Valentine Crafts

So it's the day before Valentines and you haven't had your kids make anything for Mom or Dad. Have no fear these two crafts are simple quick and cheap. Both are made out of construction paper hearts. I would recommend tracing the shapes for the kids so it remains a heart craft not a random shape craft. The last item is not a craft just an easy idea for dad's to impress the old lady.

 To make a heart wreath from construction paper all you need is some simple household items. As you can see we used yellow and red to add some contrast. Ours was taken to work before the final picture was taken.

Items needed

• glue
• paper plate
• construction paper

Directions

1. Trace and cut out 10 hearts 
2. Cut out center of the paper plate
3. Glue hearts to the paper plates
4. Cut out a name plate if you want to personalize for mom of dad 
5. Decorate name plate and glue to wreath

 Heart Mobile

This particular craft was one of my wifes favorites. Now I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but it was made for her so I'm going to consider it a win. 

Items Needed

• Contruction Paper
• Cardboard
• Ribbon 

1. Trace and cut out your hearts 
2. Cut out a circle from cardboard then cut two pieces of construction paper cover the top and bottom.
3. Glue the top and bottom covers to the cardboard
4. Punch an even amount of holes around the outside of the cardboard circle 
5.  Lace the ribbon through holes 2 a time so you will not have to tie the ribbon on top
6. Punch holes in the hearts and tie onto ribbon. 
7. Punch hole through the center of the mobile

Dad's Chocolate Strawberries

 

Chocolate covered strawberries are very popular around Valentines. They also happen to be damned expensive. This doesn't have to be the case gentlemen or ladies. Chocolate covered stawberries are one of the simplest things you can make. Almond bark is available at any grocery store in vanilla and chocolate so make your selection based on her tastes. Wash your berries then heat the almond bark according to labeled directions. Dip the berries in the melted bark and then decorate with the kids. These will be much less expensive and the effort of making them will mean much more than picking up the phone and ordering them. I promise these won't disappoint.

Little Drummer Boy or Girl

It's might seem utterly absurd for a parent let alone a stay at home parent to actually seek out a noise making toy. That's precisely what we did, the fun is in the making of the drum not necessarily the usage of it. Once again this craft was born from having too much of something and wanting to make use of it before it ended up in the garbage.  Just like our tin can jack-o-lanterns this will use old coffee cans. This was quite a fun little craft and I think it turned out really well

Items Needed

•  Large Coffee Can
• Construction Paper
• Clear Packing Tape
• Sissors
• Glue
• Decorations, glitter, paint, stickers, stamps, ribbon, crayons....

Directions

• Clean the can and remove label .
• Tape the top of the can with opposing layer to ensure complete coverage. Make sure the tape is tight and sealed were overlap occurs.
• Apply glue to the top of the tape and the glitter .

•  Allow to dry for several minutes the apply two more opposing layers of tape.
•  If you would like to add a strap, cut to size the tape to the side of the can.

• Cut construction paper to appropriate size then glue to the outside of the can. Tape ends if two pieces are needed.

•  Decorate, we wrote her name in glue then covered in glitter. Stamps, stickers, whatever your child finds fun a will stick to construction paper.

Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park

Tucked in between Hwy 49 and the South Fork of the American River lies a local hiking gem. Cronan Ranch is locate just south of the small town of Pilot Hill in the lower foothills. It is hardly a secret but during the week it can be a quite and peaceful place to spend your day. This is a multi-use trail system so you will have to share with mountain bikes and horses. Or better yet use it on your mountain bike or horse as well.

Wide open spaces, in spring it's all green

The park is more open space than park. Facilities are limited to pit toilets and seasonal porta-potties. Bring water since there is no potable water within miles of the park. Along the trails you will find picnic tables at some choice locations.Cronan Ranch connects to the South Fork American River Trail or SFART. With the connection to the SFART you have almost limitless mileage options for your run, hike or ride. I've done everything from 20+ mile mountain bike rides to 3 mile hikes with toddlers from this trailhead. SFART also connects this area to the Magnolia Ranch trailhead and trails to the south.

Every trail has a nice large sign

Spring time is a fantastic time to explore here. The hills are green , flowers are blooming and the river is flowing high. There are however a few drawbacks to the area. Being in the sierra foothills do not expect a flat hike. Most are fairly gradual while others will test even those of good fitness. Much of the area is not shaded which certainly is a drawback in the summer. Due to the high amount of equestrian usage there is also an abundance of manure. It's a major pet-peeve of mine but needless to say watch your step.

The girls exploring the movie set after lunch

Both the Cronan Ranch Trailhead as well as the Magnolia Ranch Trailheads have good maps of the surrounding trails. The area is very well marked with signs at every trail intersection making navigation very easy. This is a former ranch so the trails are former roads so are mostly graded and very wide  River access is available through several trail down to the water. It is a longer walk than other parks in area so it's not your closest option to get the the American. Long Valley Trail is my daughters favorite trail in the park. It ends at an old movie set and a shady oak tree perfect for picnic. For you next hiking adventure make a day of it and explore Cronan Ranch.

Google Maps Directions from Sacramento


 Via I-80
Via Hwy 50

Additional Information avalible from

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/folsom/cronan.html

http://www.coloma.com/recreation/riverside-parks/cronan-ranch-trails-park/

Sweet Cornbread Recipe and Crowded Toy Box relief

 Sweet Cornbread

Winter means chili and soup at our house. What goes with chili better than cornbread? Nothing. This recipe is not only very easy to make but it's really good. I don't fault my parent's too much but for the longest time i thought cornbread was supposed to be dry and rather flavorless. Our go too was like many, the box of Jiffy was cornbread for us. This recipe is not Jiffy it's moist and very flavorful.

You can make this in a standard 9 inch cake pan, a rectangular carousal dish or muffins. Since our little one still drinks whole milk that is all I use for baking.  We have used skim for this recipe in the past and the bread turned out just fine. I also usually use corn oil instead of vegetable oil as I believe it helps the flavor. Like anyone else who blogs about a recipe this is not my original creation it comes from allrecipes.com and the original can be found here corn bread recipe.

You'll never buy Jiffy again

Ingredients

1 Cup All-purpose flour                         3 1/2 Teaspoons  Baking Powder
1 Cup Yellow Cornmeal                        1 Egg
2/3 Cup Sugar                                        1 Cup Milk
1 Teaspoon Salt                                      1/3 cup  Vegetable Oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. and grease pan
2. Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.
3. Mix in egg, milk and oil 
4. Mix or whisk until no lumps present then our into pan or muffin tins.
5. Bake for 20-25min or until a toothpick can be inserted into the middle and come out clean.

 Toy Box relief and Rotation

Now that Christmas has passed and the house is getting back to normal you may have noticed that your kids have a ton of toys. This issue is compounded at our house since both or our children have birthdays right after Christmas. Last year we found ourselves overwhelmed with crap. Their aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, ext. are exceptionally giving so it is certainly on the good problems list but it did create some issues. The biggest issue we noticed was a lot of toys were not getting played with or ended up forgotten about in the dark depths of the toy box.  The mess was out of hand and clean up time required heavy equipment and qualified as an EPA Superfund Site. Instead of tossing or donating those old toys rotating them was our solution. It's worked great for a year, the kids love it and the toys get used more. A couple of boxes or plastic bins and a little space is all you need to clear some room and get those toys played with.

We have learned a few lessons over the past year that might make your rotation a little smoother and easier than ours. 

• Split the toys into either 2 or 3 equal parts.
• Do it while they are sleeping. Nap time is your friend, they had forgotten about that toy until you reminded them of it.
• Leave at least one favorite out at times. 
• Don't give them the option of when it happens or how much stuff is rotated.
• If the toy storage is in the garage, get some plastic totes instead of card board. Mice love plastic and make a mess anywhere they call home. 
• Don't have a set schedule of when you do the rotation. Do it based on need or for stay at home parents for sanity.We tend to swap them more frequently in winter due to the time they spend inside playing  being much higher that time of year.
• If it's world ending to do swap out all the toys, try doing a box or two every few weeks.

Our play area is still a disaster some days but nowhere near as bad as it would be with out switching out toys. Find what works for your family but I can promise it's worth the effort. The kids now love when we rotate because it's like having new toys.