Something to Smile About

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I love being a mom! I have found a different joy in being a boy mom which I had heard about but obviously never experienced until 2 years ago.  It seems like LBD came out loving all things superheroes. He asks for every mask he sees at the store and pretends to be one or more superheroes at a time all day long. I came across a video that made me laugh so hard. The joy in the Video makes me smile and it is the same joy I see on my boy’s face everytime we pretend.

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I hope you’ll watch the Video and laugh and smile too. Everyone needs something to smile about!

Road Trip Fun

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Because traveling with so many people is very expensive, we usually save money on vacation by driving instead of flying. That means that there will be many hours spent in our car and many times the words, “I’m bored,” will be heard and said. I try to make little fun baskets for each child to keep them occupied throughout the drive. I pack one for the drive to our vacation destination and another one for the ride home. I will be posting more about those baskets soon; but wanted to share one of the things that I put in there for now. I made a road trip scavenger hunt.

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Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
1. AL license plate.
2. GA license plate
3. NY license plate
4. IL license plate
5. car with a dog in it.
6. a car with a luggage carrier (not your own)
7. a car with the driver eating
8. roadkill
9. a Coke truck
10. a police officer
11. a state trooper
12. a car with a passenger asleep (not your own)
13. a lake
14. a historic marker
15. a bridge
16. a university or college
17. a liquor store sign
18. a Baptist church
19. a Catholic church
20. a school
21. a billboard for a lawyer
22. a swimming pool
23. a pizza delivery car
24. a sign about God or Hell
25. a car with someone singing in it
26. a park
27. a construction worker
28. a car with a stick figure family
29. a car with an honor student sticker
30. a car with a political sticker
31. a car with “wash me” written on it
32. a boat
33. a shoe or other clothing item on or beside the road
34. a no U-turn sign
35. a cemetery
36. a fireworks store
37. a car with a person drinking Starbucks
38. a Porsche
39. a Grayline or tour bus
40. a truck with some kind of livestock
41. a Frito Lay truck
42. a U-Haul
43. a tree with Spanish moss
44. a car with a HH sticker
45. a hospital

Whoever finishes first wins a little extra prize that I keep up front.

Feel free to copy and paste my little game and use it on your own road trip.

 

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

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Yesterday, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with  a very simple dinner and some homeschool lessons pertaining to the day.

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I got the worksheets from The Mailbox where I have a subscription, but they do have some worksheets for free.

I made Margarita Chicken Dip, Frozen Margarita Pie, and Pina Colada Floats.

I got the Margarita Chicken Dip recipe from a pin on Pinterest.

The Frozen Margarita pie was super fast and easy to make. I tweaked a recipe I found on Pinterest to make it more to my family’s taste.

Frozen Margarita Pie

one graham cracker pie crust

one can sweetened condensed milk

one container frozen margarita mix

one tablespoon of lime juice and lime zest

one small container of Cool Whip

Mix together the condensed milk, margarita mix, lime juice and zest. Then fold in the Cool Whip. Pour it all into the crust. Place in the freezer until you’re ready to eat it.

The pina colada floats were just made with pina colada sherbet and Sprite.

I hope you had a nice Cinco de Mayo as well!

 

 

May the 4th be with you Breakfast Dinner

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My girls really enjoy Star Wars. After I had the baby boy, they went over to my niece’s house and they watched all of the episodes over the course of a couple of weeks. I think they genuinely enjoyed the movies; but they also have that special feeling of being cared for to go with them. Since The Force Awakens came out, I think they have become even bigger fans.  May the 4th was just naturally a day I wanted to do something fun. I looked over Pinterest for ideas. I wished I had gotten an earlier start because I saw lots of cute ideas that needed cookie cutters and other equipment that I just didn’t have on hand.

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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Next, Cinco de Mayo!!

Enchilada Soup

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I love a good thick soup. If you’ve ever seen my other recipes then you know I like spicy too. This soup is thick and spicy and I love it! It is one of the easiest soups to make, so without further ado, here’s the recipe.

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Loved in the South’s Easy Chicken Enchilada Soup

  • 3 packets of taco seasoning
  • 1 to 2 small jars of diced jalapenos
  • 3 large cans of green enchilada sauce
  • 3 lbs. of  cooked chicken breasts
  • 2 containers of jalapeno cream cheese

I place all of the chicken in my crockpot with one taco seasoning packet and cook it on low for 6 hours. When the chicken is done, I shred the meat. I take out most of the liquid that is in the crockpot. I then put in all my other ingredients and stir. I cook it on low for as long as I need or until it is heated through. If I’m using my Dutch oven (like in the picture), then I will put it it in the oven at 180 degrees for a few hours. Yum!

 

Purple and Teal Baby Shower

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I threw a baby shower for one of our nieces and she wanted a purple and teal color scheme. The colors look so pretty together and she was going to decorate the nursery in those colors so it seemed like the perfect idea.

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I bought the gumballs and grape sticks from Oriental Trading.128

We got the wooden monogram from Scrappin Plus. We also decorated with paper balls and fans. The orchids matched perfectly.

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I got the cake and cupcakes from Publix bakery. Those glass balls are antique fishing balls that just happen to match the theme. They are among my favorite things.

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This was a bow headband making station. I bought all the supplies on Etsy. I also got the purple bow holder from there as well.

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We also had a block making station. I bought wooden blocks from Amazon and then different purple, teal, and gray scrapbook papers and cut them to fit. We just decoupaged them on with Mod Podge.

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This was an insert in the invitation. I think this is a sweet idea for any baby shower.

We played a Price Is Right game with baby essentials and then gave them to the mother-to-be.

We served brunch. We had a make your own Belgian waffle table and some egg casseroles. We also had a cinnamon roll casserole and chicken salad with croissants since those were the mommy’s favorite. We also served fruit, coffee, orange juice, and mimosas for the non-pregnant people.

Overall, we had a very nice time with a simple color themed party.

Mother’s Day Gift Dilemma

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Well, it’s almost that time again. I desperately need to figure out what to get my mother. She always asks for the lamest gifts you can imagine; think garbage cans and toilet brushes (no joke-she’s actually asked for both).

So, buying gifts for her is daunting. My sister is the best gift giver and I am not. I have some perfectionist tendencies that cause me to think and think for the perfect gift and then I never think of one and finally end up buying her those toilet brushes she wanted (Yep, she got them from me). What in the world am I going to do?! This lady is the hardest working woman I’ve ever known. She loves like crazy and is truly amazing in general. I am completely clueless as to what to get her. She would probably love a photo album or some sentimental gift.She would probably love something handmade or super thoughtful…but what exactly??

She’s most likely going to end up with something more along the lines of a paper towel holder.

I need help.

Celebrating Earth Day

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The kiddos woke up to an Earth Day breakfast. I thought that Earth pancakes sounded so cute. image

They were not the hit I’d hoped they would be. Only one of my children would even try them. Good thing I knew that was going to be the most probable outcome and made the rest of the batch normal.

Later, we read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and the two little girls did a couple of worksheets pertaining to the book.

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After some school work, we made seed paper out of old catalogs. We tore paper into about 2 to 3 inch pieces and put them into a blender filled about halfway with water. After blending, we took the pulp outside and used an old screen to press out the excess water and mold them into shapes. Then we added marigold and hollyhock seeds. We plan on giving these away once they dry.

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We even had a Lorax themed dinner and an “earthy” dessert.

I got the coloring sheet printable from Dawn Nicole Designs. Olivia loves to color and after we read The Lorax, she was so excited to color and frame her work.

I made bow tie pasta (the Lorax’s mustache) with broccoli (truffala trees) with homemade low carb Alfredo sauce with Keto fried chicken. For dessert, the kids used chocolate pudding, smashed Oreos, and gummy worms to make their “earthy” dessert.

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I hope you had a nice Earth day too.

Dumb Things

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My sister was telling one of my daughters about a time when I did a particularly dumb thing. I was probably 7 years old and my best friend lived next door, his name was Lance. He was a year older than I was. If he suggested something, I was usually eager to go along with his idea. So, one night when our parents were playing cards and not paying us any attention, Lance said we should hide from them. I thought it was a grand idea. It would be so funny to see them looking for us whenever they finally realized we weren’t where they thought we were. We hid in the floor of his parent’s Jeep. When they did coming looking for us it was pretty late. They walked right by the Jeep and never looked in. We thought that was hilarious! After a few minutes though, it became apparent that they were frantic and terrified. We lived very close to the lake and I knew they were thinking about all the terrible possibilities. When we finally got out of that Jeep we were in the biggest trouble of our lives.

I wish I could say that was the last dumb thing we did; but we did dumb things ALL the time. We just had very little fear and obviously rarely thought about the consequences of our actions.

Fast forward to now and I am a very protective parent. I realize now that it was only by God’s grace that I ended up okay.  I always think through all the things that could have happened. But at the end of the day, we all do dumb things and we just have to pray and hope that God’s protection will overcome anything dumb we may do!

 

Everyday Shoes {My Favorites}

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This seems like a silly little post, but I love sharing good finds with people I like, so here goes. Back in the fall, I got a pair of Sam Edelman nude slip ons (Felicia Ballet Flat)

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I am not the kind of girl that owns 20 pairs of shoes. I wear Nikes when I work out and the rest of the time I wear slip on flats (except in the winter when I might wear boots instead). I had been wearing just a pair of nude shoes from Target, but the girl at Nordstrom told me I just HAD to try these Sam Edelman shoes. She was so right! They are like wearing shoes with tiny cushions in them. Considering how light they are it is very impressive that they are as supportive as they are. Also, these never gave me a blister. I went to Las Vegas in these shoes. They were the only shoes I brought. I walked 16.5 miles one day in these shoes. I still have nothing but good things to say about them. They were honestly great! So, while I was in Las Vegas I bought another pair. They are saddle colored and so they go with lots of things too. If you’re looking for a nice shoe that’s not crazy expensive and is stylish yet functional, try these shoes. I bet you’ll love them too!!