hey look, it's me!

Pin It I've been very fortunate to be featured on a couple awesome blogs lately. Totally tots is an awesome blog full of great ideas for your little preschooler. Many of the crafts I have done on my blog have been from the totally tots blog (like the alphabet letters that I have slacked on lately!). I feel very honoured that they selected my adorable kiddos in their cute tots feature.



Come check us out on the totally tots blog here

Another awesome blog that featured us was Spoons, Spades & Stitches. I met Lindsay through another great blog called Mama's Little Nestwork which is a place for mommy bloggers to share their wonderful blogs. Her blog is filled with great ideas and includes stuff like cooking, crafts, sewing, gardening and more. I was ecstatic when she told me she did a feature of my fun food friday on her blog. Thank-you so much Lindsay!! Go check out her blog and and show her some bloggy love!



Come check us out on Lindsay's blog, Spoons, Spades & Stitches here

Thanks ladies!!! Pin It

canvas animals

Pin It I picked up these adorable canvas animal shapes at the dollar store. I was so excited when I found them because they are seriously so cute and I love the modern designs! Kirsten was with me when I found them and she was so excited to go home and decorate them. She picked the colours and the decorations and went to work. I think they turned out adorable and she just loves them. I won't write a tutorial on this because she basically just painted them and glued on whatever decorations she wanted using glitter, pom poms, buttons, googly eyes etc. Here's her little masterpieces:

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shhh, don't tell daddy

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So I found a lonely dandelion in my yard that looked just perfect for blowing. I knew it would be a great picture opportunity for my little Kirsten. Kirsten was so excited and happily obliged. We may or may not have done this dandelion blowing in our backyard. And the seeds may or may not have landed in our yard. Don't be mad daddy. Isn't your daughters happiness worth a few weeds? Or maybe it was all for the picture, and at any rate, I just love this picture. Pin It

fun food friday: hickory dickory dock

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It's time for fun food friday! This week I made hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock. I had a lot of fun making this lunch and the kids had a lot of fun eating it. This took me a little longer than my usual 5 minute rule, but it truly took me maybe 10 minutes, which isn't bad for a lunch at all. There were a couple chocolate chips and spinkles incorporated into this lunch and Kirsten thought she had hit the jackpot. She was seriously so excited about this lunch. The looks on both my kids faces were priceless. This was so worth my 10 minutes of time! Here's how I made it:

clock - ham and cheese sandwich cut into rectangle, cheese slice on top with a carrot and cherry tomato pendulum. The clock face is a sliced cucumber with spinkles and carrot arms.

mice - strawberries with cheesestring tails, slivered almond ears, sprinkle eyes, and chocolate chip noses. Pin It

piggy painting

Pin It Kirsten has done a total 180. She went from being horrified at the thought of me even trying to paint her toenails, to completely ecstatic about it. We both painted our toenails again on the weekend and I took a few pictures. She just loves doing this with me, I think it makes her feel like such a big girl. She occasionally still has a meltdown when she has a bath for fear her beloved toenail polish may wash off, but I always reassure her that it won't. We've been painting our toenails all summer long and it's been really fun. Of course, pink is our favourite colour!

applying the first coat



applying the second coat



trying to wait patiently for them to dry, but having a hard time



showing off her cute little toes



mommy and Kirsten's hot pink toes!

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cookies n' cream rice krispie treats

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I haven't been posting many recipes lately because I've kind of been in a cooking rut. With the high humidity this summer, my house has been unbearably hot. I really haven't felt like making much of anything. These are quick and they don't require an oven. I'd only ever had plain rice krispie treats, so I didn't know what I was missing. These are delicious and I'll definitely be making them again. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons Butter
4 Cups mini marshmallows
8 Cups rice krispies cereal
8 oz bag mini Oreo cookies
1/2 Cup chocolate chips, melted

Directions:

Place butter and marshmallows into a large microwavable bowl. Microwave for a few minutes until marshmallows puff up nice and large. Remove and stir in cereal and Oreos. Pour into a large 9×13 inch baking dish. With the back of a large spoon that’s sprayed with cooking spray press and smooth treats. Drizzle melted chocolate over top and let cool. Cut into squares.

Recipe from Picky Palate Pin It

paper bag piggy puppets

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I bought these pink paper bags for Kirsten's 3rd birthday goodie bags and had a few leftover. I tried to think of a craft to use them up, and came up with these paper bag pigs. The kids loved them. Kirsten wanted to have puppet shows with them and Camden, well, he just wanted to eat them. What a kid. Everything has to go in his mouth. Here's the instructions for these adorable piggies:

What you'll need:

pink paper bags
pink cardstock
sharpie
googly eyes
glue
pink pipecleaner

Directions:

1. cut an oval out of your pink cardstock, and glue it onto the paper bag to make the pig's nose. Draw 2 lines for nostrils.
2. cut 2 triangles out of your pink cardstock and glue onto top of paper bag for ears
3. glue on 2 googly eyes
4. twist a pink pipecleaner around your finger to make a spiral and poke one end through the back of your paper bag and fold over to keep in place.

Kirsten playing with her piggies







Cam playing with his piggy



mmm, piggy you look good



let me have a taste

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butterfly wall collage

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I saw this gorgeous butterfly wall collage over at the idea room and knew I wanted to make it right away. I had the paper punched butterflies left over from Kirsten's 3rd birthday party and didn't know what I was going to do with them. Enter this idea. Her wall collage over at the idea room is huge and absolutely beautiful. Mine is on a much smaller scale and not quite as nice, but I still like it. I didn't have a white frame, so I painted one white and it doesn't look great. I now realize that she spray-painted hers, and that's why it looks so much better. Oh well, lesson learned for next time. Now I have to decide where to put this. Visit The Idea Room for full instructions. Pin It

fun food friday: spaghetti lady

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It's that time of the week again for fun food friday!! Spaghetti lady was a huge hit in my house. Both the kids ate their whole plate and wanted more. This was really easy to put together - the longest part was cooking the pasta. I'll definitely be making this one often. Make a spaghetti lady for your little ones, I guarantee they'll love it! Here's how I put it all together.

Spaghetti lady: bread cut into a circle for face, cucumber and blueberry eyes, sliced cherry tomato nose, sauce lips, cheesestring body and cherry tomato arms (and yes, these are arms, lol!). The hair is of course spaghetti and sauce.

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a couple pics of James' graduation

Pin It I finally got my hands on some of James' graduation pictures. We're so proud of you James! Here's just a couple pics from his big day.



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pics of the kiddies from camp

Pin It Here's some pics of my lovely kids from camp this past weekend. I finally got a decent shot of both kids together, looking at the camera, and smiling. I can't believe it. I've waited a long time for this picture - almost 20 months to be exact. Cam was making his cranky face at first, but even his cranky face is cute. He's such a funny guy.

















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steak and citrus salad

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This isn't really a complicated recipe, but it's a great summer meal. It comes together in minutes and tastes great. This summer has been incredibly hot and the humidity is absolutely crazy. I haven't wanted to cook much lately, and I'm kind of in a cooking rut. When your house is over 100 degrees, you don't really want to turn on the oven. Needless to say, I don't have air conditioning. This is a great recipe because it doesn't require an oven at all. James BBQ'd a nice steak on the BBQ, and we added it to a delicious salad. Couldn't be easier, and I didn't have to break too much of a sweat. Here's the recipe, but feel free to add whatever you like best. I'd like to make this again when I can find some blood oranges at the grocery store. I think the blood oranges with the regular oranges would make for a lovely colourful salad!

Ingredients:

1 steak, cooked to desired doneness (is that a word?), and sliced into thin strips
1 orange, sliced - I like to slice mine like sunshines
1/2 red onion, sliced
feta cheese, crumbled
mixed greens
dressing of choice - I love a good balsamic vinaigrette

Assemble above ingredients in a large bowl and toss with dressing of choice. Enjoy! Pin It

singing in the rain

Pin It I took Kirsten outside after the rain last weekend and we took a few pictures. This little girl loves splashing in puddles and had a great time. Her white shirt is blown out in quite a few of the pictures, but I still love them. The expressions on her face show the pure joy she experienced! Love this girl.





















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fun food friday: caterpillar with toadstool mushrooms

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Is this not the cutest lunch ever? So this one may have taken me about 10 minutes to make, but it was worth every single second. Kirsten ate it all except the cherry tomatoes. She's not a huge fan of tomatoes though. This was really easy and the kids adored it. Here's what I used:

caterpillar: peanut butter and ritz crackers, strawberry head, blueberry eyes, blueberry and pretzel antennae and cucumber legs

toadstool mushrooms - sliced cheesestrings, halved cherry tomatoes, ranch dressing dots

LOVE IT! Pin It

handprint and footprint hedgehogs

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or is it a porcupine? I don't know, but it sure is cute. The kids loved this craft and it was really easy. Here's the simple instructions:

What you'll need:

paper or canvas
brown paint - 2 shades
paint brush
googly eye
black sharpie

Instructions:

1. Using the darker brown colour, paint the sole of your child's foot. Stamp on the paper.
2. Using the lighter brown colour, paint your child's palm and stamp several times on the paper to make the body of the hedgehog
3. Glue on a googly eye and use the black sharpie to make legs, a nose, and mouth.

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the (not so) perfect peanut butter cookie

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So I was really in the mood for some yummy homemade cookies, but was missing a few ingredients to make most of my favourites. As I was searching through my cupboards, I realized I did have the ingredients to make peanut butter cookies though. I had never made peanut butter cookies before, but I certainly have eaten them and thoroughly enjoyed them! I set out to find a recipe and found one online called 'the perfect peanut butter cookie.' Wow, with a name like that, it's gotta be good, right? Wrong. Don't get me wrong, they were ok. I mean they still are homemade cookies. But they weren't as soft and chewy as I was hoping for. The consistency was kind of crumbly and not at all what I was hoping for. I hate being disappointed when you're really craving something. Anyway, I'm on the lookout for a great peanut butter cookie recipe, so if you have one, please do share it! I'll post this recipe if anyone wants to try it. Who knows, maybe you'll have better luck than me. If anything, at least they look good.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup ( 1 stick ) butter or margarine, softened
1/2cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a medium bowl sift to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
In a large bowl beat together peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth.
Add in egg and vanilla
Combine flour mixture with peanut butter mixture, scrapping the sides of the bowl to insure batter is well blended.
Cover bowl with plastic and place in fridge for 20 minutes
Using a teaspoon drop batter 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Using a fork make crisscross pattern flattening cookies slightly.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes per your oven

Recipe from Group Recipes Pin It

close-up cuties

Pin It Here's a couple pics of the kiddos. I love the look of annoyance on both their faces. I know they'd both like me to get my camera out of their faces. But look how cute they look close-up! I just can't resist.



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