Toys In The Dryer--Minnesota Mom and Parenting Blog

Monday, January 7, 2013

Snow Angels- Inner child

The last week of December approached and FINALLY this year we have SNOW! Yay! We took a six hour car ride up to "Papa Tractor's" and braved the cold. It was time to channel my inner child. My oldest son and I took the opportunity to make snow angels. I am honestly not sure who had more fun- him or me. We bundled up in our snow gear and plopped down into a fresh batch of snow. We laid down and created angels. We giggled the entire time and after a few minutes we just sat there and chatted. It was a GREAT memory created and I am so glad we did it.

Have you ever made snow angels WITH your child?

Friday, January 4, 2013

How To Draw--Pinned it, Did it!

I don't know about your kids but my girls LOVE to draw! I saw this pin (that ultimately leads to this website which is much better) a while ago and thought it would be fun for Nutty to try. Well, both Nutty and Tottie ended up trying the drawings...

Nutty (6 years old) was able to follow the original patterns/drawings. Tottie (4 years old) needed a little extra help by copying how I drew them based on the patterns (my drawings are the first photo). I broke each step into smaller steps (i.e. one line or shape at a time). I was completely impressed how each girl did! Compared to the original drawings, they did great job!

I give this pin a thumbs up! Yes, even a 4 year old can learn to draw (with a little extra help)! What do you think? Could your kids do these?

No nonsense Tights and Leggings Review

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ok Jamie, what do tights and leggings have to do with ideas for living in the moment with your kids? They don't (unless you're dressing up with them). However, since the majority of our readers are moms, I thought I'd take up this opportunity to review No nonsense tights and leggings because we are more than moms, we are women and every now and then, we need to feel good about ourselves!

I received a pair of burgandy tights and a pair of red leggings in the mail. I immediately thought of a dress to pair with the tights but red leggings? What am I going to do with those? I am a totally neutral type of girl! Plus, leggings scare me!

I dug through my closet and found a black blazer and my black boots. Yipee! It actually would have been a super cute outfit on me if I had a shirt that matches red to go under the blazer and if the blazer had been just a little longer. The leggings were super comfy and proved to me that with the right top, they don't actually look that bad!

As far as the tights go...I've had this dress for a while now and have been looking for the right bottoms to pair with it because I think it's just a hair too short (though it doesn't look like it in the photos--it creeps up).

These tights were perfect! Not only were they very comfy, they felt durable (like I wasn't going to rip a hole in them as soon as I put them on), added a little more color to my paleness, and they made my legs look slimmer!! Don't you agree?

No nonsense tights and leggings are affordable and can be found at many food and drug store as well as at mass retail stores. You can also find (and keep in touch with No nonsense on Facebook and Twitter!

Did you know that No nonsense it partnering with Jill Martin? She's an an Emmy Award-winning TV personality and co-author of the New York Times bestselling style guide “I Have Nothing to Wear!” She is also the New York Correspondent for Access Hollywood. Jill will be helping to educate women on how to wear No nonsense tights and leggings! I could definitely use some tips from her!

I dare you to try No nonsense tights and leggings for yourself and see how a new outfit can make you feel like a new person!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Homemade Dehydrated Fruit (In the Oven!)

Last year many of our readers were surprised to learn you could make homemade fruit leather without a dehydrator. This year, we tell you that you can do the same thing with fruit chunks to make homemade dehydrated fruit. How you ask? Use your oven!

Yep, all you need is your favorite fruit, a cookie sheet, tin foil if your cookie sheet is kinda gross like mine, and your oven! That's it! Now for the REALLY easy part...

Set your oven temp to the lowest it will go. Mine happens to be 170 degrees F but I know some can go as low as 120 degrees.

My favorite dehydrated fruit happens to be the tropical blend that comes in a can but you can chop up any kind of fresh fruit you want or you can use stuff from a can like me. Just spread it in an even layer on your cookie sheet.

Put your cookie sheet in the oven and wait (and wait, and wait...). I mean 8-10 hours!

Ok, you will have to check on your fruit after about 4 hours and probably every 1-2 hours after that because some pieces will dry a little faster than others. This is my tray after 4 hours. Some of the super small chunks were done. Some of the larger chunks (i.e. the pineapple) took a few more hours. You'll also want to turn the chunks at least once so that the one side doesn't get overly dry.

That's it! You'll know the fruit is done when the chunks are just slightly squishy to the touch. You don't want to over dry them or they'll end up to be hard as a rock once they are cool.

I, I mean my kids, eat these like candy! Pineapple and papaya are't fruits we buy and eat normally but when they are dehydrated they make a really tasty treat!

Does your family eat dehydrated fruit? Which kind is your favorite?

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Our Top 12 Posts of 2012

Happy New Year!!

We're starting off 2013 with a look back at 2012. We've gone through our stats and found our twelve most popular posts (according to page views) written over this past year. Some of these come as no surprise to us, others were a bit unexpected. We hope you enjoy this look down memory lane as much as we have!