Five on Friday

I have been seeing these "Five on Friday" posts for a while, but this is my first time joining in.  So here are five of my favorite things!

ONE:  Crock Pot

I LURVE my Crock Pot.  I am pretty sure I cook at least two meals a week in my Crock Pot, and it becomes invaluable during tee-ball season.  I make soups, chicken dishes, roast, lasagna, and even Chinese food in my Crock Pot.  I could not live without it.

TWO:  Coordinating Brother-Sister Outfits

I LOVE dressing my kids in matching outfits.  The Hubs has joked me ever since C was born by reminding me that they aren't twins.  But I know that since my oldest is a boy, I won't have long to dress them in matching outfits, and I will do it as long as B will let me.

THREE:  The Beach

I have loved going to the beach ever since I was a little girl.  My parents would take our family to the beach every summer, and we still go with them often.  And thankfully, I think I have passed my love of the beach to my two little ones.

FOUR:  Professional Portraits of my Kids

Ever since B was 6 weeks old, I have been a stickler for getting their professional portraits done.  The photographer that I use puts their pictures in albums, but I have 16 x 20s of their one-year portraits and I love them!  (This picture doesn't do them justice.)

FIVE:  Vacation Planning

I love to plan a trip--more than most people probably.  I could (and usually do) spend hours researching, reading, and Googling each and every little detail to find out as much as I can about wherever we are going.  I have planned my own trips to Vegas, New York City (and yes, that is me and the Hubs in front of Monica and Rachel's apartment on Friends), and our most recent trips to Disney World.  There is just nothing like finding useful information or websites that you can refer to over and over again.  And usually, even if we don't have a trip on the horizon, I am thinking about planning one!  Odds are, if I had not gone into education, I would have LOVED being a travel agent!

So there's five of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Flint Riverquarium

This morning, the kids and I went with our former play group to the Flint Riverquarium for Tadpole Time.  One Thursday morning each month, they have a special time for the pre-schoolers to hear a story, do a craft, and then tour the aquarium.  Since we have been talking about animals in school and fish had been the topic this week, it was perfect timing.

We arrived around 10:00 for Tadpole Time where they kids got a snack, listened to a story about frogs, and did a frog craft.  B was particularly excited to get to spend some time with friend M.

After the craft we took a guided tour of the first few exhibits, and then we were free to roam the rest on our own.  The kids loved checking out the turtles, fish, frogs, and other aquatic life.

We finished up the tour by checking out the small aviary they have in the back.  Seeing and hearing the various birds up close was so neat!

After a quick stop at Hobby Lobby and lunch at Chick-Fil-A, we headed home for nap time.  It was such a fun morning.  I love these little outings with my kiddos!

Valentine Food Roundup

I did special meals for the family all week to celebrate Valentine's Day.  Instead of blogging them each individually, I decided to just round them all up into one big post.  So here goes!

Heart Pancakes

Heart Ham and Cheese Lunch

Heart PB&J and Bananas Lunch

Heart Pizza and Strawberry Ice Cream Hearts Dinner

Heart Hot Dogs
(read more about these here)

Heart Strawberry-Nutella Hand Pies

I bought a set of 6 plastic heart-shaped cookie cutters at Wal-Mart for under $3, and that is what I used for all (or most) of these creations.  Doing all these special little meals for my family is so much fun, and I love seeing the kids' eyes light up when they see all the fun food. 

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

Last night, the Hubs and C joined friends at a local Chick-Fil-A for Daddy/Daughter Date Night.  And from what I hear, it was a blast!  The daddies got back rubs, and the daughters got their fingernails painted!  C LOVES getting her nails painted as you can see from this picture.  Just look at that smile!

Apparently, they were in the presence of royalty since Snow White, Rapunzel (who C calls Tangled) and Tinkerbelle were in attendance.

C said her favorite part of the night was playing on the playground (which is there all the time so she is easy to please).  She got all dressed up for her night out with Daddy, and they had a blast.

And while they were enjoying their date night, B and I went on our own little date to what has apparently become "our place"--Waffle House.

There is just not much better than getting one-on-one time with our kids!

Valentine Party

As I mentioned yesterday, B and I decided to throw a little Valentine soiree for him and some of his friends from church for lunch this morning.  The kids had a blast, and honestly it was one of the easiest parties I have ever done.

The menu consisted of hot dogs (staying warm under the foil in the top picture), Cheetos, strawberries, grapes, and sugar cookies that the kids decorated themselves.  I served homemade strawberry lemonade to drink and had a bowl of chicken salad with crackers for the mommies (since most of us are pretty tired of hot dogs and other kid food.)  My little Valentine centerpiece fit perfectly under my drink dispenser and added a sweet touch to touch to the counter buffer area.

When B and I were discussing this party, I suggested serving hot dogs.  He loved that idea and said, "Yeah, heart-shaped hot dogs!"  Uh, so here is my best attempt at 'heart-shaped hot dogs.'  They turned out alright, and he was pleased.  And the kids had a blast stabbing strawberries and grapes onto their skewers once they pulled them out of the hot dog!

Once they were done eating their lunch, I passed out bowls of white and pink frosting and little individual cups of three different kinds of sprinkles for them to deck out their cookies.  I used the left over dough from the Olympic Rings cookies, and it made just enough.  They had a blast decorating the cookies and enjoyed eating them when they were done--although most of them wound up taking their cookies home with them!

 It was such a fun time.  The best part was having B come up to me after eating lunch and saying, "Mommy, thank you for my Valentine party."  I love that kid so much!!!  And I think all the kids that came thanked us for having them.  What a sweet group of friends my kids have!

They played with toys, exchanged Valentine's and headed home just in time for me to get the kids down for a nap.  It was a great party!  Happy Valentine's Day!

One in a "Minion" Valentines

The kids and I are hosting a little Valentine party for some of the other homeschool kids at church tomorrow, and we are giving each of them a small Valentine.  And since Despicable Me and all things minion are so very popular around our house, these little minion Valentines were a no-brainer.

Cardstock, a color printer, an Exacto knife, and a cutting mat are all you need to prep these cuties.  And since Twinkies have 'Hostess' stamped all over the wrapper, you might want to get the non-name brand snack cakes so your minions look more like minions.  The directions and link to the free printable Valentines are here.  Honestly, they were kind of a pain to cut out, but considering I had to go out and buy an Exacto knife for this, I am not exactly skilled or experienced with the tool.  But they still didn't take very long to make and came out super cute.  The kids love them and can't wait to give them to their friends!

Happy Valentine's Day (a little early)!

Valentine's Day Centerpiece

I love fresh flowers, but I very rarely have them in the house.  However, I decided that I wanted something pretty with a Valentine flair for the center of the table.  And when I saw that Wal-Mart had fresh flowers today, I snagged a bouquet of red gerbera daisies (which I LOVE) and a bouquet of white daisies for less than $10 total.  I trimmed them up and stuck them in one of my Artland clear double old fashion glasses.  (We got these as wedding gifts and I still love them!)  Tada!  A lovely, simple, kid-friendly, easy to move centerpiece.

 I had actually grabbed a package of red glittery hearts from the Dollar Tree, but I loved the flowers as they were, so I left them out.  I love the little touch of 'love' added to the kitchen.

Popcorn Torches

The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics meant more food celebrations at our house last night.  The kids spent the day with Pop and JuJu as they normally do on Fridays, and I subbed at the high school.  So I didn't do a big meal, but I did make popcorn torches for the kids to snack on.  This was a lot of fun and super easy.

I used parchment paper, rolled it into a cone, and poured in fresh microwave popcorn.  My problem with the parchment paper was that I had no way to attach it to itself since tape wouldn't stick.  I would advise anyone else wanting to do this to use actual paper and either staple it closed or tape it closed.  I was able to hand them each a torch, talk about what a torch is and how it is used in the Olympics, snap the picture, and then I poured the popcorn into bowls for them to eat it.  We enjoyed watching the Opening Ceremonies together and are really looking forward to watching all of the various events.