Summer Snackin'

by Holly

Our summer is off to a bang.  With 3 growing boys in the house, someone is ALWAYS hungry.  And, unfortunately, they take after me.  Not only are we hungry, but we get grumpy as well.  So, I am looking for fun ways to keep them fed.  I tend to let them roam the pantry when they get hungry, but they aren't always making the best choices (and neither am I, but THEY don't need to know that).  They usually start begging me to get down the candy bucket (supposedly reserved for special occasions).  Today I found an answer to this predicament.  I have to admit that familyfun.com is my inspiration.  I love this website.  Tons of great suggestions and easy ways to have simple fun with the kids.  So, we made hard boiled egg mice (crazily enough, I have always thought mice were cute) and strawberry ladybugs.  Here's how it goes...

 For the mice all you need is a hard boiled egg, olives, radishes, and I used a parsley tale (different than the suggested chives).  Slice the egg in half, cut thin radish slices for the ears, cut little eyes out of the olive, and cut off a tail from the parsley.  Here are all the pieces cut...

  Put the egg yoke side down and push the ears down into the egg.  Using a toothpick, poke two holes in the egg where the olive eyes will go and then stick the olive pieces in the holes.  Put your tail in the back, and you get this cute little guy...

We even gave him a little wedge of cheese to nibble on.  So cute!
Here's what you need for the ladybugs...

Super simple... strawberries (cut out the stem), red grapes, mini chocolate chips, and skewers.


Put a grape on the end of the skewer and stick the skewer through the strawberry so the grape tucks inside the end where the stem was.  Then, just take the pointy end of the mini chocolate chip and push it into the strawberry in two rows.  Here's our little ladybug...

And here's the best part...

Happy Snackin'!