Family Pizza Night......on a budget

For the last month our family has really enjoyed having a weekend family pizza night.  This is not something our family has always all enjoyed.....meaning the kids.  When it was just the girls...or when Nolan was still too little to care, we would get groans from the girls when Ryan and I would mention wanting to have pizza for dinner.  Ryan and I would think that was so funny because when we were little, and actually got to have pizza, we would think it was the greatest thing ever!

4th of July... Day and Party

This year on July 4th we had fun with family and friends at a BBQ at our house.  I have recently been enjoying being off my dairy free, practically food free, diet so I ate entirely way too much onion dip and artichoke dip....but that is what holidays are for.  :)  We started the day before getting a few things ready:

Kaylee made some patriotic cupcakes.  I love how she is becoming such a great baker in the kitchen. :)  Girl after my own heart!  

She took a regular box of white cake mix.

When the cupcakes were cooled she took some strawberry jello and just added the boiling water.  Then she took a chop stick to poke about 6-7 holes half way down in the top of each cupcake and spooned the jello water on top so it could soak in the holes.  Then the cupcakes were put in the fridge overnight.  

The next day she added cool whip, blueberries and patriotic sprinkles.

Flag Pole Pancakes

We hope everyone had a fun 4th of July!  We had fun with all things red, white, and blue.  We started off our morning with these super cute Flag Pole pancakes.  Kind of a spin off of our flag cake we make every year.  These were super easy.

4th of July Flag Cake

This is definitely a fun cake we see this time of year in magazines or other blogs and there are so many different versions of it.  I was trying to remember but I think I have been making this cake for about 18-19 years.  I know I made it a few times in high school and then in college and all the way up to now!  It was always fun to bring to parties or just have if I was staying home with family.  As I had kids and they have gotten older it has become a fun tradition for them to help with.  It always looks so fancy and patriotic but it is super easy....especially how I do it now!

Halloween!

This year Kaylee had a cute appetizer she wanted to make!  Little witch brooms... 

Hot Chocolate Mix

So I know I normally don't post recipes but as I was mixing this up tonight I thought I would share this fun holiday treat. This was given to us by Ryan's Mom after we got married and it has become a family favorite that I make every year. I usually make it right before Thanksgiving and we have it most every night until January and then we are sick of it! This is so much better than any hot chocolate mix you can buy in the store. Kaylee even remembered it from last year and was so excited to have it tonight.


5 cups powdered milk
1 1/2 cups "Quick"
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup original Coffee Mate ( the powdered stuff)


Mix together well. Use 1/3 cup mix to each coffee mug of boiling water. Top with marshmallows (Ryan's favorite), or whip cream (my favorite). Enjoy!! :))