Wordless Wednesday

DIY Burger Party Invitations

With Miss Roo's 5th birthday fast approaching it's really time to get cracking on invitations so we discussed a theme and she said "burgers". That left me scratching my head. Seriously??!! What soon to be 5 year old picks that for a theme? What's wrong with Princesses, ponies, Hello Kitty and the likes. Yeah, right, I forgot my girl is anything but typical. We are talking about a girl who wanted reptiles and other disgusting critters for her THIRD birthday.

So how do I make a burger invitation? Her idea was simple.Make a burger and send it to her friends. Does she not understand how the postal service works? That's clearly insane! Or is it? Sometimes with little kids you just have to simplify their thoughts and that's exactly what I did! Why not send her friends a burger in the mail and while we're at it lets make sure it's loaded with the works! All the fixin's, No holding back for her friends!!!

Here is a photo collage of the steps involved. Super easy, though a tad time consuming since Miss Roo insisted on doing a lot of it on her own.

I am a complete control freak when it comes to even planning and if I want it done exactly right I have to do it myself so these were "fun" for me. I had to let go of the reins and let Roo take the lead a bit on this project. Have a look:

So, what do you think? 

Do you make your kids party invitations or do you prefer to buy them? We'd love to hear your thoughts?

Snow Day Whoopie Pies

There's nothing better than a simple recipe that kids can help with. When we had a snow day this week I decided to try making Whoopie Pies with Miss Roo. She has so much confidence in the kitchen and the mess is so worthwhile when I see the pride she has seeing people love what she has made!

Have you ever had a whoopee pie? I hadn't and to be honest I thought they sounded finicky and very frou-frou (that's a word right?)

 Aside from the actual measurements she was able to do a great deal of the work herself!

Want to make some? Here's how we did it:

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or preheat a convection oven to 315 degrees F.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and eggs together until well combined. Add the oil and vanilla and beat again.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry mixture to the egg mixture and beat or stir to blend. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and beat again. Add the remaining dry mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and beat until blended.

With a large spoon, scoop out 32 circles of batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.

Spread filling onto 16 circles and place remaining circles on top, to make 16 Whoopie Pies.

Filling (Make while cookies are baking)

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/3 cups marshmallow topping

Dash salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Spread filling across cooled cookie circles.

These were taste tested and approved by none other than Miss Roo.

Have you had them? What do you think? A perfect treat or over-rated?

Teen Suicide

Today while having a coffee date with one of my good friends we learned through social media that the young daughter of a friend and neighbour has committed suicide. The first question that came to my mind was:

For the love of God why is a beautiful girl so full of promise ending her life?

The answer is not always so clear. Was it bullying like so many others was it her sexuality like the rumours are implying or is it something else? The fact is it doesn't matter. What matters is that no one saw it coming, or so it seems. Our kids are dealing with a world that NEVER EVER SHUTS OFF.

In my day when things were hard I could go home to the safety of my own home and if needed I could retreat into my bedroom, my sanctuary.

Think today's kids can do that too? Think again. Sure they can go home, but all the outside noise is right there with them, relentless and unstoppable.

With social media and devices like tablets and smart phone nothing changes when they get home.

"POP!" Another notification there is a facebook message.

"CHIRP!" Oh yay! A tweet!

"BLING" Another text.

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pheed, Vine, Instagram, Formspring, AskFM and the list goes on and on!

Parents, please step out of the fog. Lift your rose colour glasses and watch for problems. Don't ignore that tiny voice whispering that everything might NOT be ok. Get involved! TALK TO YOUR KIDS! Not just idle chit chat. Deep meaningful conversations. Have discussions about mental health, ask if they have friends with serious issues. Ask how they handle stress and if they feel like parts of their life causes them to struggle. They'll most certainly be resistant at first, but keep at it. Ask again, talk again! Eventually you'll begin to see what's really going on, and if you don't find another perhaps more "Cool" adult in their life to help you get there. You have to do everything you can to help your teens wade through the turbulent waters of the hard years. Sure, they seem to have it under control, they are independent and head strong, out in the world making their mark. But don't be fooled by this façade, they still need you. MORE THAN EVER BEFORE. Be the parent that doesn't give up.

Kids don't have to end their loves like this. They need intervention before it gets that bad.

If you need a starting point check this website out. It has great Canadian based resources.

http://teenmentalhealth.org/

Please keep parenting your teens even if it seems like they don't need it.

How do you stay involved in your teens life?