Lil' Red

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

March 9, 2013 By Thaleia 2 Comments

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

We like to eat a variety of foods, but we also like quick, simple, and nutritious. This recipe was originally from Kraft Foods, but we have tweaked it a little and are NOT brand specific. Most of our ingredients come from Aldi, but use what products and brands your family likes:) You can substitute whole grain tortilla’s or brown rice, etc.

This is a great meal for a crowd like 8-12 people. If you serve this with rice, refried beans, and offer other sides like avocado, guacamole, and salsa with chips then you can easily stretch it to 12 people. Have a smaller family? No problem. This makes for a great freezer meal. It can be placed in an 9×9 pan and you could get 3-4 meals from it or just two meals from 9×13 sized pan. This is a great recipe to take to a new mom, someone who had surgery, or to stock up for your own postpartum!

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Wacky Wednesday- USA State Quarters and USA Map

February 27, 2013 By Thaleia 2 Comments

Wacky Wednesday:

USA State Quarters and USA Map

What is Wacky Wednesday? Last year we created WACKY WEDNESDAY to help us get over hump day and try to remember to do something fun and unusual on Wednesdays. Not every Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday, but we try to do something a little crazy or nature-oriented.

This version of Wacky Wednesday we went a little crazy with state quarters, maps and puzzles! If the weather is cold outside and you need something fun to do inside try learning where the states are and their capitals by playing games and doing various activities.

I printed off a USA map and then the kids matched the quaters to the map. Once that was done we highlighted the states we had as we put the quarters away! This made it much easier to take a picture on our phones and when we ran into people who had quarters for us we could check to see if we still needed them. (Hint:Grandma’s have been the best resource so far. Followed by dad’s retail job:)

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Tot School- Word Fun with Boggle Jr.

February 25, 2013 By Thaleia 4 Comments

Tot School- Word Fun with Boggle Jr.

We brought out Boggle Jr. for the first time last week! (found at a thrift store for $2) Lil’ Red wanted nothing to do with the 3 letter words since there are 4 spaces! So instead of starting with 3 letter words and building to 4 letter words we dove right in with 4 letter words. I found the correct letters for him, but laid them out in a random fashion on Lil’ Red’s tray!

He kept asking for more and more “games”. He could tell me most of the letters and knew all of the pictures. I was very impressed since we had never played Boggle Jr. before. I am glad he stuck with it for quite some time before he was done. He is such a good little learner!

boggle jr

I made sure to keep track of the letters he knew without hesitation versus the ones he was not sure of. I was shocked at some of the letters he DID know. A few he got mixed up like “M” and “W” but that is to be expected at this age. (He will be 3 years the end of April.) I am sure we will be bringing out Boggle Jr. at least once a week until he gets bored with it!

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ABC Play the Dr. Seuss Way

February 22, 2013 By Thaleia 4 Comments

ABC Play the Dr. Seuss Way

I decided to try a few things Lil’ Red had not done before that went along with ABC Play the Dr. Seuss Way. (just had to rhyme a little) I will share a collage of photos for each activity and explain where it came from or what we did during each activity.

This ABC Match-up was an activity from a busy bag swap that I did when Lil’ Red was around 7 mths. old. We had families with young infants up to 4 yrs. old in the group swap. The variety and skill level difference for each activity was great to have things stored up and now we are ready to use them! The neon green sheet was printed and then laminated. The ABC cards are dimensional glitter foam stickers put on cardstock squares. Lil’ Red liked this idea quite well and loved it when he “won the game!”

This activity I made over a decade ago, right after I graduated from college. I made this activity with metal juice lids, vinyl ~2″ letter stickers and magnetic alphabet. I had recently dug this out and it had been sitting on our back porch waiting to be played with. Some of the lids and magnets are missing but I have another 3 sets of magnetic alphabets on the back porch to remedy this. Will just have to save a few more juice lids. The letter stickers my husband had brought home from his work which was throwing them away!

This is one of those great dollar store puzzles again from over a decade ago! I have a numbers one as well. I do not know if/when Lil’ Red has played with this puzzle. I talked with him about the rows being a certain color to help give him a clue plus as to where to put a letter. I would sing the ABC song over and over again pointing at the letters and stopping on an open space.

We still have more ABC activities to pull out from my ABC BOX (again from a decade ago). We have wooden ABC puzzles with tiny knobs, wooden blocks, Boggle Jr., Word Whammer, Braille ABC magnets, ABC sticker strip, ABC small erasers, texture letters, and a start of sound boxes.

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Dr. Seuss Style Birthday Party

February 20, 2013 By Thaleia 1 Comment

Dr. Seuss Style Birthday Party

Last year for Lil’ Red’s 2nd birthday we had a Dr. Seuss style birthday party. I created some activities for Tot School then, but was not blogging and have not shared them, yet! We go a little theme crazy for birthdays (just ask my hubby!). I spent tons of time searching for ideas online and with the advent of pinterest I can organize my ideas on my Kid’s Party Ideas board!

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Lil' Red

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Wacky Wednesday:

USA State Quarters and USA Map

Tot School- Word Fun with Boggle Jr.

ABC Play the Dr. Seuss Way

Dr. Seuss Style Birthday Party

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