Lemonade Cake - YUM!

Lemonade Layer Cake

Lately I've been on this new recipe kick! I'm loving trying out new recipes! Pinterest has such a wide selection of wonderful recipes linked that I just want to try them all! So I'm trying out at least 1 new recipe a week, of course some weeks I try more :)
I pinned this recipe months ago and finally made it, definitely a keeper! We all loved it and it was the first layered cake I made that didn't break...very exciting for me! So if I could do it, so can you :) it's fool proof! Just click on the name of the cake and it will take you to the recipe!

Teacher Gift :)

After lots of thought about trying to come up with the perfect teacher gift for my son's preschool teacher I finally found it!!! I put together all the gifts I liked into one BIG gift :)

I got the idea HERE! Where you do one thing for every letter of the alphabet. Then I used several of the other cute ideas I saw as inspiration for the letters...love it! My sister and I went in on it since both of our kids go to pre-school together. It would be fun to do among several parents and come up with bigger stuff to do :)

Here's our ABC's (I got several of my ideas HERE):
A - Our teacher is AW-some! (A&W rootbeer)
B - Thanks for helping us BLOOM! (Burpee flower seeds)
C - With you as our teacher we'll be one smart cookie! (container of mini oreos)
D - DONUT you know you are the best teacher! (hostess donuts)
E - You are EXTRA special! (EXTRA Gum)
F - You are o'FISH'ally the best! (sweedish fish)
G - Thanks for helping us GROW! (mini plant kit)
H - Thanks for making our school year BRIGHT! (highlighters)
I - To break the ice with your new kids and keep you sweet! (Icebreakers gum)
J - Thanks for sparking our creative juices! (juice boxes)
K - Teachers cannot live on apples alone, they need hugs and kisses too! (Hershey's Kisses)
L - Thanks for all the laughs! (Left, Right, Center Game - found it at Target)
M - We've had MOUNDS of fun! (Mounds bar)
N - Take NOTE, you are our favorite teacher! (sticky notes)
O - Stay cool this summer! ("otter pops")
P - Roses are red, violets are blue, this pencil bouquet is just for you! (pencils)
Q - Dairy Queen needs no words :) (5$ gift card to DQ)
R - We just love you to pieces! (reese's pieces)
S - We SKORED have you as our teacher! (SKOR bar)
T - Teacher's Treats - to share or not to share (Turtles)
U - Don't U-NO you're wonderful?! (UNO game)
V - for future spills (Viva paper towels)
W - You have been just WRITE for our kids! (pens)
X - X-TRA Special Gift (10$ Subway Gift Card)
Y - You were MINT to teach! (York Peppermint Patty)
Z - Best Teacher "Bar None" (Zero Bar)

Homemade Modge Podge

I couldn't find my modge podge the other day when I remembered I had pinned a link a while back for how to make homemade modge podge! I looked it up and was super excited that all I needed was elmers glue and water...super easy! So I grabbed an empty jar, dumped the bottle of glue in, then guesstimated about the same amount of water and shook it up. Voila! I tried it out and I love it so much more than bought modge podge, the coat is so much clearer and it's not as sticky, plus it dries even faster!! Super cheap too, I suggest this to everyone!!!

 

Oh and if anyone's wondering why i've hardly posted the last few months, here's what I've been cookin up:

This sweet little girl will be 4 weeks on Thursday!!

Shamrock Hats

My little guys St. Patty's Day party for preschool is tomorrow, so I decided to make something that I saw on pinterest :) These cute little Leprechaun Hats, made out of glad-ware snack size containers. They were super easy, the thing that took the longest was letting the paint dry.

I filled each one with 8 rolo's instead of chocolate coins since it was a little cheaper. Plus, rolo's have caramel, so they taste better!! Made 10 of them, one for him and each of his class mates. I'm sure he'll be super excited to share them tomorrow!!!

I found a shamrock clip-art on Microsoft word and just cut them out! Easy peasy! I used tacky glue for the ribbon, shamrock and yellow square.

Candy Jars

I'm sure you could do this with any holiday! I got the idea HERE from the blog Brown Paper Packages! I saw it the first of the month and wanted to make them for Visiting Teaching, well i did end up making them the week of Valentines, but I'm just now delivering them today! With kiddos being sick constantly I never made it over to visit, whoops! Next month will be better :)

I painted the lids with pink acrylic craft paint that I had on hand, and tied a bow around them with pink baker's twine. I never did get a cute little saying to go with them, but I think they still turned out cute!

Tried a New Recipe!

Peanut Butter Blossoms from the blog eighteen25, they turned out super yummy!!! The boys are excited to have them as our treat for FHE tonight (Cooper was too tired last night to stay up and do it, so we decided to have it tonight). The hubby even loved them :)

The recipe said to roll into balls, and roll in sugar before baking. I was lazy and used my small pampered chef scooper and completely skipped rolling them in sugar, below is how they looked when they came out of the oven. I baked them for 9 minutes each, and it made 2 cookies shy of 4 dozen! They turned out great though! The boys also loved unwrapping all the chocolates!

Dry Erase Calendar :)

So basically the same pic, but couldn't decide which one looked best :) they're iPhone pics, so not the greatest but it works! I saw the tutorial for the calendar here a year ago, I finally ordered the vinyl in October and bought the frame early December! So I am SO happy to finally have it done!

The vinyl is on the underside of the glass, as well as all the lines, it took an hour in a half or so to get it all done, the little guys nap time this morning! Now I need to get some dry erase markers and I'm set! I would suggest checking out the TUTORIAL, the frame I used is 16x20. Can't wait to have the hubby hang it tonight!