3 years old!

Olivia's second b-day celebration of the month with my family.  3-D snowman cake! 

Daddy project!

My husband thought it would be a good idea to teach Abby (now 5) to play checkers.  She loves games and will actually sit and play with you for a while.  As much as it killed him to purchase (for a whole $5) a set from a store-he did.  His motto always being -why buy what you can build.   And as luck would have it the game set he bought had missing pieces!!  I know there a few of you out there that can feel my pain and know I will never hear the end of it.  So one night while at work a building session happened in our basement!

These first two pics have nothing to do with the checker board itself-it just kept them busy while he worked on the board.

Made with leftover wood and paint!

Skipping cleaning day

Today we went to the Children's Museum instead of cleaning the house.   I won't include a picture of the house, it's really messy.  Didn't feel like cleaning and did not feel like staying home to look at the mess!

If this outfit does not make a fashion statement I don't know what does!



Birthday month

This month is Olivia's birthday month.  She is turning 3.  We started off with her first party with Daddy's side of the family this past weekend.

BTW- The frosting ended up being Duncan Hines. 

My sister in law brought her blue gel dye and it worked great! 

This little shirt is SO cute.   If you look closely you can see Livy and Plumpy snuggling together in the picture and my sister in law embroidered "LOVE" underneath.  Olivia loved it.  (She used Fabric Transfer paper from Joanne Fabrics and printed out the image from her computer!)

Her next handmade gift was "Livy's gnomes".  See the box.

 Another sister in law craft with help from the cousins.  She saw the idea over at Gingercake.

and of course her favorite, ice cream.

Thanks for a great weekend everyone.  Olivia loved all her gifts (even if I did not get pics of them all!) and enjoyed a fun time with her family.



Valentine Day dinner

Valentine Treat Bags

One of my favorite blogs to visit is The Farm Chicks.   So when she posted about Valentine Treat Bags I was all in.  See link here.   (you can download the PDF file and print out the bags, fold then fill!)   Once I showed Abby how to fold the bags properly she was able to do them all by herself.  We filled them with chocolate hearts and conversation hearts!  Abby will pass these out to her classmates for their Valentine's day party.

Breakfast idea

I recently discovered this blog called Feeding the Chaos and decided to try her Puffed pancake recipe.  It was really good despite the pictures looking a little bit off.  I promise.  It is like a giant popover.  And it was easy to mix, throw in the oven and wait.  Both girls loved it and so did I.  Daddy, well let's just say he let us eat it all. 

Puffed pancake

2 Tbsp butter


3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt


Heat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is heating up, put butter in a baking dish and place inside oven until butter melts.  In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add milk, flour and salt and beat until smooth. Pour into baking dish. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until sides are puffy and center is done.
 
We used syrup.  But I think powered sugar or jam would be yummy!

Valentine cookie idea

I volunteered to make cookies for the Father Daughter Valentine Dance.  (Luckily for Abby's class room party all I have to do is supply the Valentine napkins-easy).  I made these same cookies back in Dec- Hershey Kisses Candy Cane Blossoms, but this time instead of green and red sugar crystals I used hot pink and red.  The pink ones actually resemble Easter peeps!   Easy and VERY tasty.  This is a good dough recipe.

Ingredients

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
Pink and Red sugar crystals, granulated sugar

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red or pink sugar, or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

She made it!

to the Father Daughter dance!  We got rain/sleet/snow/thunder/lightening on Sat.  Yes, Thunder and Lightening-isn't that crazy.   So the dance was postponed until Sunday afternoon-buying us just enough time for Abby to feel better.

Daddy presented her with a tiny corsage.  I don't think she really knew what to make of it at first!

Sorry no pics of the actual dance.  Daddy isn't too good at remembering to take MORE pictures!  Oh I wish I could have been a fly on the wall!

Why I am wishing for snow tomorrow......

I know crazy.  Tomorrow is the annual Father and Daughter Valentine day dance.  Abby has her dress, shoes and tights all picked out.   And this morning she woke with a 103 temp.  ugh   If it snows tomorrow they will postpone and then Sunday will be the dance- buying us one more day for her to recover!  Fingers crossed.

Fluff Frosting

We made another type of frosting- Fluff Frosting.  Somehow I remember it tasting better when my sister in law made it?   Everything she makes tastes good.  

While this frosting was good (Really who am I kidding- frosting made of fluff, sugar and butter-of course it tastes good).  Still, I don't think my search has ended for the perfect frosting to top Olivia's birthday cupcakes.....

Fluff Frosting

2 sticks butter softened

10 oz Marshmellow fluff

1/4 cup confection sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

6 to 8 drops of food coloring
Beat butter in mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in fluff, then sugar and vanilla. Stir in food coloring.