Valentine's Houses

It has been really cold this weekend, and we needed a project to keep us busy indoors.  I made some gingerbread houses for the kid's to decorate with Valentine's candy. I have seen people decorating gingerbread houses for various holidays, so I filed the idea away for a rainy (or cold) day activity.  I actually just hot-glued the graham crackers together.  A friend used hot glue at Christmas for Mamie's class party, and I thought that was a great idea because they are much sturdier (thanks, Merrill!).

It is always funny to me to see how the kids decorate things so differently. You can tell so much about their personalities!

Margaret made hers the fastest, and her goal was basically just to see how many cinnamon bears she could get to stick to the icing. She was mostly just concerned with snacking on the candy. 

Griffin decided that his house was going to be hit by a hurricane.  That is why his "shingles" are jagged looking and the icing is uneven.  That is also why he selected the "My Hero" conversation heart.  He said the bear was the hero that helped the people during the hurricane. 

Mamie took the longest time to decorate her house, and she wanted the icing to be smooth and perfect.  She also took the time to read each conversation heart to make sure that it said something that she liked.

Have a great Valentine's week!

I love Valentine's Day!

I have always loved Valentine's day.  I love making the treats and crafts, the sweet cards, the colors and of course the candy!  Margaret and I had fun making some heart-shaped rice krispie treats yesterday.  She loves cooking in the kitchen with me.  I have already started to realize how much I am going to miss her when she goes to Kindergarten in the fall!



I also made this Valentine's lunch for the kids to take to school today.  I was inspired by something I saw online in the fall about packing fun lunches, but I can't find the link now. Super easy!

Happy Friday, friends!

Shrimp Chowder

I wanted to share a yummy soup recipe with you today.  It is very easy to put together, but it's delicious!  I hope that you will like it as much as we do.  We have had such an unseasonably warm winter around here, but we are actually having some "soup weather" this week.


Quick Shrimp Chowder
(slightly adapted from Southern Living - January 2004)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of potato soup, undiluted (I use Campbell's)
3 1/2 cups milk (I use 2%)
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 1/2 pounds medium-size shrimp, peeled (I use frozen)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can kernel corn, drained (optional)

Directions:
Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, and sauté 8 minutes or until tender.

Stir in cream of potato soup, milk, and pepper. Bring to a boil.

Add shrimp. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 5 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink.

Stir in corn (if using) and cheese until melted. Serve immediately.

Mamie's PJs and Pancakes (or waffles) Party

For Mamie's 10th birthday party, we had all of her friends come over for breakfast wearing their pjs.  I was able to use some of the decorations from Margaret's party which was nice.

They watched cartoons while we were waiting on everyone to arrive.

After that, they helped themselves to a breakfast buffet of Gibson's donut holes (in powdered sugar, glazed and cinnamon sugar), several kinds of cereals, fruit kabobs, orange juice and milk.


We also had a make-your-own waffle bar with syrup, whipped cream, chocolate chips and sprinkles.  I decided it would be easier to do waffles than pancakes since I could make them earlier in the morning and keep them warm in the oven.


After breakfast they decorated pillowcases using fabric markers.  They all signed each others'.  I was so impressed by their creativity.  They turned out so cute!


We had one other activity which was a breakfast cereal quiz.  I actually had another game planned, but we ran out of time.


Instead of a cake and to keep with the breakfast theme, I made a modified version of these rice krispie treat cupcakes.  They were really cute and yummy!


For favors, the girls took home their pillowcases and a mini box of cereal with a personalized spoon.


Mamie is so blessed to have such sweet friends!  It was a really special day.

Margaret's Fancy Birthday Party

We celebrated Margaret's 5th birthday this weekend with a fancy party!  All of the girls came dressed in their fanciest dresses. Margaret loves to dress up, so I thought this would be the perfect party theme for her.

She and Mamie decided to wear coordinating outfits. Margaret even got the boys to dress up a little!

Griffin added the Indiana Jones hat on his own...guess that's fancy in his book.

I decorated the dining room with boas, pink gerber daisies and green mums, a lace tablecloth and some tissue paper pom-poms that I made using this tutorial.

Our activities included making fancy fruit loops necklaces,

making play dough cookies and cupcakes,

reading a Fancy Nancy book

and making fancy pictures using glitter glue and markers.

Then it was time for snacks! We had cupcakes with pink icing, pink popcorn, high-heel shoe sugar cookies with pink icing, fruit kebabs and pink lemonade.

Mamie was such a wonderful assistant!  She helped the girls do their crafts and even videoed some.

We gave the girls pink purses with candy necklaces, plastic jewelry and other candy for their favors. I found the cute tags here.

What sweet friends to celebrate with!

She was so tired after a full weekend of partying!

Happy 10th Birthday, Mamie!

Today is Mamie's 10th birthday!  Boy does that feel old...double digits.  I did the same interview with Mamie today and here it is...

Mamie - Age 10

1. What is your favorite color? aqua
2. What is your favorite toy? ipod touch
3. What is your favorite fruit? grapefruit
4. What is your favorite tv show? I don’t watch TV, but my favorite movie is The Muppet Movie
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? pasta salad
6. What is your favorite outfit? my purple bubble dress with flowers at the top
7. What is your favorite game? Apples to Apples Jr.
8. What is your favorite snack? chips
9. What is your favorite animal? dog
10. What is your favorite song? You Belong With Me by: Taylor Swift
11. What is your favorite book? Harry Potter - Prisoner at Azcaban
12. Who is your best friend? Anne Wilkes
13. What is your favorite cereal? CoCo Puffs
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? swing
15. What is your favorite drink? pink lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? penguin pillow pet and Tato stuffed dog
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? donuts
19. What is favorite thing to eat for dinner? pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? an author