Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Start The School Year Off With Water Bottles, A Baking Pan, and a Popsicle Maker + Giveaway

General disclosure
The past few weeks have been SO crazy. The boys went back to school and I started on two new teams at work. We went to the ocean one Saturday. Another weekend we went to my mom’s to celebrate her 70th birthday. I’m gone at night during the week for soccer, church, date night, and who knows what else shows up on the calendar. That being said, I’m behind on my reviews. Today I’m finally able to sit down and hopefully finish a few!

I think I’ve mentioned once (or a a dozen times) that we live in a small house. On top of that, we have well water. Well water at my house isn’t drinkable. Last month we got a water dispenser. This month we have reusable water bottles. We’re on the right path!
WaterWeek Kids
The Reduce WaterWeek Kids bottles have come in handy! Since we’ve stopped using plastic water bottles, because of our water dispenser, these new Kaleidoscope bottles have been awesome. The boys are used to the plastic bottles and want to be able to drink water and then put a lid back on like they used to.
Reduce WaterWeek Kids
What I like, that comes with these bottles, is the holder. Instead of the bottles being knocked around the fridge, they sit in a little white fridge tray. There are 5 that come in a set so that you can use them for your child’s lunch for school. We used them on our trip to the ocean. The kids each got one and Fred and I shared one. Super convenient and easy to tote around. The bonus, because each bottle is different colored, there was no mixing them up like you would a plastic disposable bottle!
WaterWeek Use
Now, this next kitchen gadget is fun, but has been somewhat of a challenge for us. lol In a good way and it’s been an amusing time of playing “getting to know you.” Let me introduce you to the Freiling ABC 123 Baking Pan.
ABC123 Baking Pan
I’m not a foodie, but I love baking. This was challenging because there were no English directions that came with it. Not that it necessarily needed them because it’s a baking pan, but because we weren’t sure what temp we should bake the dough at or for how long. Everything was in German and in European degrees.
Frieling ABC 123 Baking Pan
Our first attempt was amusing. We thought we had converted the temp correctly, but just a couple of minutes in the cookies were already burning. Those went right into the trash. The great part in all of these attempts is that you use so little batter mistakes aren’t a big deal.
ABC 123 Baking
The next attempt had us dropping the temp and the time we cooked them. I also hovered over mom’s oven like a hawk. After they’d cooked for a few minutes I could tell they were cooking faster than what I wanted so I pulled them out after another minute of baking. Several of the cookies didn’t turn out right because I didn’t put enough of the batter in the letter. Shoot the moon!

Finally they started to turn out right and everyone’s interest was piqued. Unfortunately, with everyone so interested in these letter and number shaped cookies, every time I turned around another letter or number had disappeared. So not helpful.
Happy 70th
I was so impatient that when I tried to put the icing on the cookies, they were too warm and the icing just slid off. Yea, rookie move, but everyone was chomping at the bit to eat them. And no, you won’t see the picture I took of the cookies frosted because they were too embarrassing to capture “on film.” We were celebrating mom’s birthday so I redid yet another couple of batches so that I could spell out Happy 70th. She thought those were so stinkin’ cute, and so did we!

Next…oh, next we have the Zoku Triple Quick Pop Maker! Coolest. Thing. Eh-ver! We were all riveted to this awesome gadget. By now I think everyone, aside from my mom, had heard of Zoku. She kept watching it with fascination. lol
Zoku
I wanted to have fun and do a theme with the pops. I searched Pinterest for some inspiration and man did I find it. There are some seriously amazing ideas on there. Endless suggestions. I also watched a couple of videos to learn how to use the Zoku. I wanted to get creative right from the get-go, but was missing the Character Kit. I couldn’t find it at any stores near us and didn’t have the patience to order it. lol I did find the Tools Set and bought that because I knew it would come in handy!
Gatorade Storm Trooper Zoku
Yoda and Vader Zoku
So, I’m not sure if you’ll be able to tell, but I wanted to go with a Star Wars theme. Now…hahahaha…I’ve got a LOT to improve on. Figuring out how to use different fruits or veggies to be different shapes like a belt or a patch or who knows what else. =)
Filling with creamer
Creamer filled wookie
I had the darndest time getting the fruit to stick because I didn’t have the Character Kit to keep everything in place. Next time I’ll have it an they’ll turn out better. Practice makes perfect, eh?
Star Wars popsicles
Ahead of time, I figured out what I thought might make good coloring for the Star Wars characters. I had to figure out which ones I wanted to do, too. After I got them finished I thought of various ways to improve on the finished product. Next time I tell ya.

For the flavors, I used sour apple Kool-Aid for Yoda, Gatorade for the Storm Trooper, coffee & creamer for Chewbacca, and black cherry Kool-Aid for Darth Vader. I think next time I’d do something for ears, add black for the Storm Trooper, dip the wookie in crushed cookie crumbs for “fur”, and add more red to Darth.

If you could spell something out with the baking pan, what would it be?

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17 comments:

Dawn said...

I'd like to spell out Happy Halloween.

The Book Club Network - TBCN said...

Wow, Fun Pans. I'd spell out LOVE

latanya t said...

My son will probably spell Leo from the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

1froglegs said...

Happy birthday/anniversary messages would be the most common use, but there are tons of creative ways I can think of to use these.

Terra Heck said...

I'd spell Happy Halloween and Happy Holidays with it. Thanks.
partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com

Linda Kish said...

I'd spell happy birthday.

scottsgal said...

I'd spell Hook Em Horns for my alma mater

sdavis said...

I would spell happy birthday for my son that is having a birthday soon

Unknown said...

I'd spell my kids' names! Bella and JW =)

Emily Smith said...

I would probably spell my kids names or let them pick out words.

DG Middendorf said...

First I would use it to teach my grandson's how to spell their names.

jmay said...

My grandchilds name

Audra said...

If spell out I love you

vegancatlady said...

Happy Halloween! That's what I'd spell.

Unknown said...

I would spell my son's name, Chase.

Tylerpants said...

We'd love to spell out Happy Birthday Daddy for my husband's upcoming birthday! Lisa L tylerpants(at)gmail.com

trixx said...

I'd love to spell my daughter's name

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Woven by Words by Mimi B is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.