Blessing Basket

I love getting holiday cards and I am so disappointed that so many people have stopped doing them.  I gather them in a basket each Christmas and enjoy looking through them and thinking about friends and family near and far.  It offers a better opportunity for browsing than an e-mail.

Last year, I read SIMPLICITY  PARENTING by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross and it completely changed my mind about a lot of things. One of the best parenting books I ever read.  Payne talks about keeping holiday cards out year round and I thought that was a great idea.

We keep our basket of holiday cards near the dining table and we call it the Blessing Basket.  Each night, Noodlebug randomly picks a card out of the basket.  We include the family represented by the card in our blessing that night over dinner.  It gives us the opportunity to think about the people in our lives each day and to send out some special love for them through prayer.

It has been such a wonderful experience so far and I'm hoping we get even MORE holiday cards next year so we can continue the tradition.

Homemade "Goldfish" Crackers

Some friends have recently gotten me reevaluating my love of Goldfish crackers.  Although they taste so good and they are so convenient, I don't like the extra stuff in them such as the high salt content and (in the case of the colored ones) artificial colors. So, I decided to make my own version using a Weelicious recipe.  I used the one in the Weelicious Lunches cookbook but it is also available on the website. The Weelicious recipe uses whole wheat flour, butter, seasoning and cheddar cheese. That's it.

Here they are before baking.  I used some miniature cookie cutters I found at the outlet mall last weekend for $4. I probably should have rolled my dough a little thinner but they worked.  I baked them for the full fifteen minutes and I probably should have taken them out after 13 minutes. Also, I thought I had a disaster when the dough wouldn't hold together. I then realized that you need to pulse the dough for a good 3-4 minutes to get it to come together. Guess I was too impatient. Overall, I am really happy with the results.  I thought they were really tasty and I can't wait to make more!

President's Day shirt with Freezer Paper Stencils

It seems like the only projects I can finish these days involve freezer paper stencils.

Valentine's Fun

I am trying very hard to keep up with both Life Book 2014 and Brave Girls Club--THE WALK and I am falling behind in both. So I haven't had much to share lately.

I did manage to finish a wreath for the front door:

I already had everything I need for it except for the wreath form. I used this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I wrapped the wreath in burlap ribbon instead of yarn and used twine for the criss-cross part.

We had a Valentine's playdate yesterday with an old friend.  I came up with a craft idea. I found these little mailboxes in the dollar bins at Target. I painted the ends with chalkboard paint and filled them with stickers for decorating.

My friend Susie is a master at making cookies and made a bunch of cookies for the kids to decorate:

It was a great rainy day activity.

Noodlebug and I finished all of his valentines and we are ready to go! We always do non-candy valentines and chose to do this one this year.  I'm so excited that I have the day off next Friday so I get to volunteer in his classroom on Valentine's Day!