Category Archives: Uncategorized

Star Wars Dinner {May 4th}

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Last night we had our May the fourth be with you Dinner. I decided that hamburgers and hot dogs would be the main course. I also served chocolate shakes, chips, green jello, and Star Wars chocolates. I ordered the Star Wars molds from Amazon from a company called Vibrant Kitchen. I was very impressed with the quality of these molds!

The foods were labeled:

hamburgers: Han burgers

hot dogs: Hutt dogs

Jello: Carbonite jello

chips: Chewbacca chips

Star Wars graham crackers: Wookie cookies

buns: Princess Leia’s buns

chocolate shakes: Stormtrooper sippers

I had the children gather all things Star Wars around the house. We decorated the table with a silver tablecloth and then put a roll of Stormtrooper wrapping paper down as a runner. Then I let them use all the Star Wars items to decorate the table. (I think they did a great job!) I got Star Wars and holographic plates from Target.  I made all the labels using Dafont’s Star Jedi font.

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During our school day, we used several worksheets from Year Round Homeschooling 

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After dinner, we played bingo from a pack I downloaded from Royal Baloo .

I’m so glad that so many talented people create these cool printables, and share them with those of us who don’t share the same gift!

I love how much the children and even my husband enjoy this little celebration. My husband even said we should host a party next year.

It was a fun May 4!

May the 4th Be With You Dinner

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I’m busy planning and gathering supplies for May 4.  I’m still trying to pinpoint exactly what I want to serve for dinner. I’m thinking of 7-Leia Dip, Trooper Scoopers (scoops chips), Wookie Cookies, and Death Star Doughnuts, Fruit Light Sabers OR Hans burgers, Leia’s buns, Wookie Cookies, and Obi-Wan fruit kebabs.

This is what we did last year. I have to say that the children really do enjoy this kind of a dinner. It takes planning and a little more effort than a normal dinner, but I do love to hear how they plan on doing the same kinds of things when they have families of their own.

Here’s last year’s post:

We ended up with breakfast for dinner. This is not unusual. We usually do this once a week on our more hectic nights.

The eggs were the Twin Suns.

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Cinnamon rolls were naturally Leia’s Buns.

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We had bacon and hashbrowns, which were a pretty terrible looking  “Chewbaccon”. At least we got a good laugh out of it!

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The sausage links were Light Sabers.

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I made Yoda Soda which was basically just a lime sherbet float.

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I made Chewy cookies from Little Debbie Star Crunch cookies and added candy eyes and a frosting mouth and nose. I got that idea from Pinterest.

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I purchased Star Wars plates and napkins. I also got some Star Wars fruit snacks for little treats. The children all thought everything turned out really cute and I think they love a themed dinner as much as I do.

I made all the signs and the framed “May the Fourth Be With You” sign using DaFont’s Star Jedi font.

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I’ll try my best to share what I actually end up doing on Thursday. I hope it turns out to be as much fun as last year!

Updated: Low Carb Fast Food {Chicken Salad Chick}

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In the south, there is a franchise called Chicken Salad Chick. It specializes in a variety of chicken salads (big surprise). They are mostly low in carbohydrates with just a few exceptions. They also serve things like macaroni and cheese, deli sandwiches, soup, and cookies. The nice thing about this restaurant is that so many of their items are low carb and don’t need this or that omitted.

The ones that are 3 carbs or less according to their website are:

Buffalo Barclay, Classic Carol, Dixie Chick, Jalapeno Holly, Jazzy Julie, Kickin’ Kay Lynne, Pimento Cheese, Sassy Scotty are all under 3 carbs. The Luau Lydia and Nutty Nana come in right at 3 carbs.

It has become a favorite lunch spot for my husband. We also like to grab some different ones to share at parties or get-togethers.  There are so many varieties that one is sure to be the favorite.

If you’re ever in the south and need something fast, low carb, and delicious, stop by Chicken Salad Chick (but not on Sunday–they’re not open).

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photo credit: Chicken Salad Chick

Working Together

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IMG_0498IMG_0499IMG_0501When I was a little girl, it was not unusual for all of my family to be outside together working in the garden in the evenings or the weekends. We were often together working on all sorts of projects. My parents even flipped houses for awhile and I loved when I went to the houses with them and helped paint, mow, or whatever we were doing that particular day.

My children have not had those experiences. We rarely work all together on a project. I usually have them all doing their own projects. I recently came to the realization that that may be why they don’t work well together. It may also be the reason that there is some resentment between some of the children.

We needed to really weed and mulch our yard before Easter. I used this as an opportunity to all work together. We all worked outside picking up sticks, pulling weeds, mulching, planting new plants, and pressure washing. The yard looks so much better and there was very little (much less than usual) fighting that day. I think that we all really benefited from working together. I’m planning on tackling our basement next. I just might have found a way to build better relationships within our family and get projects done as well!

Watch It {Big Little Lies}

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There isn’t much on television that I find worth watching most of the time. But I was super excited to see the new series, Big Little Lies, with Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern, and Shailene Woodley.  It became something I looked forward to watching the next week the minute it was over. I talked about the Sunday episode with everyone on Mondays. We enjoyed talking about the character we hoped was the dead one and wondered and guessed who the killer could be. When the finale was over, I could hardly wait to talk to everyone about it. It was a great and complex story. The characters were well developed and the story-line was captivating. If you haven’t watched it, I know that you can catch a peek on HBO online. If you’re more of a reader, it’s based on a book with the same name by Liane Moriarty (which I haven’t read).  I won’t tell much about it because I don’t want to spoil the amazing story.  If you’re looking for a good series to watch, this one is worth the time.

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April Fool’s Day Dinner

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I’m planning an all new April Fool’s Day dinner for this year, but wanted to share last years for now:

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                                         2.Gaston’s Tavern Treat                        

 3. Dinoco Motor Oil                

4. Sugar Rush Icing component        

5. White Rabbit’s Tale                                

6. Three Little Pigs                                      

7. Capt. Hook’s Plank                                

8. Mike Wazowski                                      

9. CAFD Special

10. Pluto’s dinner

11. Merida’s hair

12. Elsa’s bad day

13. Rafiki’s staff

14. Cruella’s hair

15. Dinglehopper

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

Operation: Get It Done

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It’s almost spring and I have the spring cleaning fever! I love organization but having 5 children (especially teenagers and a three-year-old boy) makes it super hard to get organized and stay organized. We moved into our new house less than 24 hours before I had our little boy. Many of the things that were unpacked and put places, I haven’t changed or touched since. As I look around my house, I see so many things that need to change to work better for our family.  I made a list of most of the things I want to work on this spring and summer. I don’t have a deadline date because I feel like that would overwhelm me and make me give up all together. Instead, I’ve decided to work on one thing at a time as quickly and completely as I can. Here’s my list:

::::::::::::::get it done::::::::::::::::::::::
Straighten and organize garage
Build and paint school table ✅
Clean out master closet
Clean off top of kitchen cabinets
Clean out master bath cabinets
Clean out master bath drawers
Clean out and organize:
Pantry✅
Refrigerator✅
Laundry room
All drawers in China cabinet
Games
Kitchen buffet
Buffet in foyer
Drawers in kitchen
Office
Bedroom drawers
Playroom
David’s toys
Shoe bins
Outside patio and porch
Study room drawers and cart
Freezer

We built a new school table over two weekends and I LOVE how it turned out! We had been using a folding table and there was absolutely no room to work. This allows everyone to have her/his own workspace.

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Do you have any organization goals? Tips? Tricks? I’d love to hear them!

Disney World {Just a Couple}

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My husband and I visited Disney World a few weeks ago. We went without the children and only for a long weekend. We stayed off property because we had Hilton points. We stayed at the Disney Springs Hilton. It was decorated in a very contemporary way and I loved the streamlined look. Everyone at the hotel was very friendly. I would certainly recommend this hotel if you are looking for a place off property.

We arrived in the afternoon on a Friday and after checking in to the hotel and dropping our luggage in the room, we headed to Magic Kingdom. We stopped by the place next to City Hall to get our Sorcerer cards first. We played that for a while and then headed for the rides. We rode Big Thunder Mountain and It’s a Small World. We got great seats for Wishes. The fireworks are my husband’s favorite part; so he was so excited to watch them in a good spot.

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After the fireworks, we went to find some other things to do. We love Laugh Factory and the Toy Story laser ride. It was very packed in the park every day we were there.

We visited Animal Kingdom and Epcot. Animal Kingdom was especially packed. We only went on the Kilimanjaro Safari; everything else was more than an hour wait. We went on to Epcot. We enjoyed the Art Festival. We are both BIG art fans; so we really enjoyed perusing the different pieces of art. We even purchased one. Noah was one of the featured artists and was there to meet with the people and sign his work. He was so engaging and incredibly talented! His story is amazing as well.

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Both of us enjoy trying new foods and Epcot is a perfect place for this. We rode Living on the Land, which is one of my favorites. We also wore Soarin’. It’s the first time I’ve been on it since they changed it to the world version. It was nice, but I missed the orange grove so much!

We ate dinner at Rose and Crown one night and at the Captain’s Grille another night. My husband loved the steak so much at Rose and Crown. It is one of the older girl’s favorite foods of all time. The food is always good in Disney and both places were no exception.

One of the things we enjoy about going alone to Disney World is that we usually explore places that the children aren’t interested in visiting. If you ever wonder if this is a good trip for adults without children, the answer is YES!

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Spicy Tennessee Deviled Eggs {Low Carb}

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While waiting for a flight in the Nashville airport, my husband and I stopped in O’Charley’s to grab a quick bite. We were looking for something fast and low carb. They had Tennessee inspired deviled eggs on the menu. We ordered them and quickly decided that this was a flavor we would need to replicate at home.

I had to search around for the ingredients but after I found them all, I was able to copy the flavor almost exactly.

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Here’s my recipe:

2 boiled eggs

2 tsp. mayo

1 Tablespoon Tennessee Chow Chow

drizzle of Historic Lynchburg Habanero Hot Sauce

4 pickle slices

Boil eggs. Let cool. Peel eggs. Cut the eggs in half and take out the yolk. In a bowl combine the mayo, chow chow, and cooked yolks. Mix until mostly smooth. Place pickle slice under each egg. Put the yolk mixture into the egg. Drizzle the hot sauce on the top.

Enjoy!

Happy Mardi Gras

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I love Mardi Gras! Since going to college in New Orleans I found a love I had missed before.

It all started with decorating with beads, masks, and doubloons. I made a Louisiana dish for dinner. I bought the jar of etouffee sauce at my local grocery. We’ve used it many nights and we really enjoy it. I cook chicken with the sauce in the Dutch oven and then shred it after about 4 hours cooking low in the oven. I then make 90 second rice to serve with it. We had King cake for dessert of course!

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I made Shirley Temples with a light cube for fun!

Before all that, I taught a bootcamp class. I’ll give you a quick run down of part of what we did. We played a game. There were four exercises that had to be completed. We ran through them for 7 minutes. Every round of 4 exercises the participants finished they grabbed a string of beads. We did three 7 minute workouts. Whoever had the most beads at the end won a prize ( a Mardi Gras hat). We also all shared a King cake at the end of class.

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It was a great Mardi Gras!