How to throw a little girl's Frozen party!

My Ciera turned 6 last weekend, and all she wanted for her birthday was a “Frozen” party. I had her choose 11 of her closest little girlfriends, and invite them over to our house for an afternoon of frozen themed fun.

Ciera didn’t have any clue that I had arranged for Queen Elsa herself to attend her party. All the girls were almost in shock as they opened up the door for this very special guest!

We played “pin the nose on Olaf”, and I made this game myself- I pretty much got a big piece of poster board which was about .59 at JoAnns, traced out an Olaf, and then cut a bunch of orange nose shapes out of construction paper- and there ya go- a twist on the classic party game “pin the tail on the donkey” and the girls loved it!

I set up a “headband bar” for the girls. I bought a bunch of  colorful headbands, and had the girls hot glue silk daises on (with an adult’s supervision, of course) This was a fun activity.

Queen Elsa just so happened to bring an icy blue and glittery nail polish, and she painted the girls nails. They were in heaven!

I had the girls decorate their own cupcakes. Ciera really wanted a lemon flavored cake, so we baked those up ahead of time, made a yummy homemade butter cream icing, gave the girls some icing and sprinkles and had them decorate away! It was so sweet to watch them, lots of the girls asked for an extra cupcake to decorate for Queen Elsa! How cute is that?

Here is my tried and true buttercream icing recipe, pair it with your favorite cake recipe:

Alisa's Buttercream Icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) of softened (room temp) salted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract
Approx 3 TBSP of milk (OR) coffee creamer- flavored or plain (that's my little not so secret tip!)

**Blend all the ingredients together with en electric handheld or stand mixer. This is seriously the BEST icing!

We did some face painting as well-

And we also did an Olaf craft. I found some Olaf printables online and had the girls glue some cotton balls and a bunch of glitter on. They really enjoyed this!

When it was about time to wind down from all the partying, we all came inside and Queen Elsa read the girls a Frozen story (but of course!)

Ciera opened her gifts, and then it was time to go.

Let me tell ya, these girls were busy busy busy the whole time!! I hope this will be a day these sweet girls will keep in their memories for the rest of their lives! So much fun!

Garlic Hawaiian Rolls

Garlic Hawaiian Rolls

I LOOOOVVVEEE King’s Hawaiian Rolls- but really, who doesn’t?
I have a ridiculously easy recipe for garlic Hawaiian rolls I want to share with you. You might thank me or you might hate me, but seriously do yourself a favor and make these- TONIGHT!
You’ll need a package of King’s Hawaiian Rolls (You’ll get the most bang for your buck at Costco)

Butter/Margarine (I used a yogurt based spread)

Johnny’s Seasoning (again Costco) if you can’t find this particular seasoning, you can use good ol’ garlic salt

First step is to cut the Hawaiian rolls in half and spread on the butter-


next, shake on the seasoning-

Set your oven to 350 degrees and pop these babies in for approx 15 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crispy on the edges. Here’s a little tip if you didn’t already know- the tray that the Hawaiian rolls come in is oven safe. I almost always use it to bake them in- one less dish to wash!

These are such a wonderful alternative to a traditional garlic bread or plain roll with butter. Whether your having a dinner party or just making an easy weeknight dinner for the fam, everyone is sure to be pleased!
And a little warning: Just like chips- you CAN’T eat just one, you can sure try, but they are pretty darn addictive!
As always, I’d love to hear from you if you give these a try!
Enjoy!

Simple S'mores Bites

Campground To Kitchen: Simple S’more Bites

One of my favorite activities to do with my family is go camping. I love everything that goes along with camping — the sounds of nature, the hikes, the campfires and of course the s’mores!
I’ve had one too many desperate times at home, craving a s’more and trying — yet failing miserably– to make one in the microwave. The marshmallow blows up (literally!) making a huge mess or turns out to be hard as a rock. Yep! You know exactly what I’m talking about if you’ve ever attempted this microwave s’more making method.
Well, I’m happy to announce that I’ve found a new EXTREMELY easy way of making the perfect s’more at home, and all it takes is 3 ingredients!
Here ya go:

You’ll need graham crackers, jumbo sized marshmallows and a bag of Hershey’s Kisses.

Start off with half of a graham cracker

Next, you will take a jumbo marshmallow and cut it in half

Place one half of the marshmallow on the graham cracker, sticky side down

Place all your graham cracker/marshmallows on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and pop them into the broiler for approxamately 3 minutes. You’ll want to keep a very close eye on these, as they start to brown super fast!

Perfect!

Now take your unwrapped Hershey’s Kisses and place one on top of each marshmallow (while the marshmallow is still hot from the broiler)

And there you have it- the yummiest, cutest, simplest s’mores bites.

S’mores perfection at home!

Springtime Candy Haystack Nests

Springtime Candy Haystack Nests

My husband and my boy love to watch a show called “Agents of Shield” together. It’s their special “boys only thing” they do.

When they are having their boy time my daughter, Ciera and I usually take off for another room in the house, and do girlie stuff together. We usually craft, paint nails, bake (sometimes all of the above!) but tonight we did something a little different.

First we went back into my room, snuggled up on my bed together, and I listened to the sweet sweet sound of her read to me- in Spanish to boot!! (thanks to her Spanish immersion program at school!)



SO amazing to hear her read. So crazy how fast she has learned this year.

After she read to me for a while we decided to make a fun, easy, no bake springtime treat-

Springtime Candy Haystack “Nests”-

You’ll need:

1 package of chow mein noodles



1 cup of butterscotch chips



1/2 cup peanut butter



and some mini Cadbury eggs for garnish



Place 1 cup of butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup peanut butter together in a large microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir.

Now, add 4 cups of the chow mein noodles to the chip/peanut butter mixture



and drop by the spoonful (mine were very large spoonfuls) onto wax paper. Top with 3 different colored Cadbury eggs.





Pop them into your freezer for just a few minutes for them to set.



How CUTE are these?!?! They would be perfect for a fun Easter brunch dessert. And seriously, they are too easy to make! Have fun, and please, get the kids involved. Ciera did almost all of this project herself, and was just thrilled when they were complete.



PS- Here’s a little hint- you can make these ahead of time, and pop them into your freezer until you are ready for them. They freeze perfectly! ENJOY!!

Finally feeling better

It's been such a LONG 5 days here at the Newman house. Ciera was SO sick. I've never seen her so sick in my life. Between the fevers, throwing up and her sleeping all day- it was all pretty scary!

I'm happy to report now that she is {almost} back to her normal self. By 9:30am this morning she had eaten mini pancakes, 2 pieces of toast and a little bit of apple juice. Now it's lunchtime, and she's eating turkey slices and crackers. Guess she's making up for not eating for the last week. haha.

As nice as it is to have her rest and nap, (she so rarley does that anymore, and was one of those toddlers who stopped napping at 1 1/2) It was super scary. I'd rather have her be her normal, feisty, energetic, "Let it Go" singing self. ANY DAY.

In fact, she's feeling good enough today to finally get her little self up off the couch and do a little art. She loves her art! That's how I know she's feeling better!

Thank you Jesus for healing my sweet baby girl, it's been a scary last few days, but through it all I knew YOU were right there with us, protecting us, giving us strength and watching over our family- especially little Ciera. I ask you now for protection for the rest of us-- Myself, Charlie and Brandon. Please keep us all healthy for a long long time! AMEN.

Maybe I will think a little harder about getting the flu shot next year...

SICK of being sick

So Ciera was sick last week. I got sick this week. Now little missy is sick again-- and sick BAD!
The flu bug has hit my poor baby girl hard. She has a fever, is weak and of course I can't forget the vomitting.. yuck.

I just pray that the boys don't get this horrible illness, and that both Ciera and I recover quickly. NO TIME, I repeat no time to be sick!

Times like these I'm thankful for our church family and the sweet, selfless friends we have that will take time out of their day to help us. Ciera can barley get up off the couch, can't keep ANYTHING down and has a hard time drinking water, so my good friend Karen volunteered to go to the store and pick up bottles of lemon-lime Gatorade for us. We are now calling her our "Gatorade Fairy".

Seriously. SO. Thankful.

Great Grandma’s Fudge

Great Grandma’s Fudge

Ohh this is a good one friends!

This recipe comes from my hubby’s Great Grandmother. I have absolutely no idea where she acquired this recipe, could be her own, could be a friends, could be out of a cookbook! All I know is that it’s amazing and I had to share it with you!

 3 Cups    ( 18 oz. )      Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

 1 Cup     Butter

 2 Cups   Miniature Marshmallows

 2 Teas.  Vanilla

 2 Cups   Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

 4 Cups     Sugar 

 1   12oz.  Can of Evaporated Milk

 Put the first 5 ingredients into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

 Combine Milk and Sugar in a large heavy pan.  STIR, slowly but
CONTINUOUSLY, bring to a boil over medium heat.  As soon as it comes to a
full rolling boil, cook it for 11 minutes.  NEVER STOP STIRRING!  A flat
wooden spoon works well to keep it from sticking or scorching at the bottom
of the pan.  At the end of 11 MINUTES pour the sugar/milk mixture over the
ingredients in the mixing bowl and stir until completely combined.  Pour
into a greased 9"x13" cake pan and chill for a few hours before cutting.
Store in a covered container in the fridge.