Category: Holidays

Monster Birthday Cake

I made a Monster birthday cake for my friends 1 year old. I also made some cupcakes to match. I bake two box cakes and then decorated with my homemade buttercream icing recipe. I decorated the monsters with M&M’s, Candy Eyes, Candy Corn, and other small candies.

Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Snowflake Canvas

The boys and I made homemade gifts this year. We make several snowflake canvases to give to friends and family. To make these canvases, we cut and placed masking tape on the canvas in the shape of a snowflake.

Then we used different shades of blue paint to cover the entire canvas.

After the paint dried, we gently pulled off the tape to reveal our snowflakes.

Turkey Cake

I made a turkey cake for a friend’s birthday on Thanksgiving day this year. I used Nutter Butter cookies, Candy Corn, and Fruit Roll-up to decorate the turkey cake.

Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Cousins Thanksgiving Fun

My Thanksgiving tradition is to make Gingerbread houses; so I decided to build them with my nieces and nephews this year. It was so much fun, now there are 11 cousins and J is the oldest!

We used Graham Crackers and Waffle Cones for our Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Trees this year.

I used a pear for the Turkey’s body and then cut up fruit to place around the pear for the Turkey’s feathers. These cousins just LOVE fruit.

I read “The Night Before Thanksgiving” to the cousins before bed… It is a great book with cousins and other extended family members. These cousins just love reading too.

Father’s Day Dessert and Cards

The boys and I made a yummy dessert and fun Father’s Day cards for their Daddy!

“I Love You This Much” Card

First the boys traced and cut out 2 hand prints. Next we wrote, “I love you…” on the hands.

Next we cut a strip of paper and wrote “This Much” on it. Then we folded it back and forth over and over.

Finally we glue the strip in between the two hand prints.

Superman Father’s Day Card

First fold two sides of a piece of paper in to meet in the middle.

Fold down the corners of the top to look like triangles.

Next we cut out a tie shape and glued it to one side of the folded front. Then we glued 3 buttons to the other side of the folded front.

On the inside at the top we wrote, “DAD” and put a Superman emblem in the middle.

Oreo Brownie Cookie Bars

First press down some cookie dough into a baking pan.

Then add Oreo’s to cover the cookie dough.

Last we add the brownie batter to the top of the Oreo’s.

Bake and enjoy with ice cream!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Brownie Bars

Ingredients:

  • Package of Brownie Mix (+the eggs, oil and water needed for that!)
  • Package of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix (I opted to make the Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough from scratch! If you go this route – use a little less flour than you normally would to keep the cookies moist.)
  • Package of Oreos (regular or Double Stuffed – you choose!)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9 baking pan with wax paper or foil and spray with cooking spray. (You can opt for a 13×9 pan if you want thinner bars.)

2.  Make your cookie dough whichever way you like and spread in the bottom of the pan. If you are making a full batch of homemade Toll House cookie dough, you will only need half the batch!

3. Cover your cookie dough with Oreo cookies.

4. Whip up your brownie mix and pour evenly over the Oreo cookies.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

6. Cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy!  Add some ice cream to completely put this indulgence over the top!

Mother’s Day Cards and Activities

We made Mother’s Day cards and crafts for our Grandmas. T had a fun poem in his Abeka preschool art book.

Mother’s Day Writing

I found these Mother’s Day Writing pages and Mother’s Day Questionnaire for the boys to fill out.

Bookmarks for Grandma

I took pictures of the kids on their toes and jumping with their hands in the air; then printed them, cut them out, and laminated them. Added a ribbon where their hands met in the air. We gave these to our Grandmas for bookmarks.

Handprint Footprint Flower

I put the boys hands in pink paint and their foot in green paint and made prints on the paper. they cut them out and glued them to a green stem, so they looked like a flower.

Mother’s Day Card

I painted the boys hands and placed them in the paper in the shape of a heart. Then I put their foot in green paint and placed it at the bottom of the paper. “From the bottom of my HEART… to the tip of my toes… I LOVE YOU!”

A Surprise From My Son

My 3rd grader is the sweetest. He made me a card full of puzzles including a secret code.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving -13

Our family has the same Halloween tradition as many other families. We love to carve pumpkins together and try new ways for carving. We always start by going to the pumpkin patch to choose our pumpkins!

My boys are not a fan of getting sticky or gooey. Gutting the pumpkin is always the most unpleasant thing for them, but I keep encouraging them to try it!

This year I placed nails in the pumpkin and let T hammer them in to create the holes. He loved using the hammer.

J and I tried a more difficult pumpkin carving of the Dragon! The boys were very happy with how they turned out.

Carmel apples is one of the favorite fall treats in our house. T just LOVES “dunk”, his way of saying “junk food”. We also tried sweet roasted pumpkin seeds.

Batman and Spiderman this year! These 2 absolutely love to dress up in costumes. We have so many costumes for them to play with all year long. We never buy new Halloween costumes, they just choose from their large stash of costumes. Then after Halloween I buy clearance costumes to use as Christmas and birthday gifts.

Independence Day Party -12

For the 4th of July we grilled and had some fireworks.  It’s been really hot this summer with record highs of over 100 degrees so we just had smaller fireworks this year. We grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob then we had watermelon and chips too.  The boys love fireworks and have been looking forward to today for a while now.

I filled the kiddy pool with water balloons and had a little water balloon battle.

The boys liked the tanks and the parachutes this year.

The smoke bombs were a favorite for the kids and adults. We stuck a green smoke bomb down one snake hole and some of the smoke came out of another snake whole next to it.

Sparklers and fountains are my favorite!

Happy 4th! 🙂

Here are some more Independence Day Party ideas.

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