Happy Halloween from these three darlings to yours! We have lots of fun planned for today -- it's book character day at school, we're "Trunk or Treating" at a local church and then headed to a Halloween party with some great friends. We're hoping your day is as spook-tacular as ours! ...
holiday
Last Minute Halloween Treats | Easy Spider Oreos
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I earn a small commission on any purchases made. Your support of this blog is always appreciated! As usual, I waited until the last minute to start thinking about what to make for the girls' friends at dance for their Halloween party tomorrow night. Sophie's first request was bat shaped cookies and I thought I had her convinced to just buy the Little Debbie brownies shaped like bats, but when Gran send us {this} super cute suggestion. It looked simple enough, but I decided to try using Double-Stuf Oreos since we can't bring peanut butter and I figured it would be easier than spreading each individual one. It turns out, this was one of the easiest ...
Rewind: Independence Day
This year's 4th of July celebration looked a LOT different that last year's. As much fun as New York was over a holiday weekend, after the last few months I was thrilled to be at home surrounded by my people. We pretty much spent the entire weekend around the pool together and had such a great time. The guys played cards and I don't think the kids even got out of the water! July 4th is one of my favorite days of the year. I consider myself a pretty patriotic person and when you add food and family, what's not to love? Kamin ordered the cutest bathing suit earlier in the summer and didn't love the bottoms. Fortunately for me, I was a huge fan and bought a cute black top to go with them. It's kind of vintage looking, too, so it worked well. The high-waisted bottoms took some getting used ...
an Easter recap
I'm not sure you'll remember, but I caught a little flack for the contents of our Easter baskets last year. I've never thought I was going overboard and I try really hard not to fall victim to comparison when it comes to how we provide for our children. Making everybody happy is too difficult, so I try to make sure my children are happy and that Josh & I are comfortable with the level of giving for Easter and Christmas. I do not want to instill a sense of entitlement in my children and we definitely say no when it comes to the "gimmes", but I do want them to know how to receive and enjoy good gifts, how to experience gratitude and real joy over getting something that you really wanted! In Sophie's basket this year, there was: a gardening bag with accessories, athletic shorts, a new ...
the eggs
Can somebody please tell me that I'm not the only one who seems to dye eggs at 9 o'clock the night before Easter? K texted me early in the morning to say she felt like a terrible mom -- like we should have something planned for the day to celebrate I laughed and told her that Josh was working at the baseball field, my girls were spending the day with Nana and I was spring cleaning. Not exactly festive, right?! What I thought would be a half-day of cleaning house and folding laundry, turned into ten hours of scrubbing floors and moving furniture. Josh was home by lunch and we ate BBQ at the tiny table in the playroom. He helped me finish up the housework and I was finally on my way to the grocery store by 4 o'clock, praying there were still white eggs to be found. We had plans to dye ...
Easter + Labor Day
This is a sponsored post. I hosted a Labor Day viewing party with my friends and family in exchange for a free copy of the movie on Digital HD. I am in no way affiliated with Paramount or its partners and all opinions expressed are my own. Labor Day is available for digital release on Paramount's website. Have I mentioned lately how unbelievably amazing my extended family is? I love Easter for so many reasons, but being able to spend the day with this bunch certainly ranks near the top. We had a superb pot-luck lunch and spent the afternoon outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. My mom says she remembers playing a family game of softball after Easter lunch when she was a little girl. She told me earlier in the week that everyone participated -- young and old -- and that they played in the ...
A Valentine’s Day Tutorial
My girls LOVE a good craft. I will admit that Ella has asked why we don't just buy a box of Valentines at the grocery store, but when I offer a craft as an alternative, she jumps right on board. There is nothing better that playing with paper and scissors when it's too cold to go outside. Since the girls will exchange Valentines at school and at dance, we opted for a few different designs. Ella's cards were appropriate for both groups, but for Sophie's friends, we had to make two different treats. Here is how we turned this basket of goodies into three super-cute Valentine's Day treats for our friends! For Sophie's "school" we decided to give fruit squeezes because there is a pretty wide range of ages. I bought strawberry Go-Go Squeezes and made a printable file that says "Hey, ...
Remember Christmas?
{Alternately titled: the one with 46 photographs and ALL the parentheses} On Christmas Eve, our elf was tucked under the Christmas tree with a few brightly wrapped packages and a letter to the girls. We read the note {a quick one about the real reason for the season and the big news that they could touch him briefly before bedtime} that morning, but decided to save the gifts for later in the afternoon. We celebrated with Josh's parents for lunch {and I managed to take exactly zero photographs because we were playing so hard}, but were home by 2 o'clock with a few hours to burn. We played Operation at the dining room table and I let the girls open the gifts from Scout. What transpired afterwards caused me to have a major meltdown {complete with mommy tears and stomping feet}. Can you say ...