Easter Egg Hunt - think outside the wrapper!

Every Easter I undertake the task of hosting an Easter egg hunt for seven youngsters in our yard. Over the years the egg hunt has evolved and it is now in full swing of reaching 300 plastic filled eggs and four dozen confetti filled eggs. After buying two large bags of chocolates I found I still had half of my eggs to fill. I began thinking outside of the wrapper. My eggs this year are filled with several non-edible selections.

I wanted to share these options with you in case you were looking for a candy alternative.

1. Plastic figurines – Army Men, My little pony figures, and farm animals... etc.

2. Erasers – I picked up several varieties of erasers ranging from superheroes to butterflies.

3. Mini bubbles – these bubbles are small enough to fit into an egg and can be purchased in any party supply aisle.

4. Jewelry – I picked up items ranging in spider rings to dress up rhinestones.

5. Stickers – My kids go crazy for stickers and they love to put them on every piece of artwork they do.

6. Tattoos – I cut out individual tattoos from tattoo books and let the kids design their own artwork.

7. Sticky throwers – these are the small sticky figures you would throw onto a window and watch them crawl down the pain of glass. My kids always get a major kick out of these!

8. Mini decks of cards – I pick some of these up at the dollar store

9. Nail polish – My girls go crazy for nail polish and we found Disney polishes at Walmart for $.50!

10. Glow sticks – this year we are going to hold a secondary egg hunt in the evening where we will be locating glowing eggs filled with activated glow sticks. I think this will be a fun a new tradition that we can carry-on for years to come!

I hope you find this list helpful and I hope you and your family enjoy the Easter holiday!

Working From Home with Kids

Working from home and being a mother are two of the hardest things you can multitask! I currently work with four companies all working from home. Additionally, I have one child home two days out of the workweek. That means I juggle toddler activities as well as daily work tasks simultaneously. It's a wonder that things work as smoothly as they around the house.

With that being said, stress is a constant in our household. So I wanted to take this time to remind all the other working moms whether you work in or out of the home: "it's okay to take a break, it's okay to take some me time, and recharging your battery is absolutely necessary!" Traveling, spa breaks, and even TV binge sessions can go a long way! Shed the mommy guilt (easier said than done)!

I wanted to share some of these interesting SAHM (stay at home mom) articles:

Salary.com:

What is a Stay-at-Home Mom Worth?

Huffington Post:
7 Things NEVER To Say To A Stay-At-Home Mom
The Container Store:
Organize your Work Space


My personal computer - My kids & Dog had a great time helping me work :(

Cinnamon Whiskey Icing Tutorial

My Hubby is a Fireball lover...So naturally for his 30th birthday I whipped up some fireball cupcakes. They were so simple to make. Take your favorite butter-cream icing recipe (even canned icing is OK!) place the icing in a mixing bowl and add 1 oz of the whiskey to the icing. Then thicken the icing with powdered sugar (approx. 1/2 cup). Repeat this until you have reached your desired whiskey flavor. I used 3 oz and 1.5 Cup of powdered sugar.

The only difference I noticed with this icing is it spread a bit faster than normal so reaching a taller swirl on the cupcake was not possible. Once I placed the icing in the refrigerator it did firm up and make it easier to work with. I topped the cupcake with a Hot Tamale as I could not find Atomic Fireballs anywhere!

Happy Baking!!

Valentine's ideas!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! I have been busy crafting, cooking, and baking all day long, and thought I would take a minute to share a couple Valentine's Day ideas:

Strawberry Heart Kebabs - 

What you need: Bamboo Skewers, strawberries, and grapes

I began by removing the top of the strawberry by cutting a triangular shape to remove the stem. I rounded off the edges and insured there was a point at the bottom of the strawberry. After turning each strawberry into a heart I began placing them on to the skewer. I alternated between strawberries and grapes until I completed the entire length of the kebab.

This was a very simple and fun way to bring hearts into our Valentine's Day lunch.

"I love you" sound wave-

What you need: 4 x 6 picture frame (or size of your choice), printer paper (I decided to use shiny scrapbook paper), your iPhone, computer with windows, and printer.

This is a very cute and simple project that I completed in about 20 minutes. I began by using the voice memo app on my iPhone I recorded a wave of me saying "I love you". I then took a screenshot of the wave and sent it to my computer from there I cleaned up the image removing blurry edges in paint. I then inverted the colors in my image editor. I printed the picture on a pearlized scrap paper and placed it in a 4 x 6 frame. 

This is a way for my husband to publicly display a secret message just between the two of us.

Remember, today is the day all about  so send it out into the world :) Happy Valentine's day!!

Yummy Appetizer! Bacon wrapped Tater Tots!

I recently came across a very yummy appetizer recipe for Super Bowl Sunday. I tested it out I wanted to share with you all. 

The bacon wrapped tater tots were simple and easy to make:

First take 2 cups of frozen tater tots and bring them to room temperature. 

Next take 4 slices of bacon cut into quarters sprinkle cheese on the slices of bacon.

Take the bacon and wrap it around the tater tot. 

Next, sprinkle brown sugar on the wrapped tater tot. 

Lay the tater tot seem side down on a lightly greased pan and cook for 30 minutes at 350°.

Enjoy!

Original reciepe: http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/26/bacon-wrapped-tater-tot-bombs/

Planning...My Favorite Word!

I am a planner by nature but I do sometimes take it to extremes! I happily plan every minute of vacation, I am not certain what I enjoy more; the planning or the actual vacation. I get pleasure out of executing a good plan. The one thing I always need to remember is if the plan breaks don't break with it!

You can only plan so much. I usually make two or three options for each day; complete with maps, directions, pictures and website links. However, sometimes all the planning in the world cannot stop you from getting lost, being late, or just plain being too tired! We recently took a trip to Paris and London. We are from southern California so public transportation is foreign in itself then add french to the mix and we were lucky we were lost only a few times.

I schedule and make reservations for all my activities, which I highly recommend if you want to sight see in Paris, it saved endless time in lines. Getting lost would always threaten these plans, but with all my planning I could recall street names, buildings and landmarks to navigate by but I was always afraid of loosing my reservation. Needless to say, we never missed a reservation but I did have plenty of melt downs racing to make them. Over all, the tantrums of being lost and racing to make up time was well worth saving our appointments. On our next trip I will vow to take a few deep breaths before I fall apart and condemn my planning.

Now for my top FIVE planning recommendations in Paris, France:

Make your Eiffel Tower reservations at least 1 month in advance, in fact if you can you should  to stay up and actually click the exact reservation you want as it becomes live. Note:  If you are as scared of heights as I am but willing to sacrifice for an experience of a lifetime: I recommend closing your eyes going up but definitely look the way down, the elevators are glass and looking through the filigree of the tower is a sight you would regret missing.

Plan to use public transportation, the Metro is amazing, study it and learn what each little circle means. I love their metro site: http://www.ratp.fr/EN/

Book your Versaille ticket online. the lines are insane! Note: We took the train in and arrived about 30 minutes prior to the opening. The wait before probably saved us an hour plus we were able to bypass a few of the video rooms and be the first people in the Hall of Mirrors! Nothing like taking your picture alone in the hall of mirrors.

Visit a flea market, we had an amazing time and found great real french souvenirs. The street food was to die for here: http://jadoremonmarche.fr/marche-de-paris/11-eme/marche-bastille/#_=_

If you can swing it, hire a travel photographer, we went all over the surrounding areas of the Eiffel tower. The pictures are priceless and I get a tons of compliments. I will treasure these pictures for years to come. This is the company we used and we loved them: http://www.bettertravelphotos.com/paris-portrait-sessions


P.S. For those traveling with Kids I highly recommend Trekaroo.com, I always check here before planing a family trip!!

Fun Cookie Tutorial

This week I tried a new cookie technique.
I began with a simple sugar cookie recipe. Then I divided the dough into three colors. I took those three colors and maked small balls. I took one of each color and put them into one ball. Then, I rolled out the ball into a rope. I began twirling the dough into a circle. I added sprinkles to the dough for added flare. Then placed them onto the cookie sheet to bake. This was a fun technique and it went well with our Wizard of Oz theme! 

Please see my Pinterest attachment for pictorial directions. Enjoy!

Less is Less...and that is not always a bad thing

When my Husband and I purchased our home my first instinct was to fill up with as much stuff as possible. Over time, I realized maintaining all these items were becoming quite the task. Once I had children I quickly decided less is less: less cleaning, less organizing, and less time spent over menial tasks. I initiated my new philosophy by pairing down my decor by removing large furniture pieces and boxing up nick-naks. I have however, held onto many of these pieces in our garage which has now led me to declutter the place I sent my clutter in the first place.

My approach is, if I haven’t looked at it since I boxed it up I don’t need it. I open the box and decided Trash, Sell, or Donate. I try to sell anything I can first, then after my gallant attempt at making a dollar I pack up the items and immediately take them to goodwill. This is very important for 2 reasons. First, if I pack them up and leave them in my garage I will never part with them, I will lock them away in the back of my garage and my mind. Secondly, there is no better time to donate your items then right after a sale. You already know what you have and you will not need to go through the boxes again. This will save you valuable time.

Another important tactic I used to declutter is to give myself a goal. This could be a monetary goal or a space driven goal. My goal is usually, if I sell $X then I can take my kids to Y. I have also used the goal of clearing space to create a craft area or reading nook, etc. I try to create goals that will motivate me to complete the entire process. My long term goal for no clutter is:  The fewer items in the house, the fewer items I need to dust, pick up, or eventually get rid of. I use this goal to evaluate if I want to bring something new into the house. This method has saved me a lot time and endless amounts of money

I will be sharing some of my favorite techniques for declutter throughout the week. Best of luck to anyone trying to keep their less clutter resolution this year.

My Coffee Addiction

Hi! My name is Elizabeth and I am an Addict….a coffee addict. OK, so all jesting aside, how do I know when I need to stop. I LOVE coffee, but it has not always been this way. It wasn't until I went back to work after my first child that I found a new appreciation for coffee...go figure! I have to say I like my coffee full flavored and always with a taste of Chocolate. I began by making hot chocolate and pouring in a touch of coffee. Then little by little I was only adding a touch of cocoa. I found myself racing to the break room to be the first one to make coffee…I use to pour out the first pot if someone beat me to it. I had a special blend I hid in the back shelf, thinking back, as a new mother it was the most exhilarating part of my day. Now, being at home most of my days I find my obsession has taken a turn. My counter is cluttered with all things coffee. I have 2 Aerolattes, 2 coffee machines, 1 espresso machine and boxes of capsules and k-cups.

My  new prized possession is my Nespresso Machine. The elite feeling it provides me renews that exhilarating sensation.  Each Morning I concoct the perfect blend of chocolaty smooth caffeine that will jolt me into my day…at least until 3:30 when I need a cup of coffee again. I usually reserve this time of day for an iced drink typically brewed by my Keurig or straight from the carton of International delight. For a while I considered buying stock in International Delight as I was surely spiking revenues with my multi-carton purchases every time I walked in a grocery store. At one point I was bringing iced coolers with me in the car so I could purchase more ID while picking up my kids from school, it was all becoming too complex. I am glad to say my Nespresso has helped me cut down my coffee purchases outside of the home and at a mere $.70 per cup I am very satisfied with this option.

So, yes, I am an addict such that my life does revolve around when am I going to get my next cup of coffee but I can stop at any time…I CAN

How do you take your coffee?

Traditions - Holding True or Letting go

I have always been one for strong traditions: creating, keeping, and holding true. However, as a mother myself and seeing how my children are growing and evolving I have noticed the same needs to be applied to our Traditions. As a mother it is hard to separate yourself from decades of tradition and still make way for new ones with your children.  I have learned the art of alternate planning and providing options to my extended family. My husband and I both have large families; at least I think 30+ family members at every event are considered large. We have made many compromises over our past 8 years of marriage. We started out doing it ALL, which wore us out real quick, but once we added kids to the mix I started alternate planning. In this method I offer the family in question (his or mine) alternate plans. These options offer our family the ability to keep a tradition but in a new way. It sometimes takes some getting use to but compromise helps keep our family traditions going even if they need to be celebrated in a new way.

Thanksgiving is a great example, our hosting families are fortunate to be a mere 35 miles away from each other. We have instituted a switch for each year such that we spend the morning with one family and then dinner with the other. Yes, we still see both but we are not asked to consume two meals like we did in our “honeymoon” years. Alternatively, on Easter WE now host both families. I found a Holiday that was a bit bare in traditions and made it the centerpiece of our year. Everyone gets to be together and I don’t have to leave my house, talk about a win-win.

Alternatively, some traditions do not need to be changed but  let go. As hard as it is to let go of a tradition it is necessary to give up something to allow for change. This year a fairly new tradition had to be forgone due to circumstances beyond our control, instead we found an alternate plan to better accommodate our circumstance…But, the question remains: From here where do we go? Do we go back to the old tradition, make a new one, or just go one with life before the tradition was started? This is where I find myself throwing my hands up and saying whatever will be will be…I am not going to think today I will think about that next year. How very Scarlet O’Hara of me but nonetheless I think it fits this situation.

The best tradition is one that brings family together no matter how long it has been upheld. It is helpful to be open to change and stay flexible, but if you are bending over backwards to keep a tradition alive maybe it is no longer possible. Remember life is made up of traditions but traditions cannot dictate life. Regardless of what the tradition is, you do not have to be a slave to the past, try to incorporate your mom, wife, and personal style in old traditions because that is one way to ensure they live for years to come.

Let’s make this a week of Traditions, what traditions do you uphold without change and what new traditions have you created for your family?

 

Tradition: Tree Decorating