Lemonade Day is a fun, experiential program that teaches kids how to start, own and operate their very own business - a lemonade stand.

Kids have the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship by setting up their business during their city's community-wide Lemonade Day. Check their website for participating cities.

One thing we've learned about having a business is that you need to get creative with what you offer your customers. Here is a super fun Lemonade Day recipe, white chocolate lemon cake with crush LemonHead candies. This one is a hit!

While you’re staying home during this time of social distancing it’s a perfect time to do all that Spring Cleaning you’ve been thinking about. But don’t stress it. Take it one room at a time, one task at time. 
Today we’re working on baseboards. With cleaning supplies a little scarce, we’ve made a couple DIY Reusable Cleaning Wipe recipes.

Did you know...
Vinegar is a natural acid that kills most mold spores .
Lemon essential oil is a powerful cleaner, lemon essential oil is antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, and anti-fungal.
Tea Tree essential oil is a powerful anti-fungal that can kill mold and mildew and help prevent future regrowth.

Have you ever wondered how planes fly in the air? They are so big. For real.

• Let’s look at some of the common characteristics of things that fly. Looking at bird wings and plane shapes the main characteristic is the aerofoil shape.
• The wings of birds and planes have what is called an aerofoil shape. This aerofoil shape helps us overcome weight which is the effect of gravity pulling down on the mass of the aircraft.

Bernoulli’s principle helps explain that an aircraft can achieve lift because of the shape of its wings.  The curve of the wing that allows more wind to travel over the top of the wing than the bottom of the wing.


Science Behind Flight
Aviation the flying or operating of aircrafts.
Aeronautics is the science behind flight.


There are four forces that help an airplane fly. The four forces are lift, thrust, drag, and weight or gravity. 


Thrust is generated by the engines of the aircraft.
Our thrust is going to our forward launch throwing the paper airplane.

Lift is the force that directly opposes the weight of an airplane and holds the airplane in the air. Lift is generated by every part of the airplane, but most of the lift on a normal airliner is generated by the wings.

Gravity is the force that will be pulling a paper airplane to the ground.

• In order to make a paper airplane fly as far as possible and help fight against gravity, they must keep their plane as light as possible.

Drag is the aerodynamic force that opposes an aircraft's motion through the air. 

Day 3 Arts and Crafts with your kiddos. We are making super cute corner bookmarks, toilet paper roll binoculars and popsicle stick puppets.

These are easy to make 

Join us on Facebook LIVE at 10A CDT with a few St. Patrick's Day crafts for kids. Here is a little history on St. Patrick's Day.

Day 2 Art and Science for kids.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
We are talking clouds ? and rainbows ? .
Doing 4 projects today.
Cloud and Rainbow activity
Fruit loops
Marshmallows
Piece of white paper
Have your kids sort out the colors and then count the number of pieces each color takes to get to the pot of gold.
Make your own Rainbow
Cup of water
flashlight
white piece of paper
Hold the cup up fromt he paper and shine the flash light into the water. Move the light around until you see a rainbow appear.
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Rain cloud in a Cup
Shaving Cream
Food Coloring
Eye Dropper
Water
Cup
Fill Cup with water, almost to the top. Cover top with shaving cream. Using the eye dropper grab a bit of the food coloring and insert into the shaving cream cloud. Slowly release the food coloring and watch it float into the water.

To learn more about rainbows, clouds and weather, check out BrainPOP It is FREE!!! Sign up Today! https://www.brainpop.com

With so many school closures due to the COVID-19  we are doing our part to help educate or children and keep their minds positive and engaged.

Every day at 10AM CDT we will be sharing learning and crafting time on Facebook LIVE. Let’s start off the week with some fun experiments for kids using items you may have at home. 
​
These vinegar and baking soda experiments are classics and you can scale this up for your older kids. Include research on the chemical reaction, or making a rocket. ?
https://www.google.com/…/how-to-make-homemade-rocket-v…/amp/
Scale it down for younger kids and enjoy the bubbles and colors.

What’s the Science Behind It: 
When vinegar and baking soda mix there is a reaction between an acid and a base. 
1. Vinegar is the acid 
2. Baking soda is the base
This reaction causes a gas called carbon dioxide to bubble and foam. 
Materials you’ll need.
Making Soda
Vinegar 
Funnel
Empty Water bottle
Balloon 
Food coloring
Small plastic cups
Dropper or straw
Measuring cup
Eye protection
Baking sheet (too catch over flow)
Let’s create and learn. ?

I. Love. Macarons. There, I said it. I actually think I may be a bit obsessed with macarons but that's ok right? They are divine and I can eat an entire patch, but I won't. I will savor each one slowly over time.

I was fortunate enough to spend the morning with fellow military spouse Stacy Martin, owner of Bonkers For Baking. She made a patch of heart macarons from scratch and learned just how difficult it is to make them.

The macaron cookie was born in Italy. French queen Catherine de' Medici's Italian pastry chefs made them when she brought them with her to France in 1533.

Macarons, as we know them today were created by a Parisian baker (Claude Gerbet and Pierre Desfontaines both claim credit) had the idea of sandwiching the cookie by putting jam or ganache between the two individual macarons. HEAVENLY!

I learned you must be very precise when measuring your ingredients. We had a scale and measure every gram. It got me thinking. How did they make these in 1533? Food for thought. There is even a Macaronage process. Macaronage is the technique where you continue folding the mixture past full incorporation until you've achieved the perfect consistency. "Hot lava" is one phrase I often see used to describe that consistency, but I just like "ribbon." The batter shouldn't plop, it should flow according to food52.com
​
Here are a few reasons why we love macarons.
The texture in the first bite is unexpected.
The shell is delicately crisp and the interior is so soft and chewy.
They are just plain cute. 
They are the perfect “bite sized” treat
Fun Fact: Macarons are GLUTEN FREE!

If you are ready to tackle making macarons here is the heart template that Stacy uses for her heart shaped macarons and a link to the stencil for the conversation sayings.

Joyeuse Saint Valentin!

No need to sew here. These no-sew heart sachets are so sweet and perfect for Valentine's or Galentine's Day.

Hold your fabric in half so that you only have to cut once. Place the heart template over the top and using a pencil trace around the heart. With a pair of pinking shears cut along the line you just traced.

At this point you will want to add your embellishments. It's easier to do it now before you glue the heart together.

Next you will glue the two pieces of heart fabric together leaving an opening for the filler and dried lavender.

Fill the heart with poly filler leaving some room for the dried lavender, then stuff with more poly filler to finish and close the opening with hot hot glue.

No-Sew Lavender Heart Sachets. Happy Valentines Day!

Here's a video that shows you step by step how to make these.

Share with us what you make. Happy Crafting!

Here are two fun treats you can make with your kids that will sure to be a hit.

I loved conversation heart candies when I was a kid. Here is a homemade version we created with a military theme. Imagine your solider getting these cute candies in a care package. YES!!!!

What you will need.
Gum paste (you can use already made gum paste in a tub or in powder form. We purchased in powdered form and follow directions on bag to make paste).
Gel coloring (we used yellow, pink, green and purple)
Flavoring (we used lemon, watermelon, and peppermint)
Powdered sugar
Small heart cutter
Rolling pin
​Measuring cups
​Edible ink pens
Parchment paper

Measure out about 1/2 cup of gum paste.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on your work surface so gum paste does not stick to it.
Knead gum paste for 30 seconds
Add 5-8 drops of flavoring, knead to combine flavor.
Add 1-2 drops of food coloring, knead until color is throughout gum paste.
Using a rolling pin, roll out gum paste to 1/4-1/2 inch thick.
Using small heart cutter, cut out hearts and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Let dry for 48 hours.
Using edible ink pen write message on hearts.

What's Valentine's Day without chocolate covered strawberries? These are LIFE!

Check out this video. Too easy.

We are loving all these DIYs and this faux marble clay dish is perfect. We are always looking for easy, budget friend crafts that look amazing and this is one for the books.

We used an oven bake clay in white, aqua and gold, but you can use unto 5 colors. We picked up all the materials at Hobby Lobby.

Cut clay into chunks. How big you want your bowl will determine how much clay you actually need. You can see how much clay we used in the video tutorial.

Instructions:
Roll-out clay into snakes
Twist snakes together
fold over and twist again, then repeat steps.
Squish clay into a ball and flatten with a rolling pin to about 1/4 in thick.
Form on an oven safe dish. It doesn't have to be perfect.
Free form is beautiful and bake at 275° F for about 15 minutes.
(Use your package instructions). 
​Let cool completely then paint gold gilding on the edges. Let dry and the glaze the entire bowl - front and back. Such a cute gift for Valentine's day or any day! 

Hope you enjoyed this DIY craft. Would love to connect with you on social media. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Enjoy,
​Maria