High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week. 

1) After surviving my first Fair of the year (with my sanity mostly intact), I got to enjoy my first day off in over two weeks. We really made the most of this weekend and had so much fun! Saturday I fixed us some really yummy ham & cheese omelets for breakfast and then enjoyed some coffee and games with Grant. Later on we took him to his first movie -Planes Fire & Rescue (finally able to convince him that movie theaters are not horrible scary places filled with evil). Now, he can't wait to go again! Had to run to Target after that so Grant & I had some fun embarrassing Husband in the Halloween section and since we were all still full from our movie food...we had ice cream for dinner :)

Yummy cup of Green Mountain coffee and some Busy Busy Airport

Waiting patiently for our cheese fries at Raleighwood Cinema & Grill
(I think this was a really neat place for his first movie!)

Enjoying Target's new Halloween items!

2) Sunday was a little more relaxing. We had an early lunch with my Mother-in-law to celebrate her birthday. Later I took Grant out for a bike ride (I was walking and he left me in his dust!) followed by some good ol' sandbox play. And we made some fun marshmallow treats for Grant and his classmates the next day.

It was such a gorgeous day!

Mama's kitchen helper!

3) Since I work downtown next to the Science Museum, I see a lot of what goes on there. This past weekend was Bugfest, which we didn't go to, but they always do a sand sculpture for it and I always look forward to seeing what it is. Monday on my way into the office I got to check out this year's sculpture.

4) I made some really yummy baked potato soup to celebrate the arrival of Fall :) 
{recipe here}

5) I surprised my little Ninja Turtle lover with a fun hoodie I thought he might like. With it being a little chilly this week, he's been able to wear it every day and couldn't be happier about it!

This was taken when he first tried it on. I promise he
does wear pants when he leaves the house.

6) After about a month of no desire to exercise from my crazy schedule, I'm going to try to get back into some running and walking. It sure felt great out there this week!

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Happy 4th of July! Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Friday night for dinner I made chicken gyros for dinner with a homemade version of that yummy cucumber dressing stuff. It was a really yummy summery type meal and we had some great corn on the cob with it. Gotta love a meal that pleases all of us! (I used the recipe in THIS POST for the tzatziki sauce)

2) On Saturday we went to a birthday party at a place called Jumpin' Jax for one of Grant's school chums. He had such great time and it was so fun to see playing with so many of his friends from school.

If there is an inflatable slide around, Grant will find it.

Winning tickets on the basketball game!

3) Saturday night, Grant spent the night with his Gramma & Grandpa. So Husband and I went out to dinner, ate too much, went home and rented Monuments Men (and then caught up on NCIS that we've had recorded for months). We're real party animals, huh? 

4) After checking it out several times on Pinterest, I bought stuff to try out ice cream in a baggie. Grant has only recently become an ice cream eater but I thought he'd have fun shaking the bag at the very least. I followed THIS RECIPE but used a quart size bag and doubled the recipe (since I had planned on the three of us digging into it). I couldn't believe it actually worked! Grant was excited about the whole process (especially the eating) and it was really yummy ice cream! We decided to just eat it out of the bag instead of being polite with a bowl and what-not. This weekend we may give chocolate a try!

5) For a couple years now I've been on a hunt for a Derek Jeter jersey that wasn't too expensive (I'm cheap about stuff like this). We don't go to too many baseball games but I thought it would be fun to wear when we go, especially now that Grant has a Yankees jersey. With Jeter retiring this year, I know I won't get to see him play in a game but I still wanted one of his jerseys. Wednesday evening when I got home, there was a box on the table and inside was........a Jeter jersey! Husband surprised me :)

I can't wait to go to a baseball game with it! 

Happy Friday!

Happy 4th of July!!
Have a great weekend!

New Recipe: Jell-O Marshmallows (Halloween Version!)

I came across this recipe shortly before the 4th of July, thought it looked easy and decided to give it a try for our cookout. My chocolate-hating-marshmallow-loving sister gave them two thumbs up. My marshmallow-hating husband couldn't keep his hands off them. And the two kids (Grant being one of them) at the cookout kept asking for more. I'd say they were a hit. Bonus: they're really easy.

Except for some water and toothpicks or sticks, those are your ingredients!

Stick your sticks (or toothpicks) into your marshmallows

 Get a little assembly line set up (the marshmallows are
easiest to coat when using a plate for the Jell-O powder)

 Dip your marshmallow in water and then shake off the
excess water (or blot it on a paper towel).



And then roll your damp marshmallow around in the Jell-O powder
and make sure the bottom and sides are completely coated.



Then you put them on a plate and let them set in the fridge
for about an hour. They for a tangy crust because of the
 Jell-O powder that goes nicely with the squishy marshmallow.

Jell-O Marshmallows

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of jumbo marshmallows
• 1-2 boxes of Jell-O (whatever flavors you want!)
• Toothpicks (or lollipop sticks)

Directions:

1. Put toothpicks (or sticks) in all your marshmallows. Make sure to push them all the way down so they'll stay in while you dip. Then arrange them on a large plate or tray.
2. In a bowl of water (deep enough to cover your marshmallow when dipping) dip your marshmallow all the way in. Lightly blot the excess water from your marshmallow then roll the marshmallow in the Jell-O powder.
3. Then put them back on the plate and once they're all coated put them in the fridge for about an hour to get nice and crusty :)
4. Eat 'um!

Recipe Source: The Country Cook

Notes/Suggestions:

• When I made this recipe the first time (using blue & red Jell-O for the 4th) I used toothpicks because there were going to be lots of adults around to help the kids. This Halloween batch was for day care so I thought it might be easier for the teachers if I used lollipop sticks instead.
• I love how adaptable this recipe is to any party theme! And it's such a fun and easy treat.
• Just in case you're curious, this is how the 4th of July version turned out:

 Enjoy!