Happy Valentine's Day!

Am I the only mom in the world who has kids that don't peel their crayons?  This year I decided to melt crayons into heart shaped ice cube trays, but the most difficult part was peeling all those crayons!  I used the double boiler method with some leftover food cans.  They turned out fine, but I think I took on too much this year, with 2 kids, we had to do enough for about 25 kids.  Hopefully they will use them!  I tied them into tiny cello bags with a bow on top.  I recruited daddy to help, since it ended up being more work than I bargained for.  This might be a great project for parents whose kids enjoy peeling all of their crayons.  It takes a LOT of crayons to do this.

Here's my oldest's lunch for Valentine's, complete with heart shaped PB&J and I hulled the strawberries in a way that, when sliced, looked like hearts!  Daddy wrote the message with a food marker.

I included this card and a simple bead bracelet in her lunchbox:

Hope your Valentine's is full of love and friendship!

Minute Muffins

Are you baking muffins but want instant gratification?  Or, do you have a little bit of muffin mix left after filling your muffin cups, and don't want to risk over-filling?

You're in luck!  There is a simple thing that you can do to have a muffin in a minute:

Grease a standard microwave-safe mug.  Put 1/4 cup (estimated) muffin mix in the mug.  Microwave for 1 minute.  You can use a toothpick or skewer to test, but do NOT over cook.  Scratch made muffins are typically light and airy, so 1 minute is plenty of time for most standard microwaves.

Use your skewer or a small knife to skim around the muffin (which should have pulled away from the sides of the mug if you greased it).  Dump it out onto a plate.  Eat while warm!

Now don't expect a pretty top, browned and crispy, like oven-baked muffins.  This is purely for instant gratification!  This is fantastic if your kids are pulling on your pant legs begging for a snack and/or you don't have time for them to wait!

I have a craft to share soon, inspired by the wintry weather and clearance sales after Christmas!  It was a great activity for the kids (and I enjoyed doing it, too)!

How things are going with our December schedule...

So far we're really enjoying our Advent plans; our girls are enjoying it, especially the older one.  The little one is still to little to really get into some of it, but I think we have a good balance this year for both of them to enjoy it. 

Today we had an unusual opportunity.  My husband got off work early, so we picked up the girls from school together and headed over to our local convention center.  They were having a Festival of Trees to raise money for a local organization.  I'd say there were about 50 trees on display, each decorated uniquely.  Some in memory of a loved one, others as an advertisement for a company.  The girls REALLY enjoyed looking at all the different styles.  I was surprised at my older  daughter's interest to identify the states by their shape and 2 character abbreviations, she wanted to look at every one of them!  I loved one that was designed in Southeast Asian theme, with bright colors, and 3 Asian umbrellas on top.  I really should have taken pictures, but I was so into the family time and soaking in the design ideas.

Another thing I wanted to share with you is a book I recently had the pleasure of winning!  It ties right in with our goal to focus on Christ and giving to others in need.  And, ironically, it arrived soon enough that we will fit it into our "new book" night on the 15th, so this will eliminate the need for us to purchase one.  The book is The King's Christmas List.

I really didn't know what to expect when I opened up the cover of the book, but inside was a story that cuts right to the heart, and yet it is worded in a way that will really inspire children to want to help others.  This will be a book we open every year.

We have mostly the same tree and mantle as last year.  Not a whole lot of change, although I may have eliminated or added a couple of things and organized it differently.  Here's a link to last year's pictures.

I would love to hear if you're doing anything special for the Christmas season!  Please post a comment and share!