Category Archives: Special

April Fool’s Day Dinner

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My kiddos love a good prank. April Fool’s Day has been one of their favorite days as long as I can remember. We usually try to do at least one thing to make the day memorable. Last year I fooled them into thinking they were eating an undercooked lasagna, when it was actually a yummy dessert. This year, I pulled off a Crazy April Fool’s Day Dinner which was actually breakfast for dinner. It definitely takes some advance preparation and quite a bit of work (at least with as many people as we have in our family) to pull it off, but it is so fun! I’ve done a dinner menu like this before and I feel like breakfast items are a lot easier. I used the basic idea and the menu course printables from Dixie Delights. I made some changes, but the general idea came from her site.

To do this, I gave my family a menu of 16 items with funny names. They also had 4 different menu course sheets. On each sheet they had to put four items that they wanted for that course. Each item has to be picked once so that all items are ultimately chosen. They had to pick for all of their courses before I even started cooking; because I didn’t want to give them any hints with the smells in the kitchen.

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I had one more trick up my sleeve. Number 9 was the CAFD Special. It looked like an egg, but was really just whipped cream and an apricot.

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I pulled out a few Christmas plates to serve this. I also found some “Welcome to 2000” napkins that had never been opened in my party stash. We used those as the Mini Magic Carpet.

Overall, we had lots of laughs. April Fool’s Day is just another good excuse to have a little fun together.

I printed out my menu using Waltograph font from DaFont 

Crazy April Fool’s Day Disney Dinner

1. Mickey Mouse                                         9. CAFD Special
2. Gaston’s Tavern Treat                          10. Pluto’s Dinner
3. Dinoco Motor Oil                                    11. Merida’s Hair
4. Sugar Rush Icing component             12. Elsa’s Bad Day
5. White Rabbit’s Tale                                13. Rafiki’s Staff
6. Three Little Pigs                                       14. Cruella’s Hair
7. Capt. Hook’s Plank                                 15. Dinglehopper
8. Mike Wazowski                                      16. Mini Magic Carpet

 

Here’s the real deal menu:

  1. Mickey Mouse waffle
  2. Cinnamon Roll
  3. Syrup
  4. Powdered Sugar
  5. Whipped Cream
  6. Sausage
  7. Bacon
  8. Egg
  9. Apricot in whipped cream
  10. cereal
  11. orange juice
  12. ice
  13. straw
  14. salt and pepper
  15. fork
  16. napkin

Easter 2016

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Easter was filled with activities and fun. We made our traditional Resurrection rolls. We dyed eggs. We went to Easter service. We had two egg hunts. We had two Easter feasts.

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Resurrection Rolls:

They will be empty (like the tomb) once they are baked. Take Grands flaky biscuits and half. Put a marshmallow in the center and pinch dough around it. Dip the biscuits in butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar. Bake until lightly browned.

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Saturday

Dying Eggs: We just take packets of regular Kool Aid, add a little water and dip the eggs. No vinegar or anything. It is so quick and easy!!

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We ordered the Easter meal from The Fresh Market and we were so pleased with it!

It included ham, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, broccoli slaw, and yeast rolls. All we had to make ourselves was the deviled eggs, baked beans, and dessert.

We had a lovely day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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I took this picture in March 2012.

I have always loved looking for four leaf clovers. I used to spend a good deal of my recess time searching out these little treasures. I still look on my way to and from the mailbox.

Today, we will go out and collect some clovers for decoration and wear our green clothes to celebrate. I made a St. Patrick themed breakfast with green eggs and green decorations. I have a green themed dinner planned. I looked for an Irish recipe; but since my husband and I don’t really eat potatoes or bread, I found it too difficult to find something Irish we all would eat.  I am making green enchiladas for dinner instead. I’m also making rainbow cookies out of Funfetti cake mix.

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I got that St. Patrick’s day  printable free from alexandcoprintables.com

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To make Super Duper Easy Funfetti cookies:

One box of Funfetti cake mix

One egg

2 sticks of butter

Soften the butter, add egg and cake mix. If you want the cookies a little more festive, add more colorful sprinkles. Stir until well combined. Place small balls of the cookie dough on a parchment covered cookie sheet.Bake at 325 degrees until the edges just begin to brown.

I found some free printable St. Patrick Day trivia cards on Pinterest. Oh, how I love trivia. These little gems are getting placed on the table at dinnertime.

I hope that this day is full of happiness and joy!!

Water

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One of the things that I find really difficult as a teacher and parent is teaching about things that are so foreign to us in the United States, but are everyday struggles to people in other countries. It’s hard enough for me to fathom not having a bathroom facility; and I’ll admit that I’m the very worst about thinking having only water to drink is just sad. The truth is that having clean water and a bathroom are real blessings that many don’t have.

The stories in our own headlines lately about lead and other contaminants in our own water makes us appreciate clean and healthy water much more.

The reality is that approximately every 90 seconds a child dies due to not having clean water. Women and children in other countries spend hours and hours a day looking for, collecting, and preparing water for their families.

I mentioned how we are doing different things during Lent to help us focus on love and the gift which Easter brings. One of the things we are doing is learning about a need, a charity that helps provide for that need, and then doing chores or sacrificing something to make money to give to that charity.

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Facts from water.org

I took 10 facts about water and put each in an Easter egg with a piece of candy and then I let the kiddos go on a hunt. When they were all found we went through the eggs and the facts together. I think most of the statistics shocked the girls. They had no idea what a crisis there is in the world regarding clean water.

It’s been nice to see them trying to think of things they could give up in order to give something back to a charity like Blood:Water or Water.org. There are a lot of charities that help with the water crisis. I pray even in our small sacrifices that we can help make a difference.

Frozen Birthday Party

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Two years ago when Frozen was all the rage, we had a party for my two youngest girls. Their birthdays are only one week apart and so far, they always agree on the theme. We sent out custom invitations with their pictures on them. I like to do this whenever I can, so we have a memory of the theme of their party and what they looked like at that time.

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We made Snow Capped Mountain punch. It was just blue Hawaiian punch, Sprite, and Vanilla ice cream.

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We had snowballs on a different table (powdered sugar doughnut holes), the standard chicken salad and croissants, chips and dip, a fruit tray (not shown), cheese tray (not shown), Swedish meatballs, tuna salad, and two Scandinavian jellies.220

Finding the Frozen decorations was no problem, but finding the snow themed items was a lot harder due to the fact their birthdays are in the middle of the summer. My crafty daughter made many huge snowflakes. I was able to purchase several items on Oriental Trading.

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We made the Frozen tree from sticks we found in our yard. We spray painted them silver and added icicle ornaments from Amazon.

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Once everyone arrived, we played our unwrapping game. Basically a gift is wrapped in many layers and hot potato style it gets passed and unwrapped until the person actually gets the prize. I use all the plastic bags I have on hand at the time. It makes a lot of layers. The gift was an artificial snow making kit. It was a hit!

The kids made Olaf out of jelly beans, powdered doughnuts, mini chocolate chips, multi colored Twizzlers, and pretzel sticks.

We had a game outside where I had a bucket of ice water and items hidden inside. They had 30 seconds to grab as many items as possible. It was hilarious to watch because it was so hard to do.

There was another game where each person got an ice cube and they raced to melt it as fast as they could on a plate but they could not use their hands.

We also played trivia with facts about the movie .

                                                         “Frozen” Movie Trivia

  1. What is the name of the snowman who guards Elsa’s ice palace? (A) Marshmallow (B) Icy (C) Cold Heart
  2.  What other Disney princess is attending the coronation?
  3. Idina Menzel, voice of Elsa, is in what other Disney film?

                   (A) The Princess Diaries (B) Enchanted (C) Brave 

4. What is Anna and Elsa’s favorite food?

  1. Which Hans Christian Andersen story is Frozen inspired by? (A) The Angel (B) Ice Maiden (C) Snow Queen

6. Which of the following is NOT an ingredient for the icy force described in the song ” Frozen Heart”? (A) cold (B) winter air (C) freezing wind (D) mountain rain

7. Which character in the film comes up with the line, “I like warm hugs.”?

8. What is the name of the software that Frozen’s creative team invented to create realistic looking snow? (A) Matterhorn (B) Ice Palace (C) Blizzard (D) Everest

9.How many brothers does Hans of the Southern Isles have?

10. What time do Anna and Hans break into their song “Love Is An Open Door”?

11. A stuffed toy version of which famous Disney character makes a very brief cameo in the film? (A) Donald Duck (B) Goofy (C) Pluto (D) Mickey Mouse

12. Where does Elsa create her Ice Palace? (A) South Pole (B) Southern Mountain (C) North Mountain

13. Which animals serve as backup dancers to Olaf when he sings “Summer” (A) penguins (B) chipmunks (C) seagulls (D) squirrels

14. Who convinces Kristoff  to go back and help Arendelle?

15. When was Kristoff adopted and by whom?

 

I don’t have a picture of it, but we did make snow cones as well. It was messy and required more than two adults. 236234235

 

237 We had the movie playing while the party was going on.

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The cake was one of the easiest I made in a long time. It was just three layers with buttercream icing. I decorated it with the snow looking sprinkles, rock candy lollipops (from Oriental Trading) and the figurines I purchased at the Disney Store.

I wish I had a picture of what we did to Prince Hans. We stuck him upside down in a cup of water and froze him solid. We brought him out before we had the cake and the kids thought it was the funniest thing ever!

We had a nice party. I wish I had more pictures. Now that I’m writing this little blog, I hope to do better with that kind of thing.

 

 

 

Daddy Daughter Dance

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One of the things all of my girls have enjoyed is the annual Daddy Daughter dance our church hosts. (I don’t have any pictures on my current computer of my oldest daughter when she was going to these dances; but she went from kindergarten through fifth grade.)

Sometimes they are themed, like 50s or 80s, or even a cowboy theme, but many years they are just a dressy occasion.

No matter what theme, the best part of the night is getting to spend special time with their daddy. They love getting dressed up and having him see them and telling them how beautiful they look. They love riding in his car. They love receiving the little gift he always gives them before they head out to the dance. He loves taking them.

I’m so happy that they all get to spend these special evenings together.

 

Lent

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Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. Easter is probably my favorite holiday. I love the meaning of it the most. It has gotten more and more commercialized over the years but has seemed to stay purer in some ways. I think the reason is Lent. I think that for many people, the time of reflection, sacrifice, and prayer leads to this fact. We don’t come up with lists of things we want or feel the pressures to fulfill somebody’s every desire. We don’t have a thousand parties or activities to attend. We tend to be stiller and more reflective during the 46 days leading up to Easter.

I have always tried to make this time one that really draws my family to the Lord. I want them to really think on what it means to be THAT LOVED. I want them to think about what it means to have owed a debt and the fact that someone thought they were WORTH THE PRICE.

This year, we are doing something extra. Right now, I have about 30 activities (I need 10 more) that we will do each day. Some are the simplest little things, like hold the door open for someone, make a dinner with everyone helping, and try not to complain all day (that might actually be the hardest one). Some require more work. One is “egging“. We “egged” several people last year and we loved doing it and the people that we “egged” loved it too.

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Others are making a dinner for someone and making resurrection eggs.

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photo credit: Christianbook.com

If anybody out there has some suggestions or other ideas of things to fill the rest of my days, I’m ready to hear them.

 

Mardi Gras

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I hope this Mardi Gras was a good time for everyone. It is one of my favorite days to celebrate. Having spent a couple of years living in New Orleans, I learned to love the whole season! Ever since my oldest was a baby we have had a party. She would ride around in her little yellow and red car and throw bead necklaces at her grandparents. Over the years we’ve made masks and King cakes and homemade necklaces. We’ve had the grandparents over and we’ve just had our little family for the celebration.

I love that even as the years go by we still celebrate this day in our own way.

Happy Mardi Gras y’all!!

Rock on

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Maybe I’m just a big weirdo, but I seriously LOVE rocks. I have since I was a little bitty girl. My mom always had to check my pockets for rocks before she washed my clothes. I’m still likely to pick up a rock I like and put it in my pocket. I have asked for rocks as gifts.

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This is petrified wood. A Christmas gift last year.

This trait must be genetic because my Granny loved rocks too. She hunted for them on her farm in Kentucky. I always remember looking at those rocks when I’d visit her. To me, they were like fancy jewels. She kept the prettiest ones in a curio cabinet. It made them seem even more special.

When she passed away I brought some of those rocks to my house.

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Just as I’ve written about it before, like the little chair she made,  I look at the rocks she found and imagine her searching for them.

My girls have the same love of these little gems as my Granny and me. They will search the yard or wherever we are out and about. Then they’ll come in and scrub or examine their rocks with magnifying glasses to see what treasures they’ve just discovered.

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This is part of a huge rock in our yard.

Yesterday, they broke open geodes for science. The excitement of what it was going to look like on the inside was real for each of us. The hard work (and small injury of a hit thumb) of cracking them open was so worth it when the interior was revealed. They are just beautiful. I am amazed at how something that looks so ordinary from the outside can be so stunningly beautiful on the inside.  However, this is not only true of rocks, is it?!

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I think that may be why we love them so much. There is something about looking for the special, beautiful, and wondrous in ordinary things. It’s a gift to be able to look beyond the outside and look inside or even to look at all.

Snowglobe Cupcakes

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Back at Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law told me about these cupcakes she’d seen on Pinterest. She said they looked like snowglobes and were entirely edible. We’d made gelatin bubbles for my son’s birthday so I already knew how to make the globes. I thought these would make great desserts for our Christmas Eve gathering.

We started the process, two days before. I had one of my daughters make the globe part. She’s a master with gelatin, so the process went really smoothly. I bought jelly candy lollipops for the inside of the snowglobe. Christmas Eve morning, I made the cupcakes. Later in the day we decorated and assembled the cupcakes.017015.JPG022

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They were almost too cute to eat!