Monday Menus and a Few Minutes of Spring

It's a rainy day here but I did manage to sneak out during a lull in the drizzle to snap a couple of pictures. They are the first of my azaleas to make their appearance. Right now they're a little wet, but they are a sure sign that spring is just around the corner for us here in the deep South.






I guess I'd better get back in the habit of planning my menus. I've been kind of lax in this area and that messes up my day. It's hard to think what to fix for supper when everyone's home, needing help with homework and all trying to tell you what happened while they were gone at one time.

Monday--Chicken Pot Pie, Applesause, Tossed Salad
Tuesday--Shrimp Creole, Rice
Wednesday--Hamburgers, Potato Salad
Thursday--Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread
Friday--Pizza
Saturday--Catfish, Cheese Grits, Coleslaw
Sunday--Leftovers

Hope your week is off to a great start!












I thought it'd give those of you in colder climates a little glimmer of hope.

Dance with My Daddy

Another Valentine leftover...the Father Daughter Dance. She is all dressed up and ready to go.

She picked the dress, even told me how to do her hair.

She and Daddy are ready to go.

Having fun at the dance or, as she calls it, the ball. My little Cinderella.

Here are a few pictures Riley took on his recent trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Thought y'all might enjoy them too.

A Little Late, But I Still Love You

Sorry I am late in wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day. You know I still love you all anyway. On the actual Valentine's Day I was busily decorating 26 little individual cakes for Meredith's class at school and then helping at her party.

Here's a picture of how they turned out.

Since it's a little something pink, I'll share with everyone at Pink Saturday. To check out all their great stuff visit Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Simple Addition

My mom in the hospital +

one with pink eye and sinus infection +

one throwing up +

packing for a field trip =

my Monday

Cupcake Party

For her 7th birthday, my youngest decided on a cupcake party. I would make the cupcakes, the girls would decorate. This was the easiest, happiest party we've ever done! The girls had a great time, they stayed busy the entire time, and everyone got along beautifully. I limited the number of kids to the number of chairs we had around the table--six. That was the perfect number. I think that's going to be my standard rule for kids' parties from here on out.

These are the invitations that we made. I just used some pretty scrapbooking paper in the colors that she liked. I traced around a large lid for circles that I cut in two for the icing, traced around a coke bottle top for the "cherry", and used the hole punch on some trimmings from the scrapbook paper for the sprinkles. We then drew a number seven with a glue stick and added glitter. The party information was on the back.

Hobby Lobby's Christmas ribbon includes lots of colors besides green and red. Check it when they have their after-Christmas markdown and stock up on colors for the year. That's where I got the pink ribbon I added to the back of the chairs.





I found cupcake stickers that I added to plain bags and wrote their names on each one. I added another sticker to each napkin. Snacks were served in mini cupcake wrappers. Also at Hobby Lobby, I picked up these little wooden cupcake ornaments that were in their Valentines Day merchandise for the girls to decorate. I also found kits to make your own candy necklaces.

Here is one of the brooches we made for each girl. She got to design each one. We used large and small cupcake wrappers, old buttons and trim.

The table was set with different types of sprinkles and toppings. We also made cupcake bracelets out of craft foam. Hope this gives you some inspiration for your next party. Super simple makes it super fun.


http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Grey Hair

Wanna know why women get grey hair?

They have sons.

Only a son watches a BMX stunt show at school and says to himself, "No problem, I can do that."

But the cuts and bruises from that, and a skateboard fall earlier in the day, weren't enough.

There's always room for more drama when you're a boy's mama.

Only a son has to get his head examined (literally) for running into a metal pole on the playground. Not once. But twice.

At least this time he picked a different playground.

Remember that old commercial where the boy asks the wise old owl how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

At our house, we're asking how many licks can one kid take to his head before his mom starts making him wear a helmet every time he leaves.

If you see a kid in class or at the mall wearing normal clothes and a football helmet...he's mine.

Super Simple Snack Idea

I needed to make something snack-y for lunch boxes this week but was low on eggs. This is what I came up with and it turned out super yummy and was really simple. It's made from a cake mix but tastes like a cookie. Only four ingredients. What more could you want?

Chocolate Chip Bars


1 box butter recipe cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 (11 oz) pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 13x9 pan. Combine cake mix, eggs and butter until blended. Fold in chips. Press into pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool then cut into bars.

Add nuts if you want. Make variations as well.
Use chocolate cake mix for double chocolate chip bars or mint chocolate for mint chocolate chip bars. You get the idea.