Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is teacher appreciation week and as a former teacher I know how hard a teacher can work!  Last year was my first year as a mom of a student and I had fun putting together little gifts.  This year volunteered to decorate the teacher's door.  The theme was movies and Mrs. Mitchell's favorite movie is Star Wars.  My awesome brother Michael photoshopped her face onto Yoda's body.  I found this tutorial for the lightsaber and here are the Jedi Training certificates.

Madeline and Luke were my little helpers. 

Meet the Newest Member of the Family

This is Bob Blue Streak Dog.  All three kids named him. Can you guess who picked out each name?  Madeline: Bob, Wyatt: Blue Streak, and Luke: Dog.  They are so excited about their "pet".  Matt rolled his eyes, but the kids have enjoyed Bob so far. He has only lived here for 12 hours.  I gave the kids a little chat that if Bob dies we will get another one (he has a 14 day guarantee) and now Luke keeps walking up to the tank saying, "He is still alive" or "He's not dead yet".  Oops.  

The Many Faces of Madeline

Josh and Bre

My little brother went to his junior prom last week and my mom had an extra wrist corsage. My brother and sister look a lot alike.  Madeline attempted to wear it to church for fun, but it was a little too big for her small wrist.  

Obliging

Frustrated

Annoyed

Here is all three of them.  I love these kids.

New Toys!

I bought a few new cooking toys in an effort to make healthier choices for my family.

             

Flat Whisk:  

I needed a silicone whisk for my new cookware and I needed a flat one for gravy.  The Pioneer Woman uses hers all the time.  I could not find one at my usual shopping grounds so I purchased this here.

Apple Corer:  

I already have an apple corer and slicer, but I needed this one to make these goodies.

Norpro Ice Pop Makers:  

I first saw these on Lisa Leakes's blog and her review was enough for me to submit my order.  I love reusable products.  They are a lot bigger than you think too. I am so excited to try these out.

Wilton Mini Donut Pan:

 Special breakfast treats on the weekend would usually consist of either Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls or powdered mini donuts.  I decided that making donuts would be better than buying and I grabbed this pan today at Meijer for $4.99. Half off! I did a happy dance in the aisle.  Tomorrow morning we are going to try this recipe.

Happenings

This week Matt and I added new mulch to the yard. Last year we removed the faded, moldy, red mulch and replaced with black mulch.  This time we purchased the mulch by the cubic yard rather than bags from the local big box store and saved oodles of money and less work ripping the bags open! We removed two bushes and will replace them with... something. The next big outdoor project is painting all of the trim and the garage door. I want to stay as close to the original color so I will be browsing paint colors soon.  

My peas have sprouted! I am so excited! The weather has been so cool the past couple of weeks that it is taking longer for my seeds to sprout.

I may have mentioned earlier that I am taking two courses to renew my teaching license.  I am on the final assignment for the first course and I have given myself a deadline of April 30th.  I better get a move on.  After I complete this paper I have an entire course that I have to get finished in 6 weeks!!! So I have had to cut back on projects, but I have a couple in queue that I am so pumped up about!

Cooking with Whole Wheat

This past weekend I cooked several recipes from this book that I found at the library using whole wheat white flour to see how my family would adjust to change.

Source: 234.powertooldragon.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Friday afternoon we made popcorn on the stove top.  I followed the instructions on the popping corn bag and used coconut oil rather than the standard canola. I was amazed at how easy it was to pop and in just a few minutes we had fluffy popcorn.  We melted butter and added a little kosher salt and my kids agreed that this popcorn was better than microwave!  I was also surprised to find coconut oil at Meijer for only .20 an ounce and the King Arthur flour for less than than the Meijer brand.

Saturday morning I made the Blue Ribbon Pancakes and although they were not as fluffy as the Krusteaz pancakes my kids gobbled these up!  They melted in your mouth. I was too busy stuffing them in my mouth to take a picture!

We like cornbread and my usual go to is the blue box Jiffy.  I made mine following the recipe on the back of the corn meal bag and substituted 2/3 of the flour with whole wheat.  My family could not even tell the difference.  Bye, bye Jiffy.

Next on the menu was a chocolate cake and frosting for Matt's birthday... from scratch.  I have never made a cake without the help of Betty Crocker so I was a little nervous.  I used the Secret Agent Chocolate Cake and the Old-Fashioned Vanilla Frosting recipe.  We all agreed that the cake was good.  In my opinion better than boxed, but my husband thought that it was "dense".  

Sunday evening I made the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese.  This version of the classic uses whole wheat macaroni, shredded cheeses, and heavy cream.  My kids are used to the enriched white macaroni and half a package of Velveeta. This is one of Luke's favorite meals and when he tried the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese he said. "I do not like this. I want the yellow macaroni and cheese".  Matt laughed.  Madeline who tends to be pickier ate it up.  We thought that we would add a little more cheese and bake it next time as the cook book suggests for a crunchier version.  Matt definitely agreed that this had a lot of potential and that is encouraging because I knew that giving up Velveeta would be hard for some family members.

DIY Shoe Bench

The shoe bench is finished!  We used this Ana White plan and just moved the bottom shelf to the middle to accommodate more shoes.

Source: ana-white.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

This project only cost us $25 because we had some wood, the stain and poly on hand.  My husband modified the plans slightly. He added cleats for more stabilization and we used screws that we counter sunk rather than nails.  And when I say we, I mean "he".

 I printed off this cute print and placed it in a shadow box frame... I hope this is not too girly for the garage!

The garage is to my liking now and it is time to move on to other projects.  I would like to paint the laundry room next, but we also have several outdoor projects that we need to tackle so we will see who wins.