Care Bear Birthday Cake and Rainbow Cupcakes (Little Sweets turns 3!)

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Our "baby" girl turned 3 recently, and I have to share a few photos from her special day! Her favorite books right now are the Care Bears books (the old school ones that were mine when I was little) so she wanted me to make her a Care Bear cake. Here it is!

It was interesting trying to transform the Wilton Care Bear cake pan (which was one of the new Care Bears) to Wish Bear from the old books. Little Sweets' favorite color is blue so I wanted to make a blue Care Bear... the other options were Grumpy Bear and Bedtime Bear, hence our choice to make Wish Bear!

And on to the cupcakes, which made because there were a lot of people coming to the party and we needed more cake. Here's a close-up shot of them, inspired by a Pinterest find!

The candy rainbows are Airheads Xtremes (rainbow berry sour candy). I found them in the Dollar Spot at Target--one package was enough for 24 cupcakes (cut them in half). If you're going to make these, wait until you're just about to serve them before adding the rainbows. I used homemade buttercream frosting and it worked well because the frosting hardened a bit and could hold them up better.

For the favors, I made some rainbow candy lollipops. I bought the candy mold from a local craft store and painted in the rainbows with those candy melts you get from craft stores.

Happy Birthday to our Little Sweets!

my Christmas present to myself (and my family and God)

I'm giving myself a blogging vacation for Christmas! I need to re-focus on what Christmas is all about and enjoy time with my family away from the computer.

I feel like God has really been working on my perspective lately in my alone time, in my conversations with my Sweets, and through a book called Crazy Love that our Sunday school class is reading right now. I want to share a little bit about that with you and how it affects this blog.

I used to try to make time to read the Bible and/or pray in the mornings, and now I find myself waking up and getting on the computer right away. I want to see what's happening in Blogland, check my Google Analytics stats and RSS subscription numbers, browse Pinterest, read through emails, etc. My priorities have obviously shifted and I don't think it's for the better.

When I stop to think about all the ways I could be spending my time, I want my choices to please God. I know that it is entirely possibly to blog for the glory of God, and I hope that some of the things I've done on this blog (like this or this) have made God happy.

I also want my choices to honor my family. We have made sacrifices for me to be a stay-at-home-mom. I want to prove that decision right and I humbly confess to you that I may do all the SAHM things (cook, craft, love), but I'm not good at just being with Little Sweets. As she gets older, I want her to remember that her mommy spent quality time with her and didn't "just a minute" her all the time.

I am also refocusing some of my time to be more intentional about teaching Little Sweets. I'm pre-preschool-homeschooling. Is that a thing? =) I've collected tons of ideas on my Preschool at Home board and I'm starting slowly. It's so exciting to see the tangible rewards of what I invest in her.

So I'm taking a step back from blogging.

I'm not going to delete or disown my blog... I'll probably be back to post things here and there. I'm definitely keeping up with my Etsy business for the reasons I mentioned here. But you won't be hearing from me as often on my blog.

If you want to find projects that have been popular on my blog thus far, please check out My Gallery!

Thank you to all my awesome readers and followers who have encouraged me, taught me and given me more confidence in my life!


Are you giving yourself anything for Christmas?

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins (from scratch) - Recipe

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Who needs a family's-in-town breakfast recipe? Blueberry Muffins from scratch are the perfect treat during the holidays... filling, crowd-pleasing and (mostly) healthy. Time to use up your stash of late-summer blueberries in the freezer!

When my mom and her sisters were young, they would go to a department store in Boston, Massachusetts called Jordan Marsh where they sold Blueberry Muffins. Somehow, someone got the recipe and the rest is history.

If you've never had blueberry muffins made from scratch, just you wait. These are so yummy and you definitely won't miss that sugary crumb topping that I usually love so much on (store-bought) blueberry muffins.

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

(Click here to download printable .pdf file)

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup milk

2 cups blueberries

nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin pan or line with paper baking cups.

In a small bowl, stir flour and baking powder together. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to creamed mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Fold in blueberries (if frozen, toss with 2-3 tsp. flour from the measured amount to keep them from sinking and leaking) and nuts.

Pour or scoop dough into muffin pan (dough will be thick). Bake for 30 minutes until gorgeous and golden.

Craving more yummy creations? Check out my other recipes here!

Our cruise to the Bahamas: Celebrating 10 years of marriage!

We just got home from our first cruise! We celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary, which fell on Thanksgiving this year.

We enjoyed a delicious bottle of wine on our anniversary which we had bought on our 5-year anniversary in Napa Valley, California and saved for this special occasion! (In case you're wondering, it was V. Sattui Cabernet Sauvignon from 2004.)

Little Sweets enjoyed her special window seat in our cabin. I freaked out right after I took this picture--I saw dolphins playing in the water while we were still in the port in Charleston, South Carolina! One of her favorite parts of each day was coming back to our cabin after dinner to discover what animal the housekeepers had made from towels. The monkey hanging from the ceiling was definitely a favorite!

Okay, now on to the photos you all want to see: the Bahamas! Our first port was Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. We went snorkeling and I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any photos from that day.

In our second and last port, Nassau, we got an awesome tour of the island. We had lunch at Compass Point and it was definitely the most colorful place I've ever seen!

 

The water there was so beautiful. I could've eaten every meal of the cruise with this view.

I couldn't resist walking around the property and taking photos.

Our last day of the cruise ended with a beautiful display of God's creativity...

...a rainbow on one side of the ship:

 ...and a sunset on the other side:

God is good and He has blessed us so much in the past 10 years of marriage. It was so fun to be able to celebrate this milestone with our little family!

Fall Foliage in New England

It's Autumn! I was just browsing through some old pictures and found these from a trip we took to Massachusetts and Connecticut several years ago in the fall. It's amazing to see all the colors of God's creation!

The first four are from Boston and Cambridge:

Anyone on my mom's side of the family will recognize this last photo, which has a sentimental meaning to me (and probably to them, too).

It was taken near my grandparent's farm in Connecticut. I have so many good memories of times spent with my siblings and cousins exploring the woods, walking to the cemetery with the big lion statues, climbing on the giant rocks, and playing in the brook.

It was great to see all those cousins, aunts and uncles a couple of weekends ago when we celebrated my Grandma's 90th birthday in Arizona. We'll be back in 10 years, Gram!

(Linking up to Kanelstrand blog's Through the Looking Glass project.)

90 years old and Veteran's Day!

A BIG Happy Birthday to my Gramma, who turns 90 tomorrow!

And thank you to all who have served or are serving our nation's military (and to their Families, too). Happy Veteran's Day!

POW-MIA Flag & American Flags Photograph by dvtwist

Enjoy the weekend!

Alice in Wonderland Halloween costume

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10 Tricky Treats to make this Halloween (Creepy Halloween Party Food!)

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My mom always makes the coolest food for her office holiday parties. She's very creative and an awesome cook! This week, she emailed me the link to what she made for the Halloween party, Melted Witches. People are so creative!

If you have a Halloween party this weekend or just want to make something fun for your family on Halloween, here are tutorials for 10 Tricky Treats!

Melted Witches by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Blood Slide Suckers by Forkable

Trick or Treats Cake Pops by Bakerella

Eyeball Caprese by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Witch's Fingers by Magda's cauldron

Ghost Cake by i am baker

Jell-O Worms by The Idea Room

Halloween Cupcakes by My Cake School

Screaming Red Punch with Hand by Real Simple

Yummy Mummy Cupcakes by BH

If you're in the mood for less trick and more treat, check out Libby's Glazed Pumpkin Cookies, made by me!

Libby's Glazed Pumpkin Cookies by SweeterThanSweets

Our trip to California - Part 2: Pumpkin Patch

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A Perfect Saturday.

Today has been a perfect Saturday.

I slept in until 8 a.m., then made myself a delicious double-tall White Chocolate Mocha. It tasted like the cappuccinos that my Sweets and I enjoyed at the cafe near our hotel in Rome (after we added 4 sugars to it).

Then our little family enjoyed a brunch of waffles with fresh-cut strawberries, scrambled eggs and a Fall favorite of mine, Libby's Glazed Pumpkin Cookies!

I'm going to share the not-so-secret recipe for these Pumpkin Cookies later this week so stay tuned! Here's the recipe for Libby's Glazed Pumpkin Cookies.

After we stuffed ourselves, we settled into a couch full of blankets and pillows for Family Movie Morning. Little Sweets can't really sit through a whole movie, but it was so cozy and I got lots of cuddles from her and my Sweets.

Then nap time for Little Sweets and time to get ready for a date night tonight, courtesy of our MOPs chapter. Tonight I'm going to enjoy some quality time with my hubby!

In other words... it's a Perfect Saturday.

Our trip to California - Part 1: San Francisco and Apple Hill

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California Love

We just got back from a trip to California to meet our newborn niece and spend time with the rest of our families. Little Sweets is in withdrawal from all the fun she had with her many cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents!

I can't wait to share more pictures with you soon! Now all I have to do is download the rest, pick the best ones, edit them, and post them... =)

Also on the back-from-vacation to-do list: ditch the pounds we picked up feasting on our favorite California cuisine like See's candies, Baja Fresh, BJ's Pizza (or, more specifically, Pizookies) and of course, In-N-Out Burger.

The 15 Best Family-Friendly DIY Halloween Costumes for Adults

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After getting a great response from my awesome readers on my posts featuring the Cutest DIY Kids' Halloween Costumes and Cutest Handmade Kids' Halloween Costumes on Etsy, I decided to pull together the best DIY adult costumes for you...

But then when I started searching, I realized what "adult Halloween costumes" usually means... trust me, it was hard to find wholesome grown-up costumes, especially for us ladies. So I did the work for you and I now present you with the 15 best family-friendly DIY costumes for adults!

Real Life Lichtenstein Comic Girl by M.A.C. Cosmetics

Spider Web Mama and Baby by Martha Stewart

Pregnant Skeleton and Matching Husband by Make It And Love It

No-Sew Jellyfish by Martha Stewart

Sock Monkey by HGTV

No-Sew Bat Costume by Martha Stewart

Dino Man by My Li'l Pumpkin

Optimus Prime by dannyeurena

Popeye by mikeasaurus

Paparazzi by cockeyed

Toy Army Man by PuckstoppingPoke

And now for the Best Family Costumes:

The Incredibles by Freshly Completed

 B.L.T. Sandwich by Parents

S'mores Family by Disney's Family Fun

Cop and Robbers by Living Locurto

It seems like this is turning into a blog series. How about DIY pet costumes next?

Emotional Animals Game: Teach Kids about Emotions

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Just in case you missed my guest post over at Craftionary last week...

I'm sharing with you a tutorial and game that you can play with kids ages 2 through 6. (Older kids would probably enjoy it, too, especially helping teach the younger ones.) Young children tend to relate well to animals. So why not use animals to help teach kids about emotions in a charades-style game?

I graduated with my Master's degree in School Psychology 2 weeks before Little Sweets was born and I became a stay-at-home-mom. Now that she is 2 years old, I've been enjoying finding ways to help her learn to recognize and deal with her emotions.

The Emotional Animals Game is played by rolling the "dice" and acting out whatever you roll. Let's let Little Sweets show you how it's done:

Easy as that!

All you really need for this game is a permanent marker and two square solid-colored blocks from a set like this:

I painted two of Little Sweets' unfinished wood square blocks with some craft store paint, but that is totally optional.

Now you're going to want to pick out some emotions to write on one of your dice. There are four basic emotions, from which most other emotions come: mad, sad, happy and scared. Then there are plenty of other options for you to pick from. Just think about which feelings or states you'd want to teach your child(ren) about.

Next, pick six animals that are relatively easy to mimic. We chose: cat, dog, monkey, cow, mouse and elephant. (Elephant is a little harder than the others...maybe a bird would've been easier?)

Now let's see your best "silly dog"!

Hmmm, what would a scared elephant look like?

This game can also be taken a step further, depending on your child's readiness to explore emotions deeper. For instance, when Little Sweets acts out a mad animal, we can talk about the best ways to handle anger. Put it in terms of how an animal might react because, again, young children tend to relate well to animals.

I hope you and your kids enjoy playing this game and learning about emotions together!