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Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Teen Girls

By Lorraine

Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Teen girls chosen by 14 year old girls for Christmas or birthday presents. Here is their wish list!Do you find it hard to choose just the right gift for your sweet teen girl? Me too. So I went to the authorities. Three lovely, fun-loving young ladies that have been friends since birth. These girls recently came for a sleepover. They were more than happy to create their wish list of the Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Teen Girls.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Family, Grandchildren Tagged With: Annika, birthday, Christmas, Ella, gifts, Keri

Happy 3rd Birthday, Cambrie Noelle

By Lorraine

Cambrie LOVES Minnie Mouse!
So for her Birthday I made her a hat.

The pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me
this little 3-year old sweetie melts my heart

peeking in the window
 It was a rainy, chilly afternoon when Jared and I met Jamie and the kids at the Pop Shop
to celebrate Cambrie’s birthday in the quaint town of Collingswood, New Jersey.
A few years ago, Bobby Flay arrived at the Pop Shop for a Grilled Cheese Throwdown.

 big bowls of ice-cream made everyone happy

 and there might have been some noisy children too…

even in the rain the streets were beautiful

~*~

When Ella stopped coming for childcare back in September, I told her I would take her to our church’s Living Nativity.  So, that is what we did Saturday night. I told her afterward we could go to Friendly’s for dinner and ice-cream sundaes.  Much to my surprise, she wanted to head back to my house where we spent a couple of hours playing together in the nursery,  She made me lots of plates of play food, played dress-up and read an American Girl magazine to me.

Filed Under: Family, Grandchildren Tagged With: Birthday Family, Caleb, Cambrie, Chloe, Crafts, Crochet, Ella, Jamie, Keri, Noah, Silas

Ranger Cookies for Back-to-School

By Lorraine

Hearty and satisfying cookies made with oatmeal, coconut and cereal that kids of all ages will love. Toss in some chocolate chips if you want and serve with a glass of milk.
Waaayyyyy back, when our twin daughters were in preschool, a friend shared this recipe for Ranger Cookies.  Since our little Ella will be heading off to kindergarten soon, we made a batch together today. These chewy and crunchy cookies passed her finicky taste-buds even over the fresh bakery cookies from the grocery store.

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Filed Under: Cookies & Bars, Recipes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Cookies, Ella

Raspberry Frosted Sweetheart Chocolate Cupcakes for My Sweethearts

By Lorraine

Disney Princess Cupcakes start with a mix and are filled with frosting mixed with jam. Sweetheart Chocolate Cupcakes are a fun & yummy kids cooking project.Ella (I’m her caregiver) was excited to bring her Disney Princess Cupcakes and more cookbook to show me and she promptly picked out Sweetheart Chocolate Cupcakes for us to bake together. Little did we know when making them that my daughter, Jamie and her family would be spending the day with us.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Cakes & Cupcakes, Recipes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Chloe, Cupcakes, Ella, Jamie

Pineapple Spoonbread

By Lorraine

Pineapple spoonbread, also called pineapple casserole or soufflé is the perfect side dish for baked ham for Easter or holiday dinner. It is so easy, made with bread cubes, butter and crushed pineapple.Serving a baked ham for Easter?  Looking for a delicious side dish? Pineapple Spoonbread is a casserole we first had at my sister-in-laws when we were first married many, many years ago. It quickly became a favorite and goes with ham like stuffing goes with turkey.
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Filed Under: Recipes, Vegetables & Sides Tagged With: casserole, Easter, Ella, pineapple, side dish

Fresh Flower Ice-Cream Sundae Craft Project

By Lorraine

My dear friend, Susan told me about something she made at a Flower Camp she attended with another friend. I was looking for a craft project to make with the kids for a garden themed birthday party I was planning for my granddaughter and her friends and cousins. This sweet fresh flower ice-cream sundae arrangement was a perfect craft project for little girls!


Cute, huh! And just the kind of project that turns out well for kids giving them a sense of accomplishment without being too difficult or boring. It isn’t a messy project and nothing that might stain or ruin their clothing or surroundings.

With a little prep work ahead of time, the project goes smoothly and does not take a long time to complete. I had the Oasis foam cut to size for the ice-cream shaped vases and the flowers trimmed to the right length, sitting in containers ready for “picking.”

Because the glass is clear and I didn’t want the oasis to show, I had pre-cut pieces of white plastic, cut from the bags you get when shopping. It was free and worked for what I needed. Older kids could add the plastic and then inset the foam themselves.  Littler one might benefit if this step is already done for them.

If you have pitchers of water ready, bigger kids can pour the water into their vase. If you think it easier for the littler ones, have the foam wet already.

 Let each child pick their flowers and insert each stem into the oasis foam. A little instruction about placement and they catch on quickly creating their sundaes. Ruffly carnations are ideal for the look of scoops of ice-cream in this project but they were not available this day. As you can see, the mums worked well.
 
 They were intent on their creations and enjoyed the process.
 Little red pom-poms could be used for the cherry on top, but we gathered bright red flower blossoms from my window boxes.
 Even the little ones did a great job.
sweet cousin, Brenna
Pretending to sip their Ice Cream Sundae’s, the girls later took them home as favors and were able to enjoy their pretty flower arrangements for many more days.

Here is the list of supplies you will want to gather to make
Fresh Flower Ice-Cream Sundaes

  • Ice-cream vase or something similar
  • Bend-y straws 
  • Floral foam for fresh flowers (pre-cut and pre-moistened if needed) Another option is to fill the vases with those little floral marbles/beads
  • Bunches of flowers like carnations or Mums ( pre-snipped the stems to about 4-inches long and had the foam in each glass.  I could have let the kids do this themselves but for the sake of time and the littler ones, I did it ahead.
  • Little red flowers (or tiny pom-pom’s) for the cherry on top (I snipped red impatients from my kitchen window box)
  • Squares of white plastic so the green floral foam doesn’t show through the clear glass (I cut white WM bags) I would double this next time.
  • water
  • Scissors and garden clippers

NOTE: We didn’t do this for the birthday party craft, but my friend said they lined the top edge of the cup/vase with green leaves before adding the carnations. I’m sure that would look pretty too.

Here is the birthday girl! Oh, Keri, with the dark brown eyes ~  Mom-Mom loves you!
♥

 

There are affiliate links in this post. That
means if you buy something from that link, I will earn a small commission, but
it won’t cost you anything additional.

If you are looking for inspiration and ideas for decorations and food for a sweet girl’s birthday party, check out Keri’s Garden Themed Birthday Party.

Filed Under: Crafts, More Crafts Tagged With: Birthday Family, Brenna, Crafts, Ella, flowers, Grandchildren, Keri, shaela

Keri Jill is 8 Garden Themed Birthday Party & Chocolate Piped Butterfly Toppers

By Lorraine

Preparing a sweet birthday party for little girls isn’t hard with a fun garden theme. Invite friends and cousins and watch their delight to see chocolate butterflies perched on frosted cupcakes, fruit skewers in rainbow colors and mini blueberry muffin bouquet treats. Ending with a fresh flower ice-cream sundae craft that doubles as a take-home party favor.

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Filed Under: Cakes & Cupcakes, Recipes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Birthday Family, Brenna, Crafts, Cupcakes, Ella, Grandchildren, Jamie, Jill, Keri

August means Fun!

By Lorraine

Jill, Brad and kids arrived for their two week stay in New Jersey on Friday evening.
As you can see from all the photos, it has been busy fun at our house.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Family, Grandchildren Tagged With: brad, Brenna, Caleb, Cambrie, Ella, Erin, Grandchildren, Jamie, Jared, Jill, Keri, Noah, Patio, Ryan, shaela, Silas

Homemade Pizza

By Lorraine

Making homemade Pizza dough is easy, delicious and so economical. Just a few ingredients, a little time and you are ready to add your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Bake in a hot oven until cheese is melted and crust is perfect.
Making homemade Pizza dough is easy, delicious and so economical. Just a few ingredients, a little time and you are ready to add your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Bake in a hot oven until cheese is melted and crust is perfect.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Breads - Quick & Yeast, Recipes Tagged With: Ella

Hi! I'm Lorraine. Welcome to Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart. A place to find food for your tummy, projects for your hands, and encouragement for your heart.

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