A little bit better for you cookie

I love craisins. My daughter does too. I came up with these cookies to accommodate our love for craisins and I'd like to think they're a little bit better for you than the average cookie because they have oatmeal and fruit in them.

Vanishing Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup craisins

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat together butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. (I took a cooking class in college and I learned that the secret to a nice soft chewy cookie is to mix the butter and sugar together for a long time. This allows the sugar to dissolve and makes a softer cookie. I usually mix them together for several minutes in my Kitchen-aid.)
   
3. Add remaining ingredients and stir until just barely mixed. (Do not over mix.)
   
4. Drop by round tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until slightly golden.
6. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen.

These are so yummy. I have absolutely no self control with these cookies (but it's OK because they're better for you :) The cinnamon adds the perfect flavor.

I usually bake up half a batch and then roll the rest of the dough into balls and freeze them for later. The frozen balls usually take about twenty minutes to thaw before baking.

Perfect for a cool crisp autumn day. Enjoy!

Frame up-cycle

I have been seeing these cute dry-erase boards all over the internet so I thought I'd give it a try.  I went to the thrift store and picked up this frame for a whopping 49 cents.

I then picked out a pretty yellow color {to match my kitchen} and spray painted it.  It took a lot of layers to cover up that black!  Next I found some scrapbook paper in my out of control collection and printed  "Menu" and all the days of the week.

 

After putting the paper in the frame I have a cute new menu board for my kitchen! Super easy project with cute results.

You could use this same idea but without printing on the paper and use it as a dry erase board in a child's room or anywhere else in the house!

We're on Facebook!

We wanted to let you all know we recently started a Facebook page for Serving Pink Lemonade.  Go check it out!  We'll be adding our regular posts there . . . but we'll also be sharing ideas from other sources and letting you know about events that you might want to check out with your children! 

Learning Numbers

It's back to school time.  Time to get back on a schedule and have some structured learning time with the kids.

This is a simple little game that I've played with my daughter to help her learn her numbers.

We draw a "parking lot" on a piece of paper and put a number in each spot.  I'll then say a little rhyme like this:
Red car, red car, park on number nine.
My daughter will then drive the car into the correct spot.

  The great thing about this game is that it can grow with your child.  You can add bigger numbers to the parking lot as your child progresses.  We've had a lot of fun learning and playing together with this simple game.

Maget Board Part III

Here's the last magnet board activity that I'll do for a while.


When my daughter was younger she had three little boats that she played with in the tub.  I made up this little song that I would sing as she played with the boats.  I just kind of randomly made it up--so no laughing :) . . .


Three Little Boats
(to the tune of Five Little Ducks)



Three little boats went sail-ing one day,
Over the waves and far away,
When the light house said come back, come back,
Only two little boats came sailing back . . .

(continue with two boats, one, and then none)


Hope you've enjoyed these.
For those of you who like the flannel board stories, I just found this great website called Make Learning Fun.  They have a whole list of flannel board stories that you can print out.  Looks like fun.  You can find them HERE.

Magnet Board Part II

This is a song that I loved as a little girl.  My kids love singing along and putting up each animal as we come to it.  I really wanted all my animals to match but after searching and searching I couldn't find anything . . . so I did my best.


Grandpa's Farm

I climbed up the apple tree 
To see just what there was to see,
I looked down on grandpa's farm 
All laid out with patchwork charm.

There's a baa-baa sheep,
and a bow-wow dog,
an oink-oink pig,
and a croaky frog,

There's a moo-moo cow 
and a meowy cat,
a cackily hen
and other things like that.