My brilliant boy is now 16! He loves music, science, computers, games, outside, Lord of the Rings, family and friends!
Chocolate Freezer Pie
Ingredients:
8 oz. Hershey’s bar
8 oz. Cream Cheese
16 oz. Cool Whip
2 Prepared 8 inch Graham Crust
1/4 cup milk
Directions:
Heat the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted.
Beat the cream cheese and add the remaining milk. Add chocolate mix and beat until smooth.
In a bowl, fold the chocolate mix into the cool whip and blend until smooth.
Spoon the mix into the crusts. I decorated the pies with some extra cool whip and shaved chocolate bar for my son’s birthday.
Freeze for 4 hours.
Sweetwater Music Store
I took him to the largest music store in the U.S. Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, IN. He was like a kid in a candy store. He played all of the instruments and then choose his birthday gift.
I got him an effects pedal for his electric guitar for his 16th birthday! He picked it out at Sweetwater.
His little brother got him a Lord of the Rings map.
We love Family Movie Night and we love Disney as well. Tonight for our Lion King movie night, we made a Lion King themed dinner to eat first. The kids voted to watch the live action version this time. This was so much fun; with much of the family helping to plan, prepare, and enjoy the meal. I hope you have as much family fun as we did.
Appetizer: Lion King Snack Mix
Ingredients:
Cheetos Paws
Reese’s Peanut Butter Dipped Pretzels
Crunch N Munch with Peanuts
Reese’s Pieces
Entrée: Hakuna Frittata
Ingredients:
8 eggs
1 tub Chive & Onion cream cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup onion finely chopped
3/4 cup fresh spinach finely chopped
1/2 cup green peppers finely chopped
1 cup diced ham
Shredded Cheddar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a muffin pan (non stick or silicone).
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream cheese, salt and pepper until smooth.
Stir in peppers, spinach and onion and fill muffins cups (about ¾ full).
Bake for 20-25 minutes until centers are completely set.
Sprinkle with cheddar and melt in the oven for a couple of minutes.
Serve immediately or cool to room temperature to store.
Vegi: Simba Vegi Tray
Ingredients:
Carrots
Red and Yellow Peppers
Celery
Cucumber
Leafy Greens
Olives
Ranch Packet
Sour Cream
Large Round Wheat Crackers
Ranch Dip Instructions:
Mix a tub of Sour Cream with a packet of Ranch.
Place it in a small round bowl.
Save the bottom of a pepper with 3 humps for the lions snout.
Cut olives to place on the snout and eyes.
Use the end of a red pepper stick for the nose.
Add round wheat crackers for the ears.
Platter Instructions:
Cut the vegies into long strips.
Place the green vegie around the outside of a round tray.
Place the round dip in the middle of the tray.
Place the colored vegies around the dip for the lions mane.
Fruit: Rafiki’s Fruit Salad
Ingredients:
4 cups 1/2 inch cubed fresh pineapple or 4 cups canned pineapple
2 oranges, peeled and divided into sections
2 mangos, peeled and diced
1 bananas cut in 1/2 inch slices
2 tablespoons Lime Juice
2 tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
Directions:
Combine fruits in a bowl.
Combine lime juice and brown sugar and add to fruits; toss to coat.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
Sprinkle with coconut.
Drink: Circle of Life Sunset Drink
Ingredients:
Sprite
Pineapple Juice
Grenadine Syrup
Ice for glasses
Directions:
Fill glasses with ice.
Take glass and fill 1/2 full with Sprite.
Top the remaining half off with Pineapple Juice.
Add a splash of Grenadine Syrup.
Serve to friends and family with a straw.
Dessert: Timon & Pumbaa Bug Grub Brownies
Ingredients:
Brownie Mix
Chocolate Frosting
Crushed Oreos
Gummy Worms
Directions:
Bake brownies according to the directions on the box.
Cool and cut 9 wholes the size of nickels.
Cover with chocolate frosting.
Stick the gummy worms into the wholes.
Crush the Oreos and sprinkle them on the top.
This meal was “Oh So Yummy!!! Thanks to my kids for having so much fun with me!
She just loves watermelon, so we did a “One in a Melon” party. She just loved the balloons and swimming pool.
Watermelon Tie Dye Shirts
I made tie dye shirts for the kids!
Watermelon Shoes
I found a pair of read shoes and added a green stripe with a Sharpie around the base, then I added black seeds!
Watermelon Decorations
Baby girl loves the balloons and points to them everyday for a week after the party!
I made a watermelon banner of monthly photos of Baby!
“One in a Melon”
Watermelon Food
We had lots of watermelon themed foods and candies!
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
1 Sugar Cookie Dough
1 Marshmallow Cream
1 Cream Cheese
strawberries
kiwi
mini chocolate chips
Directions:
First grease a pizza sheet and place roll out the sugar cookie dough about 1/4 inch thick.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
Let it completely cool.
Mix together the marshmallow cream and the cream cheese and cover the cookie.
Cut the fruit to small pieces and decorate to look like a watermelon.
Watermelon Cake
I cut off the sides of the watermelon and made stacked the chunks together. Then I added berries with toothpicks.
Watermelon Punch
INGREDIENTS:
14 lb. seedless watermelon
1 and 1/2 cups pineapple juice
1 and 1/2 cups sparkling water
DIRECTIONS:
Cut about one third off the top of your watermelon, then scoop out all the insides from both sides, and save the larger half for your “watermelon bowl”.
Blend the pieces of watermelon in a blender for several minutes to be sure there are no chunks.
Add pineapple juice and sparkling water to the “watermelon bowl” and pour in your strained watermelon juice.
Mix together and chill the punch and bowl in the fridge for about an hour or until ready to serve.
Watermelon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Red and Green food coloring
Mini Chocolate Chips
Directions:
In a bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
Divide dough into 2 parts and color one part red and one part green with food coloring.
Shape the dough like a watermelon and add mini chocolate chips as the seeds.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and let cool.
Add buttercream icing (see buttercream recipe below) and mini chocolate chips.
Watermelon Cake
I followed the directions on the white cake box, but use the Minute Maid Watermelon juice instead of water and added pink food color. After I mixed up the cake I add the sprinkles to act like the seeds!
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
Watermelon Smash Cake
I made a smaller version of the cake for her smash cake, which she wasn’t too into.
Water Play
I found a watermelon sprinkler blow up pool and added water balloons too. This was a BIG hit with the bigger kids!
My son is crazy about the Wings of Fire book series AND Nutella. He loves dragons so I did my best to make him a dragon on a castle cake!
I made a chocolate cake mix and added a cup of Nutella, I also mixed Nutella into the frosting.
I just used chocolate bars and Nutella Oreo’s to make the castle with chocolate frosting. Then I made the dragon from my marshmallow fondant recipe.
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
He is such a sweet, empathetic, brilliant, loving boy!
My brother and his family came to visit us for Thanksgiving this year. We had fun playing inside and outsied!
Gingerbread Men
Making gingerbread houses is our family Thanksgiving tradition. This year we tried something new and decorated home made gingerbread men…
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 egg
Icing
Decorating Candies
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Once dough begins to form a ball in the center, dust generously with flour.
Cover dough with plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Dust a smooth surface with flour, and roll out a section of the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter slice out your Gingerbread Men.
Bake at 350˚F/180˚C for 10-12 minutes.
Cool completely before decorating with icing and candies.
Hershey’s Freezer Pie
We love chocolate freezer pie for Thanksgiving dessert…
Ingredients:
8 oz. Hershey’s bar
8 oz. Cream Cheese
16 oz. Cool Whip
2 Prepared 8 inch Graham Crust
1/4 cup milk
Directions:
Heat the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted.
Beat the cream cheese and add the remaining milk. Add chocolate mix and beat until smooth.
In a bowl, fold the chocolate mix into the cool whip and blend until smooth.
Spoon the mix into the crusts. I decorated the pies with some extra cool whip and shaved chocolate bar for my son’s birthday.
Freeze for 4 hours.
Cinnamon Rolls
I made homemade cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving day breakfast…
Ingredients:
Dough
1 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons softened butter
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Icing
4 ounces cream softened cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm milk and yeast… let set for 5-10 minutes.
Add sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. Add in flour. Using a dough hook, turn the mixer on to a low speed.
Once the flour starts to mix into the dough, increase the speed to a medium range. Add more flour as necessary so that the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be soft, but not stick to your hands.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
Lightly grease a baking pan. Punch down the dough and roll into a 12inch by 18inch rectangle.
In a small bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread on top of the dough. Roll up tightly lengthwise so you have one long roll. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 one-inch slices.
Place the slices onto a lightly 9×13 pan. Cover and let rise 30 to 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until the tops have a touch of brown.
While the cinnamon rolls are baking, make the cream cheese icing by using a hand mixer to whip together cream cheese and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Whip in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add enough milk to get a super soft consistency.
Frost the rolls while still warm. Serve immediately or cool and store. Stays good for 4 to 5 days.
I made them the night before and placed them in the refrigerator before the last rising. In the morning I set them on the counter for an hour before I baked them.
My oldest in now 15 years old! 15 years ago he taught me that it is possible to “fall in love at first sight”! He is a sweet, loving, and brilliant young man.
Ingredients:
9 inch Graham crust
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened)
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 tea. Vanilla
1 can Cherry Pie Filling
Directions:
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy.
Beat in milk until smooth.
Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.
Pour into crust and chill for 3 hours.
Top with cherries and refrigerate.
We let the 3 month old play with the balloons. We tied them to her hands and feet, since she is kicking an waving non-stop… She loved this!
My son wanted to have a secret agent spy birthday party with his classmates. It was so much fun, and the weather cooperated with us too!
Crime Scene Gifts
Secret Agent Badges
“First thing you all need to do is to create your Secret Agent Badge. To figure out your Secret Agent name, you will draw a name from this “First Name” can, and then draw a name from the “Last Name” can. Then you can write your Secret Agent Name on your ID card. Next you can add your fingerprint to your ID card. Gently press one finger into the ink pad and carefully place it on the box in your ID card. Last choose a badge holder and place your ID card into it and clip it on your clothing.”
One girl even drew the name “Secret Agent”! I found the Badge Holders on Amazon.
Spy Gear
“Before we get started, we will need to equip ourselves with some Spy equipment. Unfortunately, the equipment has been kept under lock and key, so you will need to work together to release the supplies. To open the cuffs there is a key maze inside each cuff. Insert the lock pick in the maze and the rotate the lock pick left, right, up and down to follow the maze to reach the bottom and unlock the hand cuffs.”
The kids followed the clues around the yard and solved the puzzles to find the laser maze at the end. We used the Spy Code games that my boys already had. There are several spy contraptions in each game that we pulled out and used in our Mission Possible scavenger hunt. They have Spy Code Operation: Escape Room, Spy Code Yulu Break Free, and he got Spy Code Safe Breaker as a gift from Grandpa.
“Things to remember, if you come to a ‘Mission Envelope’ that is not the next number, just leave it alone until you get to that number… the envelopes must be solved in number order. Use the walkie-talkies to communicate and don’t open any of the “Mission Envelopes” until all of your agents are present. Work together to solve the code, and decide who will work on the Spy contraption. Who ever is not working the code or contraption can use the walkie talkies to find the next clue after solving is completed. Do not open the next ‘Mission Envelope’ until both the code and contraption have been solved for the current ‘Mission Envelope’.“
Laser Maze
Licorice TNT
Pop Secret Popcorn
Root Beer Floats
I scooped the icecream into jars ahead of time, so the kids could choose their flavor or icecream and soda. They really enjoyed these!
Party Foods
Basically I put out some of his favorite red and yellow foods to stick with my color theme. Watermelon, pineapple, salami and cheese and crackers, popcorn, and licorice, lemonade, and Koolaid!
Secret Agent Cake
I made a red, yellow, and chocolate checkered cake with my homemade white butter cream icing. Then I made marshmallow fondant to create the decorations.
Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
Since we are stuck at home for COVID-19 pandemic, no one could go with me to my ultrasound to see the baby gender. When I got home I made a gender reveal cake for the family to cut open and see the gender of baby. I also Zoom called extended family members so that they could be apart of the excitement too!
I mixed up a white cake mix then add either blue or pink food coloring for the reveal.
Then I greased 2 heart shaped cake pans and put half of the mix into each pan.
I baked them according to the directions on the box and then let them cool.
I mixed up some of my homemade buttercream to cover the cake with. 1 cup butter, 1 cup Crisco, 4 cups powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 tablespoon milk (if thick).
Last I colored the left over food coloring blue and pink to decorate the cake with, I wrote “Brother or Sister?” on the cake.
My husband cut open the cake to reveal the gender during our Zoom call with family!
I made Fruit Pizza and Vegge Pizza for Easter this year. This is also the first year that I made a homemade Easter meal for the family. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic we had to stay home rather than going to family’s houses for Easter dinner.
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
1 Sugar Cookie Dough
1 Marshmallow Cream
1 Cream Cheese
Fruit
Directions:
First grease a cookie sheet and place roll out the sugar cookie dough in the shape of an Easter egg.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
Let it completely cool.
Mix together the marshmallow cream and the cream cheese and cover the cookie egg.
Cut the fruit to small pieces and decorate the Easter egg.
Vegge Pizza
Ingredients:
1 Crescent Roll Dough
1 Ranch Packet
1 Cream Cheese
Broccoli
Carrots
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Directions:
First grease a cookie sheet and place crescent roll triangles on the sheet.
Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.
Let it completely cool.
Mix together the ranch packet and the cream cheese and cover the triangles.
Chop the broccoli and place on the wide end of the triangles.
Shred the carrot and cover the rest of the triangles.
Add shredded cheddar to the carrot portion of the triangles.
They should look like triangle carrots 🙂
Traditional Easter
Even though we had to stay home we tried to have all of the traditional Easter fun that we usually do (except attending church)… egg dying, egg hunting, and Easter baskets!
The kids and I made some fun snacks for our teachers, coaches, and neighbors… We placed a variety of Hershey’s Kisses on the square shaped pretzels and melted them for a few minutes. After they came out of the oven, we added M&M’s to the middles of them.
I saved our Crystal Light containers for the past few years, and then I wrapped them in paper and added a bow and tag.
We made fun ornaments in my son’s class Christmas party… Snowman, Santa, and Roudolph.
