To catch a Leprechaun....

So, I promised a post about St. Patrick's day.  

I apologize for the delay but things have been a bit hectic around here!  

The Dresses....


For starters, we decided to make dresses for the girls to wear for the Annual Shanahan St. Patrick's Day gathering.  

I used the same basic design that I used for making Teagan's Birthday Dress.  I added a neat Celtic Button I found at Hobby Lobby.  

For Meara's hair, I followed some of the hairstyle ideas I found here and evolved them into this!  

The Trap....

Then on Wednesday night, we had to create a leprechaun trap for Meara to take to school.  So, with a little help from the internet, and some glue and construction paper we came up with a trap so awesome, we were SURE to catch a little monster....

  

                          Meara, working hard!

See the little cup to the left?  That's so when he fell thru the trap door, he didn't hurt his "little tooshie".  I will admit to helping cut the box, the Mt Dew bottle, and the clover pieces but Meara did the majority of the work.  (The clover buttons were left overs from the button bag from the dress).

Meara Dressed for school in her dress...

Meara's hair for school.

The Leprechaun visited us while we slept that night and turned our cinnamon rolls green!  Good thing we hid the trap...Just in case.  

The leprechaun attacked the classroom at school, but no trap could hold him.  :(  

The Dinner.....  

I don't have pictures.  I plum forgot.  You can trust the fact that we had Corned Beef and Cabbage.  I sauteed the cabbage and onion in a bit of the juices from the corned beef.  We had boiled red potatoes, homemade bread and corned beef cooked all day in the crock pot.  

So, there we go.... St. Pat's for a few of Irish Girls!  

Mardi-Gras

Tonight, we celebrated Mardi-Gras.  Having never had Jambalaya, King Cake or anything of the sorts, this was a fun way to introduce something new to all of us!

So I'm sure you're asking, how does a mid-western family celebrate Mardi-Gras on a week night?  Well, we kinda made it up as we went.

I made Sandra Lee's Chicken Jambalaya.  It was good!  I held back on the spices for the kids, and Jerod and I added extra at the table.  It really was delish!

I had several masks from an event that I went to awhile back, and beads galore from every parade we've ever gone to.

Meara and Mr. Bear, the kindergarten's class project.

I made a King Cake.  Honestly, I didn't like it. Jerod and the kids did, but I didn't overly care for it.  Oh well, we tried.  I didn't bake a baby into.  The thought of it kinda creeped me out.  Despite it's name, it's not a cake.  It's a yeast sweet bread with a glaze.

Teagan didn't quite grasp how to wear the mask!

Laisser le bons temps rouler!

So you thought it was a scam?

Here it is kids, my first ebates.com check!

I've been SO excited for this since I saw it was mailed...  

$30.01 JUST for buying what I was already going to buy online!  

I suggest you go 

here 

and sign up ASAP!

I'm off to the bank with $30 of free money....Are you?

Well, duh.

I don't know why it never dawned on me to make homemade baby wipes until now.  So, I did.  I found a recipe in The Duggars: 20 and Counting that honestly hit me in the head.  How easy!

What you need:

1 roll of paper towels (they recommended Bounty, and they were on sale tonight and I had a coupon....SCORE!)

2 cups water


2 tablespoons baby oil


1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol


1 tablespoon baby wash (optional)


1 ice cream bucket or other storage container large enough.


Here's the details.....  SO EASY!

Mix together your liquids.

Cut the paper towel roll in half across the center.  I used a bread knife, they suggested an electric knife but I don't have one.

Put half of the paper towels into the container, standing upright.  Pour the liquid over the paper towels, seal for 30 minutes.  Remove the cardboard center, and the center of the roll will come out as well!  Ta-da!  Baby wipes!!!

 

Cost of a package of 72ct baby wipes in the store: $2-$2.50 more/less depending on coupons and sale.

Cost of doing it myself:  Maybe... 95c for 118.  (59ct paper towel X2).

I can't wait to try them out tomorrow on Teagan!

Delish!

If there's one thing to credit my restaurant experience for, it would be this....  

Homemade Crouton's!  Awesome, right?  Never made 'em?  You don't know what your missing!

What you need.... 

1. Bread.  I use that loaf of bread that has only a day or two left on the shelf, that you might end up tossing or it will get moldy.  Today, I used leftover marble rye from Reuben Sandwiches!

2. Olive oil

3.  Seasoning (as little or as much as you'd like!)  I use black pepper, salt, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes....  whatever you'd like! 

Directions.... Preheat oven to 350.  You can adjust it if you're cooking something else, just watch the time! Cut up the bread into cubes and lay out on a cookie sheet.  Do not space them out yet!  Drizzle olive oil and season then space out.  This keeps the good stuff on the bread, not on the sheet!  Bake.  Watch them closely.  You're just toasting the bread, not burning it!  They can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on your oven, so I suggest you watch them closely!

Take them out, let them cool and you have the perfect salad topper!  YUM!  

I wish I could tell you how long they'd last on your shelf, but in my house...that's about 10 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Monday is a busy day!

For starters.....  http://moneysavingmom.com/smart-source  Go here, and print 55c off of 2 Dozen Eggs.  AWESOME!  Egg Coupons are RARE!!!

Second.... watch http://www.pennypinchinmom.com/category/grocery-stores/hy-vee/ late today and tomorrow for Coupon Match Ups for HyVee for the week.

Third....watch your mailbox!!!  Today I got my free Taste of Home Magazine, $10 Plum District Papa Murphy's Pizza deal, Free Planters Peanuts, a Free 12 pack from Coke Rewards, and some other awesome coupons!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Teagan's Birthday Dress

I don't have a lot of time to write it all out, but it's too cute NOT to share!!!

My goal was to make this....http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/search/label/dollar%20store%20shirt

However, after stressing about Teagan's Birthday, I realized her party needed to be tonight or not again for nearly 2 weeks.  That meant, I needed to get her birthday present made!  I didn't have enough time today to try and sew that big project.  It's not big to some, but it's big to me!!!  So, I modified it and save the other stuff for another day.

Using the tutorial above (and a quick call to my mom....), I made this.....

From this....  (an old shirt of mine, that was going to the Goodwill).

I also made a no-sew tutu for her.... 

And a hair-tie with the leftovers...  

Happy Birthday Baby Teagan!