Homemade Nutella Popsicles

It's only been a week since Kuya Kim announced the start of summer and the heat is already driving me crazy. And what better way to beat this Manila heat while having fun than to make your own popsicle sticks. Yes, for Day 3 of Henry's summer break, we made our very own popsicles. And, the flavor? Nutella!!! Now, who doesn't love Nutella?

There are a lot of Nutella popsicle recipes online but we adapted ours from the one on Kidspot. We chose it because it only needs 2 ingredients, milk and Nutella.

Now, Kidspot's recipe said we needed to use full cream milk but we didn't have that. Hence, we substituted it with fresh milk instead.

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What you'll need

1 cup milk
1/3 cup Nutella
Popsicle molds

Steps:

1. Combine milk and Nutella
2. Blend
3. Pour into popsicle molds and put in freezer
4. Wait 4-5 hours
5. Take out of freezer and mold
6. Enjoy!

HOT weather made the popsicle melt fast.

This recipe was enough to fill up 5 popsicle molds. Try it yourself and have a "cool" summer. 

5 Easy and Inexpensive Fun Summer Activities For Kids

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There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation,

Till school comes along just to end it.

So the annual problem of our generation, 

is finding a good way to spend it. 

These are the first few lines of the opening song of the Disney show Phineas and Ferb. And its been playing inside my head since summer vacation started for me and the little boy. My summer vacation will be cut short this year because I'll be starting my clinical clerkship (my last year in medical school) by mid-April. This is why I want to have a worthwhile summer vacay and spend every waking moment with my little boy. 

Since the hubby is still on his last week of exam in law school, we still can't go out of town. Thus I've rounded up a bunch of easy and inexpensive fun activities and ideas on Pinterest that we can do at home. Here are my top 5:

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1. Water Balloon Target Practice from Motherhood on a Dime

2. Ice Eggs from A Little Learning for Two

3. A cool science experiment from JDaniel4's Mom if you can fry an egg on the drive way 

4. Rainbow Bubble Snakes from Housing a Forest 

5. Spray bottle painting from Carrots are Oranges

To view more activities like these, you can follow me on Pinterest and check out my Kids' Summer Activities board. Have a great summer everyone!

Homemade Playdough Recipe

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During our last Parent-Teacher conference, Henry's adviser reported that Henry was having problems with his pencil grip. I asked her what I can do to help my son. She advised that play dough can help strengthen his hand muscles and improve his pencil grip at the same time. 

So, on the first day of Christmas break, we made our own play dough! Both Henry and I enjoyed this activity and the play dough was very easy to make. It only took us 15 minutes. And I must say, the texture of homemade play dough is better than store-bought ones.

What You'll Need

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoon CREAM of Tartar (Not Tartar Sauce!)
• 1 tablespoon of canola oil
• 1 cup water
• Vials of Food color

In a saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Then, add 1 cup of water. Mix Well. Over medium heat, cook for about 2-5 minutes. Stir the mixture constantly until it becomes solid.

After that, remove your mixture and and let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Now for the fun part. Get a handful of dough, add food color and start the kneading process. This is the part that Henry enjoyed a lot. Add food color as you need until you get the shade you like. You won't need that much though. 

When you are finished, you can immediately play with your clay. Just put in a plastic container or Ziploc for storage. 

Oh, How Pinteresting! 5 Kiddie Christmas crafts to try {A Spend-Less Holidays post}

I’m participating in the Spend-Less Holidays: Saving While Savoring the Season Blog Carnival, hosted by The Frugal Fil-Am and Dainty Mom. We’ll be sharing our tips on how to spend less this holiday season, so that we can have a more meaningful Christmas. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries.

I've been thinking of ways to get little Henry into the Christmas spirit. Since he started going to school, he always liked showing me his art works that he brings home. So I thought of rounding up some Christmas art activities that I found on Pinterest that I think he would like. Best of all, these crafts require materials that can easily be found around the house, so there's no need to break the bank just to give the little one some Christmas fun. They're such great ideas that I'd be too selfish not to share them with you. 

To go to the actual pin, just click on the picture.

1. Handprinted Christmas Ball - Our tree is already up but I haven't got the chance to decorate it yet. I'd like to try this so that Henry can have his own special ornament. There's no need to buy a new Christmas ball for this, just let your kids choose from what you already have. 

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Ditas on Pinterest

2. Popsicle Nativity Scene - I love this one! It looks like it's so easy to make. I may also use this activity to throw in the story of the first Christmas.

Source: dollarstoremom.com via Ditas on Pinterest

3. Thumbprint Christmas Lights strand card -  I bet Henry's grandparents would love to get a card made by their only grandchild. Henry loves finger painting so I am sure he will enjoy this one.

Source: meetthedubiens.blogspot.com via Maria'nMatt on Pinterest

4. The Footprint Tree - This would have been a great keepsake for a baby's first Christmas. Unfortunately, Pinterest wasn't around yet when I had Henry. But, you know what they say, better late than never, right? I want to write Henry's name and the year it was made in gold ink then put it in a frame. This one I'm really excited about.

Source: craftrookie.blogspot.com via Ditas on Pinterest

5.  Paper Plate Angel - Paper plate, glitters, buttons - these are the things needed to create this angel. You can hang it on your tree or put it on top. I'm sure the kiddo will be beaming with joy when he sees that his angel is the star of your Christmas tree.

Source: beafunmum.com via Sue on Pinterest

These fun activities can keep your kids occupied while you prepare for your holiday celebration. Or, you can do as a family and have fun bonding making these crafts. Just look around there house, there are many materials that you can use. 

Will you being doing some crafts with your kids this Christmas season? I'd love to know if you have other craft ideas for this coming holiday. Please feel free to share. You can email me or comment on the box below. 

Don't forget to visit the rest of the participants in this Christmas Spend-less Carnival!

• Domesticated Goddess
• The Learning Basket
• Apple's World
• A WAHMs Life
• Changing Nappies in High Heels
• Savvy Saving Couple
• Kids Party Hub
• My Life in Letters
• Super Mommy Wannabee
• The Frugal Fil-Am
• Henry's Mom
• Roller Coaster Ride 
• Saved By the Miracle of Baked Mac
• Mommy Journey
• City Girl, Country Home
• Ate Maui
• The World is Our Classroom
• Lique's Antics
• Mommy Bares All
• Consumer Queen
• Truly Rich Mom
• Dainty Mom
• Saving Well, Spending Less
• Mrs C's Sugarcoated Life

Our Balloon Family

The house was full of balloons last night as my mother-in-law was preparing for her latest gig. (She does party balloon decorations.) While they were pumping the balloons with air, Henry approached them and asked for a balloon and they gave them a white one.

Henry went to our room to show me his white balloon which gave me a bright idea. *insert Ting! sound here.* I handed him a permanent marker and told him to decorate the balloon. He came back with this.

The Henry Balloon

He drew a portrait of himself! When daddy saw this, he asked Henry to draw a daddy balloon as well. And so off he went to get another balloon and drew this. 

Four-eyed daddy

He made a balloon of version of me too. 

Balloon Mommy looks like a chicken, doesn't she?

These guys kept the little one busy for about half an hour. He talked to them and made them dance. After which, he asked me to take this picture.
  

Balloon Henry with Real Henry

Of course, they needed a family picture as well. So, I present to you the complete balloon family with Henry. 

Our Balloon Family

How do you keep your kids busy? I'd love to hear from you.

P.S.

I just made a Facebook page for Henry's Mom Blogs, hope you can be one of the first ones to "Like" it.