and frozen bananas in the freezer.  We're going to a birthday party today and since she can't have cake or ice cream, I think I might bring some along.   A two ingredient "ice-cream" made with SunButter and frozen bananas.  Doesn't get much easier.   Enjoy!   SunButter ice-cream

Enjoying Summer

What fun activities have you been doing this summer?  It seems like my kids and I have been gone nearly everyday for the past few weeks.   We've been trying to pack in play dates with friends we don't get to see often during the school year.  We've done several picnics at parks, beach days & pool days.   We've also been having fun getting good use out of our zoo and museum memberships.   Have I told you lately how much I love memberships?!! They save me a lot of money.   We went ice skating a couple weeks ago.   That was something different and really fun for my kids.  On hot days (we've had a LOT of really HOT days!) when we are at home, we bought a slip and slide that is great fun.   My kids also love to get a pile of paintbrushes and buckets of water and invite friends over to "paint" the house, deck, patio, rocks, etc.  I fill the kid pool up with water and let them go to town painting whatever their hearts desire.  Fun stuff.   It's great that kids are as happy as can be with simple summer pleasures such as a $15.00 pool, a $10.00 slip and slide and a pack of balloons from the dollar store.  Add a few friends in the mix and it's a grand day!   Some things we are still looking forward to doing:  Blueberry picking, a vacation to a cottage on lake and a mommy/daughters trip to Shipshewana, Indiana.  I need to get busy planning our girls trip!   I would love to hear about some of your summer activities and adventures.

Drowning...please read!

With the hot summer weather many families are enjoying spending time in pools and at lakes.  Please take a couple of minutes to read this article.  Drowning doesn't look like drowning.

Family Friendly Movie Reviews

I enjoy watching movies with my kids but I'm very selective about the movies I will allow my children to watch.    I'm thankful for movie review websites so we can better decide which ones are appropriate for our children.   I wanted to pass along a couple of sites that I've found helpful.

I recently found this movie review website.  It's called Box Office Mom

Another great site that I often use for movie reviews is Plugged In which is by Focus on the Family.

Valentine's Day Surprises!

This morning I surprised my kids with light up heart spinners and Valentine snow globes.  They loved their surprises.   My husband is working tonight but we're planning to go out for a nice lunch on a different day.  Restaurants are too busy on Valentine's Day anyhow.  Maybe I'll make heart shaped pancakes and strawberry banana fruit smoothies for dinner :)  My kids will love that!   Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun, Easy Valentine's Day Craft.

Here is a cute and easy Valentine's Day craft to do with your preschoolers.  

Items needed:
Toilet paper tube
Construction paper
Pipe Cleaner
Glue
Tape
Scissors
Crayon or marker

Valentine Butterfly!

Cut a piece of construction paper to size and let your child roll it around the toilet paper tube (covering the entire tube).  Glue to secure.  Precut the heart shaped wings and let your child glue them to the back of the tube.  Cut one pipe cleaner in half.  Tape pipe cleaners to the inside of the tube.  Provide small cut-outs or markers / crayons for creating a face and decorating the wings.  You could also write a note on the wings and use this as a Valentine "card" that your child could give to a special family member or friend.

Review of "Connect the Dots and Color" Android app

     Earlier today I mentioned a preschool app being offered for free today in the Amazon Appstore for Android.  I've had some time to use it now and wanted to offer up a quick review.
While the app has been getting mostly negative reviews (2 star average as of this writing) I actually thought better of it than that.  I knew from reading the reviews that the main complaint was that the "connect-the-dot" pictures didn't start with the letter they were supposed to illustrate.  (The letter E for instance uses a picture of a fire truck that incorporates the E structure into the connect-the-dot design.)  Knowing this  beforehand made it easier to deal with while exploring it.  It's possible that it might be confusing for a preschooler but not as much as some reviewers seemed to think.  Kids don't always think too deeply about the meanings that we adults assign to things.
     Our seven year old daughters were very fascinated by the coloring of the pictures after they connected the dots.  They blew through the whole alphabet and started over again with the numbers.  They actually started arguing over whose turn it was to color.  I would have assumed they were too old to have any interest in a game designed for preschool aged kids.  I think in a similar way most preschoolers will easily overlook the fact that the pictures don't start with the letter being illustrated.  This app will let them have some fun while gaining familiarity with letters and numbers.
     Definitely get this game if only for the fact that it's free.  You shouldn't be surprised though if your child ends up loving it and being fascinated by all the dot-connecting and coloring.