Bakers Twine Valentine Wreath

 I had a great time yesterday and today during my little ones nap time finally updating my front door!  I mean really....it was time for the Merry Christmas sign to come down ;)  I dug through my craft stash to use anything I had on hand...and this fun Bakers Twine Valentine Wreath is what I came up with!

All I did was cover a wreath form in turquoise bakers twine I bought a few months back from Pick Your Plum.  After a few minutes of neatly wrapping it around I got bored and started doing it a lot more messy :)  I have serious attention issues when it comes to crafting.  Once I had the form covered in twine I haphazardly wrapped natural twine a few times around.  

Once I had that all done I cut out triangles of burlap and hot-glued them on the wreath.  Finally I made a bunch of fabric yo-yos and hot-glued them all together and PINNED them on the wreath.  Then, once spring time rolls around I figure I can make a new embellishment and turn my valentines wreath into my spring wreath! :)

I love the pop of color my new wreath added to my brown front door, and I always love anything with Baker's Twine ;)  Thanks for stopping by today!

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Baked Potato Soup

 I don't know about where you all live....but here it has been COLD!!!  Like, crazy cold!  The well-below freezing temps had made for some perfect soup nights, and I thought I would share my favorite soup recipe with you tonight.

Baked Potato Soup!

I have been making this recipe for so long I don't even remember where I got it from :)  I love it because its cheap to make, everyone enjoys it, and I have most of the ingredients in my food storage (besides the potatoes ;)  Its quick and simple, and sure to satisfy your whole family!  Oh, one note, I ALWAYS double this recipe!  We always end up with leftovers, but if I don't we don't have enough for all 6 of us :)

Here's what you need:

¼ c. butter 

¼ c. chopped onion 

¼ c. flour 

14 oz can chicken broth 

1 can evaporated milk

3 large baked potatoes

Salt and pepper 

Grated cheese 

Green onion 

Sour Cream

 



Before I get started, I just poke my potatoes with a fork a few times and put in the microwave to bake.  By the time all the other steps are done the potatoes are cooked and cooled enough to go!

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add onion and sauté until tender. Stir in flour, and then add broth and milk. Scoop pulp from one potato and mash; add to soup. Bring to boil and then add the rest of the potatoes (scoop the pulp and cut into cubes).

 

Top with cheese, sour cream and green onions...then ENJOY!!!

 

With homemade rolls fresh out of the oven, this is the ultimate comfort meal!  If you try it out let me know how you like it!!

Lehi's Family Leaves Jerusalem FHE

Week 2 of our Book of Mormon study and Family Home Evenings has come and gone!!  I combined chapters 2 and 3 from the Book of Mormon Stories for this lesson.  It was quick and simple, but the kids had a great time and even learned a little something too ;)

To get started we recited the 6th Article of Faith.  We especially focused on how just as we have a living prophet today, there were prophet's at the time of the Book of Mormon too.  I asked the kids who the first prophet in the Book of Mormon was and we then read the chapters from Book of Mormon Stories.

We talked about how Lehi had a vision and saw that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed.  He tried to warn the people, but they were too wicked to listen.  He was told to take his family and leave Jerusalem to go to the wilderness.  We talked about how his family reacted to this...Laman and Lemuel murmured and complained, while Nephi took his questions to the Lord.  In doing so, he saw the Savior and was promised great blessings.

We decided to act out our lesson afterwards and the kids had a blast!!  I got this idea from the Sugardoodle website and I knew my kids would enjoy it.  

Using our blocks, Little People Castle and paper for tents we made up Jerusalem, the city wall and the wilderness.  The kids loved building the city wall all around the castle (Lehi's home) and folding the paper to make tents out in the dreary wilderness.

 

We used our Little People from Noah's Ark and the nativity to be Lehi and Sariah.

When we ran out of characters I thought the princes from our castle would make a great Nephi and Sam :)

We talked about how hard it must have been to leave a beautiful house with silver and gold, but because Lehi was a prophet he was able to receive revelation and know how to keep his family safe from destruction.  The kids loved moving all the people out into the wilderness and setting them up in the tents.  I think it provided a great visual for what we were learning about.

Best part of the night?  When I came upstairs and saw this crazyness, I said "what are you guys doing??"  Kendall replied, "Destroying Jerusalem!!"  

Haha!! They actually heard something from the lesson...a definite success!! ;)

For our dessert we made our favorite treat we like to have when we go camping in the "wilderness" :)  Who doesn't love S'mores?  Especially with homemade peanut butter cookies!!

Thanks for stopping by today, I am loving this series of FHE's and I am excited to keep going with it!

Valentines Day Printable!

 

This weekend I started getting out my Valentines decorations.  I usually wait way too long and then it seems like I don't even really get to enjoy them ;) 

 

Once I put everything up I realized I really wanted a cute printable that went with my color scheme.  Unfortunately for me...I am the ONLY person that doesn't do red at Valentines :)  SO...I had to get creative and come up with something myself.

 

I thought I would share just in case anyone else is crazy like me and thinks turquoise is a festive color for ANY holiday ;)

 

Feel free to right click, save, and print away!!  I made it in an 8x10 size, perfect for the finishing touch on a mantel.

 

 

Anyone else decorate in different colors???

 

Making Homemade Ice Cream...with SNOW!!

Have you guys seen the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?

What is the best part of that movie?  Of course, its when it snows ice cream...right?!  I mean isn't that every kids (and pregnant womans ;) dream come true??  

Although I couldn't make it snow ice cream for my kids...I figured the next best thing would be to take the snow that we had...and make ice cream out of IT! :)

I have been excited to make this yummy treat with my kids all week...and luckily today the weather cooperated!!  I remember doing this when I was little, so after a little research on Google I found the simplest recipe and hoped for some fresh new snow :)  

Since we had plenty of the stuff, after school today we made Snow Ice Cream!

This is seriously SO easy!  All you need to get started is a big bowl of clean, fresh snow.

 

Then one can of Sweetened Condensed Milk.

Let your cute little helper pour the milk over the snow and start stirring!!

I couldn't believe how creamy the texture of our ice cream was!!

The recipe I found called for 1 TBSP of vanilla too, but we liked it so much we just left that part out.

We did add some Strawberry Sauce we had hiding in the fridge...the kids really loved that!

We enjoyed our ice cream while we watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, a perfect afternoon :)

If these faces are any indication...this treat was a HUGE hit!!

Linking up HERE!

Painting the Snow!!

Well...I did say the activities this week would be simple ;)

Simple or not, we had so much fun going outside after school today and painting our front yard full of snow!  

All you need for this activity is cups filled with water, lots of food coloring and several different sized paint brushes.

 

Then bundle your little ones up and let them go crazy painting that beautiful white snow!

I don't think my kids have ever had such a big canvas to paint, so they really enjoyed every minute of it.

Kendall really enjoyed mixing the water and seeing what new colors she could create.

Because of a mega storm blowing in, we only lasted about  1/2 an hour before we got too cold, but all that meant to the kids was they got to dump out the rest of their water...I think it was their favorite part! :)

So if you are looking for a SUPER easy activity to burn off some of your kids energy, take them outside to enjoy a little snow painting!  Thanks for stopping by!!