5 Perfect Baseball Foods to Start the Season

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Play Ball! Are you ready for a little baseball? It’s baseball season and time to enjoy 5 Perfect Baseball Foods to Start the Season! Today on Family Food Live, I will share these delicious baseball foods!

Family Food Live can be seen every Wednesday and Friday at 12 Noon EST/11 am CST on Facebook!  Today I’ll be live on the Burnt Macaroni Facebook page. But make sure you like both the Burnt Macaroni Facebook page and the Quirky Momma Facebook page now so you never miss an episode!

If you missed the last Family Food Live, here’s a look:

Here’s a look at today’s recipes:

Portable Frito Pie

The best part about baseball watching foods is that it’s so easy to make and carry. These Portable Frito Pies are also perfect for watching the big game!

Chili Dog

Shopping List

• 1 lb Ground Beef, browned
• 1 Onion, chopped
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 cup Water
• Hot Dogs
• Hot Dog buns
• Onions, chopped for topping

Instructions:

• In a large saucepan, ground beef and onion together. Season with salt & pepper.
• Once the meat and onions are cooked through, add the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin, tomato sauce and water
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the chili sauce thickens up
• Prepare hot dogs and add to bun
• Pour chili sauce over hot dog and sprinkle with chopped raw onions

Thanks Kitchen Dreaming for the inspiration

Homemade Cheese Nachos

Shopping List:

• 2 tablespoon Butter
• 2 tablespoon Flour
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Dash Cayenne Pepper
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated (8 oz)
• Tortilla Chips
• Jalapenos for topping (optional)

Instructions:

• In a skillet, melt the butter. Add flour and whisk until it starts to thicken up
• Add the milk and continue whisking. Once the milk is combined, bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until it thickens
• Add the cayenne pepper and salt and combine
• Gently stir in the cheese until it melts
• Once the cheese is melted all the way through, pour over nachos and serve

Potato Skins

Shopping List

• 4 Medium Potatoes
• Bacon Bits
• 1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese, grated
• Salt & Pepper
• Sour Cream
• Green Onions

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• After poking several holes in the potato with a fork put the potatoes in the microwave for 8 minutes on each side
• Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the inside of the potato
• Put the potatoes upside down on a cookie sheet and season with salt & pepper
• Bake for 15-10 minute or until crispy
• Remove from oven and flip over
• Fill with grated cheese and put back in oven for 10 minutes
• Remove from oven and sprinkle bacon bits on top and serve with sour cream and green onions

Mini Hotdogs

Another great option for any game day are Mini Hotdogs and these are my favorite!

Join Family Food Live with Holly & Chris every Wednesday and Friday at Noon CST on either the Quirky Momma Facebook page or the Burnt Macaroni Facebook page!
We are also so excited to share our first Family Food Live Apron with you.  Be the first to pick one up and start cooking with us! Just click buy now below!

Here are a few of our favorite products from Family Food Live (affiliate links)

• Fresh Baby Ice Cube Trays with lids
• Cuisinart Food Processor
• The I Heart Naptime Cookbook by Jamielyn Nye
• Giant Popcorn bowl
• Individual Popcorn bowls
• VillaWare Uno Classic Waffle Maker
• VillaWare Farmyard Waffle Maker
• Taco Holder
• Pyrex Baking Dishes
• Hand Blender
• Pizza Peel
• Pizza Wheel (cutter)
• Pizza Stone
• Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Double Burner Reversible Grill/Griddle
• Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Saute Pan with Helper Handle and Cover
• BPA free lunch containers
• Egg Rite Egg Timer
• Fit and Fresh container
• One Touch Electric Bottle Opener
• Half Pint Wide Mouth Mason Jars
• Ninja Professional Blender
• Zoku Quick Pop Maker
• Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Half Apron in Red or Blue
• Plano Half-Size Stowaway with Adjustable Dividers - for road trip snacks
• Curious Chef 3-Piece Nylon Knife Set
• Cuisinart 2 Quart Ice Cream Maker
• Victorinox Fibrox Straight Edge Chef's Knife, 8-Inch
• Lemon Squeezer
• Mason Jars
• Crockpot
• Apple Corer
• Popcorn Bowl
• MaxiMatic double burner hot plate
• Glass Egg carton
• Black & Decker 4 slice toaster
• Hamilton Beach Hand Mixer
• Cuisinart 8-cup Food Processor
• Meat Mallet
• Ice Cream or Cookie Scooper
• Norpro Butter Keeper
• Norpro Butter Keeper
• 3-Piece Veggie Peeler
• Garlic Press

The post 5 Perfect Baseball Foods to Start the Season appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

13 Adorable Gender Reveal Ideas

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I love all the new gender reveal ideas I keep seeing online. When I had my son about seven years ago, we had a small little gender reveal party and it was at the very beginning of this new trend. There weren’t too many creative ideas so we put blue gum balls inside cupcakes to tell everyone. It was a lot of fun and I imagine it would be even better with all of these crazy cool ways to announce the gender of your baby! (affiliates included)

13 Adorable Gender Reveal Ideas

Make your own gender reveal cupcakes with a pink or blue heart in the middle! via Dessert Now Dinner Later

I love this idea so much: everyone gets a can of silly string is a mystery color, spray it at the same time to see what color comes out! via Lively Happenings

Pull the string on this question mark pinata to see what color falls out!

To tell the world with a photo online, these pink and blue bubble gum photos are adorable. via Let Me See You Sparkle Photography

These confetti filled eggs are super fun. Crack one on your head to see what color! via The Vintage Modern Wife

Shoot an arrow at a paint filled balloon to see what color sprays the canvas. How fun? via Sweet Miles

You can get fortune cookies made with a personalized message everyone can open at the same time.

For baseball fans, you will adore this one. These baseballs are filled with pink or blue powder and when you hit it with the bat, the gender is revealed!

If golf is your game, here are golf balls that do the same!

Don’t worry, there is a soccer ball, too!

Confetti party poppers are a really fun way to get everyone involved in the reveal.

The confetti balloon pop is one of the most fun ideas, especially if you already have a little one! via Funny Beautiful

One of the most gorgeous gender reveal ideas to photograph are the smoke bombs – they just look so fantastic! via Stacy Coker Photography

The post 13 Adorable Gender Reveal Ideas appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

Easter Egg Bag

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This easy and fun Easter Egg Bag is the perfect way for toddlers and preschoolers to carry their Easter eggs. It requires minimal craft supplies and is super easy for home, school, or daycare.

Easter Egg Bags

We love creating fun, seasonal bags for holidays! This little bag is perfect for Easter eggs, candy, and small toys usually acquired at Easter egg hunts. Kids love it!

To make this craft you will need

• white construction paper
• colored construction paper
• brown paper bags
• glue
• scissors
• crayons

After gathering supplies, cut the white construction paper into a large egg shape. Invite kids to decorate their eggs. We used crayons, but kids could also use stickers, stencils, or paint.

When your child is finished decorating their egg, invite them to glue it onto the brown paper lunch bag.

Cut the bag around the egg so the top of the bag is round.

Glue a 1 inch strip of paper to the inside of the bag, creating a handle for the easter egg bag.

More Easter Fun for Kids

Click the links below to view more fun Easter crafts and activities for kids.

• The Best Easter Books for Kids
• Cardboard Tube Bunny
• Gak Filled Easter Eggs

The post Easter Egg Bag appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

12 Phonics Activities for Kids Learning to Read

Hands On As We Grow http://ift.tt/2oxpWrv

Click here to read 12 Phonics Activities for Kids Learning to Read on Hands On As We Grow

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Teaching your child to read can be tricky when you don’t necessarily know what to do first.

I often get asked from readers what they should work on first.

To be honest, I’ve always worked on letter recognition first with my kids. However, I have been told (repeatedly) from teachers that they should be learning letter phonics first. I find this very hard to do if the child doesn’t know the letter, so I’m learning to pair these goals together. Plus, phonics activities are hard to come by (and hard to come up with)!

3 Quick Steps to Get Your Child Started Reading:

1. Learn letter sounds with phonics activities, phonetic awareness (and couple it with letter recognition, you can find 20 activities for kids just learning their letters here)
2. Read to your child, a lot!
3. Get them started ‘reading on their own’ with Reading Rainbow Skybrary.

Of course, there are more steps to reading than this, such as book awareness (turning pages, reading left to right, front and back of book, and so on), being a good reading role model, asking your child questions about what you’re reading (comprehension), rhyming, sight words and so on.

However, these are the 3 steps to focus on as a parent. The rest will kind of fall into place as they start school. Of course, you can work on all of them, but I want to get you started in the right direction.

To start, let’s explore some activities that focus on letter sounds, or phonetic awareness.

Step 1: Start with phonics activities to help your child learn to read.

Step 2: Read aloud to your child, a lot!

There are lots of reasons for this. Point to the words as you read them. Whether it’s with your finger or something fun (like a feather or a bubble wand).

It helps kids know that every word on the page matches a word that’s being read.

Step 3: Get kids reading on their own.

How do you do this when your child isn’t able to read yet?

Put the books in your child’s hands and they are in control of what they read and how they read it. They can also choose to follow along or read by themselves. This builds their confidence in a big, big way!

This is the brilliance of Reading Rainbow Skybrary!

Each book comes equipped with a “Read to Me” or “Read by Myself” feature and dozens of interactive animations that bring the stories to life. This makes the books truly interactive and ‘hands-on’.

When you child ‘checks out’ a book, they can choose between “Read to Me” or “Read by Myself”. What I love the most is that they can switch mid-book. If they’re reading alone and find they are struggling with a word, they can switch to “Read to Me” for that page only. Your child can build confidence and develop reading independence at their own pace.

Why your child will love Reading Rainbow Skybrary to Get Started Reading:

Kids can pilot their own personal hot air balloons through 7 magical islands. Each island has hundreds of quality books and videos that celebrate diversity, family and the world around us.

They can explore the world on over 250 educational Video Field Trips. From nature excursions to space explorations to globe-trotting adventures. Host LeVar Burton guides them through a seemingly endless array of fun and fascinating learning journeys.

Skybrary features interactive animations that add to the fun, and help with reading comprehension. You will reward your young reader’s natural curiosity and sense of discovery.

They get unlimited access to over 600 high-quality books—from classics to award winners to undiscovered gems. Each one has been hand-picked by celebrated authors and publishers.

Receive new books and videos every Friday and discover new book recommendations each week.

With Skybrary Family, your child can Go Anywhere and Be Anything — right from your preferred device!

Why you will love Reading Skybrary to Get Your Child Started Reading

• Skybrary keeps them safe in a secure, kid-friendly environment that we can trust as parents.
• You can create customized profiles for up to 3 children. Plus, you’ll only need one login for multiple kids to use the service. And you can sign into Skybrary on any of your devices.
• You will be able to track your child’s progress with our easy to use Parent Dashboard. See which books they are reading and how much time they are spending in the app. Plus, get book recommendations tailored to your child’s age and interests.
• Plus, the folks at Reading Rainbow want to give your family a one-month free trial to navigate through the islands of discovery.

“My son is seven. He’s not the biggest fan of reading. He strives to do his best, but if he hits a snag while reading he tends to become frustrated and lose the desire to read. This is now his favorite app. His ability to read when and what his mind desire surpasses his frustration. We have tried many learning apps throughout the years. This by far has the most content. I just want him to find out just how wonderful a good book really can be.”

Reading Rainbow is offering Hands On As We Grow readers one month FREE to try their Skybrary Family subscription for one month. You can cancel at any time. Then you can choose a simple $4.99/month subscription or save 33% with a full year subscription for $39.99.

Last week, I sent an email to Hands On As We Grow readers to get started with Reading Rainbow Skybrary, and I received this heartfelt email from Becki:

“Oh. My. Goodness!!! Thank you for sharing this app! My five year old has a new favorite and “read” five books this afternoon – and has already navigated through adding books to his backpack / returning them to the book drop. This app is amazing!! ❤”

Get started with Reading Rainbow Skybrary

12 Phonics Activities for Kids Learning to Read

Hands On As We Grow http://ift.tt/2oxpWrv

Click here to read 12 Phonics Activities for Kids Learning to Read on Hands On As We Grow

---

Teaching your child to read can be tricky when you don’t necessarily know what to do first.

I often get asked from readers what they should work on first.

To be honest, I’ve always worked on letter recognition first with my kids. However, I have been told (repeatedly) from teachers that they should be learning letter phonics first. I find this very hard to do if the child doesn’t know the letter, so I’m learning to pair these goals together. Plus, phonics activities are hard to come by (and hard to come up with)!

3 Quick Steps to Get Your Child Started Reading:

1. Learn letter sounds with phonics activities, phonetic awareness (and couple it with letter recognition, you can find 20 activities for kids just learning their letters here)
2. Read to your child, a lot!
3. Get them started ‘reading on their own’ with Reading Rainbow Skybrary.

Of course, there are more steps to reading than this, such as book awareness (turning pages, reading left to right, front and back of book, and so on), being a good reading role model, asking your child questions about what you’re reading (comprehension), rhyming, sight words and so on.

However, these are the 3 steps to focus on as a parent. The rest will kind of fall into place as they start school. Of course, you can work on all of them, but I want to get you started in the right direction.

To start, let’s explore some activities that focus on letter sounds, or phonetic awareness.

Step 1: Start with phonics activities to help your child learn to read.

Step 2: Read aloud to your child, a lot!

There are lots of reasons for this. Point to the words as you read them. Whether it’s with your finger or something fun (like a feather or a bubble wand).

It helps kids know that every word on the page matches a word that’s being read.

Step 3: Get kids reading on their own.

How do you do this when your child isn’t able to read yet?

Put the books in your child’s hands and they are in control of what they read and how they read it. They can also choose to follow along or read by themselves. This builds their confidence in a big, big way!

This is the brilliance of Reading Rainbow Skybrary!

Each book comes equipped with a “Read to Me” or “Read by Myself” feature and dozens of interactive animations that bring the stories to life. This makes the books truly interactive and ‘hands-on’.

When you child ‘checks out’ a book, they can choose between “Read to Me” or “Read by Myself”. What I love the most is that they can switch mid-book. If they’re reading alone and find they are struggling with a word, they can switch to “Read to Me” for that page only. Your child can build confidence and develop reading independence at their own pace.

Why your child will love Reading Rainbow Skybrary to Get Started Reading:

Kids can pilot their own personal hot air balloons through 7 magical islands. Each island has hundreds of quality books and videos that celebrate diversity, family and the world around us.

They can explore the world on over 250 educational Video Field Trips. From nature excursions to space explorations to globe-trotting adventures. Host LeVar Burton guides them through a seemingly endless array of fun and fascinating learning journeys.

Skybrary features interactive animations that add to the fun, and help with reading comprehension. You will reward your young reader’s natural curiosity and sense of discovery.

They get unlimited access to over 600 high-quality books—from classics to award winners to undiscovered gems. Each one has been hand-picked by celebrated authors and publishers.

Receive new books and videos every Friday and discover new book recommendations each week.

With Skybrary Family, your child can Go Anywhere and Be Anything — right from your preferred device!

Why you will love Reading Skybrary to Get Your Child Started Reading

• Skybrary keeps them safe in a secure, kid-friendly environment that we can trust as parents.
• You can create customized profiles for up to 3 children. Plus, you’ll only need one login for multiple kids to use the service. And you can sign into Skybrary on any of your devices.
• You will be able to track your child’s progress with our easy to use Parent Dashboard. See which books they are reading and how much time they are spending in the app. Plus, get book recommendations tailored to your child’s age and interests.
• Plus, the folks at Reading Rainbow want to give your family a one-month free trial to navigate through the islands of discovery.

“My son is seven. He’s not the biggest fan of reading. He strives to do his best, but if he hits a snag while reading he tends to become frustrated and lose the desire to read. This is now his favorite app. His ability to read when and what his mind desire surpasses his frustration. We have tried many learning apps throughout the years. This by far has the most content. I just want him to find out just how wonderful a good book really can be.”

Reading Rainbow is offering Hands On As We Grow readers one month FREE to try their Skybrary Family subscription for one month. You can cancel at any time. Then you can choose a simple $4.99/month subscription or save 33% with a full year subscription for $39.99.

Last week, I sent an email to Hands On As We Grow readers to get started with Reading Rainbow Skybrary, and I received this heartfelt email from Becki:

“Oh. My. Goodness!!! Thank you for sharing this app! My five year old has a new favorite and “read” five books this afternoon – and has already navigated through adding books to his backpack / returning them to the book drop. This app is amazing!! ❤”

Get started with Reading Rainbow Skybrary

Bunny Cups with Homemade Lemonade

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This Easter, we are serving these bunny cups with homemade lemonade for our kids — and we just had to share them with you!

We created this fun craft for our friends at Imperial Sugar and are sharing all the details over on the Imperial Sugar Kids in the Kitchen site!

Aren’t they adorable?! Be sure to visit the Homemade Lemonade in Bunny Cups tutorial to learn how to create your own!

And while you’re there, be sure to enter the online Easter Egg Hunt contest, hosted by Imperial Sugar. It looks like so much fun!

More Easter Crafts

These awesome Easter tutorials feature our favorite ingredient — Imperial Sugar!

• Crispy Rice Easter Egg Treats
• Homemade Easter Chalk Melts
• Easter Chick and Bunny Handprint Craft

 

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You Won’t Believe These Epic Playhouses

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These aren’t your typical backyard playgrounds. Tyson and Audy Leavitt build epic playhouses for kids that you have to see to believe with their family-run business, Charmed Playhouses.

We just love the creativity and imagination behind some of their builds, and we just had to share some of them with you!

Epic Playhouses for Kids

It all started when Tyson decided to build a playhouse for his own kids. Now, he and his wife work together to create playhouses any kid would envy. Tyson does the building; Audy designs the interior to match the theme. They even have their own show on TLC chronicling their epic builds.

This build took the term “treehouse” to a whole new level!

How about this ship inspired by Peter Pan?!

We just love this stable-inspired playhouse that was built for NBA player Stephen Curry.

This epic playhouse reminds me of Rapunzel’s tower! So fun!

This fairytale cottage playhouse was built for MLB player Ryan Zimmerman and his family!

This fun playhouse looks like it came straight out of The Shire!

To see more of the amazing playhouses that Tyson and his family build, be sure to tune in to “Playhouse Masters” on TLC!

 

 

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