Mardi Gras!

Is soo soon! And I feel like since I have major slacked on Valentine's day I need to make up for it!

Nothing too major but who doesn't love beignets?!

Planning on making some of the cheater version with some praline sauce, I'm using this recipe from Family.com

Ingredients

1 cup packed light brown sugar 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan combine butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat. Stir until thick and sugar begins to dissolve.
2. Add evaporated milk and stir well. Heat until bubbling. Continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and add pecans and vanilla. Stir well and let cool for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened before serving.

The kids loved them last year!

If the cheater version isn't for you, I've seen the Cafe du Monde mix at Cost Plus!

Another option would be to make these Mini King Cakes from Pillsbury!

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Half done Christmas Decorations!

Well if I don't share them now I'm not sure I will at all!

I think I am having a reaction to our tree, I was already getting sick and now it's just getting worse, the closer I am to the tree (and it smells SO good) the worse I feel.  I am kind of behind but I am ok with it! Learning to let stuff go is HARD but I am getting better. 

I had to decide between getting the chores done or heading to the craft store. For now, the chores win.

After our youngest was born 2 years ago I decided to change the Christmas stuff we had, I had already kind of outgrown the other stuff and I really prefer matching stockings and couldn't find one with his initial to match. That's how it all started! Every year I add a little more but it's obvious it's not finished.

Like these obviously are missing a candle! I found some that are perfect, but they are out at our Target and I just can't justify trekking the extra half hour to get them, they just aren't THAT important right now.  But I do love the little Michael's $1 section frames, that need pictures in them!

I love the lime green! Can't really tell in the picture but the little snowballs are shimmery (and ALL over if the fan gets turned on!)

I tend to be attracted to Elf Shoes! They are just so stinkin' cute!

The mantle is definitely lacking the FLUFF I am hoping to add to it. 

I used to love greenery but it just doesn't match the lime I like and its usually too full and blocks the TV (darn TV!) so when I get to the craft store and have some extra coupons I will be adding some white boas! 

Our Elf Cookie just happened to be hanging out there today.

All looks unfinished but I love where it's going! (cept that one is kinda crooked)

These are the stockings that started a new look, good thing I still LOVE them!

Random fluff from around the house

I did get some outside stuff done! I still don't have the monogram wreath I have been lusting over. I did try a DIY version.. TOTAL fail.. all it did was break the big G! Soo no wreath yet cause I can't decide what to do instead!

No lights up yet, maybe this weekend!

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St.Patrick's Day

Is only a few days away and we have a busy week, so I am prepping what I can now!

One thing that is new this year is Ramsey's obsession with Elf on a Shelf.. so much that when I put a little leprechaun out he asked if he was watching him to make sure he was good.. Like I am going to turn down an opportunity like that!  So we said yes of course!  The last few years we have had the kids decorate a baby food jar and leave it out for the leprechauns with a card. This year we are doing it a little different. We told them the leprechauns only come to visit if you have been very good!  I picked up a container of pots like these

and I have some gold chocolate coins to put in them, we hide them in the front yard and sprinkle a trail of St.Patrick's Day confetti to kind of lead them the right way! As soon as they turned the calendar to March in school he has been asking when the leprechauns are coming. Love that he remembers and enjoys it!

And I made a small batch of the potato candies I shared HERE, just to try them out. What I did different was only use about 1/2C (for the half batch) of toasted coconut and I used 1 1/4C of chopped walnuts and added 1/3C powdered sure more than the original recipe. They are pretty cute! Sending some for the teachers this week! This is the ones from last week, cute right?!

And I picked up all our fruit for the rainbow the kids LOVE! This year instead of just yogurt I will give them some of the cute cloud marshmallows too! I don't have a picture from last year (thank you strep throat medications) But pretty similar to this, minus marshmallows, yogurt instead!

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And if I remember a grocery store stop for some white carnations to turn green over night, we haven't tried this yet but I think our kids would love it!

And we made these rainbow cupcakes from Family Fun last year.. but I think the potato candies are plenty of sugar!

And if we get up early enough I might make these for breakfast!

From I am Mommy

Hope you all have a good St. Patrick's Day!  Have anything special planned?

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St.Parick's Day Decorations

I don't think they are too different from last year, so I'll just share what is different this time. Hoping to get a few more things done (since I do have a whole month!)

Got a cute idea from a girlfriend I hope to try over the long weekend, and I think I want to try to make our big red wreath a little rainbowish!

I know this seams a little crazy, but this is one of my favorite containers and I couldn't think of anything else that was big enough to fill it. It might be a little crazy~

Yep, spent $1.50 on potatoes and tied a ribbon on the vase!

It was actually sunny here today! Made the little vase look better!

Now if I could only keep real flowers looking that good!

There are kinds of free printable subway art for St. Patrick's day around too, think I need one of those!

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Valentine's Day Menu

Only about a week and a half until Valentine's Day! Still being in Birthday mode I haven't thought a whole lot about what we be doing that day but I am thinking we for sure need to have some heart shaped stuff! This is what I have planned so far~

Heart Shaped Pizza



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And I think we will probably have heart shaped sandwiches for lunch, just using our Wilton cookie cutter, this one is pretty big so you don't lose as much bread!

We don't usually let our kids have flavored milk ( tooo much sugar!!) but we do let them have special stuff on special days sometimes, and really who wouldn't love pink milk?!  So here is what I do to make their little treat extra special.. I used my favorite old jelly jars, dipped the edge in some melted white chocolate (it's easiest if you put the chocolate on a saucer or small plate,and I don't put on too much because I don't want any drips, then cover the chocolate in some sprinkles!

I am sure heart shaped pancakes will be around at breakfast time with whip cream and sprinkles, pretty much cause the mini heart sprinkles are just TOO cute!

I have a heart shaped mini pancake pan that makes these perfectly every time, although I think it is easier if you make your pancake batter a little more runny than usual, you kind of have to spread the batter around a little and if it is too thick it doesn't work as well.

Think it is this one, and I haven't seen it anywhere but ebay lately.. there are some other really cute ones though!

And this year for a dessert I think I am going to use a heart shaped ice cube mold like this one

And fill it with the Yoplait Whips Raspberry or Strawberry yogurt and freeze them, they are SO good frozen, better than ice cream! And I won't feel too guilty about the strawberry milk then!
I am using a bigger mold because I think it will be easier to get the yogurt in.. here is what I hope to do, scoop some yogurt in and tap it on the counter to get the air out, you can't really stir the yogurt or it loses its mousse consistency.  I might have to do a test run before next week! If I have sprinkles left over I might put some of those in the bottom too!  Then they can each have a few little frozen hearts for a treat! I think they will love em!

Previous Years
HERE, HERE, and HERE

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Birthday Party Sneak!

Our oldest 2 are 2 years and 1 day apart so they share a party (this might be the last year of that) Its a little tricky sometimes to find themes AND stuff that works for both of them. This year we they wanted a cowboy and cowgirl party. There are lots of blue and green and pink stuff around but I have never been a fan of the "sets" and really none of those colors work for us. Red is Ramsey's favorite color and Carsyn likes aqua enough that it would work for her..So decided on those 2 colors with some brown too!
Although I feel about 4 months behind on this party, not sure how that happened, I am slowly getting stuff ready and finding exactly what I am looking for about half the time! 2 weeks is coming SO SOON!!

So far I have made some cupcake pics

And got Carsyn's dress ordered, she will get it as her birthday present (a few days before the party) and she can wear it to her party. I LOVE this dress. I have about 15 pages of favorites on ETSY and was waiting until the last minute to order because I didn't LOVE any of them, I went to order one and decided to search 1 more time.. and there it was, PERFECT and within my budget, newly listed on etsy!

This is the sellers picture since we don't have it yet, but I am SO excited about how cute this is, Carsyn will LOVE it!

She still has this dress available HERE!

I have a whole lot of treats to plan for and make, order and HOPE stuff gets here in time!

I love party favors but I try to keep candy and the regular toys to a minimum. I have a couple CUTE ideas for this party and really hope all the supplies get here in time!

I might have 1 more little sneak peak to share in a few days!



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Groundhog Day Sweetness

Ive never really done anything for Groundhog Day.. and I still probably won't because it is our oldest's Birthday!!  But I saw this and thought I would share because it is for sure something I would do!!

These almost too cute to eat Groundhog Pudding Cups!! Found HERE. So easy! Pudding cup, oreo's, nilla wafer, almonds and a little chocolate for his face!

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Valentine's Day Graham Crackers.. more like a cookie!

These Graham Crackers  Cookies, are a favorite here, and SO easy to make!

Here is the recipe

Preheat oven to 350*

Chill a foil lined cookie sheet in the freezer while you work

Ingredients

1 C. whole wheat or graham flour 

1/2 C. Oat flour 

1/3 C. + 1 T sugar 

1/2t. Baking soda  

1/3 C. Butter or margarine 

1 t. honey 

1 T. milk

Directions

Sift flours, sugar, and soda in bowl together

Heat butter, honey, and milk until melted together.

Pour into dry ingredients

Stir until smooth

Pat into pan.. the thinner they are the more cracker like they are

bake for 15-20 minutes

Prick with fork as soon as you take them out of the oven

Let cool for a 1/2 hour (NEVER happens here)

Now if you want to add sprinkles, I do that before we bake them! And I especially like the tiny sprinkles!

So cute with the sprinkles!!

I think I could convince my kids these are a better treat than cupcakes!

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Thanksgiving cuteness #8

Thought I would try to catch up during "nap time" well today that just isn't happening, 1 out of 4 is asleep. But everyone is resting quitely (kind of). Just a couple minutes to share a few cute things for the kids table!

Coloring pages can be FREE and easy! There are lots of websites that offer free printable coloring pages like these, just search for __________ coloring pages!

To hold the crayons for those pages I love this idea from Fiskars.com Isn't it cute?! A little Pilgrim hat made out of a paper cup and some other pretties!

They also have these other projects on their site!

I think small kid sized things are more appealing to the little ones. Like these tiny little pies from Little Birdie Secrets (one of my favorite blogs!)

And if you have to buy the jars for a few little ones you would have enough jars left to let them each make their own butter (and keep their hands busy!)

PBSkids.org has the how to HERE but it is pretty simple, jar, heavy cream, tight lid, shake shake shake shake shake! If you have more kids, or older kids, a bigger jar that they can take turns shaking would work too!

You can also decorate the jars, or let the kids decorate the jars beforehand, as long as you can see enough to tell when the butter is ready!

 

 


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More Thanksgiving snacks day 7

If nap time goes well I should catch up today! First though, I wanted to find some snacks that I can do ahead AND aren't JUST sugar like all those cute cupcakes!

Like this Cute Cute paperbag made into a turkey full of popcorn. So cute! From One Charming Party



 Or doughnut hole acorns? How easy too.. just dip them in a little chocolate (or nutella, or PB) then nuts and a little pretzel stem!

via Family Fun

And there are THESE ones from the woodland/squirrel party..

A pumpkin or melon and a pear turned into a Turkey with fruit kabobs!

via Better Homes and Gardens

These little apple turkeys are great, you can still just about anything on them!

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What themed snacks are you planning?



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