Family Traditions

I love having my own set of family traditions!  and I love sharing these traditions with our friends as well.  I hope my daughter can look back and have fond memories of our holiday activities and one day share these same experiences with her family. 

Giving Thanks

This year I was in charge of appetizers. Mia and I made these super yummy meatballs.

cocktail meatballs recipe

I am thankful for many many things...

I am thankful for my family!

 

I am thankful for my warm bed & roof over my head

I am thankful for my morning cup of fresh ground coffee
I am thankful for living in the southern California with 15 minutes to the beach, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. 
I am thankful for DVR
I am thankful for the moments alone in my car when I can blast Bad Religion instead of Justin Bieber
I am thankful for the best group of mommy friends anyone could ever have
I am thankful for having the sweetest group of loving kiddos in my class year after year

Kids Bowl Free

 


Select bowling centers and schools around the country are participating in the first ever Kids Bowl Free program. This program is designed by bowling centers to give back to the community and provide a safe, secure, and fun way for kids to spend time this summer.

Children whose age does not exceed a limit by a participating bowling center are eligible to register for 2 free games a day, all summer long, courtesy of the participating bowling centers along with the schools and organizations. 

http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ 

A Spring garden from an Urban gardener

Snapshots before the summer harvest begins

artichokes, peppers, sweet peas, and pumpkins

heirloom tomatoes and herbs

more tomatoes, peppers and cilantro

and even more tomatoes

yellow crookneck squash

green beans

Some mores please...

Spring has those perfect fire pit nights.  It's not too cold where the thought of sitting outside just seems insane and it's not too hot where having a fire just seems weird when your trying to stay cool. 

Fire pit = Smores

Mmmm... smores are so so so underrated, especially when you use some quality ingredients.  Well Saturday night was our ooey  gooey smores night.  

Sunday left me with a lot of extra marshmallows.  

So...

I made cupcakes.  Ooey gooey smores cupcakes.  I made these same cupcakes for my daughter's birthday party, and they were so good people were hiding them to take home.  After the party I found a couple of them in some interesting spots around the house.

This is my super easy not from scratch recipe, except the frosting.  Frosting always has to be from scratch!!!

You really can't go wrong with Trader Joe's

Just follow the recipe on the cake box and add marshmallows

Don't overfill the cupcakes because the marshmallows expand

Cool then frost with butter cream frosting and dip cupcake in crushed graham cracker crumbs

I add the chocolate square because Fair Trade Trader Joe's Swiss milk chocolate is insanely good

I also made baby bite size cakes

For the frosting I used this recipe

1-lb. box of C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar

 add 1 cup softened butter (2 stick)

¼ cup of cream

1 tsp. of vanilla

1 cup of brown sugar

blend until smooth and fluffy

my ice princess

A cool break before homework on a Wednesday afternoon.  How did we find time to squeeze one more weekly activity in?

It is definitely worth it to see how happy she is!

Spring planting

Mia's art easel.  I hate to leave the chalkboard canvas empty when it's not in use!

 

 

I try to use every bit of space I have

I planted lots of tomatoes, artichoke, sweet peas, green beans, brussel sprouts and eggplant.

Everything needed to make salsa

A perfect hiding spot

Our weekend breakfast

Mia's new favorite breakfast is Eggs Benedict.  When we are not hitting up a good brunch spot (and I sure do love me some Champagne Brunch) we make this at home.  Sometimes we make it for dinner.

who took the cookie from the cookie jar?

A little Valentine lunchbox treat.

Starts with this

sugar cookie dough

cut out your perfect shapes and bake

with super simple super yummy coconut frosting tucked in the middle

1-lb. box of Powdered Sugar

 1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)

¼ cup of cream

and 3 tsp. of coconut extract

Blend it all together

and end up with

and happy lunch boxes!

Our MaD HaTTer TEa PaRtY

This year is the first year we had our daughter's birthday party at home.  We are blessed with so, so, so many wonderful friends it was very hard to limit our invites.  I felt so bad that we couldn't invite many of the people that have been celebrating our daughter's birthday with us the last seven years.  We definitely reached our maximum capacity that day

I originally wanted something quaint, a little Mad Hatter Tea Party in the patio.  Maybe we will do the park next year...

Heart Suckers from The Idea Room

For Renee

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

These turned out really good!

For the cake I used this recipe
chocolate-butter-cake-recipe

For the frosting I used this recipe

1-lb. box of C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar

simply add 1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)

¼ cup of cream

and 1 tsp. of vanilla

and 6 crushed up  trader joe's vanilla bean joe joe's

Blend 

and I topped each cupcake with a cookie