High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Last weekend I made and delivered this fun beach themed birthday cake!

It was my first attempt at making palm trees!

2) On Saturday we went to a birthday party for Grant's best friend. He was so excited that he couldn't get to sleep Friday night, woke up early Saturday morning, and asked every hour if it was time to go to the party. The party was at a place that teaches circus-type aerial tricks and the kids had fun swinging and playing around. It's always so fun to watch Grant play with his friends!

3) Sunday, we went to the park for a walk and some playtime.

4) And I made Grant this fun mask:

5) My co-worker and, as she calls herself, "work mom" is retiring this week. We had a little celebration for her yesterday and I made her this cake:

6) Have you ever heard of a hot brown sandwich? Maybe I watch too much food TV but I've been wanting to try one forever. Last night for dinner I gave it a shot and holy crap was it good! I used THIS simplified version from Kraft. But I found a baked potato version online somewhere as well and I think I'll be giving that a try soon!

I actually can't stand tomato so I made a couple without it for me
but Husband and Grant enjoyed the tomato ones :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Friday was Grant's Valentine's Day party at school. He's been so excited about this! I was out of town for work Thurs-Sat but I couldn't wait to get him on the phone as soon as I could so I could hear all about his party. It sounds like he had a really good time!

Most of Grant's Valentine's (all but the ones for his teachers) had his name
on them already but he wrote all his classmates names on the envelopes.
And *braggy mom moment* he could read most of them off the
list. I was pretty impressed by this!

He really loved the Valentines he gave out!

These are the crayon hearts Grant gave to his classmates
(Also Tiny Prints - where the Valentines came from - put my craft on Twitter!) 

And these are the cupcakes I made for his party. I made kind of
a lot but I hear people got to bring some home so that's good!

2) Every year my co-worker, Janis, and I are out of town for Valentine's Day at the Cattlemen's Conference. We joke about spending that day together every year. This year was our last one together since Janis is retiring!

Me & Janis

As a side note: this was LUNCH :)

3) We actually only spent half of Valentine's Day together since the conference was over that day. I came home to some gorgeous flowers...and then we took Grant to Monster Jam! How's that for romance? Grant had a blast, it really was a great way to spend the evening!

My pretty roses

So excited for the show to start!

Imitating the El Diablo truck. We cracked up over this! He'd never seen
this one before and I think it was his favorite that night
(maybe more so than Grave Digger).

Gotta love the crashes!

4) We had a couple "snow days" this week. More like ice days. Daycare closed Tuesday & Wednesday so Grant & I had some fun. Back in November I bought a sled just to be prepared and I thought I had jinxed us! But even though there was no real snow, the yard was still slick enough that we could use the sled. Grant had so much fun! Day 2 wasn't as sled friendly so we did stuff around the house like some workbook stuff and learning games.

Snow day smiles!

My little half-Yankee loves the cold weather like his Mama :)

Wednesday evening we had some exciting snow flurries but they didn't last long.

5) I like to meal plan for the week and I'm always so excited when I stick to it. This week I was glad I did it early because I really don't enjoy the craziness of the grocery store when winter weather is coming. And tonight I shall be rewarded by not cooking! 

This very cheesy baked ziti was a hit the other night!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

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) Friday I got to wear a new scarf that I made!

2) Friday night Grant spent the night with his Gramma & Grandpa so Husband & I could go to the Hurricanes home opener. We were very excited! Then they lost. But we haven't had a date night in a while so it was nice to just spend some time together.

3) We practice a lot at home with Grant helping him learn to write. He's gotten so good at writing his first name (I can't believe it's not all over our walls yet because he loves to write it!). Now we're working on his full name and he's even more excited about that!

He was so proud of himself!

4) After consulting with a friend who told me how to make real chicken & dumplings, I tried it out on Sunday (since I had a chicken in my freezer). It turned out great! Seriously, I've been eating it for lunch all week. The best part of making it, though, was my helper. Grant begged to help me. So when it came time, he was the official adder of the dumplings (and stir-er...very important jobs). 

5) Our State Fair started this week. Which I sort of dread since I have to work out there. BUT this will be our last fair of the year. I am looking forward to taking Grant, though. As much as I don't enjoy it when I'm working out there, it's much more fun when we get to watch Grant enjoying himself!

Throwback to my first year working at the fair...back
when I still got excited about it!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

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) Friday night we got free tickets to take Grant to see Marvel Universe Live! We don't very often let Grant stay up (or out) that late but this was a can't-miss opportunity and we really didn't get home as late as I thought we would. It was a great start to our weekend!

2) Saturday afternoon we did some shopping for our upcoming vacation and ended up having a late dinner at our favorite mexican place. I spent a really great weekend with my two favorite guys!

3) Sunday morning I had planned to cook us a good breakfast and had a very willing volunteer. I've said time and again that I love having Grant help me in the kitchen and he loves it too. Sunday after I scrambled the eggs and poured them, he actually cooked them! He added the cheese and stirred the eggs in the pan until they were ready for me to plate them. When we sat down to eat I complemented him on how good the eggs were and thanked him for his help. He said "Mmm! You're welcome. They are tasty!"

4) My sister is once again participating in a one mile swim to benefit Hospice back home. She was asked to do a radio interview about her fundraising efforts! I thought it was pretty cool :) (If you want to help with her efforts you can go HERE!)

5) I was asked to make yet another farewell cake for work. I think the only cakes I've made lately are for people leaving our office!

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!