Valentine’s Day Parfait’s

It’s Valentine’s Day – so I wanted to share with you a quick little dessert that has become a tradition for the kids.

Growing up we would always have this as a big jelly salad at Christmas time with the bottom layer green Jello instead of the red. I know, jelly salads are a thing of the past, and with some of the recipes out there, for good reason 😉 but I love this one. A few tweaks & this version is quickly becoming a must have for us. Put into individual glasses, and everyone gets their own dessert to eat under candlelight.

Ingredients

3 Boxes of Jello 85g – Raspberry, Lemon & Strawberry

8 oz Cream Cheese softened

1 cup Boiling Water

1 cup Whipping Cream

To Make

~ Make the Raspberry Jello as per directions on the box

~ Pour into 8 individual parfait cups (about 1 cup size) & let set.

~ Once 1st layer is set, cream Lemon Jello & Cream Cheese together, then dissolve in boiling water.

~ Refrigerate until almost set.

~ Whip the whipping cream and fold into Lemon Jello mixture

~ Pour over first layer & let set.

~ Once 2nd layer is set, make the Strawberry Jello as per directions on the box

~ Pour over 2nd layer & let set.

~ Top with sweetened whipping cream.

And there you have it – an easy peasy dessert for your Valentine!

~

Happy Valentine’s Day y’all!

You’re Sweet Valentine

I am not a huge Valentine’s Day fan, not that I am cynical, I just think birthday’s and anniversaries are more important. However with the kidlets being in school, I decided this year I would make personalized valentines instead of buying the paper pre-boxed ones.

I brought out my trusty True Block full sheet Avery Laser Labels (I seriously would be lost without these in my life), bought 20 boxes of Sweet Notes at Walmart and got to work. I just made them for Miss Coco’s preschool class since the boys are getting to that age were handing out valentine’s is no longer cool 😉

What about you? Is Valentine’s Day a big thing for you, red roses, chocolate and the whole nine yards or….?

Halloween Treat

With Halloween tomorrow, I thought I would share a quick little treat bag that I put together for Chloé’s preschool friends.

I printed a full sheet of labels on Avery True Block White Mailing Sheets, with the intention of sticking them onto the bags, however once the goodies were in the bags, the label did not lay nice which bugged me 🙂 , so I ended up just stapling them on.

This little guy has also been keeping a close eye on us – particularly me when I am eating all the halloween treats!

Trick or Treat!

Simple Goodie Bags

Sometimes putting together goodie bags can be a challenge. Balancing something of quality without breaking the bank.

Here is an easy, simple option, big carnival lollipops with personalized tags.

Customize you tags with whatever information you want and print on heavy card stock.

So as not to confuse, these are re-creations. I did not take pictures when I first made these for the boys birthday, that is why this time there is a tag for each kid. Will have to put on the thinking cap for when Chloé actually turns 4!

Cut out the tags and hole punch.

Tie a ribbon and attach the tag.

And send every kid home with a sugar rush!

I bought these in a warehouse pack from HyLouie, and I have also seen them at Costco. Add some white card stock, a colour printer, ribbon in any colour and you are set!

Photo shoot Bloopers

Do you ever look at other peoples pictures and think, wow those kids sure cooperated!? And for maybe some of those pictures they did but you don’t usually see the hundreds of pictures behind that one or two cute pictures.

I decided this year that instead of just picking random pictures for our Christmas cards (yes I am already thinking Christmas!) I would get the kids dressed up and try for somewhat of a photo-shoot. I did have high hopes and yet the cynical side of me kept telling myself, “Heather don’t get your hopes up” After all it would mean tearing them away from the all important computer game that they just had to play, or the Lego that just had to be built now, and actually getting them to sit still, what a concept!

Off we headed down to our line of trees, with some vintage suitcases in tow and the kids all spiffy. I had a vision, and I had my invisible fingers crossed. “Please cooperate, I kept saying over and over in my head” The boys actually, surprisingly, got right into it. I think they understood, the quicker they got it over with, the quicker they could get back onto the trampoline! Little miss Coco, well, I think as they say a picture tells a 1000 words!

Thank goodness that the lighting and contrast in these pictures was not great. I would have been really disappointed if everything had come together, and Chloé had pulled that face!

She soon got a bit more into it, but I don’t think a picture with her tongue hanging out flies for a Christmas card :)….

…or some sort of horse play, tree bark picking!?

After it was all said and done, and about 150 shots later, I did end up with a handful of cute shots, so I really can’t complain. However the reality behind those few cute pictures, well I just had to share them with you all!

Good-bye Summer

And that is it, summer is over, wow it just flew by!  That being said it was a great summer.

We all ate way too much ice cream,

drank lots of pink lemonade. (it had to be pink!)

enjoyed the beautiful sun, (wow how lucky we have been here on the West Coast)

 celebrated a few birthdays,

 and even managed to grow some veggies!

Hope you all had a great summer, and now for a beautiful, crisp, sunny autumn!

Back to School with Love

Our little Chloé is heading into her 2nd year of preschool.

And while she loved last year for the first part of the year, after Christmas break, the novelty of being like her older brothers wore off, and going to preschool was a task. Actually she liked preschool, but did not like leaving me. Even gentle (and not so gentle) reminders from her brothers that she had better enjoy it now, as school only get’s harder, did not help. (when did they become so wise!?)

I was at a loss as how to let her know that, yes mommy was coming back to get her in a few short hours, and she was going to have fun. It just seemed that my constant reminder’s to her were not enough. Those big watery grey eye’s looking up at me…..

Fast forward a few months later, and I was mentioning how much Chloé does not like going to preschool to the receptionist at my dentist office. She told me how much her grand-daughter did not like going to school and how her daughter solved it by drawing a heart on each of their hands. That meant that mommy was always there with her. Well when it comes to making everyone’s life easier, I am all for it.

We tested this little experiment out for a week this summer while Chloé went to summer camp. It worked like a charm!!

At first Chloé decided that she wanted to have two hearts on her fingers, however they did not last too long. So we settled for one on each of our palms. I also drew another one on her tummy, as extra insurance. I knew that it would definitely not rub off of her tummy. The last thing I wanted was for her to realize halfway though that she had lost the heart on her hand!

We sailed through that test week with ease, as long as the hearts where in place. Do I think it will remain that easy? Well who really knows, but whatever works to show a bit of comfort, and make the chaotic “getting out the door” moments easier as we start a new school year.

Today we are heading off with a heart on her hand, leg and tummy – well covered with love!

So here’s to a good school year, back into routine…let the lunch making, bag packing and homework begin.

Batman vs Real Steel

The boys love Lego, as most boys do, so combine that with Jasper’s love of superhero’s and comics, Levi’s love of anything mechanical, and a good healthy dose of imagination and we have had quite the interesting array of Minifigs popping up this summer.

Jasper’s collection included – Batman & Robin (Lego Classics)

(Jasper Classics – from left to right) Blue Beetle, Atom, Plastic Man & The Question

Aquaman & The Green Arrow

Levi created these Real Steel Monsters

Levi’s collection –

And as if that was not enough we went to check out the new Lego store at Oakridge Centre today, whew what a Lego lover’s dream. I am not sure who had more fun, the kids, or the grandparents!

I can only imagine the array of creations we are going to have!

So let the creating continue…