This week’s guest post comes from Susan Colburn.  Susan believes in new beginnings… After her stint teaching 7th grade Social Studies, she set her sights on breaking into the Food Media industry one delicious recipe at a time.  When not writing or cooking, Sue spends time with her 3 children, cats and her high-school sweetheart, who by the grace of God she also married. If you’d like a food article for your site please email her: (SusanColburn@gmx.com) SusanColburn (at) gmx (dot) com.  Follow her on Twitter @suecolburn

5 Easy Tips for Making Rice Crispy Treats with Your Kids!

When you think of rice crispy treats, do you get a dose of childhood nostalgia? Most people do—they’re up there with sugar cookies, bubble gum, cotton candy and Push-Ups. Call me silly, but I honestly believe that families that bake together, stay together. Baking teaches children the importance of following directions and exact measurements, practicing patience and enjoying their finished product. But most importantly, it fosters quality time together. If you’re looking for fun things to do with your kids, baking is a great option (especially on a rainy day).

Similar to the benefits of eating dinner together, baking with your children helps you connect with them through supervised play. Remember, they should be monitored at all times—make sure you assign tasks that are age-appropriate and safe for their little hands and fingers. This is a time when you must be patient, too: expect a mess and select forgiving recipes.

Check out the following tips for making rice crispy treats, and get ready to have some fun with your kids. If they get frustrated, use it as an opportunity to reinforce perseverance. Cheer them on—let them know you’re their biggest fan!

Rice Crispy Treats Tips

1.     Use Cookie Cutters – From hearts and stars to animals and letters, let your kids choose which shapes they would like to use for their treats.

2.     Add Some Color – Be mindful of your children’s favorite colors and purchase food coloring accordingly. Add the coloring to the marshmallow mixture while it is still warm, and let your kids get creative by blending colors (i.e. a drop of red and a drop of blue for purple rice crispy treats).

3.     Decorate with Toppings – The best rice crispy treat is in the eye of the beholder, of course, so give your children free reign when it comes to their toppings. Offer ingredients like chocolate, peanut butter, candy, sprinkles and cookie icing (for doodling on top).

4.     Be Creative – The creative world is truly at your fingertips when making rice crispy treats with your kids. Keep in mind the time of year/season if you’re stumped, or do something out of the ordinary. Here are a few ideas:

• Football shapes for Super Bowl
• Heart shapes for Valentine’s Day
• Apple shapes for Teacher Appreciation Day
• Stars for Fourth of July
• Pumpkin shapes for Halloween
• Turkey shapes for Thanksgiving (using candy corns as feathers)
• Rice crispy treat pops (similar to cake pops)
• A cake with layers
• Rice crispy treats shaped and decorated like a pizza

5.     Have a Blast – Cherish the time you have with your children. Before you know it, they’ll be all grown up with children of their own. Take pictures, laugh a lot and above all, enjoy your creations!

Check out this uber-cute video from The Flannery Brother’s….

It includes a few clips of our friends and neighbors who attended our dip and flip pizza party!

This post comes courtesy of Guest blogger Lillian Swift.  Lillian is a creative writer from Northern Arizona University. As an
aspiring writer she specializes in writing about travel destinations and
tourism. Thank you Lillian for sharing this review with us…Anytime Elmo is involved we are happy!!!

Elmo’s Super Heroes Tour: One of Sesame Street’s Best Shows in Awhile

For years now, the hundreds of shows put on all over the country by the Sesame Street annually have been a commonplace for families to enjoy a first class production. Sesame Street Live has continued to improve itself and grow over the years, especially in recent times as they’ve begun to stage multiple touring shows at one time. In late 2011 and early 2012, Elmo’s Super Heroes has been sweeping the nation, with expectations of being one of Sesame Street’s best shows.

The tour is slated to get a kickoff in Tennessee in mid March with dates across the nation. The opener is sure to create a wonderful opportunities for families to get out of their Memphis apartments and homes, seeing a first class production for all ages. Since Sesame Street Live has been putting on productions for over 32 years now, this new production is one of the most hyped thus far.

Elmo’s Super Heroes Tour is backed by an extremely strong storyline, fit with many of the characters that have grown commonplace for families and kids over the years. This production has a great initial story of Sesame Street super heroes who help out Grover, who’s begun to lose sleep and become lazy. Elmo’s group of “super heroes,” then goes on to help Grover get back in shape and start taking better care. This provides children in attendance the opportunity to learn some great lessons about playing and staying in shape at a young age, all the while enjoying the humor and fun of an ordinary Sesame Street Live production.

The production also shines a spotlight on cookie monster, who is encouraged throughout the show to look towards a stricter diet, outside of just cookies. It’s clear that this newest production from Sesame Street was developed with the idea to mix a fun production with undertones of promoting health and exercise.

Another great thing about the Sesame Street Live experiences is their ability to provide a bond between parents and children. Sesame Street, as a brand, has been able to sustain great popularity over time, bridging the gap between children who grew up in the past and today’s children. At the core of the Sesame Street mission is providing education and fun, something it still succeeds in doing years after the concept was originally developed.

If Elmo’s Super Heroes show is running through your town this spring, be sure to check it out. The newest Sesame Street Live production is sure to provide a great opportunity to enjoy an educational and fun theater experience for the whole family.

A few Weeks ago I was thrilled to find this gem in my mailbox! I am a huge fan of Workman books and on occasion they will send me a copy of one of their latest and greatest books to review ~ which for me is one of the biggest perks of being a mom blogger! So JRB and I sat down to read this delightful book that spins, flips and slides all while telling a very sweet story of how Paul and Judy have learned to take care of their favorite pet Beastie. It’s one of those super creative, funny books that feels more like an adventure than a book which for me on this very snowy afternoon is just fine! A GREAT gift for Valentine’s Day or anyday!

Want your own Free copy? Enter our SWEEPSTAKES ~ we are giving away 1 FREE copy.  Tell us you name and your favorite pet.  We will announce the winner on Feb 1 ~ Good luck!!

XO and Shoestrings, Beth

There is no answer to this question or cute video I can show as to why men cheat and I know what you are thinking…women cheat too but for me, it’s the men who matter because  right about now I am  in touch with several women who are sharing with me their stories about their unfaithful husbands.

And so they are left alone

feeling sorrow and pain

anger and fristration

betrayal and confusion

until it is dinner time and they have to feed, bathe and take care of the kids, help with homework, do laundry and pack lunches.

If you are a woman out there having an affair with a married man please stop.  just stop.

shoestrings and Love, Beth

Congrats to JENNA for having one of her awesome Valentine’s Day craft ideas published in this months Disney FamilyFun Magazine! You Rock Jenna and your Valentine’s Day Ring does too!

This week on the Conversation Thread on IVillage, we talk about our “Celebrity Pass.” Not, “Celebrity Past” as one my girlfriends,  Lisa, asked me last night (“like who you were in a former life?”) But your celebrity pass, ie: if you could choose 1 person who you spouse or significant other would say: “go for it” who would it be?  For me, the answer is “gleefully” easy ~ who would your celebrity pass be or perhaps we can do it Lisa-style and find out, what celebrity were you in a former life?  To learn who I choose as well as the other gals….check out the clip below. Love and Shoestring, Beth

Look out Jack Black there’s a new school of Rock in town this one goes beyond old school Rock and Roll.  The Rock and Roll Arts Academy is based in good ‘ole HP and it offers classes from Beatle Babies, Reggae & Roll, and yes, Family Groove Parties.  If you’re local check out next week when they will be hosting an open house that includes making music videos with your kids (or they can do it solo). So for those about to rock, we salute you!

I grew up in HP, which is about 4 -5 miles down the road.  Every week on Thursdays, the Highland Park News would arrive in our mailbox and like clockwork I would look at it form cover to cover looking at the articles, the pictures, the columns and yes on a few occasions say the Girl’s Tennis season of  of 1983 –1986 ~ I would appear in the sports section which was always met with GREAT enthusiasm on my part! So you can only imagine how thrilled I was the Winter of 2009 when I pitched and was hired to write my Mommy on  a Shoestring column for Sun-Times Media which is the parent company that owns the HP News and about 35 other papers! So when a small business or mompreneur comes to me to tell me about how they have launched their dream business… I try as much as possible to promote it…Can you see where this is leading?
The  LAUGHING CHAMELEON is a new Night Club that recently opened up in Glenview IL!
David and Dania Maas, well known for their “Quick Change” act, and business partners, Gary and Renee Walter, founded the club which offers entertainers, comedy, illusionists and much more. And did I mention the food is great! So if you’re in the area and looking for fun with a twist check it out! And for your viewing pleasure here’s a clip of David and Dania from their appearance on America’s Got Talent

Congrats to David, Dania, Renee and Gary I hope your new venture is a BIG success.  Do you have a dream? Leave us a comment ~ we’d love to hear from you!