Celebrating Valentine's Day with Cupid

Meet *Cupid the Cupcake*! Isn't he a cutie?! My hubby whipped up a little batch of these last night for our early Valentine's dinner with the kiddos. Yuuuummmmmyyy!!

First he took a French Vanilla cake mix and mixed it according to the box instructions, adding one extra egg to the batter.

After filling the cupcake cups, he added chunks of Hershey's Cookies & Cream candy bar. Then he baked them according to the box directions and cooled them.

Next he made Cupid's wings using large marshmallows and pretzel sticks.

Using kitchen scissors he cut the marshmallows in half, then made 3 snips with the scissors on one side of the halves to create the *wing effect*.

Then he mounted them onto the pretzel sticks.

Next came Cupid's hair curls~made with Rice Krispies cereal.

I failed to get a photo of Vince putting on Cupid's face and hand holding the heart. He used the store-bought icing packs that come already dyed and with the decorating tip (sort of a store version of a piping bag). The hearts were gummy hearts, but you could also used foil wrapped chocolate ones. Pop Cupid's wings on the sides and your good to go!

The Cookies & Cream made a VERY yummy cupcake!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

my blessed life

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