Noah is going on day three of school snow days and day 100 of cabin fever. Penny is right there with him. So today's post will be about what to do to keep the wild things occupied and keep you from going crazy too. It happens to the best of us. If you live anywhere near where the polar vortex will cross (at this point it seems like 70 percent of the US), please be safe and stay indoors unless you have to leave. For those of you who may have no choice but to leave the comfort and warmth of your own home, stay safe, bundle up, and take your time.
I decided to look in my pantry and see what I could find. Lucky me found a package of deep pan pizza crust mix; these packages can usually be purchased at Meijer for about $1. I also had a jar of pizza sauce and pepperoni. For tonight's meal feel free to add as many or as little toppings as you like. Try and throw in anything that you find in your fridge like spinach, leftover chicken, (or in my case deli turkey breast), any veggies you want to sneak into your kid's pizza, etc. Since we are trying to get the kids to become less frazzled, this is the time you let them dig in and help. Follow the directions on the package. Grab a bowl and empty the contents into the bowl with 1/2 cup warm water. Mix it until incorporated. I let the kids have fun with this part. I decided last minute to sprinkle some Italian seasoning into the mix.
From here I let the dough sit for 5 minutes and then divided the dough into three balls. I instructed the little ones to squish it to their heart's content which became their second favorite part. Don't worry about sticky hands and a messy table. At this point let your hair down and savor the moment. It wasn't long before they turned this into a contest and you would've thought I told them I was going to throw one of them out if it wasn't perfect...Oh, these kids of mine. After they settled down, I gave them each a spoon and explained they would put the sauce on first and then the toppings they chose. Now, this was their favorite part. See, my kids love cheese. I don't think "love" even begins to encompass how they feel about cheese. Seriously, if they were standing at the edge of a cliff and they had to choose between helping me or a bag of cheese... it was nice knowing them.
At this point, I imagine you're like, "Carolina the bag says to precook your crust." Yes, yes, something that I managed to miss while trying to wrangle the kids at the table. Our pizzas came out just fine without precooking the crust but feel free to precook it yourself. Maybe you have older kids who don't require you to keep hawk eyes on them, or perhaps you are meticulous and read the instructions before jumping in unlike myself. I applaud you! I need to work on reading the directions on the package before getting caught up with the kids. Anyhow, after they chose their toppings, I popped them into the oven for about 30 minutes. So now the real challenge began. What oh what was I going to do to keep them occupied for 30 whole minutes?
The craft of choice today is DIY puzzles. Grab a note card/scrap paper/construction paper and have them draw a picture. It can be of anything, their favorite activity, what they did that day, or even what the weather looks like outside. Have them try and color as much of the sheet as they can. (Noah chose to draw a snowman named Connor who was created a pizza and putting it in the oven). After they've completed their artwork, cut the paper into pieces. My kids don't have the attention span needed to do a giant puzzle; therefore I only cut their paper into four sections. I will say they had a blast doing this. They were so excited that they had personally created a puzzle. To make it more challenging, you can have your kids color the back and mix up the pieces before you have them put it together. 
While the kids were eating their pizza and enjoying their puzzle I chose to whip up a fast dessert. I'm a big sweets person. Always have been. Give me cake, donuts, cupcakes, muffins, you name it, and I'll be sure to take a bite! Dessert happens to be my favorite part. Guys, this can't get any easier. Take a box of cake mix and a can of fruit filling. The possibilities are endless. Some tasty combinations are chocolate cake with cherries, spice cake with apples, yellow cake with blueberries, etc. Today I had on hand yellow cake mix and apple filling. Spread out the filling in an 8x8 dish and then dump your cake mix evenly on top. If you have any leftover, tape down the top and write the date, you opened it. Now you have some extra for next time. Melt half a stick of butter and spread it over the top. Try to get every nook in the dish. Pop it in the oven for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly. When you pull it out of the oven, you'll have a warm dessert that I would encourage you to top with whipped cream. Viola! You did it!
Well, I hope I've helped you all entertain your wild things! Days like this can be tough, try to stay bundled up at home and now would be a good time to binge watch something new on Netflix.
With love,
Carolina
With love,
Carolina
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