Valentine's Day Fun

Not sure what everybody else did for Valentine's Day, but I went to The Diva's ice cream sundae party at her school. It was nothing special, but I had a good time - they even trusted me enough to pour drinks for all 16 of the kiddos. I only spilled a few drops, so I thought that was impressive. At least, for me.

We made The Diva's box for her cards as a family Thursday night, and dang it turned out good!

She was so proud of it. The other kids were pretty impressed, too.

Here's her playing the game. Goodness she is so adorable. And, yes, that IS her tongue sticking out as she concentrates on throwing the heart. 

Thief Thursday, No Bake Peanut Butter/Chocolate Bars

That is actually quite a mouthful to say. Oh well-it's too delicious to really care. I was in the mood for something chocolate this afternoon, but since my husband is all healthy and what not, we don't have anything already made. So, thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a quick recipe to make. Here's the link to the original poster.

What's Needed:

-1 cup Graham cracker crumbs

-1 cup peanut butter

-1/2 cup butter

-1 cup powdered sugar

-1 cup milk chocolate chips

--Microwave save bowl

--Spoon or fork

--Glass dish to set them up in

I had to make my own powdered sugar and cracker crumbs. I used the same amount of sugar and blended it for 1 minute to make it into a powder. I made the crumbs in the blender using one package of Graham crackers.

Next, melt your butter and peanut butter together in your bowl (I did 1:11 in our microwave). Stir. Take a taste test, just to make sure it's not poisonous.

If it's not, then continue.

Add in the rest of your dry ingredients (not chocolate chips) and stir some more. Take another test bite, to make sure it isn't terrible.

Still good? Good! Now, press it into the bottom of your pan, melt your chocolate, and pour it on top. I did mine pie style, but that's just for convenience of eating one handed while I hold or feed baby.

Here's my piece:

Oh how I love chocolate and peanut butter combined. So heavenly tasting.

Do you have a favorite recipe? Share it on here and I may just try it and blog about it. I love trying new things!

DIY Baby Bib

Baby bibs are so cute and handy. Know what else? They are also super easy to make. Like, super DUPER, done in only ten minutes easy. Ready? Me too!

Materials Needed:
-Bib for tracing, or a bib pattern (here's mine)
-Pencil for tracing if you use your own bib
-Pins
-Scissors
-Absorbent fabric for top layer (I used a cotton print)
-Fabric for bottom layer (I used baby terry loop for extra absorbency... Babies drool a lot)
-Sewing machine or needle
-Thread

Pin with right sides of fabric together, trace in pencil or wipe away marker (I used a washable just to show you where the lines were). I was going to make a round bib, but changed my mind and made a tear drop one instead, in case you were wondering about the double lines.

Trim around the fabric a little, to make it easier to get in your machine. 

Don't you love my nails? The Diva did them the other night! My other hand has yellow and orange!

Sew on your line using a straight stitch (mine was set on a 2½). Make sure to NOT sew the part between the lines - see below.

You need to leave this area unsewn for now, so that you can turn the bib inside out in a few minutes.

Trim around the edges, leaving about ⅛-¼inch of extra fabric. Press. Turn inside out. Press again.

Make sure to tuck in the "flaps" and then do a top stitch all the around, coming in at ⅛inch from the edges.

Add your buttons (or Velcro if you prefer) and you're done! Sew way, right? (Ah, I'm feeling punny today. My poor husband hates puns and I've come up with ten already this morning. Poor guy.)

Any questions? Ask em!

This Book...!!

First off, let me just state that I am a huge nerd. I have a passion for reading so great that it almost outshines my love for crafting. I mean, if you want to transport yourself to a different place, lose hours of time in what feels like minutes, and make up the appearances of fictional people, I suggest picking up a book (just don't watch the movie 97% of the time).

Now, I enjoy reading big girl books, such as "50 Shades of Gray," romance trilogies by Nora Roberts, and just about anything with Nicholas Sparks's name on it. However, I love reading the teen/young adult books even more. It's not the same story with different names over and over again, which is nice. Recently, I finished the Shatter Me series/trilogy by Tahereh Mafi. A M A Z I N G!!!!

I am not one to often tell other people that they have to read a certain book, but if you enjoy books like "Divergent," "Uglies," "The Host," and "Hunger Games," then this book is for you. It's a story about a girl who can't touch anybody without pretty much killing them. She has never been able to be loved because she's a monster and nobody wants to be around her. Except now the leader of The Revolution wants to use her as his own personal torturing device/killing machine against the rebels. Can you imagine?!

I accidentally found this book through Amazon suggestions (Yeah, they pretty much got their shit together there) and I am so glad I did! I started reading the first book about a month before the last book was released, so I got really lucky with very little lag time. How often does that happen, right? It took me less than two days to read the first two books and the two in-between books. I already knew who I wanted the main character, Juliette, to be with and I foresaw the ending; or so I thought. I started the last book around 11pm on the 5th and planned to read until I got tired. By 2am I had it finished and was laying in bed replaying the whole book over and over in my head.

I seriously ordered the book for someone else as a birthday gift just so that I could talk to another person about it. Yeah. It's that amazing to me. Hell, the third currently has a 5.0/5 rating on Amazon.com. Pretty unheard of these days.

Mafi is an amazing author with a unique style. That's what I like about her. She has several leads and twists and the emotions are written out so well that I felt myself becoming depressed in the first, angry in the second, and so sad I actually cried in the third. Crazy thing is that these are her first books! I can honestly say that I am looking forward to more books by Mafi and will even preorder the next ones.

I need to stop here before I bore you or before I start giving the plot away. Have any of you read it? Anybody have any good book suggestions? I just downloaded "Alienated" and "Cruel Beauty." Can't wait to see how they turn out. I am open to suggestions and will read anything except scary or disgusting gory genres. I'm a nighttime reader and the two just don't mix well.

Let me just reiterate what a huge nerd I am: the first time I heard  "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic, I thought of this book. Read the book and you'll understand.