Month: February 2021

Purim 2021

Dear Sis,

We started our celebration yesterday. William took fruit filled pastries to school to share with his classmates and Carter’s family came over to have a festive dinner with us. 

I made five-bean soup, toss salad, warmed a loaf of challah I bought from a local international foods market, and roasted a chicken. Mama Jenn brought mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, and green beans. William made a simple and delicious Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie for dessert. 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie

b
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pre-made graham cracker crust
  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 2 T powdered sugar
  • 4 oz whipped topping, thawed
  • 1 (3.9) oz. pkg chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 3/4 c whole milk

Instructions
 

  • Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread into prepared crust.
  • Whisk together pudding mix and milk until smooth and thick. Spread over cream cheese layer. Chill a few hours to set.
  • Garnish with additional whipped topping and milk chocolate chips.

Our Purim Checklist

  • Read the story of Esther twice, The Queen Who Saved Her People by Tilda Baldly with noise makers.
  • Share a festive meal with friends and dress up.
  • Bake Hamantaschen and share them with Jewish friends.
  • Call and chat with Jewish friends. (Replaces going to temple during a pandemic)
  • Donate food to those in need. 

William got a new, larger rolling pin for Purim.

He also got a piggy bank and some change to put in it!

Charlotte, who is pig crazed, got a stuffed pig and a book:

Little Pig by L. Rigo

A Visitor

Our festive weekend happened to line up with William’s weekend with the class pet. A stuffed hedgehog, Quilly, was part of all our holiday happenings.

Love,

b

Newport Aquarium 2021

Dear Sis,

We’ve made a tradition of visiting the aquarium every February since moving to the Cincinnati area. This year Charlotte got to join the tradition for the first time:)

My favorites are the frogs and the garden eels! This year William really enjoyed the jellyfish and Charlotte liked the seahorses and any fish that was “yellow” (her favorite color).

Another wonderful family adventure!

Love,

b

Newport Aquarium 2020

Newport Aquarium 2019

Newport Aquarium 2018

Creamy Italian Chicken Pasta

Dear Sis,

Today we had a delicious dinner that tasted way better than the amount of work I put into it! It’s another from the Taste of Home Almost Homemade 2013 cookbook we found at the little free library some weeks ago. 

Creamy Italian Chicken Pasta

Print Recipe
Course Main Course
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 4 chicken breasts thin sliced
  • 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
  • 1/4 c water
  • 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese soft
  • 1 (10.75 oz) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms drained
  • 1 (9 oz) pkg refrigerated linguine cooked

Instructions
 

  • Place chicken in a slow cooker. Combine dressing mix and water. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 1.5 hours.
  • Whip together cream cheese and soup until smooth. Fold in mushrooms. Pour over chicken and cook another half hour.
  • Serve over fresh pasta.

Everyone enjoyed it! It’s always wonderful to add another recipe to my cookbook of family approved recipes:)

Love,

b

Sledding

Dear Sis,

Today we went to the sledding hill at Germantown, Metropark after nap time! William and Josh went last week, but this week Charlotte and I got to come along:)

William went down a half dozen times. Josh took Charlotte down twice. She really enjoyed it! William and I went down together as the last run of the evening. We hit a bump and William flew off the sled. I’m not very good at sledding anymore. It is not like riding a bike!

Love,

b

Beef Ramen for Grown-Ups

Dear Sis,

We all loved Ramen as kids! Its high time those greasy curly noodles grew-up too!!!

Grown-up Beef Ramen

Print Recipe
Course Main Course
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 2 (3 oz) pkg beef ramen
  • 1 lb beef top sirloin sliced
  • 1 T avocado oil
  • 1 T steak sauce
  • 2 carrots shredded
  • 2 T green onions sliced

Instructions
 

  • Set aside seasoning and cook pasta according to package instructions.
  • Fry steak in oil until browned.
  • Add seasoning, steak sauce, and vegetables and cook until soft.
  • Stir in pasta and serve.

Love,

b

Homemade Pizza Lunchables

Dear Sis,

This week we made homemade crackers to go with some freezer meal chili we prepared in the slow cooker. We had leftover crackers, after days of snacking, all that remained was about 8 crackers that had lost their crunch and their snackers’ interest. On a whim, I turned them into pizza crackers as a bedtime snack for William! He declared them to be just like Lunchable pizza, which he gets super excited about!!! 

I promised William we could made a batch of crackers this coming month that were the proper size, so he could enjoy Lunchable pizza until his heart’s content.

Love,

b

Valentine’s Day Book Club

Dear Sis,

Today we had a house full or kids!

Valentine’s Day Brunch

Chicken & Waffles with Butter & Syrup

Chocolate Chip Muffins & Fresh Strawberries

Raspberry Lemonade & Strawberry Milk

Book

I Love You, Stinky Face by: Lisa McCourt

Lacing Heart Plates

Preparation Instructions

  • Trace a heart onto a study paper plate.
  • Cut out the heart. I used a knife to get started and then I was able to get scissors in there to finish up.
  • Punch holes around the heat.
  • Precut lengths of yarn. Ours were about 2 feet long.

To begin, tie off a length of yarn on the back of the place, lace until the yarn is short, and tie off the other end. Continue as desired with additional strings. Trim knot ends when complete.

STEM Candy Structures

Cinnamon Hearts and Toothpicks

Valentine Pokey – Lyric Printable

Valentine’s Day Bingo

Compliments of a kit from Mama Jenn.

Painted Valentine Plaques

I found these craft kits at Dollar Tree back in January. 

Conversation Heart Relay

We made two groups of kids. Each group had to transfer a container of conversation hearts to a bowl across the room one spoonful at a time. Hearts that drop are left behind. You can determine the winning team, by whomever has the most hearts in the bowl or whomever is fastest. 

Valentine Exchange

We passed out brown paper bags and each of the kiddos gave each other valentines and goodies.

We had a wonderful time! Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day!

Love,

b

Entry Decor

Dear Sis,

During Clutter Free January, I added bins to our entry shelves to contain the hats, gloves, mittens, and cloth face masks that seems to be spilling over! I also replaced the gallon bag that was holding all our sunscreen and bug spray with a nice basket! I was feeling inspired to take the space to the next level with it’s very own decor. 

The watercolor from Miss Patty and the deer from Great Granda were already up there, but they needed something to tie them all together!

I found this sign at Hobby Lobby, I hoped would be perfect for the space.

 

Better Together Wood Wall Decor

It ended up being too big, not quite the right shade of green, and I wanted the words to be at the top instead of the bottom! I also liked the idea of saving a bit of money, so I decided to D.I.Y. exacting what I wanted for the space.

All this decorating is making our home more cozy! Funny it took three years to get started:)

Love,

b