April Fool's Day Ideas

Last year I didn't plan in advance for April Fool's Day, so I didn't post about our meal until that evening.  I'm re-posting it here in case you want to have a fun April Fool's meal for your family!!


When Jackson woke up this morning, I told him to go look out the window, that God had pulled the best April Fool's joke on us.....the ground was covered with snow!!  What a crazy way to begin the month!  I didn't have any pranks ready throughout the day, but I did have a few jokes up my sleeve for dinner tonight.

I have been seeing the cupcakes that are actually meatloaf and mashed potatoes, so I used that idea and changed it up a bit...

After putting cupcake liners in the muffin tin, I flattened out refrigerator biscuits (I had the big ones so I tore them in half first) and pressed them into the liners, leaving a little "well."

I then added a spoonful of ground beef (I had cooked it in advance) and a little cheese and baked them at 350 for about 17-18 minutes.  I wasn't really expecting the biscuits to rise that much, the "well" I expected to be filled with meat kind of disappeared, but oh well!

I added the icing (mashed potatoes and food coloring) and the cupcakes were ready!



Jackson wasn't quite sure what to think!!  Thankfully he thought it was funny and wasn't too disappointed that we weren't actually eating cupcakes.  We also had applesauce, but I served it warm....which is something we did quite often growing up, but I don't think Jackson had ever eaten it like that before.

Yep, that's right, there were no vegetables.  I kind of forgot, and then didn't want to add just plain ole veggies to a special fun meal....so we were vegetable-less tonight.  On to dessert!  :) 

Our dessert was a breakfast theme!  I know most of you have probably seen this "toast" already, it's been pretty popular in blogland....

If you haven't, I'll share the secret....it's sliced poundcake, toasted!  To go along with the breakfast theme, I also made the "fried egg sundaes" I saw here, and although mine didn't turn out quite as good, they were still fun!  (The "eggs" are marshmallow whip with a dollop of lemon pie filling.)

I love this little smirk when he tasted his toast....

We had a fun April Fool's "party" (if there's cupcakes, it's a party, right?), and I already can't wait to start planning for next year!  Did you pull (or fall for any) April Fool's pranks today?  I had to make a quick stop at the grocery store to get some of my ingredients, and when I got to the cashier I realized I had left my wallet at home ~ guess THAT joke was on ME!


Fast-forward one year and I haven't yet started planning for this year's April Fool's Day....which is coming up SOON!  Luckily there are lots of great ideas out there!  Here's a few more links for inspiration.....

*KFC Fried Chicken & Sides
*Faux Chicken Nuggets
*Pizza Cake
*33 Harmless, Pesky Pranks
*Fried Rodents (seriously thinking about doing this one!)

There are LOTS more, but those are some of my favorites!  What is your favorite April Fool's prank?



Linking to:  Someday Crafts, A Turtle's Life for Me, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, The Frugal Girls, Ladybird Ln, Bubbly Nature Creations,

New Fundraiser...and it's a Great Deal!

Hi Friends!  Just wanted to update you on a new fundraiser for our adoption, and this one is perfect for all of us deal seekers!!!!

Have you ever used the website Restaurant.com?  Basically, you can buy restaurant gift cards for a low price!  Here's how it works:  you can type in your zip code and it will give you a list of restaurants in your area.  Each restaurant will have a list of offers you can buy.  For example, you pay $5 and get a gift certificate for $10 (good on a total purchase of $20).  Depending on what offer you choose, you can really save a lot of money!!  Personally for us, when we go out for dinner, we order waters, no appetizers, and no desserts to save a little money.  When we have one of these gift certificates, we feel a little less guilty "splurging" on dessert!

Anyway.....onto the fundraiser!  We are partnering with CoupAide.com ~ you can check out our website here.  You pay $20 and get a $50 gift certificate to Restaurant.com ~ great deal, right?!  The deal gets even sweeter....out of the $20 you pay, $10 goes towards our adoption!

I'm excited for this new fundraising opportunity!  Please feel free to share it with your friends, on your blogs, or scream it from the rooftops ;)

Kindergarten Conversations

Six is such a fun age.  Although I must say, I think I have said this with every age so far.  I absolutely love having "real" conversations with my sweet boy.  A few nights ago at dinner, we asked him, "What do you think your life will be like when you are Daddy's age?"  (He is a bit of a worrier about future things, so when we ask him these questions, we make sure to say they are just for fun and to use your imagination!  After all, only God knows what our future holds!)

Without too much thinking, he told us he would be married and have two 5-year olds, a boy and a girl.  The girl would be adopted.

Me:  "What will their names be?"
J:  "Well....the girl will be Sharly."  (okkkkk)
Me:  "What about the boy?"

He took several minutes to think about this one.  Clearly, some thought goes into naming your children.  Finally he had the answer.

"Lucifer!"

 We couldn't stop ourselves from bursting out in crazy laughter, and finally said, "You're going to name your child after Satan?!"

And then the wailing began.

"WAAAAAAAA!!!!!  I didn't even THINK about that!!!!!!!!  I just thought it was a nice name!"  Poor boy.  He has such a heart for the Lord and when he made the connection, he was seriously distraught.

After a few minutes of containing our giggles and calming him down, we told him we knew he didn't want to name his son after Satan, and that in the Bible it says that Lucifer was perfect in beauty (Ezekiel 28), so his name was probably beautiful too.  Not solid theology, but hey, it worked in calming him down.


Here's a pic of my sweet boy from this morning.  Today was "Career Day" at school.  His first choice was a missionary, but since we didn't know how to dress him as a missionary (his idea was just underwear since he would be in the African jungle), his second choice was a bulldozer driver. 

 

Is he a cutie or what? 

Lego Party: Cupcakes & Wrap-Up

It was a pretty crazy party day on Saturday.  Jackson had two friends over for a little party/playdate, then all three of them went to another friend's birthday party (also lego themed!), and then J came home just in time for the family party!  Because the kids were all headed to another party, the only dessert we did after lunch were the marshmallow minifigure heads.  The family came over for cake and ice cream Saturday evening, and I served these lego cupcakes...

Nothing fancy here, friends.  A boxed funfetti mix & (gasp) store bought icing.  I did shove the icing in a ziploc bag with a tip and piped it on to make it look slightly better.  A few sprinkles and a lego candy piece made with vanilla melting wafers and this mold, and voila!

A glimpse of the food table (helpful hint:  don't have one of those fun cupcake holders?  I just stack two different sized cake stands on top of each other!)

Simple, easy tablescape when everything can be done in primary colors.  The beach-ball looking things are a popular gift from our Japanese exchange student.  They matched so perfectly I just threw them on!  The silver tin you see is also from Yoshiki.....it included several kinds of Japanese rice cakes.  Honey, Black Bean, Shrimp & Seaweed....my favorite was the Soy Sauce & Sugar!  Not your typical LEGO party food, but such a sweet gesture from our new friend.

We love you so much, our sweet Lego-loving 6 year old boy!!!

If you missed the previous LEGO party posts, you can check out the marshmallow minifigure heads here, and the goodie bags here.

Linking to:  The Frugal Girls, Tatertots & Jello,

Lego Party: Goodie Bags

Here's another LEGO party idea....goodie bags.  Jackson had a "friend party" which was really a glorified play date with 2 of his best buddies.  We put together some goodie bags as a thank-you for his friends.  They were super easy and turned out really cute.  Again, these were a Pinterest idea.  (Where would we be without Pinterest?!)  I don't know who was the original poster of the idea, because they seem to be a staple at most LEGO parties!

I bought all my party supplies at Walmart - nothing special, just primary colors.  A 3-pack of gift bags was 99 cents.  I used one gift bag to cut circles, and then put them on the other bags with double stick tape so they resembled legos.  Easy peasy.

Now...to fill them up!  Along with random candy, lego-shaped candy (gotta sugar them up before we send them home!), we also made lego minifigure crayons to include.  This was supposed to be an activity at the party.....luckily I did a trial run the day before.

The plan was to chop up a bunch of crayons, fill up the minifigure mold, and put it in the oven.  The crayons would melt and then when they hardened again they would be brand new crayons!  Unfortunately, not all crayons are created equal.

Some melted, some didn't, even after long periods of time in the oven.  When I gave up trying to melt them completely, I let them harden but when I popped them out, several broke right away.  Headless minifigures are not so great.

Hubby came to the rescue when he got home from work.  He melted the crayons in jars in the microwave and poured them into the mold.  This time it worked like a charm (and I am only minus 3 jars because of cracking!)

(sidenote:  we also made minifigure ice cubes with the mold and it worked great!  they were so cute!!)

I also "splurged" and bought a Birthday Party Kit from the LEGO store.  (My new sponsors!  See my sidebar!)  The kit included 10 of each of the following:  invitations, thank you cards, 3D stickers, building tips & tricks booklet, LEGO builder licenses, and special birthday minifigures.  Yes, 10 was more than we needed, but I am predicting many more LEGO parties in this house in the years to come!!  The best part - when I bought it (and as I am writing this post), the kit was on sale - 50% off!  Jackson was thrilled about this - he has wanted a "Max" minifigure for so long!  The Birthday Boy also received a LEGO magnet and special pop-up birthday card in the kit.

Birthday parties are so much fun :)  There's still a few more LEGO party posts on the way....stay tuned!

Linking to:  The Frugal Girls, Tatertots & Jello,

Lego Party: Marshmallow Minifigure Heads

Our sons two loves are currently Legos and Star Wars.  Since we had a Star Wars themed birthday last year, we decided to change it up and do a Lego theme this year for the Birthday Boy.  As I scanned the www for ideas, I knew I had to make the lego minifigure treats found at Living Locurto.  The process was a little time-consuming, but not difficult, and the end result was well worth it!  I made mine just slightly different, so I wanted to share the steps here.

First I used cookie icing to glue mini M&Ms to the tops of the marshmallows.  In retrospect, I probably should have used regular M&Ms, but I had the minis on hand.  (And since hindsight is 20/20, I also should have used something in a lighter color...the yellow wafers weren't enough to completely cover the red & green M&Ms).

I then put them on lollipop sticks, dipped them into the melted yellow candy wafers, and using the same trick as I did last year for the pretzel light sabers, stuck them in the egg carton to dry.

Using these special pens, I tried my best to draw faces on the little guys.  As you will see below, I'm no artist.  But thankfully, my almost 6 year old didn't care.  The expressions reminded me of one of those magnets....you know, the kind with all the faces, and it also has a small magnetic frame???  they say something at the top to the effect of "Today I'm feeling...." and then you put the frame over your mood.  Anyone know what I'm talking about?  I haven't seen one in awhile, so maybe not.  Anyway, if we made up a magnet, here's some of the faces that would appear......

Today I'm feeling.....

Cheerful

Cool

Angry

Worried

Flirty

Scared

Pirate-y

Disappointed

Suave

On this special day for our almost 6 year old we were all feeling very....

HAPPY!!

Bonus - the marshmallow head made for a cute display on the party table!

Please note:  The "scared" face can also double as the "I'm on fire!" face!

More Lego party madness on the way!!

Linking to:  A Turtle's Life for Me, House of Hepworth's, The Frugal Girls, Tatertots & Jello,

Happy Spring!!!

I absolutely love spring.  My favorite season just makes me happy - yes, there's often a lot of rain, but with that rain comes flowers, fresh air, and new life.  And we can't forget the free Rita's Italian Ice.  And the free iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.  *Happy Sigh*  Yes, I love spring.

The spring decorating hasn't exactly been completed (or even started) at this point because we've been busy with birthday parties, exchange students, and LIFE in general.  But if you are new here, I wanted to share some of my favorite SPRING posts from last year....I'm excited to get some of these decorations back out and make my house all springy again. 

#1:  Thrifted Cheese Dome/Cloche & Easy Nests

#2:  Easter Treats

#3:  Burlap & Sharpie Spring Pillow

#4:  Kid's Project - Cupcake Liner Bouquet

#5:  (possibly one of my favorite projects ever) Spring Wreath

Happy Spring!!