A Cell Cake

 So I guess here in Texas, 6th grade science students are assigned to make a 3-D model of a cell. An edible 3-D model of a cell. It can be either a plant or animal cell. My son chose to make a cake, including fondant.

 I had to keep telling him to make the fondant pieces smaller so they would actually fit in our little, tiny ball cake. But, I think in the end he did a great job.

I'm happy to report, that I also actually remember some of the names of the parts of a cell from when I took science... just a few years ago.
I drove him to school, which I don't normally do, so that his cake would arrive unharmed. That may have been a mistake, since he ended up getting there early, and after turning in his cake, decided to go outside and play soccer with some other kids until school started...
He got tripped playing soccer, and broke both his arm bones (which I believe are the Ulna and the Radius- see I remember lots of things from science!) and now is in a cast and can't play soccer at all.... So this smug little smile you see below?- that was the last time he smiled all day... even after the morphine kicked in at the ER...  As much work as the cake was, I wish it had fallen and gotten broken instead...

 

UPDATE: 5/3/13 3:52 PM

MY SON INFORMED ME THAT HIS CAKE WAS VOTED MOST ATTRACTIVE! THAT MEANS THAT HE GETS EXTRA CREDIT! AND TO THINK WE WERE GOING TO TRY AND WIN MOST DISGUSTING AT ONE POINT! THERE WERE 3 AWARDS: MOST ATTRACTIVE, MOST ACCURATE, AND MOST DISGUSTING!

Rainbow Jello

Just before St. Patrick's Day, I found this on Pinterest ... I thought it looked easy and fun, and something I could make, especially since my little girls Love to make Jello...

Above is how the ones on Pinterest looked. Below is how mine turned out...

 I know, there's a big difference...

It was trickier than I thought, and sometimes my Cool-whip layer in between didn't set up, even on the last layer when I thought I had figured it all out...

 I did so something to mine to make them fun, though... I took gold chocolate coins, sealed them in small plastic baggies, and put them in the bottom layer. That way, the kids could find a pot of gold when they got to the end of their rainbow...

it was pretty fun...

And the kids had fun helping me.

I think I about have the kinks worked out, and maybe next time they will turn out exactly like I want them.... This would also be fun to do in a party color scheme.

Linked to:
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2013/03/frugal-friday_28.html

Your Home Based Mom

Valentine's Wreath & Topiary's (#50, and #51!)

I realize that Valentine's Day was so last month! But we are always running a little behind over here. I think these ideas, though could easily be made into St. Patty's Day, or Easter decorations. I'm thinking of making the same wreath (round, not heart-shaped) with green fabric and ribbons for a St. Patrick's Day wreath!

My kindergartner was home from school for a few days. Pink eye. So, she wasn't really too sick to do anything, just still contagious. So, after she helped me take down and put away all the Christmas decorations, I promised her we would make some Valentine's decorations.

All my kids love to craft, especially holiday craft, but this age, they especially seem to love it.

I was trying to come up with something that met this criteria:

1. I already had all the supplies for it.

2. Not too messy.

3. Cute

4. she could easily make it.

I saw this Valentine's wreath here. (If you want a tutorial, you really should go there, because I don't really do tutorials...)

I thought it would be perfect, because I have a whole bunch of scrap fabric and ribbons. she was so excited. I do have to confess that our turned out smaller than the one from the tutorial because the wire hangers that we get from our dry cleaners are like a paper roll at the bottom, and the wire does not continue all the way through. I didn't take a picture, but if your cleaners use the same hangers, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, we got everything all ready, and then I remembered that there was something wrong. #4. She can't tie her shoe laces. So I helped her a lot, but she was still pretty frustrated.

Epic mom fail.

This is the one she made. I probably need to trim the ribbons... I thought I took a picture of the one I made before I cleaned up the Valentine's decorations, but I guess I forgot... guess I'll show you next year!

so, I made up for it this weekend, with the topiary and the baked clay hearts...

 They at least met the other criteria, especially #3.

 

You can see my felt topiary's. I finished those while my daughter made her flower topiary.

 Confession: I thought we had enough of these pink flowers, but we ran out... (great, another mom fail!) so we took the greenery off some other flowers and put the ribbon up there to cover our bald spots. She was still happy with how it turned out, so I guess it was ok....

So, that same day, we also made salt dough clay hearts. it was a lot of fun...

 And all 4 of my kids got involved making them.

Dad even had to help, because sometimes the dough got hard to work with, and he had to knead it.

  

We put holes in the "cookies" so we could string them and hang them. After they cooled, we hung them from our light fixtures over the piano and above the dining room table. I also put some in our cake stand, and a heart shaped bowl we had. There were A LOT of them!

I realize that Valentine's Day is over, but you could easily made these for St. Patrick's Day, coloring the dough green, and using a shamrock cookie cutter... or make them for Easter!
Linked to:
The Shabby Nest

March Comes In Like a Lion...

I saw these little lamb cupcakes on Pinterest, and decided that the would be a good kids project. I have a niece with a St. Patrick's Day birthday, and so my kids and nieces and I made these. The kids loved putting the marshmallows all over them. The ones on Pinterest used chocolate to make the face and ears. I had leftover black fondant, that was even easier, and the kids loved doing it.


We also made some green cookies. I told the kids we were doing March desserts, "because, March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a what?"

"A sheep?"

"No, a lamb. In like a lion, out like a lamb."

"What does that mean?"

"Umm..."

Well, I may not be able to answer all their questions, but we had a fun party anyway.
confession: my camera is getting worse everyday. I was trying to get a picture of the 8 I made in black fondant for a topper...

I don't know what they're teaching in schools these days, but I have a sneaking suspicion that these kids also don't know what April Showers bring...