Banana Bread

What you will need:

1 cup sugar
3 bananas
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs



Directions:my pictures are from a double batch I rarely make single batches

1)in a large bowl mash or beat bananas to a purée 

2)then add in eggs and baking soda

3)mix in sugar 

4)then pour melted butter in

5)add in flour

6)mix thoroughly

7) grease and flour a loaf pan

8)pour batter into loaf pan

9) bake at 350 for 1 hour

10) cool and serve with some butter

11) if desired you can add in chopped walnuts, chocolate chips or peanut butter chips or use this in recipe in a muffin tray for grab and go snacks 

Toddler sticker chart

 

    I was thinking about how much Eloise loves to get stickers one day and came up with the idea of a sticker chart for her. To help entice her into doing little things that later on in life she will not get anything for besides a compliment . What will I have her do? What chores are acceptable for a 2 year old.?  What would I like her to work on? I wrote out everything and ended up with a list of ideas. That night I talked with Travis and we decided  what Eloise will earn stickers for. On the chart we chose listening,helping,sleeping in her own bed, eating at the table, picking up her toys ,using the potty. After she gets this chart full we will start onto another chart with some taken off and new ones added as she has been awesome with catching on and doing what is expected of her.

  listening we choose to use listening as one of the first columns in her chart as Eloise is pretty good at doing what's she is told but then she also loves to ignore you on purpose its her selective listening I completely understand  I have it too when it comes to someone wanting me to do something when I am interested in what I am doing but she was spiteful about not listening she would ignore you with no eye contact and would smile when you repeated yourself but would not do what was asked if she didn't feel the need to. the first time I showed her the chart and then said Eloise every time you listen to mom or any adult and do what your told you will get a sticker well she caught on quick first thing I asked was er to take her plate to kitchen she did it then went and stood at her chart till I  gave her a sticker. After a month of this chart being up her listening skills are 75% better she even doesn't wait or insist on stickers any more for listening and following directions.

Helping is a huge thing in my family's values its always nice to lend a helping hand .so why not teach her to help but also reward her for it with something simple for now then later on just that saying thank you will be a great reward which she is already happy with just a thank you for helping. helping to me for Eloise is when she switches laundry or puts stuff in the garbage when asked or her random helping acts like when she grabs the broom and sweeps my floor for me or tries to scoop the kitty litter she's also great at picking up after herself she puts dishes away in sink when done she tries to feed the cats and she does try to fold and put away laundry. I find that using this sticker chart has helped her appreciate helping people and has gotten her to help around the house more. I am not making  my daughter actually clean my house just teaching her to help and learn so that when she older she can do it on her own.

 Eating at her table now that she hasn't been in her high chair since she was 15 months and eating at the table was a struggle as she would get up and leave then go back or she would switch tables. or want to eat where ever she was playing so we figured it would not hurt to try.after using the chart for a month she now sits at her table and eats her whole meal and if she decides she needs a break she will leave her table push the chair in and then go back to finish her meal when she is  ready. I am so pleased she now when I am scooping her food goes right to her table and sits and waits. When  she's done she puts her dishes in sink and then most times she will wipe her table off herself such a great little helper.

 picking up her toys In our house Eloise has toys in her bedroom but also we have little stations through out the apartment set up in areas  for her to play. She is an only child with a huge family so some say she's spoiled. I say well loved and has lots of toys so that its only fitting to teach her to clean up when she is done playing before she moves onto the next toy . Eloise is really great at already doing this so we decided to add this to the chart as a bonus she's always been so helpful with picking up her own toys.but this makes it fun and rewarding.

 Sleeping in her own bed. we co sleep at night but for her naps and first half of the night she sleeps in her toddler bed which she got for her first birthday as she wouldn't stop climbing out of the crib so she got her big girl bed but its still kinda to small so she likes to come into our bed and take over the queen size bed so now getting a sticker for staying in her own bed is a huge deal for her and she is so proud when I reward her with a sticker for staying in her own bed.

Using the potty  Eloise gets a sticker every time she uses the potty. She's been fully potty trained since January but was not trained while out till we started this chart. After a week of using this sticker chart Eloise decided to refuse a diaper when out and use the toilets. Before she was to nosy watching her surroundings to say she needed to go to the bathroom. it is like the sticker chart was the boost of confidence she needed she also gets more then one sticker for every time she uses the potty when out.

Peeps Smore's

  Eloise loves peeps so whats better then using them to make a bed time snack  fun and enjoyable.
we love peeps in our house so we so it was only a perfect thing to use in my favorite snack.

What you will need:

Hershey's milk chocolate bar or Caramilk, jerseymilk bar or bars(one bar makes 6 smore's)
Graham crackers
1 Package of peeps
1 cookie sheet

Directions:

1) preheat oven to 350

2) place 6 gram crackers on a cookie sheet

3) then break apart chocolate bars and place two pieces on each graham cracker

4) next place one peep on top of the chocolate bar pieces 

5) place in oven for 5 min 

6) take out and add one more graham cracker on top 

7) place on a plate to cool down and serve 

pics of jersey milk smore's

Another way to make them if you don't want to use chocolate bars and Graham cracker you can buy celebration cookies and use them

let cool then serve and enjoy you can use many different kinds of chocolate bars example 

dairy milk, jersey milk, caramilk bars, mint patties, Reese peanut butter cups, heresy with almonds all depends on your craving or the mood your in which kind of chocolate you put on them

chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake

 






What you will need:                                                             

A double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough

4 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese 

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of vanilla

1 cup sugar

greased 13x9 pan




Directions:

1) spread half of the cookie dough into bottom of the greased 13 x 9  pan.

2) then in a big bowl beat the cream cheese till smooth and soft

3) then add in sugar vanilla and eggs to the cream cheese and beat till mixed and smooth

4) Pour mixture over the cookie dough and smooth till its even

5) crumble the remaining cookie dough over top of the cheese cake

6) place in oven at 350 and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour 

7) until the toothpick comes out clean

8) cool and refrigerate 

9) serve when cold goes great with vanilla ice cream or some whip cream and chocolate sauce 

Eloise's Second Birthday party D.I.Y (The Little Mermaid)

I cant believe Eloise is 2 years old I am so happy to get to finally post this as her party had to be postponed a month due to an extreme ice storm that happened that day. I am very  proud to post this party as I love do it yourself projects and when it comes to birthdays I love to go all out. My mom always had big birthdays for me as a kid so I plan on Eloise having them to they were some of my best memories growing up and some of my party's are still talked about with my now adult friends.

I had booked with Magical memories princess parties  for Ariel to come to Eloise's party. she was awesome she even brought Eloise a gift. I will absolutely   book her again for other parties.she was awesome with the kids and even offered to help set up.the kids loved her she did great with Eloise.

             Here is the birthday banner i made i used a circuit to cut out two size shells and the letters to spell out happy 2nd birthday and used blue ribbon and a hole puncher to string the ribbon through. then I made  4 Ariel cut outs with the circuit to hold the banner on each side

         Next I used a small old fishing net I borrowed from my sister in law.

 Who's family is lobster fishermen and used a circuit to cut out multiple types of fish in different colours .then used the Disney princess circuit to cut out little mermaid characters that I glued together and used in the net.

Next Thing Is my center pieces for the tables I just bought two fishbowl sets and then got the little mermaid character figurines from wall mart and placed them in the bowls with some beach glass I collected over the summer to add more sea theme to the bowls and then the day of the party added 5 tetras to each bowl

I found a great site to order balloons from  which ended up being a great hit with the kids 

but also was a great find to bring my theme together. the site I ordered from is www.bargainballoons.com great site to order from and fast shipping they even replaced my 

order when my neighbors stole my order.

Next thing is the food table I  made cards saying names of the food to make it sea themed  Examples:  

watermelon - shark bait

 grapes on a stick - grape sea weed

cheese cut into triangles - shark teeth

 blue Hawaiian punch - sea water

crackers - sand dollars

cucumber - sea cucumber slices

carrots sticks - crab legs

scotch mints - oyster pearls 

gold fish cracker - goldfish in a bowl

Next is Eloise cake which I custom designed from 4 cakes I saw online that I liked. Then had my moms friend make me the cake. The top layer is vanilla pound cake middle was marble and the bottom layer is chocolate. I don't like fondant so she used butter cream frosting and then made marshmallow fondant to make the detailed coral and sea urchins for around the cake. 

here is a picture of Eloise enjoying her slice of cake at her party

Eloise place setting for her to have her cake I bought her the littler mermaid cup place mat, plate and fork and spoon form the Disney store it was such a great find to bring this theme together even when eating her cake.

Next is her present area I bought a little mermaid shower curtain and i had some old twin size sheets from when I was a child that I used to cover the stage and a tote so I could set up her presents around the chair on the stage for everyone to see her open her gifts and set two balloons on each side of the stage one tropical fish and one Ariel balloon. over the top is her gift my mom had custom made in the little mermaid which is her name it was perfect place to set it.

 I had Travis aunt Sharon make Eloise a custom dress in the little mermaid colours. I picked out the fabric and found the perfect dress style pattern. Then picked out which ribbon I would like to use for a bow on the dress. We also found a little mermaid tiara that matched perfect. Eloise got obsessed with the little mermaid when we had found this flounder purse at a second hand store and then went home and watched the movie. She goes everywhere with the purse so it was perfect for her birthday theme.

Eloise's  party was one hour in a big room then 2 1\2 hours of swimming.

to complete her party theme I had  a good friend sew me a  shell bra bathing suit top for Eloise and she had a cloth diaper made with a mermaid tail but where we had to post pone her party a month she grew and it was to short so we ended up using her m AppleCheeks Cloth Diapers swim diaper Mojito as a bottom which I think worked just as well.

Last of all the party is the party thank yous  all the adults got a fork with a thank you tag 

that hand Ariel on it and read :

DINGLE-HOPPER

thank you for joining me on this "Under The Sea Adventure!!!" 

Love Eloise

The party favors the kids got were Treat bags with little mermaid fruit s

snacks a bag of gold fish and some sand toys with a ribbon tying the treat bag to a pail & shovel or a watering can with a thank you note that had flounder on it that read :

    Next time you go

 to the sea

 take this bucket 

and think of me -Eloise 

Well I hope you enjoyed looking through her party pictures I had a great time at her party and planning this event. It was definitely one everyone will be talking about for a while .
 I sure hope that this inspire's you to plan your own party and try DO It Yourself decorations or things to make your party  more original and custom to what you imagine . thanks for taking your time to read my post on Eloise Second birthday its sure a awesome memory that I treasure and love to look back on.