Everybody's Favorite One Bowl Brownies

This is one of our family's all time favorite recipes, and luckily it's one the easiest dessert recipes I know. If we're asked to bring a dessert to a potluck, but we don't have a whole lot of time to be in the kitchen, this is usually my go-to recipe. I used to think of them as my "Book-Club Brownies" as they were perfect to make on a week night and have ready to go the next night when my book club would meet. (Or sometimes I would even make them up the afternoon of the meeting.)

But I should warn you, they are still very much a TREAT recipe. There is nothing low-fat/low calorie/low-sugar about this recipe . . .

Paint with Bouncy Balls

It's been a pretty busy week this past week, which has meant not a lot of time to either create or post. But we've still had a few fun things up our sleeves. This bouncy ball painting activity was something I'd been wanting to try for a while. Now that the sun and warm weather are back, it made for a great deck activity.

Somehow it feels like every time the boys get to pull a prize from a "treasure box" somewhere else (think dentist office, school, game prizes) they wind up picking a bouncy ball. We now have lots of these little bouncy balls hanging around, which lead to me thinking of how to use them. 

May Day Tissue Flower Wreath

It's been so amazing to have some green color pop up in our world this week, it truly and finally feels like spring. And while the green has come, we're still awaiting those colorful May flowers. But as we probably have a small wait still (although really, I think it's only small) we put together these May Day Tissue Flower Wreaths.

We enjoyed making paper plate wreaths at St. Patrick's Day, so these were a great spin off for a new season. 

Mini Golf Birthday Party

About a year ago Big Brother discovered the fun of mini-golfing and he loved going several times over the summer months. He was pretty excited to discover that because there was less snow and frost this winter, our local mini golf place was already open for his birthday.

He quickly asked to have a handful of kindergarten friends join him for a birthday party at the mini-golf center.  I was excited, as it meant an easy location with not a lot of set up or clean up, although it did take thinking through logistics a little.

7 Tips for Lego Storage & Organization

I've known for years that when we had kids I wanted them to be Lego lovers. I have so many memories of playing and building Legos with my brother as a kid. And Legos have only gotten better with even more themes, kits, ideas, and pieces. Yet they've held on to their classic appeal for fostering some amazing creativity.

I was so determined to have a Lego loving kid in the house that when Big Brother was only 3 months old I couldn't pass up an amazing deal on a GIANT tub of Legos at a yard sale . . . much to my husband's surprise.

Flash forward 6 years . . . and while I'm still really excited about how much he loves his Legos I'm also a little surprised at how much our collection has grown. In addition to the original tub I bought he's been given many sets over the last two years for birthday and Christmas presents, purchased a few of his own sets, and been given hand me downs from neighbors and older friends.

About 6 months ago I knew we had to get our Lego collection better organized, they were everywhere! After several months of tweaking our system, we've reached a great place with how they're organized.

Word Family Bean Sort

This spring Big Brother has been making amazing progress as a reader, and it's been so exciting for the both of us. As always, I want to look for ways to support his learning but without making our time at home feel like more school. With that in mind, I always try to make his learning at home very hands on.

Lately I've been noticing that he could use some word family practice, which inspired me to create this Word Family Bean Sort.