Kids Giveaways from Vanilla Joy

Today, Vanilla Joy is offering 5 Kids Giveaways and there are some great things to win! Here is the list. Click on the title or picture in each giveaway for the link. Good Luck!

Kids Gear Giveaway #1- Homedics Sound Spa

This Homedics Sound Spa comes with the following fabulous features:

• 6 different sounds - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rock-A-Bye Baby, Cradle Song, Rain, Ocean, and Heartbeat
• Rotating Picture Projector
• Auto Timer

Kids Gear Giveaway #2- Frog Humidifier from Crane

With all the recent finds about kids’ cough medicines, using a humidifier is one way you can help ease your child’s cough and cold symptoms.

Crane is giving away the Frog Cool Mist Humidifier ($34.99) to one lucky winner!




Kids Gear Giveaway #3 - Bath Toys from Boon

The creative folks at Boon are giving the Frog Pod bath toy scoop ($34.99) and the Flo water deflector and protective faucet cover ($14.99) to one lucky winner!



Kids Giveaway #4- Natural Bath Products from Method Home

Method Home is giving an entire gift basket of kids and baby bath products to one lucky reader! The $52 gift basket will include the following:

• Squeaky Green Baby Hair + Body Wash
• Squeaky Green Baby Body Lotion
• Squeaky Green Diaper Cream
• Squeaky Green Baby Bubbly Bath
• Squeaky Green Kids 3 - in - 1 Shampoo
• Squeaky Green Baby Dryer Cloths
• Squeaky Green Baby Laundry Detergent

Kids Gear Giveaway #5- Little Men Working Potty

Safety 1st is giving away the Little Men Working Potty to one lucky winner!

Spring Bird Feeder Craft

When I was little, my Dad would be in charge of making our homemade pizzas. We would all gather around rolling out the dough, spreading on the sauce, adding the toppings (and sneaking as much grated cheese as possible)! Now, my girls love to help Grandpop when we are visiting and pizza is on the menu!

The girls love to make homemade pizzas at home also! I usually make a big batch of pizza dough, enough for about three. I used one third to make a our dinner, one third was rolled out and twisted into knots to freeze for later, and the last part I decided to make some tasty treats for the birds.

This was a perfect opportunity to teach the older girls how to braid! We rolled out 9 strips of dough, braided them, and then pinched the ends to make 3 mini bread loaves. Baked at 350 degrees until golden, then cooled, spread with peanut butter and coated in birdseed.

I hope all the birds outside creating their nests enjoyed the snack we made for them!

Cooking With Kids

Madelyn made dinner for us tonight! “All by myself!? This must be my lucky day!”, she exclaimed when I told her she would be making Pasta with Homemade Cheese Sauce. She was very excited and a little bit nervous but I told her that if she just followed the recipe it would turn out perfect! I crossed my fingers as I said that because we had never eaten this particular dish before.

I had picked the recipe from Paula Deen’s, My First Cookbook. It seemed easy enough for her to read and the instructions were clear-cut.

She cooked the pasta and tasted it for doneness. She then made the homemade cheese sauce. The super easy sauce consisted of 1 stick of butter melted over low heat and then 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 1 cup of half-and-half and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Simple!

She mixed the pasta with the sauce and added some leftover seasoned chicken. She served everyone at the table. It was looking shaky when Lana announced that “This smells horrible and looks gross!” but after tasting it she changed her tune and told Madelyn that she should “become a chef and make this for dinner EVERY NIGHT!” Well, maybe not every night, but this recipe is a definite keeper.