_This tutorial will result in 1 reusable snack bag and 1 reusable sandwich wrap.

ANY WAY YOU GO PASTA SALAD is my new "go to" easy meal.  Unfortunately for you, it's not an exact science... but it's going to end up delicious, that I can promise!

HOW TO:

1. Start with your favorite pasta noodles, make at least 1.5 times the serving suggestions so that you have left overs!
   
2. Choose your sauce.  The easiest (and tastiest) has been when we used Thrive Bechamel (alfredo) Sauce.  That sauce takes 2 minutes to whip up and provides the perfect creamy sauce for this hot or cold salad.
3. PROTEIN?  Want to add some proteins?  We scooped in some Thrive chopped chicken.  Add this to your boiling pasta water during the last 5 minutes OR set in it's own bowl of room temperature water for about 20 minutes (that's what's reconstituting in the measuring up to the right).
4. VEGGIES!  This is the fun part, if you have THRIVE in your pantry!  Choose your favorites and simply throw them into the boiling pasta water for the last minute before draining.  I've used:  corn, peas, onions, celery, broccoli, asparagus...
5. Drain your masterpiece, mix in your sauce, add a little Thrive Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend (or salt and pepper if you haven't bought Chef's Choice yet... I promise you'll use it OFTEN!).  Top with Parmesean OR Feta cheese if desired (depending on what type of salad you're going for.  Pictured to the right is a "greek salad" I experimented with...YUM!

*If you want to use fresh ingredients, go for it!  Simply wash, chop and still add during the last minute or two of boiling pasta water to soften the veggies.

My mom made the pasta salad featured above and made SO much that the next day she took it to a friends' house, warmed it up, added more Bechamel and feasted.  That friend has since been enjoying the leftover leftovers as a cold salad for lunch...as have I!  Perfect for my first week back at school.  YUM!

Details:  

• Perhaps my most brilliant idea ever:  call local dance studio (Studio 22 in Franklin, PA) and ask to rent the space for an hour and hire a student teacher!  This cost me $30 + teacher donation.  WAHOO!  This really helped minimize decorations & stress since I wasn't hosting guests in my house (cleaning & prepping for a party while living with wee guest of honor = chaos).
• shimmery pink & white tutus with a flower around the waist like Angelina (note: to make easy tutus, purchase 1-3 colors of coordinating tulle, cut into strips, tie onto elastic headbands, glue fake flower on waist.  For ballerina tutus, less is more... you want to be able to see their legs through the skirt!)
  
• Mouse headbands made with shimmery cardboard and white foam board hot glued onto inexpensive headbands (note, cut circles out of foam board, snip the bottom of the circle off, cut a 1" perpendicular slit in the ear, hot glue bottom sides so they overlap, THEN hot glue onto headband.)
• polka dot wrapping paper for the tables & covering drink labels
• pink polka dot gift bags full of pink candies, cheese snacks & ballerina stickers
• cardboard cut-outs of Angelina and her friends (they lined the entrance).  I scored that find at our local Ollie's store where they had many Angelina books.  The cardboard cut-outs came from the book "The Nutcracker Sweet"
• pink balloons
• cheese, cheese & more cheese for lunch:  cheese puffs, cheese sandwich crackers, ham & cream cheese tortilla rolls, egg salad sandwiches, mini babybel cheese & pink cupcakes with pink sprinkles (Hazel's one request).
• My sister and I simply couldn't resist and put together our own Miss Mimi outfits.  I think it was lost on the kids, but we sure had fun!

Hazel trying on her new ballet shoes; learning their positions; Annie, Hazel & Heidi with balloons; Hazel twirling; ballet teacher arranging feet in proper position; spinning in circles were their favorite; Marianne and Annie; me taking a self pic in mirror copying Annie's positions; graceful Hazel attempting a plie; Grandma Llama spinning Heidi; Hazel enjoying her cupcake.

This is one of those things that I've been doing for so long that I forget it's a good idea :)  So, just in case you're still buying foaming soap dispensers and/or using full strength shower gel, let me help you save some money!

Materials:

• Shower gel.  I prefer to use Dr. Bronner's soaps because it's perfect for hand washing, shower gel, baby wash, face wash...and in a pinch:  shampoo & toothpaste!  In this pic I'm using Lavender which is my summer scent as it's a natural bug repellent.  My husband's favorite is the classic peppermint... it's OH-SO-TINGLY and refreshing!  
• H2O.
• Foaming soap dispenser.  If you don't have one, no problem.  Just go buy a foaming soap from the store (Bath & Body Works has a nicely shaped one).  Once you finish with the contents, simply peel off the label, rinse and reuse.

How to:
Fill 1/4 with shower gel and slowly add water until it reaches the top.  

That's it!  Kind of embarrassing if you've been buying foaming soap all this time and/or using full strength shower gel, eh?

What's your favorite shower gel scent?

When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I couldn’t wait to begin! 

Unfortunately, it was only a picture and didn’t link to a tutorial.  Since I happen to have A LOT of egg cartons at my disposal (my husband raises chickens for a hobby), I decided to dig in and see what I could come up with.

Not too shabby, if I say so myself!

My toddlers had a blast painting the egg cups!  Instruct them to swirl their paint brush in each egg cup until the entire cup is covered in paint.  I’ve found that using cups of paint with color coded paint brushes really helps to keep the paint colors from all being mixed into a lovely shade of brown.

Let the painted egg cups dry and then enlist the help of a much older child.  I didn’t have that option and whew... cutting egg cartons into flowers was some fierce hand exercise.  Of course, you might not attempt to make 4 dozen flowers in one sitting ;)

As I cut the egg cups out of the carton, I rounded the edges and then snipped “petals”around the edges.  The petals are made by making small cuts from the edge of the cup toward the bottom.  Carefully fold those back and VOILA... a flower!  

I also played around a little bit with cutting some of the egg cups really short and using them as the middle.  This was nice especially for cups that needed more color.  You could incorporate any scraps from other crafts.  I let my toddler choose some fuzzy balls for the middle of her flowers.  

To finish them off, I put a big glob (technical term) of hot glue on the back of the flower and held a pipe cleaner in place until the glue hardened.  

Now, tie with twine for a sweet bouquet or simply plop them in a vase.  Flowers that don’t need water and won’t die or disintegrate because I forgot to take care of them... now that’s a flower I can get behind!

recap:
1.  SUPPLIES:  egg carton, multi colored paints & brushes, scissors, pipe                  cleaners, hot glue
2.  Paint each egg cup with paint.  The more colorful, the better!
3.  Once paint dries, cut each egg cup out of the egg carton.
4.  Trim the top of each egg cup so that the top is a clean circle.
5.  Snip the flower petals by making small, straight snips from the top edge of the        cup towards the center.
6.  Carefully fold the cardboard back between each snip.
7.  Add any extra decorations to your flowers (fuzzy ball centers, spiraled wire            centers, etc.)
8.  Using hot glue, glue a pipe cleaner to the BACK (unpainted) of the flower.  Hold      in place until glue hardens.
9.  Repeat for the remaining 11 flowers :)  

Strawberry Pepper Granita

Ingredients
1 cup hot water
¾ cup sugar
2 T fresh lemon juice
½ t ground pepper
3 cups strawberries, sliced (substitute THRIVE sliced strawberries for a year-round fresh treat!)

Directions
In a small bowl, stir together water, sugar, lemon juice, and pepper until sugar dissovles.  In a food processor (I used immersion blender), blend strawberries until smooth.  Add sugar syrup and blend until combined.  Pour into an 8” square baking and freeze.  Stir and crush lumps with a fork every hour until evenly frozen, about 3 hours total.  Scrape with a fork to lighten texture, crushing any lumps.  Spoon into glasses or bowls and serve with a spoon.


Have you ever added an odd flavor to a dessert and discovered an amazing combo?


Bon Appetit,

"Sing, sing a song.  Make it simple, to last a whole life long."  (song lyrics from Karen Carpenter)

Thanks to Pandora, my kids are exposed to a lot of great toddler tunes.  Music for kids can be silly, calming, repetitive or tell stories.  There is so much great stuff out there, but today I want to encourage you to go BACK TO THE BASICS.

One important consideration for developing voices is the quality of singing that they are exposed to.  I LOVE to jam to my favorite bands while I'm driving or cleaning, but I don't want those voices to be the only ones my toddler hears.  Toddlers MIMIC and so what they hear is so important.  Those tiny voices shouldn't be straining to match a gravely, shouting, or emblishment crazed soprano voice.  Look for artists who sing in the middle range, whose voice is pure w/o computer enhancements and whose words are clearly understood.

One great example of the type of singing to expose your child to is Jill Trinka.  Hop on over to Amazon to hear clips of some of her recordings, or purchase through one of my affiliate links to the right (THANK YOU!).

One of my favorite songs to sing with kids is "Simple Gifts."  A traditional Shaker dance song, this simple song is easy to sing and provides a great basis for later study of American folk culture.  Though she hasn't memorized the words yet, my toddler LOVES to dance to this song.  Similar to "Ring around the Rosy" (another historical dance song sung in a modest range), this song is great for twirling!

Text:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Here's a nice rendition by another favorite female vocalist of mine, Alison Krauss: