Tag Archives: Sean

May 10 2012

Coconut Popsicles

Sean, my helper and taste-tester!

The weather has been beautiful here lately. It’s really starting to feel like summer. And what goes better with hot summer days than cool refreshing popsicle? I made a batch of coconut flavor and they turned out great. They are not too sweet and have lots of coconut flake for texture.

I highly recommend investing in some pop molds if you like the idea of making popsicle at home. They are not very expensive and turn out a beautiful pop with handle. I got mine as a birthday gift from my wonderful husband two years ago. We’ve also made smoothie pops which were a big hit.

If you don’t have molds you can always use a disposable plastic cup and a popsicle stick or even a plastic spoon for the handle. Here’s what you’ll need to make about 6 ice pops:

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 can coconut milk (regular is creamier than light)

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut flake (from the baking aisle)

Directions:

  1. Combine milk, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat on low, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
  2. Add the coconut milk and shredded coconut. Stir to combine.
  3. Fill pop molds and freeze for at least 8 hours.

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Sep 22 2011

Preschool Workbooks at Home

I have several kinds of workbooks for Sean and Audrey. The type I like the best for writing letters is Kumon. Audrey likes to do the lines in the first book – Tracing, which is the precursor for the Upper Case Letters book.  Sean also has a Pre-K sticker workbook we purchased from Costco.  I took the many pages of stickers out of the book the first day so they wouldn’t be wasted as decorations when I wasn’t looking.

I was trying to get Sean to do a few pages a day in one of his books, but he’s become resistant.  And if he’s feeling resistant he’s not willing to try, and he won’t be learning anything.  I put the books aside a few weeks ago.  They are on the bookshelf with the coloring books and story books.

I was pleasantly surprised when Sean brought me his sticker workbook the other day and wanted to do some pages.  He probably did 15 pages in one sitting.  Audrey had to join in as well, so I spent an hour going between them – erasing the previous pencil marks out of the Tracing book, and giving Sean his stickers for each page.  I cut out one section at a time and explained what the instructions were for each page.  He happily matched like items, completed scenes and worked with me on letter sounds.

A happy lesson: Don’t push too hard, take a break and come back to it later!

Home Pre-schooling (for an afternoon, at least)

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May 13 2011

Frugal Friday: “Mango” smoothies

Have I mentioned lately how much my kids love Jake and the Neverland Pirates?  Yes, I think you are aware.  In one episode called “Yo Ho, Food to Go” Jake and his crew are making snacks.  One of the characters wants a “mango smoothie”.

Sean decided that he would like to have a mango smoothie too!  Now, I didn’t have mangoes on hand, but I had some frozen Jamba Juice smoothie mix that I bought a while back.  I blended it up with apple juice and both Sean and Audrey were so excited!  They have no idea what mangoes are, so they didn’t care that it was strawberry and banana flavor.  Apparently they do make a mango version, but I have yet to find it in my local stores.

It seems there is always a $1 off coupon for Jamba Juice smoothie mix available online.  I usually get it on coupons.com, and I’m sure other sites will have it as well.  Combine this with a good sale price and you have a nice treat for your kids.

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Apr 27 2011

Fun Music for Kids

This post is for you Jennie!

My kids LOVE music.  I think most kids do, but Sean is especially drawn to all things musical.  When Sean was two we got him two CD/DVD sets from the band They Might Be Giants.  Here Come the ABC’s and Here Come the 1,2,3′s are great DVDs for helping kids recognize letters and numbers.  The ABC’s DVD has some fun songs, but I prefer the 123′s.  The songs are catchy and the DVDs provide a visual to fit the songs.  I got the sets which include both the DVD and CD at Amazon for about $12 each.

Later we bought Here Comes Science which I really like.  I’ve always been intrigued by science, so this one was even more fun for me than the kids!  (They like it too.) The songs cover biology, astronomy, physics, scientific method and much more.  This one would be great for older kids as well, since the topics are more complex.

My kids’ new favorite CD is The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band.  I picked this one up at Amazon as well.  Laurie was featured on Nick Jr (Noggin at the time) with short clips of her songs used in between regular programming.  The songs are mostly upbeat folk-pop style–perfect for kids to sing along.  Track 5 with the lyrics “I’m gonna catch you, you’d better run” sends my kids running and laughing as I chase after them.

So there you go, a few suggestions for some new music for your kids!

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Mar 14 2011

Birthday Party Menu

It took me a long time to decide on what to make for Sean’s party.  We’ve been exceptionally busy all week.  When Thursday came I was finally able to focus on cleaning up and planning the party menu.

I decided on a Vegetarian Chili, assorted sandwiches, a salad and chips.  I had something else planned but then realized that my parents, who have been very faithful to the South Beach Diet, couldn’t eat any of what I had planned.  It was also a reminder that I need to get serious about South Beach cooking again.  So I opted for the chili which I made once before to be the center of the meal.  The non-South Beachers had sandwiches and tortilla chips with their chili. 

And I made a birthday cake, of course.  Chocolate with chocolate frosting (and SPRINKLES!!!) as requested by Sean.  I decided to go with a theme for his party this year – Toy Story.  It’s one of his favoite things and I found cute small figures on sale at Target for around $12.  I used them as cake toppers and they really made the cake fun.

The party was fun, low-key and easy for me to prepare – just as I had planned.  I baked the cakes (four 8″ round cakes) the night before and assembled the cake first thing in the morning.  Then I threw together the super easy chili, set out some chips and salsa and made an assortment of sandwiches.  I had sourdough and wheat bread, and made several combinations using turkey, ham, bologna, cheddar and Swiss cheeses with crispy leaf lettuce.  I cut them in half so guests could have more than one kind.

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