Happy Valentine's Day!

You may go all out on Valentine's Day with expensive gifts, dinner at a fancy restaurant, you may do a homemade version (that's more our speed), or you may say bah humbug and don't acknowledge the Hallmark holiday. Whatever you choose, try to spend some extra time with loved ones and let them know you care.  Our lives can get pretty hectic sometimes and although you may say I love you everyday, take a day to spend some quality time with the ones that make your heart go Pitter Patter! 

I've had a great time with the girls so far today as my husband is at work.  They had a mailbox waiting with valentines from Mom and Dad, a gift bag for each with a few treats, a Dr. Seuss book and Water Magic Coloring Books that they spend hours with (use water and a paint brush to cover a page and see the bright colors appear, a great dollar store find).  

They got mail! For $5 from the Superstore, it's going to get lots of use!

Using the Magic Water books while I make breakfast

It's always fun to make heart shaped foods, so they had heart shaped cranberry juice ice cubes to go in their water bottles this morning, heart shaped pizza for lunch and some heart and flower shaped homemade chocolates for a treat tonight. The chocolates were recommended to me by Kathy at Challenge Yourself Healthy (https://www.facebook.com/challengeyourselfhealth) and the recipe for them is from the Lean Green Mommy (http://leangreenmommy.com/2013/04/01/healthy-fudge/).  

Tomato tortillas and a hear shaped cookie cutter, sauce, pepperoni and cheese

Homemade chocolates in Ikea ice cube trays.  See link above for recipe

Chloe helped make a homemade card for Dad and after they kiddos are in bed tonight, we'll have a scrumptious homemade steak dinner and watch a movie together (I'll try not to fall asleep!). 

Used a felt kit she got for her birthday, and drew a picture of a house with a mailbox

How are you spending Valentine's Day? 

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween, one of my favorite times of the year!  We have been BUSY this week!  Lots of crafts and events on the go.  Sunday was dance class and a trip to the Oil Kings Game where C and her choir sang O' Canada.  It was a fun, emotional time. So proud of her for not being nervous for singing in front of the crowd and also very moving after the events in Ottawa last week. K also enjoyed her first live hockey game! Monday we had an unexpected snowfall so there was some outside time. 

Pregame, C in her choir tshirt and K in her Oil Kings t shirt and foam finger!

Tuesday we started on a Halloween craft: paper mache monsters! Pretty easy (but a bit messy) to do with little ones but it took 3 days to complete.  Day one was applying the paper and paste then letting that dry for the night.  Day 2 was painting the hardened balloon shaped object. Day 3 was popping the balloon and sticking the facial features on. 

No pictures from Day 1, too messy! Start of Day 2 after they dried

Painting on Day 2

Cutting out the face pieces

Final product!

 Simple Paste:
3 parts water
2 parts flour
I used 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup of flour for the 2 balloons and it was a perfect amount
Optional: white glue for extra sticky and salt to help preserve it.  

Wednesday and Thursday were pumpkin nights, scooping on Wednesday and carving the following night. Both girls were eager to dig in and not afraid to get messy.  

Pumpkin scooping and final result after dad helped carve

I also tried my hand at baking some pumpkin seeds and they came out pretty tasty! I've never really tried ones that I could keep snacking on, most were pretty bland.  But I had never tried any sweet recipes.  I tried some right from the oven and they were some yummy! I cooled some for the girls and they both loved them! 

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pumpkin Seeds:
2 cups pumpkin seeds - I wash, soak for 30 min, drain and let dry on a clean tea towel over night
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp white sugar

I wash the pumpkin seeds, then let soak for 30 minutes, drain and let dry on a clean tea towel over night.  
Preheat oven to 300F and line a cookie sheet with foil (for easy clean up).  Add the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar and seeds to a large freezer bag and squish together until all are coated. Spread evenly on sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes, toss, sprinkle white sugar and bake for another 10 minutes (I checked around 7 min too). Toss again and bake for a few more minutes, mine took another 7 so 27 minutes total. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Crunchy and sweet!

Thursday afternoon C had a field trip to a fire hall. She had fun sitting in the truck! 

K made a cute little picture while big sis C was at choir. We used her thumb to make a pumpkin patch and added a green vine. Quick and interactive craft. 

Halloween Day is full of fun! A friend's party in the morning and trick or treating after supper. Costumes pictures to come =) 

What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions?