A Scrumptious Spring Dessert

The taste and smell of fresh strawberries always reminds me of the sunny weather of spring and summer. Ummmm! Love strawberries! So for our game night last friday, I made this scrumptious Strawberry Dessert Pizza for everyone to enjoy. It reminded me that sunnier, spring days are ahead, despite the fact that most of last week was rainy and dreary.


This dessert pizza is so easy to prepare and tastes delicious. Their was two small slices left after our game night. One each for Trent and Laci. Kid tested and approved! You could, of course, use different varieties of fruit, but I just wanted the taste of those fresh strawberries. I used Pillsbury's recipe for Fanciful Fruit Pizza, which you can find here. I also opted to leave off the apple glaze over the top. Hope your spring days are sunny and delicious! Enjoy!

Cute Place Mat Bags

All you need is a few items and you'll be well on your way to making a cute place mat bag. The main item being a place mat. That's right. You pick what your bag will look like by the place mat you pick out. You can alter it to your own taste. These little bags are fun to make even for me. The not-so-skilled seamstress. All you will need to do is cut your strap material down to the size you like and sew on the straps to the two ends of your place mat which will be the top of your bag. Then fold your place mat in half. Be sure to have it inside out before you start sewing. With your bag inside out, measure and mark about a 1 inch triangle in the bottom corners or fold in bottom edges. This will create a bottom for the bag. Starting at the bottom ends, sew up each side of the place mat to make a bag. Turn the bag from inside out to reveal your cute place mat bag.

These are great to use as a tote for carrying extra things or how about a church bag to carry your scriptures in. There are lots of possibilities. I've made quite a few of them over the past few years after a friend from church showed them to me. I actually made three bags like the one in the picture as my craft-it-forward give away item. I hope the ladies that get them will like them and find a use for them.




I picked out this pink and white damask patterned place mat with green and polka dot fringe. I think that's my favorite part of the whole thing. It makes for a cute "topper" around the bag. Have fun picking out your place mats and making your own cute creations.

Birthday Oreo Ice Cream Pie

They say it's your birthday! Happy, Happy Birthday! Yep, yesterday my husband,Will, celebrated his B-day. Trent was the first one up to give him happy b'day wishes. Bright and early before he left for work! He said he did have a good day. Yay!I was planning on making him a special dinner, but that just didn't happen since I wasn't feeling so good yesterday. However, I did take him out to lunch at one of his favorite spots, Jason's Deli. Their muffeletta and strawberry shortcake are two of his favorites there. That strawberry shortcake is so stinkin' good. I had to remember that was for him and I didn't need to hog all of it. Anyway, later that evening we sang to him and gave him his ice cream pie, which I had made that morning. This pie has long been a favorite of his and since I hadn't made it in a long time, I thought I'd surprise him with it. He was pleasantly surprised! Everyone enjoyed a piece of this refreshing ice cream treat!

We rounded out the evening by playing with one of his b'day presents, which he has actually had for a few weeks, Rock Band 2! We get to have our own little band. Ivy even tries to get in on the action. We have a lot of fun with this game even though we skip over some of the songs because they are a bit too "heavy."We still get to let our inner "rocker" come out. Will and I both love the 80's songs on it.

And..... back to the pie. These are all the ingredients you'll need to whip up this treat in minutes.

Oreo Ice Cream Pie
1 Oreo pie shell
1/4 c. caramel ice cream topping plus 2 Tbsp.,divided
2 Tbsp. chopped pecans
1/2 gallon softened vanilla ice cream(I used all but about 3 scoops of the 1/2 gal.)
crushed Oreos

Pour 1/4 c. caramel topping in pie shell and spread over bottom of crust. Scoop out ice cream into pie shell, filling in empty spaces as you go. Sprinkle chopped pecans and crushed Oreos on top of ice cream. Drizzle 2 Tbsp. of caramel topping over top of pie. Cover.(I used foil since my little cover wouldn't fit over the pie) Freeze.

Another Spring Break Has Come And Gone

Well, another spring break has come and gone. I do like spending time with the kids when they're out, but I'll be honest, I'm glad school is back in session. I'm pretty sure they are too.
We didn't go on any trips or anything, just hung out around here. Don't get me wrong. We did have fun together, but boredom did set in and Laci was sick with double ear infections for a few days. Poor little girl. After two shots, antibiotics and rest, she was feeling better by the middle of the week. So what DID we do? We played Wii and watched movies some, which I don't mind for a while, but I like to get them involved in other things too. So, we visited the park a few times, played in the back yard,took walks in our neighborhood and had a couple trips to Costco and one to Bass Pro. My family loves both of those stores. Yep! We just go for fun sometimes, not to really buy anything. I guess we're just weird like that. We also visited the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Store, which we've never been to. I captured a few pictures of the kids there, but nowhere else. They enjoyed ice cream while I splurged with a triple chocolate cookie. It was very tasty! Overall, it was a pretty good spring break!

Girls' Night Out

Last week we decided to take the kids out on separate nights to spend some time with them and do something fun together. The boys had their night on Wednesday. They went to the theater to see Race To Witch Mountain. It received 2 thumbs up! (No pictures of their night.)Thursday was girls' night out! Oh yeah! Laci and I invited our friend Christina to come along with us. We had a blast bowling at Montgomery's newest bowling alley, Ace Bowling Center. It's new and nice! We had a lot of fun bowling. Laci even got 2 strikes! In the end, mommy prevailed as the winner! No one in our family can ever beat her at Wii bowling. She's good! She wasn't too bad at "real" bowling either.

After our bowling fun, we went to a nearby Applebee's for appetizers and dessert. Laci talked Christina's ear off at the restaurant, but I don't think she minded a bit. After a girls night of fun, we had a tired little girl on our hands. She fell asleep on Christina's shoulder on the ride home. The next day Laci said,"Mom that was so fun. We have to do that again!" I agree Laci bug.

Hoping for a strike.

The bowling center had music playing, so Laci decided to do a little dancin' too!

Laci and Christina

Honestly, Someone Thinks I'm Creative

Two, yes two, blog awards to tell you about today.I think these are so fun to get! First, Rhonda from Down Memory Lane actually gave me the Kreativ Blogger award a while ago and I’m just gettin’ around to posting about it. I do appreciate the award and am touched that you find my blog “Kreativ.” Thanks a bunch, Rhonda! Head on over and check out her super cool and cute blog.

So, I’m supposed to tell you 7 things that I love and then pass this on to 5 other bloggers. Here’s my list.(Probably a boring one.)

1. I love my family and good friends.

2. I love hot baths.

3. I love French vanilla hot cocoa.

4. I love baking.

5. I love to play board games.(party games)

6. I love the Gospel.

7. I love University of Alabama football.

I give the Kreativ blog award to:(I know the last two already have it, but their blogs are so creative, I wanted to give it again)

1.Jessica-The Pelkeys

2.Ashley-Ashley’s Adventures

3.Tanielle-The Polka Dot Daisy

4.Katie-Katie’s Nesting Spot

5. Heidi-Blue Eyed Blessings

Now, for the next award. It’s the Honest Scrap award. What? I said the HONEST SCRAP award! Heidi at Blue Eyed Blessings wants me to get honest with you! Thanks Heidi! I am an honest girl. Be sure to visit Heidi. She’s always got something crafty and neat goin’ on.

For this one, I am supposed to shard 10 honest things about myself. As stated before, I’m kinda boring, so don’t expect anything too interesting. I also pass this on to 5 others whose blog content I find brilliant in content and design.

Honesty is the best policy………. So here it goes:

1. I am a bit O.C.(obsessive compulsive) or “Monkish” as I call it. (From the t.v. show Monk)

I like things neat and in their place.

2. My husband and I were married after a lengthy 4 ½ months of dating. We’ve been married 11 years and going strong.

3. I cannot stand to be late. I attribute this to my dad who had us be like 30 minutes early to everything.

4. Baked scoops, medium Pace Picante and a glass of milk is a favorite nighttime snack for me.

5. I cannot cook rice. No, really, I can’t. It always turns out too hard or burnt.It’s something I’ve never mastered. Although, last year we finally got a rice cooker and now it’s smooth sailing with the rice.

6. My name is actually Melissa, but their’s only 3 people who call me that, my two grandmothers and one of my cousins.

7. I can’t sleep unless the covers on my bed are neat(look back at #1). My husband says that the bed basically has to be made while I’m sleeping in it. Isn’t he sooo funny!!(Say that with a little sarcasm)

8. I consider myself a pretty calm person, but those who know me best know that the “fire” does come out on occasion. “Fire” referring to being a red head.

9. I used to country swing dance a lot with my husband. In fact, he taught me. We haven’t been swing dancing in a long time. It’s so fun. I miss it.

10. I am a G.R.I. T.(Girl Raised In The South), but I DO NOT eat grits. Actually, I think they are quite nasty.

I give the Honest Scrap award to:

1.Rhonda-Down Memory Lane

2. Bethany-Graff Family

3. Hatchick

4. Jaime-Caddywumpus

5.Cinda-Nethercott Family

Fun With Felt

It's time for another Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family. Today I want to share some felt board fun with you. This is my large felt board. (I'm almost embarrassed to show it. It's gotten kind of shabby). We use this board to play with a lot of our felt, but we also have a smaller one that we use. It' simply a piece of board(not sure actually, something like cork board) that I covered with felt and then stapled to the back. It's very simple to make one.

The felt "works for me" because it's something we pull out occasionally. We don't get our felt out all the time, so when we do it captures the kids' attention. Mainly my two younger ones, but my son who is 9 will still play with some of it. Most of our felt comes from a company called
Story Time Felts, formerly called The Storyteller. I've been very happy with all my purchases from them. However, a lot of the felt I have are pieces I earned from having a home party. That's always nice!






Some of the kids' favorites are these that actually go to a book, but I opted to keep them as separate pieces. Their are about 8 different pages with 8 different activities. On the page with the elephant you can change out the felt window to show different weather and dress the elephant appropriately for the weather. The other one is so cute. The fridge opens and it is filled with food. So are the cupboards. It comes with canisters, a table and a bowl of fruit, too.




Another favorite is this group of felt called " Who Ate The Food?" It goes along with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.




This is our small felt board we use for things like this little Mix N' Match game. We also like to play with other felt favorites like "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" and "Thumbkin." The kids frequently use felt that go along with scripture stories for our family night. Be sure to check out Katie's Nesting Spot for some fun felt ideas, too.