Games

My favorite board game growing up was Rummikub. My Aunt Becky taught my cousins, sisters and I how to play. I was hooked big time. I've annoyed other players at times because I'd take the whole game board apart just to try and get my pieces down.

Isaak's been into this game lately. He does however get into a game one week, and is done with it the next week.

If you've never played the game before here's how to play:

1. Mix the tiles up
2. Select 14 tiles
3. You can put out runs (one color in number order) or sets (different colors of the same number) that are 3 tiles, or more - You have to have 21 points to lay out the first round 
4. There are 2 happy faces in the game - They can be anything - They equal 21 points, so if you have one to start you can lay down your tiles on your first turn
5. After you've laid out you can play on anything - You can separate things - You can take tiles to lay down some of your tiles - You just need to make sure that there is always groups of 3, or more out of runs and sets - no stray tiles laying around
6. If you can't play you draw
7. You keep playing in a circle until one person is out of tiles (they win)

It's like Rummy, but there's way more to do.

*In our house if one person wins, and more people are playing we have runner up winners.

*There are times I help Isaak. He can be a sore cranky loser. I'll stop and ask a tile he has to figure out what can be done with it.

*If you are playing this game 1/2 a day to kill time on like a snow day you can play until one person wins, tally up the points of the others. Everything is face value, except the happy faces they are 21 points. Continue to play more rounds with each game tallying up the points of the losers. Say after 5 games see who has the least amount of points. Claim that person as the winner. Agree on how many games you are going to play prior to playing though. Otherwise you may argue about how many games are to be played, and who is actually the winner.

Isaak must like board games as well. He made this one called Run Away:

He even had a case. It was the foam that my essential oil diffuser was in.

 Do you like playing games? What game is your favorite?

Disclaimer: I didn't receive anything for posting this. I just like the game Rummikub.

Homemade Clif Bars

My husband's work is busy during the lunch hour. He either has to have lunch super early (10:30), or on the later side (1:30). I got some Clif Bars for him the first week of his job. After that I was on a search for a recipe to make my own. 
They are super easy to make! I know they don't cost over a $1 for 1 bar. 

I warmed up the peanut butter and the honey a bit to make it easier to stir. I did add Pumpkin Seeds, Chia Seeds and Mini Chocolate Chips to ours. You just stir everything together. The extras really are just extras. You don't have to add them, or you can. There is no baking required. If you are adding chocolate chips put them in last to give the honey and nut butter a chance to cool, so they don't melt. Put freezer paper down in a 9x9 pan, or make a double batch if you are using a 9x12 pan. Put the mixture in. I kept wetting my finger tips to help pat it down in the pan. The mixture is sticky like rice crispy treat would be. Set the pan in the refrigerator until they have cooled a bit. Cut them into bars, and eat. They ended up being really good. The great thing is that you can make them different each and every time. 

Mica, Travis and I all really liked them. Isaak's not a fan of any dried fruit, and wouldn't give them much of a chance. 

Classic Groove Ice Pop Molds from kitchenne Review

In the summer time it's nice to have cold treats around the house. I got Classic Groove Ice Pop Molds from kitchenne to review. 

This set comes with 6 reusable Ice Pop Molds. They have drip-guard handles, but I always make my boys have a small bowl when they are eating their popsicles.  

The colors of the handles are:

• 2 bright yellow
• 2 bright pink
• 2 bright green

I did think it was odd that the box they came in showed the color red on all the Ice Pop Molds.

Plus yellow base tray to keep molds upright for easy storage in the freezer.

I first washed all the molds before use.

I let the boys pick out the fruit that they wanted in their popsicles. Mica wanted plum and Isaak wanted cherry. 

Ingredients:

• 1 container of frozen apple cherry juice concentrate (melted)
• 1 cup of ice 
• 1 teaspoon of Spirulina
• 1 scoop of protein powder (any variety)
• 1 plum (I left the skin on)
• 10 pitted cherries

 

Add all the ingredients in the blender, blend, and pour into the molds. Leave a little space at the top because the sticks take up room, and when they freeze they expand a bit. There will be extra, so you can by 2 sets of molds, add water, and drink it, or add more ice to make into smoothies. I made them in the morning, and we ate them 3 hours later. 

These are the boy's favorite popsicles that we've made. There's only 1 problem, Isaak's been sensitive to cold ever since he had his bottom tooth pulled. They still loved the flavor!

The molds are made from durable BPA Free, dishwasher safe, eco-friendly polypropylene plastic.

Perfect For summer, kids parties, pool parties, barbecues, whenever you want to make your own home made ice pops.

Cost: $35.99, but on sale for $10.97. 

What do you do to beat the summer heat? 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Homemade Cough Syrup

My boys sound like old men that have been smoking for years.

Cough, Cough, Cough

The problem with kids is that a lot of the cough syrups out there kids can't take.

I decided to make my own cough syrup. I found a site that has homemade cough syrup recipes.

Some things to get at the store:

Local honey, 1 citrus fruit (we choose lemon and lime), fresh mint, fresh rosemary, fresh or ground ginger, whole or ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and/or ground cardamom.

*Bee careful where you buy local honey. I ran into a bee keeper that said many places that sell local honey, isn't local at all. If you are unsure about what is local, and what is not go to a Farmer's Market in your area, and ask someone there where to buy local honey? Some bee keepers sell their honey in a local store. They will let you know where it's sold at. Why local? Local honey helps fight off infection. For allergy suffers local honey helps build up a resistance to pollen.

Here are links to information about nutrition and healing benefits of:

fresh or dried/ground ginger, cloves & cardamom, cinnamon, peppermint, rosemary, citrus

Isaak wanted Lemon Cough Syrup, and Mica wanted Lime Cough Syrup.

We cut up a small lemon and lime in slices. Remove their seeds. Add in sprigs of fresh mint and rosemary. Then add in the spices you prefer. I put in cloves in the boy's cough syrups. Push and mix with the back of a spoon.

Let it set for at least 3 hours. Refrigerate.

The boys didn't like their cough syrups straight. I heated water in a mug (1/2 full), and added 1 spoon full. They loved it that way.

It did seem like they coughed way less after having their homemade cough syrup.

The best things about this stuff is that it tastes good in tea, or water. You can drink it even when you are not sick. It's great for allergy suffers!

Isaak's Homemade Bow and Arrow

Grandpa handed off a few random Tinker Toys to Isaak last week.

Last night Isaak comes running out to the living room. He had a child's hanger and Tinker Toys. He made his own bow and arrow.

He was so focused and wanted to shoot out his, "bow".

The Joy of Melt and Pour Soap Crafting - Review

I had the pleasure to review a PDF of The Joy of Melt and Pour Soap Crafting by: Lisa Maliga.

The Joy of Melt and Pour Soap Crafting is available on Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook for $4.99.

Ever since I had a hive outbreak from Methosulfate {an ingredient that was in a lotion I was using}, I've been looking into making my own bath products. 

This PDF answered a lot of questions I had. I still need to refer to it before purchasing stuff to make soap.

My favorite chapters are:

• Soap Secrets
• Recipes
• Don't Make These Mistakes!
• Resources

There are tons of recipes to choose from! I decided to try and make Bars of Coffee 'n Cream Soap.

It's really pretty easy. Mica helped me chop up the soap base. He loved the whole process of making soap.

I put it in a double boiler. Then added ground coffee and powdered goats milk. I decided to stay simple this first time and skip the optional coffee fragrance. I kind of wish I would have added it. There's always another time.

Silicone molds work really easily for putting the soap in and when it's time to pop them out. I used a heart shaped one. Here's how they turned out:

This particular soap is for the kitchen. It's an exfoliating soap that is meant to take away strong kitchen odors.

I want to try a few more soap recipes. I think: Oatmeal + Honey + Goat's Milk Soap sounds wonderful. I know my older sister would love the Jade Buddha Soap!

I think when Christmas time comes up next year, my family and teachers are getting homemade soap on their packages.

To follow Lisa Maliga, the writer of The Joy of Melt and Pour Soap Crafting, you can go to:

• Lisa's Library of Writing
• Everything She Creates

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Lisa Maliga provided me with a PDF to review. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

Learn How to Make Homemade Pudding Pops!

I posted on one of my other blogs about making Homemade Pudding Pops! Check it out here if you have the time!