When I purchased my bread machine I thought that all I’d be making was bread. Shortly after getting married I swapped out a Kitchen Aid mixer we received (we already had one) for my Zojirushi and I instantly looked for great recommendations for bread books. That’s when a co-worker of mine mentioned that not only could I make great bread in my machine but I could make basically any type of yeast dough I wanted in it.

I was so overwhelmed with just the making bread part that I filed that info away. Until my husband brought up wanting to make hamburger buns from scratch. Then I really got started…

Now whenever I want some dinner rolls, pizza dough, or even cinnamon rolls, I just grab the bread machine. It truly is an amazing appliance and I’m so glad I got one when I did. On my list of must haves in the kitchen it’s up there with the coffee maker, rice cooker and microplane grater. Seriously… if you love bread and dough you must invest in a bread maker!

Ok… enough about the appliance and onto this dough. I’ve made a few other dough recipes in the past but none turned out as perfect as this one from Williams Sonoma. I was able to thinly roll the dough out on my countertop and then transfer it to my hot pizza stone without any tears. It was so easy to work.

And the end product spoke for itself. Flavorful, light and airy. 

The crust held all of the toppings onto it without drooping. Now that’s my kind of crust! If you have an itch to make your own dough from scratch then I highly suggest trying this recipe out!

Bread Maker Pizza Dough

• 1 cup warm water (105° to 115°F)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbs. active dry yeast

In the bread pan of an electric bread machine, combine (in this order) the warm water, olive oil, salt, flour and yeast. Set the machine for Pizza Dough according to the manufacturer’s instructions and process through the cycle.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Form each half into a ball and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Roll out as directed in the pizza recipe.

Makes two 12-inch rounds.

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What’s summer without bubbles? I don’t know about you but we keep a huge bottle of bubbles around for fun anytime. It’s proven to be quite useful since most of the time the small bottles of bubbles end up upside down on our sidewalk and lawn. Little hands just haven’t figured out how to steady a bottle in their hand and blow bubbles at the same time.

We’ve become addicted to one bubble maker in particular from a popular clothing store however it can be a bit pricey. So we’ve come up with an inexpensive solution to get the same results… multiple tiny bubbles at one time! 

Not only is this bubble maker super easy to make, it uses items that were in my cupboard already. Double bonus for not having to buy anything. So grab some straws, a few pieces of tape, and your bubbles and start having fun.

What you’ll need:

• a handful of straws
• tape
• a shallow dish or container for bubbles
• bubble solution

What you do: 

1. Grab the straws in your fist and make sure they’re evenly level on both ends.

2. Place tape on one end to secure straws together.

3. Tape the opposite end for further support. Try not to use your husband’s expensive panting tape because your clear tape wasn’t showing up well in pictures.

4. Pour bubble solution into shallow dish and lightly dip bubble maker in.

5. Start blowing bubbles! Try not to put your mouth over the end of the bubble maker, instead brush your lips slightly on the end of the bubble maker and blow.

Bad photo but below is the only one I got of the bubble maker in action since my son refused to play along (you know… just cause I had a camera in my hand). The bubble maker not only makes lots of tiny bubbles but can also make super big bubbles as well if you get lucky!

 
Every week Danielle brings great kids crafts to Formula Mom!
Danielle is a work-at-home-mom of two beautiful kids and writes at the Simmworks Family Blog. She loves to blog about her family, healthy living, going green and crafting. Danielle would love for you to come visit! You can reach her on facebook and twitter as well. If you have any questions feel free to email her at  simmworksfamily@gmail.com. 

My beautiful baby girl no longer gives open mouth kisses. She puckers up.

And forget holding my hand when she steps down from our front porch… she can do it all by herself with no help. 

I knew that watching the kids grow would be hard, especially with no plans of a third child in the works. I’ve been trying to let each moment, each milestone soak in as much as possible. Being home with the kids during the week has helped give me the opportunity to watch how much they grown and change each day.

I watch how much these little ones change and am in awe of how quickly they adjust to these new skills and techniques. I definitely don’t react as fast!

I feel as if I need time to process it all. Make my mind realize how quickly things are changing and try and be “in the moment” as much as possible while I watch them grow and become these amazing little people.

In just a few months my oldest will be going to preschool and while it’s just a few days a week (and right around the corner from our home) I don’t know what I’m going to do without my little buddy during the day. I’m sure we will stay plenty busy, but after being with him day in and day out for this past year I know it’ll feel a bit weird to not have him with us on our daily adventures.

Just this morning my daughter and I dropped him off with his great aunt and m ydaughter was beside herself with sadness because she couldn’t go too. I just know the reaction will be similar as she watches her brother go off to school.

Donuts might have worked as a great distraction this morning but they can’t be a daily thing.

And what will I do when both are in school? I’m sure I’ll be able to find volunteer work, continue working at home part time, and keeping myself busy with activities, etc but the thought of them growing so quickly and heading off to school so soon is such  a weird thing to think about.

Maybe we should think of having another… Nah! That’s be crazy.

One of my kids’ favorite toys to chose for imaginary play are their puppets. We have a few stuffed animal puppets and a few wooden puppets that they play with on a regular basis. My son makes his sister take whichever puppet he isn’t interested in and has her play whatever part he doesn’t want. And she plays her part with no complaining because she loves to play with her brother.

So when I asked my son if he wanted to make his own puppet and he turned me down, my daughter quickly jumped in and started to make her own. She helped cut out the stripes, glued down all of the parts, and even added a few stripes of her own with her favorite black marker.

Paper Bag Animal Puppet

What You’ll Need: 

• paper bag
• construction paper
• glue
• scissors
• plastic eyes
• black washable marker
• pipe cleaners (optional)

What you do: 

1. Cut out the shapes for your animal. We made a tiger/cat so we cut out stripes and three triangles for the ears and nose. 

2. Glue on stripes

3. Place dots for eyes and place eyes on top portion of paper bag.

4. Add ears, nose, and whiskers. Use pipe cleaners for whiskers if you prefer a more three dimensional puppet.

5. Let your child put their finishing touches on the puppet (in our case, more stripes) and start playing!

There are many different types of puppets you can make and many other tools you can use to enhance your puppets. We love to use yarn for hair (or manes), glitter for sparkle, and buttons for eyes and noses when we don’t have googly eyes.

Characters in books are the favorites for puppet ideas. We’ve done full productions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in the front yard as well as our own version of a few Mother Goose tales. The ideas are endless! Just grab your favorite book or create your favorite animal and get crafting.

 
Every week Danielle brings great kids crafts to Formula Mom!
Danielle is a work-at-home-mom of two beautiful kids and writes at the Simmworks Family Blog. She loves to blog about her family, healthy living, going green and crafting. Danielle would love for you to come visit! You can reach her on facebook and twitter as well. If you have any questions feel free to email her at  simmworksfamily@gmail.com. 

There’s been a change in the weather over the past few days and our beautiful sun has receded back behind the clouds. The wind has started to pick up and leaves have been swirling around our front yard. It’s the perfect weather for kite flying!

Only problem was we didn’t have a kite.

So after a few different attempts using a few different patterns we made our own kite out of recycled products we had lying around the house. And boy was it fun! While I did most of the construction, my son and daughter did help tape up the kite measured the string. Even without the sun we got to enjoy the outdoors and my kids had a blast running around with their kite.

DIY Recycled Kite

What You’ll Need: 

• Plastic bag (trash bag, store bag, etc)
• Thin wooden dowel, cut in 1/2 or other similar item (I used 2 wire hangers)
• Tape, masking or electrical
• String or yarn
• Scissors
• Craft stick

What you do:

1. Create a lowercase T with the dowels and use tape to secure the two sticks together.

2. Cut bag open along one side and the bottom. Do not cut the other side. Stretch bag open to measure to fit the dowels in a diamond shape.

3. Attach string to the craft stick and wrap a few yards around it.

4. Cut out bag and adhere to the dowels by taping each corner.

5. Make two tabs on the right and left side of the kite with tape.

6.  Measure out some string or yarn to about 1″ over each side of the kite. Tie string to the tabs you just created and double knot. The string should be tight enough to slightly bend the kite inward.

7. Now this is where it gets a bit tricky. Turn the kite over to the print side (front of kite).

About 3 inches from the top and bottom of the kite make two small holes on either side of the dowel. Use string to secure the dowel to the front of the kite. Run the string down to the bottom of the kite and tie the other side. 

8. Tie a piece of string to the dowel below the knot you just created on the backside of the kite. This should create an X on the back of the kite and will be where you attach your lead. Attach the lead to the middle of the X and secure with a slip knot.
 

9. Cut a few long strips of plastic from the remaining parts of the plastic bag and adhere to the bottom of the kite.

10. Now it’s time to go out and fly!

Help your child out by releasing a bit of string, holding the kite up above your head, and telling them to run in the opposite direction. When you start to feel a pull on the kite let it go and watch it take off!

Every week Danielle brings great kids crafts to Formula Mom! Danielle is a work-at-home-mom of two beautiful kids and writes over at the Simmworks Family Blog. She loves to blog about her family, healthy living, going green and crafting. Danielle would love for you to come visit! You can reach her on facebook and twitter as well. If you have any questions feel free to email her at  simmworksfamily@gmail.com.