Serving Pink Lemonade

The Secret Is Out!

2013-05-20T01:00:00.000-04:00

If you follow along on facebook then this isn't new news to you, but if you don't I'm excited to finally share that I'm publishing a book!!! Yes, that's right, little ol' me has a book that just went up for pre-sale on amazon.com and Barnes and Nobel, Quiet Book Patterns: 25 easy-to-make activities for your children. Thank you to all my fabulous readers out there for making my quiet book posts so popular. The book is still in the early stages and is scheduled to be available October 8, 2013. I know it's still a little ways off but I just had to share my exciting news now that I can. I'll for sure keep you all up to date on the progress and there will definitely be a giveaway in the future.

Thanks for being such fabulous readers!

Boys Lined Tote Bag with Tutorial

2013-05-13T00:30:00.000-04:00

As promised, today I'm going to show you the tote bag I made for my son.

He picked out stripes with blue on the bottom, a green polka-dot interior, and green ribbon handles.

Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:

In case you didn't know . . .

The side of your fabric with the print is known at the "right side".

The back side of your fabric is known as the "wrong side".

For the exterior: Pin the striped pieces to each 8" side of the blue fabric and sew a quarter inch seam.

For the lining: Fold in half, right sides together, pin and sew a quarter inch seam up sides. Leave top open.

Once you've sewn your exterior pieces together you'll have one long piece that looks like this. Press seams flat with an iron.

Now fold your fabric in half, right sides together, pin and sew up sides at a quarter inch. Leave top open.

Now press the seams open for you bag and bag lining. This will help it to lay better. Fold the top edge over a 1/2 inch and press.

Turn your bag right side out and place your lining inside. Insert 1/2 inch of the ribbon handles between the bag and lining, match edges and pin around bag. Sew around bag opening to secure lining and handles at 1/8 inch.

Now you're all done! See how easy that is!

Enjoy your new tote bag!

See the bag I made for my daughter here.

Girls Lined Tote Bag

2013-05-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

My daughter has a little bag that she brings to church each week. She carries all her important things in it like her scriptures, some tissues, and pencil and paper. Her well loved bag was getting pretty worn so she asked if I could make her a new one. Of course I was happy to, especially if it means using up some of my fabric scraps I have piling up.

We dug through my fabric drawers and pulled out some different combinations. It was a hard choice, as is always the case when you have too many options, but I love what she decided on.

Flowers, ruffles, and a pretty sky blue.

And of course a pretty pink interior.

Just right for holding all her important things.

And because sometimes a girl just needs a new bag.

After finishing my daughters bag my son decided he need a new one too.

Click here to see what he picked out, along with a tutorial on how to make this simple lined tote bag.

New Food Blog and Healthy Fudge Bites

2013-04-29T02:00:00.000-04:00

As a mother I want to do the best I can to take care of my children. One of the ways I feel I do that is to feed my children healthy food. I've always felt that I've done my best in that area but I also know that what I define as healthy has changed over the years. I've been on a long food journey and have made gradual changes as I've become more educated on the subject of healthy food and what that really is. I don't claim to know everything about eating healthy but I do know I have learned a lot of things.

I think one of the hardest things about making healthy changes in your diet is knowing what to eat instead of the not-so-good-for-you processed stuff. I'm by no means a gourmet cook (I actually don't really even like to cook) but I have come across some great recipes over the years. I've been fighting the idea for the last year, but I finally decided to start a food blog to share some of my tried and true favorite recipes. So if you're ever in a rut and don't know what to make for dinner or a healthy snack or treat I hope you'll stop by and take a look.

Today I'm posting my healthy fudge bites at my new blog Nourishing Bites. I'd love for you to stop by.

Family Proclamation Art

2013-04-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

We haven't been in our new house for even a year yet and I'm still trying to fill some of the empty walls. Several months ago I spotted this print and it's been on my mind ever since. I loved the idea of displaying the words from this quote:

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." (Find the entire document here.)

But how would I showcase these important words? Would I purchase and frame it? Try to recreate it? Put it on canvas? The ideas were swirling around. I finally decided to purchase a large canvas (24x36) with my 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby.

Since I wanted it to make a statement I painted it crocus yellow. It took about one bottle of paint to cover the entire thing.

Next I designed a layout with my Silhouette. I used 3 different fonts (Copperplate Gothic, Rockwell Extra Bold, and Rochester).

I really love how it turned out and I'm so excited to have these wonderful principles displayed in our home.

My Interactive Book of Mormon Stories (Giveaway Closed)

2013-04-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

Jeanine and I have mentioned before that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons. This giveaway caters to our readers that share our faith, but I hope you all will take a look at this fun product. I'm really excited to share this product with you because I think so many mothers out there are looking for something just like this.

I was recently contacted by My Interactive Book of Mormon Stories about their new products for teaching children the Book of Mormon stories in a fun interactive way. They have two volumes available. Each volume contains nine stories that include a story summery and activity on each page.

Each volume is sent to you as a PDF file and you simply have to print out the pages and laminate them. I used my home laminator and then took them to Office Max and had them spiral bound.

My kids have watched as I've assembled the books and have been looking forward to playing with them. These make the perfect Sunday activity and are fun for bring along to church as well. My kids have had a lot of fun reading the stories, moving the pieces around and doing the activities and I love the quality of these books.

This little video explains a little more about them and what is included in the books:

If you think this is something you'd like to make for your children visit the My Interactive Book of Mormon Stories shop.

My Interactive Book of Mormon Stories is also very generously giving away three sets to three lucky readers. Enter to win below and tell your friends! You know they'll want one too.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

eShakti Spring Line

2013-04-11T14:32:00.002-04:00

Amy has told you about eShakti before and how we ordered our bridesmaid dresses for our younger sisters wedding from them. I recently decided to buy a dress from their new spring line. It was so hard to choose just one! There are so many cute dresses to choose from!

I finally settled on this colorblock dress.

I'm always drawn to high-waisted dresses--I really like them! The original dress had cap sleeves and a low v-neck. With any other company I would have passed on the dress or chosen to alter it somehow. But with eShakti I didn't have to worry! I was able to change the sleeves and raise the neckline a little.

I love this dress! It fits well and if you haven't heard--all their dresses have pockets! What is better than a dress with pockets?

**Disclaimer: I was given a dress to review but all opinions are mine and mine alone.

Spring Break Science

2013-04-08T00:30:00.000-04:00

Last week was our spring break. Since our weather is still very cold we had to create some indoor fun. Between watching movies, arts and crafts, and playing games we kept pretty busy. One of our afternoons we filled doing science experiments. Not all the experiments worked out perfectly but we still had fun.

Yellow + Blue = Green

This is a good one to start with since it takes several hours to see the results. Fill one cup with yellow water and another with blue. Place a paper towel going from the colored cups into an empty one. It's fun to see the water creep up the paper towel and change into green in the empty cup. The results are much better than what I have shown. I just never got around to taking a final picture. Eventually the water level in all three cups will become even.

Balloon Rocket

My kids loved this one. String a straw onto a long piece of yarn. Tie the yarn between two chairs. Blow up a balloon and hold the end closed. Tape the balloon to the straw and then let it go. It's fun to predict how far the balloon will fly with different amounts of air in it.

Glitter Volcano

Add 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda into a tall vase along with a few drops of red food coloring and some glitter. Pour some vinegar into the vase and watch what happens. Try it again with something besides glitter. Predict what you think will happen.

Density Rainbow

Add sugar and food dye to four cups as indicated below. Pour three tablespoons of water into each cup. Stir until dissolved.

In an empty cup use a spoon to carefully layer the water. Start with blue, then green, yellow, and finally red. If you layer carefully enough the colors should remain separated. Why does this happen? By using different amounts of sugar in each glass the concentration was different for each color. The most dense solution sinks to the bottom and the least dense sits on top. Ours didn't turn out nearly as good as this one, but we got the idea.

Baking Soda Bombs

Place 1.5 tablespoons of baking soda into a paper towel and wrap up. In a ziploc bag add 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup water. Place the paper towel bundle into the bag, zip, and shake. Stand back and watch the bag inflate. The bag is supposed to pop, but ours never did.

Inflating Balloons

In a water bottle or jar add 1/2-1 cup of vinegar. Use a funnel to pour 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda into a balloon. Stretch the balloon end over the bottle, being careful to not let any of the baking soda get into the bottle. Lift the balloon up and shake the baking soda into the jar. Watch as the balloon fills with gas and inflates. This experiment is a popular one at our house. I never get tired of the look on my kids faces as they watch the balloons fill up on their own.

Have you done any science experiments with your kids that were successful? Please share!

Rosy Crafts Auction

2013-04-02T14:43:00.003-04:00

My friend, Jenny, is super talented. Ladies around here joke about getting pregnant again--just so they can be the recipient of one of her amazing quilts! Each one of her creations is uniquely beautiful.

She is currently hosting an auction of a quilt to help out a friend with stage 4 melanoma.

If you want a chance to win this beautiful quilt head on over to her blog: Rosy Crafts. You really don't want to miss out!

Super Hero Portraits

2013-04-01T00:30:00.000-04:00

For my son's birthday last year he had a super hero party. To decorate for the party I printed out some super hero logos to make a banner.

When the party was over I saved the logos. I guess you can say that I'm a little conservative with my printer ink . . . okay, really conservative. All that ink I used to print them out . . . I didn't want to just throw them away. There had to be something else we could do with them.

Well, they ended up becoming the perfect craft for a gloomy cold day. With some large sheets of construction paper we used the logos to make some super hero portrait posters. My son loved the project, and it was fun for me to see his artistic side come out and how interested he was in getting the details right.

These posters make for some fun art to decorate the walls in the basement playroom.

And my son is so proud of the super hero posters he created.

Sweet (or Sour) Gummy Hearts

2013-03-25T00:30:00.001-04:00

I've seen a lot of recipes floating around online for homemade fruit snacks. They've peeked my interest and I've been curious if they were any good and if they were worth my time making. It wasn't until I spied these sour gummy stars at The Mommypotamus that I was finally compelled to make them--like right away. They just looked so good to eat, and fun.

Not only are they yummy, healthy, and my kids love (seriously love) them, but they take only minutes to make.

These little treats have become a regular snack at our house. My kiddos are always willing to help whip up a batch and they are satisfied that they take only about 20 minutes from start to finish (including chill time).

The first several times I made them lemon flavored, but then decided to try orange. My two older kids love the sweetness of the orange ones, but my one year old and I prefer the tart lemon.

Sweet or Sour Gummy Hearts

2/3 cup fresh squeezed citrus juice (orange juice for sweet gummies or lemon for sour gummies)

6 tablespoons honey

4-5 tablespoons gelatin (preferably grass fed)

3-4 drops food grade orange or lemon oil

1. Combine juice, honey and gelatin in a pan over low heat. Stir until well combined and all gelatin lumps are dissolved.

2. Add orange or lemon oil.

3. Pour mixture into molds and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

4. Once firm remove gummies from molds and store in an air tight container. They will stay firm at room temperature once chilled and can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.

I hope you give these little gems a try and enjoy them as much as we have.

General Conference Prep - Part 2

2013-03-20T01:30:00.000-04:00

In my last post I shared some of the things that we do to get our kids excited and ready to listen to General Conference. Now I'll share a few things that I do the day of to help it run more smoothly.

**One benefit to living on the east coast is that we have plenty of time in the morning to get our wiggles out. We try to make sure that our boys get out and run around so that they are ready to sit still, be quiet and not bother each other for the next two hours. In between sessions we get them outside as well.

**I like to get the room set up nice and early. We watch through the internet so I want to make sure we have a good connection. About an hour before conference starts I like to pull the feed up on lds.org and byutv. There is always a re-broadcast of something else playing (or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing on Sunday morning) so the spirit is in our home before we sit down to watch.

**Watching through the internet at home is such a wonderful convenience but hard to watch on such a little screen. A few years ago we got a projector and always hook it up to watch conference! They boys love to watch it on "the big screen". If you have the capability to hook your computer up to your tv that is another way to make it a little more engaging.

**We also try to be as comfortable as possible. We pull out our big pillows and blankets so that everyone is nice and comfy before each session begins.

**Before conference begins we like to set some ground rules. Our boys know that mom and dad want to listen. If they are too noisy they will have to leave the room which also means missing out on any treat or activities we have planned.

**Speaking of treats and activities . . . I posted last year about our conference basket. I love the packets that circulate the web but if I give those to my boys they go through them before the first talk is over! I have to slowly give them things so that we can draw it out for longer!

**Treats are always part of conference for us. When I asked the two oldest boys what they liked about conference they both mentioned licorice. It has inadvertently become a tradition to have red vines around the house during conference time!

**I also like to have a spread of food lying on the table. Crackers and a fruit/veggie tray usually does it for us. That way if someone is hungry I don't have to miss anything... they can just help themselves!

**Since we usually have a little one in our family it always helps if they sleep through at least one session of conference each day. More enjoyable for everyone!

These little things really make a difference in our conference experience. In addition to the licorice my oldest said that what he likes about conference is listening to the stories. I don't always think he's paying attention but later on he can retell a story he heard with wonderful accuracy. Something must be sinking in while they are busy with their activities--just having them in the room really does make a difference!

I am always looking for new, exciting ideas to change things up. Tell me, what do you do to help your kids get excited (and quiet) for General Conference!

General Conference Prep

2013-03-18T01:00:00.000-04:00

Our church holds a two-day General Conference every 6 months where we can listen to the leaders of our church. I love to listen but with 4 little boys in the house it's not exactly an easy task. To make it a more enjoyable weekend for the entire family I have found that with a little extra prep work it can be fantastic! I'm going to share a few of my secrets with you!

Every year before General Conference we review and learn a little about the First Presidency and Apostles. It helps the boys to focus a little better when they recognize the faces, know the names, and know a fun fact about the men they are listening to over the course of the weekend. Because--let's face it--no child wants to sit and listen to speakers for a total of 8 hours! (Yes, I make my kids listen on Saturday too!)

One year I decided that I wanted to make our Family Home Evenings leading up to General Conference a little more interactive and perhaps a little more memorable. Each week we learn about several members of either the first presidency or 12 apostles. Then we do an activity that correlates with one of those men. Here are a few ideas that have been fun for our family:

*Fishing for General Authorities because President Monson loves to fish. (I hooked paper clips to cards of the Apostles and First Presidency. When we caught each one we would name them and state a fact about that man.)

*Bake banana bread together (and eat it for dessert) because President Eyring enjoys baking bread with his family.

*Make and fly paper airplanes because President Uchtdorf was a pilot.

*Paint with watercolors because water coloring is a hobby of Elder Richard G. Scott.

*Play a game of backyard football because Elder Holland and Elder Cook played football, Elder Bednar met his wife while playing flag football, and Elder Cook is a fan of our OU Sooners.

Other times I have had each of the boys pick a General Authority to teach everyone about. The boys like to make notes of what they are going to say. One year my oldest drew pictures to remind himself that President Monson raised pigeons, can wiggle his ears and played chess with his son.

Last fall Mr. J taught us that President Uchtdorf was a pilot, has read Harry Potter, and likes to dance.

Here are some links to the church bios of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles. If you've heard one of them speak and they've mentioned something personal that might be of interest to your family then use that as one of your facts. For instance, Elder Cook spoke at a stake conference of ours and mentioned his love of the OU Sooners (where my husband got his masters)--that is always one of our fun facts now. Or that Elder Scott and his wife have the same names as my husband and I!

Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Boyd K. Packer, L. Tom Perry, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Richard G. Scott, Robert D. Hales, Jeffrey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen.

There are so many fun ideas that you could use . . . and these are just a few of mine! I would love to hear what you do to prepare your kids for General Conference!

Harry Potter Wands

2013-03-11T00:30:00.001-04:00

Not long ago the boys and I decided we needed some "Harry Potter" wands. I had seen some ideas on Pinterest but I wanted something a little more kid-friendly. I like to keep it simple.

Items needed:

Wooden dowel

hot glue

spray paint

I bought a long wooden dowel at Hobby Lobby and had my husband cut it into 3 equal pieces. Each of the boys then got to take turns with the hot glue making designs all over their dowel (I helped the 3-year-old). Once the glue was cool we took them outside to spray paint. My oldest wanted black while the others wanted theirs to be bronze.

The longest part of this project was waiting for the paint to dry! It was a super quick but rewarding project and my boys have loved casting spells with their wands!

How to Draw a Momper Contest

2013-03-05T00:30:00.000-05:00

My daughter is in a "how-to-draw" phase. She loves how-to-draw books and she's even made several of her own how-to-draw books.

When I heard about the How to Draw a Momper Contest over at Story Panda I knew I'd have to tell my daughter about it--and I wanted to tell all of you about it too.

Story Panda, an ipad story telling app, has a new story by Doreen Marts called Mompers. It's a cute tale about a girl who sees monsters everywhere, but when she yells out her warning it comes out as "Mompers!"

Starting today Story Panda is hosting a contest where your child can draw their own momper, take a picture, and submit it to Story Panda for a chance to win an original trading card sketch of a momper by Doreen Marts. I know my daughter would think that was pretty awesome. So if you have a little artist in your house head on over to Story Panda's blog for contest guidelines and rules.

Have fun!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss - Check

2013-03-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

Saturday was Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Did you do anything in your family to celebrate?

My plans went as far as reading a few Dr. Seuss books with my kids, eating green eggs (colored with spinach) and ham for dinner and drinking "pink ink" (or strawberry milk).

My daughter was much more proactive than me however. She came up with all sorts of grand plans all on her own. We played games like pin the star on the star bellied sneetch, find the lorax under the truffula tree, and oobleck tag. She also had some crafts planned like the one above where we created a Dr. Seuss animal of our own. I was so impressed with her creativity and initiative to plan something fun for our family. We had a fun day celebrating and spending time together.

Wild Orange--and a Giveaway!

2013-03-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Essential oils seem to be emerging out of obscurity these days. Years ago my mom introduced them to me but I've been hesitant to share my knowledge with others for fear that they'd think I was crazy! But lately I hear of more and more people "discovering" them and finding out how amazing they are. Have you been wondering what all the excitement is about? Today my friend, Janine, is going to give you a little glimpse into essential oils.

If I look at the ingredients in Lysol Antibacterial spray, I can't say them, let alone spell them. And I most certainly do not know what they are! I used to spray them all over my counter. Then make sandwiches on the same counter. Ugh! What on earth did we ingest?

Here is an all natural cleaning tip: Wild Orange essential oil is a cleaning powerhouse!

I put it in a spray bottle with water and use it to sanitize my counters. That same spray can be used to spritz the surfaces of your home instead of Lysol to kill pathogens without introducing synthetic chemicals in their place.

Ingredients: Water, DoTERRA Wild Orange. Hey, I know those words. Wash the counter and break out the PBJ!

Add it to a spray bottle of water and spritz the surfaces of your home instead of Lysol to kill pathogens without adding harmful, synthetic chemicals to your home.

Wild orange is great as an antibacterial soap without harsh chemicals that dry out your skin or add toxins to your body. Using and empty foaming soap dispenser, fill it up 1/4 full with liquid castile soap like Dr.Bronner's. I used the citrus flavor here, then fill the rest of the way with distilled water. (chlorine in your tap water can dry out your skin). Finally, add 7-10 drops of wild orange. Wash away!

For more wonderful uses for doTERRA wild orange, please visit my blog.

Isn't that great? I can't wait to try it out. And you really have to check out her blog for all the other amazing things that wild orange can do Guess what? Janine is giving away a bottle of wild orange doTERRA oil plus a 25% discount to all future purchases! What a deal! Just enter through Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anyone that contacts Janine through her blog and mentions Serving Pink Lemonade will get 25% off the doTERRA intro kit! The offer is only good through March 15th.

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

2013-02-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

Last year for St. Patrick's day my kids helped me put together these rainbow fruit kabobs as a treat to celebrate.

Don't they look delicious? And festive? I love all the beautiful colors together.

My kids of course loved eating them. We didn't have any frosting covered cookies, or green pudding, or chocolate coins. We ate fruit, and it was special. I love that healthy can still be a treat. Sometimes I forget that simple is better. I don't have to fill my kids up with candy or sugar for every little occasion. We had fun creating our kabobs together and eating each sweet juicy bite together. I think we started a great St. Patrick's Day tradition that we'll keep.

Interested in more healthy treat ideas? See some of our ideas HERE.

DIY Upcycled Plate

2013-02-25T01:30:00.000-05:00

Years ago, as a wedding gift, we received a decorative plate with our engagement picture on it. I never really loved our engagement pictures so that was the first strike against it. I could tell my husband hated it--strike 2. And strike 3? It just wasn't our style.

With all of that said I still hung on to it--somewhere buried in a drawer or box. We couldn't really give it away (it did have our faces on it) and it somehow felt wrong to throw it away. But I knew it had potential.

I recently found a calling for this little plate I've been keeping around for nearly 10 years. It was going to decorate my kitchen--with a few modifications of course.

First, I gave it several coats of spray paint. It took quite a few to get to the point where our faces didn't show through.

After I had spent all day painting and waiting for paint to dry between coats I used my Silhouette to cut out a "C".

Can I tell you how much better I like this plate now?! I love it!

And it has finally found a home instead of being tucked into a dark box.

Kiwi Crate

2013-02-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

I recently received a package from a great company called Kiwi Crate. Have you heard of them? Well, let me tell you--they are awesome! Every month you get a new crate full of all the supplies you need to make some great crafts with your child. Everything in one convenient box delivered right to your door.

While the older boys were at school and the baby was napping Mr. A and I pulled out our crate. He couldn't believe that this package was just for him.

When we opened it up we discovered that we were in for some pirate fun! The crate had everything we needed for creating a pirate adventure: eye patch, pirate hat, parrot, treasure maps, flag, and even a treasure chest!

First we worked on the hat. After folding it up (with help from the great instructions!) we started to decorate. I held the stencils while he colored them in. He had a great time picking out the different shapes, colors and their placement.

And what pirate hat is complete without feather! They thought of everything!

We moved from project to project and A was just as excited about each one. And I loved it because all of our supplies were right in front of us!

He loved decorating his very own treasure chest.

And practicing his writing by spelling out every family member's name on his pirate flag.

It was a fantastic afternoon of crafting with my boy. My favorite moment was during his drawing he looked up at me and said, "Mom! I'm an artist!" Yes, yes you are.

Mr. A loved making some great pirate gear and I loved so many things! Aside from the fact that I didn't have to come up with an idea and gather all the materials, I loved that each project came with easy-to-follow instructions along with a "messiness rating"! And there were great tips like: put a brown paper bag under the flag when you color it because the markers will bleed through. (So much better than finding that out the hard way on my new table!)

Thank you Kiwi Crate! We loved our experience!

Don't feel like you can sign up for a whole year? Kiwi Crate just introduced single crates for just $19.95!

**disclaimer: Kiwi Crate sent us a crate to review but all opinions are mine and mine alone.

Love at Home Printable

2013-02-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I love pictures frames. I have a bad habit though. I fall in love with the perfect frame, buy it, and then let it sit empty in my house. Sometimes for over a year! When I bought the picture frame below I committed to filling it before the end of the month.

I wanted to fill this frame with a saying of some sort. Since I love the words from this hymn I decided to create a printable using the first line of the song.

Simple and true.

I created it in several different colors. Feel free to grab your own copy below if you'd like. They're made to fit a 4 x 6 frame.

(To download: Click on picture to enlarge. Right click to copy. Paste into a word document. Print.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Card Ideas

2013-02-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

Each year I pull out our little $1 mailboxes from Target on February 1st. From the 1st through the 14th my kids and I enjoy sending and receiving notes and treats from each other in our mailboxes. It's become a fun little tradition my kids really look forward to.

With so much inspiration floating around on Pinterest I got a little more creative this year with some of my notes.

My kids really got a kick out of this monster card. They thought it was very clever.

(Inspired by this post)

How much do I love you?

(Inspired by this post)

I love you in sign language.

(Inspired by this post)

Who can resist a pop up card?
Here's the ultra simple version . . .

And one that's a bit more difficult . . .

Making these cards made me appreciate so much more the beautiful pop-up cards my friend Rebecca makes. They're a lot harder than they look.

Create a "thumb-body" using an ink pad to make your thumb print. Last year our family send these out to grandparents saying, "5 little thumb-bodies love you" with each of our finger prints creating a "thumb-body".

(Inspired by this post)

I've had fun coming up with cute things to put in my kids mailboxes but I've also realized that the part they love most is seeing the little flag on their mailbox raised and knowing that they've got mail. They would rather have 10 simple notes than one fancy one.

Find some of my past mailbox ideas here.

Valentine's Chex Mix

2013-02-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

Amy is always great at coming up with healthy snacks--which I'm grateful for because I always use them! But here is a little something for your sweet tooth. I was recently making these for a large group and decided that I wanted a little variety. This is what I came up with:

Want to make some of your own?

Here is what you will need:

6 cups Rice Chex cereal

12 oz bag of white chocolate chips

1-2 tsp peppermint extract

optional:

red sprinkles

valentine m&m's

red candy melts (I just threw in a few with the chocolate chips to give it a pink-ish hue)

Measure your cereal into a large bowl. Dump your chocolate into a medium sauce pan on low heat. Stir chocolate occasionally until it is completely melted. Stir in peppermint extract to taste. Pour chocolate into cereal, stirring gently until cereal is covered. Add in any extras (m&m's, sprinkles, etc.) Spread out on wax paper until cool. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Healthy Valentine Treat

2013-02-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Last year I helped my daughter throw a little Valentine party for some of her friends similar to the one we did two years ago. This time we were trying to keep the sugary sweets to a minimum so we made these fruit kabobs for a healthy snack.

They were easy to make and were a big hit with the girls. I'll for sure be making them again this year for my family.

Doily Garland

2013-02-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for a fun valentine garland for my mantle. Something fairly simple. And then I was struck by this wonderful idea--and it didn't cost me a single cent. I used only what I had on hand and it was all put together in less than 5 minutes.

All you need are heart-shaped paper doilies and a string or ribbon of some sort. I used pink baker's twine. I decided on two different colors and sizes. Once you decide your pattern just start stringing the doilies on! Seriously easy. And the perfect addition to help us celebrate the month of love.