Fun, Easy Watermelon Art Project For Kids! - Step-By-Step [DIY, KIDS ART]

This is a fun, easy art project to do with your kids. It promotes motor skills— cutting with scissors and gluing— and design skills— putting the pieces together.

Just grab some construction paper and draw out the shapes for your little ones. If they're a little older, just show them a picture of what the end product looks like and they can draw out their own pieces. xo

Materials:

• Construction Paper - red, green, black
• Kid Scissors
• Pencil - for drawing out the shapes
• Glue

Carrot-Shaped Party Favors Using Goldfish Crackers! [HOW TO/DIY]

If you're looking for a fun party favor, this is a fun one, though admittedly time-consuming.



Oops, I forgot to take a photo of the carrot stem! Fold the streamer four times about 1.5" wide, and it snip off the roll. Cut strips in the streamer without cutting all the way through. Wrap the still-folded, slitted streamer around the stem and tape.

If you try this, tweet or Instagram me (@mdesenna) your final product! Would love to see it! xo

. . .

Birthday month continues and since my due date is so close to Nui Nui's birthday, we've been prepping in advance and strategically planning to celebrate early.

First up: School.

Nui Nui's school has a pretty strict policy about birthday celebrations. They only really allow 'healthy' foods for celebration. Alternatively, you could bring in small favors like stickers or pencils, or come in and read the class a book. I didn't find out about these alternative options until tonight so didn't have the opportunity to consider them.

Now, I'm a nutritionist. Well, at least by education I am. And, as I always say, I'm a believer of everything in moderation, which includes cake (or sweets) for celebrations. So I asked what they meant or consider 'healthy' for snacks. They listed fruit, yogurt, crackers, cheese, and goldfish. So I went with the goldfish.

Last year for Valentine's Day, I made some favors using goldfish. I knew I could do the same thing or try something else. I searched on Pinterest for ideas and pursued what you see below. I debated whether the idea was 'appropriate' for the occasion, since it does make more sense for it to be used as an Easter party favor but thought the idea was cute and fun, and kind of represented 'healthy', right? :>

I came up with a pun-y message, more for my kicks than for anyone else, and that was that. Nui Nui loves the favors and is just SO EXCITED to share these with her new friends tomorrow.

She also did the cutest thing tonight. The cone-shaped bags came with 'Thank You' stickers, which I didn't use, so Nui Nui took them for herself. As I mentioned in a recent video, she's very into stickers. Then, she came up to me with a bag in which she stashed these stickers and told me she wanted to give me something. She whipped out one of these Thank You sticker sheets and told me she wanted to give me one for making these party favors. She gave another sheet to her grandma for taking care of her earlier, as I attended a back-to-school night.

My baby's growing up and she's making me very proud to see what kind of woman she's becoming. xo

How I Cut And Layer My Hair

How I Cut My Bangs [VIDEO]

Stay tuned for how I cut the rest of my hair! Subscribe to our YouTube channel if aren't already :> xo

Video Exporting Now! - How I Cut My Bangs

How To Brush Teeth With A Toddler [VIDEO]

It's called a toothbrush, not a 'bite-brush' - something I always find myself saying.

Ham + Egg Cups For Brunch! [RECIPE]

Eggs are pretty much a no-brainer when it comes to brunch, whether it be in the form of a frittata, quiche, french toast, straight-up scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, egg sandwiches, or these— Ham And Egg Cups.

I was looking for something easy, fast, and simple. I (obviously) never made these before but thought it would be fun.

Ingredients:

• Sliced ham— fresh, cut thin to put in muffin tin but thick enough to not tear
• Eggs
• Oil spray, oil, or butter
• Optional: Cheese (parmesan, cheddar, anything melty); tomatoes, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, bacon... the topping possibilities are endless, some though, you may have to cook in advance

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to about 350-375degF
2. Oil or spray the muffin tin
3. Place the ham slices in each of the cups. If the ham hangs out over the rim, that's ok!
4. Crack an egg into each ham cup. (I did mine in a small measuring cup in case I got egg shell in the egg when cracking.
5. Top with toppings
6. Back for about 13-14 minutes, long or shorter depending on egg preference.

It's hard to tell how long exactly you should cook the egg-ham cups. For the final product below, we did 375degF for about 14 minutes. I'm decently happy with the way it turned out. As you can tell by the last couple of pics, the yolk is still moist, though part of it is cooked dry. [I don't eat my eggs runny for food safety concerns, even if they might taste better.]

The thing about these ham and egg cups is that they still keep cooking even after you pull it out of the oven. You let the cups cool, then take them out. So how you like your eggs, the quality of your oven, your muffin tin, thickness of ham, and coldness of eggs, will all depend on what temperature you should cook these and for how long. I'd say no higher than 375degF, though. And if you do a topping with cheese, bake it until it's slightly undercooked and then move it to under the broiler to brown the tops to a golden.

Let us know if you try this recipe at home in the Comments below or on Twitter or Instagram (@mdesenna), we'd love to hear about and see it! :> xoxo

Havarti + Tomato + Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich! [RECIPE]

After making this grilled cheese sandwich, it made me think of two things.

1. My culinary skills have not deteriorated— once a cook, always a cook.
2. mmm, I should open my own cafe :> (jk)

Recipe at bottom :>



Recipe time!

Ingredients:

Sliced bread, without holes (ie. ciabatta isn't great for grilled cheese sandwiches)

Butter

Havarti cheese, or any good melting cheese, ideally room temperature

Tomatoes, sliced

Pesto

Directions:

1. If you store your bread in the freezer (like I do) lightly toast your bread slices so it warms up but doesn't actually start to toast. You basically want to warm it up and get some of the moisture out of it, nothing more.
2. Generously spread butter over one side of each slice of bread, flip slices over once done (the buttered sides will be on the outside of the sandwich and will give it the crispness you want)
3. Spread pesto on each non-buttered side
4. Layer sliced cheese on each side. Be sure the cheese doesn't hang over the edge. If it does, the cheese will melt onto the pan when cooking and may be a pain to clean up (depending on pan type and cooking method); easier to just not let it go over.
5. Arrange sliced tomatoes on only one side
6. Flip the other bread/cheese side onto the tomato side with cheese facing down, onto tomato
7. Heat pan— either nonstick or cast iron— to about medium
8. Place sandwich in pan
9. Cover with lid— the lid will help seal the heat while the pan heats up to toast the outside bread, while warming and melting the inside of the sandwich
10. Be sure to check the progress of the sandwich. Butter is good when it's toasted but quickly burns when heated
11. Carefully flip sandwich when first side is cooked to liking. Press the sandwich down with your spatula, like a panini grill would, helping the melted cheese act like a glue to hold everything together and make a flatter sandwich. Recover while cooking.
12. Once the other side is pan-fried to desired consistency, take it out, run a knife down the middle and enjoy!

If you make this, send us a photo on Twitter or Instagram or via the Comments below. We'd love to see how it turned out! xoxo