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Welcome to another lovely edition of Muffin Tin Monday, the blog link up that has kids smiling everywhere and where we share the Muffin Tin Meals we make for our kids (and shhh, sometimes ourselves) each and every Monday. This summer, we are taking a break from the themes, so if you have been holding out and not participating, now is the perfect time!


I did kind of a half theme this week. Stars in honor of Muffin Tin Monday. A few of us have been chatting via the new MTM facebook page about what we are going to do this week. And, everyone was talking about Memorial Day, so it was on the brain when I put together today's tin!

In this star-shaped tin: carrots and ranch dip, potato bread stars, tangerine pieces, red grapes. This was a snack after a long day. Muffin Tin Girl loved it!

I know you are all in the midst of a glorious 3 day weekend and enjoying your families as you remember our fallen military servicemen and women, so I will get righ to it!

Here are this week's links:

These toilet paper roll clown puppets from Katherine Marie are so cute! And look very doable.

Have you seen these Winnie The Pooh Cake Pops from Bakerella? Ack! So sweet!

I am incredibly inspired by the paper butterfly wreath (by Alisa Burke) featured over at The Crafty Crow .

I enjoyed pouring over the kid's play room photos on Flickr yesterday. So many great ideas!



Psalm 86:1-7

 ¹Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
   for I am poor and needy. ²Preserve my life, for I am godly;
   save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. ³ Be gracious to me, O Lord,
   for to you do I cry all the day. ⁴Gladden the soul of your servant,
   for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. ⁵For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. ⁶ Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
   listen to my plea for grace. ⁷In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
    for you answer me.




my plea for grace....do you plead the Lord for his grace?

Are you on facebook? Well, if you are, then you can join the Muffin Tin Meals facebook page! There I will keep you updated on themes and post exclusive photos and hold exclusive giveaways, and it will be a place for muffin tin mamas who don't blog to come and see what the fuss is all about! Want to join in the fun on facebook? Click on the box below or link above.

Welcome the 2nd installment of the Muffin Tin Monday Springtime mini-series: Seeds Plants, and Flowers! This week I had particular fun putting together the muffin tin meal and if Muffin Tin Girl wasn't so hungry, I would have made more of those miniature open-faced flower sandwichs.

On a side note, did you know that playdough tools (washed and dried of course) can make great food shape cutters? Just sayin....

Back to the fun. Here's what I put together:

Oh...my...stars! I have found a deliciously simple and oh so tasty morning breakfast sandwich! The Egg and Cheese Waffle Sandwich via the Incredible Egg website. Special thanks to Jamie of Momma's Playground for inspiring me via twitter to make it! If you haven't checked out Jamie's blog yet, pop on over!


I made it again this morning for our family and everyone but Muffin Tin Boy loved it! For full instructions, follow the link to the Increble Egg site.

And as a side note, when I am not blogging, you can find me on twitter at http://twitter.com/muffintinmom

I have been dreaming up what I will do for this Monday's Muffin Tin Meal and I just thought I would share with you a few ideas I have been brainstorming.

When I think about a themed Muffin Tin Meal, I usually start by writing down a bunch of words associated with the theme.

For example, the next theme is springtime: birds and nests

birds and nests
birds
love birds
song birds
eggs
nest
owl
trees
leaves
birdhouse
bird bath
bird seed
worms
chicks
wings
feathers

Thinking outside the box:
stork
babies

Different types of birds:
owl
eagle/hawk,
chicken,
peacock
robin, blue jay, finch, love birds
humming bird
penguins
doves
swan
canary

• Then I think about what kind of foods creating the meal might entail:
• I try to match what I have in my cupboards to that list and see if I can create the theme around what I already have, if not I supplement if needed.
• I then get to making the muffin tin: sometimes the process is more organic and it just sort of comes together and other times I am planning it out cup by cup what I am going to include.

Hope this  helps you out a little bit as you think about next week's theme

It's that time again...Sunday, where I share links from around the web that inspire! Who needs the paper with links like these?

When Muffin Tin Boy broke his elbow last week I knew I wanted to do something for him that would make having a cast a little bit easier to bear. Sharing it with family paid off! My brother-in-law discovered this amazing company! I knew when I saw it that this would be just the thing.


Their mission is to provide "happy healing" to those who are mending a broken bone.Casttoo was created by the talented and adventurous Jessica Smith who herself had a broken bone from a bicycling accident and decided to share her passion for happy healing with the rest of us. She is accompanied by a rockin' staff that are all committed to the bringing a little more joy to bone break recovery.


Casttoo's are for everyone and easy to apply with a little heat. They come in a wide variety of options including asian dragons, rainbows, fairies, flowers, sports, unicorns, flames and you can even have a custom Casttoo made of the x-ray of your break!

The pricing is moderate and increases depending on the size of the Casttoo you want. Muffin Tin Boy received the small asian dragon (around $20). Totally worth the smile on his face from ear to ear when he saw it.

Their clever sizing chart made it easy to decide what size who fit a 5 year old boy...



And with step by step instructions that came with the Casttoo and available online, we were set!

Here's ours (He had his cast re-wrapped in blue):
**Disclosure: MT Boy and I did receive a Casttoo free of charge in order to write this review.

Children love to be told how proud you are of them and how much you love them. They love to hear specifically what they have done that has earned a compliment or moment of praise. Nothing beats hearing "I really like it when you.." or "wow! You picked all your toys without whining or complaining. I am so proud of you. Keep it up." And while that is always a top priority it my book, a little "love gossip" is a great way to well, share the love, so to speak.

What's "love gossip", you ask?

Here's how it works. While your child is within ear shot, talk to a stuffed animal or doll about your child. Maybe your son or daughter ate all their dinner or was kind to friend or sibling. Choose something and share it with that toy-paying careful attention to make sure your child can hear you. Be sure to be authentic and not too "over the top".

Example: (to "bun-bun" the stuffed bunny) What? I know, I saw that too. K was kind to her brother tonight. She shared her treats with him. She didn't have to. What was that? You want me to give her a hug for you and tell her how proud you are? Okay. (hugs). K, bun-bun is really proud of you and so am I.  

This also works in 3rd person when talking to dad, grandma and grandpa, or another friend.

Example: Daddy, did you read K's report card today? Her teacher wrote that she is a very good listener. I agree, she IS a good listener. I am so proud of her. 


Nothing boosts a child's self confidence more than a parent who believes in them. And to be clear, telling someone else about your child doesn't replace telling them yourself, that should always come first. "Love Gossip" is just a great way to add to it. :)

**I first read about this concept in  Dr. Karp, MD's The Happiest Toddler on The Block Although he doesn't call it "love" gossip.


*photo by aussiegal

Happy Muffin Tin Monday! Every week we share the muffin tin meals we make for our kids and link them together here - and we call it Muffin Tin Monday and sometimes "MTM" for short. :) Muffin Tin Mom is the "Official Home of the Muffin Tin Meal and Muffin Tin Monday" and I am so glad you are her to join in the fun by either submitting a link to your blog post about your MTM or just here to browse all the other submissions. For more on Muffin Tin Monday be sure to visit the MTM FAQ page.

Here are this week's links!