Imperfect Crazy Life

While I was out getting a few things for the house, Little man wanted to look at costumes since he doesn't have an idea want he wants to be for Halloween. They had this containers of cookies with icings and sprinkles. There was a choice of pumpkins or monsters. After everyone voiced their opinions, we got the pumpkins. After dinner last night, we sat down and decorated them as a family. Plenty of imagination went into them. What do you think?

Big D and I are not your normal couple! We enjoy life and try things that we might not normally try. I can say our date night with air soft guns was truly fun and entertaining. Since we currently have a small yard, we got a net box to catch the bb's. It is also good at holding our targets for us too. The set of air soft guns we bought came with targets. It included several Zombie targets. Don't worry if yours doesn't come with targets. There are several printable targets online. We started to make up our own rules while we played. Clean up was easy since the net collected all the bb's. You can play battle ship, darts and tic tac toe with air soft guns. Just go online and print out the targets. This idea can be changed up to make a completely different date night! Battleship one night, Tic tac toe another. There are carnival type game printout too. Google target games and several different games will pop up.

When was the last time you toasted marshmallows over the fire? I remember catching the marshmallows on fire as kids. My kids love burning their marshmallows. I know now why my mom always liked her marshmallows toasted never burnt. Yum, they are so good that way. This past weekend Big D wanted to do s'mores but a none traditional way. Standing by the graham cracker at the store, we started looking for some ideas. I suggested chocolate chip cookies. Big D wanted the soft chewy ones. Have you seen the variety of cookies lately? Wow, I didn't even know half the flavors even existed. We picked up some regular chewy chocolate chip cookies first. Then we grabbed some Chips Ahoy Reese's peanut butter cup ones. Then we found the Chips Ahoy Fudge Filled ones. The fudge filled ones make awesome s'mores, but I suggest allowing the marshmallow time to heat up the cookies. The cookies had the chocolate flavor to make them taste more like a s'more.

Mickey, my daughter asked if she could have a friend over to decorate a cake. Her friend has some artist skills that she wishes she had. I decided to show her that she has skills of her own. I made a few small cakes and make a huge batch of icing. Gathering plenty of food coloring, tips and bags. I set our dining room table for a night of cake decorating. Big D and I sit this one out to watch and help the kids when needed. Each kid designing their own cake and making it come to life! Mickey's cake Under The Sea Little D's cake Volcano I have to say I am so proud of my kids. My kids and I love watching cooking competitions. My kids enjoy the dessert competitions the most. These were my kids masterpieces that they saw on different shows. I think their favorite part of the whole night was eat the cake for dessert!

I am usually the one that plans and sets up date night. Since our kids are still fairly young, we do most of our date nights at home. I was supposed to plan last weeks date night but Big D said he really wanted to take care of it. The idea of him planning our night meant the world to me. He could have planned to take a nap for all I cared. It was the thought of them caring about the night that meant most to me. He set candles all around the room and fresh rose petals. When I entered the room, he was dressed in nice dress clothes. Holding a bouquet of white lilies. He planned a night of spa treatments to pamper me. Then we spent several hours talking. The talking was the best part! Date nights don't have to be perfect or even extreme. If you care about someone then just spending time together should be enough. It's about spending that time together. Big D and I try to make sure we spend time alone together to keep our fire strong.

This idea can be a little expensive but you can do it over and over again. Nerf gun war! This is so much fun for everyone. I do advise that you don't wear thin clothing because close shots will leave a temporary red mark. The first time we played this. I started dating Big D and wanted to surprise him with a fun family game night. We usually just did game night with board games. This was the first time we did something different. I bought an assortment of guns. Some one shooters to a semi auto gun that needed batteries. It was crazy. About $100 later I was ready. The first time we played we made forts. We had a 5 minute window to get them up before the fight. The little one expected to be attacked at their forts so we all quickly abandoned them. Several hours later, we were exhausted. Big D looked like he was attacked by an octopus. You don't have to spend as much as I did. OR you could spend much more. All you need is the $2-5 one shooter guns that come with 3-5

Everyone looks at Valentine's Day as a day of Love! Spending the evening going out with a special loved one. Ever since I was a little girl, I remember spend Valentine's Day with my family. My amazing mom would spend the day cooking away in the kitchen. She made this gourmet dinner that was amazing! On top of all of that she would set the table up in a magically way. Even as my family grow up and many of us kids, we moved away but we continued the tradition. My kids love this tradition! It includes them in a big part of our life. This year I was able to share the tradition with Big D. I spent a love portion of my day in the kitchen cooking and preparing for the big dinner. This is something I really enjoy doing. Everything was homemade and made from scratch. The 5 course meal started with Shrimp Cocktail. Then we have some salad. Then next was a small bowl of Broccoli Cheese Soup. The main dish Crab legs, twice baked potatoes and steak. Big D gri

Since my kids' school district doesn't make the healthiest lunches, I pack my kids' lunches. Making your own jello cups is a great way to save on money. It costs me about $.35 to make 5 cups of jello. Even better yet I can make my kids' favorite jello for them. I buy the Glad 1/2 cup reusable containers. I think it's about $2.50 for 8 cups at Walmart. This is simple to make the cups. Follow the directions on the jello box. Then it is time let the jello cool and set. You pour the jello into individual cups to set. Allow the jello to set and now you have jello cups for school lunches or snacks. Add some fruit to the jello for something special.

For our latest cooking competition we decided to do an Appetizer cook off. This teams were set up Big D and Mickey. I was teamed with Little D. This was going to be a hard one. I kept my mouth shut and let Little D take the lead. He first wanted to make boneless wings like Texas Roadhouse does. Then he decided to go with a 7 layer dip. Big D and Mickey had the same idea and they picked making boneless wings. Off we went to the store. With a $10 limit, the teams were gathering what they needed. My team didn't need much since we have everything at home but refried beans and chips. We decided to grab a Smore's Pie for dessert that night. We spent $8 of our $10. Mickey and Big D needed chicken and some spices. The refrigerated section were they keep the meats was broken. The store only had boneless skinless chicken thighs sitting out. With our groceries in hand, we headed home. Little D wanted personal size dips. This helped with are presentation. 7 layers. Refried

Chocolate River vs. Neapolitan Bombe! Since my kids are still little and learning to cook. We do teams for our cooking competitions. Big D and Little D were on a team. Well, Mickey and I were the other team. For this competition we decided to do a dessert one. We do a $10 limit. The teams have to come up with a dessert, name and present the dish. I have a lot of skills in the kitchen so I tend to let the little one I'm teamed up with take the lead. Big D has skills but not as much as I do. Mickey and I came up with what we are calling the Neapolitan Bombe. It is a Ice cream bombe. Since it's a Neapolitan, we have strawberry and vanilla ice cream. Chocolate is a chocolate brownie layer. We added a cookie fudge layer like in Dairy Queen cakes. Then lined the bottom with peanut butter cups chopped up. Then topped with cool whip and more peanut butter cups on the top. Big D and Little D make what they called a Chocolate River. It started with Rocky Road ice cre

Big D and I love Christmas. It's not about giving or getting presents. It's about that feeling! This Christmas was awesome! The love and atmosphere  was right on. This year we took the time to make ornaments for the tree since this was the first year together for Christmas. The kids loved making ornaments. Especially knowing they would have something they made on the Christmas tree. We use air dry homemade "Clay" to make the ornaments. You will need: 1 Box of Baking Soda 1 cup of Cornstarch 1 1/2 cups of water Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Constantly stir until then mixture gets to hard to stir with a spoon. Allow the clay to cool for 15 minutes. It should be cool enough to tough. Now knead the dough for 5 minutes. The clay should be smooth. Keep the clay wrapped when not using it. The clay takes 1-2 days to day. More if the clay is really thick. Roll out the clay and shape your ornaments.