Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Today is my dear sweet husband's 31st birthday. We have now been together almost 9 years! And boy a lot has happened in those 9 years. I'll go into more detail in a later post. He is the most amazing guy I could have ever met! He never wants a fuss to be made over him, but he deserves it more than anyone. He works hard to provide for his family, he a is very loving and caring father, an amazing husband, and terrific friend and brother. The kids and I have tried to make this birthday special. We got him things that we knew he would love. We picked out a compost bin, a garden hoe, strawberry plants, and a new shirt to wear for work. Every year I try to make him an amazing cake. Last year was a Ms. Pac-man cake, and this year was a Giant Hostess Cupcake. I saw this one while browsing through photos online last year and have saved it for him since. It's from a site called baking bites. This is an amazing site, with tons of great ideas. I won't post the step by step or the recipe because they do such an fantastic job. But I will post images of my own cake!

Complete with the cream filling

The birthday boy after working in his garden all day, enjoying his birthday cake.

Happy Birthday honey, I hope it was all that you hoped it would be and more!!!!

Healthy Eating

This is something that has bothered me for a long time now. People seem to think that since we are a lower income family, then we must be ignorant when it comes to healthy eating. Well, we aren't! I have taken women's health classes in college (yes, I have a college degree and we are still "poor"!), I read books, magazines, and online articles all the time, and because both kids are enrolled in WIC we have mandatory health classes. I feel that I am pretty much up to speed on what my family needs to eat. I also cook every single day. I rarely get a day off, whether that be Adam takes on the cooking, we go to someone else's house for dinner, or friends and family take us out to eat. Let's face it, that just doesn't happen often.

Am I a bad mom because I feed my family the occasional can of vegetables that we were given for free from the food pantry? Not if the choice is no veggies versus canned veggies. Canned veggies will win every time. Yes, I prefer fresh or frozen veggies. Can we always afford them, or do we get them from the food pantry? No. And yes, some of you have a problem with the food that the food pantry gives out. Well then donate the food you would like to see handed out, or contact your local food bank and found out how you can help!

We rarely eat organic. We have a very small budget when it comes to food for the family, and unless the organic stuff is on sale crazy cheap or it's on the clearance rack because the box is damaged, then we can't afford it. How well would you do on $100 every 2 weeks to feed a family of 4, and that includes toilet paper, bathroom goods, and other random things around the house. At least now that the kids are potty trained, the money set aside for diapers can go toward food items. I shop where I can, I meal plan around the things I have in the house and what is on sale, I cut coupons, and yes, get things at the dollar store. We have WIC and get food from a local food pantry. We have also planted a garden so that we can have fresh veggies this summer out of our own backyard.

I do whatever I can to make sure that my family eats healthy and gets plenty of exercise, but sometimes things don't work out to the ideal. So we deal with it. I just hope that the next time someone starts to judge me about the food I give my family, you will keep your comments to yourself. Thanks!

Marble Painting

Once again, a project I have seen in other places, but most recently while I was surfing Muffin Tin Mom, I found this project. Daddy went to spend time with a friend so the kids and I got to painting.

Supplies:
plastic cups
spoons
marbles
paper
washable paint
a shallow dish

I put the marbles in a cup, added a nice dollop of paint to each cup, stirred the marbles in the paint with the spoon. I put the paper in the shallow dish (we used a lid to a cardboard box and a roasting pan), and then spooned the paint covered marble onto the paper. Then let the kids wiggle the dish around to move the marbles around. The kids had fun. We set this up on the kitchen floor to make clean up a snap. (We headed outside originally, but it started to drizzle)
D did loose her marbles a few times, she got kind of crazy with the wiggles. But over all a great indoor project!

The kids then gave their dried paintings to Auntie Beth for her birthday later that day. They were very proud to show off their creations.

Tissue paper Sun catchers

I have seen this in a few places, but most recently was at the blog called Muffin Tin Mom. This blog rocks!!! She has so many great craft and lunch ideas. It truly is my newest obsession! We made tissue paper sun catchers. Here is the link to MTM's!



Supplies:
Tissue paper (We cut up all the tissue paper that come in gift bags throughout the year.)
contact paper
hole puncher
yarn


Cut a sheet of contact paper and lay it on the table. Let the kids put as much tissue paper as their little hearts desire. Lay another sheet of contact paper on top, and cut out whatever shape you wish. Both of my kids wanted circles. I then punched a hole in the top, looped some yarn through, and hung them in the windows. Each kid made 2 a piece and we now have them hanging in the living room windows and one of the windows in their shared bedroom. They can't wait to show Daddy when he gets home!

Cakes, cakes, and more cakes!

I have been lucky enough to have many friends that ask me to make cakes for their kid's birthday's lately. Just one more way I have been keeping super busy! But I love it! And I'm getting better also. I plan on taking cake decorating classes this summer, so next year watch out!

This one was for an 11 year old girl. The design is all my own. I did go back and add extra Twizzlers to the top to connect it all and make it look really nice.

This is my Grandma's bunny cake pan. She gave it to me when I was in middle school, and every year I have been making a rice Krispie bunny. Well this year I was brave. Turned out alright.

This is one for a 3 year old boy. We found it on the Family Fun website. This is the cake that started off this latest run of cakes. I had a blast making it and there was not a piece left!

My mom's group had a rainbow day, so I made these fun cupcakes. I have made the cake like this, but was reminded of it in a recent issue of Family fun magazine. The only thing different was that I used packets of unsweetened Kool-Aid to flavor and color the layers. I figured the kids would love a fruity tasting and colorful cupcake. Well I was wrong. Oh well!

This robot cake was also for a 3 year old boy, and boy did he love it! His mom found this on the Betty Crocker website. It was super easy to make, and the kids had a good time eating candy with cake!

And last but not least, this was my latest cake. I did it just this last weekend, for yet again, another 3 year old boy. I had fun thinking up this cake. It is actually 2 9x13" cakes put together. I was lucky and found the football players and goal posts at a fun little cake decorating store that is local.