Lifestyle

Forget gold coins, real leprechauns want gold bars, like these Pot of Gold Trail Mix Bars. Time to get away from the hearts and flowers from Valentine’s Day, up next is St. Patrick’s Day.   Annie loves rice crispy treats.  She got ahold of Ned’s one day when he wasn’t looking and it’s been her favorite treat ever since.  So that is the base for this treat.  Plus, throw in some of her other favorites (chocolate, pretzels and raisins) and you get a loaded, adorable, golden bar of deliciousness good enough for all the leprechauns in the land. Pot of Gold …

In my line of work, conference planning, traveling is inevitable.  As a breastfeeding mom I’ve opted to travel for work with the kids.  Due to the pandemic many of my events converted to virtual meetings, so I haven’t had to worry as much about traveling until recently.  Now that the world is opening up to this new normal, traveling for work is an expectation again. So I’m back to considering whether or not to bring the kids on trips with me. I’m blessed to work for a company now that is flexible and willing to let me bring the baby …

Happy Valentine’s Day!  In honor of this day we made a pink strawberry banana smoothie and cupcakes. So good! Becoming a mom is such a cool thing because it truly changes your perspective on love.  This used to be the holiday I looked forward to with romantic love for Ned, drawing his name in hearts on my notebook.  It is still that of course, but now there’s a whole new level and kind of love to celebrate.  I love crafting with the kids.  There are so many great seasonal crafts out there from super creative moms and I find myself …

Annie loves to do little art projects and it’s been so cold outside I decided it was time to pull out a fun round up of winter crafts for toddlers.  All of these crafts are Annie tested and Annie approved.  Seriously so much fun and none of them are hard or time consuming.  Just a great afternoon spent together crafting. 1. Smoosh paint mittens with free printable Any time I dream up a craft that will entertain both the baby and the toddler I get really excited.  Even better—it’s mess free!  Smoosh paint was the perfect go to for this …

When I hear “easy, no mess painting” my head turns.  I always want to know more.  Annie lights up when I say it’s painting time, but sometimes I just don’t want to deal with the mess. So no mess painting is my favorite kind of painting.  My kids love smoosh paint because it is a way they can be creative without mom nagging them to keep their shirt out of the paint.  That’s where smoosh paint comes in.   What is smoosh paint? Smoosh paint is a process art that involves applying paint inside a ziplock bag either on a template …

Most of the time my kids mocktails are cold drinks, but on days like today when it’s 21 degrees out I just have to pull out this cheery White Chocolate mocktail.  I love how festive it is, but it can also just be a nice winter drink too by changing the color of the sprinkles. Maybe even white for a snowy day.  It’s the perfect drink for when you are doing your last minute online shopping. It’s like a hot chocolate, only it’s made with melted white chocolate instead of instant cocoa powder.  The best part about white chocolate as opposed …

As a new mom, most of my life and the world around me revolves around our toddler, who doesn’t stop moving, and the baby who never sleeps.  Recently we’ve been spending so much time trying to make the Christmas season special for Annie and Ace, with the Christmas light drive throughs, the Santa breakfasts, the Christmas tree finding and decorating, the Hot White Chocolate mocktails, and the present buying and wrapping.  We are one week out from Christmas and I just realized I haven’t really even thought about my own Christmas list.  Luckily, I wasn’t starting from scratch as this …

It’s this time of year that you never know when someone will stop by for a quick hello.  Once the house is cleaned up and ready, I like to prepare a homemade dessert.  Simplicity is the key, which is why I love this Apple Crisp Dessert. It’s so simple, easy to make and delicious — just the right amount of tangy and sweet.  It’s a great excuse to pull out the KitchenAid mixer.  Plus, this apple crisp reminds me of my mom.  She used to bake this when I was growing up. Now it’s such a sweet reminder of childhood …

My house is never cleaner than when I find out someone is coming to visit.  Given enough time, I tackle all of the usual tasks like dusting and vacuuming at least twice, in addition to many less common tasks like dusting the fans, washing the baseboards, breaking down the boxes in the basement, planting new flowers in the garden, reupholstering furniture and maybe even refinishing the bathtub.  That’s nothing…you should see me when I’m nesting!  When notice is short, I resort to speed cleaning.   I actually like it when people come to visit because of the extra motivation. The house …