King Cake Breakfast

Since it's Fat Tuesday, I made this for breakfast...


One can of these, plus purple, green and yellow sprinkles. Griffin found the baby this year! Mamie found it last year, so Margaret is certain that next year is her year!

Simon Says

It was really cold here last week, and the kids were getting cabin fever.  (Mamie was playing at a friend's house.)  So, we bundled up and played a very active game of Simon Says.  Simon had them running across the yard, skipping to trees, doing jumping jacks, etc...  Then we rode scooters around the block.  We only made it for about 20-30 minutes, but it was better than nothing!

Project 52 - True Love

I am jumping in a few weeks late to Project 52 with My 3 Boybarians.  I had hoped to do a Project 365, but I failed at that after about two weeks.  So now I am going for the once a week photo...much more "do-able."  Maybe next year!  The theme for this week was "True Love."  I have already posted this picture, but I am reposting it for the project.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Valentine card idea found here)

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.