Valentine's Day Recap {2015}

Here’s a quick Valentine’s Day Weekend Re-cap in mostly pictures…enjoy!

Rowen's Valentine's Day started with a Valentine party at daycare on Friday!

Where she handed out her Valentines to all her friends...

...ate cupcakes...

...and made party hats!  Too stinkin' cute!

The next morning, Rowen woke up to a gift from Ryan and I on the kitchen table...

...Carly munched on her very own Valentine treat...

...and Ryan made us all heart shaped pancakes for breakfast! Aww!

Later that morning we headed to the library for a Valentine's Day themed story-time, followed by songs and games...

...and crafts!  

The fun continued at home when I busted out our sensory bin and filled it up with red water!  You can read more about this particular themed bin here, which is where I got the idea!

Sunday was a bit more lazy...

Rowen entertained herself with puzzles for a majority of the day (she's so good at them)...

...I headed out to meet a few friends for to see the new Fifty Shades of Gray movie (don't waste your money)

...and Ryan began painting the nursery!  YAY!

It was a great "holiday" weekend - hope yours was, too!

Meal Plan Monday 2/16/15

Happy Monday!  I'm gonna save my weekend re-cap for tomorrow night...we had a fun Valentine's weekend and I plan to do a separate post on it.

So, like last week, I again shopped for meals using my Fuel Saver card from Hy-vee (saving us .33 cents per gallon)!

We've planned four delicious looking meals that I am excited to try!  Check it out...

Monday:  Tortellini Chicken Noodle Soup (tortellini and carrots were the fuel saver items)

Tuesday:  Honey Garlic Chicken (chicken thighs and carrots were fuel saver items)

Wednesday:  One Pot Spicy Taco Rice Skillet (taco seasoning was the fuel saver item)

Thursday: BBQ Chicken Taquitos (using a rotisserie chicken for this, which was the fuel saver item)

Friday:  Not Cooking

Shared with:

Org Junkie

DIY Heart Shaped Crayons

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I wanted to share the Valentine’s Day treats Rowen and I made for friends and family last weekend!  A few weeks ago I did this post on no candy valentines for kids, and when I saw the adorable muffin tin crayons I knew we had to make them!  

Materials needed: (sorry I was so excited to start our fun that I forgot to take a picture of my supplies)

• 24 pack of Crayola Crayons (a 24 pack easily makes 6 hearts)
• Silicone baking cups (bought mine at Michaels)
• Metal Baking sheet
• Aluminum Foil

Start by preheating your oven to 250 degrees

Second, peel off the wrappers from each Crayon.  This part was actually trickier than I expected and ended up having to use an x-acto knife.

Third, break apart the crayons into small pieces (we put a variety of colors in each cup) and place about 15-20 pieces in each baking cup.  This was Rowen’s favorite part!

Once all your baking cups are full, place them on a metal baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (the aluminum foil is important)

Place the baking sheet inside the oven on the top rack for 10-12 minutes (or until the crayons are melted).

Remove from heat.  Try to be as steady as possible when you do this as you don’t want your molds to move around too much.  Place on top of  the stove or in refrigerator for 4-5 hours to cool.

Once cooled, slowly peel the baking cup away from your molds.

Ta Da!  Perfectly shaped multi-colored heart crayons…now you are ready to color!

I held a few crayons back for Rowen to play with and put the rest inside clear cellophane bags paired with a cute Dora the Explorer valentine card for each of Rowen’s friends!  

These crayons make the perfect Valentine's Day treats AND would also make awesome party favors at birthday parties!  We will definitely be making them again!

Shared with:

Our Mini Family 

Meal Plan Monday

Sorry, meant to post this yesterday, but the day was crazy busy and by the time I thought about it I was tucked in bed.  So you're getting Meal Plan Monday on Tuesday...that's ok!

First, I'll do the usual and wrap-up the weekend real quick...

Friday night it was just Rowen and I.  We stopped for a hamburger and then headed to the mall to do a little shopping!

Saturday was my mom's birthday, which was spent consuming these delicious cupcakes from Scratch Cupcakery!  YUM!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day.  Besides our usual errands we played outside in the snow....

....made Valentines for Rowen's friends at daycare (I'll do a separate post on those because they turned out so cute)...

...and attempted to start organizing the baby's nursery...

All in all a great weekend!

Now on to meals for this week!  I've started doing more shopping at our local grocery store recently as opposed to Target, which is where I normally go.  Here's why....

Hy-Vee, my local grocery store, has a pretty sweet grocery discount program known as Fuel Saver. Each week the store puts out an ad listing the grocery items available for the discount (usually anywhere between .2 cents and .25 cents per item).  You then load these "savings" onto a card, which can then be taken to participating gas stations in the area to lower the retail price of gasoline! Depending how how many items you buy, a customer could potentially save $2 a gallon on fuel per week!  Crazy!

So this week I challenged myself to buy a few things from the fuel saver ad and then scour Pinterest to find ways to use them as meals.  Here's what I came up with while managing to save myself .16 cents per gallon!

Monday:  Crockpot Spaghetti Squash (meatballs were the fuel saver item)

Tuesday: Chicken Fajita Bake (pre made fajita mix was the fuel saver item)

Wednesday:  Campbell's Chicken Marsala  (Campbell's skillet meal mix was the fuel saver item)

Thursday: Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup (bread bowls were the fuel saver item)

Friday:  Not cooking!

Cold and Flu Must-Haves for Toddlers

This past week Rowen has been battling a nasty upper respiratory infection aka a bad cold.  Her poor eyes are glazed over and watery, her nose is chapped and cracked from all the wiping, and she’s just plain miserable looking.  I feel so bad for her, but she’s been a trouper and I think she’s finally on the mend!

To go along with the “sick” theme in our house this week, I thought I’d share my Cold and Flu Season Must-Haves!  Here are the remedies we keep on hand just in case…

1// Llama Llama Home with Mama – This is the perfect book to save for a sick day at home!  The rhymes are playful and so easy for little ones to remember (Rowen recites it often)! 

2// Crane Cool Mist Humidifier, Elephant – We actually run this humidifier every night while Rowen sleeps, but it is especially handy for when she’s sick!  Just knowing that it’s allowing her to breathe easier at night when she’s congested gives me peace of mind!

3// Boogie Wipes – These are a godsend when you have a kid whose nose is a faucet.  I love the smell and the aloe on the wipes helps to reduce redness (see #6). 

4// Wet-Ones – I went out last night and bought a large container of these.  They’re great for wiping hands and surfaces when your little one is sick.  Knowing I am at least trying to keep the germs at bay (even though it’s probably inevitable I’ll get sick) makes me feel better!

5// Children’s Dimetapp – Yes, we use medicines on our kid and yes, they work!  Growing up with a pharmacist as a father I’ve always known medicine to help ease my pains when I’m sick and I won’t keep Rowen from knowing that ease, too.  I’m not opposed to things like Essential Oils, but honestly I prefer to go to the drug store!

6// Burt’s Bees Lip Balm – Rowen’s poor nose is being wiped so often that its become red and swollen.  We’ve been using this lip balm to help ease the redness, and so far it’s working!

7// Dr. Teals Bubble Bath – Nothing beats a warm bath when you’re sick and this soap makes your bath that much more enjoyable!  A friend of mine gifted us a bottle when she found out I was pregnant and ever since we’ve been using it on Rowen.  It smells wonderful and is so relaxing – perfect for sick days!

8// Honest Kids Juice – We don’t do a lot of juice in our house (it’s mostly water and milk), but we usually make an exception when she’s sick just so we can ensure she’s getting enough fluids.  I love this juice because there are only 9 grams of sugar compared to the 16-20 grams most juice pouches/boxes have (seriously, you might as well just give them a can of pop)!

9// Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars – We keep a lot of these breakfast bars on hand.  I figure it’s a decent way to get some food into her system when she’s not very hungry, plus she loves them!

10// Vapo Rubs – Vapo rubs like this one are my “go to” when I am sick with a cold.  Because the scent is so strong, instead of rubbing it on Rowen’s chest or under her nose, I put it on the bottoms of her feet and on her humidifier so it dispenses throughout the room…works great!

23 Week Update

How far along? 23 Weeks

Baby Size: A large mango

Total weight gain/loss: Ugh, probably close to 10lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yes, I live in these leggings and yes, leggings are considered pants when you're pregnant.

Stretch marks? Nope!

Sleep: Still good! 

Best moment this week: Going to IKEA and picking up a few things for the nursery!

Miss Anything? Running...I miss it soooo bad!  I cannot wait to start again the first chance I get!

Movement: Yes!

Food cravings: None - I'm lucky if I even have an appetite most days.  I mostly eat cereal and muffins, HA!

Gender prediction: It's a BOY!

Looking forward to: Picking a name for this little guy...we have our top three, just have to make a final decision!

Differences this time around: I feel like this baby is going to be MUCH bigger than Rowen was, which scares me!  Eeek!

Weekend Wrap-up 2/2/2015...

This picture sums up how I feel today…

It was a bit of a crazy weekend!  I spent Friday night with friends a CAbi party.  It was a fun experience, but I didn’t end up buying anything because I’m cheap and I wanted to save my money for the following day…

…at IKEA!  Saturday morning my friend, Lauren and I woke up bright and early to head three hours south to Kansas City.  Ryan and I made the same trip this past Fall with plans to come back in the near future to buy furniture for Rowen's room.  Well, Ryan’s idea of “fun” is not IKEA so instead I recruited Lauren who happily obliged to come with me!  

We arrived in KC around 9:30am, made a pit stop at a huge HomeGoods store just for fun, then checked out a local pizzeria for lunch!  It was delish!

We then found our way to IKEA and somehow made it in and out in less than two hours! (I promise it’s not all mine)! 

We knew we didn’t have a lot of time to mess around.  Unfortunately, there was a large snow storm headed our way and getting stuck in KC was not a part of our plan.

We made it back around dinner time that evening, just before 10+ inches of snow hit, which is what we woke up to Sunday morning!

Rowen was insistent upon playing in it, so after breakfast I bundled her up and took her outside where she lasted about 15 minutes in the cold, blowing snow.  

  

The lazy day stuck inside was perfect timing for Ryan to assemble all the items I had bought the previous day (the only downfall to purchasing from IKEA).  Luckily, he didn't have to do it alone, he had good help! 

The rest of the afternoon was spent shoveling massive amounts of snow (which is what happens when you accidentally run over a newspaper with your snow blower and the blade gets stuck, bah!).  Thank goodness for kind neighbors willing to help bail us out!     

The evening ended with a big pot of chili and the Super Bowl for Ryan and a horrible headache and an 8:00 bedtime for me (reason #678 I dislike being pregnant).  

Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have a Meal Plan Monday post for today.  Quite honestly I had zero time to meal plan and zero chance to get to the grocery store this weekend.  I’ll have a good one for you next week though…promise!