Star Wars Crafts & Treats Round-up

February 10, 2012 By
Star Wars Activities

Star Wars: Episode 1–The Phan­tom Men­ace 3D opens in the­aters today! I’ve men­tioned before that we have some Star Wars fans in the house–both lit­tle and big! Here’s some proof (from Christ­mas) and evi­dence that Big Brother’s dress-up bin was a BIG hit!!!

Light saber fights are a reg­u­lar occur­rence around here–complete with a 22 month jedi-in-training involved! And, the excite­ment from the open­ing music of Star Wars start­ing in the house is pal­pa­ble. How­ever, at just shy of 5, Big Brother hasn’t seen a whole Star Wars movie yet. Mr. Mom Endeav­ors knows the movies so well, that he just skips through and shows clips. With Star Wars: Episode 1 in 3D hit­ting the­aters today, we’ve had a few dis­cus­sions about whether or not to take Big Brother. What do you think? What age is appro­pri­ate for lit­tle ones to see Star Wars?

Whether you’ll be tak­ing kid­dos to the the­aters or not, I thought the first Star Wars release in 3D was the per­fect time to share a round-up of awe­some Star Wars activ­i­ties, crafts, and treats from around the web! These ideas are SO awesome–sure to be hits with your lit­tle Jedi!!

Star Wars Crafts & Treats Round-up:

1. Star Wars Fin­ger Pup­pets from The Idea Room

Yoda Softie2. DIY Plush Yoda from Dal­hart Lane

3. Star Wars Quiet Book from Julie’s Blog

4. Pool Noo­dle Light Sabers from Muddy Boots Blog

5. Star Wars Activ­i­ties from Serv­ing Pink Lemon­ade

(down­load the Star Wars preschool pack here from Home­school Cre­ations)

6. Storm Trooper Milk Jug from Liv­ing Locurto

7. Star Wars Party from At Sec­ond Street

8. C-3PO Water Bot­tles from I’m Topsy Turvy

9. Star Wars Eats from Hello My Sweet

10. Star Wars Lunch from Mom Endeavors

Do you have lit­tle (or big) Star Wars fans at YOUR house? Plan­ning on see­ing the new 3D movie?


Linked to: *Sun­dae Scoop, *Show & Share, *Star Wars Linky

1 Comment

Heart-Shaped Pizza

February 8, 2012 By
Heart-Shaped Pizza

Feb­ru­ary is the per­fect time for a fun heart-shaped pizza (of course, birth­days & anniver­saries would be per­fect occa­sions as well)! And, with the help of La Romanella prod­ucts from Smart & Final, we made an espe­cially yummy one for din­ner! Not only was it super tasty, but the kids thought it was super fun…and loved the heart-shaped pep­per­o­nis! :)

Here’s what I used:

- Already made pizza dough, La Romanella pizza sauce, parme­san cheese, mozarella cheese, olive oil, pep­per­o­nis, and black olives.

Direc­tions:

I hadn’t made a heart-shaped pizza before, so I wasn’t sure how the dough would hold up. But, I was pleas­antly sur­prised. After rolling it out fairly thin, I just carved it into a heart shape. Then I used some of the scraps to make a bet­ter crusty edge. — Then, I cov­ered the dough in the La Romanella pizza sauce! I’m always ner­vous about try­ing new sauces because of the spices, but this one was per­fect! And, I love that I have left over sauce (in the freezer) to use for another pizza! :) - Time for top­pings! I thought about doing a chicken/artichoke combo because I love La Romanella’s mar­i­nated arti­chokes, but I’ve done a few related posts on that already (chicken & arti­choke pasta and spinach & arti­choke dip), so opted for our favorite ‘ole standby: pep­per­o­nis & black olives! :)

- I lay­ered some pep­per­o­nis right onto the sauce, but then also used a small heart-shaped cookie cut­ter to cut out some heart-shaped pep­per­o­nis. The scraps from that when straight onto the sauce too! - Then, top the pizza with moz­zarella cheese, cut black olives, and the heart-shaped pep­per­o­nis. The final step–which makes things a lit­tle extra tasty is brush­ing a light coat­ing of olive oil on the out­side crust & sprin­kling Parme­san cheese on it! Yum!- Bake accord­ing to your dough direc­tions, then, voila…deli­cious, heart-shaped pizza! Per­fect for upcom­ing Valentine’s fes­tiv­i­ties! :)

If you like the heart-shaped pizza idea, I’d LOVE for you to head over to www.smartandfinal.com/LaRomanella2012 to vote for it! Noth­ing like a lit­tle friendly blog­ger com­pe­ti­tion! ;)

And,  if you pur­chase La Romanella items from Smart & Final, go to www.smartandfinal.com/LaRomanella2012 where you can enter the code on the receipt and be entered to win some of these amaz­ing prizes: First Prize: a week­end trip for 2 to an Italian-inspired resort in Las Vegas! Addi­tional prizes include: (8) $50 Smart­Cash cards!

You have view my shop­ping trip here to see some of the other great La Romanella prod­ucts available!

Dis­clo­sure: This shop has been com­pen­sated as part of a social shop­per insights study for Col­lec­tive Bias. #cBias #LaRo­manella. As always, all opin­ions and expe­ri­ences are my own.

Linked to: *Kitchen Club Party

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Tell Them with Hallmark {+ Giveaway!!}

February 6, 2012 By
Hallmark Tell Them

Every­one has some­thing they need to hear. And, we all have peo­ple in our lives that mean the world to us–our chil­dren, our sig­nif­i­cant other, par­ents, sib­lings, dear friends. But, some­times in the busy­ness of life, we for­get to tell them. So, Hall­mark is launch­ing a new Greet­ings pro­gram this year that’s all about vow­ing to tell the ones close to you how spe­cial they are to you. It’s called “Tell Them.”

As in,  Tell Them they’re still the one, Tell Them they’re your super­hero, Tell Them you miss them, Tell Them you need them,  Tell Them you love them. You can vow to Tell Them on the Hall­mark Tell Them face­book page. It may be exactly what he/she needs to hear!

Any day is per­fect for telling loved ones how much they mean to you, but with Valentine’s Day com­ing up, you have an extra spe­cial rea­son. Here’s a peek at some Hall­mark Valentine’s cards I received to Tell Them with. The boys LOVE the one on the left–it plays music and the lit-up tail wags back and forth. Per­haps it will have to be their Valentine’s card from Mommy & Daddy this year! :)

GIVEAWAY Has Ended

Hall­mark is giv­ing ONE lucky Mom Endeav­ors’ reader a Greet­ings Card prize pack per­fect for you to “Tell Them” with!

Con­grat­u­la­tions to lucky com­ment #8!! I hope you enjoy the cards!

To Enter: Closed

1. Sim­ply leave a com­ment shar­ing who and/or what you would like Tell Them.

Get extra entries (leave a sep­a­rate com­ment for each):
2. Like Mom Endeav­ors on face­book (and share about the give­away if you’re so inclined)
3. Like Hall­mark on face­book (and take the “vow to tell” if you’re so inclined)
4. Tweet: Enter to win a @HallmarkPR “Tell Them” greet­ings card pack via @momendeavors http://bit.ly/xUGv2M
(up to 4 entries per per­son: if you’re already fol­low­ing, thank you, just make sure you leave a com­ment & let me know!!)

Give­away will end on Feb­ru­ary 12th at 10pm PST. Win­ner with a valid entry will be selected at ran­dom using random.org and be noti­fied via email (win­ner will also be posted on this post). They will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new win­ner is selected. Give­away open to U.S. Res­i­dents, 18 years and older.

Dis­clo­sure: I received the Hall­mark greet­ing cards shown above . No other com­pen­sa­tion was received. All opin­ions & expe­ri­ences are my own!

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Super Bowl Party Dips

February 3, 2012 By
Buffalo Chicken Dip

If you’ve been read­ing Mom Endeav­ors for awhile, then you know we’re foot­ball fans (yes, we, me included), but more of the Col­lege vari­ety! In fact, we are die-hard Nebraska Corn­husker fans (as evi­denced by this Husker post here). Even still, we do watch a lit­tle NFL and almost always watch the Super Bowl. When we have no real alle­giance to any NFL teams, how do we choose who to cheer for? The team with the most Husker play­ers of course! :) This year we’ll be cheer­ing for the Giants as they have a rookie, Prince Amuka­mara, who is not only a Husker, but is from my high school too (just a few years behind me ;) )!!! Fun! Plus, we’ll of course be watch­ing for fun commercials!

For foot­ball homegating/watch par­ties, we tend to enjoy var­i­ous fin­ger foods & dips! So, here’s a round-up of some of our favorite dip recipes that are per­fect for some Super Bowl Watching!

Spinach & Arti­choke Dip

Chili Cheese Dip

Queso Dip

Buf­falo Chicken DipHome­made Salsa

Fresh & Easy Guacamole

Will YOU be watch­ing the Super Bowl? Who are you cheer­ing for?


Linked to: *Sun­dae Scoop, *Tater­tots & Jello, *Tip Junkie

7 Comments

Local Activity Review: PlayGrounds Fun Zone & Cafe {+ Giveaway}!

February 2, 2012 By
PlayGrounds Fun Zone & Cafe

We’re always look­ing for fun & afford­able out­ings to do with the kids! And, recently we had a REALLY fun one! We spent an entire Fri­day morn­ing (like a lit­tle over 3 hours!!!) play­ing at Play­Grounds Fun Zone & Cafe! It was fabulous!

Play­Grounds Fun Zone & Cafe is located in the “Arrow­head area”, near 83rd & Union Hills. It’s just off the Loop 101, which makes it a really con­ve­nient loca­tion for fam­i­lies in the North/West Val­ley! It’s a rel­a­tively new place (they opened in Octo­ber), built with fam­i­lies in mind!

The equip­ment is great fun with a whole vari­ety of activ­i­ties! Slides, tun­nels, balls, nets, etc! And, I LOVE that they made sure that all of the equip­ment will fit adults! I crawled on up there with the boys and was pleas­antly sur­prised! I liked the equip­ment and how much fun the kids were hav­ing, but I espe­cially liked how clean every­thing was!

And, I love that they kept the lit­tlest ones in mind too! There is a spe­cial area just for tod­dlers where every­thing is just the right size! Lit­tle Brother had LOTS of fun in there!

So, the stuff for kids is great…but, here’s where Play­Grounds Fun Zone gets extra special…they kept par­ents in mind too! There are comfy couches & chairs lin­ing the car­peted play area. This was SOOOOOO nice, espe­cially as a preg­nant mama! And, there is a full cafe’ with great options for par­ents & kids alike! (Click here for the menu). We got a lit­tle snack not long after we got there (a cin­na­mon roll & fresh strawberry/banana fruit smoothie–both were excel­lent). But, then we played so long that we decided to just stay for lunch too! I was really impressed with the fresh­ness & taste–especially for the price! Much bet­ter than fast food! The only thing I wished they had were foun­tain drinks where par­ents could get refills on soda, tea, water, etc. But, every­thing we tried was great!So, need­less to say, I def­i­nitely rec­om­mend Play­Grounds Fun Zone & Cafe’ if you’re look­ing for a fun out­ing for the kids, or even a great place to host your kid­dos’ birth­day par­ties! I think it’s a great place for fam­i­lies and I like that it’s a family-owned busi­ness, not some giant cor­po­rate chain place–I love sup­port­ing local small busi­ness! And, unlike many of the other play places in town, I L.O.V.E that the play­time is unlim­ited and they have A LOT of var­i­ous pric­ing options! Nor­mal admis­sion is $8 for the 1st child, $2 off each sib­ling, and par­ents always play free. But, they have monthly mem­ber­ships and punch cards, which is some­thing that would make it a great deal if you plan on going more fre­quently! On a punch card, admis­sion can be as low as $4.50/child!!

Would YOU like to try Play­Grounds for FREE?!.…

GIVEAWAY Has Ended

Play­Grounds Fun Zone is giv­ing ONE lucky Mom Endeav­ors’ reader a free 5 punch card!!! How fun is that?!

WINNER:

Con­grats to lucky com­ment #35!! Melody, you all have a blast using your punch card! :)

To Enter:

1. Sim­ply leave a com­ment telling me what feature(s) sound the best to you about Play­Grounds Fun Zone!

Get extra entries (leave a sep­a­rate com­ment for each):
2. Like Mom Endeav­ors on face­book (and share about the give­away if you’re so inclined)
4. Tweet: Phoenix-area #Moms, enter to win a play punch­card to @playgroundsfunz via @momendeavors http://bit.ly/xQ5kqN
(up to 4 entries per per­son: if you’re already fol­low­ing, thank you, just make sure you leave a com­ment & let me know!!)

Give­away will end on Feb­ru­ary 10th at 10pm PST. Win­ner with a valid entry will be selected at ran­dom using random.org and be noti­fied via email (win­ner will also be posted on this post). They will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new win­ner is selected. Give­away open to U.S. Res­i­dents, 18 years and older.

Dis­clo­sure: I received free admis­sion to Play­Grounds Fun Zone for my boys. No other com­pen­sa­tion was received. All opin­ions & expe­ri­ences are my own!

50 Comments

Pantry Organization {Pantry Challenge Finale}

January 31, 2012 By
Pantry Organization

Almost a month ago, I shared with you about par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Pantry Chal­lenge. Now, we’ve reached the end of Jan­u­ary and thus the “offi­cial” end to the challenge.

With the first trimester just recently com­ing to an end, I was a lit­tle more ambi­tious in my orig­i­nal goals than I was able to com­plete. Thanks to some still lin­ger­ing bouts of evening nau­sea and cer­tain foods just gross­ing me out, there was just no way that we were able to use up every­thing in the upright freezer & defrost. But, we did man­age to use up some ran­dom odds & ends, get rid of items that needed to get purged,  take inven­tory of what we have, and thank­fully get the pantry reorganized!

So, as a reminder, here was the BEFORE:

Yikes! It was bad! There were clear attempts at orga­ni­za­tion that had long-since been aban­doned. Thank­fully though, an addi­tional wire rack for the door (shown in the Sim­ple Orga­niz­ing Solu­tions post), a few clear bins, and a bit of purg­ing led to this:

{AFTER}

SOOoooo much bet­ter! It’s noth­ing fancy…nothing that would grace the pages of some mag­a­zine with beau­ti­ful match­ing bas­kets. But, com­pared to what we had it’s rather beau­ti­ful to me! :) I can find EVERYTHING. And, every­thing has its place. I’m lov­ing the large wire rack we placed on the door. It’s filled with some kid snacks and var­i­ous bak­ing items that I was always “miss­ing” or for­get­ting we had! And, even though they’re noth­ing fancy, the addi­tion of the inex­pen­sive (less than $5 for 3 from Lowe’s) clear bins and labels makes a big difference!

It’s great to have that back in work­ing order! And, I’m glad to see such sim­ple lit­tle orga­ni­za­tion solu­tions are mak­ing such a big dif­fer­ence for us. Thank­fully, I’m feel­ing MUCH bet­ter and am look­ing for­ward to tack­ling more of these lit­tle orga­ni­za­tion projects and hop­ing that we can now get back on track with meal plan­ning! :)

Did you tackle any orga­ni­za­tion projects this month?

 

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