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Last Week of Flower Fun

This week life has been a bit busy for me, so we kept things a little low key. 

Our weather has finally changed from cold and rainy to warm and humid. We enjoyed a night in the park listening to the birds and exploring the "flowers" and other weeds. I am going to put together a "Park Scavenger Hunt" to do in June. As soon as I have my list together, I will share. 


I like to have a desert or food that accompanies our theme each week. This week I attempted to make flowers out of sugar cookie dough. 

The dough didn't look the prettiest. I used a small circle, glass bowl to cut out my middle. I then free handed a petal and then attempted to use it as a template. I stuck the dough all together and then crossed my fingers when I put it into the oven.

I thought they turned out pretty well for...


1- My first attempt.
2- I'm not a perfectionist
3- I had about 5 minutes to decorate. 

The kids loved them and that is all that matters!

The Importance of Family Traditions

 Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable, and safe in a confusing world. - Susan Lieberman

I believe strongly that creating family traditions helps us create our family identity. One of my many goals as a mother is to create a family who supports and loves each other. I want my children to reflect back on their childhood as one of joy and laughter. I am trying to intentionally create these experiences. If I don't, I believe our lives will pass by with colorless experiences due to getting caught up in our dull life to life responsibilities.

This article is fantastic.  It discusses the importance of traditions and identifies 32 ideas to get started with family traditions. Enjoy!

Spring Decoration

I am so excited, I am getting a blog design! Wahoo! I will be changing my domain shortly, so please look for the notice to update your bookmark.

I LOVE to decorate the seasons and holidays, so much so that I have ran out of storage room for all my seasonal decorations. Will that stop me? Heavens, no! I just need to be a bit more creative in the storage department.

My friend Michelle inspired me with her post here. I basically copied her idea because I loved it so much. 

I am a firm believer in making my house a home. My family needs a place that is peaceful and happy. A place that is warm and lived in. I love to bring the seasons and holidays inside my home. I love seeing Logan's eyes light up when he sees something new and festive. I am savoring these moments when Logan and I are decorating together while Hannah is desperately trying to help us by unloading the bins. Truly, decorating is bringing us closer as a family. :)

I Am So Excited!

What appeared at my front door, but a gift from Amazon , well a gift that I bought myself a few days ago.


My husband and I have completely changed our eating habits and try to buy locally as possible. Can't wait to try this new cookbook. What I also love about it is the premise that you make your dinners together as a family. The one year old isn't a big help, but the three year old LOVES to help cook. I just need to remember not to be in a hurry to get dinner on the table. Logan has his own time table... sloooow.


I am so excited to finally get my hands on Cake Pops. Experiments with the kids shall be forth coming!

Another Week of Flowers!

This week, we kept it pretty simple. 

I made some delicious french toast (with a sweet potato puree.) So easy! Mix two eggs, some sweet potato, and cinnamon and let the bread soak for a few seconds and cook. 


To get the flower:

• Cut out the flower on the Cricut, Silhouette, or any paper cutter. If you do not have a paper cutter, you can find any image on the computer. Cut out the image and use the actual paper as your template, not the cut out image.  

• Place paper over your french toast and gently shake powdered sugar over your template. I don't have one of those nifty shakers, however, I do have a very small strainer which worked perfectly!

• Serve and enjoy!

 

Our after dinner activity consisted of making a flower on our family wall describing what we love about being outside. It was quick and easy which is sometimes needed for two kids who really need to go to bed!


To make:

• Fold a piece of paper in half. Cut about 1/4 in from the non-folded edge and cut up gradually going in to a point. This is your template.

• Choose colors and cut away following the template. 

• Try many times to cut a circle for the middle of the flower. I could have used my Cricut, but I had already put it away and I was a bit lazy to get it out. 

• Let the kids color the petals.

• Let everyone identify what they like about being outside. 

• Hang away with your older son's help! (This was also a patience lesson for the mom as she realized she needs to help her son listen to directions.)

Friday Flowers: Week 2

Back Story... a few weeks ago I came across cake pops from Bakerella. I fell instantly in love but my first try was a no go. It was terrible, when I tried to roll my cake into balls with the frosting, they kept coming apart. I finally just threw it all away. Fast forward a few weeks... I came across a small brownie mold at AC Moore and knew it was perfect for this week's needs. 

I saw this post from Bake At 350 and knew I must try it for this week's festivities. 

I followed all the same directions except used I used this brownie recipe and used my brownie mold. It was incredibly easy! While the brownies are cooling, add the stick, and let them cool completely. Melt white chocolate by boiling a large pot of water and then placing a second pot with the chocolate on top of the boiling water and constantly mix until melted. Once the chocolate is melted, swirl the brownie in the chocolate and then dip the chocolate into sprinkles. 

Logan is old enough he could have helped me dip the chocolate but he was too busy coloring the flowers. 

Thank you Martha (you know you have made it when everyone knows you by your first name!) for the easy template.

While we assembled our flowers, our family discussed feelings and what we do for people who are sad. Every month as a family, we try to do a service act for someone in need. We decided we would take our flower bouquet to a friend who just had surgery.

I used these faces as part of our discussion. I plan on having the kids color and cut out the faces and attach to card stock.

 Logan enjoyed his own flower pop. 

This is one of my favorite pictures. The son mimicking his mother.

Back At It:: May!

You know sometimes you go through spells where life just isn't grooving along easily. It's been that way for me for a couple of months, but I am determined to get back on top. I figured, in order to keep this blog up, I need to do our weekly activities before I post, hence this post and a different approach to this little blog.


My May theme is Friday Flowers. I find Friday's (and Mondays) are the easiest night for us to celebrate. This month, we are celebrating Flowers and Spring in all it's glory!

Our first week consisted of:

 A yummy Spring treat consisting of apples and raspberries. This is my attempt at a flower. 

Every month I like to decorate our family wall. This month we are decorating with our flower creations. For older kids you can have them draw, paint, sculpt, modge podge their own. There are endless options. Logan likes to glue tissue paper on his.

{To get the shape, I went into Photoshop Elements and clicked on the cookie cutter tool. Next, look at the top and under shape choose flowers. Lastly, chose a flower and click on your document and re size to whatever shape you like.}

 Here are our first three flowers. I think the two that Logan drew look kind of like toenails, but at least he is working on writing his O's. :) I am going to proudly display them in my home.

Eggcellent Monday - Week 2

I really wanted to post pictures and an update from our Week 1 Eggcellent Monday, but basically it was a no go. Sometimes a 3 year old does not want to cooperate and is put to bed. However, this week, will be a blast!

Food: 

• Hidden Surprise Easter Egg Treats found here. I love these and will fill them up with left over jelly beans from our previous week. 

Activity:

•  "Some Bunny Love You!" thumb print cards. I am going to try to get these done today and hopefully will post pictures.

• Animal Charades: I think we will do this during the day or as I am getting dinner ready. Logan loves to act like animals, so I will create some cards and we can draw one and run around, make noises, and pretend to be that animal. Hannah loves to run behind and laugh. 

• Don't Eat Peep! I love, love, love this site, Prepared Not Scared!, and their games. We did a similar game at Thanksgiving, and we all loved it! 

***For all games that I want to use again, I print on card stock and laminate.

It's April!

{Please excuse my lack of posts. Life became a bit busy, but we should be back to business now.}

I can't believe March has come and gone and April is now here. Unfortunately, we are not going to be celebrating April Fools (also my birthday!) due to my son having a little oral surgery. However, I have all of April to celebrate everything Easter. 

April's theme was a bit hard and I had to take a break from the alliteration. So after some hard thinking and a lot of x'ing out... April is...

Eggcellent Monday!

However, if you have a better theme, please leave a comment and we may need to change midway through. It's a dull afternoon today and my brain is dead!

This week's festivities include:

Food: 

• Easter Egg Nests found here. I am going to get some jelly beans for the center. 
• A few store bought Easter treats

Activities: 

• Have a cake walk using the Egg Nests as the prizes. I am going to create large eggs out of construction paper and Logan and I will decorate them on Sunday. I will then number each one on the back. We will play some fun family music (love Pandora) while walking from egg to egg. When the music stops, a number will be drawn from a hat, and whoever is on the correct number will get to take an Eggs Nest or treat from the basket. 

•  I also love this envelope bunny idea from Martha Stewart. We will make our own and hang them (with the eggs) on our family wall. 

I am not a big Easter decoration fan. However, I do LOVE flowers and love this flower/candy idea from Martha.

 I also like this Easter Tree from, yes, you guessed it, Martha.  She is my go- to this week!

St. Patty's!

I have failed Top of the Morning Thursdays.

Sometimes life gets in the way of all my glorious plans. 

These past four weeks and next week are CRAZY thus not allowing me to be the cutest soccer mom ever. Oh, well, St. Patty's will be awesome next year!

I did have plans for the big day tomorrow, however, we have music class tomorrow early evening and by the time we get home it's time for the kids to go to bed. My dinner plans did include...

• Green crepes with strawberries, bananas, and other fruit. Yum!
• Limeade... 1.5 cups of lime juice and 4 cups of sugar with water. 
• Green and Yellow salad consisting of cantaloupe, kiwi, and any other green and yellow fruit

 

• And yummy cupcakes. The link is here.

For our activity, Logan and Hannah were going to follow the leprechaun's trail to the end of the rainbow. Leprechaun steps are cut out and placed all over the home. The kids start at the beginning spot and follow the trail from room to room, picking up little prizes and coins along the way. At the end of the trail is a pot full of treats and coins symbolizing the pot of gold. 

• There are lot of cute ideas at Sugardoodle.

I hope you have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! 

I would love to hear how you celebrated!

I LOVE...

the I Share sites!!!

{Printables, FunFood, and Crafts}

These sites make me all happy and giddy.

I visited I Share Printables today and searched for St. Patrick's ideas. I can't choose which ideas I love the most, so I will share a few I think I will incorporate into our home this month. 

Logan loves to color and I love this printable coloring page.

Love these little messages that I can give the kids on random days with a little treat.

I am going to use these tags to go along with our rainbow theme this week!

Please share any ideas you love! 

I also want to share my new family picture that I love...

Top of the Morning Thursday: Week Two!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) our last Top of the Morning Thursday did not happen for us. We were in Utah and the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Curtis and I went out for dinner with some of our fantastic friends. At least I have that idea banked away for next year!


These next three weeks are going to be crazy! I will be out during the day for the next 2 1/2 weeks for work, but thankfully breakfast is EASY to make and I have the weekends to prepare everything. {I'm so thankful to work at home, the days I am out I come home completely exhausted.}


Anyway, this week's plans include:

• Green waffles and eggs. I haven't decided on what waffle recipe to use, but I think I will find the recipe with the most stars in allrecipes.com

• Logan loves glue and tissue paper so I am going to make our own version of these...

The links are found here and here. 

I have a small wall dedicated to each month's activities and projects. It's bare right now and needs some color. If time permits, we may make some small rainbows we can send to our family through the mail.   

Spring is almost here! I can't wait!!!

Birthday Celebrations!

I love any reason to party, including my daughter's first party. We try to keep parties, especially the first, very simple and just for family. However, I have started some traditions I like to do for each of my children's birthdays. 


We celebrate Birthday Weeks. I'm still trying to figure out what to do on each day of the birthday week to make it special, so if you have any ideas, please let me know!!!

Since we have family scattered throughout the country, I like to make a birthday card and send it to our family. It's also fun to keep them in a book to reflect back on. Here is an example of the one I did for Hannah. Scrapblog is great to use for these purposes.

I also started making shirts for them to wear on their birthdays with their name and age. I just use an iron on and the cheapest shirt I can find.

I also have a birthday banner I hang up for the week, but unfortunately to picture right now.

For Hannah's birthday, I found this idea from Martha Steward and completely fell in love with it. I decided to recreate it...

Cake making skills are obviously not my forte, but at least one can try!

What are some of your birthday celebrations?

March's Theme!

March is Top of the Morning Thursday!

{courtesy of Elise's brilliant mind}

Decorations from the party store have been bought and I am excited to go back home after the big wedding to deck out everything in green.

Dinner's will consist of breakfast items and of course green dye. 

This week we will feast on green pancakes and I think I will try to make these Clover Cupcakes. 

Our activity will consist of making these fun buttons from Martha Stewart found here. You can always count on Martha to have a fun idea! 

MIA! Love Activity for This Week

Sorry I have been missing in action! My brother is getting married and I took a journey across many lands to arrive at my parent's home. I do have pictures from Valentines which I will share soon.


This week's Twitterpated Tuesday didn't happen with all the craziness surrounding us.... however, today we are working on our "Love Chain." Each of the kids (mine and their cousins) will color what they love and we will make a chain garland to hang around my parent's home. I can't wait to see what the three and two year come up with! Pictures coming soon!

Plans for March are in the works!

Ahhhh.... Love Day

Tomorrow is the big day! Yes, we are celebrating Twitterpated Tuesday on Love Monday.

I am so excited!

The day will start off with pancake hearts, I am going to try to die the batter red. I also bought red helium balloons and attached them to the chairs. We are decked out in hearts and red!

During the day, we are going to start our "Grateful Book". I really want to teach my children to be grateful for what they have, so a few times a week, we will write what we are thankful for and Logan will draw and color a picture. Once I have the template made, I will share! 


The big evening involves a dinner with our ward missionaries. They have no idea what they are in for. A salad with strawberries and a yummy vinaigrette, roasted potatoes, twice baked Parmesan Chicken, our favorite desert AND I am going to attempt some Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. Two deserts in one night! We are going to be on a sugar high!


Each guest at our Valentines Dinner is receiving a small bag filled with a little surprise. I found my bags at Target and the surprises include a little stuffed bear for Hannah and a Toy Story chocolate heart and Pez dispenser for Logan. I can't include Curtis's because he reads this. :) The missionaries will get a few sweet treats. 

{My new goal is to celebrate all these holidays without all these sugary treats!}

After dinner and the departing of the missionaries, we are going to play Valentine Bingo. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE My Heart and Home blog. I get so many of my games from there. The Bingo above is for preschoolers but they also have a fun, regular Be Mine Bingo. I also saved these to my computer for next year.


I hope everyone has a splendid Valentines! Curtis bought us {from one of those buy me today for cheap sites} a cooking lesson at home from a chef. That will be interesting! 

Happy Valentines Day!

Twitterpated Tuesday #2 Recap!

Our 2nd Twitterpated Tuesday was another success!

 We ate yummy pizza and salad. It's easy to make a red drink by combining Ginger Ale and Cranberry Juice. To add a little red to salad, add strawberries. Yum. {Elise made the pizza, so I cannot take credit for it.} 

Logan loved the scavenger hunt. We searched our home high and low and finally found the heart bowl of M&M's. Next time, I am going to make it longer and better! I included how we can demonstrate love on each slip. For example, "You can show love by giving hugs and kisses. You can show love by being obedient. You can show love by sharing your toys." 

 The desert was literally heaven on earth. While shoveling into our mouths, all we heard was, "This is delicious. I need a second piece. This is soooo good." The recipe is here. You have to make it!

And we can't leave out the babies. The little girl belongs to me and the darling little boys belongs to Elise and Lowell. Hannah tends to have dinner and then go to bed, so hopefully next year she will join in on the festivities.

Twitterpated Tuesday... Take 2

It's the beginning of week 2, and I am so excited for this week!

I love traditions and one we have for February is our "Love Mailboxes." These are already all over the Internet, but thought I would still share. :) Each of us has a mailbox {Target $1}and everyday a reason why I love that person is placed within, including a small treat from time to time. Logan is always looking for his flag to be up and loves to open up Hannah's for her. One recommendation... write all your slips at one time.

This week's festivities include an easy dinner preparation and a scavenger hunt.

Dinner:

• Pizza (We like the homemade kind with cheese for myself and the kids and mushroom and bacon for my husband, but you can also order in!) I was going to, again, use the heart shape cookie cutter to cut out the slices. 
• Strawberry pizza for the sweet tooth. I'm going to try THIS recipe and bake it in my heart mold. {And remember, strawberries are an aphrodisiac, so save some for after the kids go to bed! We like to joke about "Frisky Friday".}
• The drink is cranberry juice and ginger ale. Yum. 

Activity: 

• "Heart Marks The Spot"... We are going on a scavenger hunt to find our pot of Valentine M & M's (Logan's favorite candy.) Each clue will direct him where to go but also teach him how to show love. For example, "Always Share Your Toys" and "Always Say Thank You." I expect Hannah will have a blast following her brother around the house, she just started walking a few weeks ago.  

This week I plan to write and link some of my favorite ideas that are in my stash of "To Do In The Future." So stay tune for that and the follow up to Tuesday!

Twitterpated Tuesday #1 Recap

Sorry for the delay! We had an ice storm which resulted in us loosing power and then life was busy!

We celebrated our first Twitterpated Tuesday with our best friends... Lowell, Elise, and Tanner Smith! Please make sure you see Tanner's head at the bottom of the picture.

The whole night was all about LOVE, yes, kind of gaggy, but isn't that what February is all about!

We started our night with some pre-dinner Valentine making. Logan loves glitter, scissors, and glue, so he was in heaven.Curtis got involved and did some awesome glitter hearts. Love watching my husband getting his hands dirty with glue. 

During the day, I made chocolate hearts (white chocolate with red food coloring) and the cake. There are heart molds everywhere right now... AC Moore, Target, Michaels, JoAnne's...

We dined on our breaded zucchini, carrots, dip, and protein packed grilled cheese. Grilled cheese = Logan in heaven yet again. Hannah wasn't minding it either. Elise brought our red drink and the yummiest strawberry and artichoke salad. 

After our scrumptious dinner, Logan decorated the cake and we helped our self to many servings. {Excuse the watermelon plate, it's the only very large, flat plate I have.}

All in all, our first Twitterpated Tuesday went well! I'm finding it hard to have an activity after dinner since both our kids go to bed at 7:00 PM. This month I am switching our activities to before dinner. Hopefully this will give us more time to enjoy our time being silly!

Next post coming tomorrow... Twitterpated Tuesday 2!

Twitterpated Tuesday!

I can't believe it is February! This year is already in high gear. 

For our first Twitterpated Tuesday, we are keeping things a bit simple.  

Dinner: 

• Parmesan Zucchini Strips with Creamy Parmesan Dipping Sauce (I have never made it and will post the recipe if we like it!)
• Grilled Cheese cut out in hearts (we are trying Healthify 2.0 and so are sandwiches will be packed with some beans, lemon juice, ricotta, olive oil, garlic, and mozzarella cheese on sourdough)
• Side salad

* To cut out the hearts in the sandwiches, I bought a heart sugar cookie cutter from Michaels. 

Desert:

• I bought a heart shape cake mold from Michaels and will be trying Busy-Day Chocolate Cake with Simple Buttercream Frosting from Martha Stewart's website. I am going to dye the frosting pink and let Logan decorate the top with sprinkles. 

Activity:

• Since I love homemade valentines and we have family and friends all over the country, we are making homemade valentines. Supplies needed: construction paper, scissors, glitter glue, glue, markers, crayons, paint, and anything that sounds appropriate! 

I'll post pictures and feedback after the glorious night!

12 Months of Fun! What is It?

I love my family. I love memories. I love traditions. I love to create. I love being a mother. My goal as a mother and wife is to create lasting memories and to create a happy, harmonious home. Hence, where 12 Months of Fun comes into play. Each month, I pick a night a week that celebrates a theme and plan a dinner and activities that revolve around it.

A few past themes:

• October: Frightful Friday
• November: Thankful Thursday
• December: Merry Monday
• January: Winter Wednesday

For February, we are celebrating Twitterpated Tuesday!  I plan on posting for the upcoming week and may post a few other memories we are creating. I hope you play along with us as we gather ideas and create lasting memories that our families will always treasure!

I am inspired by...

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf talk in October's Relief Society General Meeting entitled, "Happiness, Your Heritage." This talk was a pivotal moment in my life and one I am eternally grateful for. A few of my favorite quotes...

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."

"We were created (by our Heavenly Father) with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fullness of joy. Our birthright-and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth-is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things."

"If you are a mother, you participate with god in His work of creation-not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by teaching and nurturing them."

"Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before- colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter."