Super Easy Party Favor

I've had a Superman silicone mold for a while and have wanted to use it but never knew what to use it for. When I was planning Kara's party I knew I wanted to make Supergirl candy for favors! I bought some pink candy melts and started searching for a tutorial. I couldn't imagine that melting chocolate could be hard, but I wasn't sure about using the mold and what I had to do. Turns out it's SUPER easy. I never did find a tutorial, but my sister in law, Kelli, gave me some easy instructions.

There are so many awesome silicone molds out there that the possibilities seem endless. And seeing as how easy this was, I think I might have candy melt favors for every party I throw!

Gather your candy melts and silicone mold. 

Microwave the melts according to the package directions and fill the mold. I used about 2/3 of the package for one tray of candies. I think the candies would have been better if they weren't filled to the top. It was a lot even for me! But back to how I did it. I filled each space halfway with candy. Then I tapped the mold on the counter to get the air bubbles out. Then I filled the molds the rest of the way and tapped the tray again.

**There was one place on my mold (bottom curve of the S) where the candy didn't seem to get inside. After I filled the mold halfway, I would squeeze each candy to make that space bigger so that candy would fill it. It seemed to work okay.

If you have left over candy in your bowl and are going to do more candies, you can just let the melted candy harden again. When you go to make your next batch it softens right up and is good as new! Or you could just eat it straight from the bowl. You know...if you're anything like me.

Place the mold in the freezer for an hour or two. Remove the candy from the mold and you're done!

Seriously...that's all there is to it. 

Lots of Love

Valentine's Day! We'll call this Throwback Saturday or something?!

I wonder if I'll ever tire of this pose. I don't think so. It's too cute.

We had a great Valentine's Day. I love Valentine's Day so much more now that we have kids. It's just fun to celebrate anything with them - especially a day that celebrates how much I love them. Kent, Kara and I went to a special Valentine's Day storytime at Barnes and Noble to start our day. Then we stopped by Clark's classroom for a little party. Clark is such a great big brother. He let Kent help him decorate his valentine bag. We came home and exchanged our little gifts. Each person got some candy and then a little toy. Jason got a box of Kit Kats and a rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock game. Clark got Star Wars candy and a drawing book with pencils. Kent got TMNT candy and an El Toro Loco truck. Kara got puffs and a board book. And I got Reese's PB Cups, Charlie Brown Valentine's Movie and flowers. I guess I lucked out and got the most. Jason is always trying to one up me. Grandma and Grandpa came over and brought the kids Valentine's and then we went to Gigi and Boompa's for heart shaped pizzas and some more Valentine fun.

It was busy, but we had fun! I sure do love these kids and their dad.

Winter OIympics 2014

We celebrated a LOT during February. We had Chinese New Year, the Superbowl and the Winter Olympics all in the first week or so! The kids were loving all of the fun stuff we did. I was just loving the food. Just keeping it real.

I decided that I wanted to have a little party to celebrate the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We made a paper chain out of the Olympic ring colors. I still have a bunch of strips leftover from our snake project from last Chinese New Year, so any time we can use our strips, we do. Here's what we did for Thanksgiving with more strips. And the leaves from Clark's family tree used these strips too!

For dinner we had Russian Blini. Oh. My. Goodness. Can I just say that I was instantly back in Russia when I took the first bite. The phrase for "blini with sweetened condensed milk" is one of the key phrases that I remember in Russian. That's how much I used to order them!! 

We used this recipe and they turned out so yummy. We had many different toppings to use: sweetened condensed milk (my favorite), strawberries, bananas, cream cheese fruit dip, chocolate spread, chocolate almond spread, chocolate hazelnut spread, powdered sugar, and maybe a few more things. I can't remember. It was fun to just try different combinations and see what we liked the best. I stand by my favorite of blini with sweetened condensed milk lightly dusted with powdered sugar on top. Oh, who are we kidding, you just load that thing up with powdered sugar! I won't be waiting until the next Russian Olympic games to make them though!

During the opening ceremonies, we played a little bingo game that I found online. It didn't last long. We really just liked talking about the different countries and guessing how many athletes each one would have. We had the globe out so we could find the different countries and we had google out so we could answer any of those tough questions Clark asked!

Clark really enjoyed the Olympics this year. Everyday he would follow the US on the app and see how many medals we won. He loved watching the videos of all of the new (to him) sports. He thought curling was hilarious. It was so fun to see how much he enjoyed the games. Made me love them more too!

The Year of the Horse & Improv Games

Way back at the beginning of February we rang in the Chinese New Year. We had our usual Chinese fare: sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, pot stickers, Chinese chicken salad and mu shu pork. We had a few other things too, but I can't remember what they were! Jason and I have finally figured out how to work our sweet and sour chicken frying extravaganza. It's quite the ordeal, usually three hours of frying chicken into little bite size pieces. Yum. Details are for another post.

Oh...seaweed! We've had seaweed before and every year someone new seems to want to try it out. The kids in Taiwan used to prefer seaweed strips to candy bars. This year was obviously Cana's turn! She was brave and tried it out and then quickly spit it out! I would have done the same thing!

We kept a few things the same this year for decorations - same tablecloths, same table decor, same lanterns and Taiwanese souvenirs and red envelopes of course. Clark helped me put together a Chinese zodiac banner. I want to make it look a little better for next year, but it looked festive enough. The chocolate bars were the prizes for our improv games. More on that if you keep reading...

We decided that we wanted to play a game this year with everyone instead of just sitting around and talking. Jason and I put together some improv games a la Hollywood Game Night and Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Here are some of the ideas that we used just in case you want to host a game night of your own! It's really fun to prepare because so many of the ideas could be from inside jokes or common experiences. And these can be tailored to any age group or interests!

1. Party Quirks - for an idea of how to play the game click here

Scoring - We timed each team and the team who guessed the quirks in the shortest amount of time won the points.

The quirks we used...
-all four teenage mutant ninja turtles hungry for pizza
-wwe wrestler (hulk hogan)
-peyton manning's #1 fan (it was superbowl weekend too)
-someone who keeps stepping in dog poop
-kid in a candy store
-fruit fly in search of a banana
-ninja trying not to be seen

2. In Other Words - for a video of how this game is played click here

Scoring and Game Play: We played two rounds of this game. That meant each person got a chance to say the clue twice. Their team had 60 seconds-ish to guess the answer. If they guessed it, they got a point. If not, no point.

Some of the quotes we used...
-fish are friends, not food
-i see dead people
-may the force be with you
-i'm the king of the world
-e.t. phone home
-there is no crying in baseball
-go ahead, make my day

3 & 4. How Do You Do? and Show Me the Music
These are different games, but we just created one big pile of song titles and sorted them to what we thought would work best. For an example of How Do You Do? click here and for Show Me the Music click here. We modified Show Me the Music into just charades with music titles since we didn't have noise cancelling headphones and such. We used quite a few Disney songs since we thought that some younger kids would be playing.

Scoring and Game Play - we gave each team 2 minutes to guess. They were awarded one point for each correct answer.

Some of the song titles we used:
-waiting for a girl like you
-edge of glory
-mr. roboto
-rocket man
-dancing queen
-america
-it's a small world
-mickey mouse march
-bibbidi bobbidi boo

5. Timeline - for a video on how to play click here
We thought it would be fun to do one round with our favorite Asian actor and another round with Horse movies for the Year of the Horse.

Scoring and Game Play - Each team was given two minutes. They received one point for each correctly placed movie poster.

Jackie Chan movies we used:
First Strike, Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, The Medallion, Kung Fu Panda, The Spy Next Door and The Karate Kid

Horse movies we used:
Wild Hearts Can't be Broken, Black Beauty, Horse Whisperer, Spirit, Seabiscuit, Flicka, Secretariat

6. Celebrity Name Game - for the version we played, click here
We decided to keep our list of celebrities to tv, movie or sports figures. You could do this with anything though to tailor it to your group's likes.

Scoring and Game Play - Teams had 2 minutes to guess as many celebrities as they could. They received one point for each correct answer.

Some celebrities we used:
-Harrison Ford
-John Travolta
-Natalie Portman
-Adam Sandler
-Lucy Liu
-Jennifer Aniston

I wish I had some pictures of the event. Maybe next year. I really need to be better about photographing a Chinese New Year celebration. It's one of my favorite parties. There's always next year!

We really loved the Game Night except that Jason and I wanted to play instead of just hosting. So next time we may have each family be in charge of bringing an improv game that they would host and then we'll get to play too!

Wilde Family Gingerbread Construction Company

Our first year doing Gingerbread houses! Let me tell you this won't be the last. Except next year I am going to be buying one for me too. I bought the premade houses at Costco this year so we could just get right to the decorating. I'm not sure if I'll ever brave the gingerbread and icing myself. This was so easy!

And we quickly learned how yummy it is to just eat the icing. Kent kept asking me if it was okay to put candy, frosting, fondant, etc. in his mouth. He couldn't wrap his head around the awesome idea that everything could be eaten! Definitely his kind of craft!

Our finished houses. Clark left a side of his house plain, so I quickly asked him if I could decorate that side. It was so fun to play with candy and frosting. I want to do my own next time!

For some other gingerbread house fun check out these fun sites:
The Gingerbread Construction Company
The World's Largest Gingerbread House

Liquid Rice

Another milestone reached! Kara now eats (un)solids!

Clark was actually the one to feed her the first bite of rice cereal. She loved it and he loved being right there with her. He thought it was hilarious when she tried to grab the spoon. He would also get really excited when she really seemed to swallow the food. So cute! She kept chewing on her bib but she really seemed to like her cereal. She kept it all down pretty good too. She's getting so big so fast!

Trying to be Thankful

Like so many people, we're trying to show a little more gratitude this season and here was our first project. Turkeys! We each picked a color for our feathers and wrote something we were thankful for about some of our family members that live nearby.

It was fun to hear what the kids had to say about some of their grandparents and aunts and uncles. We also made some banana bread muffins and delivered them for our family home evening. The next morning when Kent woke up he said, "Can we do turkeys and bags again today?" So cute.

I'm so very thankful for my family!

The Secret Word is...

...should I tell you? I don't know if I can.

We found out from an unnamed source that if you went to Johnny Rockets on a certain day and told your server a secret word which we cannot divulge that we would get a free chocolate, vanilla or strawberry shake.

They sure were YUMMY!

Minecraft Madness

Clark loves the game Minecraft so naturally he wanted a Minecraft party. I wasn't really going to put much work into his family party since we were going to throw him a friend party this year...still thinking on that one! Anyway, I started looking at Minecraft ideas on Pinterest and things sort of snowballed. I still didn't do too much, but we tried to make it as Minecraft-y as possible given our time restraints of 2 days.

The Minecraft Cake. Jason modeled this one after the one that is in the game. We looked at the picture a little closer AFTER he had already frosted the body of the cake. Next time we would leave the bottom the color of the cake. Clark didn't care though - he loved it!

One of his awesome gifts - he loved his Clark bar! I think it might be his new favorite candy bar.

A new camera for our budding photographer! Now you'll be seeing pictures from both my perspective and Clark's perspective. How cool is that?

And of course an awesome creeper doll!

He got lots of other cool things like books, shirts, a cool Razor tricycle thing, TMNT Legos and more - thank you everyone!

The food was really the only place we did the Minecraft thing. We tried to match everything to a food or item from the game. Then I made food labels using pictures from the game and the Minecrafter font. We made TNT for favors by covering a set of 3 Rolos in red construction paper and wrapping it with a ribbon and label.

I was really excited about our Potion Brewing Station. Potions are a big part of the game and Clark loves mixing his own flavors of drinks when we go out to eat. I bought a bunch of Jelly Belly sno-cone flavors and little beakers and pitchers for them to use. Then we had a chart telling them what the potions were and what they looked like. The concept was great. One big problem - the potions tasted horrible. Bust. I think the kids actually needed to add more syrup to their drinks. Or maybe we should have started with a 7-Up base instead of just water. Another thought I had was to use those Kool-Aid juice things. Oh well.

Regardless, I had fun celebrating with my big 6 year old!

Our Northwoods ABCs - Part 4

Our Northwoods ABCs - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Our last installment of our Northwoods ABCs is here!

S is for Sun, Sand and Swimming

Notice I didn't say anything about warmth and that wasn't just because it didn't start with an S! I guess I could have used the sixties or seventies (low) since that is what the weather was most of the time. Certainly not my favorite weather for hanging out at the beach, but it didn't stop the kids! They still had fun playing in the sand, jumping in the water, and picnicking!

I know I look ridiculous with my hoodie and towels, but it was cold and very windy! I was so relieved at the end of the day when I got in the car and the air was still. You have to take what the Northwoods gives you. If you wait for the perfect weather, you'll miss out on opportunities.

T is for Target Practice

We had two bb guns and three pellet guns up at the cabin for a little target practice. We had a blast shooting soda cans and bottles off of the deck railing. Isaiah was the best...of course! Haha! I have only shot one time before at a ranch in Wyoming. I shot a cow pie. Let me tell you, shooting water bottles and soda cans is a LOT more fun! I had a blast and wasn't too bad at it. I was good enough to make Jason stop shooting while I was around since he wouldn't be as good. He likes to shoot big bodies of water not cans and bottles. I think some day I'd like to go to Buffalo Rock with them to shoot. We'll see.

I brought up some butcher paper and we made our own targets to shoot at too. Mine is the flower below.

U is for the Upper Peninsula

My mom and I drove up north one day to pick up this pumpkin guy for Kelli. She owes us big since the UP isn't necessarily our favorite place! First we ended up in a bunch of traffic for Loon Days in Mercer. The good part was that we got to see this loon. The bad part was that it took about 30 seconds longer than normal to go through town. We had a little trouble finding the workshop since it was  really just a big barn without any signage. Then there was the issue of finding an ATM. Aye! We're happy to say that the trip is over and Jack is safe and sound at home.

V is for Vienna Beef

One of our favorite stops for lunch is Hoggie Doggies. I think we ate there 3 times!

W is for Waverunners

We rented waverunners for a day from Wave Rentals. The waverunners were a lot of fun. Jason and I were property searching again! Clark and Kent both HATED the waverunners. I don't get it. They are nothing but fun!

X is for Xtra Strength Mosquito Protection

Dave is crazy about mosquitoes biting him. He bought this nice hat while at the tubing place in Eagle River. We could all just hear him mocking the mosquitoes, "haha, can't get me now!"

Y is for Young Waterskiers - aka the Min-Aqua Bats

The Min-Aqua Bats are one of the oldest amateur waterski show teams in the country. In a word - they were awesome! It was just a bunch of kids having fun and waterskiing. I swear some of them couldn't have been older than 13 or so!  The show is free but they do pass the bucket for donations. They had this amazing boat with two 250hp motors on the back. They would tilt the props up and then the boat would literally stand straight up in the water. Jason was pretty impressed with that. Then he was even more excited when he heard that they sell the boats at the end of each season. Haha...not going to fall for that again!

Some of our favorite tricks are pictured below: dog on skis, pyramids, human waterskis, and jumps!

Z is for the Zoo

We made a stop at the Wildwood Wildlife Park this year. I'm not sure why we've never been before. It was a really neat zoo. There were so many animal encounters to be had there. You could hold bunnies, hear wolves howl, feed deer, walk with tortoises and even feed giraffes.

One of Jason's favorite parts was to feed the bear. You buy bottles of "bear juice" which is really just soda and feed it to them through the fence. The fence is covered in bees which stopped me in my tracks, but the boys didn't mind at all. Then there was a cool goat feeder attached to this tall house. You put your cracker in the cup and then send the cup up with a pulley system. The goat takes it out and then demands more. We also went in and fed the parakeets. Clark and I are not crazy about this experience, but Kent doesn't mind. Even Kara seemed to be happy getting in on the action.

There were lots of other things at the zoo too. Alvinia and Kara had to take pictures with their fashion inspiration. They were both wearing zebra print. Clark loved feeding the goats. Kent loved sharing all of his problems with the goats. They were also able to pet anything in the children's zoo. They had a red fox, a skunk, chinchillas, a giant rabbit, the fattest pig I've ever seen and lots more!

Until next time...

The End.

Our Northwoods ABCs - Part 2

Our Northwoods ABCs - Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4

You've been on the edge of your seat wondering what F is going to be for, right? Wait no more...

F is for Fishing

The kids loved going down to the water to fish. They caught panfish mostly...and they mostly used a net...cheaters!

Kara's not really fishing, but it was on the same day...does that count? She was there. :)

G is for Go-Karts

We love riding the go-karts out in Wisconsin. Our favorite place is Holiday Acres. When we were younger we used to check out all the go-kart tracks in the area. We always came back to this one. It just so happens that it is the closest one too!

Pictures were rough on the go-karts this year. Not sure why...maybe it was getting too dark. Here's the best of the bad.

H is for Horses and Ponies

Horseback riding used to be an annual tradition too. I'm not sure why we stopped, but when the kids came along we started doing pony rides with them. This year we did pony rides for Clark and Kent and Alvinia and I took a horseback ride - so fun! This was also at Holiday Acres.

I is for Ice Cream (what else would it be for?)

Another must stop place is Charlie's Fine Cheese. We love to get our Windmere Brick cheese and also a little ice cream. This particular stop was notable since Isaiah ordered the 4 scoops in a cup. The lady at the shop challenged him to eat the whole thing. Not like he would back down or anything. If the lady's dare didn't motivate him, my mom would have! They had an awesome Snickers Fudge ice cream on this day too. The next day when we went again...it was all gone. What a shame! I'm glad they had Kent's favorite flavor, Blue Moon. What on earth does a blue moon taste like?

Jason's note: Blue Moon ice cream tastes like Froot Loops.

J is for John Dillinger

We went to Little Bohemia. Jason heard about it from one of his accounts at work. It was the location of John Dillinger and his gang's shootout with the FBI. We weren't able to go up to the lodge room, but we could see the holes in the wall and windows of the dining room. Kent is sticking his finger in one in the picture. Next time we'll go early for the tour and then skip eating there.

K is for Kruzing on Bikes (sorry...that's the biggest stretch though!)

The guys and the kids went on a few bike rides over the ten days we were there. The ladies and Kara usually went shopping while they did their touring. Next year Kara and I will be able to join them though. We kind of feel like we missed out. It's one of the few times a year that I actually get on my bike! Clark was really good at keeping up with the group, but his little legs had to move a million miles a minute. Next year he definitely needs a new bike.

L is for the Lumberjack Show

What a fun time this was! The Scheer's Lumberjack Show in Woodruff, WI is hilarious and awesome. My mom and dad said that I went to a show when I was younger, but I don't remember it. They should have taken pictures. Then I would have remembered it! The lumberjacks were really talented and the skits were so funny. The show got rained out, so I hope we can do it again next time. I'd love to see it when there isn't a torrential downpour! The guy in the red plaid was a beast. He was the first place chopper in the Lumberjack Nationals or equivalent. He chopped through that log in about 10 seconds. The two guys in green with the double buck saw were able to saw through their log faster than another guy with a chainsaw. How crazy is that?

More of Our Northwoods ABCs to come...