Independence Day Ideas

I went searching for some new ideas for our July 4th Celebration.

I found great ones here at Martha Stewart's site - go figure

and Great Kid Friendly ideas here at FamilyFun

My kids are going to Loooove these popsicles:

and because I Adore cupcakes, I'll be making these:

I need to hunt down some ** SPARKLERS ** - anyone know where to get those nowadays? We'll be playing in the pool, grilling and of course watching Fireworks.

How does your family celebrate the 4th?

It's my potty and I'll cry if I want to.....

Seriously...this is my almost 10 month old baby - NOT - my 2 1/2 year old that diddled in the potty. Wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. The 2 year old brother wants NUTHIN' to do with the potty. Not even the FANCY potty that plays music and makes cool flushing sounds.

Aren't you glad I took a picture of it for you?
See....you wouldn't have believed it either!

Just a fluke? Nope, she actually did it TWICE...on 2 DIFFERENT days...believe it or not. Her big sis was SO proud - can you tell?

I'm so in LOVE with these

The best mascara I have ever tried (and I've tried a bunch)
It even comes in brown~YEAH!

Glorious Giant Cupcakes

I can hardly wait for Rowan's birthday party!

Little pies baked in Jars!

Check it out here......I'm totally stealing this idea!

Get Your Kids to Eat Their Meat & Veggies

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting

I found this here

Triple-meat cupcakes are frosted with two types of mashed potato–beetroot-tinted and plain–and topped with green pepper sprinkles. –Makes 12

INGREDIENTS
For the “cupcake”:

1/3 lb. ground veal

1/3 lb. ground chuck

1/3 lb. ground pork

1 small carrot, roughly chopped

1 small onion, roughly diced

2 stalks celery, roughly diced

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

For the “frosting”:

7.2oz box instant mashed potatoes

Milk, per package instructions

Butter, per package instructions

Beet juice from canned beets

To garnish:

Green pepper, very finely diced

METHOD
For the “cupcake”:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and set aside.
Sweat the vegetables in olive oil until softened.

Transfer to a deep bowl and use an immersion blender to puree;

alternatively, puree in food processor.
Mix the three meats, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley and vegetable puree in a large bowl until an even consistency is reached.
Place meat mixture in greased muffin tins and bake until brown and shrunken away from the sides, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from tin and cool on rack.

For the “frosting”:

Prepare one sachet of instant mashed potatoes according to package instructions.

To prepare the other, substitute beet juice from canned beets for the water called for in the instructions. Allow to cool.
Transfer each batch of mashed potato into a separate pastry bag (or Ziploc bag with a snipped-off corner) with your favourite pastry tip. Pipe onto cupcakes and decorate with diced green pepper.

Reheat in oven or microwave before serving.

Good To Know

I found this code on a site I visit that will block someone from right clicking and saving your photos or any content from your blog. It worked for me. Does it work when you try? If you want the same kind of protection just follow their instructions and put the code in the {body} portion of your blog or website. Might be something to pass along like I did.

Yummy Cranberry Pork

This recipe is one of our favorites. It's so yummy and SO easy. Just toss the ingredients into the crockpot and voila.....

16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cranberry juice

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 pork loin roast, extra-lean and boneles

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons cold water

salt -- to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mash cranberry sauce with a fork or a potato masher. Stir in sugar, cranberry juice, mustard, Lipton soup and cloves. Place pork roast in crock pot and pour cranberry sauce mixture over it. Cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender. Remove roast and keep warm. With a metal spoon, skim the fat from the liquid in the slow cooker. Pour 2 cups of the liquid (add water to fill out the measure, if necessary) into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Blend cornstarch and cold water to make a paste; stir gradually into boiling liquid. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Serve with rice or potatoes!

Now Why Didn't I Think of That

I found some of this information to be quite useful - especially the tip about how to rid your home of pesky little ants without using harmful pesticides around children!

Hope you find something helpful too!

Peel a Banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of Cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying Ground Beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make Scrambled Eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool Brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add Garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover Snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

To Reheat Pizza - Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. Shown on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs - why didn't I think of this?????Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting - When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving

Reheating Refrigerated Bread- To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Broken Glass - Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily

No More Mosquitoes- Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible Vacuum - To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling. Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

Measuring Cups. Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening Envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner. Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies - To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants- Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

My Huge SCORE!!

Would you believe I got all this for $11.69

8 packages of diapers

4 packages of wipes

6 packages of batteries

4 bottles of flouride rinse

5 packages of Q-tips

2 bottles of Dawn dish soap

5 bottles of Huggies Body Wash

2 boxes of Bandaids

1 box of Truffles

2 Toothbrushes

1 - 8 pk of Paper Towels

3 - 9 pks of Toilet Paper

1 bag of Chex mix

1 Bic Lighter

3 - multi packs gum

1 single pack of gum

2 tins of Lifesavers

We totally stocked up!

All of it really cost me nothing out of pocket because I used a free gift card to pay for it and

I even earned $47.95 extracarebucks for future purchases. Wanna learn how? Come visit my savings blog!

Last Day of 1st Grade

I made these T-shirts for Raistlyn & Mikayla to where to school on their last day of 1st grade.
Their names were also on the back buy hubby didn't get a picture. If they last though the summer we'll possibly have them wear them again on the 1st day of 2nd grade.

1st Grade Field Day

Jumpin' and singing those fun songs

The Shoe Kick
The Crab Walk Race
The Frog Toss

Raistlyn & Raegan
Raistlyn & Mikayla Hammin it up!

She was singing some Strawberry Shortcake song - remember that one?

Raistlyn & her wonderful teacher Mrs. Whitehead
The kids had a great time and the weather was Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

9 months

Another tooth this month and she took her first step on her own just this past weekend! As a mother these milestones are so hard for me. She's my last little baby and she's growing up too fast.

We've made it one full night in the crib so far. She's snoozing the night away across the house and I'm up listening for her not getting any sleep myself. I'm the one missing her.