SWEET S'MORE BAR PRINTABLE

School started at our house last week.  I was sad summer flew by so quickly and my little buddies wouldn't be home all day anymore - I wasn't ready!  Then the day before school started they drove me CRAZY at the grocery store and as punches were flying at the checkout stand{between them, not me!} I had a change of heart, haha.  Regardless of how I felt they were ecstatic to go back to school and that is all I can ask for, right?

As summer winds down I wanted to share a fun freebie for all of those last summer parties and camping trips.  We did a killer s'more bar for our Relief Society BBQ a couple of weeks ago, and it had every body drooling for dessert before we even ate dinner!  Since it was Relief Society we had to make it cute - a bag of marshmallows and a box of graham crackers just wouldn't do...

Top Ten Tips for Camping with Kids.

Although crafting is pretty dang important, every once in awhile we would like to encourage you to take a break.  Tonight is one of those nights. 

A couple of weeks ago my family and I were getting ready to leave to go on a camping trip. . . our first with a small baby.  I posted on our FB page asking for any tips and got a GREAT response.  One of those responses came from Valerie.  (I know she’s gorgeous right!)




Valarie use to teach for Poppy Seed, but is taking a little hiatus while she attends nursing school.  She is married to a wonderful man named Jeff, they have four kids ranging from 6-15 and LOVE to camp, hilton style in their trailer, BUT have also braved mother nature to backpack their way into some of the farthest regions of our beautiful mountains.  In her owns words, “Camping with kids can be a nightmare or a happy time to bond as a family. You choose… it’s all in your attitude.”

Here are her top ten tips for camping with kids:

SUPER FUN SUMMER - FREE PRINTABLE

I don't know about the rest of you, but by the time school has been out for a few weeks my kids start to get BORED if I don't have things planned for them to do.  Trying to avoid that this year, I came up with a plan.  I decided to assign a specific activity to each day of the week.  My cute friend (and super fun mom) Hillary did this last year with her kids and let me borrow her names for each day of the week.  

Here is our summer schedule, day by day:

Celebrate–Independence Day Style!

You just can’t deny that decorating with the red, white and blue is just PLAIN FUN!  This is our first year to design projects with the fourth in mind and to celebrate we are offering a discount code for $5.00 off any order of $25.00 or more!  Just use the code HAPPYFOURTH (code will expire July 1st)

Now let’s get to it. 
INTRODUCING. . . . Our Fourth Of July Collection!!


Not everything we designed for the collection is shown in the pic above.  So here they are piece by piece. 

LAST MINUTE TEACHER GIFT

 I had big plans this year to make a cute craft for my boys' teachers as an end of the year thank you gift.  That shouldn't have been too hard, since HELLO - I happen to have access to lots of craft supplies.  I've done it before, and it has always been a big hit.  But this year the week got away from me (that is not a surprise lately) and the day before school ended I decided to bag the craft and do a cute gift card instead.  Well then the DAY got away from me (are you sensing a pattern here? Ha!) and I was going to pick the gift cards up that night.  By the time we had dinner with cousins from out of town and the final tee-ball game of the season, and then a last minute cousin sleepover - the gift card idea got pushed to the wayside.  So after getting 6 children to sleep (or at least quiet) in our basement, I started looking around my house for a treat I could make the teachers instead.  Since it was 11 o'clock, this needed to be a quick treat.  What is the quickest treat out there?  

Rice Krispies!  Okay, I know what you're thinking.  Rice Krispie Treats -super lame.  But if you're thinking that YOU.ARE.WRONG.  Because these are not just any Rice Krispie Treats.  These are crazy-yummy, hide them from the kids, eat half the pan all by yourself Rice Krispie Treats.  If you don't believe me, you need to try them - they will change your life!  Okay, maybe they won't change your life, but they are really good.  Its the combo of the brown butter (gives them kind of a carmel-y taste) and the sea salt.  And it may or may not call for DOUBLE the amount of butter as traditional Rice Krispies - that could have a little something to do with it.

Once they were done we boxed them up in some cute little gable boxes from Poppy Seed, attached the label to the front with a glue stick, and tied the recipe (printed on cardstock) to the box.  The recipe was personalized by having my boys sign the bottom 'from the kitchen of' part.  Super cute, easy, and cheap!

Gable boxes available at Poppy Seed (in store).