A Day In My Life

For my third annual Snowman Party, I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of just doing it with my nieces and their friends, I made up some invites and hosted the party here with Harvey's friends (and their moms - my friends). Anyway, funny story: I strapped Harvey in his car seat and headed out to deliver the invites. I drove up to the first house, left the car running, and ran up to the door. As I came back to the car and started backing up... Harvey started freaking out. He realized that we were at his little friend's house and wanted to stay and play. Imagine his horror when we had several other similar stops! For decorations, I wanted to keep everything clean and simple. I mean, snow is beautiful in its own right, so why shy away from that? Plus the cheezy snowmen I've collected throughout the years were already on display. I made up a cute (easy) little garland out of thread and cotton balls... I stuck with blue and orange as my colors, and I thin...

My friend, Anna , is doing this for her hubby this year, and I've decided that I really want to do something special for my two boys as well. First up.. I made this advent calendar (just like my Halloween one ). I LOVE that I can use the cupcake tin for things other than baking, and that all the pieces don't take up any room in my storage boxes throughout the year. (credits & comments) I added some fun "lovey-dovey" candy and a little activity on a slip of paper for each day: Here's what Harvey and I are going to do: - Watch a "love story" movie. (We'll probably watch Lady and the Tramp, but other options are The Princess Bride, The Love Bug, or any Disney Princess movie.) - Color a Valentine Picture. - Eat an ice cream sundae - decorated with hot fudge and pink sprinkles! - Drink hot chocolate with a heart shaped marshmallow. - Decorate the house with hearts/streamers - Pink pancakes for breakfast - Create homemade valentin...

I got lucky this year. My sister-in-law gave me a Scentsy candle warmer for Christmas. (I didn't even know what a Scentsy candle warmer was until November, but that's beside the point.) I was/am super excited! But at the same time, I was a little sad because Scentsy doesn't have my all-time favorite candle sent: Grapefruit Vanilla. And what was I supposed to do with my precious candle? Throw it in the garbage? Umm. No. First, I melted it down using a candle warmer. (Yeah - it took forever ; one of the reasons I'm super excited to make the switch to my Scentsy warmer.) Then I poured it into an ice cube tray, and set it in the freezer for about 20 minutes for it to harden. To remove the wax, I just wrung the tray over a paper towel and the cubes popped right out. (If you'd like to do the same, don't skip the freezer; it's the key to removing the cubes with ease.) I got excited, and did the same to every candle in the house! Let's just say Ju...

A few years ago, I told my friend's mom I wanted to learn how to make candy. And although my friend had since moved out of state.. her mom planned a day for me to come over and help her make a LOT of candy. Seriously - we cooked and baked all. day. long. I loved the experience, and I took away some amazing recipes. One of my all-time favorites is the recipe for caramels. It's super easy, but it takes a lot of patience to keep stirring while you're waiting for that thermometer to get to the "soft ball" stage. What's that? You want to make some? Okay. Here's the recipe: 2 cups light corn syrup 1 cup milk 4 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 14 ounces sweetened, condensed milk 1 1/2 cups whipping cream 1 cup butter (2 sticks) 1. Butter a 9x13 pan. Actually, I use one of those jelly-roll pans that is a little larger, but either will work. 2. In a 6 quart pan, combine syrup, condensed milk, milk, cream, butter and sugar. Heat on medium and ...

These are the best cookies I've tasted. Ever.  And I made them for a cookie exchange party I'm going to tomorrow. Yum. 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 2 eggs 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 twelve-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. With your fingers, place golf ball-sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until edges are light brown. Makes 30 cookies.

It took me a while to get started... but I finally got our {newest tradition} front and center on our kitchen table. Every night at dinner time, we each write something we are thankful for on a slip of decorative paper and add it to the jar. It's turned into a secret - my hubby and I won't know what the other wrote until we read them all outloud on Thanksgiving Day. We also have a rule that every slip of paper has to be unique; no repeats. I like it because it's simple, fun, and a good reminder to focus on the many blessings we have to be grateful for!

I love advent calendars. I love counting down the days - especially when I get to do something fun on each of those days! But I don't have a ton of storage space in my house, so I had to come up with something that would save room when it came time to pack it away. I decided to use an ordinary muffin tin as my base, and I made 12 circles to cover each of the compartments. I debated on using my mini muffin tin, but my hubby said it was better to use the regular sized one so I could add a piece of candy for everyone inside. I scrapbooked and laminated my circles because I want to be able to reuse them, but you could just as easily cover your muffin tin in orange or black tissue paper and let your kids punch out the compartments each day. I stuck my circles on with removable adhesive putty. I also made up a list of fun "Halloweenish" things to do to get in the spirit. I printed it on orange paper, cut each idea apart from the others, and stuck one in each compar...