Reindeer Wreath Toss

For the Relief Society Christmas party I planned a few weeks ago we had dinner and minute-to-win-it type games.

I found a couple of ideas on Pinterest and then came up with a few of my own.

I had seen a reindeer game for sale where someone wears balloon antlers on their head and the other players tossed rings to catch on the antlers, but I didn't want to spend our budget money on that, so I made my own version of the game.

This could also be great to make for your little ones at home!

Baby Food Jar Candles

I've mentioned here in the blog a few times that I am the one in charge of planning the Relief Society activities for my ward (church). 

Last week was our annual Christmas party and the Relief Society President (lady in charge of the group) wanted a small gift to hand out to each of the ladies at the end of the evening.

After like a week of tossing ideas around in mind head I remembered that I had been hoarding these baby food jars from like 2 years ago, and I decided that I was going to turn them into candles.

I wanted a special Christmas type message to go along with the candles, and at first I was going to go with something along the lines of when Jesus says 'I am the light of the world', or 'let your light so shine' but I couldn't decided yet for sure and I knew I wanted the candles, so I just started there.

I actually really enjoyed making these, I've always wanted to make my own candles, and I love how these turned out.
About a 2 weeks before our Christmas party the church we belong to came out with their #LightTheWorld campaign (It's 25 ways in 25 days to serve others and bring Christ to our minds this Christmas season. To learn more about the full campaign click here).
The Christmas party was a success and at the end of the night I took a few minutes to talk about the candles.
I told the quote from Harry Potter where Dumbledore says "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
The candle is all ready to go, but it can't light itself.
We need to take action, we need to actually light it for it to bring us light.
The same goes for the Christmas season.
We need to include Christ in our celebration and bring the light into our lives.
I hope it made sense when I was talking, ha ha sometimes my words come to me better AFTER I'm done talking.
Anyways, I've included a full tutorial for you so you can see how these candles came together.

Baptism Book

Our oldest son turned 8 last month.

In our church that's a very special age.

At the age of 8 children can be baptized by immersion (in water) and become official members of the church. We are baptized the same way that Jesus was baptized as described in the Bible.

(If you would like to learn more about baptism you can click this link lds.org)

On this special day family and friends go to the church building and are able to watch the baptism along with hearing some music and talks about the gospel. 

I wanted to have something for my son to look back on from his special day, something that family and friends would be able to leave a sweet message in for him, so I came up with this sign-in book.

I put this together a few weeks beforehand so it would have time to be printed and shipped.

Ugly Sweater Trophy

This last week we had our Relief Society Christmas party.

(Relief Society is basically the women's group in our church. I am in charge of planning the monthly activities.)

Along with a dinner I decided to have games and a 'festive sweater' or 'festive outfit' contest.

(I'll do another post with the details of the games and everything).

To add to the fun I wanted to have a trophy and prize to give to the winner for putting forth the effort of dressing up of course! ;)

I just have to say, I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get a better picture of the finished product. I was so busy that day with last-minute prep for the party that I totally spaced it.

DIY Temple String Art

A few months ago I was trying to come up with a craft project for our upcoming 'Relief Society Super Saturday'.

I had Google searched ideas over and over and I ended up finding a picture of some temple string art, I don't even remember which temple it was a picture of, but it sparked my mind and thought it would make the perfect craft.

I had a an idea of what I wanted so I started sketching my own design of some temples, and I was really excited with what I came up with.

I had to make a 'trial run' to see if this would all work, and actually look like a temple, so this was the sample I created. I also needed a sample to show the women at church what we would be creating.

This is the Mount Timpanogos temple.

I loved the result, so I put together a tutorial together if you want to make your own.

Harry Potter and Owl Cupcakes

In my previous post I shared a tutorial for the Harry Potter cake I made for my son's birthday party, (you can check that out here)

I knew I wanted to have some cupcakes for the kids as well, and owl ones seemed perfect for this theme.

Plus, I've seen pictures of owl cupcakes on Pinterest for years, so I was excited to finally make some of my own! :)

I learned a few things through the process, so I put together a quick tutorial for you.

Harry Potter Cake

For the last few months my oldest has been on quite the Harry Potter kick.

He has read the first 4 books and even dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween.

So when the time came to talk about his birthday it was no surprise what he wanted for the cake.

Harry Potter.

(We also made cupcakes, but that will be another post).

I didn't have as much time as I wanted when I was decorating this cake, I probably would have paid a lot more attention to detail and smoothed out the frosting a little better, but my son was super happy with it, so that's all that matters!

I made the batter from scratch using my yellow cupcake recipe. (You can find that recipe here). 

I made the full recipe, plus half.

This allowed me to make 24 cupcakes and one 8-inch cake.

Harry Potter Wand Tutorial

For Halloween this year my oldest decided he wants to dress-up as Harry Potter.

We talked about the details of his costume and he for sure needed a wand :)

I've been trying to step back more and let his creative juices flow, and I must say I'm pretty proud of his thought process and how this turned out!

It all started the other day when he found this stick.

I told him I thought it would make a good wand, so he held on to it.

DIY Reversible 2x4 Craft

I feel like when it comes to seasonal decor, I'm kind of a minimalist.

I honestly think I don't like a lot of knick-knacks and stuff because my boys already leave so much crap everywhere they go that it just looks like it's adding to the clutter...

Does anyone else have this problem??

Anyways, I've mentioned before that my new calling (volunteer type position) in my church is the person in charge of planning monthly activities for the Relief Society (women's group).

Once a year there is something called Super Saturday.

It's pretty much a chance to get together and make some common crafts, nibble on treats, and chat with the other women.

Our Super Saturday is next month, but I made the crafts in advance so the other women could see what's in store for them if they're able to make it.

As I mentioned before, I don't like having a lot of seasonal stuff, but I kind of wanted something.

I decided to make these reversible 2x4 blocks as a way to have them be a little more functional and last a little longer through the seasons.

I really wanted this craft to be customizable for the women attending.

Meaning; they don't have to do Fall and Winter. They could do any season they want, or even a saying like 'Love at Home' or whatever.

I will actually post more about different options after we have our Super Saturday and I have more options to show.

For now though, I will show you how I made these ones.

DIY Pokeball Costume

A few weeks ago I was talking to my 3 year old about Halloween.

He is so excited to go trick-or-treating, and much to my surprise he already knew what he wanted his costume to be.

When I asked him what he was planning on dressing up as he squealed with delight "A Pokeball!"

Ha ha ha

Um, it was the cutest thing ever to hear him talk about being a Pokeball and I was excited because I knew this would be something I could easily whip up for him.

I love how this turned out, and I love that he'll be able to wear a coat, or sweater, or whatever underneath it and you'll still be able to see the full costume.

I've got step-by-step pictures and instructions to show you how this came together.

Relief Society Enrichment Night: An Evening of Stress Relief

In our church we have a women's group called Relief Society.

Once a month we get together for about an hour or so in the evening for something called Enrichment Night or and Enrichment Activity.
These Enrichment nights (or activities) are to help us come together as women, enjoy each other's company, and hopefully learn something new. 

As of a few months ago, I am the one in charge of coming up with these activities.

I was tossing around a few ideas for our activity for the month of September, but I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do.
After some debating I came up with a theme "Stress Relief".
Maybe it's because I was getting so stressed. Hah!
Anyways...
It took a little bit of prep work, but I feel like it actually came together really well.
I'll break it down for you to show you the different 'stations' we had and what planning was needed.

Partnering with HALO for SIDS Awareness Month {and a GIVEAWAY}

Hello all and welcome to October!
I'm here to help spread some awareness and hold a little giveaway!

Did you know that October is SIDS Awareness Month?

Maybe I should start out by making sure you know what SIDS even is!

SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. (Or SUIDS Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome).

This problem still claims more than 3,500 infants each year in North America. More than half of these are preventable when proper safe sleep practices are followed. To keep all babies sleeping safely and avoid these unnecessary tragedies, HALO is dedicated to putting the health, safety, and well-being of babies first. In fact, over 1,400 hospitals use HALO SleepSack wearable blankets through the HALO Safer Way to Sleep Hospital Initiative. 

Through this program HALO has helped Hospitals and Birth Centers throughout North America create their own safe sleep programs, which utilize the HALO SleepSack Swaddle to demonstrate to parents and caregivers how to keep their babies sleeping safely. To date, HALO has donated more than $4.3 million in its efforts to promote safe sleep education. 

Laying your little one down to rest doesn't need to be stressful though, there are quite a few tips to help keep your little on safe and keep your mind at ease.
For the month of October HALO will be running a campaign entitled "Decorate the nursery, not the crib."
HALO is asking parents to show their unique styles of nurseries to show the  different ways of keeping the baby's sleep environment a safe one.
.
I wondered how I was going to share my tips and ideas on a safe nursery when my baby actually isn't even in his nursery yet, let alone his crib.
He actually sleeps in a bassinet right next to our bed. He has since day 1.
We've actually done it that way with all 3 of our boys.
I realized that's my way of keeping him sleeping safely.
Right next to me.
It puts my mind at ease knowing I am right there if anything goes wrong. I can hear them breathing and I like to think they can feel my presence there as well and be comforted knowing I will be there if they wake up or if something happens. It also helps that they are close enough for me to grab for that late-night feeding.
Along with sleeping next to me my little guy rocks his HALO SleepSack wearable blanket.
I really like the SleepSack because he can't kick it off while he's sleeping, and he can't pull it up over his face.
And that elephant print is pretty adorable too ;)

So what are the main components of a safe sleep environment you might ask?
If your baby is in a crib, you will want to make sure the mattress you are using fits nice and snug into the crib without any gaps.
No soft bedding surrounding the baby (pillows, stuffed animals, loose things they can grab, etc).
You'll also want to make sure there aren't any cords from the baby monitor or anything like that around.
When you lay them down to sleep make sure you place them on their back.

For even more ideas HALO has a list of Safe Sleep Tips you can find here 

To help get your little one's sleep environment Sleep-Safe ready, I have teamed up with HALO to give away a 'Safe Sleep Starter Kit' to one lucky winner

The kit will include:

To enter the giveaway just fill out the Rafflecopter below, good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
HALO is also holding a separate giveaway on their social media outlets for a HALO Bassinet, so make sure to head over and enter that as well!

First Aid Kit by TripWorthy {Review}

* I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

I do not receive any financial compensation if you click on any of the links provided or if you purchase the product.

Emergency preparedness.

It sounds so daunting to me.

Like I know I need to do it, but I never know where to start.

It seems very overwhelming, but it's something that's constantly on the back of my mind.

You never know when an emergency is going to strike so it's important to be prepared.

That's one of the reasons I was excited for this to arrive, this is an on-the-go First Aid Kit by TripWorthy.

This First Aid kit has an ideal combination of medical supplies and survival items, and it's compact size makes it perfect to have in your car, on a boat, or with your camping gear.

And it fits 100 items inside!

Let's take a look and see what's included...

Homemade Pizza Dough

A few years ago, when my oldest was about 3 1/2 years old, my husband took him to a restaurant to pick up some pizza. While they were waiting for the food my husband and son were talking about how the people working there were pizza makers. That was their job.

 Right then and there my son decided that when he got older, he wanted to be a pizza maker.

In Pre-school and Kindergarten when all of the other kids were talking about being a firefighter or a sports star or whatever, my son, with so much excitement, would exclaim that he is going to be a pizza maker.   

At first I thought he might eventually grow out of it.

Nope.

At almost 8 years old if you ask him what he wants to be when he gets older, his answer is a pizza maker.

He has decided that he wants to have his own restaurant and he wants my husband to work there with him. (So sweet)

Last year I decided if that's what he wants to do he should probably learn how to make pizza.

We experimented with a few different recipes and tweaked them a little bit, and have come up with this pizza dough recipe.

Giveaway!

Anybody out there want some free stuff??

:)

I have teamed up with 6 other hosts to do a loop giveaway on Instagram.

You must enter the giveaway through Instagram, so head over to read all of the details and enter and then come back here to keep checking out all of the cool stuff on the blog!

DIY Apron for Kids

My boys love to help me bake, sometimes they will even help me make dinner, but not as often.

Baking with kids 'helping' usually means there will be some sort of mess.

To at least keep them a little cleaner I decided they needed some aprons. 

(These will also be used if they want to paint), I love things that are versatile! 

These aprons are made with 1 fat quarter and a little extra fabric around the outside edge.

After making this one for my middle child I realized that we could have just used ribbon around the edges instead...oh well.

At the beginning of the summer we were at the store and I let my boys choose one fat quarter of fabric each to make their apron with. I loved watching them look through the designs and colors until they found just the right one.

Baby Food Jar Piggy Bank

My 3 year old has been loving the idea of coins lately.

I think he's been watching his older brother earn money for doing extra chores and using that money to buy toys.

The other day my son found a few coins and wanted to have somewhere to put them.

He asked for a piggy bank.

After searching around the house and trying to find a container to use, I remembered that I had some empty baby food jars, perfect!

Angry Birds Piggy Construction Cake

This is my third and final post from my son's Angry Birds themed party.

If you missed my other two posts, I showed you how to make an Yellow Angry Bird Pinata and also some Red and Yellow Angry Birds Cupcakes.
Before the big day my son and I had been talking and throwing around ideas for the cake.
My son told me that he wanted Angry Birds cupcakes and a piggy cake.
I knew I wanted the cake to be easy since the cupcakes would be a little more time consuming.
I love how this cake turned out, but more importantly, my son loved how it turned out!

It's pretty self-explanatory but I've got some step-by-step pictures to show you the process.

Angry Birds Cupcakes Tutorial

The other day I showed you a step-by-step tutorial for the Yellow Angry Bird pinata we made for my son's 3rd birthday party. (You can check out that post here).
Today I am back to show you a quick tutorial for the cupcakes we served at the party.
I ended up making 2 dozen of these cupcakes, 12 red birds and 12 yellow birds.

I've tried to include pictures to show the process, and I will explain as much as I can, but as always if you have any questions let me know!

Yellow Angry Bird Pinata Tutorial

Yesterday we celebrated my son's 3rd birthday.

For this birthday my son requested an Angry Birds party, and it was so fun going through the details and hearing specifically what he wanted to have at the party.

My son told me his favorite bird is the yellow bird, and he wanted a yellow bird pinata.

I knew we could totally pull this off, and I'm pretty proud of the end product. It turned out just how I had pictured it in my head.

Always a plus :)

I have a lot of step-by-step pictures for you so you can see how it was all put together.

Scratch Art Craft

A few weeks ago I saw a time-lapse video tutorial for these 'Scratch Art cards'

They looked really quick and easy to put together, so I thought we'd give them a try.

I think I was also just curious to see if it really worked as well as they say.

I was surprised that it did end up working pretty well!

This does take a little bit of prep work, so you can make these ahead of time for your little ones to scratch off the black part, or let them be apart of the whole process.

Pinwheel Headband {Video Tutorial}

If you follow me on any of my social media outlets you may have seen me posting a lot of pictures of headbands and bows that I've been making.

Within the last 2 months I've had 4 friends give birth to baby girls!

Needless to say, I have been working on my bow skills ;)

I have had a few people ask me how to make some of these bows, so I wanted to post some video tutorials for you. 

This one is for a fabric pinwheel nylon headband for a baby girl. (You can also use felt).

Let me know if you have any questions!!

Circuit Maze ThinkFun {Review}

* I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

I do not receive any financial compensation if you click on any of the included links, or purchase the product.

Today's review is of a game called Circuit Maze from the company ThinkFun.

This is the second game we have reviewed from this company, (the other review was for a game called Square by Square. You can check out that review here).

As soon as I saw what this was I couldn't wait for my son to try it out.

We still love playing the Square by Square game, and I was hoping this one would be just as awesome.

I am here to tell you that it is!

I absolutely LOVE games that teach and challenge young minds, and this one definitely fits that description!

Raising Men

"Boys will be boys, or so they say, but I'm raising my boys to be men one day..."

I have 3 boys I get to call my own. 3 boys that my husband and myself are trying to raise in a world full of violence, evil, hatred, lust, and selfishness.
But also a world with hope, kindness, charity, and love.

Hopefully these 3 boys that have been entrusted to us will grow up to be kind-hearted, hard working, loving men one day.
That is my goal.
That is what my life revolves around right now.
Making sure my husband and myself take every opportunity, every small moment, every unspoken action to teach these future men how to be good human beings.
They say behind every good kid is a mom who's sure she is screwing it all up.
I hope that's the case because I feel like I am screwing it up on a daily basis.
This has been weighing on my mind a lot lately.
Our children are growing up in a different world than we did, and I hope and pray daily that we are doing our best to give them the tools and knowledge to make it through successfully.

BrightTouch Sonic Face Cleansing Brush {Review}

*I received the following product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

I do not receive any financial compensation if you click on the links provided or purchase the product.

I have another review for you today!

If you remember a few weeks ago I got to review a charcoal gel cleanser, in that post I mentioned that now, being in my 30's, I needed to have more of a 'grown-up' skincare routine.

I have been loving that cleanser, and now I have something else to take it up a notch.

This is the BrightTouch Sonic Face Cleansing Brush from BrightTherapy.

The Baby Chapter

I've been writing this post in my head over the last few months since our baby was born.

3 months now. 

3 short months ago he came into our lives and completed our family.

Each night when I wake up to feed my little guy these thoughts have been running through my head.

I felt like I finally needed to write them down.

It's anywhere from 2:00-3:30 am when we are up together. Just the two of us.

The house is silent and dark, aside from the soft glow from the lamp on my nightstand, and I sit in my bed staring at this incredibly beautiful face as he is breastfeeding. In these moments I am in awe. In awe that me and my husband created this little being. That he is ours. That these kids of ours have been entrusted to us to be taken care of, loved, and taught. 

I am in love. In love with my life and my family. Yes I am exhausted, and yes part of me wishes I could give in and close my eyes and go back to sleep, but the other part of me is screaming 'No! Stay awake and stare at him as long as you can!' 'Breathe in that baby smell!' 'Memorize this moment!'

You see, this little one is my last baby. 

Super Hero Mask Giveaway!!

You read that right, let's do a GIVEAWAY!
The super hero theme has always been popular here on the blog, and I know these masks are a hot item.
I've been so thankful for all of the love you guys have shown for my blog over the years, from views, comments, and ordering from me, so I wanted to say 'THANK YOU!'

I have decided that I am going to give 1 lucky winner the chance to pick any 4 super hero masks they would like.

We have 10 masks to choose from;

From top left corner we have Wolverine, Spiderman, Batman, Catwoman, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Superman, and Wonderwoman.

To enter just fill out the rafflecopter below, good luck!

*Contest will run from 6/4/16 - 6/11/16

* Giveaway open worldwide

*All entries will be verified

*Winner will be contacted via email and will have 24 hours to respond. If winner does not respond a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chalkboard Labels by Sacar Stationary {Review}

* I receieved the following product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

I do not receive any financial compensation for links clicked or if you purchase the product.

Hello everyone!

Today I have a review for you.

This is a multi-size pack of Chalkboard labels from Sacar Stationary.

Guys I was so excited to try these chalkboard labels out!

As soon as I realized what was in this pack my mind started racing with ideas.

Let's take a look at all of the goodies you get in this multi-size pack:

How to Save Money on Clothing for Kids

We have all been there, your child needs to get dressed and you discover that nothing in their drawers or closet fits them anymore.

I swear this happens to us on a monthly basis.

No joke.

Before you go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, do yourself a favor and be prepared by doing a little research and preparation first.
I mean you already know it's going to happen, why not get the most for your money??

Here are some tips and tricks I've learned when it comes to keeping my kids clothed without breaking the bank!

Michael Todd Charcoal Detox Deep Pore Gel Cleanser {Review}

* I received the following product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are my own and honest.

I do not receive any compensation for any links clicked or products purchased.

Hello everyone!

I am here today with a review for you.

I'm really excited about this one because I made my first video to go along with it, yay!!

This is the Charcoal Detox Deep Pore Gel Cleanser from Michael Todd Beauty.

This specific cleanser claims to "unclog pores, dissolve impurities, and melt away makeup" and is recommended for acne prone and oily skin.

Mother's Day Giveaway Sponsored by HALO

Hello all, I have some exciting news!

A few weeks ago I posted a review here on my blog for a SwaddleSure swaddling pouch by HALO.
(You can check out my full review here).

Today I am excited to introduce you to the HALO SleepSack Swaddle. The SleepSack Swaddle is a great product that keeps your newborn all snug and wrapped with it's unique 3-way swaddle feature, hopefully helping them sleep better and longer!
Here is more about it from HALO:

"Many parents find themselves trying numerous different swaddle products to find that right match for their baby.  The HALO SleepSack Swaddle’s unique 3 way swaddle feature matches baby’s sleep style right from the start– swaddle arms in, arms out or hands-to-face.  As the swaddle adjusts to baby’s sleep style, baby is more likely to sleep well (meaning Mom and Dad can sleep too!).   The HALO SleepSack Swaddle is also the #1 choice by hospitals for safer infant sleep."

With Mother's Day on our minds, I have teamed up with HALO for a little giveaway.
One winner will receive not one, but two HALO SleepSack Swaddles. One to keep for themselves, and one to give to a mama friend in need!
But wait, there's more!

General Conference Review Game

* This post is about General Conference. We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (aka Mormons), General Conference is a world-wide conference held twice a year where we listen to talks given by the leaders of our church regarding Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, raising a family, serving others, etc.
It is for anyone and everyone who would like to listen.
You can find the videos of the speakers at lds.org.

So General Conference wasn't even a week ago and I feel like I have forgotten a majority of the talks and topics already.
That is, the talks I actually got to listen to.
Sitting through 4 sessions of conference with 3 kids at such varying ages means we hear maybe half of what is being said.
We have been able to get our kids to sit and listen to the morning sessions while doing a quiet activity, but even then there is still some talking and distractions going on.

That's kind of how this review game was born.

I realized even if we were getting a chance to watch all of the talks, I myself am not very good at remembering what they were all about.

Swaddle Sure swaddling pouch by HALO {Review}

*I received the following product for free in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

I do not receive any financial compensation if you click on any of the links provided or purchase the following product.

Today I have a review for you, and my littlest guy gets to make his big blog debut :)

We welcomed him into the world just under 2 weeks ago, so it was about time for him to get to work ;)

This is the Swaddle Sure swaddling pouch from halosleep.com
I actually received this a few weeks before my little guy was born and I couldn't wait to try it out!
I've always liked the idea of swaddling because I feel like it helps keep baby snug and cozy, like when they were still in the womb...also, it's nice to keep their little hands in so they can't scratch themselves on the face...
If I recall correctly, there wasn't really anything like this when I had my other two children, we just used receiving blankets to swaddle them, but they always seemed to get an arm out or wiggle the whole thing loose.
This swaddling pouch is designed to keep that from happening, and that's why I was so excited to try it!

Infant Car Seat Arm Cushion Tutorial

It's no secret that I have been patiently waiting for baby #3 to arrive.

I have been getting these crazy strong desires to make something. Anything.

It probably doesn't help that I am not sleeping as well anymore either...I will just lay in bed and my mind will race with all of the things I want to do and how I want them to turn out.

When I had my second son I had seen a picture for one of these 'arm cushions' and I always told myself I was going to make one, especially because my second child was a freaking chunk, and that car seat got heavy!

My poor forearms and the inside crease of my elbows went through quite a lot carrying that little guy around in his car seat.

Unfortunately, I never got around to making the arm cushion.

You would think that would be more of a priority...

Since I've been in the crafty mode I decided to whip one up for baby #3 instead!

Since I was only going off of a picture there was some trial and error in the making process, but I am loving the way this turned out!

I know there are other tutorials for these arm cushions, and you can even buy these already made, but I just wanted to share with you what I came up with, and how I got it done.

I've got step-by-step instructions and pictures for you, so let's check it out.

Spinach and Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

We've been on a recipe kick over here lately, and I have been loving trying my hand at new things!
For years I have wanted to find a really good enchilada recipe.
I have actually tried a few recipes and none of them quite lived up to our tastes.
I found this recipe a few months ago and gave it a shot. They had a really good starting base, so we kept it in our rotation.
Since then I don't even know how many times we have made these enchiladas, but we have added or tweaked something each time to get them just right, and I must say they are delicious!

I was kind of nervous to make these at first because the original recipe called for corn tortillas, I was a little wary of working with those. (I'm talking the store-bought corn tortillas here).

In the past they always seemed to break apart on me.

So, because I didn't want a complete disaster, the first time I whipped these up was with flour tortillas, and they were actually really good, but my husband said he preferred the corn ones. He said it gives it more of an authentic flavor.

The next time I made this recipe I tried the corn tortillas, and low and behold they did break apart.

Since then I have done some research and even ended up talking to my neighbor for advice, and I found a few tips that ended up working. Now we use the corn tortillas all the time, and I will admit, they do add a nice authentic flavor and I would definitely recommend them.

Cover Me Poncho Review

*I received the following product for free in exchange for an honest review on my blog.

All opinions are 100% my own.

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase the product through my link I will receive a small compensation.

Thanks for supporting this blog!

Well it's no secret that the countdown is on to meet this little guy!

I am totally ready to be done with this pregnancy.

I've been a lot more uncomfortable than I was with my other two. I just want to be able to bend over and pick up toys without shifting my weight so I don't hurt myself, and we really just want this last little bundle to come and complete our family.

Since this is our third boy I also pretty much have everything I need for him, so I haven't really had to do much in preparation for his arrival.

We are just ready.

There are a few things, however, that have made the life of a pregnant woman a little easier now, things that weren't around when I had my other boys.

These ponchos are one of those things, and how I wish they had been around back then!

At least I will get to enjoy it with this last child, and of course share the news with you so you don't miss out!

This is the olive green poncho from Cover Me Ponchos.

The awesome thing about these is that it can be used at least 4 different ways!

Would you like to see how?

Amazing Sugar Cookies

Over the years we have tried a few different sugar cookie recipes.

This recipe is by far the best one we've tried and we will be sticking with it for sure!

I'm not a fan of sugar cookies where the actual cookie doesn't have any flavor, you know, the ones that just taste like flour... 

Maybe that's why I love these cookies, not only are they thick and soft, they are so flavorful!

 My boys request to make these cookies all the time, and one of the things they like best is to pick out random shapes from our cookie cutter stash. This last time when we whipped these up was right before Valentine's Day though, so we decided to go with heart shapes.

BBQ Chicken Marinade

Sometimes in the midst of these winter months, with all of the soups and stews and such, you want something a little lighter, like a taste of summer time.

This chicken is just that, I promise! 

This chicken is made on the stove in a skillet, so no need to go outside in the snow to fire up the grill! (But if it is warm where you are, by all means fire that baby up!)

This chicken is also very versatile and can be the main part of the meal or chopped up and thrown in a salad, which is what I love to do with the leftover pieces.

Mmmmm.

You do want the chicken to marinate for up to about 4 hours, so plan on throwing it together in advance and then just let it be for a while. If you are pressed for time you can let it marinate in as little as 30 min and go from there as well. I try to prepare it in advance and let it sit for the 4 hours.

Preparing for my Hospital stay

I'm one of those people who like to know what's coming.

Mostly because I like to be able to think something through a little bit so I can have a rough plan in my head of how I would handle the situation.
I don't need to always be in-control or have everything figured out, but it's nice to have an idea of what I would like to happen...if that makes sense.

Even though I still have a few weeks until my little guy makes his arrival I've already been keeping a list of the things I want to make sure I grab when we end up heading to the hospital.

I am not going to schedule an induction, I'm planning on just letting my body do it's thing and let me know when our little guy is ready to make his appearance.
The hard thing though, is I obviously have no idea what day, or even time of the day I need to be ready to go.

With my first child, I wasn't really expecting him to come 3 weeks early.
But he did.

FREE Lego Valentine printable

I have to start out by saying I am kind of proud of myself for getting this posted BEFORE the holiday!
Yay!
For the last two years my son has taken a Star Wars themed Valentine to school.
It says 'Yoda Best' and it has Yoda holding a light saber, which is where you put a glow stick, (you can check that FREE printable out here).
Back then when we discussed him taking Valentines to school it basically came down to it being 'boy approved'.
At his school they don't write the name of each person receiving the Valentine, only who it's from, so he wanted something that would apply to everyone.
When we were discussing the Valentines he would take this year it was the same story.
He didn't want to do Star Wars again though, he wanted to try a new theme.
A grocery store near us has a bulk candy section and they have these candy Lego bricks.
My son loves them. so he decided he wanted to give those out with a little Lego saying.
This is what we came up with.
Pretty 'boy approved' if you ask me ;)

He was really excited with how it turned out, and that was good enough for me!

To put these Valentines together we first printed out the printable.

I created these so that you can just print them on a regular 8x11 paper.

There are 15 Valentines on each page, so we printed 2 pages.

No-sew Quiet Book: Faces

I was organizing pictures on my computer the other day and came across these that I never posted from last year! Yes, last January I started making my toddler a few quiet book pages to keep in our church bag to help entertain him at church. I posted the other quiet book pages here on the blog, but somehow this one fell through the cracks.

Even though it's already been a year my toddler still plays with these pages during church. I don't know if it's because he only gets to see them once a week or what, but it's nice to see them still being used!

 This 'Faces' page was really easy to put together, I wasn't worried about perfect shapes and design I just wanted something quick and easy that my little guy could play with, and this is what I came up with.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Every so often I buy some bananas, with every intention of eating them of course, but it doesn't end up happening.

They always sit on my counter and never get touched.

In hopes of never wasting any bananas again, I turned to the internet to find an amazing recipe for banana bread.

I found this recipe from Rachel Ray and decided to give it a try. I did change a few things, and it turned out delicious!

I really like that it only makes 1 loaf of bread since I'm really the only one that eats it, and I end up scarfing it down within a day or two....anyways, on to the recipe!

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

First post of the new year and it's a yummy, hearty soup for the cold months we still have ahead!

I, along with everyone else I'm sure, have quite a few recipes that are seasonal.

I only want to make them, or even feel like making them, at certain times of the year.

This chowder is a prime example of that.  I actually crave making this soup on cold winter nights.

As soon as the cold weather starts up this recipe is added to our rotations and it usually makes an appearance once every other week.

I love that it's full of veggies, creamy, flavorful, and filling.

I found this recipe last year on Pinterest and changed it up just a little bit to make it my own.

It's one of the ways I can get my kids to willingly eat broccoli ;)