Last-minute Valentine's Day Cards and Giveaways!

As someone who recently had a panic attack at the realization that Valentine's Day is only a week away, I'm so thankful for someone like my friend Kelly over at live.laugh.rowe. With amazing creativity and mad Photo Shop skills, she has come up with some adorable and oh-so-easy Valentine's Day card fun for the artistically-challenged rest of us.

Honestly, what says "Love" more than 1 Corinthians 13:4-8? That's what makes this printable perfect for a last-minute Valentine's Day card (just in case there's anyone besides me who hasn't thought about them before now!)...Simply print it (here) on card stock, how cute!

And don't forget to spread the love with your own family this Valentine's Day! This quote from Anthony Brandt would make great card, or framed as a gift, for a family member. Print it here. So easy!

I've known Kelly for more than 10 years, and she is as fun as she is creative. She never ceases to amaze me with her talent for the crafty, like these fun and funky Valentine card ideas! PLUS, she's got a full week of giveaways this week. Who doesn't LOVE a great giveaway!

So, head on over to live.laugh.rowe and take a look around. Tell her Nancy sent you! :)

Cute Library Totes

Summer is officially here and in our house that means summer reading programs!! I have so many fond memories from my childhood of spending hours every summer at our local library. It helped, of course, that the library was air-conditioned and only a 4-block bike ride from my house.

I'm so glad Little Miss has inherited my love for books, and it seems Little Man is following in his big sister's footsteps. Our recent trips to the library have produced stacks of books so large, we can hardly carry them all home. In fact, we live within 10 miles of two libraries and are planning to take advantage of both reading programs this summer! That's why I was so excited for us to make these fun, library tote bags (an idea I adapted from something I saw in a magazine).

First, I purchased the needed supplies. I am NOT a "crafter," so the simpler the better...that's why this was perfect. All we needed was some canvas tote bags (I found a package of 3 in really fun colors!), iron on decals (optional), and fabric markers or paints.

I let Little Miss and Little Man choose the tote bag they wanted, then they set to work unleashing their creativity on one side of the tote.

Little Miss is quite the artist and filled every inch of hers!

On the other side I affixed their chosen iron-on decals...so easy! (Can you believe this is the first time I've done an iron-on? I told you I'm not crafty!) I used the fabric markers to personalize each tote. For example, "Little Miss's Books." (This picture was taken before I wrote their names.)

As a bonus, the totes will also serve as a place to keep all our library books organized. In an attempt to reduce lost library books and save Mom's sanity, when a library book is not being read, it is stored in the tote which has a special place in each of their rooms. That way, when we're ready to head to the library, we know where all the books are (in theory at least).

They were pretty proud of their totes. (Little Man is growling like the lion on his bag in the above picture.) And, even though I'll probably still end up carrying all three totes--full of books--from the library on each visit, they've created something they are proud of and ready to use. If it helps keep us a little more organized along the way, all the better!

For more fun, summer reading program ideas, head over to visit my friend Lora at My Blessed Life. She has some great tips!

Happy reading!

Rapunzel Party

I'm a little behind in blogging...with moving, birthday celebrations, a special vacation (more on that in a later post), planting a garden, and end-of-sch00l-year festivities there's been a lot going on, and therefore a lot to catch up on. Even though Little Miss's birthday party was a month ago, I ran across so many fun ideas while planning it that I just had to share...

As soon as we saw the Disney movie Tangled, I knew we had found the theme for Little Miss's birthday party...Rapunzel. There was just one problem...in the three weeks between viewing the movie and having the birthday party, we were also purchasing a house and moving. To make things even more exciting, our closing was delayed for almost two full weeks. So from the time the movers showed up, I had exactly 9 days to plan a Rapunzel Party fit for a princess. Fortunately, a lot of the "idea work" had already been done.

As is often the case, budget was another factor. Since we had just purchased a new home, cash flow was at a minimum. So I began the search for quick, easy, and affordable ideas. I stumbled across new inspiration at SuperMomMoments.com. I loved her simple, yet elegant ideas and attention to detail.

Armed with Super Mom ideas, my own creativity, and a budding almost-6-year-old artist I set out to tackle the tower. While I loved the idea of the invitations at SuperMomMoments, my choice was clear when Little Miss impulsively colored a picture of Rapunzel in her tower one afternoon. What better to adorn our invitations than her very own creation? We scanned the picture, I added some fancy font work, and viola...an invitation masterpiece for all her friends.

Little Miss's original artwork

I kept decorations simple by making these cute little lanterns for the stairs leading to the party area (i.e., the basement). This was perfect since I don't consider myself particularly crafty...I bought some purple lunch sacks (purple of course being Rapunzel's signature color), borrowed a heart-shaped paper punch (I think a sun or moon would have looked better, but I had to use what I had!), and purchased some LED no-flame votive candles at Hobby Lobby.

I also found a template for this fun banner on SuperMomMoments. (For those who've seen the movie, you'll recognize the design from the town festival scene.)

Snacks were inspired by the town festival scene as well...crackers, cheese, and fruit. And what would a Rapunzel party be without pretzel braids? Speaking of braids...I found the idea for the adorable wig pictured above here. It was a perfect addition to our little princess. (Although, in the spirit of full disclosure, it didn't last through the party...remember the part about my not being very crafty? Let's just say my workmanship left much to be desired...but it was cute while it lasted!)

My favorite part of the party was this Wanted poster of Flynn Rider that my brother-in-law so graciously drew for me when he was in town earlier in the week. Three guesses where I got the idea...yep,SuperMomMoments to the rescue again!

The kids loved trying get pin the frying pan right on Flynn's nose. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or adults. (And to make it even easier, I downloaded the frying pan template here.)

I found so many amazing cake ideas online, but since I was running out of time and already spreading myself thin I knew better than to try to take on a tower cake. I ordered this one from a local bakery. The girls loved it, and it tasted yummy, too...win, win!

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and most importantly my Little Miss princess deemed it "the best day ever!" (Worth it all, right there.)

Sickness, Snow Days and a Birthday

I don't think I've ever been so happy to see Monday. Last week was one of the strangest weeks we've had in a long time, and I'm glad it's over!

It all started with me in bed for three days with a fever. At the same time, Little Miss developed a fever and Little Man had quite the cough and snotty nose. To add insult to injury, we found out none of us had the same thing so we had to be careful to not spread what we each had to the other! Poor Hubby had his hands full playing both Daddy and Mommy (to sick kids nonetheless!), medical assistant to me, cooking meals, cleaning messes, and even managed to go grocery shopping...which had to be done before Snowpocalypse hit. (Do I have a great man or what! More on that later...)

In case you've been living under a rock for the last week, most of the Midwest United States was blanketed under inches (and sometimes feet) of snow in what is now being dubbed "Snowpocalypse" or "Snowmeggedon." This winter catastrophe resulted in four days off school for Little Miss, no preschool for Little Man, and two days off work for Hubby. It would have been a wonderful winter retreat for us all...if we hadn't been sick!

Still, we did manage to spend Wednesday celebrating Hubby's birthday. Since we were all snowed in, we declared an all-day birthday celebration complete with Apple Fritters for breakfast, a jungle safari in the living room (featuring every stuffed animal we own), a special steak dinner, a viewing of Disney's Jungle Book (notice the theme?) and of course, birthday cake.


Since sickness and blizzard prevented us from going shopping for birthday presents, the kids made "My Favorite Things with Daddy" books. They each drew pictures of their favorite activities with Daddy and we tied them all up with a ribbon. I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids making them or Daddy reading them.

We even created special birthday cards by cutting out pictures of the kids and creating funny scenes and sayings. That was Little Miss's idea...she's quite the crafty bug!


Sickness aside, it was a great week of spending time together and creating special memories. There's nothing like being snowed in together in tight living quarters to make you truly appreciate each other! I was once again reminded how blessed I am to have my wonderful family...especially my Hubby. I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Babe! Thanks for (once again) being my hero!

Fall Family Fun

We're still waiting on the weather to reflect it, but the calendar shows that Fall is officially here. So our family kicked our fall festivities off in full swing this weekend. We started Saturday morning with a childhood favorite of Hubby's (made by his grandmother, then mother). I heard much about these Apple Fritters long before I ever tasted them....and let's just say I was NOT disappointed. This is only the second time I've attempted to make them since we've been married (actually it becomes a team effort with the peeling, coring, slicing, battering, frying, etc.). I think it might have to become a first-weekend-of-fall tradition around here! Here are some pics, and the simple and delicious recipe...

Hubby taking his turn at the stove...

And the delicious finished product...YUM!

After breakfast, we headed out to a Fall Festival at a local farm park that recently opened. It's the first time we had been there, and we all had a great time!

The kiddos LOVED the animals.

And we even got to "milk" a fake cow! (After my comment on last Know & Tell Friday!)

Hubby and the kids "driving" a tractor.

They even had a pumpkin patch, and Little Miss and I got some pumpkins to bring home!

It was a great weekend to kickoff this Fall season, but I'm ready for some cooler weather, and I have the sunburn to prove it!

And as promised the Apple Fritter recipe...

Grandma's Apple Fritters

3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup flour

1 egg

milk--enough to make batter the right consistency

1-2 Tbls vegetable or canola oil

1 cup of sugar and cinnamon mixture

Batter: Combine flour and egg. Add enough milk to make batter
the consistency of a thick liquid (make sure there are no lumps).

Heat oil in a skillet. Dip each apple slice in batter, making
sure it is completely coated, then add to skillet. Cook until
lightly browned, then move it to cinnamon and sugar
mixture until completely coated. Allow to cool.

Menu Plan Monday and Fun Project

I wanted to share this Weekly Planner project I did with Little Miss this morning. It's great for preschoolers. She's just starting to learn the different days of the week and the fact that we do certain things on certain days. (For example, church is on Sunday, Daddy is home from work on Sat., etc.) Since we don't have a lot of recurring activities over the summer (lessons, preschool, etc.) we used our weekly routines (shopping, laundry, etc.). And since I didn't have any post-it notes on hand, I cut small scraps of paper and we taped them on. When we have something special coming up (like a visit from grandparents or a birthday party), I'll print a picture of the person to put on the day. Then we can count down to the special day. For more great, educational projects, visit PBSParents.org.

Do you have any special educational projects you like to do with your kids? Or any great resources for project ideas? I'd love to hear them!



Also, here is my Menu Plan for this Monday. For more great menus (and recipes), head on over to Org Junkie...there are hundreds to choose from!

Monday: Chicken Fried Rice and Asian Steamed Vegetables
Tuesday: Pot roast with potatoes and carrots (putting the slow cooker to use again!)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread
Thursday: Leftover night
Friday: Family Night Out
Saturday: Grilled Tri-Tip, Pasta Salad and fresh veggies
Sunday: anything you can find in the fridge!

(Sorry no recipes or links this week...it's been a crazy weekend and will be a crazy week, so I'm doing a lot of "from the box" dinners and "off the top of my head" meals...thus, no written recipes. I hope to contribute more next time around!)