Fabulous Frappuccinos!

Let's be honest, the school year is winding down, and getting up in the mornings is getting just a little bit harder each day... BUT homemade frappuccinos make it just that much easier (thinking of all the sweet faces I'll see at 8:35 is helpful, too). 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c coffee
• 1/4 c milk (I use 1%)
• Splenda, Sugar, Stevia, Equal - whatever you normally add to your coffee
• 10 ice cubes
• Magic Bullet
• Straw

Directions:
Brew coffee, but make it a little stronger than you normally do.  I generally make a whole pot and put it in the fridge for the next day!
Pour 3/4 c coffee and 1/4 c milk into Magic Bullet cup.  Add the same amount of Splenda you normally use in coffee.  Then carefully drop in about 10 ice cubes.  (I use coffee cubes when I remember to make them).
Blend until there are not any large chunks of ice cube left.
Pop in your straw and enjoy it!

**You could double this recipe if you wanted to, but it won't all fit in one of the Magic Bullet cups - you would need to use a blender**

The Norts' New Nook!

On Friday afternoon, we bought our home in Orlando!  We are both beyond excited for the adventures of home ownership!  The adventures began promptly with a trip to Home Depot to buy yard equipment and new light fixtures :)

We will be doing some work to the house before moving in, but here's a quick peak at the "before."

I am obsessed with the front door - isn't it beautiful?  We won't be changing this part!

You enter into the living room.

To the right of the living room, is the dining room.  We'll be making some changes here, too.  I brought our 1940s chandelier from Greenville, which I think will look perfect!

The next room is the kitchen.  We'll be making some big changes here!

There are 3 bedrooms in the house right now.  Here is the master.

We will be turning one of the three bedrooms into an office, so stay tuned for that!

The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell

A young girl.  A missing mother.  A nerdy, scientist dad.  An orphanage full of kidnapped, singing children forced to mine Zoom by an evil man.  What could be better?

I read this book aloud to my class this year, and they couldn't get enough!  Christina is a 10-year-old girl who is not allowed to leave her home because her mother died in a terrible explosion when she was very small.  She looks through her telescope all the time to watch the Happy Orphans next door.  Eventually, she discovers a secret passageway out of her home and meets one of the orphans - a boy named Taft.  Taft tells her that Lenny Loompski owns the orphanage and treats all the children horribly!  They go on a crazy, life-threatening, suspenseful, and funny adventure to save the orphans from the Masher!

A note of caution:  this book is not for the faint of heart.  I don't anyone younger than 3rd grade should read it without an adult to talk to!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle or Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan.

You can buy it here.

Mounds Cake

My mom's birthday was earlier this week, and I wanted to do something special for her.  She goes out of her way to help so many other people!  My brother, my husband, and I collaborated to get her some new books for her Kindle: The Lifeboat: a novel by Charlotte Rogan and Lifeboat No. 8 by Elizabeth Kaye. 

We had Positano's Pizza for dinner, and I made a Mounds Cake for dessert.  I got the recipe here. 

I followed the recipe exactly with just a few changes. 

• I used Duncan Hines Butter Fudge cake mix to make the chocolate cake. 
• I used butter instead of Oleo margarine in the topping.

The marshmallow-coconut filling does not spread because it is pretty liquidy, so I just poured it all over.   I also just poured the chocolate topping all over the cake, too.  It was a major hit!  Everyone at the party loved it (and so did my team at school the next day!)

4th of July for Mother's Day

Last weekend I came across a few 4th of July wreaths on Pinterest, and I though that Gramcracker might really like to have one.  So I made one that I will give her on Mother's Day.

I made it following the directions posted here: http://naptimecrafting.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-patriotic-wreath.html  (Serena's blog is wonderful - she makes all these cool crafts while her children are napping and then shares them with everyone!)

The only difference between our wreaths is that I used buttons instead of stars.  I thought they were cuter!

The same weekend I made this wreath, I also crafted another Mother's Day present - but I'll have to keep it a secret until I give it away!