This week we celebrated the fact that it had been 13 years since our first date and he brought me a sweet rose.  I still remember the dorky guy that I worked with that got up the courage to ask me out.  And I still am madly in love.  He is still my dork but I couldn’t be happier.

I hate being that person that always brings the cheese and cracker platter to a party (come on, we all have done it)! But you don’t have to be!  Here are some ideas that are sure to get you invited to all the parties and is as easy as arranging all the cheese and cracker assortments onto a platter.

DIPS and SPREADS

• Sour cream and onion dip—my sister passed this down to me—sour cream, beef bouillon granules and finely chopped green onion, mix and you are ready to eat!
• Marshmallow Fluff Fruit Dip—I just add a little yogurt to this and it is perfect!
• Baked Brie in Puff Pastry with Apricot or Raspberry Preserves—if you want a finger food option, you can make bites out of these and cut the pastry into small squares and stuff with the cheese and preserves
• Marinated Olives and Feta

FINGER FOODS

• Pigs in a blanket with cranberry-mustard sauce- We all know how to make pigs in a blanket—but add this quick cranberry-mustard sauce and it creates a more grown-up version! All you do is add cranberry sauce and mustard of choice and a couple dashes of water, VIOLA! You can also use this sauce on a pork tenderloin so make extra!
• Bacon wrapped water chestnuts—if you don’t want to make the sauce and are really in a time crunch, just use soy sauce!
• Cucumber sandwiches
• Mini grilled cheese sandwiches with chutney
• Stuffed and bacon-wrapped jalapenos
• Bacon-wrapped figs stuffed with blue cheese—just try it! How can you go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon?

CROCK POT SNACKS

• We all know the classic meatballs, grape jelly and chili sauce—always a hit! (Also, try using sausage links instead of meatballs for a little kick!)
• Rueben Dip—Can somebody say St. Patrick’s Day all year?
• Broccoli Cheese Dip
• Artichoke-Crab Dip
• Nacho Dip

What are your favorite quick and easy party snack ideas?

My 2 year old’s shirt says it all!

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Guest Post by Tanya…

My cousin plants a garden every year and every year without fail she is left with an abundance of…something! This year…CUCUMBERS! “What am I going to do with all of these cucumbers?” Like any good cousin, I started researching what she could do with these things…and I found several ways to use up a perfectly good cucumber…or more like cucumberS!

Of course, there is pickling!

My ultimate favorite thing in the world…

Cucumber sandwiches

Few people know you can also cook cucumbers!

Sautéed cucumbers

There are an array of salads that can be made with cucumbers…here is a great site that gives tons of healthy ideas!

Cucumber salads

Stuffed!!! Let’s face it…anything stuffed with well…stuff is amazing!

Here is a great site with tons of stuff to stuff the stuffing out of a cucumber! (Say that three times!)

Stuffed Cucumbers

And then to wash to wash all that down make a refreshing cucumber drink…watermelon is a great pair with cucumbers (be light on the cucumber though, it has a very strong test!) and if you need a nice adult beverage after all of those creations…feel free to add your favorite spirit!

Cucumber Drinks

If my cousin doesn’t appreciate the cucumber after all of this, she may not want to plant so many cucumbers next year! But, I think after trying some of these delicious uses, she may plant even more!

Last weekend was a fun weekend for us, celebrating my oldest child’s 10th birthday.  It was also very frightening.

We had a cookout and invited friends over.  We enjoyed food on the grill, roasted marshmallows, and had a great time together.  Many of the kids started bug/creature hunting.  The kids had found some fun bugs, lizards and even a few garter snakes.  They were having a blast being kids and exploring nature.  Unfortunately, this changed very fast.  One of the children found a copperhead and was bitten.  Copperhead snakes are poisonous.

I found the following instructions from the Mayo Clinic on what to do in this emergency situation.

 

If a snake bites you

• Remain calm.
• Immobilize the bitten arm or leg, and stay as quiet as possible to keep the poison from spreading through your body.
• Remove jewelry before you start to swell.
• Position yourself, if possible, so that the bite is at or below the level of your heart.
• Cleanse the wound, but don’t flush it with water, and cover it with a clean, dry dressing.
• Apply a splint to reduce movement of the affected area, but keep it loose enough so as not to restrict blood flow.
• Don’t use a tourniquet or apply ice.
• Don’t cut the wound or attempt to remove the venom.
• Don’t drink caffeine or alcohol.
• Don’t try to capture the snake, but try to remember its color and shape so you can describe it, which will help in your treatment.

Call 911 or seek immediate medical attention, especially if the area changes color, begins to swell or is painful.

Another thing to remember is that even if the snake is caught and killed, it can still move AND can still bite.  This probably freaked me out the most of the whole ordeal.  This video I posted below from YouTube proves that :

NOTE: This is NOT my video.  A friend sent it to me after the ordeal to show the dangers of even a dead snake.

My daughter’s friend was rushed to the hospital.  We decided to not wait for an ambulance since where our house is, it would probably take 20 precious minutes at least for help to arrive.  At the hospital in Athens, they are unable to treat snake bite victims so he was sent on to Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta.  He received the 4 vials of anti-venom and really did much better than any of us expected and he came home the next evening.  We praise God for his quick healing.

How to Prevent a Snake Bite:

• Wear long pants and boots taller than the ankle.
• Avoid tall brush and deep, dark crevices.
• Make plenty of noise and vibration while walking.
• Do not approach snakes, avoid them.
• Do not expect rattlesnakes to make any noises.

Hope this post helps you be prepared and hopefully you will never find yourself in that situation.  It was very frightening for all involved.

I’ve just been given the opportunity to review the Make A Plate Art Project and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. If you want to follow along, my readers save 30% on their Prepaid Art Plate Kit (that’s a savings of over $5!) – USE PROMO CODE: USFAMILY at Makit.com.

 

Being a homeschooling mom, I have a few TON of links bookmarked on my computer.  This time of year, everyone is asking about my favorite links, where to print things, etc.  Here I have broken down my personal favorites for the Preschool/Elementary School levels.  Everything that I’m listing below offers many worksheets or games for free!  This year I will have a 2 year old, Preschooler, 1st Grader, and 5th Grader.

1. Easy Peasy – All in One Homeschool.  I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found that site!  It’s a mom just like the rest of us that has several kids and puts her kids schoolwork online so they can click on things and do their work.  The bonus?  It’s all FREE! And she goes through high school.
2. Confessions of a Homeschooler – Tons of printables and activites geared toward homeschoolers.
3. Bible Road Trip – Excellent if you are looking for a Bible curriculum.  Tons of activites and very organized.
4. Aplusmath – This site allows you to print a ton of math worksheets according to your needs.  You select the number of problems and the type of problems and it generates them completely new each time!
5. TLSBooks – Thousands of worksheets to choose from for preschool up to 6th grade.
6. Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker – It’s as awesome as it sounds.  Type in what you want your kids to copy and it makes a worksheet.  It offers Print, D’Nealian, and Cursive.
7. Notebooking Nook – Lots of free notebook ideas and activities and even planning printables.
8. The Math Worksheet Site – Another math worksheet generator to print exactly what you need.
9. Multiplication.com – Lots of free games and activities to help with multiplication.
10. Try Science – Offers experiment ideas geared toward kids.
11. Starfall – Geared more toward the preschool age, but excellent way to learn the alphabet and play a little.
12. Kidzone – Printable activities based on many different popular topics.
13. Super Teacher Worksheets – This entire site used to be free, but now has some free and some paid.  I love their writing prompts and the other language arts work sheets are great as well.
14. Dad’s Worksheets – Tons of math printables.  It’s not a generator but there is a TON to print.
15. Notebooking Fairy – Over 100 printables that are great for notebooking!
16. ABC Jesus Loves Me – A free Preschool Curriculum containing letters, numbers, songs, basic math, along with Bible stories, character education, and Bible verses.
17. Education.com – Lots of free printables that can be sorted by grade and subject.
18. Busy Teachers Cafe – A K-6 Site that has tons of printables for busy teachers.  I was especially impressed with the calender for writing prompts.

Do you have any favorite sites that you do not see listed?  Leave a comment and tell me about them!  I’d love to add to this list!

 

This past Friday, we went to LanierWorld at Lake Lanier Islands with some tickets they gave us.  We haven’t been in about 8 years.  We were surprised at the positive changes made at the waterpark.

The first thing we noticed is the short walk into the park unlike the huge hike that we used to have to take.  Now the entrance is right behind the kiddie play area and was a relatively short walk.  That makes this mom of 4 very happy!

A few things in the kiddie area changed.  There are some new things to climb on and the pirate ship has been replaced by a playground with little water slides.

Taking a step back, I’m very thankful that LanierWorld has shops for those things you forgot.  For example, someone forgot their swimsuit.  Okay, I admit, it was me.  And technically I didn’t forget.  I just grabbed 2 tankini tops by mistake instead of a top and a bottom.  LanierWorld came to my rescue.  They had a variety of swimsuits to choose from and even had them priced at 50% off that day!!

 

The food had also a better variety and taste than the last time we went.  We had lunch at the Sunset Cove Beach Cafe.  It was a table service restaurant right on the lake.  The atmosphere was great and the food was even better.  I tried the cobb salad, my husband had their ultimate grilled cheese, and the kids got kids meals.  They even catered right to my son and helped him find items that would work with his soy allergy!  Great service!  And I highly recommend the ultimate grilled cheese.  It had 3 types of cheeses and tomatoes on top.  It was incredible!

 

The thing that surprised me the most after not having been to LanierWorld in years, was the carnival rides!  There was a ferris wheel, carousel, and many other rides.  I think this is a fantastic addition to LanierWorld!  By afternoon, the littles were getting tired of water and the rides were perfect to switch it up a bit.  The carnival rides didn’t open until 3pm.

 

Of course the wave pool was a huge hit along with the other water slides.  My kids were a lot braver to try things than I expected!  We had a blast!

For a list of future events, check out their calender or see the LanierWorld facebook page.

 

 

And words can’t describe the joy that I felt watching her dance.

A Disney World vacation can be a little overwhelming for anyone.  If someone in your family has special needs, it can be very stressful.  Here are a few tips and tricks to a calmer Disney vacation:

Watch YouTube videos.  This sounds a little strange, but if you want your child to have an idea of what to expect before your Disney vacation, watch YouTube videos of anything you think he or she would enjoy.  Watch videos of people riding the teacups or Dumbo or meeting Mickey Mouse.  His or her reaction to the video will give you an idea of how he or she will handle the situation and will also give your child an understanding of what to expect.

Travel during the off season.  The Florida heat can be hard on anyone, but it is especially difficult if you live in a much cooler climate.  If possible, travel during the off season when the weather will be cooler.  Dress in light colored clothing, wear sun hats, and plenty of sun screen.  Make sure everyone in your family drinks lots of water to stay hydrated as well.  Traveling during the off season also means smaller crowds and smaller wait times, both of which can be overwhelming and stressful.

Start at a smaller park.  Naturally, you want to spend your first park day at the Magic Kingdom.  However, this park can be overwhelming if you have never been to a theme park and don’t know what to expect.  Try your first day at Epcot instead.  There aren’t as many rides, and the ones that do not have a height requirement were very tame and have a very little wait times.  Most of the character meet and greets were outdoors and had short lines.  You will be able to walk your child past see who the character is and understand that you are standing in line for that character.  After your first day, you will know what works for your child and what doesn’t and can adjust your plan for the rest of your vacation from there.

Try to stick with your schedule.  If you eat meals at a certain time of day, try to schedule your meals at Disney World around the same time.  If you child takes a nap, try to head back to hotel around the same time for quiet time.  Kids find comfort in routine.

Take advantage of Disney’s Baby Care Centers.  All four of the parks at Disney World have a baby care center location.  The baby care centers are complimentary to use and includes a private nursing room with rocking chairs, changing room with tables and a unisex bathroom, feeding area with highchairs, kitchen with microwave, oven and sink, and main room with television, table, chairs and sofa.  These areas are perfect for taking a quiet break or heating up a quick snack.  A friend of my has a five year old son with Autism and said these were amazing and that she utilized them frequently.  Her son will only eat macaroni and cheese.  She was able to take some Kraft Easy Mac with her and heat it up for him and feed him the in baby care centers.  It was also a great place to cool off and have some quiet time when he began to get overwhelmed.

Get a Guest Assistance Card.  On your first day at one of the Disney parks, stop by Guest Relations with your child.  Explain to the cast member your child’s needs (or have a doctor’s note explaining your child’s needs) and ask for a Guest Assistance Card (GAC).  The cast member will then fill out a Guest Assistance Card with your child’s name, the dates of your vacation, and the number of guest in your party.  The Guest Assistance Card is valid for up to five additional people.  The card is valid for the entire length of your stay, so you will not need to get a new card at every park you visit.  There are three different colored cards:  red, green, and white.  Disney is pretty quiet about what the different colors are for.  If anyone has any information on this, I would love it hear it.  The Guest Assistance Card will then allow you to enter an alternative entrance for certain rides, character meet and greets, and attractions as well as special seating for certain shows.

Avoid the fireworks and parades.  If you child does not deal with crowds and loud noises well, avoid the fireworks and parades.  Try to leave the parks before the fireworks begin to avoid the crowds leaving the park at closing as well.

What have you found that works or does not work for your family on a Disney vacation?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Alexia is a Disney Specialist with Destinations in Florida. When she is not helping to plan magical vacations, you can find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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