Let kids be scientist

I was cooking dinner yesterday when my 5 year old pulled up a step stool next to me and asked “ mom can I do that” and I said of course, I gave him a daikon radish to peel with the vegetable peeler. I know, I’m crazy but hey If he wants to do it, let him do it. If he messes up then all well, its just food. He peeled it a few times before he got bored and started pulling things out the kitchen drawer and ask me “ Mom can I play with water” and I thought…. “Sure”

                He pulled out a measuring teaspoon, medicine measuring caps, a small cup and a Tupperware container and helped himself to some water from the fridge. He’s mixing and making a mess so I grab a kitchen towel and tell him to keep his stuff on the towel so he doesn’t accidently slip and fall from it getting wet.

                He then ask me “ Mom, Can I get some food coloring” and I think, “ hmm… that sounds messy but what ever, sure. “ So he starts to add food coloring to his watery concoction and hes just having the time of his life, mixing, measuring, adding things too and fro.

                My husband comes out to the kitchen and he goes “ Your making a mess” and his face looks like this (  -_- ) my husband is a clean freak and doesn’t like mess. I just say to him “ Leave him alone, he’s being a scientist” LOL.

For the next hour or so, he just stood there on his little step stool, in my kitchen , on my counter, mixing water and food coloring. He wasn’t on the tv, he didn’t ask for his tablet or complain he was bored. He was simply “being a scientist”

I didn’t take a photo because this was something I thought was a Kodak moment, I’m sure their will be more moments  in the future for me to snap a photo to remember it by, but for today, I wanted to just enjoy my son being a scientist.

The point of my blog today, for all my busy momma’s is this “ Let kids be kids, let them be scientist, when they want to do something, let them. Encourage them and who cares if it’s a mess, let them make a mess. Slow down and enjoy your kids being kids. I don’t care if the house gets dirty, I’ll clean it later. What  I loved most about this experience was I told my son “ Your being a scientist! Good job” and he just flashes me his million dollar smile.

At the end of the day, the sink was full of dishes, some of them covered in food coloring and my husband just grunts “ what a mess, uh!” and I just said to him “ HE WAS BEING A SCIENTIST” LOL.

That is all.

Happy holidays from the Saehaos! (PS that random teenager in our family photos is my husbands youngest sister, we only have 2 kids lol)

Instant Pot: Taco Rice

I love Mexican food and when it came time to decide what to make for dinner, I looked at my instant pot that my mom had given me and had a light bulb moment.

I had no ingredients so Of course, I had to go to the grocery store.

Here is what you’ll need to buy:

Toppings

1.       Lettuce

2.       Onions

3.       Green onion

4.       Cilantro

5.       Sour cream

6.       Shredded cheese

7.       Tortilla chips

Meat:

Chicken Breast – I used 2 cubes or sliced

2 Taco seasoning in a packets – because lets be serious, I’m a lazy cook

1 can of chicken broth

1 can of black beans ( rinsed)

1 can of corn

3 cups of white rice

1 cup of Salsa

And of course, Don’t forget, YOUR INSTANT POT. For those of you who have never heard of one, or debating on getting it, I will tell you from firsthand experience that this thing is amazing! If you’re a super busy mom like me, this tool is a life saver for tasty, easy and fast family home cooked meals.  What is an instant pot you ask? We’ll let me tell you!

                Plain and simple – it’s a pressure cooker. It takes your cooking time and cuts in half, crazy I know! Its not a like a crock pot where you food is all mushy, there are an abundance of recipes you can do to make a variety of meals from soups, to boil eggs to ribs. YES, RIBS! That will be next on my to make list.

1.       Cut up your chicken and saute in your instant pot on with a drizzle of oil.

2.       Pour a little bit of chicken broth and taco seasoning and mix well.

3.       Rinse and drain black beans, corn and add to the instant pot ontop of your chicken. Add your Salsa and cover the top with 3 cups of white rice.

4.       Pour chicken broth over mixture – make sure there is enough broth to cover top of rice * do not over fill or you’ll have mushy rice.

5.       Manual cook for 8 minutes

6.       Do not vent right away after time is up, allow meal to sit for 12 minutes and then vent.

7.       Open lid, gently fluff rice –

8.       Serve with your favorite toppings

9.       ENJOY!

Crap-e-mom Cabbage Roll Recipe

For all you busy mommas out there, wither you’re a stay home mom, a full time working mom or just a regular person living life, this is a great recipe to keep on hand!

I’m not a big foodie person. Food is nothing that I get excited about and to be honest, I hate cooking. But… when I fall in love with a dish, I look up a recipe and I try to replicate it. For a busy mom who doesn’t cook, it has to be a reallllllly good and simple dish for me to write about.

                I was introduced to this cabbage roll dish by a Russian co-worker of mine. I love trying different kinds of food and when she brought it one day, she asked me to try it. AND OMG! Did I love it! This dish is called “ Golubtsy”  It’s cabbage wrapped around delicious mix of meat and veggies topped with sour cream.  What I really loved about this was it’s healthy. Easy to make and I can make a lot,  throw in the freezer and defrost as needed. Most of the time, I pack it for lunch for a whole week. I love this stuff, I can eat it everyday!

                I’m a very simple mom. I don’t like to make things too complicated so my recipe is super simple. It’s not your typical GOLUBTSY so if you are wanting the traditional dish, you can find many good recipes online!

Crap-e-mom Recipe:

1 pound of ground turkey

2 carrots chopped

1 zucchini chopped

Handful of mushrooms chopped  

Half and onion chopped

1 cup of white rice ( Optional)

1 large cabbage

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of CHICKEN BOUILLON POWDER

Garlic salt and pepper to taste 

½ cup of chicken broth

Sour Cream to top as needed

Lets get started:

Boil your CABBAAGE WHOLE for I don’t know… Maybe 10 minutes?

Remove and put in ice bowl. Gently peel leaves. Set aside.

In a pan, with a bit of oil, Sauté your chopped Carrots, Zucchini, mushrooms, onions. Allow to cool. In a large bowl, mix your ground turkey with seasonings and eggs. Toss in your sauté veggie mix and rice.

Lay out your cabbage leaf, add meat mixture and roll! I like to start at the core end ( the thicker end of the leaf). I like to line my rolls in a pan, pour in ½ cup of broth and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and done!

Top with sour cream! ENJOY!

Unicorn Ornaments How-To

My Sisters ornament

For December I decided to host an Ornament party for the kiddos We  made a few different home made ornaments but the one I want to talk about is the one I've been asked alot about- 

the UNICORN.

This little beauty was so easy to make, super pretty and supplies were pretty easy to find if you know what you need. 

Supplies: 

The biggest stress-or for me was hunting down what I needed- I went to several stores when really I should of just gone to Walmart and Hobby Lobby! Heres my break down so you can get in and out of the store, especially during this crazy busy holiday season

Walmart:  Craft section - Large White glitter 

                 Cleaning Section - Pledge Floor cleaner

                 Mini Hot Glue Gun

Hobby Lobby:

       

          Thick Glitter Foam Paper - White and Pink ( 99 cents each, we made 13 ornaments so 1 sheet                                     of each was enough)

            Paper Flowers ( in the washi tape aisle) (5 bucks a pack- get 2 or 3. it is expensive but so                                             worth it)

            Sculpty Glitter Gold Clay - small pack is $2.99 this was more then enough- no need for the                                           big pack

             Black, White and Gold Paint Markers $2.99 each

       

Michael's : 

            Clear Ornaments 6 pack. They had the best  prices. I bought 4 box for under $20. 

How to make it!

Once you've gathered all your supplies, now you can start the fun! 

1.  Make your Unicorn horn - I purposely bought Gold Glitter Clay so I didn't have to go back and apply glitter, I was so happy when I discovered the glitter sculpty! It looks dull in the package but once you bake it - its so pretty! You want to start here because you can bake these while you prep the rest of the ornament. Roll out your clay and wrap them to form a horn - I recommend you make them on the thicker side.  Place in the oven for 15min at 325 degree. I wrote everyone's name on aluminium foil so we knew whose horn was whose. It gets confusing with 13 people. 
2. Prep your Ornament- remove the top and pour a generous amount of floor cleaner inside, swirl it around and then empty the excess. My sister came up with this great idea of place the ornament upside down in a plastic cup as shown here : 

3.  Using a small funnel or folding paper- pour the glitter inside the ornament and shake it around- DONT BE CHEAP WITH THE GLITTER- Pour alot! empty excess glitter out and toss it. 

4. Make your ears. Cut the White and Pink Glitter Foam into triangles and glue to the side of your ornament. Use your hot glue gun- it works wonderfully. 

4. Remove Horns from over, allow to cool

5. Using Your black or Gold paint marker - paint on your eyes and write the name of the back of ornament if you wish. 

6. Place your ornament cap back on, Hot Glue your Horn in the center and start to also glue your flowers and your done!

This was so easy and so fun for the kids, some of the kids even got creative and used different colors. Skys the limit! My Sister in law got really creative and used the gold paint marker to line her ears!

This was my little beauty! 

These sisters got really creative!

Here are some fun photos from our ornament party! I made an easy back drop for our photos using wrapper paper that I bought from the 99 cent store. One roll was plenty! Great way to add a festive back ground.

4th Grade Native American Trade Activity

This month is my sons Social Studies month and they are focusing their studies on Native Americans. Part of this fun project is the kids are to make home made items, and bring them to class where they will trade these items with their class mates. My son chose to make Arrow Heads, His class seems to have more girls then boys so of course I had to think of some girly items to also make, hence the necklaces.

          As I was brainstorming how to make these arrow heads, I remembered a Salt Dough recipe I saw once. People often use these to make paw prints or ornaments. This stuff is really easy to make and once you bake them, they are hard and solid.  I started my Wednesday morning running to my local Walmart to get a few items I did not have. Some wooden dowels that were under $3 and 2 packs of feathers! 1.99 each I believe, while I was in the crafting section I came across a  bag of beads and the lightbulb moment came to make necklaces.

SALT DOUGH RECIPE
2 CUPS OF FLOUR
1 CUP OF SALT
1 CUP OF HOT WATER
1 TSP OF COOKING OIL

  MIX FLOUR  AND SALT

MIX IN HOT WATER AND OIL

KNEAD DOUGH ONCE IT COOLS

knead dough and roll into balls

Roll out dough with a rolling pin. 

Not to thick and not to thin.

I cut triangles and shaped them into "spears" and before placing them into an oven to bake, I placed the wooden dowl to make an imprint so that the dowel fit perfectly. 

BAKED IN OVER AT 400 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until dough is dried. 

Once the spears where done baking, I let them cooled down then I painted them with black acrylic paint. 

Once the spears dried, I used my HOT GLUE GUN to glue the spears to the dowels and then I added an extra touch by wrapping twine around the spear and dowel. I super glued a few feathers and tied some twine around them to secure it for an extra added touch. 

____________________________________________________

Native American Inspired Necklace

These came out really cute, I'm really glad I made these and I hope my sons class mates enjoy them also.  I  started by cutting craft paper into round circles, 2 for each necklace - one for the front and one for the back. I hot glued a few feathers to one piece of circle paper and added twine , followed by gluing the second piece of  round paper to seal it all in.

 I added a few colorful beads and wallah!  A pretty necklace!

How to have a Fun Halloween Party for Kids!

Saechao Halloween 2015

In 2015 I threw a really fun Halloween party for the kids, My nieces still to this day ask when am I going to do another Halloween party.  I thought I was clever this year by making my own witch costume out of garbage bags. I still giggle when I see the pictures.

1. FOOD

Focal Point of the Party

The main attraction is going to be the food table, this is where you can get really creative. If your going to throw a party- invest your time and energy on the food area.

Every decor item you see here was found at the dollar store. 

I don't like to keep things for "next year," that being said, I buy things cheap so I can toss it after wards. I'm a lazy mom, I don't want to have clean and store and put things away, especially after planning and hosting a party. 

 

 Rice Crispy Frankenstein : I added green food coloring to the marshmallows after it was melted. Once the rice crispy cooled to room temperature I cut them into bite size squares, dipped the heads in melted chocolate, added m&m eyes and drew the mouths with melted chocolate and a tooth pick . #SUPEREASY

Pizza Bites - easy, and the kids love it!

Mummy Hot Dogs : I used the crescent rolls in a can and cut them into strips and wrapped them around the hot dogs. Easy , fun and Festive!

Bat Brownies: I found these bat cookie cutters at the dollar store and had no idea what I would use them for until I came across a box of brownies.

The kids love Kool-Aids, I decided to not waste a pumpkin we had gotten for free during a Pumpkin Patch Field trip by gutting it out and placing ice for the drinks to go inside- cute table decor.

Googly Eye Jello - I glued google eyes all around the plastic cup. I then proceeded with orange jello and placed in the fridge for 2 hours. Once the orange layer had solidified I topped it with yellow jello and back in the fridge.  Right before the party we topped it with canned Whipped Cream- the kids love that stuff!

With me being a witch for Halloween- I had to make these witches hat. I used chocolate Girl scout Mint cookies for the bottom and placed melted chocolate to glue the Hershey kisses to the top, added a piece of Halloween candy on the side that I scored at target for decoration.

My husband got into the festive mood by buying dry ice at our local BEL AIR for the punch bowl- this was a real crowd pleaser!







* pictured above, you will see a Cheetos bowl filled with plastic eye balls found at the dollar store.

Whats a kids party with out 

GAMES!

Anytime I have a group of kids over, I have to plan some sort of activity to give them something to do or else they will terrorize my house. Here are some ideas for  simple games you can do at any event!

PLAY DOH : Make pumpkins! I only had to buy 2 colors, green and orange. They were only given plastic spoons and plastic knives. 

RING TOSS

I found this creepy hand at the dollar store and decided to use it as a ring toss game, 

During Halloween its really easy to find those glow in the dark necklace thingys. 

* you can see my witches costume made out of garbage bags from here , lol

  Mummy Wrap :   this game was full of laughs. You can use white streamer paper or you can use toilet paper.


Last but not least, the favorite game of the night.......

The Donut Challenge : 

This was really fun to watch. I had to line all the kids up and hang the donuts at the appropriate height for them. I myself am a Huge fan of donuts and I was thinking of doing a game where the kids can bob for apples but I walked by donuts and this idea popped in my head and so I went with it!  

*I used streamer paper to hang the donuts*

Home Made Dog Treats : Pumpkin Peanut Butter

My dogs were acting crazy, as usual, and I felt bad that I was always yelling at them, so I decided to show them a bit of labor of love and bake them fresh goodies! Coincidentally I ran out of store bought dog treats, and I decided today... I'm going to make my own dog treats.

 (I got this idea from a health fitness coach that introduced me to Pumpkin scones thingy she made for me once. Thanks Pam- You are the bomb! Phenomenal lady- check her out here Her story is so inspiring and she sends some of the greatest positive messages.   )

Super easy, Minimal Ingredients, and the dogs love this stuff!

Directions:

2 1/2 cups wheat flour
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup of oil
2 eggs
1tsp of baking power

Mix, roll out, cut, bake for 15min at 325 degrees 

*after note - some people brought it to my attention that Skippy is full sugar, its best to use Natural Peanut butter and also, when using peanut butter please make sure it does not contain a sweeter called 

XYLITOL  THIS IS VERY TOXIC TO DOGS!

ALSO, IF YOUR DOG IS ALLERGIC TO WHEAT FLOUR, THERE ARE OTHER FLOURS YOU CAN USE-  YOU CAN GOOGLE IT, MY DOGS DON'T HAVE WHEAT ALLERGY SO I CAN'T HELP YOU ;)