Valentines 2013

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY 2013

We kept Valentines Day very low key this year and I really enjoyed it.  No stress over cards, or candy, or flowers.

Here are the easy peasy Valentines Mr. P made for the grandparents. 

I used the cardboard tubes to make a heart shape.  I tried the rubber band as I have seen used by others but they bunched up my tubes too much.  Instead, I just taped them and it worked perfectly.

The ones that look colored in are because he got a bubble on the stamp when he dipped it in.  I thought it looked pretty cool.

 

 

Here is the finished product.  He even wrote his own name on the cards.  He was very proud of his work.

 

Since Mr. P goes to preschool 3 days a week he now has holiday parties. 

I made him this Valentine tie shirt to wear.

My husband snapped this one as he was dropping him off at preschool.  It made my day to see my little cutie looking so happy and handsome.

 

 

These are the cookies we made for him to take to preschool.  We also passed some out to friends and family.  I got the recipe from here.  This is the second time I have made cookies using a dry pudding mix.  We really like them.  The stay nice and chewy which is the way hubby and I both like our cookies.  I couldn't find sprinkles or chocolate hearts at the tiny Walmart I swung into, so we made ours with Valentine M&M's.  They were delicious.

 

These are the Valentines Mr. P handed out to his classmates.  I didn't just want to do candy, and they are only three so they can't really read Valentine cards yet.  P was very excited about the straws and helped me slide the straws on to all the hearts.

 

 

We finished out the day with a nice dinner out with some neighbor friends who only come into town for a brief time.  Then hubby and I spent the evening just talking about things going on in our lives and upcoming events.  It was really nice.  I wish we would do that more often but the craziness of life gets in the way so I will take it when I can get it.

 

All in all a nice day!  Happy Valentines Day to all my friends and family!!

 

Easy Peasy Valentine Craft for the Little Guy

     My little guys absolutely LOVES to do projects and activities with mommy.  He calls it "Mommy School" (we started doing lessons over the summer and now anytime we do something together he calls it "Mommy School") 
     I put together a few very easy Valentine Day crafts to do with him.  They came out pretty cute.  I love seeing him all proud of his accomplishments.  Check it out!!

Melted Crayon Hearts:
This is where I originally got the idea.  She gives a full tutorial on how to make them. 
Crayon Shaving Hearts @ Skip To My Lou
 
Here are the ones from Skip to My Lou

 

 

AND HERE ARE OURS!

 

We don't have a crayon sharpener so Mr. P. picked out the colors and shaved them down with a sharp knife.  He then added the colors to the wax paper and spread them around how he wanted them.

He won't take a picture with out making a funny face right now.

We laid the other piece of wax paper on top and I ironed it on the lowest heat setting.  It didn't take long and he was fascinated by the blending of the colors.

After it cooled I free handed a bunch of different size hearts onto the paper, poked a hole in them, and strung them up with some ribbon we happened to have on hand.

Mr. P. came out from his nap the other day and said "Mommy, these look so beautiful."  Mission accomplished!!

 

~Dawn~

 

A Little This, A Little That...

Here is a round up of some things that have been happening around here lately.

     I never made it to Winter Jam.  After a crazy work week, I was exhausted and we were worried about all the standing and waiting I was going to have to do.  I was 8 months pregnant after all.  Sooooo....I stayed home with this cute guy and got some things done around the house.

He helped me clean out that closet he is standing in front of and turn it into my craft closet.

 



Before                                                                                         After

 

Pretty productive day I would say.

 

I have been helping out a lot more with the Children's Ministry at our church lately.  We are currently immersed in an eight week study on how we can be heroes through God's power in us.

 

Heroes and Villains - New Spring Church

It's called Heroes and Villains.  The whole curriculum is free from New Spring Church.  It's a pretty awesome program complete with skits, games, crafts, videos, and songs.  The kids have been super excited about it.  (And so have I!)

 

Making Super Hero Capes.  (I took a bunch of the hubby's old undershirts and cut off the arms and the front of the shirt to make a cape.  Prefect for the kids!)

 

 

 My Little Cutie Pie - just had to have his picture taken. (Look no funny tongue!)



 

Got some Valentine decorations put up.

 



Nothing over the top, but they do make me smile every time I see them.  Especially seeing both the P and the A and knowing that next Valentine's Day I will have TWO littles to love on!!

 

These two boys make my heart sooooo happy.  They wore "matching" outfits to church today.  I love, love, love that my husband is so proud of his son and likes doing little things like that.  Mr. P. thought it was awesome that he was just like daddy.  And those faces!!  Just so darn cute even with the tongues sticking out!

 

 

AND FINALLY.... I updated out calendar today.  I keep it rotating each week so I can see a full month ahead.  Look what showed up on the calendar when I updated it today....

YEP!  That's little girls due date.  Can't believe that it is on the calendar.  Only 4 weeks to go (well, give or take when she decides to show up.)  I am so ready to meet her and hold her.  We have been working every weekend lately to get things ready and we are almost there.  Mr. P. is super excited to be a big brother.  He likes to play his guitar and sing to my belly.  He randomly adds Miss A's name to the songs he sings.  He tells me he is going to change her diapers, and nurse her when she cries.  LOL!  I sure hope he is just as enthusiastic about her when she actually arrives. 

 

~Dawn~



 

In the Kitchen {New Menu Additions}

     So recently, I have been trying to find a balance between homemade dinner and convenient food.  I like knowing what goes into my food, but I am not always successful at keeping up with this.  Also, I am not the only one who cooks in my house.  Who else you ask........why, my AMAZING husband cooks at least a couple of meals a week.  I know, I am greatly blessed to not only have a hubby who cooks, but he cooks pretty well too.  However, he does not like overly complicated recipes or having to do too much prep work.  (Especially when we have both worked a full day.)  With this in mind, on top of the fact that if it is quick and easy we are a lot more likely to make it and not order pizza or Chinese (which are less than a mile down the road from us.) 
     I have been doing some searching and this week found two new additions for our menu.  Hubby approves of both.  One is quick and easy, the other is just easy. 
     So.......without further ado, here are the two new additions.

Quick and Tasty Cheese Steak Subs from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Next time, we want to add mushrooms because our family LOVES mushrooms.  However, they were quite delicious the way they are.  Took me maybe 20 minutes to prepare.  I added some fruit to our plates and dinner was ready!

 

Rock Salt Roast Chicken by Mel's Kitchen Cafe

At first you are a little hesitant to plop your whole chicken on a BED of rock salt, but it DOES NOT make the chicken salty.  The flavoring from the lemon and garlic are subtle, but yummy.  The chicken was moist and perfect.  I had to add about 10 minutes of cooking time to mine. (4lbs chicken)  I served this with red mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.  YUM!!

 

And there you have it.  Two new recipes to give a try.  I have a few more lined up for later this week and next.  I'll let you know if any of them make the list.

 

~Dawn~

Baby Shower Fun

This past weekend my AWESOME Sister-in-Law and Sister-in-Law to Be threw me the CUTEST baby shower to celebrate the impending arrival of Munchkamoo #2.  I am due in 6 weeks with a little baby girl, so you can bet there was a lot of PINK at the party.  They did such a cute job, I wanted to share.

THE CAKE:

The ADORABLE cakes.  The one on the left is vanilla cupcakes and the one on the right is chocolate.  No awkward cake cutting moment with frosting all over the finger and having to touch everybody's piece.  Just grab a plate and a cupcake and your ready to enjoy.  I really liked this!

THE DECORATIONS: OWL THEME

Cute owl wall clings.  Can't wait to add them to the tree mural already in the room.

 

These cute little owls already found a home in my Valentine display.

My SIL Carrie made the ADORABLE bunting.  It is going to look so cute in Baby A's room.

My SIL to Be, Kim, made these diaper cakes.  SUPER CUTE!

 

FOOD, FAVORS and GAMES: 



 

Forgot to take a picture before we all ate it, but they did a yogurt bar as a little snack.  The shower was at 2pm so everyone had already eaten lunch.  There was granola, blueberries, chocolate chips, and strawberries to mix in with your vanilla yogurt.  YUMMY!  They also had a punch made with white grape juice and ginger ale.  I don't usually like ginger ale, but mixed with the juice it was VERY GOOD!

For a favor they made birdseed feeders to hang outside, since the theme was owls.

Game One: Memory Game - See how many of the items on the table you could remember after looking for one minute.  Our winners each had 18 items.

Game Two: Beach Ball Game - For this game there were cards that matched each color on the beach ball.  You had to do the color card that your thumb landed on when you caught the ball.

There were questions about baby car, questions about the Mom to Be, and silly Dare questions: Like sing your best rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Mrs. Pat our winner!

 

The GIFTS:  LOVE all the adorable baby girl things.



My good friend Jen hand made this adorable newborn owl hat.  I can just see the newborn pictures now!!! (We missed you Jen, hope you are feeling better!!)

A new Diaper Genie.  I know people have a lot of mixed opinions about Diaper Genies but we loved ours with Munchkamoo #1.  SO much in fact that we broke it shortly before he turned 2.  SO glad we have another one.

LOVE these ladies.  Carrie (SIL), Sally (Mom), Me, Kim (SIL to be)

 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU laddies for hosting this wonderful afternoon.  I really enjoyed it.  Can't wait to meet my baby girl.  Just 6 weeks to go!

 

~Dawn~