We didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day until Saturday night. Last week we were crazy busy preparing for a Dinner Theatre at church. I was in charge of the decorating. Try decorating a dinner for 124 on a very limited budget. This is what I came up with.

It really was beautiful with all the lights off and all of the candles lighting up the room. The cookies on the table. . .they are the sugar cookies that I posted last week on The Girl Creative site.

So, we decided on Saturday night to go out for supper and then come home for dessert. I wasn’t sure what I was going to make that everyone would enjoy so I made two things.

For my hubby I made miniature cheesecakes. Nothing fancy here, just out of the box with a little caramel and chocolate drizzled on top.

For the girls, a giant chocolate chip cookie. It was really yummy, despite the fact that I almost caused a fire in my oven. The recipe said to put it in a 14″ Pizza pan. I put mine in a 12″ pizza pan which resulted in it overflowing onto the bottom of my oven. Oh well, I added a little frosting to make it pretty and everyone loved it.

I have been looking for something that I could do with my middle daughter that would be something that just her and I could do together. One of the things that she loves to do is read and be read to. One of my friends with four girls told me that they are on their third round of reading the Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder to their daughters.

Living in South Dakota, one of the locations of the books, I thought that this series would be perfect for us. I picked up a box set of the first five books.

She was excited when I showed them to her. She said they are actually reading the first book in school. She didn’t care and couldn’t wait to start the first book at home, too.

We try to read one chapter a night. Sometimes her dad puts her to bed and they read a different book. The Little House books are a special time for her and me.

This summer we will try to get to DeSmet, South Dakota and visit the Ingalls Homestead. I am excited about this journey we can take together through the books and in real life.

I may have to find the TV show and DVR it so we can watch a few episodes together. I remember watching them when I was a little girl.

Are there any books that are really special to you and your kids?

My oldest daughter had to make a homemade Valentine’s box for her school party this year. I remember the days that I made my boxes. I always had grand ideas, but I never quite pulled them off. This girl, doesn’t settle for anything less than the best.

I gave her some ideas and she decided that she wanted to do a treasure chest. . .well that lasted until she saw some of the other boxes come to school. Then she decided that she needed to go a little more elaborate. My suggestion to her was the Love Boat.

I sent her to the garage to find four boxes. I went to the store for a lot of tin foil. Luckily I have a lot of paper around here for one of these days when I am going to find time to scrapbook. . .

We shaped the bottom box to form a ship shape. she figured out a way to reinforce the inside of the box with cardboard pieces and duct tape. We wrapped all of the boxes in tin foil.

We added some windows and waves. The back of the box even opens up for her unloading zone. There is a opening at the top for her valentines.

This was a super fun project that her and I were able to work on together. Her sisters were jealous, but they will have to wait until they are in third grade to tackle this project.

Mission accomplished, I think it was a success.

Back of the Boat:

Front of the Boat:

The S.S. Taylor:

Resourceful Mommy is kicking off a new campaign titled 30 Days of Change. Her first challenge is all about Parenting. I decided that this is a perfect campaign topic for this blog.

Each day she will post a challenge for the next day. In her words, “The purpose is to create a happier, less stressful relationship with our children, so to participate simply choose a person in your life with whom you would like an easier repoire.”

Her first challenge is this:

Throughout the entire day tomorrow, say the word “no” to your children as infrequently as possible.

My little one is home with me all day tomorrow so this will be an interesting challenge for me. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

I am taking the time this morning to get back to my meal planning. I bought a new cookbook yesterday that I planned a majority of my week by. The Cooking Light – the essential dinner tonight cookbook. There are amazing recipes in this book and every recipe has a picture. That is my kind of cookbook. The rest of the week is from The Sneaky Chef  to the rescue cookbook. This will be the first time I try a few recipes from this book, too.

Monday: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday: Pork Medallions with Olive Caper Sauce

Wednesday: Honey Battered Popcorn Shrimp &

Pasta with Better Butter Sauce

Thursday: Oven Fried Chicken

Friday: Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers

(I have posted this recipe before. It is so good. I even got my husband to eat the peppers!)

Click on any of the recipes for a link to the recipe online. Enjoy!

I am linking up with OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday

Nadia decided yesterday that we needed to celebrate her birthday. We didn’t ever celebrate her birthday at home. Taylor was in the hospital so we just celebrated with her there. And then with the craziness of Christmas that followed, she didn’t have a friend birthday either.

So we made a little cake and let her have her moment last night. Yes, she is in her pjs at the supper table. Her middle sister was sick and in her pjs all day so she decided that she needed to stay in pjs, too.

Blowing out her candle.

She thought it was funny to have Daddy wear her Birthday Girl Hat.

I am joining Seven Clown Circus for Wordful Wednesday.

One of my girlfriends recently had her first baby. I was involved in planning her shower. She really didn’t want cake at her shower, so I decided I needed to figure out how to make a diaper cake.

I found great instructions on how to make the cake, here. These instructions use a bottle of wine (I used Champagne) as the center element.. You also cover all of the diapers with tissue paper and ribbon instead of leaving them plain. I really like this look, it really finishes off the cake.

Diapers are not cheap so this makes a great decoration and gift, too.

I am glad that I had really read the instructions closely because the day I needed to make the cake I couldn’t get the site to open on my computer. I wish I would have taken pictures as I made it, but I forgot. I will make sure that I do the next time I make one. It took me quite awhile to make the first one, but I think the next one will go a little faster.

I used the extra diapers to make a couple of one tier cakes.

To finish off the decorations I made a blue and brown banner. I try to make the banners really cute because I have found that the moms like to hang them in the nursery after the shower.

I am joining in the fun over at The Girl Creative today for Just Something I Whipped Up. I can’t wait to see what everyone has for Show and Tell today!