C-A-M-P-O-U-T!!!

Before our third son was born, my husband wanted to start a special tradition with our kids..  At the time, our oldest son was 4 and our second son was 2. We decided to make Friday nights our Family 'Camp Out Night'.
Every Friday night we would drag out the sleeping bags and pillows to our living room floor.  The boys picked special movies and games that they wanted to watch and play.  I usually made a special snack to eat while we watched the movie. As a baby, our third son joined family Camp Out Night's in the Pack-n-Play.  The boys loved Camp Out Night and never wanted to miss it!  Sleeping on the living room floor wasn't easy, but I wouldn't have missed all those giggles and games for anything!
As the boys grew, when they reached special goals or achieved certain things, we wanted to reward them.  The boys got to choose, within reason, what they wanted as a reward. That usually meant pizza.  It didn't take long, before they realized that they would like to have an extra 'Camp Out Night' as a reward!  Imagine, trading in pizza for sleeping on the floor!
There are 10 years between our oldest son and our youngest son (4 boys).  When number 4 was born, he also enjoyed Camp Out Nights with all of us. Sometimes in the summer we would drag the sleeping bags out to the trampoline and all 6 of us would sleep there.  Needless to say, when one of us rolled over, everyone else knew it!  We have a sleeping porch off of our Master Bedroom.  When the weather was warm, we would drag the sleeping bags and fans out on the sleeping porch and have 'Camp Out' there.  We would lay out there and listen to stories that the boys would tell.  Sometimes we would break out into song!  We certainly weren't a choir, but we had a great time.  I am sure that the neighbors wondered what was going on when they could here us giggling and singing, but they couldn't see us.
Our boys enjoyed family Camp Out Night's so much that they looked for reasons to be rewarded with extra nights!  As the older boys grew up and moved out of the house, the youngest still wanted to have Camp Out Nights. We have so many great memories from our Camp Out nights!  Our boys are old enough that the really cute sleeping bags weren't easily available then.  Today, there are so many cute ones on the market.

Horse Nap Mat

  Check out the adorable Stephen Joseph Nap Mats at The Crazy Dazy and start your own family Camp Out tradition.  There are Boy Nap Mats and Girl Nap Mats and there are also Nap Mats that work for both like the Monkey and the Horse.  Stephen Joseph offers may great designs!  You can make the Nap Mats extra special by having them personalized.  Whatever you choose, enjoy making special memories that will last a lifetime!

Pink Turtle Nap Mat

Bunnies and Baskets

Usually when I take down my Valentine's decorations at the end of February, it is too early to put Easter decorations out.  Not this year!  With Easter being the end of March, I brought out the Easter stuff as I put up the Valentine's. To decorate the Dining Room,  I scrunched a pretty yellow piece of fabric down the middle of our table as a runner.   In the center of the runner there is a large bright yellow and pink flower arrangement.  Going down the table on each side of the flower arrangement are crystal candle holders topped either with pretty candles or with decorated artificial eggs.  Then I set the table with our wedding china.  The buffet has glass jars filled with bright plastic eggs and pretty ribbons, along with Spring colored what not dishes. Our Entry Way is filled with trunks, baskets, and buckets of bright colored eggs surrounded by stuffed and ceramic Bunnies.  On top of our Fireplace is a Plastic Bunny that my Grandparents gave me for my first Easter many years ago.   I love decorating for Easter and knowing that Spring is on it's way!
If you have Easter Baskets to fill, check out The Crazy Dazy for unique gift ideas!  We offer several small unique affordable gifts that are a great size to add to Easter Baskets.  There are Wallets, Clip Boards, Large Paper Clips, Pencils, Zipper Pulls, Water Bottles, and many other gifts.  Find just the right things for the kids in your life!  Order them now so they will arrive in plenty of time for Easter!

Space Waterbottle

Peace Penny Pincher

Wallet

Cooking Comfort Food

I am one of those people who love summer and would just as soon skip the winter weather.  I do know that it serves a purpose, but that doesn't keep me from wanting it to get warm!  We had 2 snow days last week and another snow day yesterday.  Snow days make me want comfort food.  Although it isn't the healthiest, it sure does taste great!  So for dinner last night, I made Southern Chicken Biscuits!

Fried Chicken Tenders

 I thawed out skinless boneless chicken breast and cut each into 3 nice size tenders.  In bowl number 1, I put about a cup of flour.  In bowl number 2, I combined  2 large eggs and a tablespoon of water.  In bowl number 3, I combined about 2 1/2 cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper. I preheated oil in my deep fryer to 375*. I dipped the chicken in the flour, then the egg mixture, and then rolled it in the breadcrumb mixture.  I placed a few chicken tenders in the fryer basket and fried them for about 7 minutes.  I hardly ever fry food, but when I do, I like to wear an apron.  It helps keep the popping grease from splattering on my clothes. While the chicken was frying, I baked grand sized canned biscuits.  I like to make biscuits from scratch, but I had two cans that were about to expire, so I used those.  When the chicken is finished cooking, turn the basket of  tenders out on a plate layered with paper towels so the excess oil can drain off.  When the biscuits are ready, slice them in half.  Add butter to both halves and drizzle with honey.  Put a chicken tender on one biscuit half and top with the other.  The little bit of spice that the cayenne pepper adds compliments the butter and honey to make a great tasting sandwich!  Needless to say, my guys love these!

When my kids were little, they liked to help cook.  Bronx likes to help me cook now, when he is here.

 The Crazy Dazy offers adorable kid sized aprons.  There is even a Monkey apron for boys!  Stephen Joseph offers many great girl apron designs.

Check out the Ice Cream Quilted Apron and the matching Ice Cream Play Cooking Set.  The cooking set comes with a kid sized bowl, wooden spoon, oven mitt, and rolling pin! Check them out today and get started cooking with your young one!

Western Horse Rodeo Birthday Party

The Rodeo

Bronx had a great Western themed birthday party last Saturday!  On his birthday, we celebrated with a small family party.  His new baby brother had just came home from the hospital 3 days earlier, so we kept it small.  His mom was anxious to have his big birthday party as soon as she felt up to it.  Last Saturday was the day!  She had such cute themed ideas!
 We gathered several rocking horses and stick horses to make a "Rodeo" area for the kids to ride.  They had a great time playing in this area!  I watched many riders get bucked off of their horses!  The drink table was labeled "The Watering Hole".  The snack table was labeled "The Eatin' Place".  On that table, Rice Krispie treats were labeled as "Hay Stacks', Party Mix was labeled "Happy Trail Mix", Pretzels were labeled as "Salty Straw", and Texas Caviar Salsa was labeled as "Cowboy Caviar".

Cupcake Bonanza

The birthday boy LOVES cupcakes!  He had an "Elmo" party for his 2nd birthday with really cute Elmo cupcakes.  He has talked about those Elmo cupcakes all year!  His mom knew that he would much rather have cupcakes instead of a regular cake. Granny (my mom) used her Cricut to cut out 50 Paper Horses and then glued them to toothpicks for the cupcakes.  We made Chocolate Cupcakes with chocolate icing, White Cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and White Cupcakes with chocolate icing.  The cake table was labeled "Cupcake Bonanza".  The herd of Horses looked so cute on that table!  I used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the signs from brown paper sacks.  Then I added twine to complete the "Western" look.
Bronx ran off when we started singing "Happy Birthday" to him!  I am not sure if we sounded that bad or if he was embarrassed, but it was too cute!  He did come back and blow his 3 candles out!  It was a lot of fun and a GREAT birthday party!
If you are looking for Western themed party favors or birthday gifts, check out The Crazy Dazy!  We offer great Boy and Girl Western items!  Check out the Horse Backpacks! Stephen Joseph has more than one Girl Horse design.  There is a matching Girl Horse Backpack and Girl Horse Lunchbox.  They make a really cute combo!  There are plenty of Boy Horse items too!  For cute Party Favors, check out the Horse Doodle Dudes.  Whatever you pick, the kids are sure to love their Western themed gifts!

Stephen Joseph Horse Doodle Dude

Stephen Joseph Girl Horse Go Go Backpack

Life Lessons through Sports!

Earlier this week, I was posting our son's High School Baseball schedule on my calendar.  We are all excited for this season.  We have a large group of Senior guys who have played as a team together since they were 10 years old.  There are also several Underclassmen who will help support the team this year.
Sports can be such a great way to teach children many life lessons.  Self Control, How to Treat Others, to Listen and Follow Directions, Competitive Skills, Teamwork, Sportsmanship, and Courage to name a few.  With good coaching, they can learn to win or lose gracefully.  Life comes with many ups and downs, as do sports games.  This group of boys won State Championships as 11 year olds, 12 year olds, and 14 year olds.  Those are great memories!  They all have great pictures and trophies to remind them of their accomplishments.  Their 13 year old year was a growing experience!  They learned important skills during that challenging year.  They don't have trophies to show for the things they learned during that season, but they do have experiences to draw from. The experiences will help them this year as they face challenges during the games. However this season turns out, we are proud of this group of boys and have enjoyed all of the fun times that they have led us through! Tryouts are next week!
It is great for children to learn about teamwork.  The Crazy Dazy offers several Sports items for your young player!

Stephen Joseph Sports Growth Chart

The Stephen Joseph Sports Growth Chart will be a great way to keep track of their physical growth through the years.  The Growth Chart also has places for photos! From Backpacks to Water Bottles and Bookmarks to Luggage, check out all of the Stephen Joseph Sports items that are offered at The Crazy Dazy.

Stephen Joseph Sports Bookmark

Stephen Joseph Sports Water Bottle

Puzzle, Puzzle, Puzzle

Our 7 year old nephew came to visit this weekend.  With our oldest Grandson just turning 3, the toys at our house are geared towards toddlers.  Needless to say, they didn't hold his interest very long.  Our youngest son turned 18 the beginning of the month.  We had a Pool Table that was hardly ever used.  He convinced us that we should take the Pool Table out of the Parlor and replace it with a Ping Pong Table.  Since he is the last one at home, I thought that would be a great idea!  A chance to later reclaim the Parlor that I had given up to the Pool Table many years ago.  We donated the Pool Table to our Youth Group and purchased a new Ping Pong Table.  It folds up and is on wheels.  That will make it possible to remove it from the room and store it elsewhere when it isn't being used so much.  A great plan, I think!!  The Ping Pong table didn't hold our nephew's interest very long either.  He wanted to play the Wii.  As luck would have it, our Wii decided to quit working when we turned it on.  He was extremely disappointed and bored stiff hanging out with the adults!  He finally asked if we had any puzzles, to which my wonderful husband said "yes"!  What my husband didn't realize was that the 4 piece wooden puzzles made for toddlers, wasn't what our nephew was wanting!  I went to our game closet and found an old United States Floor Puzzle that had been used by all 4 of our sons.  We hadn't had it out in years.  I gave it to Ryan and he was happy to put it together.  He was very disappointed when he put it together and there was a piece missing.  He really wanted me to find it.  Since that puzzle hadn't been out of the closet for at least 10 years, I didn't even bother to look and I apologized to him that I didn't know where it was.

Hape Eco Friendly Toys

That made me realize that I should get a couple of puzzles for the next time that he comes.  Hopefully our Wii will be working by then, but he will still need other things to do.  The Crazy Dazy has several great puzzles for kids!  Some are for toddlers and some are for young children.  There is a great selection of unique puzzles.  You might want a Wooden Peg Puzzle or a Zoo Animal Block Puzzle for your toddler. These puzzles are on sale!  There is a Ballerina Puzzle

Djeco Ballerina Puzzle

or Princess Puzzle for little girls and there is a Pirate Puzzle or Ship Puzzle

Barbarossa's Boat Puzzle

for little boys.  There is also a great Farm Animal Puzzle for both!  These puzzles have unique shapes and the kids will love them!  Get a great puzzle and have fun playing with them today!

Beating the Winter Blues and Enjoying the Indoors!

The sun is shining, but the temperature is still cold.  My Grandson Bronx turned 3 years old this week.  One of his gifts was a new Sandbox.  Although it is still too cold to play with the sandbox outside and mom wouldn't like the idea of sand in the house, Bronx & I couldn't wait to try it out.  We decided to be creative with how to use the sandbox indoors. Macaroni was our answer!  We can scoop it, pour it, and hide things in it, but still we are able to clean it up easily. Mom approved and Bronx & I had a great time!

Coffee Maker

Topsy Tower

The Crazy Dazy has great toys that will help your little ones enjoy their time indoors too.  Many of these toys are on sale right now.  The Hape Eco Friendly Toys will encourage creative play and help their imagination to grow!  The Topsy Tower is a great example!  Most kids love to build towers and then knock them over!  We also have many kitchen toys available!  Although Bronx  & I enjoy making cookies, he really enjoys playing with our toy kitchen and all of the play food.  The Crazy Dazy has wooden toy small kitchen appliances and pretend food on sale.  Kids love the chance to cut with a knife.  Imagine how excited they will be when they are able to cut thewooden fruit apart all by themselves.  I am sure that there will be plenty of excitement when the wooden toaster pops the bread up for them!  Have fun checking out all of the pretend play toys on sale now!
Enjoy the time indoors with your little ones today!  Get ready to hear the giggles and laughter that they will share while they are enjoying the pretend play!