Lora Langston's Blog, page 69

What to Expect When You're Expecting Book Giveaway

You've probably heard of the book, "What to Expect When You're Expecting", but did you know they have a website with pregnancy and parenting tips? It's a great resource for New-Moms-to-be. You can track your babies growth, see celebrity moms, and find Mommy Blogs about pregnancy and parenting.



Follow @whattoexpect on Twitter and Facebook/WhatToExpectWhenYoureExpecting 



Check back next week for your chance to win the trilogy! 



Pre-Pregnancy





You're Expecting





The First Year

We'll be giving away copies on our next Pin it! Online Scavenger Hunt on Pinterest.



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Kitchen Kids ~ Homemade Edible Snowballs

Think Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.









You need:



Vanilla Ice Cream

Pastel or Peppermints (Soft wedding mints are kid friendly)

Candy for Decorations

Chocolate Syrup

Optional: Shredded Coconut, Powdered Sugar







Have a snowman decorating party with mini snowballs.

To make:



With a melon baller scoop mini ice cream balls.

Place balls on wax paper on a cookie sheet and keep in freezer.

Let set for 15 minutes.

Remove balls one at a time and roll in crushed mints and/or coconut.

Store in freezer until ready to serve.

Serve 3 balls in a dessert dish with assorted candies.

Build Snowman.

Add chocolate syrup and eat :-)





Ice Cream Snowman made from Mini Snowballs for Winter Holiday Party.



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FREE Preview of Kids Creative Chaos Cooks ~ Holiday Treats ~ Get yours today :-)

Our new kid's cookbook, "Kids Creative Chaos Cooks ~ Holiday Treats" offers holiday recipes and edible crafts for kids to mix and make.


The easy instructions allow kids to surprise Mom and Dad with special treats from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Celebrate family get-togethers with cute group games that get everyone moving. 



Good news, the book is available for a free download through the weekend.  Happy Holidays! 



Description:



COOKBOOK for KIDS ~ Kitchen Kids ~ RECIPES
Holiday Treats is a collection of easy mixing and making recipes made up of simple ingredients. Kids of all ages can follow the directions and make tasty holiday treats. In this issue enjoy Mini Snowball Treats, Peanut Butter Turkey Treats, Christmas Cranberry Muffins, indoor holiday games to get your family moving, and more.
















Feel Free to pin-it, but remember the recipes and games are copyrighted. To purchase a hard copy for $5.99 as a Christmas Gift CLICK HERE or get the KINDLE version for $1.99 HERE.






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Testing Comment Luv Installation from IntenseDebate

Can you please comment, so we can see if it works?







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Creative Country Sayings ~ A Day in the Country is Worth a Month in the City

A day in the country is worth a month in the city.



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My Favorite Part of the Circus was the Cats. No, Not Lions and Tigers, I'm Talking Kitty Cats.

Circus Cats



Ringling's Amazing Animals




So, the Circus was cool with all of the typical animals, daredevils, and princesses. The clowns were silly, of course, and the dragon was exciting with his real smoke breath. I've been to other imitations recently, but this brand is the best. I captured the usual photos. What I couldn't capture a photo of, due to the incredible live action, was the domestic house cats. Kitty Cats. There were dog and pony shows that included goats, donkeys, and llamas in the three ring show of Amazing Animals.




My six-year-old kept begging me to look at the cute dog or "Mommy, look a llama, you love llamas." That I do, but I couldn't look away from the cats.




Girly Lions, Tigers, and an Awesome King of the Jungle.



Adorable cuddly, fuzzy cats climbed ladders, ran on balls, and jumped from amazing heights at the request of their trainer. Impressive, but not impossible to believe. I had a blind cat. If you put her up she had to get down. If she wanted up on a bunk bed, she'd climb the ladder or stand on the bottom bunk and grab the top bunk's rung to pull herself up. Cats do these things out of curiosity or necessity. 




What had me on the edge of my seat was... when the trainer opened the cat carrier, the little critters popped out with tails held high and pranced straight to the podium to start their act. I oohed. I ahhed. It happened every time. Not once did the cat get side-tracked or stop to sniff the ground. AMAZING.








Baby Elephant at the Circus.


The Circus elephants came in second. I'm sure you'll find much more to ooh and ahh about. The daredevils were crazy- that's good, right? I refused to clap. I can't applaud insanity :-)




Look for the Circus coming to your area ~ don't forget to take a picture of the Kittys for me. I couldn't find one anywhere. Maybe I only sought a saw a puddy tat.




Feld Entertainment provided the tickets for my unpartial review and giveaway.

































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Jake's Journey in Art ~ Homeschool Weaving Lesson ~ Make your own Loom ~ DIY Arts and Crafts

Our loom has both warp and weft framework to better illustrate the concept to young children.

To weave a textile, threads (or scrap fabric) are woven on a frame called a loom. The first vertical threads on the loom are called warp threads. Threads that are woven horizontally in and out of the warp threads are called weft threads.





Cut notches in the cardboard frame to keep yarn in place.

Recycle a piece of cardboard from a cereal box or a foam tray to make your loom.



Cut small notches into the top and bottom of your cardboard(ours are about 1/2", but 1" works well). Make them about 1/2" inch apart.  Alex Toys has a great PDF on weaving here.





Spongebob Fabric for Toddler bed tent.

Warp your loom with yarn or string by taking the thread and taping one end to the back middle of your board.  Now, starting with your first notch on the left, begin wrapping through each top and bottom notch without skipping a notch until you get to the right side of the board.  Only the warp frame is required.


Now your are ready to weave your weft. Cut or tear scraps of fabric into strips. Your strips of fabric should be about 1" thick and at least 12"  long. You will need about 20 strips. 





The cat enjoyed the tearing of fabric strips so much he needed a nap after playing with them.

For extra ease for smaller children, we added a weft frame as well. Now the scraps of fabric can be pulled through the little squares for guidance. Pull your scrap fabric under the first warp, over the next, and so on. The yarn guide will help younger children see any mistakes made.



When you have completed your weaving tie off all scraps in groups of two at the edges of your cardboard loom, then you can cut your your thread/yarn framework.





Spongebob has his eye on you.



This is an easy way to get littles started in weaving. It is also helpful to cut a piece of cardboard about 1" by 3" with a notch in the end.  Attach your scrap fabric by inserting it in the notch and use as a tool to weave the fabric through the loom, this is called a shuttle.





Alex Toys Native American Bead Loom Kit for weaving bracelets.



Once you advance your skills, you can weave many beautiful projects.  Alex Toys has a Native American Loom for weaving bracelets.  It is a professional quality loom that makes incredibly authentic bracelets.  We are working on our patterns and will share them soon.



Kid's room cartoon character theme (that way we don't have to worry about matching or new fads).
Check out the automobile sun visor we used as a headboard. It is simply nailed to the wall.

Jake loved the idea of using his toddler tent cover as scrap fabric for this project. We renewed an item that was dear to his heart. It had been ripped from rowdy play and was no good as a tent, but we saved it anyway in hopes to repair it or transform it into a pillow or some other creative endeavor. The Sponge Bob Fabric was the perfect accent for his room. 





Yep, we need a hanging stick, but the kids love it.  Use favorite t-shirts, pillow cases, or doll clothes for your scrap fiber.

To display your beautiful work of art weave a "weft" stick horizontally through the top row and hang on a wall.  Jake loved his creation and couldn't wait for the stick. He wanted to see how it looked right away, so we hung it by a nail. A little droopy, yes, but he loves it.



Did he love the process?  Not so much.  Much patience is a necessary requirement of weaving. So, Mommy made the loom, got it started and Jake weaved the inner pieces to gain an understanding of the process.  Mommy tied and cut it off making sure Jake watched and understood. This is somewhat time consuming, but the end results are worth it.



Mayhem saw the weaving on his wall and wanted it for her room.  Score! This project journey ended on a very happy note.  


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