Earth Day Waffles

Earth Day is this Sunday, and I thought it would be fun to whip up some waffles to celebrate. I have to admit though that other than the fact that these waffles look {a little bit} like the earth, there isn't anything really "earthy" about them. As I was mixing in the food coloring to make the blue and green batter, I realized that it would have been much more "earthy" for me to use fruits and veggies to dye the batter. So if you really want to celebrate Earth Day the right way with these waffles break out the blueberries and spinach...or you can be like me and just add in a little dye and enjoy the pretty colors:)

 I started by mixing up some store bought waffle mix according to the package directions. Again if you want to be extra "earthy" make your own homemade waffle mix...and I guess you could even grind your own flour too if you REALLY want to be "earthy"!

 Divide the batter into two bowls pretty evenly...even though there is way more water than land on our planet it is a lot easier just to put equal amounts of both colors onto the waffle iron:) Then add a little bit of green {either food coloring or pureed spinach} to one bowl and a little bit of blue {either food coloring or pureed blueberries} to the other bowl. Let your little assistant give each bowl a good stir with a whisk until you get the color that you want.

Spray your preheated waffle iron with non-stick spray and add the batter onto the waffle iron. You can just pour it on and spread it around or you can really try to make it look like a view of the Earth. I tried to make mine look like the Earth...can you see North & South American on the left, a little bit of Europe on the top right, and Australia on the bottom right?!? After you've added your batter cook your waffles on a pretty low setting to prevent it from browning too much. 

Our waffles ended up getting a little more brown than I wanted, but I just called it dirt and took a few pictures to share with you:) They tasted the same even if we had to pretend that the brown parts were dirt!

I think these is going to be my boys' after school snack today and then maybe we will work on a recycling project to really get us in the Earth Day mood!

Do you do anything to celebrate Earth Day?

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Tatertots and Jello

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HGTV.com feature

A few weeks ago,  I got an email from a writer for HGTV.com asking if they could feature my Outdoor Toy Organizer in an article on the HGTV.com website.

To say that I was excited would be a major understatement!
I love watching HGTV and I love browsing HGTV.com for awesome ideas....so knowing that one of my projects would be featured there was such an honor. I got an email today saying that the article was up and I was so excited that I just had to share it here with y'all! The article is called Clever Uses for Everyday Items in the Garage. I know my original project was for outdoors, but honestly it would work even better inside a garage! Here's a little preview of what the article is about straight from HGTV.com:

Upcycled decor is smart and savvy, so why save all the best ideas for inside the home? We've gathered clever redos from inspired DIYers with a talent for giving new life to old things that are perfect for the garage.

I would love for you to hope over to HGTV.com and check out the article. I know you have all seen my Outdoor Toy Organizer before, but there are also a ton of other great ideas that are perfect for organizing your garage or outdoor space...just in time for spring cleaning too! 

How to Plan a Bowling Party in Less Than a Week

I love a good kid's birthday party. Especially if it is a theme party with lots of fun details....and that is usually the kind of party that I plan for my boys. But somehow life got SUPER busy these last few months and Henry's 8th birthday got here way too fast. It probably didn't help that his birthday was a few days after Easter and during the boys' spring break! The week before his birthday, I hadn't done much of anything as far as planning goes....actually I was still trying to decided between a baseball party or a bowling party. I had considered taking Henry and a few of his friends to a minor league baseball game in a nearby city, but in the end bowling won out mostly because it was easier to take kiddos to the bowling alley during the day than to have them out at a baseball game until 10 o'clock at night!

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The first thing I did to get ready for Henry's birthday was to make him a birthday shirt. I printed out a clip art bowling pin and bowling ball, cut them out with some felt scraps, and sewed them onto a t-shirt.  I added the 8 to the bowling pin since it was Henry's 8th birthday:) He LOVED his shirt {and so did the manager at the bowling alley...she took Henry's picture in his bowling shirt to add their website!}

 I made a dozen cupcakes and decorated them like bowling balls. I used a black sheet of that sugar paper stuff that they have in the cake decorating section, and then I added a few dabs of white icing for the holes in the bowling balls using a ziploc bag.

 I also put together some cute party favors for the boys. I bought a pack of plastic trophies at the party store, then I added a sticker that said "Best Bowling Buddy" along with each of the kiddos' names. I also added a sticker to the back that said "Thanks for making Henry's party a BALL".To finish the party favors, I filled the trophies with gumballs and put them in small clear bags.

 And then we went bowling:

 We also had a small family party the next day. Instead of just having a generic party, I decided to continue the bowling theme. I decorated the house with bowling ball balloons that I made by sticking small white circle stickers onto black balloons. I attached 8 of the bowling ball balloons on the stairs just for fun:)

 For some reason I didn't get a picture of the cute bowling ball plates that we put together for the party, but they were simple black plates with the same white circle stickers stuck on to make them look like bowling balls. I also bought a cute plastic bowling set for the kids to play with during the party, but it ended up being WAY too windy for they played bowling on the wii instead:)

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After a little wii bowling it was time for food! We had some yummy bowling ball treats made with Ding Dongs and a little leftover icing.....

 ...and we also had a SUPER yummy cake that matched Henry's birthday shirt.

Considering that both of Henry's bowling parties were planned in about a week, I thought they turned out pretty cute...and I know the boys had a ton of fun celebrating Henry's birthday!

Linking up here..

Tatertots and Jello

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