Are you planning a family trip to the Magic Kingdom this year? Well then you’ll love this Disneyland Vacation Countdown Chain tutorial and free download that I created to make the time counting down to your vacation full of magic at home! These magical countdown chains include special activities that you can do before your vacation to help the time fly by. You can make one for your whole family, or one for each child – there’s a Mickey version and a Minnie version, just for fun.
Archives for January 2014
Family Valentine’s Day Tradition … FREE Valentine Printable
I don’t want my children to ever grow up feeling that Valentine’s Day is only awesome if you have a “lover.” I want them to always look forward to it. Which is why we call it “Family Love Day” in our family. It’s a day for showing each other love. It’s a day for having fun as a family. This can be done in a variety of ways: A fun breakfast in bed (or just a fun breakfast in general), a fun lunch with cute notes, or a night out on the town. My husband and I like to take the kids and go to dinner. If Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday we will take the kids to dinner and then celebrate as a couple on the weekend.
White Bean Pesto Soup (she: Cathy)
I don’t know about where you live….but where I live, it’s COLD! Not as cold as it has been, that’s for sure, but cold enough that you don’t really want to be outside. EVER! And cold enough that when you are outside for any extended period of time, all you want to do is come back inside, put on some sweatpants, and eat a big bowl of soup! This White Bean Pesto Soup is the perfect thing to cozy up to on a cold winter day. It combines some of my favorite things….and best of all, it’s topped with a big spoonful of pesto to give it an amazingly rich and delicious flavor! So even if you did happen to find yourself outside in the cold, you wouldn’t mind. Because at least you’d know you have THIS to look forward to!
Our Mad Libs Love Story ~ Free Printable (and laughs!)
Okay, so talk about therapy. I’ve gone a little printable crazy the past couple weeks and have oodles of them to share with you! I never knew it would be so relaxing to sit down and create them. Dan will turn on his Cheers re-runs, and I’ll plop next to him with my laptop and take a much needed breather from the long day. I love it! Lots of them coming your way!
My kids and I love doing Mad Libs for school. It’s a fun way to brush them up on their verbs, nouns, adverbs, etc. I though it would be fun to create a Mad Libs for my husband and I to do. I printed it off and we’re doing it tonight! Knowing him, I have no doubt I’ll be cracking up.
Zesty Black Bean Dip – A Dip Recipe with a Little Kick!
Zesty Black Bean Dip is an appetizer or snack that’s light in calories yet robust in flavor and can be enjoyed year round. It would be equally embraced on Super Bowl Sunday, Cinco de Mayo, any old ordinary day, or a special occasion.
Broccoli Bites with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce ~ Delicious Appetizer!
These Broccoli Bites dipped in honey mustard, were AWESOME. I adapted the dipping sauce recipe (included in the post) because I like my own version of it better. But you can’t go wrong with the bites!
Butternut Squash Soup (she: Ruthie)
Hi to all of my friends at Or so she says , it’s Ruthie from What’s Cooking with Ruthie.
I’m SO excited to be back this month to share another yummy with y’all! I love to make delicious soups but I especially love it in the winter time! Do you love butternut squash? I do, but sometimes it’s hard to cut it all up when you’re in a hurry. I found some awesome frozen butternut squash at the grocery store and it makes this soup lickity-split to throw together!
Fun Products to Improve Kid’s Health
January is always a month where I’m thinking about my health. Trying to recoup from all of that holiday binging and get back on track. But besides wanting myself to be healthy, I would love to help my children stay motivated and realize the importance of caring for our bodies. These are some fantastic (and highly recommended by reviewers) fun products to improve kid’s health… or, at the very least, educate and inspire.
Check ’em out!
Vacation Inspiration: Clearwater Beach in Florida (she: Allison)
Happy New Year! It’s great to be back at Or So She Says, writing about favorite travel destinations and ideas. This is the time of year when I dream about beach vacations. So today I’m spotlighting one of the best family beach destinations in the United States – Clearwater, Florida.
Clearwater is a fun and family-friendly beach town located on Florida’s gulf coast. It is a short drive from the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, and about two hours away from Orlando.
January 2014 Visiting Teaching Message Printable
In my church, all the women and men are assigned specific people in the church to visit monthly. For women, it’s called Visiting Teaching. We usually have a partner and are assigned maybe 2 to 4 women that we try to visit every month. The point of the visit is to get to know each other, support each other, care for each other, and share a spiritual thought. I did my Visiting Teaching pretty regularly last year, until it got towards the end of the year, and I was slacking. Eeeek. So, one of my resolutions this year is to meet with my ‘sisters’ every month, like I’m supposed to, and really be a better Visiting Teacher.
Make Your Child Feel Special on Valentine’s Day (she: Amy)
One of my goals as a mother is for my children to know that they are loved, cherished and that they matter.
Since Valentines Day is about showing people how much we love and appreciate them, I thought I would do a few special things to show my girl how much I love and cherish her. Read on for simple ways to make your child feel special on Valentine’s Day.
Stabilized Whipped Cream ~ Where have you been all my life?!?
Last week, my son was flipping through my Lion House cookbook, looking for a dessert for Sunday dinner. Sunday dinner is kind of our big sit down, delicious meal. That’s right, my friends… I don’t cook every day. Some nights I make Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, some nights I make turkey sandwiches, tacos, or frozen chicken nuggets. Some nights, I don’t do anything and we just fend for ourselves. But Sunday, we feast. So all week, my kids and I are excited, planning what our big meal is going to be. Anyway, this past Sunday my son found a recipe for a Chocolate Cream Layered Cake that he wanted me to make. So, we had chicken enchiladas, apple salad, and chocolate cake for dessert.
While looking over the recipe, I quickly noticed the directions for Stabilized Whipped Cream. What the? I had never heard of such a thing. Have you??