Daddy Daughter Date Night

  I have to say, I'm grateful for nights like this!!

It sooo makes me think about treating each child to one really special night -- 

we aren't great at doing that on a regular basis!

K's night was tonight and we had such a fun week prepping for the big event.

Thank goodness, this last minute mama found the dress, shoes, jewelry, etc. all starting Wednesday afternoon.

So many fun details...

She loved this extra twirly dress -- her first year to pick!

Cute girlfriends from her class...

Mikata and TCBY still reign as the favorites for dinner and dessert afterwards!

She looked SO forward to this all week -- such a precious, precious tradition!!!

And, for fun, here are the date nights of the past:

 

2012

2011

2010

2009

Yep, they have been going since she was almost two.  Hilarious I know.

valentine printable luke 10:27

can't claim this one!

done by one of my fave college girls.

arrange it to fit in an 8x10 frame...

you're a CUTIE!

i don't have a thing around the house to signify valentine's day.

no decorations, cutely cut hearts, etc.

we're running a crazy schedule around here that i just realized i haven't discussed on the blog.

not for any reason other than not making time to blog.

so a story to come later.

for now, an easy, easy valentine that you can grab and print too.

i have 4 x 2 x 9 cello bags from nashville wraps to fold and staple these on with 2 cutie oranges inside.

i haven't jumped off the health nut cliff, K thought it was HIlARIOUS to tell the boys in her class

You're a CUTIE! :)

so right click to save and print.  one is just the image, the other is two to a page ready to print on cardstock.
the original is 4x6 inches, but it should resize well.

Valentine Fun

We had lots of fun crafting and cooking this Valentine's Day!

"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
  Your faithfulness to the skies."

Psalm 36:5

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Friday was the annual Daddy Daughter Date Night -- Kirkley had been anticipating it all week!

She gets soooo excited about one-on-one time -- a good reminder to us to be making that happen for each of the kids!

It was a busy night filled with pictures, dinner, dancing, and yogurt! :)

She told me at the end of the evening, "I wish it was Daddy Date Night every night!"

She was so excited to put on a fancy dress -- this was one we had from when she was a flower girl in my sister's wedding!  She loved wearing it again!  She loved all the girly details of the evening!

We met up with friends to get a few pics before they were all on their way...

We had to kick Jay out of the middle of the ladies! :)

Then everyone headed off to dinner!  I even got to snag a dinner date with one of my little men!

And, for fun, here are the date nights of the past:

2011

2010

2009

Yep, they have been going since she was two.  Hilarious I know.

We love a tradition!

Strawberry Cake

I love this cake! It's super easy and starts with a mix. The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook is one of my favorites for a quick dessert! Make this one as a bundt/loaves and top with a quick glaze or as cupcakes/layer cake and do strawberry frosting (tub if you can find it, if not add strawberry extract to plain frosting). This is great for a quick teacher treat for v-day!

I have several cakes I do quickly in a bundt pan. This is the fastest type of cake to make if you need something in a hurry. You can glaze while still warm and get it out the door! Some tips -- use Pam with flour or Baker's Joy for the pan, set a timer for mixing the cake batter, and invest in a squeeze bottle (found in craft/baking section) for the glaze (I cut the top a little larger).


Strawberry Cake

Cake:
1 package white cake mix
1 3 oz. package strawberry gelatin
3 T flour
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 cup strawberries, diced (I use frozen and dice still frozen)
Cooking spray with flour (Pam w/flour or Baker's Joy)

Strawberry Glaze:
*If doing a two-layer cake or cupcakes, use two tubs of whipped strawberry frosting*
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 T butter, melted
1-3 T milk (to desired consistency)
1 t strawberry extract

- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Mix all cake ingredients except strawberries and beat on low speed for 1 minute; scrape sides of bowl
- Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, add diced strawberries near the end, and do not over mix
- Mist bundt pan with cooking spray with flour
- Pour batter into the pan and smooth out the top with a spatula
- Bake the cake until it is light brown about 45-50 minutes (toothpick/tester should come out clean)
- Prepare glaze adding more milk or powdered sugar as needed
- Remove cake from oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes
- Remove cake from pan and put on serving platter
- Drizzle half of glaze over the cake while it is still warm slowly so that it doesn't run totally off (I usually do this in shifts)
- Cool
- Drizzle remainder of glaze on slices when serving

How to use up your Valentine chocolate...

Back in the day I bought these cute little ramekins -- 16 of them to be exact -- back when I thought I'd be hosting fabulous dinner parties. Little did I know I would have people over like once every six months once I had kids. :) Maybe another time in our life!

Anyway, we had a bag of Dove dark chocolates and these cute ramekins sitting around so Double Chocolate crème brulée came to life! Don't think you can't do this! I PROMISE you can! It really is super easy and the results are really amazing. I've had to share these little ramekins with friends and fam so Alex and I don't eat one after all three meals! Your fam will be SO impressed -- crème brulée is super easy but super fancy! Share one with your Valentine -- it's still Feb -- keep celebrating!

Sorry, no step by step pictures -- I was doing good just to get this made much less have pictures of each step! :) This is going to look like it takes forever -- promise it doesn't. Just trying to be descriptive....

Double Chocolate Crème Brulée
Makes 6 servings

2 cups (16 oz) heavy whipping cream
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used part dark, part regular)
2 ounces chocolate (I used Dove Dark Choc hearts), roughly chopped
more granulated sugar for the tops after baking

- Preheat oven to 250.
- Chop up chocolate.
- Separate eggs; put 8 yolks into a large bowl (a bowl with a spout to pour from if possible). Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar till most is dissolved.
- Heat whipping cream on stove until warm -- almost simmering. Remove from heat and whisk in chopped chocolate. Whisk till dissolved.
- Add about half of a cup of the cream/chocolate to yolk mixture and whisk well (you are tempering the egg yolks so they don't cook too quickly). Add a half cup more and whisk well. Now add all and whisk well.
- At this point, you can pour it all through a strainer. I didn't want to get anything else dirty so I skipped this step, and they turned out fine.
- Put 6 ramekins in a 9 x 13 dish. You may not fit them all in one 9 x 13 -- that is fine.
- Pour mixture into ramekins evenly.
- Pour warm water into 9 x 13 carefully around ramekins; come as close as you can to the top of the ramekins without it making a mess -- about halfway up.
- Bake at 250 for an hour and a half.
- When crème brulée is done, it will shimmy a little bit but it shouldn't be too liquidy.
- Remove crème brulées from the water bath immediately and put in the fridge.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight -- this is great make ahead.
- At serving time, sprinkle a spoonful of sugar on top of each; shake off excess into the sink -- you just need the layer that sticks to the top.
- Torch moving quickly over the sugar. You'll see it melt then bubble a bit -- bubbling means it's done -- don't burn and keep the torch moving! If you don't have a torch, put them on the top rack of your oven under the hot broiler. Watch with the door cracked for the sugar to go clear then start to bubble. Take them out as soon as you see some bubbles.
- Serve!

A few notes -- I have a food scale so it took me 8 Dove chocolate hearts to equal 2 ounces. I think you can totally guesstimate or try to look on the pkg at the serving size or whatever. This measurement being off won't mess things up really. Don't have ramekins? Find some small glass/ceramic containers that can go in the oven. And keep your egg whites for breakfast in the morning when you're feeling guilty for eating this!

Sweetheart Celebration

Kirkley's class had a Valentine party today. She was thrilled to have a "bawentime" party when I told her it involved cupcakes. I couldn't get her to put her drink down for a smile!

She was so excited to give out Valentine treats to her classmates. I was excited they were free Valentines that we made out of all of her old crayons! Same process pretty much as last year except I stuck all of the colors in silicone muffin molds then in the oven. They popped right out once they were cool.

Class Parties

are soooo yummy!

Valentines!

I can't say that I heart Valentine's Day -- it's never been a particularly sentimental holiday for me, but I sure do love a holiday with fun crafts!
Always an adventure getting handprints with paint -- I have not splurged on these jumbo washable stamp pads yet! She really does okay with the paint, but it is certainly a two adult activity. Funniest part about these: I prepped them at the end of my Christmas break knowing it would be busy going back to school, we had our trip planned, etc. I had them all set to laminate and thought randomly one night that they said, "Happy Valentine's Day 2008". Alex checked...and they did. That's what I get for prepping a valentine before the end of 2008! :)


What can you do with a dollar tree ice cube mold, pack of crayons, and cupcake tins?

These cute crayons!

They turned out cute! Not terribly practical to do in bulk or as treats for lots of friends -- it took one crayon to make one heart, but they were super easy. I used two cupcake trays so I could cut the cups up in one. Bake broken up crayons on 25o until melted, stir with plastic fork/spoon, then lift the cups out and pour wax immediately into molds. Not sure why it leaves the icky residue in the tray -- maybe because they're dollar tree crayons? Better directions for this here. Didn't take too long or make too much of a mess but for sure an adult activity. Can't wait to give them to Kirkley to color her valentine coloring book! They will require some extra supervision as they're on the small side.


Kirkley got her first valentine of the year from Sadie today. Here are the directions for this cute heart!. Looks darling hanging in the window above her little table!
Comment with your cute crafts!!! It's too cold to go out so I know you're doing something indoors! Need an idea? The Crafy Crow has more than you ever wanted! I love the Galimores' butterflies -- I'm such a sucker for handprints! And I got supplies for these similar to Sadie's heart even though they're really not age appropriate yet and better for next year, but I really want to try them! Might be a disaster -- we'll see!