Owl Themed Birthday Party

We recently had a little girl turn 8 in our family.  {Wow!}  And, it's the policy in our home to have a birthday party when an eighth birthday rolls around.

Now, you would think at this age a little girl would go for Frozen, Princess or any other number of girly themes.  Not this one.  She has been obsessed with OWLS since she got this hat over two years ago,

 and her mind was set.

So, here's how we do Owl....

Decor:

We also had several stuffed owls on table tops to help decorate.

Food:
Owl Fruit Tray-

Owl S'mores

Owl Cupcakes

Craft:

Corner Bookmark

We really had a lot of fun with it all.  These were all super simple things to do.  Because of that, I was able to have a lot of help from the kids.

My 10 year old Caroline was in charge of finishing the smores after I split the marshmallows.

Madi took care of separating the Oreo cookies for the cupcakes.

Once I got the kids all started on the craft, they were able to be turned loose to create.

Even our almost 5 year old was able to make his own bookmark.  Googly eyes are a must.

Head on over to Pinterest and see all the sources and places of inspiration for the things we did for the party on Madi's Owl Bday Board.  You'll see several ideas we didn't do and all my pictures pinned there, too.

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Easy Microwave Sweet Potato

Growing up we had potatoes just about every evening for supper.  Baked, fried, roasted.....we never got tired of them.   I LOVED it!

We may have made the switch from Russet to Yukon Gold over the last 13 years of marriage, but I still love a good baked, or roasted potato with a meal.

In the past couple of years my family has been eating a little differently and those baked potatoes haven't made it on our plates nearly as much.  The new kid on the block has been the sweet potato.
It's only been recently that I've started to enjoy eating them, though.

The cooking method is what gets me.  I could put them in the crockpot, but that takes 6 or 7 hours.  I could bake them, but that takes at least 1 hour.  Unfortunately, I'm not a planner and we would never have sweet potatoes with our meals if I had to rely on these methods.

Since I needed a better method for me, Kevin and I have worked together to figure out an easy way to cook them and get them to the supper table quickly.  LOVE my microwave!!

Here's what you do:

• Wash and dry your sweet potato.  Then place it in the microwave.  Don't worry about poking holes.  We place it straight in the microwave, but it can always be put on a plate or dish to cook.
• Cook on high for 5 minutes.
• Flip the sweet potato over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes.
• At this point, the sweet potato should be really soft.
• Let set until you can handle it without burning your fingers.
• Start peeling the skin off your sweet potato.  (Use a knife to get things started, if you like)

The skin should just peel right off and leave you with all the wonderful meat for your meal.

What to put on it?  A little coconut oil is good.  Or you could add some cinnamon, too.  I like just putting a little salt and pepper on it.  Very simple, but satisfying!

Enjoy a sweet potato with your next meal and let me know how you like it!

** Nutritional values of sweet potato vs potato.  Incase you wanted to compare.  There's not a huge difference overall, but the Vitamin A content difference is amazing!

        

        

Green Apple Pie Smoothee Recipe

Last week Kevin and I did a 5 day cleanse. (There will be more information about that in another post later.)  Today I want to share with you a recipe we came up with to help curb some of the cravings and make the week a little more normal.  Because, I'm tellin' ya, I am not a veggie person.

It's a very simple recipe with only five ingredients.

Green Apple Pie Smoothee
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 honey crisp apple
Handful or more baby spinach
2 scoops vanilla Shaklee 180 smoothee mix
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Put in a handful or more baby spinach.  It's really up to you.  A lot of spinach can be added before you actually start to taste it in the finished smoothee.

Add your chopped up honeycrisp apple.  Leave the skin on to get all the fiber and nutrients!

Pour in 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk.

Next, add 2 scoops Shaklee 180 vanilla smoothee mix.

Finally is 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon.  Feel free to add more to taste.

Mix well.

Serve

This smoothee recipe has been getting a lot of requests since we first put it together.  Below is a picture of my 6 year old daughter and (almost) 5 year old son enjoying their own smoothee.  Even my 10 year old daughter who doesn't eat green vegetables, is requesting this!  How cool is that?!  My kids are now asking me to give them spinach.  Not a top request from most kids.

We have many other smoothee combinations and recipes we like, but it's nice to have one with a green veggie that tastes like you are cheating the system just a little bit.  Kevin and the kids have actually been joking around about this being 'Shrek in a Blender'.  As long as they drink it, they can call it what they want.

I'd love to hear how what you think of it!

Also, I still have some Free stuff to pass along to several people.  Here's the link to the post with all the information you need -->  Celebrating Great Things

Finally, here's an easy picture for your Pinterest pinning pleasure.  Enjoy!!

Celebrating Great Things

I mentioned in my last post that I'm really excited about all the possibilities 2015 has to offer.  And the excitement starts off with a bang in January!

Why is that, do you ask?

- This marks the One Year Anniversary of me starting my own business

- My birthday is tomorrow

and...

-Shaklee just had its kickoff to Celebrate 100 yrs of Innovation

So this month I'm going to have some fun and include my readers in the fun, too!

I have 4 samples of 3 different products....

and I want to share them with 4 lucky people!

How can you get them?  Just be one of the first 4 readers who contact me by email, and you will receive 1 Vitalized Immunity sample, 1Vivix sample and 1 MindWorks sample.  Love all of these!

Although there are many ways to get free membership, I'm feeling really generous this month.  I want to help others discover and become part of the Shaklee Effect by giving away a Shaklee membership to the first 5 people who have an order of 50PV or more**.  Not sure what you want to order?  Not a problem!  Contact me, I'll be happy to help you find the products that would be best for you and help make your 2015 better and healthier.

What does it mean to have a Shaklee membership?  

-Special member pricing saving you 15-20% off all prices
-No monthly fees, ever
-No minimum purchases, monthly or otherwise
-Notice of exclusive offers

I absolutely love our new Shaklee life!  All of us have been healthier since we started using the products.  In the past year we have only had 4 sick visits to the doctor and only two of those visits resulted in needing antibiotics.  (I got a little paranoid when one kid started complaining of the same symptoms the strep kid had.)  That's huge when you realize all 5 kids usually had at least 2 sinus infections each year prior to Shaklee!  This is just one of the many reasons why I feel so strongly about these products and want to share with everyone!

Have you been thinking of trying Shaklee?  Now is a great time and there is always a 100% money back guarantee if needed.  There's absolutely nothing to lose.  Let me know how I can help make this the year you take control of your health!



**Order must total 50 PV or more to qualify.  Only 5 free memberships given to non-member individuals.  First come, first served basis.  Ends after 5 memberships are given or January 31, 2015, whichever comes first.

Happy New Year!!

Okay.  Yes..... I know we are already several days into 2015.  However, my kids just went back to school today, so this is the real start of my year.  ;)

I'm really excited about all the possibilities 2015 has to offer.  It's been a while since we haven't had some major medical event scheduled the first week of January, everyone is currently healthy, and the weather is only cold at this point and not nasty.

There are some great ideas buzzing around in my head.  (Well, great to me.)  Ideas I hope to share with you all as the year goes on.  I have so many goals - for me, my family and our health, my home, and my business.  I'm so ready to start working in all these areas and excited to share some wonderful things with all my friends and family!

Right off the bat, Kevin and I are working on bettering our health.  Today we started a 5 Day Mini-Cleans/Detox with Shaklee.  It's going to help us both get started on the right foot this year.  And, it's especially needed after all the holiday heavy foods, sweets and eating out due to travel.

Both of us are feeling great so far!  It's going to be interesting to see how well I do not reaching for my usual foods.  So far, so good, though, and I have high hopes for the rest of the week.  We'll keep you posted on our progress and results.

Something else I've decided to do to help get healthy this year is adding exercise.  I'd love to tell you I want to add more or increase weight or shoot for a higher milage than I accomplished in 2014.  Sadly, 2014 was full of very little to no exercise - unless you can count moving furniture around the house.

I may have a problem....

This year I hope to change that!  (Well, not the moving furniture part.)  I have a great supporter in my husband {one might even call him a little pushy}, but I thought it would be fun to get more people together in a group.  A place were we can cheer each other on, share ideas and recipes, and even do a little bragging when a goal is reached.  Most of all, a place for us all to have fun!  If you want to join me in a healthier 2015, join my new Facebook group Operation: Get it Movin'.  I would love to have you!

Okay.  So there's a quick overview of what I would like to get accomplished.  I'll be doing a lot more sharing in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!  2015 is looking like a great year!