Banana Pops

During a quick run to our local grocery store, my boys saw a box in the produce department that contained supplies to make banana pops. They asked if we could buy it, but I quickly said no. Little did they know, right then I made plans to make our own version at home without that little box:) We picked up a bunch of bananas and the other things that were on our list and headed home. While they were busy playing I whipped up a fun banana pop treat for them and I even added sprinkles to make them a little more fun:)

I started with a few bananas, chocolate melts, and lollipops stick. You will also need sprinkles, but somehow they didn't make it into my picture.

The first step was to cut my bananas in half and insert the lollipop sticks into the cut end of the bananas. I left the peel on the bananas and stuck them in the freezer for about an hour. I have seen these before and the directions say to peel the banana first, but I didn't want to worry about having a plate to sit them on in the freezer. Leaving the peel on allowed me just to stick the bananas in the freezer among the fish sticks, broccoli, and frozen waffles:)

After an hour in the freezer, I pulled out the bananas and removed the peel. Be sure to get all the peel and stringy things off...they can be stubborn in places and break because they are frozen.

Dip your frozen banana in melted chocolate. I used chocolate melts, but chocolate chips or almond bark would work too. Let some of the excess chocolate drip off the banana and then roll it around in your sprinkles. This is a messy step {notice I didn't get a picture of the sprinkle dipping}, so have a wet rag handy to wipe up your hands and any messes.

I left my bananas on the countertop to harden for about 15 minutes, but you can also stick them back in the freezer for a few minutes. Leaving them on the counter for a few minutes lets the banana soften up a little which makes it easier for little kiddos to eat them! Hand them over to your kiddos and watch their faces light up at the sight of all those fun sprinkles and yummy chocolate!

What kind of fun snacks have you been making for your kiddos this summer?

Wordless Wednesday: Kid's Eye View

Ugly Patio Box to Cute Outdoor Seating

We bought a patio box a few years ago to store all the boys outside toys. At the time it was really functional for keeping all their toddler riding toys, sand buckets, and their Fisher Price Bubble Mower in one place instead of all over the yard. We even used it as a seat sometimes, but over the years our patio box took a beating. It even had a hole in the top that I'm pretty sure came from a baseball bat. So when I started our patio makeover I knew something had to be done to our old neglected patio box.

The first thing I had to tackle was the big hole in the top of the lid....and it was duct tape to the rescue! I simply used stripes of duct tape on the outside and inside of the lid to seal up the hole.

 I bought a piece of foam and cut it to size with a bread knife...I've also heard an electric knife works well for cutting foam, but I was too lazy to dig ours out of the back of the kitchen cabinet:) After removing the lid from the box, I sprayed the lid with spray adhesive and stuck my cut to size piece of foam on it. Then I sprayed the top of the foam with spray adhesive. I placed the fabric upside down on the ground and carefully positioned the foam/lid onto the fabric.

 Using screws and my hubby handy drill, we attached the fabric to the lid after wrapping the fabric around the outside edge of the lid. I wasn't sure how a screw would work on the plastic lid, but after we found the right kind of screw it was no problem at all. I have no idea what kind of screw we used, just that some of the ones that we had wouldn't work:)

 This is what the inside of the lid looked like after I finished attaching the fabric and foam. If you try this make sure that you pay attention to where the hinges are so that you don't cover them up with fabric. My hinges where on the right side in the picture below which is why it looks different than the other three sides.

I impatiently waited for Jason to get home from work so he could reattach the lid for me. I tried a few times but couldn't figure it out:) Once the lid was in place, we had a great new seating area on our patio!

You can check out the rest of our patio makeover here!