I scream, you scream, we all scream for....

Oh, man, I've been so neglectful of this poor blog.  But what can I say other than from Thanksgiving on we were jam packed busy!  So, hopefully now that kids are back in school, and life is slowing down a little bit (very little) I can do better about posting here.

Here's another fun time-saver I did for Natalie's birthday party.  I saw this idea on Pinterest, but can't find it for the life of me.  Maybe I didn't pin it?  Anyway, earlier in the day I pulled out the ice cream and pre-scooped it into paper baking cups.  The pink ones had strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and the blue had plain vanilla.  It seriously saved so much time, and I could hand each kid the ice cream flavor of their choice. Doing this again for sure!

Speaking of birthdays...

My little Miss, who turned 5, requested that for one of her party favors we make play dough for her friends.  She loves play dough and will spend hours molding and making up stories.  I am pretty picky with home made play dough;  I don't like it to feel course, or sticky, or have it leave a salty residue on your hands.  I know, tall order.  I finally found a recipe I love, and was telling my lovely friend, Deanne, about it when she said, "That sounds like the one I use, only I do this instead."  So, I am sharing what we came up with.  

Here is the recipe:

1 Cup Flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 packet of  Kool-Aid

Put them all into a saucepan and heat on med-low heat.  Stir until it has formed a nice firm ball.  Remove from heat, and spread out on something to cool.  I used tinfoil, but wax paper, or even a cookie sheet would work too.  After I let one side cool, I flip it over and let the other side cool as well.  It speeds up the process, and also makes sure one side doesn't dry out while the other side gets soggy from condensation.  The play dough will be whatever color Kool-Aid you choose, AND it smells good enough to eat!  I was a little worried that some of the kids would actually try eating it, but then I figured even if they did, there's nothing in it that can harm them, it just won't taste very good!  Oh, and one other thing, I'm not sure if it matters to the texture, but I use finely ground sea salt.  I would be curious to see if it still has a really smooth texture when used with regular table salt, so if you try it, let me know!

 I was going to go get some containers at Walmart, but I lucked out and when we were at the Dollar Tree, I found these cute little containers.  They come in a pack of 10 for, duh, $1!  They are perfect!

Chocolaty heaven...

I found this super yummy recipe, and decided to make it for a friend's baby shower I was throwing.  My (at the time) four year old helped me, and we'll just say it might be the yummiest dessert I have ever made.  Seriously, everyone was asking for the recipe.  Well, that little four year old just turned five, and when I asked her what she wanted me to make for her family party dessert, this is what she requested.  

Brownie on the bottom followed by a layer of cream cheese, cool whip, and powdered sugar.

 Followed by a layer of chocolate and vanilla pudding mixed together.

 Topped off with a layer of straight cool whip.  Don't let that fool you into thinking it's not as good as real whipped cream.  I'm a fan of making things from scratch, but there are just times when I go for easy, and you can't even tell that you're eating cool whip.

 And to finish it, some chocolate shavings.  The only thing I will do differently next time I make it is add Heath bar bits on top instead of chocolate shavings.  It just needs some crunch to it.

Here is the recipe.  Enjoy!