Ballerina Birthday Gifts

I've already posted about one of Ali's gifts here, but here are some more! The most important part of throwing a successful birthday party is being prepared. I had the gifts picked out and completely wrapped 2-3 weeks before her birthday.

When I saw the Lightning Deal at Amazon, via Money Saving Mom, for this cake set before Christmas, I snatched it up immediately!  An hour later I went back to order another and they were already sold out.  This set, which is $20-$25 at a local store, was $8.  My kids play tea party and/or birthday party every day so I know they will LOVE this!!!

It's hard to find party stuff with Angelina on it in the USA although there is lots of it in the UK.  For this reason, I was excited to nab an Angelina package on ebay.  It was $12 including shipping and contained a mylar balloon, a card, wrapping paper, a silk Angelina ballet shoes backpack, and bracelet.  My little girl really gets into theme events so I was thrilled to be able to get her some Angelina stuff for her Angelina-themed party.  I also found a brand-new Angelina DVD for $2 (plus $3.50 shipping) on half.com

These gifts were from the Dollar Tree.  Pretty hairbows (something I just can't resist!)

and flashcards for school.

Blog Title Ideas

I'm in the process of changing my blog's name.  Not because I don't think my husband is kingly anymore (he is), but because I want my blog title to reflect the content of the blog more closely.  I'm having a tough time deciding on a new name.  I appreciate the input on the poll on my sidebar.  I got to thinking that those of you who are especially creative and regularly read here may have even better ideas than myself!  So, please leave your Blog Title suggestions in the comments on this post, along with your e-mail address.  If I choose the name you suggested I will send you a prize!

Things I'm looking for:

Brief
Catchy
Not already taken
Easy to Remember
Summarizes my content well


Words to piggy back off of :
Simple
Mom
Home
Haven
Faith

Inexpensive Party Favors!

Ali's favor bags include a heart-shaped candy ring (10 cents each at Family Dollar)

and a homemade tulle-covered ponytail  holder (around 10 cents for materials). 

Princess goody bags were $1 for 20 at the Dollar Store.

Each child will also receive a star ribbon wand to dance with

(since Angelina often dances with ribbon wands). 

I bought a stack of foam ($1 at Dollar Tree) and cut star shapes from the foam.

Ali happily painted the dowels pink for me

(while wearing a B-day hat from her dress-ups.) 

The dowels were 8 for $1 at Walmart.

After I hotglued the ribbon (from the Dollar Tree) between two stars with the dowel in the middle,

I painted the foam with glitter paint.  I could have saved myself this

step by using glitter foam in the first place, but oh well!

I estimate I spent 35 cents per birthday guest for some very cute favors!  Not bad!

The Dollar Tree is a party planners' favorite store!

More options for Ballerina Favors:

It was hard to choose favors because there were so many great options for little girls, but I'm happy with the ones we finally decided upon.  Other choices included:

• 
  
  Foam masques from Dollar Tree (let the girls decorate them with glitter, rhinestones, sequins, etc.)
• 
  
  Pretty hair ribbons from Family Dollar (they have roses on bobby pins, rose headbands, ribbons with silver stars, fluffy bows, etc.)
• 
  
  Homemade tutus (one of my creative friends suggested this great idea, but because of our social circles, we ended up needing to invite 12 girls and that was way too many for me to attempt, even if they are simple!)
• 
  
  Pink ballet shoe cookies
• 
  
  Tiaras or foam crowns
• 
  
  Wispy or silky scarves to dance with
• 
  
  Candy necklaces
• 
  
  Mouse ear headbands
• 
  
  Fancy photo of each guest in a tutu with a ribbon wand
• Angelina coloring pages printed off the computer for free!

 

Angelina Ballerina Birthday Invitations

I priced Angelina invites online and while there were some darling ones, custom-made by moms with Etsy shops or ebay stores, I didn't want to pay $1 per invite.  So, I designed my own using the coloring book feature on our Kodak program (that came with my camera).  I took a photo of Alathia at her ballet recital and made it into a coloring book page and added my own wording and a pic of Angelina I found online.  I then took it to the printshop and had 12 printed on pink cardstock for around $2.  I tied the card closed with tulle from the dollar store.  Pretty, but frugal, invitations!

Valentine's Day

Sweet Card from my little lady

that says, "Dear Mom, I love Mommy!"

My darling Josiah

took this pic of me

getting ready for church

and said, "I wanna

remember how beautiful

you look right now forever." 

Awwww, what a sweetie! 

Alathia loves Memory! 

We had a Memory Face Off

on Friday night and we both

played our hardest and tied

with 18 matches each!

Plate of goodies left over from

my Mom's class party

which she nicely donated to us. 

My hubby is very creative

and made this chocolate flower bouquet

for me using chocolate candy sticks

and dark chocolate heart crisps.

Alathia continued to make us

precious homemade Valentine cards

all day long

Tulips, my favorite flower, from my mom

Breakfast in some heart shaped bowls

that I scored at a yard sale a few years back.

I made my favorite roll recipe and shaped them into hearts.

The boys dig into the Valentine Box

at Grammy's house.

Grammy loves to make lip

and moustache suckers every V-Day.

 

It's super simple to cut pepperonis

into heart shapes for pizza bagels.

Ali loves her "Lady Glass."

Jer found a unique way to roll the dice

when we played the Family Love game

Grammy gave us.

Grammy also gave us a

Bible worksheet devotional

on the subject of Love

to do in February.

When I saw these balloons on a stick

in the Dollar Store I said to myself,

"I know my little boys would LOVE these

to sword fight with!"

Slacker Fudge

Slacker Fudge with almonds made for our church's Coffee House night

where there are endless yummy desserts and hot drinks (for free)

and great music performed by church members

For those of you who still haven't made your special someone a Valentine treat, this fudge is for you!  I had always been intimidated by complicated fudge recipes until I found this gem online!  It is very versatile and INCREDIBLY fast!

What you need:

1 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips (I go with Guittard, Ghiradelli, or Tollhouse)

1 container of chocolate frosting (chocolate fudge flavor works well--go with Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines as they tend to be tastier than generic brand)

Any nuts, PB chips, marshmallows, etc.

that you may wish to add in.

Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly butter the foil.  Put a large saucepan full of water on the stove and put a smaller saucepan inside the large one.  Put the chocolate chips in the small sauce pan and stir as they melt.  When they are fully melted, remove from heat and dump the container of frosting into the sauce pan and stir well.

Add in any marshmallows, nuts, etc. that you desire and spread the chocolatey mixture out in the greased, lined pan.  Put in the fridge and pull out a few hours (or a day) later and cut into squares.  Enjoy!!!

*Notes: Don't add marshmallows when the chocolate mixture is super hot and still on the stove.  Also, don't add too many.  I made this mistake once and ended up with fudgy syrup instead of solid fudge.  So, let it cool slightly and perhaps add the marshmallows by poking them into the fudge that has just been spread in the pan. 

Variations:

*Try milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips depending on what your family likes best

*Try mint or peanut butter chips either as the fudge base or as garnishes on top of the fudge

*Try making 2 or 3 layered fudge by doing a layer, letting it sit in the fridge for a day, and then adding another layer of another flavor

*Drizzle caramel sauce and nuts on top of the fudge

*Drizzle white chocolate over the fudge

*Spread the fudge on a bigger pan and use mini cookie cutters to cut shapes from it

Friday Fail!

I decided to let you in on one of my FAILS this week to show you that I really don't have it all together like some of you may think.

I made a HUGE batch of tortilla dough a while back and only had time to roll out and cook 1/4 of it. So, I put the rest in a sealed container in the fridge, thinking I'd roll it out later. A week later, when I tried to roll out the tortilla dough, it was NOT cooperative. Not about to lose my precious ingredients I pressed on (literally) and squeaked this big stack of ROCK HARD and SUPER THICK tortillas out of the dough, figuring that if nothing else, our human garbage disposal named Justus might possibly eat them.

He didn't. I don't blame him.

And they all ended up in the garbage....FAIL!!!

For more Friday Fails, visit here.

Frugal but Meaningful Gift

A Lighthouse Salad Dressing Jar decorated with a piece of paper my kids painted and some stickers.

It doesn't take a lot of cash to bless someone. Next time you have a birthday party for someone, put out a little jar for people to fill with favorite Bible verses, words of encouragement, or compliments. One idea I use for LOTS of birthdays is to have everyone fill out a paper or poster with their age in things we love about them. So, for a 31st birthday it would be, "31 One Things We Love About ____!" These gifts mean so much and bless the recipient!

For more Frugal Friday Tips, go here.

What a Blessing!

Some of you will remember that

one of my goals for 2010 was to buy a gallon of coconut oil.

It wouldn't have happened for a while if it had been up to me.

Imagine my surprise when a huge box arrived on my doorstep a month ago!

A special, generous friend, a blogreader who's become somewhat of a penpal friend and whom I greatly look up to was "to blame."

After seeing the movie Julie and Julia,

I feel like Julie, getting surprises from blogreaders!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those of you who have blessed me with various undeserved things (surprise package, money to go towards a dishwasher, Walmart giftcard, and coconut oil) in the last year!!!

Two Pizza Tips

Last fall I found some great veggie tray markdowns. Instead of the usual $10 they were $2. We ate lots of fresh veggies that week! I decided to use some of them on our Friday night pizza.

I had some Vodka Sauce, which is basically just a creamy spaghetti sauce, in the fridge leftover from a pasta meal I had made earlier in the week. I used this for the pizza sauce.

My Vodka/Veggie Pizza was a tasty success!

Pizza Tip#1--Be Creative! Try something new and experiment with what you have on hand!

At best, you may find a new favorite topping and at worst, you can laugh about the flop and at least congratulate yourself on breaking out of a rut and trying something different!

Pizza Tip #2--BEST PIZZA CRUST!

Back in November, I used up some chickpeas and made and froze 5 containers of garlic hummus. Though I love hummus, I've found that it's not getting used up as fast as I had thought. Since I've often thrown chickpea or white bean puree in with my pizza dough in the bread machine (thanks to my cookbook The Sneaky Chef) I decided to try using up my hummus by adding it to my pizza dough. It was the best pizza dough EVER! I thought it would make the pizza taste strongly like garlic and cause the kids to not like it, but there wasn't a strong taste at all! It was delicious and the whole family wolfed it down! I may just continue making hummus for the express purpose of adding it to the pizza dough!

My favorite bread machine pizza crust:

11/4 C. warm water

3 T olive oil

3/4-1 t. sea salt

2 t. yeast

1/3 c. hummus or chickpea puree

2 C. whole wheat flour

2 C. unbleached white flour

Put on dough cycle and once done, divide in half. Spread on pizza stones sprinkled with cornmeal or lightly greased pizza pans. If your crust is thin, add toppings and bake for 15 minutes. If it is a thicker crust, pre-bake the crust for 10-15 min., then add toppings and bake for 15 minutes more. Makes 2 medium-large pizzas.

Our favorite toppings:

Mushrooms and onions and green peppers that have been saute'd in butter and sprinkled with garlic salt

Taco pizza (use taco sauce instead of pizza sauce) top with taco-seasoned ground beef, black beans, crushed tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, olives, salsa, etc.

Pepperonis that have been snipped into heart shapes or baby pepperonis (sold at Walmart) are fun!

Ham and Pineapple

For More Kitchen Tips, please visit Tammy's Recipes!

A Shocking Turn of Opinion

Those of you who have been following my blog from the very beginning will find this to be a shocking post! The above pic shows a couple of Alathia's birthday presents. Including (gasp!) a Barbie!!! One of my first-ever posts on this blog, which I deleted a year or more ago because it was lame, explored whether or not Barbies were okay for little girls to play with. I had read an article talking about the evils of Barbies and was inclined to agree with their points but still was unsure. Over these last few years as I've thought more about it and watched my daughter play with them continually at friend's homes and question why she couldn't have any of her own, etc. I came to the realization that I was comfortable with her playing with them. I grew up with them and had much fun with my Barbies and have a healthy perspective on what true beauty is in spite of not having a body that looks like Barbie's. And I'm pleased with the changes they have made in her physique even since I was a kid in the eighties.

My husband, however, wasn't as "on-board". But, after some serious discussion on the issue he revealed that his biggest concern was for our boys. Let's face it, most little girls with Barbies leave them naked all over the house, and he didn't want our boys growing up seeing that all the time, even though they are only dolls. Though I wanted Alathia to be able to have a Barbie, I did understand and agree with his point. So, he said if there were Barbies that had "painted-on" swimsuits like the little Dora dolls she had received for Christmas, then she could have them. I was doubtful of finding any that fit this description since I had seen few, if any, when I was a child. One night when Josiah took his little girl on a Daddy/Daughter Date they had ice-cream at McDonalds and went across the street to walk through Alco together (lots of exciting things to do on a winter night in this town!) He saw a Cinderella doll (just like a Barbie) in the toy section that had a painted on swim dress that changed colors in water. He came home and excitedly told me I could go back and purchase it sometime for her upcoming birthday.

I, being the frugal zealot that I am, looked online for deals and also determined that I could not pay the $15 for the doll without first checking Wal-Mart. So when I did my huge shopping trip in a nearby town a week ago to shop for bulk cooking I looked through the Barbie section in this "real" store and called Josiah excitedly on the cell. They had ballerina Barbies for only $6 with painted on leotards AND tights! And Alathia is having an Angelina Ballerina birthday party so the theme fits! The princess dolls with the bathing suits like he had seen at Alco were only $7.50! And, they had much more variety; four different kinds instead of one! They also had Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty ballerina Barbies for around $7 with the painted on outfits too! We ended up getting her the brunette ballerina pictured above and my mom got her the Cinderella ballerina as a gift from Grammy so she will have two that she can play with together!

In the future I think it will be fun to sew little outfits and accesories for her Barbies. If any of you have ideas in this department, please share them! Alathia is REALLY into dressing her dolls up now and she would love having some fancy ballgowns or long dresses for her ballerina ladies to wear.

I do not look down upon mothers who have made different choices. I highly respect those who feel Barbies are not a good toy for their daughters and veto them completely and I highly respect those who are very laid-back and see no reason to limit their choices of Barbies. It is a decision that those of us with little girls have to make as a couple.

Easy Freezy Recipes

I tripled all of these recipes for my Feb. bulk cooking day. I also made roast beef by slow-cooking it in the oven in water and 2 packets of onion soup mix. The Cheesy Fries recipe, also from this cookbook, was posted a few days ago.

Taken from Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient Cookbook

Green Chili Burritos

1 can of beans (refried)

8 flour tortillas (6 inches)

1/2 # cooked ground beef (we skipped this ingredient)

1-2 C. shredded cheese

1 can green chilis

Mix ingredients and put in tortillas. Roll up the tortillas into burritos and place in a pan. Bake until heated through.

I opted to dump a can of enchilada sauce over my 3 pans of burritos before freezing. They are super yummy!

Green Chili Rice Casserole

1 can of cream of celery soup

1 C. sour cream

1 can green chilis

1 C. shredded cheddar

3-4 C. cooked rice or 1.5 C. instant rice (I used cooked brown rice)

Mix all ingredients and bake until heated through.

Fiesta Macaroni

1 16 oz. package of elbow mac

1/3-1# of ground beef (I used 1# of ground turkey for my tripled recipe)

1 16 oz. jar of salsa

10 oz. shredded cheese

1 can chili beans

Cook beef and drain. Cook and drain macaroni. Mix beans, cheese, and salsa and add to the cooked macaroni. Add hamburger. Stir well and bake until heated through.

(This is my adaption of my mother-in-law's easy lasagna--my kids love this!)

Easy Lasagna

1. C. sour cream

2 C. small curd cottage cheese

3 C. shredded mozarella

11/2 jars of Ragu (I used the Six Cheese flavor)

1/2 box of lasagna noodles

(You can add hamburger if desired, or chunky tomatoes, etc.)

Cook lasagna noodles until done. Drain. Put 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce in bottom of pan. Put one layer of noodles across the pan. In bowl mix sour cream and cottage cheese together well. Spread 1/3 of white mix across noodles. Add a layer of about 1 C. of mozzarella. Put another layer of sauce on top of the cheese and then another layer of lasagna noodles. Do the white layer, cheese layer, sauce, and noodles again and then one last time, ending with sauce-covered mozzarella on the very top of the lasagna. (Feel free to do 2 layers instead of 3 if you prefer--it doesn't really matter). Cover with foil and bake until heated through, pulling foil off for the last 20 minutes to let the top brown a little bit. When frozen, you can thaw for a few days in the fridge or bake frozen, just be aware that it may take 2 hours to cook, depending on your oven. Leave 20 minutes for the lasagna to "set up" before dinner and it will be more firm for cutting rather than runny. Feel free to added grated parmesan with the mozzarella for a more authentic (but also more expensive) lasagna.

Cheesy Video

My kids must be used to having their pic taken (ya think?) because Justus always scrunches up his face and says, "Cheese!" when he sees the camera. One day I enticed him to do it for the video cam. Please excuse my cheesy-I'm-talking-to-my-baby-like-one-of-"those"-annoying-parents' voice here!

A Praise and Prayer Request

I've been doing the 5'O Clock Club that the Girl Talkers started on Feb. 1st (though it's 6 O'Clock for me!). I have been going to bed earlier this year thanks to my punishment (if I stay up beyond 11pm I lose a whole day of internet) and have been wanting to get back into the wise habit of rising before the family for time with God. The other day I began my day by praying that God would help me to know what He wants me to do for teen girls. I've been wanting to start a group or Bible Study with them this year, but we've been so busy, and the teens themselves are busy, and none of the books I've purchased and reviewed have seemed right.

My answer came that night. The phone rang and we wondered who would be calling us so late. The hesitant voice of a teen girl at church softly asked if I would be willing to meet with her weekly and do a Bible Study with her. I was astounded and excited and nervous all at the same time! I think we will probably be meeting for pie and Bible Study in a local restaurant on Tuesday nights.

Please keep me in prayer as I seek to teach and encourage this young woman in what it means to be a Christian and how to walk with the Lord.

What an exciting adventure it is to walk with God and share Him with others! How gracious and loving He is to answer our prayers and use a very-far-from-perfect person like me to somehow mentor a young woman with a bright future!

Cheesy Bacon Fries

At Teresa's request here it is! Now you know how much I copped out with my easy recipes this go-around of bulk cooking! Anyone could make the things I made this month!

2# of frozen french fries (or, if you want to cut costs and make your own, cut up several potatoes into french-fry shaped wedges)
1/3 C. chopped green onions
2 cups of your favorite cheese (add more if desired)
1/2 C. cooked crumbled bacon.

Put fries on a baking sheet and top with remaining 3 ingredients. Bake until fries are cooked through.

Top with or dip in ranch dressing!

*Not the healthiest recipe, but one I definitely knew my hubby would love!

Two Fun Things

I loved The Happy Housewife's idea of organizing hats and gloves in a shoe caddy. I bought one with some Christmas money and quickly filled it up from the box of winter things under the couch. Now the kids can't rifle through them and spread them all over the house and it's so simple now to get each kid ready to go out the door.
We are so thankful for the many resources and books veteran homeschoolers have handed down to us. I especially love doing Cusenaire rods with the kids!

Bulk Cooking Results

Does it make me really weird that I LOVE bulk cooking? Even after a 6 hour power shopping trip (without the kids, which included a 2-hour chat with a friend in a quaint coffee shop) to a nearby town with a Walmart, I was so excited to begin my bulk cooking that I couldn't wait until Monday and decided to do it Saturday afternoon! It was the easiest bulk cooking day I've ever had because I chose 5-ingredient recipes from my Taste of Home cookbook. Each recipe only took 30 minutes or less of actual prep/packaging time. It was done in no time, even with kids running around! 6# of roast beef cooking in onion soup mix.

Some people doubt that God cares about the little things, but I know He does! I prayed and asked Him to help me be a good steward and find the deals when shopping for my meals and almost EVERYTHING I needed was on sale, including beef roast (which is usually pricey), green chilis, refried beans, bacon, shredded cheeses, etc.
Bacon, green onions, and cheddar packaged with the french fries to make cheesy fries
Safeway had a big sale on cheese and it was only $5 for 2# of shredded. I bought $15 worth of cheese to make my meals.
Fiesta macaroni



Assembling lasagnas



The final results:
3 Green Chili Rice Casseroles
1 Bag of brown rice
3 meals of sliced roastbeef
3 bags of Fiesta Macaroni
3 pans of lasagna
(1 not pictured because we ate it last night for supper!)
3 bags of Cheesy Bacon Fries
3 Pans of Green Chili Burritos



I managed to squeeze the 18 meals in the freezer and still fit my hubby's ice-cream in!
Most of these are new recipes but they were made with ingredients we like so I doubt we'll have trouble eating them. We've already tried some of the Fiesta Mac since tripling the recipe made more than enough for 3 bags and it's delicious! I'll share the recipes soon!

This ice-cream wouldn't fit so the kids were happy to help me take care of it! It's becoming a monthly ritual that when I stuff the freezer they get to clean up the last of some of the ice-cream!


This week I plan to mix up 5 or 6 bags of dry ingredients for rolls to use in the bread machine and then most of my cooking for the month will be done! All I will have to do each evening is throw the meal in the oven and add a quick side dish or two, like baked potatoes, salad, peas, cooked carrots, etc. to the meal.