Top 10 Favorite Things - February

TOP ROW
1. A few much needed days alone at the Mohegan Sun...bonus - I won $26 at the penny slots
2. The Panera in Quakertown has a DRIVE THRU!!! This is going to be dangerous
3. This picture of my niece celebrating her big girl bed - VICTORY
4. No more bottles for this silly guy
5. The way my bathroom is shaping up

BOTTOM ROW
6. My new impulse buy - I found a 100 year old window frame from an old barn;  plan is to eventually turn it into a mirror for above the fireplace
7. My great husband who took me to the antique store by our house for Valentines day (he said it wasn't as bad as he thought...for some reason he thought the whole things would be full of lamps)
8.  Thank you to my friend Allison for showing us the awesome indoor playground/coffee shop by our house
9. Blake starting to get through the night dry - almost there
10. The Sprint Narwhal commercial - those 10 seconds make my day



Also - I found more pictures of yummy food that we've tried out over the last few months....no idea why I didn't look in this folder my last go around but enjoy:

Ruben Dip - awesome for football watching

Grits and Crawfish

Parmesean Chicken with Potato/Pancetta Hash

Roasted Apple Napoleons

Happy New Year!! (Yeah I know it's February)

I wish I could say the Holiday Season in our house was extra Merry - but our entire household has been going through rotating cases of the plague since before Christmas (starting Xmas Eve, all 4 of us were diagnosed with Strep Throat so it was a bit sad to have to spend those days in quarantine).  I also wish I could say that we made it through with flying colors, but right now I am on the mend from my 2nd case of Strep, and Blake is just getting over some unknown variety of overall runny nose/coughing/fever.  Antibiotics for all!!!!

In the midst of all of this, we did manage to have some good times.  I decided to put some of my favorite memories (and meals) into this one post and then hope for nothing but good things for the rest of 2015 - or at least no more Strep Throat!!

TOP ROW
1. Christmas Parties at the boys school - Mimi and Pappy joined us for the festivities
2. Addie's Xmas Show - her snowman costume was the cutest thing I have ever seen...although the "Here Comes Santa" song is still perpetually in my head
3. New Year's Eve at Sesame Place - despite it being a bit chilly, this was a great way to spend a family New Year's together
4. Getting some house updates done btw. sicknesses - the under the sink drawer is one of my new favorite things
5. Lots of new tools underneath the Christmas Tree

BOTTOM ROW
6. Xmas day with my boys - we missed Daddy who was home in bed, but at least I had my monsters to keep me company
7. Luckily Blake and I were well enough to still get to see FROZEN on Ice
8. Pre-Christmas trip to Hershey....poor Blake was absolutely miserable for most of the time, but he was a little trooper
9. Sledding!!!!  We found the perfect hill right across the street....I get a little teary thinking that this will be the hill that I watch my boys sled on for years to come
10. Both boys feeling MUCH better by the New Year....nothing worse then seeing your kids sick


And in case anyone missed it - this video of GOB falling out of the sled is probably my FAVORITE THING EVER...he was completely fine and went down the hill plenty of times afterwards

I actually thought I had taken more pictures of our yummy winter fare - but I guess that was a bit too much for me to remember to do.   But I did grab pics my absolute favorite new recipes that I tried out

First - Chicken Milanese with Cherry Tomato and Fennel Sauce....honestly this is the BOMB!!!  I cannot wait to make it again

  
Second - For 2015, Food Network Magazine came up with one chocolate dessert for each month of the year and my New Year's Resolution is to make them ALL.  I posted a pic of the February one in my Valentines Day Post...but here is a pick of the January recipe that I made for Superbowl Sunday - Chocolate Blackout Crunch cake.  It was so good that even my husband, not the world's biggest chocolate fan, went back for seconds

Third - Homemade Marshmallows that Blake and I made.  I always wanted to try making marshmallows, and it was super easy.  GOB was obsessed and pointed to them at every single meal....so we will be breaking varieties of these out again come birthday party time

So Happy Late New Year Everyone...here's to our first full year in our New House and to exploring all that our new area has to offer

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Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!

I was going to get a December/January round-up blog posted first (cross my fingers that I get to that tomorrow) but thought it would be more fun to share what me and the monster's have been up to for Valentine's Day First.

Valentine's Day Dessert - Chocolate Mousse with Puffed Pastry Hearts

I found this really easy idea on Pinterest to just take a toilet paper roll and turn it into a heart stamp with a simple piece of scotch tape - easy peasy right!  

I bought some pre-cut hearts and gave the boys some pink, purple and red paint and thought this would be the perfect thing to make for all of the girls in their life.

Well - like most things with the Boehmke Boys, that lasted about 5 minutes.  Then we decided it was more fun to mix or eat the paints (depending on the kid) and the stamps ended up on the ground.  I have to say though, Blake made some REALLY GREAT hearts and gave his favorite one to his self-proclaimed Valentine (his cousin Addy).

I'm happy to say that my Valentine's Day project turned out a bit more successful.  I found this really cute/simple button covered heart on Pinterest.  The black/white/red color scheme is not my thing, so I picked up some really pretty shades of blue and some white buttons instead.  I taped off lines on a piece of canvas, and used one of the pre-cut hearts that the boys used as a template for my felt heart.  Then I used my handy hot glue gun to randomly place the buttons and Voila

For a final touch I added a super sappy signature....right now it's chilling on the mantel.  I don't really do a lot of Valentine's Day decorating, but I think this will be a nice sweet memento to bring out every year.

Hope everyone got to spend some time with the ones they love - I know I did