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Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Valentine's Day 2017

Friday, February 24, 2017



Valentine's Day snuck up on me this year.  Maybe it is because it is summer here in Chile.  I know, that's not a great excuse because it was summer all year long in Thailand, but that is the excuse I am going with.


We started off our morning with what was supposed to be chocolate donuts, but they stuck terrible to the pan and came out all broken.  I ended up mixing the glaze in with the donut crumbles, forming them into balls, and making donut holes out of them.  I made some more glaze, colored it red and said it was good enough.  The boys were also surprised with Tootsie pops and a box of chocolates from their Gigi (my mom.)  They loved that they got their own box of chocolates!



For snack time, the boys decorated heart sugar cookies and we did this hilarious Valentine mad lib.






Lunch was homemade heart pizzas, with this super easy pizza crust I found.


And I didn't take a picture of dinner, but we had Million Dollar Spaghetti ( a favorite in this house), homemade french bread, and a delicious red velvet poke cake. I made whipped cream frosting for the cake instead of the cream cheese frosting.  So, lots of sweets and love on this Valentine's Day.

Next up on the holiday list is Ben's & Britton's birthdays, which are 3 days apart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Inspirations: My Valentine's Day Pinterest page

Check our how we celebrated our past Valentine's day. Meals, snacks, crafts, & parties.
Valentine's Day 2014
Valentine's Day 2015
Valentine's Day 2016

Thanksgiving 2016

Thursday, January 26, 2017



We started out our Thanksgiving season with a Thankful Board. You can get the printable {HERE} Every day during the month of November we wrote something we were thankful for.  I really would like to extend this throughout the year instead of just November.  It's a nice reminder of why we should be thankful everyday.


We made our very favorite pumpkin cookies.  Honestly, they are amazing.  I usually only make one batch of these a year because they are very  "sinful", but this year I made two batches and  took some to a party.  I kept getting requests for the recipe.  I tried to find it online again, but cannot find the original.  I even have the website I got it from, but it wasn't on there anymore.  I decided to type it up so I don't ever lose it.  Here is the recipe.  Try it next year!!  They are amazing.

The Best Pumpkin Cookies
Makes: about 5 dozen
Ingredients:
·         2 cups sugar
·         2 cups shortening
·         2 cups pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
·         2 eggs
·         2 tsp. vanilla
·         5 cups flour
·         4 tsp. baking powder
·         1 tsp. salt
·         2 tsp. cinnamon
·         2 tsp. baking soda
·         2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice ( if you don’t have just add some ginger & allspice.)
·         2 tsp. nutmeg
·         3/4 tsp. cloves
Directions:
·         Preheat oven to to 350 F
·         Mix shortening and sugar until blended
·         Add pumpkin
·         Add one egg at a time, mix
·         Add vanilla
·         In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients
·         Add to wet ingredients
·         Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
·         4 ½ cups powdered sugar
·         1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
·         1 tsp. vanilla
·         ¼ half & half (I have used milk or whipping cream)

·         Add a little orange food coloring for festive touch.  



We learned what life would have been like for Native American children.  This is a great book to give you a peek at their daily lives.  We made dream catchers after this story.  Two of my boys were sure that their dream catchers were really working.  Dreamcatchers {HERE}






We read our very favorite Thanksgiving book.  If you are a Five in a Row fan , I am sure you hold Cranberry Thanksgiving in a special spot in your heart.  We read this every year.


Our seasons are opposite of the United States.  Usually, we would have a pumpkin and apple pie for Thanksgiving.  This year we made a strawberry pie and the boys made it, crust and all, by themselves.






I learned that I never want my kids to cook a turkey for me.   Printable {HERE}


Some of our art work.  They learned about the Mayflower and drew the ship. Directions {HERE}

They drew turkeys. {HERE}


 The boys added thankful leaves to their Thankful tree each day. 


A couple more books we read to get us prepared for Thanksgiving. 


While we lived in Thailand we always celebrated Thanksgiving on the following Saturday because Ben always had to work on that Thursday.  I was planning on doing the same thing here, but found out  a couple of days before that Ben actually got half a day off on Thanksgiving!!  That was pretty exciting for us.  We started off our morning watching the Macy's Day Parade from 2015.  Always a year behind.  





We finished off our Thanksgiving day decorating for Christmas.  It was a wonderful day of food and family.  


Happy Thanksgiving from all of us!



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Pinterest Thanksgiving Boards
-Thanksgiving
-Cranberry Thanksgiving

Past Thanksgivings and Ideas
-Thanksgiving 2011
-Thanksgiving 2013
-Thanksgiving 2015

Week In Review: September 11-17-Things that make me happy, American Ninja Warrior, & Recipes

Monday, September 19, 2016



It's week two of school and I hardly took any pictures. But, I did take a lot of pictures of things that made me happy.  I mentioned last week I was in a little mood and so this week I decided to focus on things that are great about living in Chile so far.

On Sunday, Greyson was invited to a paintball party.  The location looked amazing and he had so much fun.  He cannot wait to go back.


 The paintball location



While Ben and Greyson were at that, Britton, Lincoln, and I went on a hike through the trails in our neighborhoods.





We started out the school week with a beautiful book that was given to us by some wonderful friends. If you homeschool, you need this book.  It quickly has become a favorite in our house.  


You know it's a good day when your table looks like this at the end of it.  

I tried a few new recipes this week.  I made this yummy cream cheese coffee cake and baked pretzels. I also made my own coffee creamer.  I never realized how easy that was.  We also had taco Tuesday at our friend's house.  I need to take photos the next time.  I also starting going to a cooking club this week.  This week, we made Jamaican meat & veggie patties.  They were delicious.



Just look at those sunsets!  Ben chose a house with amazing views.  I am just in awe every night when the sun sets.  It is absolutely beautiful.  



Other things that made me really happy this week:

Our shipment came!!  It was like Christmas.  It was so much fun opening all the boxes.  Although, we are still arranging, organizing, and trying to find places for everything.  Everything made it in one piece and we are so happy to have all our belongings again.  




I have a dishwasher!!  I haven't had a dishwasher for 5 years, so I am ecstatic about this.  I am very, very thankful to have a dishwasher. 


Brotherly cuddles make me very happy.


Avacoados make me so happy.  They were so expensive in Thailand and you can buy them by the bag here.  They have become a staple in our house now.


 My new elephant mug from Thailand made me very happy and a little homesick.


Lincoln is also training for American Ninja Warrior.


I also made a trip into the city to get fabric to re-upholster some chairs in our house. I have never upholstered chairs before, so that will be fun to learn.   We also ended the weekend at a potluck for all the new teachers at Nido.  It was nice to get to meet so many new people.  

Ben has this week off, so we are taking time to work on the house and build lots of furniture. Hope everyone has a great week!  
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