Idea Queen Tips & News

Here it is, almost Easter and we still don’t have our Easter eggs done yet. Gasp! No worries, we plan to tackle this project on Saturday right before Easter.

Today I found an articled about painting eggs instead of dyeing, which I thought was rather interesting. The thought never crossed my mind that we could actually use paint instead of those messy dyes. Not a bad idea at all! The article goes on to give ideas for different ways to paint, which I also thought was very useful.

This got me thinking - exactly what do we want to do this year? Do we want to paint them or dye them like we always do? Well I think we are doing a little bit of both.

Usually we get the kind of dye kits that come with little sponges which allow you to “paint” the dye onto the eggs. This has always worked pretty well and kept the mess to a minimum (thank goodness for black counter tops that don’t show stains!).

Regardless, there’s some pretty good ideas for painting on that page that I believe we can use with the dye. I especially like the Tie-Dye idea with the paper towel. We might give that a shot with the regular dye instead of the paint and see how it works.

Have fun!

My kids have tons of toys which are never played with. As far as activities go, they tend to stick with certain toys and activities. Sure they play with other stuff sometimes, but for the most part they have set things they do several times a week.

If you are looking for a list of “hot toys”, this isn’t it. This is a list of activities and toys that will ALWAYS keep their interest to a certain extent, and isn’t just a fading fad.

1. Computer Games & Sites
I don’t know what it is about the computer, but my kids love it. They each have several downloaded games they play on a regular basis (maybe once or twice a month per game), as well as a list of sites they visit weekly. See our list of game sites for kids and free toddler games.

2. Game Systems
As much as I hate to admit it, game systems will always be popular and a source of entertainment for kids. I broke down and bought my son a GameCube for Christmas, which I’m glad I did. He loves it and plays it often for no more than we have invested in it.

Amazon.com has a lot of options for game systems and games you might want to check out. If you are concerned about the educational value or concerned your kid might turn into a couch potato, you can check into getting a Wii with games designed to get them moving.

3. Books & Magazines
Classics that never die. While typing this, my preschooler is looking at her Highlights magazine, and asked me to read to her. Of course I had to before finishing this post! Just proof how much entertainment a simple book or magazine can be.

Books are everywhere, and best of all they are FREE at your local library. In the summer you can make it a weekly family event to take a trip to the library. We are lucky enough to live just a block away from our local library, and my oldest son is old enough to go up there by himself now to check out books.

Magazines and books both can make great gifts as well. Take a trip to the local bookstore or see what children’s books are currently at Amazon.com.

4. Board Games & Card Games
Not only can you get involved with your kids and have a little family time, but it keeps them pretty entertained. My kids love to pull out certain games to play. Many of the classic games you can find featuring their favorite characters (Spongebob Monopoly for example). We’ve got a whole list of places to buy board games listed at Idea Queen.

5. Webkinz, ePets, and other online pets
While this may seem like a “hot toy” right now, I really think with the combination of online and offline play, they will be around for quite some time. I have never seen my kids play more with any one thing as I have with the Webkinz. They log in every day to play with their pet, and do various activities. Sometimes the real stuffed animal comes with us when we leave the house too.

Epets are also pretty popular, and the site has quite a bit to do. There’s several other version of the two most popular types as well - Littlest Pet Shop now has a stuffed animal you can play with online, and there are a few other smaller companies that sell them as well. Our experience so far has only been with the Webkinz though, and they absolutely love them. Since we can adopt as many pets as we want, this is going to be a big deal for quite awhile.

There’s my list for the top 5 toys they’ll never get tired of. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment!

Last night we had a family favorite - Graziano’s hot sausage sandwiches with homemade buns. While this “brand” of sausage you can only get in central Iowa (it’s a special blend from an Italian grocery store in Des Moines), you can still use any kind of Italian sausage. We just prefer this particular kind over the others.

The buns, on the other hand, anyone with a bread machine can make. It’s actually our favorite roll recipe that I’ve dubbed “Tabi’s Awesome Rolls”. I’ve posted this recipe before when I spent the day playing with my bread machine. Turning them into buns for hot sausage sandwiches is pretty easy.

Basically we made them just the way we always do, but added Italian spices to the mix. Someone once told me to add garlic last because it doesn’t let the dough rise, so that’s what I did. Once the dough was mixed and ready to be rolled out, I added the garlic to the top with a little bit of olive oil and cheese.

When you make these at home, expect them to get a little bigger when you bake them. They always surprise me and get larger when I bake them. I always think “hmmm I wonder if these are going to be big enough?” when I roll them out, and they always are slightly TOO big. So when you roll them out, flatten them down just a bit so they work better as a bun.

This roll recipe has also been used to make buns for other type of sandwiches including homemade breaded tenderloins (DELICIOUS!). It would also go good with cold sandwiches or hamburgers as well.

Yum!

Since there are a limited time deal and Easter is almost here, we just had to mention these adorable Easter egg candles for sale at Prairie Soy Candles.

There are  6 different colors available with your choice of scent (and there are a LOT of scents available - well over 60!). With only two of each color, you’ll want to grab these FAST before they’re out of stock!

While you’re there, you might also want to check out the discount shelf for some great deals on in stock items. Fast shipping and discounted product - it doesn’t get much better than that.

We are not big milk drinkers in this house. It’s not uncommon for us to not get through a half gallon of milk before it goes bad. Most of the time we use it only for cooking.

Since we don’t always have milk on hand but I still cook a lot, I had to come up with a quick solution for substituting milk on occasion. Well, I finally figured it out.

Powdered milk works very well, and it’s something I ALWAYS have on hand (I make quite a bit of bread in my bread machine). The other day I had a recipe that called for 3 tablespoons of milk, so I use 1 tablespoon powdered milk with 3 tablespoons water. Perfect! So now I know to use 1/3 the powdered milk as the recipe calls and mix with water (the box also says to make one cup of milk you use 1/3 cup dry milk with 1 cup water).

While generally I want to use “real” milk in my recipes, sometimes I just need a quick fix so I don’t have to run to the store. Best of all the dry milk won’t go bad sitting in my fridge for a week!

One of the best ways to really take advantage of all there is to do with a Webkinz pet is to have the pet of the month. Featured pets get a loot bag (if adopted in the month they are the “pet of the month), and get to do all kinds of extra stuff under the hourly and daily activities.

This month’s pet of the month is theWebkinz Lil’Kinz Pig. For the whole month of March 2008, all owners of the pig are getting lots of fun extras. If you don’t have a Webkinz yet or would like another, do think about getting a pig so you can have even more fun playing!

April 2008 will feature the Pink Poodle as the Webkinz Pet of the Month. So if you are thinking about a gift for a lucky kid but won’t give it to them until April, you might want to think about getting them this one in particular.

While the Pet of the Month does have it’s benefits, there is a lot to do with any Webkinz. For more information about what Webkinz are and how much you can do with them, you can see more details on Idea Queen.

Have fun playing with your Webkinz!

After seeing my son’s Webkinz bathroom decorated in a Safari theme, I thought how fun it might be to find some safari bedroom items for a REAL room.

YourKidsDirect.com actually has quite a few different items for Safari bedroom theme decorating. The first thing you’ll probably want to look for is bedding. Click below for bedding options (features both full and twin quilts, plus other matching items).

Safari Bedding & Accessories

Next you’ll need Safari furniture. There are several absolutely adorable options available, which you can see below. This includes a bookcase, chair, table set, and even a beautiful toy chest. Click on the pictures for more details on each item.

Safari Rocking Chair

Safari Table & Chair Set

Safari Toy Chest

Safari Book Display

For window treatments, be on the look out for things like light or dark green curtains, or even camouflage if it fits your current decor. Safari bedroom theme decorating can be a whole lot of fun for both you and the kids!

Can’t get enough of Dora the Explorer? We absolutely love her in this house! Luckily there are several free Dora the Explorer games to download on BigFish. We have a membership, so each month we can get a new game to play. Below you’ll find a few we have and play on a regular basis, with a few others we want to try soon. Enjoy!

Candy Land - Dora the Explorer Edition
The classic game Candy Land meets Dora the Explorer. It really needs no further explanation. Try it out for an hour and see what you think!

Dora’s Carnival Adventure
This game we do own, and we absolutely love it. My daughter plays this one on a regular basis, and it really keeps her busy. There’s several different games within the game to play, all which give tickets. The tickets are used to buy prizes, which it takes quite awhile to be able to buy all the prizes.

Doras Carnival 2 - At the Boardwalk
The second version of the popular Dora’s Carnival. New games and prizes featured for hours more play.

La Casa De Dora
This one we haven’t tried out yet, but it’s on our list of games to buy. This Dora the Explorer game features 8 different educational games all in one. Kids learn Spanish (of course), math, and music. I absolutely LOVE educational games!

If you find any more, let me know. We’re always looking for fun games to play together!

Our blender had a little accident several months ago, and I’m just dying to make smoothies for the kids. Since I’ve got tax return in hand, I think it’s about time to replace it.

The best smoothie recipes we’ve ever had were the ones we came up with ourselves. Following a recipe with a few basic ingredients, we were able to come up with all kinds of different types that were oh-so-tasty.

You will need the following ingredients to start:

- Frozen fruit and berries (or fresh fruit/berries and ice)
- Yogurt (plain or flavored, we usually use plain)
- Honey

Yup, that really is all you need! The yogurt gives it a smooth texture, and the frozen fruit or ice gives it the icy texture. Honey is simply used in place of sugar to make it sweet. This is especially important if you have certain fruits that are slightly bitter.

Strawberry has been our favorite so far, although we love to buy mixed bags of frozen fruits and berries to try out new flavors. If you do use strawberries, make sure you buy slices and now whole. Using whole is how our blender died. Oops!

These make a wonderful treat, especially in the spring and summer. Have fun coming up with new blender recipes for kids!

Spring break is approaching, and you’ll need some ideas to keep those kids busy. It’s hard to predict how nice the weather is going to be this year, so we’ll be sure to list indoor and outdoor activities. If you can get outside you should!

Craft Ideas

If it’s still cold and wet outside, you’ll of course need some indoor activities. Crafts are a wonderful way to keep kids busy. Idea Queen has several different crafts, including how to make your own stickers and crafts for kids rooms (decorations they can make specifically for their room).

Also be on the lookout at the grocery store in the checkout for little booklets. A few weeks ago we picked up a book that cost less than $5, and is filled with craft ideas. The best part of this booklet is the crafts are made from household items such as cans, bottles, and paper towel rolls.  You can let the kids raid the recycling bin for various items to use.

Indoor Activities

So the weather isn’t great, and you’ve got to find things to do inside. Not a problem! You can always spend some time on the computer with them (see game sites for kids and game sites for toddlers).   We’ve been pretty hooked on the Webkinz for the last several days, so all other game sites don’t seem to matter right now. There’s just way too much to do there!

If you need a break from the computer, there’s lots of other things you can do inside together. Try a few board games, or maybe cooking in the kitchen. What better way to spend the afternoon than making a batch of cookies? You might also think about cooking up some playdough to use that day as well. If you make it edible, they can eat it after they are done playing.

Outdoor Activities

Hopefully over spring break the weather will be nice enough you can actually get outside for awhile (I know I’m more than ready for the snow to be gone!). Take your first trip of the year to the local park, or to somewhere special (we have a wild life park and learning center right outside of town - check your area for places similar to this).

To stay closer to home, you might think about working on your garden or just spending the day in the backyard playing a few kids games. Try some different versions of tag, or play other childhood games if you have enough people. No matter what, try to get involved with the kids (Although we’ve learned mom is just too good at baseball and we lose balls over the fence if we try to play that in the backyard, so it can’t be played at home). If you play with them, it’s good exercise and you’ll have a blast spending time together!

This list should get you started, and at least give you several options depending on the weather. It’s so hard to predict what the weather will be a week ahead of time this time of year. I hope we’ve given you enough ideas either way though!