Rainbow Oatmeal for St. Patrick's Day

Two out of three of my boys love oatmeal...the other takes a little bit of coaxing and he will normally eat about half a bowl. But when I put this bowl of rainbow oatmeal in front of him it took way less convincing to get to him to eat his oatmeal! St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday, and I've made quite a few different rainbow treats to celebrate over the years. But this year St. Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday which means we will be short on time to make fun treats since we will be running around trying to get to church on time. I decided to make some healthy oatmeal and add a little bit of a St. Patty's Day twist with a couple shakes from my sprinkle stash:)

Raid your sprinkle stash {or buy a couple bottles of sprinkles in all the colors of the rainbow}!

 Fix up your kiddos' favorite oatmeal and then simply add the sprinkles on in the shape of rainbow.

They turned out so pretty, and once your kiddos mix the sprinkles into their warm oatmeal, their whole bowl will be colorful!

 Our fun rainbow oatmeal even got this oatmeal non-lover to smile!

Treat Round Up for Dr Seuss' Birthday

Dr. Seuss' birthday is tomorrow. I'm not sure if it's because my boys are getting older or because March 2 happens to fall on a Saturday this year, but either way I ALMOST forgot about one of my favorite school celebrations. Luckily I didn't forget and I had time to whip up a few treats for Grant's class {I guess 3rd grade is too old for Dr. Seuss because I don't think Henry's class is doing anything} and time to make a fun lunch for the boys today. Nothing new happening around here this year, but I did put together this round up of a couple of my past Dr. Seuss treats just in case anyone is looking for a fun way to celebrate tomorrow.
Enjoy! 

RED FISH BLUE FISH JELLO JIGGLERS

GREEN EGGS AND HAM CANDY TREAT

DR. SEUSS LUNCH IDEA

CAT IN THE HAT HOT DOGS

MARSHMALLOW AND CANDY MELT GREEN EGGS

In Celebration of Mardi Gras...

{This a re-post from last year.}

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Mardi Gras is a fun holiday for us. I know that it's not as big of a deal in other parts of the U.S., but we are right in the middle of  Mardi Gras country! To our east is Mobile, the official birthplace of Mardi Gras, and  to our west is New Orleans, the place best known for it {sometimes} wild Mardi Gras ways! It is such a big holiday were we live, that the kids get three days out of school for it!

We usually celebrate by going to a local {very family friendly} parade. The boys love all the decorated floats, catching beads, listening to the marching bands, and eating yummy Mardi Gras snacks. Besides the traditional King Cake {which must be from the fabulous Paul's Pastry Shop} that we eat every year around Mardi Gras, we also LOVE a Moon Pie. These sweet treats are so yummy, and they are even better if you catch them at a parade! Unfortunately we missed our usual parade because of storms that came through on Saturday...so no parade caught Moon Pies for us! I decided making some homemade ones would be a fun replacement, and I'm sharing the step by step for those of you who can't get your hands on a store bought Moon Pie!

 Start with some really easy ingredients: graham crackers, marshmallow creme, and chocolate. 

 There technically isn't any cooking in this recipe...just melting and assembling:)

Start by using a small round cookie cutter {mine was 2 inches in diameter} to cut your graham crackers into circle. Each cracker should make two rounds.

 Put a good dollop of marshmallow creme on one graham cracker round and then sandwich it together with another cracker. This is easiest to do if you put the marshmallow creme into a ziploc bag and then squeeze it out onto the crackers! Place them in the freezer to chill while you melt the chocolate.

 Toss the graham cracker sandwiches into the melted chocolate and use a fork to turn and coat them. Lift them out of the chocolate and tap off any excess chocolate then place them on foil to harden.

 These aren't exactly the same as a traditional Moon Pie. The crackers are a little bit crunchier, and the chocolate isn't quite the same but they are a pretty close match without a whole lot of effort...and they taste really yummy!

How do you celebrate Mardi Gras?!?

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Eleven Fun and Easy Valentine Ideas

For some reason Valentine's Day crafting and creating has been difficult for me this year! I'm not sure if it's because I used up all my creativity over the last few years, or if Pinterest has made me feel way less creative than I thought I was. Either way, the new Valentine ideas have just not been flowing much this year. So I thought  it might be fun to recap a few of my past Valentine's Day ideas in one big Valentine Round Up post!  They are all really cute and really easy to do...which is perfect for all us busy moms who really don't have to make all of those amazing Pinterest level crafts!

Number 1: Kaleidoscope Valentines

Number 2: Valentine Chalkboard Candy Boxes

Number 3: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffles

Number 4: Valentine Hula Hoop Wreath

Number 5: Tootsie Roll Bank Valentine

Number 6: Love Note in a Pancake

Number 7: See Through Valentines

Number 8: Play-Doh Valentines with Printable

Number 9: I Love You More Than Chocolate Marshmallow Hearts

Number 10: Valentine Mailbox Magnets

Number 11: Ruffled Valentine Dishtowels

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Valentine Treat on a Stick!

Anytime you put a treat on a stick, it is just so much more fun {We've all experience the cake pop phenomenon}! So when I saw these yummy red velvet {Twinkie-like} cakes at the store a few days ago, I knew that I just had to put them on a stick! And my theory was right! They were cute in the package but they are so much cuter on the stick...and the sprinkles are helping a little too:)

I started with a couple of packs of Red Velvet Bingles, white chocolate candy coating, sprinkles, and lollipop sticks.

 I started by melting my chocolate in a tall microwave safe glass. I have found that the tall glass makes it a lot easier to cover the whole cake. Just microwave based on the instructions on your package. I also thinned my  candy coating a little with a small spoonful of shortening. Just make sure to follow the directions on your particular package because not all candy coatings can be thinned this way.

Dip one end of your lollipop stick into the candy coating and then insert into the end of your cake. Place them in the freezer to harden up a little so the sticks don't slip out when you are dipping them. 

After about 20 minutes in the freezer you are ready to dip. 

 Make sure to cover the entire cake with the candy coating. Use a spoon to scoop up the coating and cover the end if needed.

 Place the cakes on a sheet of parchment paper and shake on some sprinkles while the candy coating is still wet.

 These little treats on a stick are SUPER cute from the outside, but they are even cuter on the inside!

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100th Day of School Cake: Step by Step

My kiddos have been in school for 100 days! And Grant's school is having a whole day to celebrate, including a short party where parents get to come and celebrate 100 days with them. I made this exact same cake last year for Grant's class, and I'm making it again this year...because when something is this cute you just don't change it up:) Last year when I made the cake, I didn't take the time to do a step by step tutorial mostly because I wasn't sure how it would turn out...so this time I tried to get a couple pictures of the process so I could walk you through how to make this cute 100th Day of School Cake!

First gather your supplies. You will need two cake mixes, two cans of icing, two bags of M&M's, two round cake pans, and one rectangular cake pan.

Mix up the cake mixes according to the directions. Split one of the cake mixes evenly between the two round cake pans, and put the all of the other cake mix into the rectangular pan. Make sure to spray the pans liberally with cooking spray so they don't stick! Bake and cool slightly.

Use a circle cookie cutter to cut the center out of both of the round cakes. To cut the rectangular cake to shape, I just lined it up next to the round cakes and made it look as close to a one as possible {sorry I forgot to get a picture of that}. After all three cakes are cut, place them in the freezer for at least an hour. The cut edges are hard to ice, and freezing them makes it so much easier.

Take the cakes out of the freezer and crumb coat them with a thin layer of icing. I do this mostly because all those cut edges make lots and lots of crumbs, and I am terrible at icing cakes...and I can't stand crumbs in the icing!

Stick the cakes back in the freezer for about an hour so that the crumb coat of icing can set. Then get busy covering the whole cake with a lovely layer of icing.

Now it's time for the decorating! I poured my M&M's into a bowl to make it easier to find the colors that I needed. I put the M&M's around the top and bottom edge of all three cakes.

I followed a pattern with my M&M's, but you can just put them on randomly...or let the kids help by putting them on. I let my OCD take over a little bit and I put them on in order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown.And yes I know that brown isn't in the rainbow, but I let it take the place of purple since there aren't purple M&M's.

When it's all decorated with those pretty M&M's you don't really notice the imperfect icing or the wonky number one! And the kiddos for sure won't notice that everything isn't perfect, so have fun with it and make a cute cake to celebrate 100 days of school with your kiddos this year!

Super Easy 100th Day of School Snack

My boys' 100th day of school is tomorrow! Seriously how has it already been 100 days. It seems like we were just taking our 1st day of school pictures! Anyway, last year I made THIS super cute 100th Day of School Cake for Grant's class...and I'm actually making it for his class again this year. So I kind of started feeling bad that I'm making something for Grant's class two years in a row and I hadn't made anything for Henry's class. So even though Henry's school doesn't do a big party like Grant's {I guess 2nd grade is the cutoff for really celebrating 100 days}, I decided I still wanted to send a fun treat with him to school tomorrow.

I stopped by the store on the way home from dropping Eli off at preschool, and I browsed up and down the aisles looking for inspiration. I knew donuts would be perfect for the zeros, but I wasn't quite sure what to do about the ones...and then I saw Swiss Rolls on sale! I got home and got busy making these SUPER Easy 100th Day of School Snack...and it literally took me less than 30 minutes to put together enough for Henry's whole class!

I started with chocolate covered donuts, Swiss Rolls, and wooden skewers that I cut in half. You need half a Swiss Roll for every two donuts to make one 100. So to make 24 100's you will need two boxes of the chocolate covered donuts and one box of Swiss Rolls.

Start by cutting you Swiss Rolls in half...

...then lay out two donuts beside the cut Swiss Rolls to make a 100.

Starting with the donuts first {because they are a little more firm and won't squish}, slide all three pieces onto the skewer.

Repeat as many times as kids in the class, and then load them up on a cute platter.

I think these snacks turned out SUPER cute and the best part is how easy they were to make!

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