Family Fun, Recipes, & Healthy Living
As most of you know I was diagnosed with adhd later in life. I was 29 & I explain that in detail here. How old were you when you were diagnosed? Life is tough and everyone has their struggles. It sure is tough to add …
I love bread and have been experimenting making homemade bread for the past year. But I was discouraged multiple times, when it just seemed inconsistent and some just too dense. So I’m happy to say, I have mastered an easy recipe that has been consistently …
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner I thought it might be fun to share some free downloads and ideas for you all with conversation heart candy. Izzy had a blast working on math skills & problem solving. If you enjoy playful learning these are perfect activities for you all.
Graphing
click HERE for the FREE graphing download
Conversation-Heart-Graphing
Addition & Subtraction
click HERE for FREE addition download
conversation-Heart-Addition-1-click HERE for FREE subtraction download
Conversation-heart-Subtraction-Multiplication
You can also work on multiplication with conversation hearts. When introducing multiplication or even the concept to younger children it’s best to do so with visuals. Multiplication is simply grouping and adding.
Patterns
When introducing patterns it’s important to know it’s developmentally appropriate for a child to need a pattern repeated 3 times in order to grasp the pattern they must continue. I created two types of pattern completion sheets. One does repeat 3 times, the other is a bit more complex for children that have mastered this type of pattern completion and are ready for higher level thinking.
click HERE for this FREE pattern completion download
Heart-Patterns-1click HERE for this FREE pattern completion download
Pattern-completion-2Tower Building
Encourage your child to build a tall tower with their hearts. You can create heart towers too. Add extra education to the activity by making patterns in your towers, counting how many candies tall your tower is & discussing bigger and small. You can also work on positional language. Example: “Put the pink heart on the white heart.”
I hope you guys have a blast playing with your conversation heart candies!
For more educational fun click here or head to the categories & tab and search seasonally.
XO Eryka
Izzy and I love going on walks. We love exploring our yard, going on trails, walking the beach and even just walking Luna down our street. We always talk about what we find and so I decided to make a FREE download for you guys! …
Well it’s no secret we are obsessed with Reima gear! This is our second year even knowing the brand existed. When you live in a place like Maine especially, you truly need Winter gear that is functional. However I would say, if I knew about …
Ingredients
1-2 puff pastry dough sheets
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
optional 1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg
1-2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tsp milk (or milk substitute)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Line a baking plan with parchment paper.
Divide puff pasty into 3 rectangles and then cut again to make 6 squares.
Place the pastry squares on the parchment paper & set aside.
In a mixer add cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla extract and optional lemon juice. Blend until evenly mixed.
Crack an egg and drop into a bowl with 1-2 teaspoons water. Beat together like you are going to scrambled eggs & set aside.
Drop a dollop of cheese mixture in the middle of each pastry square. About the side of an ice cream scoop (roughly 1/8 cup). Unless you are making more than 6 pasties you will have some left over cheese filling. Bag the rest and place in the fridge (I make anther batch in a couple days).
Fold each corner in towards the middle, just barely touching.
Now give the egg mixture another mix and lightly brush the pastries with it.
Place the pastries in the oven for 17-19 minutes. You should see a little golden brown on the edges.
While the pastries are baking it’s time to work on the frosting drizzle.
In a bowl or mixer, mix powered sugar, vanilla extract and milk (or milk substitute.) I used oat milk for mine.
Once the pastries are done baking, place each on a cooling rack.
Allow the pastries to cool a bit and then drizzle the frosting back and forth over the pastries.
Now enjoy, or wait a few hours to eat. My favorite is the next day! They stay well in a container, baggy or pastry dome display (wooden bottom, with glass cover). I’ve tried each way of storing them.
XO Eryka
My husband and I were talking about how continental breakfast will probably never come back. If you never went to a hotel or resort and enjoyed the never ending buffet of eggs, bacon, muffins, donuts, cereal & assorted danishes… google it! Anyway, our love and sadness for the end of simple things like this is what inspired me to create my favorite item found at a continental breakfast. I played around with the cheese filling to get the best flavor. And as you will see, I added an option to make them lemon, because I do love the lemon ones as well. The next time I make these, I’ll be trying some with part cheese and part jam.
I linked our stamps and some other options for these activities. commissionable links Letter Recognition Here are a couple ways to work on letter recognition with your child. 1: Have your child pick a stamp and ask them the letter they picked. If they say …
Yup, that’s right! I’ve aways loved decorating sugar cookies… but I have not always enjoyed eating them. Well this year we played around with a lot of baking recipes and tweaked them to our liking. Here is our sugar cookie recipe, they are soft and …
Get Outside!
Get outside! With or without your kids. It feels good to put your phone away and just go for walk in the fresh air. It’s a great time to talk to your kids and learn about things they are thinking and feeling. This helps me as a parent feel better in so many ways. I’m getting fresh air, exercise and quality time with Izzy. Totally helps reduce my mom guilt.
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Exercise Daily
If you just have it as you routine, it’s so much easier. Wake up & take the dog(s) for a walk vs letting them out to potty. No pets? Just go for a walk (bundle up if you have to). Wake up & do some yoga or a quick workout in the living room or your bedroom. NIKE has a great and free app. I love it and honestly need to start doing it again. I was doing 1-2 workouts a 3-4 days a week. Often Izzy would come next to me and join in. It was great for me, great for her to see me caring for my physical body and good for her body to join in. Having it in our routine, makes it part of life and then it’s not something I need to find time to pencil in.
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Alternate Me Time With Your Significant Other
Take turns giving the other a break from kids or chores after the work day. If it’s an hour long bath once a week or time to lay in bed and just surf the internet or watch a show. If you are a single parent, see if a girlfriend would be willing to do this with you. Take turns giving each other a few hours of free “babysitting”.
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Give your Child Attention First
I have seen that Izzy does best if we get some time in first before I dive into any work. I also feel better about it as well. Do a quick board game or activity and then tell them it’s time for independent play or learning. I usually set Izzy up with an activity or she picks one. We also have a leapfrog product that allows Izzy to work on math, science, literacy, problem solving and more. She loves to do that independently and it can go up to 2nd grade I believe. I’ll link it for you guys, along with other fun things to have around for your kids to play with independently while you work.
affiliate links
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Have A Visual/Daily Schedule
Let your kids know the schedule, make a visual one if you have to. Predictably reduces everyone’s stress level. This will help everyone in the house. Print this schedule I created and laminate it to reuse daily.
Click here to print this FREE daily schedule
To-Do-Daily-Schedule-FREE-Printable-I hope some of these tips help you guys out!
XO Eryka
I have seen many parents asking about what to get their kids this year. Izzy and I pulled together some favorites for you guys to check out. Most of these are marked down in price right now! I also categorized the gifts for you guys. …