My preschoolers love crackers and all things snack related.  I was thrilled to have discovered Sara and her nifty blog, Splendidly Imperfect.  She has graciously agreed to guest post her alphabet cheese crackers for us!  Thanks Sara!  Go check out her blog today and leave a comment there if you like these yummy preservative-free healthy snacks!
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I happen to have a boy and a husband who both love to have snacky-chow around the house. I didn’t want to have them constantly eating sweets, which are my forte, …

My mother used to make these frozen pudding cups for us when my siblings and I were kids, calling it “poor man’s icecream”. We loved it and as the Texas heat is climbing in the tripple digits, I thought today would be a great time to pass on my mother’s tradition to my kids. These frozen pudding cups are so easy to make your preschooler can play cook/icecream maker.
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What you need to make Pudding Icecream:

Vanilla or chocolate pudding
Fruit (or oreo cookies)
Milk

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Make the pudding by the directions on the …

Do you have independent children?  So far, I have three of them!  This Popsicle recipe is perfect for them.  It was simple enough that with minimal supervision/intervention my four year old was able to give the directions (she loved that) to my three year old who mixed these yummy treats up!  We made a couple different batches.  The inspiration for these popsicles came from hearing about the dripless icecream that they make with jello, and after having to hose down a toddler covered in traditional popsicle goo… Why don’t we …

Painting with toddlers can be a challenge.  Our youngest wants desperately to participate with her older siblings during craft times, and yet, she still has a tendency to put things in her mouth. Time for edible paints! French’s sent us some honey mustard (yummy!) and Quirky kid A has had fun playing with “paint” while eating her veggies! This was a great time to train her to “paint” only on the paper and not on the table. We’ll work on not putting “paint” in her mouth …

My daughter just turned four! Her birthday request was for rainbow cupcakes. I was imagining rainbow icing till she explained she wanted the entire cupcake to be a rainbow. How on earth would I make that?  Then I remembered the blog post I read from Shannon, at Milk and Cuddles, there was hope! We could make rainbow cupcakes after all! Thanks Shannon for some great instructions. We had a blast making our own colorful cupcakes. Check out our collection of kid-friendly snack recipes …

I love feeding the kids a nutritious breakfast.  I also love teaching them independence and watching my preschoolers have a sense of accomplishment when they “make Daddy’s oatmeal”.  It’s precious!  Here are a few of the ways we have fun with our morning oatmeal.  Do you do anything to make breakfast more interesting?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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The kids get to pick their own packet – Better Oats has quite the variety of flavors – and dump the oats and water into their own bowls.
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Sometimes, they …

I love going to the mall, detest shopping, but love the indoor playcenter which is great to help my preschoolers spend some pent up energy on a rainy day… and I love our tradition of getting a soft pretzel after our outing! We regularly bake bread at the Quirky home, but we made pretzels for the first time as a family. They were so good I think I ate four at one time! This recipe was adapted from All Recipes, and they are really, really good! …

I got this idea from chatting with Kellie, from Chicks With Kidz, she had a great idea/suggestion to include my kiddos in making our own variations of trail mix.  We eat granola regularly for breakfast, but I have always been the one mixing it up!  With her encouragement my one year old now has a way to “help mommy” cook breakfast!  Thanks Kellie!  We are always looking for ways to include our kids in household chores and activities!
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How to make your own Granola Mix:
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Grab handfuls of any or all of …

My son loves being a helper and was thrilled when he got to make lunch for us today! We are eating pancakes – yummy! How fun is it to mix breakfast with learning our letters! We have a set of cookie cutters that are in the shapes of capital letters (thanks Laney). Here is a tip that we use to decrease the likelihood of massive pancake batter spills while using cookie cutters to make pancakes in particular shapes, maybe it will help you!
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We used a dry …

Today’s Fantastic Friday shout-outs all have one splendid theme, “dessert”. I have a massive sweet tooth and am seriously itching to try making my very own thin mint cookies (why does Valentines Day mean Girl Scout Cookies in my mind?), these melt-in-your mouth mini-cheesecake cookies, homemade cream soda-pop, and fudgy molten chocolate cake. I am exploding in anticipation! Alas, I’m snowed in… I sense a grocery trip in my future. Till then, check out these “Fantastic Friday” posts… and if you have any sites to share …