final valentine's thoughts

for the last few years i have bought the fun dips for my kid's valentine's.
they are so fun and they only get them once a year.
i had to laugh because the example valentine on the front "mike and brenda" is the same name as some of our old friends.
what is even more strange is that i saw mike 3 days ofter i bought these.
i had not seen mike in months and months.
he said they bought a box too because they just could not resist.

i have fun childhood memories with fun dips.
i am not sure how old i was.
my cousin jennifer and i walked down {were driven???? - cloudy memory} to this little liquor/candy store.
we picked out fun dips and candy cigarettes.
naughty girls.
when you put the candy cigarette in your mouth and blew on it a chalky smoke came out.
then you were left with this nasty white gum.
i can not believe that my police officer uncle would let us get it.
i can laugh now.
i probably would not laugh if my kids did it though.




after hudson finished addressing all of his valentine's he had to make one for his best friend.
no - not hobbes {he was next on the list}
rexton.
rexy enjoyed the beautiful green tongue and mouth that it gave him.
he also stripped his bed and brought me his sheets to wash because it had green sprinkles on it.
he know better than to eat candy on his bed.
but he is three.
i am just proud of him that he wanted his bed stripped.
it gave him a good excuse to sleep with his brother that night until i could get everything washed.



on valentine's day we had a great breakfast with just our little family.
waffles with strawberries, fresh whipped cream, homemade maple syrup, bacon and orange juice
we had a great morning together.
when we got back from church we found that we had been "heart attacked"
we had hearts hanging from our trees and bird feeder.
our outside lights and a pathway down our hall.
there was a plate of cookies on everyone's bed.
it was a really fun surprise.
thanks grandma and grandpa.

as a side note...ALL 7 plates of cookies were gone in 24 hours.
i had 2 total.
{cookies NOT plates}
my kids and husband are closet cookie monsters.
also...no i do not let hudson wear his hat to church.
he put it on in the car afterwards.

New Do

we having been playing with hair lately.
we knew that emmelyne's braiding days were coming to an end.
we did one final fun hair do for valentine's day.
you probably can not tell that the braids make a heart shape in the back of her head.
it was fun for the final braiding of the year.

it has been a little over 2 years since she last cut off her beautiful locks.
this time it was a whopping 13 inches that came off.
about 11 of that went to the Locks of Love program.
when she first did it when she was 6 she called it "Lots of Love"
that works too.



here is the final product.
a cute a line bob.
it will take some getting used to.
we have already been coming up with some new hair dos that she can do for school.
besides the constant snarls, extra conditioner and crocodile tears.....long hair was easy.
i see a lot of cute clips and headbands in her future.

more Valentine's ideas

i have tried a lot of sugar cookie recipes.
not because i do not have a great one.
but more because mine is not best rolled out and shaped.
mine is best rolled into balls and pressed with a cookie stamp.

i always get excited when people tell me that they have the best sugar cookie recipe.
i give it a try.
it always dissapoints.
ALWAYS.
i always come back to my original recipe.
it is my husband's favorite cookie -even beating out cowboy cookies.

i made these giant heart sugar cookies for a valentine's party.
i signed up to decorate a table and this was the "little" treat I put at each place setting.
i needed to do it on the CHEAP.

here were the results:



pink constuction paper placemats that I wrote conversation starters all around the border. i was not sure who would be sitting at our table and I wanted to be prepared = FREE
plates from Target = $1.50
package of balloons = $1.00
feather boa {leftover from my girl's dance costumes} = FREE
bag of conversation hearts to fill vase = $1.00
red globets {from home} = free
real silverware {from home} = free

not bad for under $5.00

now you can enjoy Joann's sugar cookies too.

4 cups plus 2 TBSP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup of softened butter
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla {use mexican vanilla if you have it}
1 cup of vegetable oil {i said they were good - not healthy}

Mix together. Roll into balls and roll in white sugar. use a cookie press or the bottom of a glass to press down. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. You do not want these to really brown. They will BARELY start to brown when you need to take them out.

you do not need to chill.

honestly, if you think that you have THAT one amazing rolled out sugar cookie recipe - i am up to trying it out.
for now i will happily continue to make these.

Love Pillow

i saw this great idea here
she really has great ideas

i combined two of her projects into one
her love pillow and the rolled flowers.
i used scraps of fabrics that i had leftover from other projects.
{that fun bird fabric is left over from making amber's hooter hider}

i used it as an object lesson for our family's "break the fast/birthday" dinner at our house on sunday
we talked about the prinicple of "loving more"
you can see the story that we read here

i made our family a pillow
but you could just use something that you already have.
or a stuffed animal {heaven knows that i had enough of those around}

i am looking forward to seeing how this little experiment works at our house.

Goals not resolutions

i am a list maker.
i always have been.
probably always will be.

this year i skipped the annual list of new years resolutions.
you know the ones.

but i did something different.
something more doable.

i was inspired by meg's list.
see - her and i have something in common
we will both be turning the big 3-5 this year.
35 things that i am going to do before i turn 35, or the end of the year since i got a late start
that's ok because my birthday and the end of the year are pretty close to each other.

i had to find someone to do it with me because i am that kind of person
i do not like to be alone and do not like to do things by myself
luckily rachelle had seen the same list and was inspired by it too
she is in the same "turing 3-5" club too

my list is made
so is hers
of course hers was all typed and pretty
mine was still written on the hotel notepad
and sort of crumpled in my purse
she is fixing that for me
soon mine will be all pretty too
she that kind of friend

we had some good laughs, cries, and tender moments over a carmel apple cider at starbucks
i needed reassurance that my list was not too lofty
i needed to know that i could do this
she keeps me in check

i probably will not share all of them here.
who knows
i may get brave

i will share some for sure
you see that is part of my goals

#7 post on my blog at least once a week.

for the next little bit there will be more than one a week.
you see, i have some catching up to do.
i have projects that are done.
i have recipes to share.
i have thoughts on things.
i have pictures to share.

so hold me accountable.
if you see me in real life and know that it has been more than a week...
call me on it
you have my permission.


this has been a new favorite.
10 minute bread sticks.
so fast
so easy
no special ingredients
you do not need a BOSCH to do this
a kitchen aid will do just fine
it is so versitile

i have made them into breadsticks, cinnamon rolls, pizza rolls.....
i am sure that there are more uses that i have not figured out yet
scones, calzones, the list is growing already.

i have the recipe taped to the inside of my cupboard above my mixer.
i was tired of lugging out the huge recipe book each time.
yes - i was using it that much
you would think that i would have had it memorized.



10 minute breadsticks

1 TBSP yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water {from the tap}
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 TBSP salt
3 1/2 + cups of flour

put everything in the mixer.
mix until it all balls together.
let rest 10 minutes

melt 1 cube of butter and put in the bottom of a jelly roll pan
roll out dough into a rectangle
i use my pizza cutter to cut into strips
lay the breadsticks in the melted butter
turn them over so they coat on both sides.
i usually add garlic salt and/or parmesan cheese over the top

bake 20 minutes at 350


for quick cinnamon rolls.
i roll them out and spread butter over the top of the dough.
i sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the butter.
sprinkle with cinnamon - i forgot this last week and had to unroll the whole thing
MESSY
roll up and cut into pinwheels
place in a greased 9x13 pan
bake at 350 for about 23 minutes
pour a powdered sugar glaze over the top when they come out

your family will love you
you can even make them when you have a pounding sinus headache
and they will love you even more for it.

for pizza rolls
roll out
spread on pizza sauce
sprinkle with mozzerella cheese
layer with toppings {our favorite is turkey pepperoni}
roll up
cut into pinwheels {kind of tricky but doable}
put into a greased 9x13 pan
bake 350 for 23 minutes
{no powdered sugar glaze needed}
my kids think they are the best.