Marshmallow Crispy Rice Ghost

How to make a Simple Marshmallow Crispy Rice Ghost Treat. This is a great snack for a child’s Halloween party.
What you need: ¼ cup of real butter, 4 cups of marshmallows, 4 ½ cups of crispy rice cereal
What to do: Grease a 9 by 11 or 13 rectangle pan. Or put wax paper inside pan, covering bottom and sides. You the parent melt butter in a pot on low heat. Slowly add marshmallows until they melt. Stir. Turn off stove and put pot on another burner which is cool to the touch. Add crispy rice cereal. Stir mixture well. With a big wooden spoon put marshmallow mixture in rectangle pan. Before mixture hardens cut into figure of a ghost. Take out extra marshmallow treat around ghost and place on a plate. Place two chocolate discs for the ghost’s eyes (chocolate discs can be bought by the bag). Arrange shoe string red licorice in the shape of an O for the mouth.

ALTERNATIVE: The morning of Halloween cut pancakes into ghost shapes. Use chocolate chips for eyes.

Movie Review: Chitty, Chitty Bang-Bang

Movie Title: Chitty, Chitty Bang-Bang. Kid movie with music. Rated G. Though the Child Catcher may be scary for young kids! I know it was for me when I was little.

Eccentric inventor and widowed father Mr. Potts creates some pretty nifty stuff. But nothing as cool as his flying and floating car. Potts, at the wheel of his flying car, travels to Vulgaria with his children and girlfriend, Truly Scrumptious. Ms. Scrumptious is the daughter of a candy magnate. Once in Vulgaria they think it's strange there are no children around. A horrible man, the Child Catcher, catches children and puts them in his jail like vehicle. Scene not to be missed: Potts (the talented song and dance man Dick Van Dyke) and Scrumptious do a dance routine dressed up as puppets. The Potts children are saved in the end, but for some little kids the Child Catcher is so creepy it could give them nightmares. By age ten or eleven, kids shouldn't be so disturbed by this.

Make a Ghost for Halloween

Easy Halloween Decoration: A big floating ghost. Take an old white bed sheet and wrap it over a rubber ball. (The rubber ball is the head.) Cut about a foot of string. Tie string under the ball, on the outside of the sheet, to keep ball inside sheet. Make a face on the ghost with a marker (you can make a big O for the mouth). For a funny ghost put a wig on it, or glue yarn on it for head hair, or a make a yarn mustache or beard. Tie sheet, from underneath ball, to high branch or to the porch beam.

Arts and Craft: Home made piñata

Home made piñata which is easy for little kids to break open. This Halloween if your kids aren't going trick-or-treating give them candy from a piñata. This piñata is also great for birthday parties, other holiday parties, a school party, or a family gathering.

What you will need: Bags of wrapped candy. Brown paper grocery bag with handles. Brown lunch bag. Newspaper. Black felt. Black yarn. Cardboard. Construction paper. Scissors. Child friendly paint. Glue. Stapler. Brown packing tape. Ribbon.
To make a witch. Lunch bag will be the head. Since the grocery bag will be the body make sure the face is symmetrical with the body. Paint witch face on upside down lunch bag. Your child can cut out a long nose from cardboard and staple it on bag. Now stuff newspaper in the lunch bag. You should put enough newspaper to fill out the lunch bag to make the head as stiff as possible. Tie ribbon, tight, around bottom of lunch bag so newspaper will not come out. Glue black yarn on for hair. Make a witch hat and staple it on head.

Using the felt cut out two arms and hands, and two legs and shoes. Staple arms to sides and legs to bottom of upright grocery bag. Your child can make a broom out of cardboard. Staple it underneath legs so witch is flying. When you are ready to use piñata put candy in grocery bag. Tape top of grocery bag shut so candy can't fall out. Staple on head to the bag body.

The rope to pull the piñata up and down should be put through the back bag handle. Use a tall tree branch, patio rafter, or basketball hoop to help ease the piñata up and down. Since you will blindfold the child and turn them around before they hit they piñata with the end of a broom don't worry if the piñata isn't strong enough. I've seen piñatas so well made an adult has to step in and break them. It's more fun if a child has a chance to break it. Using the same simple idea above, you can make other types of piñatas- a cat, monster, fairy (make wings for the back)…

Movie Review: Tooth Fairy

Movie Title: Tooth Fairy. Comedy. Rated PG. I sat through this movie but I wouldn't want to sit through it again. That said my fellow movie viewers, two kids under the age of eleven, liked it. Kids are easier to please I figure. I did like the performance from Julie Andrews though.
Plot: When a hockey player squashes a child's hopes he is sentenced to be a tooth fairy for a week. He has to wear the outfit and all. The movie has its funny moments, but it's a predictable movie overall.

Stimulate your child’s imagination.

Tonight at bedtime start a made up tale with “Once upon a time” for your child. The story can be about them or the adventures of their pet or a fairy princess/prince. If you aren’t sure you can do this tonight spend tomorrow thinking about a story you can make up for them. By you making up a story for your child you are teaching them about using their imagination. You are opening up their creative mind.

Find out the Facts Before Disciplining your Child

Have you ever yelled at your child for doing something before finding out the whole story? As a parent you should find out what happened before you discipline your child. I will give you three reasons why. Number one, you do not want to teach your child to jump to conclusions. If you do this, they will see it, and do the same. Children mimic adult behavior. Number two, before you can justify giving a consequence you need to find out what really happened. You do not want to discipline your child for something they did not do wrong. Number three, some children embellish what occurred, habitually. You need to let them tell their version of the story first so afterwards you can say, "No Jack, that did not happen. I saw you break the vase with my own eyes. So do not lie." By saying this you are not letting Jack get away with his lie. Jack might get upset and cry when you tell him he is lying. He even might say you do not understand. But you really do. You understand he is trying to get away with lying by masking it with tears or indignation that you think he would lie. You need to be strong and not let him get away with telling tales. You should also let Jack know there will be X consequence for lying. And stick to giving the consequence!

Sample scenario: You are in your den and just got off the phone. You enter the dining room. You see a soccer ball in the corner and your son holding a broken plate. To your horror, you notice it is your Great Grandma's hand painted plate. Upset, you start yelling, "How did my plate break?! Jack I've told you a thousand times not play ball in the dining room. Why did you do it? Upstairs, young man!" Jack tries to explain what happened but you interrupt him with, "No excuses! I am so angry!" Sure in the past you might have caught Mike playing ball in the dining room, which he knows he should not do, but what happens if it was not him who broke the plate? What if it was his sister, Sue, who while you were entering the dining room went in the kitchen to look for glue to glue the plate? What if it was Sue who was playing in the dining room and broke the plate? What if Jack came in the room when he heard the crash and Sue told him to hold the plate while she got some glue? I know it can be very hard to keep your cool when an object you love is broken, especially when you have told your children many times not to touch it or play near it. But you need to set the tone. Try to remain calm. You need to teach your children to find out all the facts before correcting someone. Teach them to be fair.

Movie Review: The Swan Princess

Movie Title: The Swan Princess. Animation film. Rated G. This is movie for little girls. It's got the beautiful princess. An evil sorcerer. A curse the princess must overcome. And a handsome prince. Despite all this it's watchable for adults. Of course I wouldn't rent it for myself, but if a little girl asked if I'd watch it with her I wouldn't cringe. Trust me with some kid movies I actually do this. I'm not keen on predictable boring movies. Plus, I'm past the Saturday morning cartoon stage in my life. The movie is based on a children's fairy tale of the same name. In this version a princess is turned into a swan by a sorcerer. Only true love can set her free. Everything in-between is just to get to the happy ending.

Arts and Craft Project: Decorate a purse

Arts and Craft Project. Girls will like this one. Go to the Good Will, Salvation Army or a garage sale and buy a purse with a hard surface. Other items needed: Glue that dries clear. Tiny colored beads. One or two pretty postcards (famous picture at a museum/flowers/Paris...). Small can of Polyurethane. Paint brush.

What to do: Glue each postcard to middle section of purse. You the parent in ventilated area brush Polyurethane over postcard(s). Let dry. Now put a line of glue all around edges of postcard. Sprinkle beads in glue. Let dry. You can decorate purse more by using bigger beads or interesting buttons. Or if you’re making a French themed purse cut out French words or phrases, or pictures of French food. Glue them on purse. Polyurethane over. If you use extra pictures or cut out phrases I actually suggest you glue them on with the postcards in the beginning. Then Polyurethane all over side of purse. Then glue on beads. I made such a purse myself and had somebody offered to buy it from me.

Picture Book for Older Kids: Max’s Words

“Max’s Words,” by Kate Banks. Pictures by Boris Kulikov. Picture book for older kids-age five to ten. Top notch picture book! I love the pictures and they match the great story perfectly. I recommend grandparents giving this book to their grandkids. The story is about a boy, Max, who wants to collect things like his brothers. Max starts collecting words. He cuts them out of newspapers and magazines. His brothers might collect stamps and coins, but they can’t do what Max’s words can do, create sentences and stories.
Here is a book you can learn from. Have your own child cut out words from magazines and make funny sentences with them.

Parenting Tip: Fire Alarms

Today, go around your house to make sure all your ceiling fire detectors work. If they need new batteries install them. Fire detectors save lives so make sure to put them in all bedrooms, the den, family room, living room, kitchen, dining room, long hallways, basement laundry room (And make sure to clean out your laundry filter after every load and your hose every so often so a fire won’t start).