family FUN day

We in Utah have been getting TONS of snow dumped on us, basically every week. Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny, clear day, so Jason and I took the girls sledding. There's a hill on the playground at Tempe's school, which was perfect because Juno could plan on the playground if she didn't like sledding. 

(which she didn't)

Tempe, however, loved sledding. She would have stayed all day, I think! Too bad they don't have sleds during recess.

Helena also liked sledding, but she preferred sliding down on her bum!

snowpocalypse

You guys, I'm so sorry.
It's my fault it's been snowing so much here in Utah.
(If you didn't know, we have had such a snowy winter in Utah--and it's only February! People think Utah always has a ton of snow, but the fact is, that's only in the mountains. Down in the valley, we get a couple inches of snow and it lasts for a few days at most. We rarely have snow on the ground for weeks at a time and it's even more rare that we have FEET of snow on the ground! But this year, we've had storm after storm that has dumped snow in the valleys. Right now we have about a foot and a half in the backyard and a foot in the front. Let me tell you, I'm getting mighty tired of shoveling!)
So if you're wondering why it's my fault, I'll show you.

I got these plastic snowflakes at the dollar store way back in November and have been saving them and my little "Let it snow" sign (hanging on the front door) for January. I think they might be imbued with magical snowstorm powers?? I'll be taking them down on Monday to make way for Valentine's Day decor, so we'll see if  that changes anything. 
They are pretty though, aren't they? I love watching them twist and twinkle in the sunlight (which has been pretty rare as well).
Here are some pictures of kids in the snow!!

Tempe and Autumn on the back deck.

This morning we woke up and the SUN WAS SHINING. We haven't had an actual real life clear sunny day in I don't know how long. It was also about 50 degrees! Before we had to leave to run errands this morning, Tempe and Helena spent a long time digging for dinosaur bones in the snow.

Juno doesn't like to go into the snow (it is up to her waist!) but she sat on the front steps and dug in the giant piles by the driveway.  

And I absolutely had to take a picture of that sky. Isn't it gorgeous? Along with a ton of snow, we have had the absolute worst air quality I have EVER seen. I don't know if we had a non red-air day in the whole month of January. It's been so smoggy, you can't see the mountains (we live about half a mile from the base), you can't see the sun in an otherwise clear sky. It's just been nasty out. But today the air is clear, clear, clear and we took advantage of it!

Christmas recovery mode

We're still in Christmas recovery mode here.
Anyone else?
I'm dreading the taking-down-of-Christmas that comes next week, especially the lights. Blerg. Anyone wanna come do it for me?
You would think that as a pushing-30 mom of three, I would be over the post-Christmas blues--you know, that grouchy empty feeling that comes a few hours after you finish your Christmas morning festivities when you realize 'Christmas is over for another year!!' and there seems to be nothing to look forward to and no point in getting out of bed.
Doesn't anyone else feel like that??
We did have a great Christmas, by the way. Jason and I tried very hard not to go overboard on our kids' Christmas, but I think we failed. They were absolutely content with just their Santa presents and stockings and had no desire to open the presents under the tree, although they did enjoy it once we got started. Videos to come!
PS Here is our Christmas card. I love how it turned out!

Homemade gel clings

You know that money pit at Target... the dollar spot? Yeah. I hate that spot.

It sucks you in because "It's only a dollar!!" and before you know it, you're leaving Target $50 poorer.

Well, it's a love/hate relationship, because I do find really great stuff there. Last week I got a bunch of huge fabric bins for the shelves in our closets (New Year's resolution #4) for $2.50 each! I've also started buying all of the Family Fun cookbooks and holiday books that they've been stocking lately. I actually get a subscription to Family Fun and they also have everything on their website, but it's nice to have everything organized by season and holiday and put together. And I love how my girls can look through the book and every single craft and recipe is age-appropriate, easy, and cheap!

I was really excited when I saw the homemade gel clings in our winter book. We made snowflakes this time, but you can customize them for any holiday or season! I'm looking forward to some hearts and lips for Valentine's Day in a few weeks.

1) Draw a template on wax paper. Small, compact designs work best.

2) Use dimensional fabric paint to trace over the template and let dry completely (3-4 hours, but overnight is best).

3) Carefully peel the design from the wax paper and stick it to glass. They're repositionable, too!

My kids aren't old enough to trace the template yet, but they liked arranging them on the glass :)

Christmas cocoa

I had a few requests for my crock pot hot cocoa recipe--sorry I didn't post it earlier!

10 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
Pour milk into Crockpot and turn on high heat. Mix together sugar, cocoa, salt, and hot water in a heavy saucepan. Boil 3 minutes, stirring often. Pour into milk and stir. Cover and cook on high heat 2-2 1/2 hours. Stir before serving. Makes 12 servings.

Sometimes after the initial 2 hours on high, I turn it down to low and leave it all day. It stays the perfect temperature and is so nice to come home to!

You should totally make it on Christmas morning.

Storybook Baby Shower

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

My sister-in-law Rachel is pregnant with her fourth girl in less than six years!
I am of the opinion that all babies deserve a baby shower, but when you have four in a row of the same gender, you need a baby shower! Everything is trashed after three kids!!

When I was planning Rachel's shower, I kept thinking about how snug and cozy it is to sit by the fire with a stack of books and a mug of hot cocoa around Christmas. I wanted to incorporate that sense of comfort and coziness into Rachel's shower and have a great "girls' night in" enjoying yummy treats and good company.

A storybook shower was the perfect theme!

Along with incorporating different storybook/fairy tale elements throughout the shower, I decided to serve cookies and cocoa--because can you think of a better girls' night in during the holidays than a cookies and cocoa party??
I set the treat table with "storybook" things that I gathered from around the house: a stuffed dragon, wooden sword, and shield; Little Red Riding Hood's basket; and a few copies of Grimm's Fairy Tales and an old storybook from DI. All the cookies that I served were in cookie jars. I found the mushroom one and the pumpkin one at DI and my mother-in-law let me borrow her gingerbread man and old-woman-who-lived-in-a-shoe cookie jars.

We had "Three Bears Porridge Cookies" (oatmeal craisin) and "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Cookies" (pumpkin)...
... along with "Rumplestiltskin's Golden Haystacks" (butterscotch and chow mein noodles) and Gingerbread Men.

Along with cookies, I had a hot cocoa bar. I made my famous crockpot hot cocoa and set out three different kinds of marshmallows (gingerbread, chocolate, and normal), whipped cream, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and caramel syrup, and let people go crazy.

As a party favor, I made "Milk Mustaches". I just bought a mustache mold at Michael's and used vanilla bark. They're on sticks so you can hold them up to your face--pretty cute! I also used more storybook elements to decorate the hot cocoa bar--Rapunzel's braid, the frog prince and the princess's golden ball, a stack of Mother Goose books, and one of the three bears.

And there are the milk mustaches!
We just played one short party game. I had Rachel pick a slip of paper out of a basket that had a storybook or fairy tale character written on it and then she answered yes or no questions for us to guess who she was. Simple and fun!

We had a great shower and we are so excited to welcome Rachel's baby in a few weeks!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

{comfort and joy}

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

Ahhh... "child me" never would have believed this, but I love winter. I really do. I grew up in North Carolina where winter is basically nonexistent, and back then, I was definitely a summer girl. But after we lived in Wyoming for three years (and it was winter most of those three years. No, seriously, it was.), I grew to really love winter.

I love...

Cuddling by a roaring fire, reading "'The Night Before Christmas" and listening to my little girls wonder what Santa will put in their stockings...

Getting out those special books and movies that we only have out for a month every year...

Yummy holiday treats and smells, like cranberries, peppermint, and cinnamon.
There is nothing like the holiday season!

Comfort is the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday gift list, so be sure to take advantage of Tempur-Pedic's Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective

Play School: Snowflakes

This week's lesson in Play School was on snowflakes.

Concepts: The water cycle: Where do snowflakes come from?; Snowflakes are unique, like me!

Activities/Art: Snowflake painting: The kids dipped snowflake shaped cookie cutters into different shades of blue paint to make snowflake prints on construction paper.

Soap snowballs: I grated Ivory soap into a big bowl, got the kids hands wet, and helped them mold the grated soap into snowballs--do it the same way you would regular snowballs. This is a very messy project, so put newspaper down on the floor, wear smocks, and try to stay patient! I have to admit that I got frustrated with the mess it was making and had the kids finish up before they were ready :( Mean mommy. They loved squishing the gooey soap between their fingers as they molded the snowballs, and now they have a new useful bath toy! Two bars of Ivory soap yielded three good sized snowballs.

Books: Millions of Snowflakes by Mary McKenna Siddals; Simon and the Snowflakes by Gilles Tibo; The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty by Kenneth Libbrecht and Patricia Rasmussen; The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story by Neil Waldman

Songs: {to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"} Dance like snowflakes, dance like snowflakes--twirl around! Twirl around! Twirling, whirling snowflakes, twirling, whirling snowflakes, to the ground, to the ground.

{to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"} I'm a little snowflake, look at me! No other snowflake is just like me. I am so unique, as you can see. And just as special as I can be!

Snack: Cinnamon snowflakes: I cut snowflakes out of tortillas using snowflake shaped cookie cutters, sprayed them with Pam, and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. Then I baked them for 6 minutes at 400 degrees. Yum! These would be great served with hot chocolate.

Play School: Snowmen

This week was our first week back from our winter break, and we kicked it off with a lesson about snowmen!

Concepts: How to build a snowman; Where do snowmen go when it gets warm?

Activities/art: M helped Tempe, Big B, and Little B make and decorate foam snowmen with markers and pipe cleaners. They also did a snowman project for their snack. If you have snow in your area, playing in the snow and building a snowman is a no-brainer, but if you don't, try this faux snow project.

Books: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs; The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll; All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle; Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner; and That's Not My Snowman by Fiona Watt

Songs: Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,

Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall!

In the sun he melted, melted, melted

In the sun he melted, small, small, small...

Snack: M helped the kids assemble edible snowmen out of marshmallows, pretzels, and various candy. Or, if you are tired of snow and ready for a change, try making these "Defrosty the Snowman" treats from Family Fun.

Cookies and Cocoa

Tonight Jason and I had a few families from our neighborhood over for a Cookies and Cocoa party. Everyone brought a plate of goodies and I had a Crockpot of cocoa with a bunch of different toppings: whipped cream, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, cinnamon, peppermint sticks, and marshmallows. You could also have different flavored coffee creamers, chocolate shavings, or sprinkles. I have a bunch of different colored and shaped mugs, and everyone just filled their mug with cocoa and topped it with whatever they wanted. Then we grownups sat around and talked while the kids ran wild (literally).

Christmas Cocoa

10 cups milk

3/4 sugar

3/4 cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups hot water

Pour milk into Crockpot and turn on high heat. Mix together sugar, cocoa, salt, and hot water in a heavy saucepan. Boil 3 minutes, stirring often. Pour into milk and stir. Cover and cook on high heat 2-2 1/2 hours. Stir before serving. Makes 12 servings.

And I found this recipe too late, but I want to try it sometime...

Hot Cocoa Marshmallow Cupcakes

1 pkg devil's food cake mix

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups mini marshmallows (I like Jet-Puffed French Vanilla Snowman Mallows)

1/4 cup milk

1 tub Cool Whip, thawed

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Make and bake cupcakes as directed on package

2. Place 1 cup marshmallows, the chocolate, and the milk in large saucepan; cook on low heat until marshmallows and chocolate are melted and mixture is well blended, stirring constantly. Cool at least 30 minutes. Gently stir in Cool Whip.

3. Frost cupcakes with Cool Whip mixture; top with remaining marshmallows. Sprinkle with cocoa powder.

I think these cupcakes would be perfect to go along with a hot cocoa bar after a sledding party! (Which is something we often did when I was in high school in PA--we used to sled at the VA hospital hill behind my high school and then go back to my place, where my mom would have hot cocoa waiting for us... fun)