Kennedy's Valentine Fun

Some friends of ours from church had a cute little Valentine's party. I loved it bc Kennedy isn't in a class or pre school type thing during the week, and doesn't really get to do some of the festive things kids get to do when in school. This was a great time to hang out with other girls around her age and make fun crafts and eat cute heart shaped pink and red foods =) There was a cake. And it was awesome. I ate a lot of it.

My friend sent me home with this lovely bottle of Chocolate wine. I've never had it before and Im sure its yummy. I would KNOW if it was good or not if I had a cork screw. Yea, I got it out to try some and realized I don't own one...oops

I don't know how much Ive told you about my childs wild ways, but she is not to be trusted with certain items. Some of those include: paint, play doh, markers, glitter. and like items that can get messy. She is destructive. And anything BUT type A or OCD. 

She is a free spirit, you'd say

and I LOVE her

I just have to be aware of this fact

So we made valentines crafts for some of her friends and our parents, with stickers. Playing it safe. 

 Her goodies from mom and dad. She is obsessed with horses these days. We live next to a few horse boarding places and we always see them. I saw this little barn at Target complete with horses and little girl dolls and thought she'd have fun with it. 

 Daddy brought home donuts for breakfast! Score!

 and Quinn has something she'd like to tell you...well the Beatles said it, but she is in agreement.

Sweet girl

Valentine

How was y'alls Valentines Day? We spent the day at home and didnt actually go out until the day after. My mother in law came in town (HALLELUJAH!) and we were so lucky to go out at all! We didn't even plan a date because her visit was last minute, but we quickly came up with a plan bc well, we had a gift card. On V-day, Justin did bring me home some goodies. I actually got a picture of it all bc I had to send it to my mom because I was SHOCKED that my man did the typical thing and got me flowers, a card, and chocolates, bc its just so cliche and he is usually against such things. It made me feel special though that he didn't come home with a practical gift he thought I'd need, or a gift card to Target (yea, he totally has bought me that before, like I wouldn't just go there and buy whatever I want anyway??) 

Also, I may or may not have eaten that whole box of chocolates in under three day...

 We went to Maggianos for our little romantic evening. We had planned to go to a movie after, but instead walked around looking in stores, holding hands and talking, which was what I wanted more than seeing a movie. Again. We pretty much see a movie every date night. Which is why I made a date night list. You'll see...after you see my family night list...Im such a nerd.

this dessert was AMAZING! It was a graham cracker crust, with chocolate ganache, and a ROASTED marshmallow on top. Not quite sure why the waiter put candles on it...

Happy Mardi Gras!

I popped into the grocery store yesterday to pick up some New Orleans flavor for Fat Tuesday, only to realize that the grocery stores around here do not sell King Cake?!?!? I didn't even realize that of COURSE, not being on the Gulf Coast this time of year, would mean no King Cake. A friend of mine did tell me about a bakery in town that sells them, so I can go that route next time. As for this Fat Tuesday, I made my own. A very SIMPLE version, that is. I like simple. I also bought a BOX of Jambalaya. I do NOT claim to be Martha Stewart. A box version will do.


The recipe I chose did not have any pictures, therefore I took some along the way to help anyone else out that wanted a visual. I appreciate visuals when in the kitchen.

King Cake with Cream Cheese

Ingredients:
2 (8-ounce) cans reduced-fat crescent rolls
4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon


Icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat Oven to 350. Spray your pan


Separate crescent rolls at perforations, into 16 triangles. Place slices around prepared pan with points in center. About halfway down from points, press seams together.

(the directions on the site confused me, but you can press together at either end. If you do the wider part then the ring is a little thinner, but a bigger ring.)

In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Spread on dough in center where seams have been pressed together.

In another small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over cream cheese. 

Fold dough points over filling. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cool slightly, drizzle with Icing. Sprinkle!

You can also not do cream cheese if you want the most traditional King Cake. And if you do like working with yeast and are more hardcore in the kitchen, I thought this recipe looked fun. Im a sucker for a braided ring. 

Disney on Ice

 A while back, we took Kennedy to see a Disney on Ice performance. It was a special one in that it was the Dare to Dream show and was completely about all the princesses. It was PERFECT for her and she loved every minute of it. I love watching all my favorite Disney princesses with my own little girl now and feeling like a little girl again who just wants a fairy tale. Its great being a parent and getting to relive fun childhood experiences again. I wonder if Justin will ever feel like he misses some stuff since we only have girls...maybe we should try for a boy...3 kids...hmmm...nah.

Some friends of ours hooked up us with seats down on the ice and dinner served to us. It was definitely better than our usual back row experience. =) It was freezing down there though so we stayed bundled up which was kind of funny. We had fun though. Even Quinn was mesmerized by all the performances. Disney is so Magical, wherever you experience it. Thats why I LOVE it! 

gotta love NC winters

We have had some seriously unseasonably warm winter days. I have loved taking advantage of those and taking the girls to our newly discovered park in town. Its a huge, amazing, and gorgeous park! The first time we went was on a Saturday in January and the temp was around 68 degrees. Needless to say, it was flooded with people! We still had a blast, but I definitely enjoyed it more the second time we went on a weekday and actually were able to ride the train and carousel. I can't wait to go back this summer and do the paddle boats. I have a weird obsession with paddle boating. Im not sure why exactly. 

Trying to capture how BEAUTIFUL this day was. Is it just me or do you feel the beauty of God even more on days like this??

Fun on the train ride! Have I ever mentioned that my heart wants to explode bc these two fill it TO. THE. BRIM!

This carousel went insanely fast. I, no lie, was getting dizzy and nauseous.

this baby LOVES to swing. I LOVE her giggles whilst swinging her =)

This sweet man helped Kennedy on the tire swing with his two little girls. He stood there swinging them for what seemed like half an hour. The girly laughs were music for my soul.

Quinn thoroughly enjoyed playing with the dead grass. She may have ingested some...

This is where said paddle boating will take place...

sup

Hi friends! Can you believe its already Feb 1st?!!? I feel like I said "Happy New Year" two days ago, and yet somehow we are already through the first month of the year. We did have some fun activities occur during the month of January.

Quinn started crawling and standing up. The first time was actually at a fundraiser for our mission trip. A dance party. I think she was grooving to all the music and needed to express that in movement. We caught it a little bit on video. I'll have to try and see if I can get a little clip of that up for you. I know you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see her first signs of mobility.

 Kennedy went to her first dentist appointment. I was actually TERRIFIED of how this might go because her last dr appt was AWFUL. She wasn't even getting shots. He just looked in her ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and felt her belly. Apparently thats scary. Anyways, I figured that someone having you lie under a bright light while they stick metal objects in your mouth would be even worse, but she had fun.

?

Fun?! Like it was a treat to go! What in the world...

The people there were amazing I have to say. The hygienist was so friendly and made her feel very comfortable. They gave her sunglasses to wear, which were actually sort of fashionable. She was even given a token to put in a prize machine after they were all done. I was so proud =)

I had brought her a little present to hopefully encourage her to cooperate. It wasn't even necessary though, but I still let her have it. She loves that chameleon.

K also had her first dance class. The girl LOVES dancing and people have been suggesting I put her in dance but I wasn't sure how much she would learn or how well she would pay attention at her age, but she did well and had a BLAST. She was also insanely adorable in her ballerina get up.

and

Momma's finally getting living room furniture (and yes I am considering this a milestone bc it has been QUITE the saga.) More on our living room makeover later. Im barely getting in all this info because Im SO tired, but I did promise myself a post today.

So a month of firsts for BOTH my girlies, a lot of sofa shopping, and a lot of watching How I Met Your Mother. Its mine and Justins new show on Netflix and has proven quite addicting. We just keep hitting play until its after midnight and we realize our kids don't care that we stayed up late and insist we get out of bed at 0 dark 30.