A (Hopefully) Practical Gift for Dad

So, feeling a bit of a time crunch, I didn't have the kids make (or hand-make it myself, and let them take credit, whichever the case may be) gifts for Brett and the grandfathers this year. I chose to stick with a photo gift. They are usually well received plus they are relatively quick to make and not at all expensive (at least not the ones I choose!). The only problem was deciding what photo gift to make.

In the past, I have made a few different photo gifts for various occasions: photo calendars for Christmas, photo books for Mother's Day, photo mugs for Father's Day, personalized photo notepads for Mother's Day, photo aluminum water bottles for Mother's Day, photo travel mugs for my brothers' birthdays, and possibly more that I can't think of right now. The thing I have noticed, though, is that some of these items don't get used for their intended purpose because the recipient is concerned about damaging it or something. For example, my dad told me that the mug used to sit on his desk at work as a hard candy holder. Really, my intent was for these gifts to be used, and not just displayed. (Really, you can put a hot drink in the mug! That's what it's for...) So, I had to come up with something really functional.

My original thought was to make iPhone covers after they were mentioned in an email I received from Shutterfly. However, upon doing some research, I discovered that my father-in-law no longer uses an iPhone for work, and my mom swore that my dad wouldn't like it, suggesting that it was too "girly." That I don't even understand, but I just thought, Okay, that idea is out. Plus, the obvious issue here is that Brett doesn't own an iPhone (although, trust me, if this were a viable option for us, he would definitely want one!).

Then, I thought about photo barbecue aprons, but again, those might have come across as too "girly," even if they would have pictures of my adorable children on them. So, I wasn't even gonna go there. Next, I thought about photo mouse pads, which would serve a purpose for Brett at work, but maybe not so much for the grandpas. Plus, there's the lame-o gift factor, so I nixed that idea.

Eventually, I settled on the idea to make these photo magnets, which are a set of four magnets, each 2" x 2" and can be completely personalized. (They were also on sale, so it pays to look for the deals.) This allowed me to make two magnets with photos of Mia and two with photos of Logan. I made one set that said things like "World's Best Daddy!" and "I Love Daddy!" Then took the same pictures and altered the text to read  "Grandpa!" in place of "Daddy," which was a quick, simple change. The photo magnets look nice and they're a truly practical gift. So, to all my favorite fathers, it's on, guys. I challenge you to not use these the way they were meant to be used!

Slippery Sock Solution

After reading this post about "parent hacks" that my friend Kelli shared on Facebook, I decided that I loved that lingo -- "parent hacks" -- so I am totally going to borrow it! I had seen a few of those ideas before, but the only one that I am currently using is the bread tab on the end of the tape roll so that I can always find the end. (This really is handy, and I have one on every roll of masking tape, duct tape, and packing tape in the house.) Reading about another person's ideas of "parent hacks" got me thinking as to whether or not I have created any "parent hacks" of my own. I came up with just one idea I have pulled off and posted about, my holy footie pj's repair job.

However, I did accomplish another "parent hack" this week, and quite successfully, I might add. Mia has been complaining about her socks being too slippery. (I'm not exactly sure why this is such an issue, considering that it is summer, but whatever.) Anyway, I must have mentioned an idea I had seen or read about somewhere to use puffy paint on the bottoms of socks (or maybe it was footie pajamas, since I was looking for ideas for fixing those holes...). Essentially, this would create DIY gripper socks, like the kind she always had when she was a toddler (but didn't have in her big-girl wardrobe). Mia reminded me that I had said I would do this, and she held me to it. We had a fresh supply of puffy paint on hand from having recently made our own window clings, so I couldn't really use the excuse of not having what I needed to get it done. So, I had her round up all the socks that required my attention before she went to bed one recent evening. This just meant that I had to actually make the gripper socks.

Fortunately, this is a truly simple "parent hack." To make gripper socks, I just took a tube of puffy paint (I used black, but any color would work) and made designs on the bottoms of her socks. Some designs that I used included dots, squiggly lines, butterflies, and hearts. On one pair, I wrote her name in a sort of calligraphy-inspired script, which she was especially excited by. Then, I just left the socks -- paint side up -- on the table to dry overnight. The not-so-slippery socks were ready to wear by morning. Problem solved.

{My slippery sock solution: puffy paint!}

Lessons from a Lemonade Stand

Last Thursday I let the kids try their hand at running their very first business: a lemonade stand. While this is not something I ever had the opportunity to do, it seems like something every kid should do at least once during childhood. Mia really wanted to do this at some point in the summer, and I for reasons that I can't really explain given how busy we are preparing for our vacation, (Tropical island! No kids!! Ring any bells?) decided to try to cram that into our already bursting-at-the-seams schedule.

Before agreeing to this venture, I had Mia brainstorm a list of items that we would need to buy or make before setting up shop. She came up with: table, chairs, sign, pitcher, cups, balloons, and of course, lemonade. For that, I had an interesting recipe I wanted to try: watermelon lemonade (which I found in the June 21, 2013 issue of All You magazine, page 4). And, I happened to have lemons and watermelon on hand, which meant that this was as good a time as any to test the recipe and run a lemonade stand. Two birds, one stone.

Sweet Pink Lemonade (makes 12 servings)

• 6 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 cups watermelon, chopped 
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)
• ice

1. Bring 6 cups water, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Puree 4 cups chopped watermelon in a blender (I used my food processor for this.) along with 1 cup of water.
4. Pour syrup and watermelon puree through a strainer into a pitcher. (This step was really messy!)
5. Stir in 2 cups fresh lemon juice. (The kids helped with the squeezing, but this was mostly a job for Mama.)
6. Serve over ice. (Hard to do when you're sitting outside for a couple of hours...)

Sounds pretty good, right? It is! However, this is a fair bit of work to put into a kids' lemonade stand endeavor. So, lesson #1 I learned is that when making a lemonade stand, don't knock yourself out making fresh squeezed lemonade from organic lemons and pureed watermelon. Seriously, I doubt that our customers knew or cared how much effort went into making the stuff. *If* we do this again, I will probably just use frozen lemonade concentrate or perhaps, more lazily, a powdered drink mix. For some reason it seemed important to keep it real, but in retrospect, I don't think it mattered.

Setting up a table and chairs was easy. Getting balloons blown up was trickier. I don't have that much hot air, it seems, and the kids are a bit young to be much help in this arena. Making a sign shouldn't have been as time-consuming as it was, but being perfectionistic, I decided to do it myself using my Cricut and some yellow and pink card stock. (I am not sure if this was the right choice or not. Mia could have done the lettering herself, of course, but I didn't think it would be as legible, so I wanted the cut-out letters to hopefully get more attention.) One thing I made sure to highlight on the sign was the word "fresh" because after all that effort, I wanted people to know they were buying a quality product! Is there a lesson here? I'm not sure, but I think it is still related to #1: don't overdo things; Keep it simple.

Now, came one of the more difficult decisions: what price to assign to a small paper cup of fresh squeezed lemonade? Initially, I was thinking only a quarter because the cups were small kitchen cups, but after all of the work invested in my kids' lemonade stand, (and thinking about having to hand wash my lemon juicer, large pot, and assorted food processor pieces...), I made the executive decision to charge 50 cents per cup. I figured $1 was too steep, and 50 cents was the next logical choice. Lesson #2 is that everything has value, including Mom's time. (However, Mom is also the person who makes sacrifices, so I decided not to charge the kids for my time or for the materials we used to make their lemonade. I'm still debating whether or not that was the right decision. I wanted them to see some "profits" but I also wanted them to recognize that everything came at a cost. Tough stuff, when you really think about it, and I thought it was just lemonade!) I think that *if* we run another lemonade stand, I really should let them have the true lesson in economics. This was just the intro course, and I omitted some of the critical learning.

Lesson #3 was more of a lesson for the children with regards to persistence. About half an hour into the waiting game, Mia announced that this was boring. (Shocker, I know!) I tried to remain optimistic even though I didn't think we would get many customers. We live on a paved road off of a dirt road, so we're kind of isolated. Our only hope was the neighborhood people and given that it was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, it didn't seem like we would get too much business. I reminded the kids that they had to be friendly and wave to all of the cars that passed by. Logan jumped on this idea immediately, and waved enthusiastically while yelling out out to each passerby, "Hi! We have a lemonade stand!!" Amazingly, we started getting customers right after this, so there is power in positive thinking.

There really are good people in the world. I think this lesson #4 hit home for me, perhaps, more than it did for Mia and Logan. Once the neighbors started showing up, they would buy more than one cup, so that meant $1 instead of 50 cents. I honestly did not expect that, because, again, I was worried that I was overcharging in the first place. Then, we had two people who made donations/tips to the lemonade stand, just because they were supportive. One neighbor said, "Here's a tip just for being an entrepreneur." Isn't that nice? (It made me feel like I should do a better job of supporting lemonade stands...) But the one thing that really impressed me was when the UPS delivery man stopped his truck just so he could buy two (again, not one but two!) cups of our by-then lukewarm lemonade. While I was a teensy bit upset over the people who promised to "come back later" and never did, in the end they sold 13 cups and got paid for more than that, which exceeded my expectations of what we could achieve in a two-and-one-half-hour window on a Thursday afternoon in our neighborhood, where people pretty much keep to themselves.

Mia learned a lesson in responsibility (#5). Our neighbors across the street actually set up a bouncy house while we were working at the lemonade stand. (We had been invited over to bounce earlier in the day, and had taken advantage of their hospitality for about a half hour.) This was a very tough decision for her, but ultimately, she decided to keep manning the stand instead of going off to do the thing that would have been immediately gratifying. I was, admittedly, shocked that she made this choice, especially after watching her weigh the choices in her mind, and seeing how hard it was for her to decide to stick with her business plan!

Lesson #6 is one on being prepared. Lemonade stands are a sticky, messy business so have lots of towels on hand for cleaning up all the spills. The drink dispenser may go haywire at some point from too many little hands fiddling with it, so make sure your extra cups are easily within reach because you may find yourself filling cup after cup, trying to keep up with the gushing. (Must not waste any of that fresh squeezed organic lemonade with pureed watermelon!) Oh, and don't forget a bag to hold all of the used cups, like I did. Sunscreen seemed like an obvious choice (check!), but little did I know, we would actually need an umbrella before the afternoon was over! Make sure your kids have their own water bottles so they are not tempted to drink up lemonade supply. I made sure that we had change before heading outside, not knowing that we wouldn't really need it. (Nice people!) And I figured having hand sanitizer available couldn't hurt.

Once the rain got too hard, we shut down the lemonade stand, and headed inside, where I counted the money. When all was said and done, I gave each of the kids $3.50. As Brett pointed out, this wasn't the profits, it was the revenue. I had decided not to charge them the $3 for the lemons or the $2.50 for half of a watermelon that was used. Sugar and cups were such small amounts that I didn't know how to calculate the cost for those, and then there was the issue of my time. Undoubtedly, it is valuable, but it was all a gift, because I wanted them to have the experience. Lesson #7 was to just plain enjoy life! We had a good/exhausting/sticky afternoon, and we may have come out ahead by a dollar of so, but the real lessons had more to do with earning money. (This is fortunate, since there wasn't much money actually made when you do the math.) It was more rewarding for me just to let them enjoy the feeling of success, while we kicked back and finally enjoyed some of that sweet pink lemonade. I think we all earned it.

The Problem with Pinterest

Well, here's another idea I found on Pinterest. (I'm starting to think this should be a tag in and of itself.) First, let me say that it had never occurred to me to use sidewalk chalk for photo props, and I think this idea is pretty brilliant. When I told Mia about the idea to write "Kindergarten" on the driveway and then have her lie down next to it for a fun end-of-school-year photo, she was excited to try it out!

However, the problem lies in actually pulling off a successful photo. (Things are always easier in theory than in actuality, right?) Naturally, the post that this links to doesn't give any directions on how to produce the cute photo results, so I had to wing it. That didn't seem like it would be terribly difficult but the next obstacle was the weather. It was unseasonably cool on the last couple days of school, and she was actually wearing jeans and long-sleeve tops! That didn't seem very summery, and I didn't want to make her miserable, so I didn't even suggest trying the photo "session" on those days. Then, it rained. And then we had Daddy's birthday to celebrate so her portrait session was placed on the back burner.

Finally, there was a day when it rained, and then cleared up, and the driveway was dry enough to give it a whirl. The sun was shining at that point, and I thought we were golden! I grabbed a piece of pink sidewalk chalk and wrote "Kindergarten" as artistically as possible, and then I went to grab my camera. When I returned, Mia had taken orange chalk and drawn hearts all around the lettering. At first, I was caught off guard, and if I'm being honest, I was a teensy bit upset because I had worked to make it look "Pinterest perfect." But, then I decided to just roll with it because this was, after all, about her. ("It's not about me!" is one of those mommy mantras that pops up from time to time, and I really hope I'm not alone in this.)

Unfortunately, I quickly realized that there can be too much of a good thing, in this case, sunshine. Seriously? Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but that sun we were pining for came back to bite us. The first few photos I took included Mia squinting into the sunlight, resulting in some less than ideal portraits. She didn't really look thrilled to have just finished kindergarten. Instead she looked like she was in pain. Rats!

Obviously, didn't want us to remember kindergarten as the year that made her quite constipated, (if you go by facial expressions, alone, this is how I am reading that look) so I then decided to have her sit up for a different view point that would hopefully avoid the squinty-eyed-make-it-fast-you're-killing-me-here-Mooooooooooom look. It wasn't the shot I was really after, but it was a definite improvement.

Undeterred, and still hoping to get that lying down shot of her next to the word "Kindergarten," we decided to wait until it was slightly cloudier before trying again. By then, she wanted to wear socks and shoes with her capris, which was a look I wasn't totally digging. But again, I let it slide because it wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, and it seemed like that was what she was offering me, a take-it-or-leave-it opportunity. Since I was really wanting that picture that looked so perfect on Pinterest, darn it, I decided to take it! Well, this is as good as it gets. I haven't figured out yet, if having a step stool was helpful or not, but it was something I experimented with to try to get the right angle. Anyway, Mia at least looks happy in those last few attempts, so I will try to overlook those silly socks and shoes.

Someday, we may a whole album or photo book full of these goofy end-of-school-year memories to display at her graduation. (I really am trying to let go of some of my idealistic expectations, but it's a process.) Hopefully, we'll learn a few little tips along the way. And, I'm guessing some of them won't even be about achieving picture perfect results. ("It's not about me!")

Simple Magnet Board Idea

I don't know where I came across this idea originally. I just know that I have known about it for many years, since my undergraduate days when I was studying elementary education. (This is what my bachelor's degree is, in case you ever wondered.)

Coming across a huge stash of magnet letters in the basement reminded me of this idea and I pulled out the cookie sheets and let the kids entertain themselves with the magnets. It's a nice tactile way of writing, which is much quicker to pull together than my sandpaper letter rubbings, for example. Plus, if you happen to have several sets of letters, they can practice matching up letters from various fonts. Mia, of course, was able to spell her name and to practice other writing, making this is a perfect literacy activity for elementary kids. For Logan, who is just getting interested in letters and the sounds that they make, this was more of a fun way to play around with the letters and do some "writing" of his own. So, it's also a great introductory activity for preschool age kids who are in the emergent stage of literacy.

{She got a bit creative: "W" = "M" and "1" = "I"}

Teaching terms aside, this is a truly simple and smart activity for any mom to do with her kids at home using materials I am nearly positive you already have at hand. The cookie sheets work as a magnetic tray, keeping everything contained for a nice busy bag type activity, and they will work with other magnets as well. For example, my friend Julie showed me a set of circus themed animals and people that she had cut out, laminated, and affixed magnets to so that they could be used to tell a story. This is a pretty cool idea, but for now I will stick with our super simple ABC magnet boards. They're perfect for a rainy day.

Party Like It's MCMXCIX!

We're kind of dorks. (That might not be a news flash, but I thought I would state it up front, in case you didn't read this.) That's why I was pretty geeked (pun intended) to find these "Roman Candles" a few months back at Marshall's for $3.99. I tucked them away, feeling they would be perfect for my math nerd husband's birthday cake.

For his birthday, he requested this Toffee Cake, and I agreed to make it, because it was his birthday, and also, because he's pretty awesome. When he was looking for cake recipes, he decided to skip bookmarking any that called for a stand mixer since we didn't have one at the time, and he selected this particular recipe that called for a boxed Devil's Food Cake mix. Then, in a somewhat ironic turn of events, I finally got my stand mixer!! (See, I told you he was pretty awesome.) Brett's birthday cake was its inaugural usage, and I have to say that this was such a joy to use with a boring old boxed cake mix, I can hardly wait to make something from scratch. (You know, when I have more time... like when I'm not busy preparing for our tropical vacation sans children. Eeeeeeeee!)

Even though I linked the recipe from cooks.com, I'm going to take the time to type it out here. Why? Well, I lost one recipe (that I know of) for some white chocolate strawberry muffins that I posted here and I have forever been looking for a substitute since then, and falling hopelessly short. So, in the event that I really want this recipe again, (and I am sure I will!) I will have a fail-safe. Smart, huh?

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake mix
• 1/2 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (I used a bit extra.)
• 6 oz. caramel ice cream topping (Again, I used extra.)
• 3 bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped
• 8 oz. Cool Whip

1. Bake cake according to package directions in a 9" x 13" pan. (To make the cake look a bit more elegant, I decided to make it a layer cake instead of baking it in a 9" x 13" cake pan.) Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom.
2. In a sauce pan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour over warm cake, letting it sink into slits; then sprinkle with the crushed candy bars. (I skipped doing this in between my two layers, but I did add extra caramel sauce.)
3. Let the cake cool completely, then top with Cool Whip. Decorate the top of the cake with more toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate.

For display, it was placed on a new-to-me glass cake stand that I had picked up at a rummage sale for $1 the very morning that I was planning to make the cake. Serendipitous, indeed! I was a bit harried, though, since it was the last day of school for Mia, and I didn't end up trimming the two rounds to make them even and flat. It turned out not to be a big deal, though, because the Cool Whip made excellent, easy-to-work-with frosting. I had never used a tub of Cool Whip for frosting before, but I expect to use it again because it was very simple to apply with my angled spatula and it covered up a multitude of baking sins (like those uneven layers I mentioned.) I was thankful to have reserved a small amount of Cool Whip to do touch-ups, as we were traveling to Brett's brother's house to celebrate, and it got a just a tiny bit messy looking on the way there. (My strange method that I came up with for transporting the cake worked very well: I stuck the cake stand into a large pot so that the stand rested just on the outer edges. This was I was able to hold it in place and rest my hands on the handles of the pot during the drive, and remain reasonably comfortable while doing so.)

In addition to looking pretty, this cake was very moist, too, thanks to the caramel sauce that was drizzled into slits cut into both of the layers. I topped it all off with the extra caramel sauce and some smashed up Heath bars, Brett's favorite candy bar. (By the way, pummeling candy bars with a rubber mallet is very cathartic. Just make sure they are sealed in a baggie and then wrapped in a towel, and you're good to go.) On another side note, the left over condensed milk was very happily used for condensed milk paintings, which Mia had been asking me to do again, so that was a happy coincidence, and it meant no waste (because obviously, we will eat the remaining caramel topping soon...). Everyone agreed that the cake was delicious, but the Roman numeral candles were truly the Pièce de résistance!

{All you need to know is that I am younger!}

How to Tell If Your Dog May Be Spoiled

Using my pseudo-scientific method, you too, can determine if your dog is spoiled in just three easy steps.

1) Make some popcorn.
Don't worry; even the most sluggish of pooches will soon learn to recognize and respond to the sound of un-popped kernels being poured into the air popper. (The more quickly she emerges from her den, the more likely it is that you have a spoiled dog on your hands.)

2) Observe your dog's behavior while the popcorn is popping.
Does your dog simply watch as pieces of popped corn fly out of the air popper and land on the floor, totally ignoring them while giving you the "you've got to be kidding me" look? (If so, she may be spoiled.)

{Is it just me or does it really look like she's laughing?}

3) To be certain, add melted butter and note how excited your dog becomes. 
For example, my dog suddenly becomes much more lively because this is what she was waiting for! (Yeah, this is the true litmus test for determining whether or not your dog is truly spoiled.)

Now that your suspicions are confirmed, you may as well share your buttered popcorn with your spoiled pet. Before you jump down my throat, our vet says this is an acceptable treat for dogs. Okay, she didn't specifically say to add butter, but as you can see, her royal highness has decided that this is the only way she will eat it! By the way, I should add that step 2b is to clean up any un-buttered popcorn that landed on the floor, because the pampered pooch sure isn't going to take care of it any time soon.

{Oh, really, who could say "no" to this sweet face?}