• Smiles Spread Cheer

    I enjoy making smiley snacks for the girls especially when they are not expecting the fun surprise.  They were outside playing last week and I decided to make something healthy for them to munch on.  Smiles spread cheer and excitement when they are delivered.  They ate their smiles at the picnic table while talking and giggling. You can make a smile snack with anything that you have at home.  Both girls had a big smile matching their plates when I handed them over.

    Here is what was on each smile snack plate today:

    • 1 Banana
    • 6 Chocolate Covered Almonds
    • 1 Cherry Tomato (from our garden, one of the last few)
    • 2 slices of Zucchini
    • 2 Raisins
    • 4 Baby Carrots
    • 1 Mozzarella String Cheese Stick (cut up)

    Add a smile to your kids food today and see how excited they get over it.  Life is short, have some fun.

  • Christmas Ornament Tradition

    Every year we give each of the girls a new ornament to hang on the Christmas tree.  When it is time to decorate for Christmas they have a lot of fun  pulling out the ornaments with their names on it and talking about the memories from that year.  Once they leave home and are out on their own they will receive all of their ornaments that they had accumulated throughout the years to put on their tree in their new home.

    Every year the ornament is unique.  We write the child’s name and the year on the ornament.  Any homemade ornaments they make at home,  school, church or at another event we put their name on it so they can add it to their collection of ornaments.  Sometimes on craft nights we put together fun items to hang around the house and share with family and friends.  The girls enjoy seeing ornaments that Mommy made as a little girl too.  They giggle at the ornaments I put together and love knowing that they will have their ornaments on the tree as well.

    Our tree doesn’t have to be perfectly color coordinated.  We have had branches with 6 ornaments on it and others that have several bulbs of the same color right next to each other.  It is not necessarily “how” it looks but that it is an expression of fun times together as a family.  Having the kids help decorate the tree that is full of memorable ornaments is more important to me then the perfect tree.  They have been known to rearrange the ornaments almost daily some years.  In our house decorating the tree is a fun time of listening to Christmas music, reminiscing, and decorating together as a family.

    Do you have a fun family tradition when it comes to decorating your family Christmas tree?

  • Easy Recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

    Jake made some amazing roasted pumpkin seeds during our evening carving the pumpkins.  Here is a super easy and great recipe for roasting pumpkins seeds:

    • 2 c pumpkin seeds
    • 2 T butter
    • Sprinkle Seasoned Salt (or substitute a 1/2 package ranch package mix)

    Rinse the pumpkin seeds.  Saute pumpkin seeds in the butter for about 5 minutes (until they start to turn brown).  Sprinkle the Seasoned Salt or Ranch Mix on the  seeds.  Spread seeds into a shallow baking pan and baked at 250 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until crispy.  Stirring every 10 minutes.

    We made half with the sprinkled seasoned salt and half with the ranch package mix this year.  Delicious snacks for the whole family!

  • Fall Festivities – Pumpkin Carving

    Our family enjoys celebrating the different seasons, Holidays, and events throughout the year.  It has been a blast going to a variety of family friendly Fall Festivals in our area.  The weekends are full of horse back riding, playing in the leaves, hayrides, bonfires, pumpkin carving and all the other fun activities while creating wonderful memories with the family.

    The girls have been asking for over a month to carve pumpkins and since they were on sale recently ($3.99 for a 12 ++ pound pumpkins at BiLo) we decided to have a family night together.  We had a great evening of carving pumpkins, roasting the pumpkin seeds, drinking hot apple cider and eating caramel apples.  Daddy free handed the designs the girls drew out on the disposable table cloth.  Everyone had a blast!

    If you are wanting to find some great carving patterns that you can download here are a couple websites to check out:

    Most of the designs are kid friendly (however there are a few frightful designs).  There is a range from easy to difficult ones depending on what you want to do.  Enjoy time with together and make it a fun celebration while creating memories together.