A Day Full of Love

          Happy Valentine's Day...well a week or so late!  Hope you and your sweetie enjoyed the holiday as much as we did.  We kicked off our day of love with these yummy Heart Pancakes, Heart Strawberries, and Conversation Hearts for breakfast!

Here is Liam's Valentine's Day Gift

He was excited to open it!

Loved his Sponge Bob card too!

Kinley was excited watching Liam open his gifts!

Kinley had some of her own (I ate the chocolate though)

Kinley like all her gifts too

I love her little fox card

After everyone got dressed, I set up an impromptu 

photo shoot of My Little Valentines

I made Liam a fun heart filled lunch too!

While Kinley was napping, Liam and I colored his window clings

And he stuck them on!

LOVE the foxes!

What big lips you have Kinley!

The better to kiss you with momma!

When the hubby got home, he presented me with these beautiful pink roses!

We dined on some Surf & Turf for dinner with a 

Spinach Asparagus Salad, and 

Heart Shaped Roasted Potatoes.

For dessert we enjoyed Raspberry Clafoutis

...and some chocolates!

It was another great Valentine's Day!

February 13th

     Since Liam didn't have school on Valentine's Day, his class celebrated a day earlier on the 13th. Here's his lunch I made for him

They also had a little Valentine's party, I brought some Heart shaped Strawberries

And some Strawberry Lovecakes

Before bed, we read this book The Night Before Valentine's Day

It was a great pre-Valentine's day!

Raspberry Clafoutis

Recipe from Delish

What you need:

1/2 cup all purpose flour (sifted)

1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp sugar

salt

2 large eggs (room temperature)

3 TBsp unsalted butter (melted)

zest of one lemon (finely grated)

1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 pint (3 cups) raspberries

confectioner's sugar (for dusting)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Butter a 9-inch gratin/baking dish.

Sift together the flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Whisk in the eggs, butter, and lemon zest until smooth.

Add the milk and whisk until light and very smooth, about 3 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and top with the raspberries. (I shaped mine into a heart)

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the calfoutis is set and golden.

Let cool slightly, then dust with confectioner's sugar.

Cut into wedges and serve, ENJOY!

Strawberry Lovecakes

Recipe from Kara's Party Ideas

What you need:
Cupcakes- 2 Tbsp strawberry jam (seedless) 1/4 cup fresh strawberries (chopped) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (sifted) 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/4 tsp baking powered 3/4 cup sugar 3 egg whites (room temperature) 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened) 4 drops pink food coloring 1/3 cup milk
Frosting- 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam red food coloring 3 cups powdered sugar (sifted) 1 cup unsalted butter (softened) 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 Tbsp whipping cream

How to make them:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pan with liners. In a small bowl, mix strawberry jam and chopped strawberries. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a third bowl of an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter together until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg whites, vanilla and food coloring, then beat until well incorporated. Add flour mixture and milk, beat on low speed until mixed. Fold in strawberry mixture. Fill cupcake liners in cupcake pan 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean or 10-15 minutes for mini cupcakes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 3 minutes then remove them onto a cooling rack and let cool completely. Meanwhile, in another bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the powdered sugar and butter until well incorporated, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and whipping cream, beat on medium speed for about 1 minutes. Mix in 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam and 6 drops of red or pink food coloring. Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Garnish with sprinkles, strawberries, or Conversation Hearts, then ENJOY!

Croque Monsieurs

Recipe from Simply Scratch

What you need:

2 TBsp unsalted butter 

2 TBsp fluor

1 1/2 cups milk

1/8 tsp nutmeg

salt & pepper to tast

1 1/4 cups Gruyere cheese (grated & divided)

4 rolls

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

16 deli ham (thinly sliced)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

In a small pot, melt butter over medium heat.

Stir in flour until paste forms.

Cook 1 minute, then whisk in milk.

Continure stirring unti sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.

Stir in salt, pepper, nutmeg, and 1 cup of the Gruyere cheese, set aside.

Slice rolls in half and spread Dijon mustard over each half.

Place into baking dish.

Top each roll with 2 slices of deli ham.

Pour cheese sauce over top of ham, then sprinkle with remaining Gruyere cheese.

Bake 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Serve warm and ENJOY!

My Little Valentine's

     So yesterday was Valentine's Day so I set up an impromptu photo session of the kiddos and the LOVE Yarn Letters I made..then edited a few on PicMonkey.  They've got some really cute holiday themes.

Hope you and your Valentine had a wonderful holiday.
Happy Valentine's Day!

February Crafternoon

     This month was my turn to host our Crafternoon, so I picked creating some Yarn Letters.  I've seen them on Pinterest and thought we could give them a try.  I bought the letters for the ladies and they brought their favorite yarn.  It was an easy craft, just took some time to complete.  Also, this month happens to be our Crafternoon anniversary, so for the ladies I made each of them a little gift to celebrate.  I found some cute Valentine's boxes at Target then put a pair of cute Valentine's socks and one of the Lightbulb Gifts I made for Liam's teachers inside.  Something cute and simple to say Happy Crafternoon Anniversary!

The ladies getting their fondue on!

With it being February, I wanted to make something fun and festive to enjoy eating.

So I made some yummy Cheesy Fondue to go with fresh veggies Elizabeth brought.

And a pot of Dark Chocolatey Fondue to go with the sweet fruit Jennie brought.

Marisa brought some awesome homemade pound cake

 and some tasty sourdough bread for us to dip too!

After some snacking, it was time to get their craft on!

I made these awesome cocktails called Kinky Bubbles.

Everybody wrapping and wrapping and wrapping their paper mache letters.

Elizabeth expressing her LOVE.

And Marisa sharing a HUG!

Another fun craft with my ladies. Can't wait to see what we create next month at Elizabeth's house!

I LOVE Yarn Letters

     I've seen these adorable yarn letters on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try myself.  So I went to Hobby Lobby to get my supplies.

What you need:

Paper Mache letters

yarn

tape

How to make them:

     Tape one end of the yarn to the back side of one of the letters.

Then start wrapping the yarn around the letter, keeping it tight and close to the each strand.

Continue doing until the entire letter is wrapped.

Around the corners, it gets a little tough, so just cut the yarn tape it to the letter, then start a new strand by taping it on the letter and start wrapping the letter again.

Here's how mine turned out!