A few weeks ago we visited Lyons Family Farms to see their Pumpkin Patch. We went last year, so I suppose we have started a yearly tradition. This year the girls were obviously older, so they were able to do a lot more. The other big difference was the temperature. Last year we were super cold, especially that morning. This year we were burning up. I had to go out the day before and get short sleeve dresses for the girls since their long sleeves wouldn't work!
Since Halloween is right around the corner, I wanted to share some different ideas for food you can have at your Halloween gatherings!
Recently I decided I wanted to learn how to fold a fitted sheet. Our sheet drawer was getting super junky, and I was having trouble fitting all of our sheets in them. So I did some googling, and I found out how! See below.
Melody's first Disney on Ice experience was last year. We decided to take her again this year but with Emily, Justin, and Lydia. The show was in Birmingham which is only about 1.5 hours away, so we were able to day trip it. Read about our experience below!
I wanted a yummy dessert one evening, and I saw in a Parent's Magazine where parents would combine different things to make "sandwiches". I decided to make our own ice cream sandwiches. It was super easy to do, but it does take a bit of time to set in the freezer.
We recently went to the beach for a wedding. We decided to make Melody a little "happy" for the beach. It was fairly inexpensive (minus the Bitty Baby clothes), and it is super cute.
In early September, we went to Destin, FL for a family beach trip with my in-laws. Brad's cousin was getting married there, so we decided to make it a full vacation. Melody's first beach trip was August 2016 when she was about 3 months old. She didn't get to spend too much time on the actual beach on that trip though. This would be the first trip where she was mobile and would get to experience the ocean and sand.
I have been wanting to make stuffed bell peppers for quite some time. We even have passed by some at Costco that we considered buying, but we always talked ourselves out of it. I found this recipe, and I decided to give it a try. I liked the idea it wasn't whole bellpeppers but little "boats".
So I am SUPER late posting these pictures! Melody turned one year old on May 25. I posted her "informal" pictures a while back. Those are just pictures I took with her monthly stickers. I actually took a few of these formal pictures myself. The ones with her chalkboard and ice cream banners are ones I took. I was just messing around one day and decided to attempt to take a few. My aunt also took some of her more formal ones. We had to attempt these pictures twice. Melody did not cooperate in the first set of pictures [you'll notice the grumpier face]. The second time around, her pictures were super great [at least the pictures we will be using for her panel]!
Brad and I purchased the Ring doorbell back in August last year. We talked about doing it for awhile, but we wanted to keep looking for that "best" deal. On one of our first dates after having Melody, we decided to make a trip to Costco. I know, I know. You are thinking "Costco for a date?", but hey, we love Costco. AND we were not ready to take Melody to Costco yet. We have obviously taken her since then though!
I found this baked ziti recipe while surfing Pinterest. We have made a baked ziti before in the crockpot, but it turned out awful. I was slightly fearful that this may turn out the same, but it was exceptionally good. It is a fairly easy recipe too!
One thing I have always wanted in our kitchen is under cabinet lighting. One day while visiting Costco, we found a deal on some puck lights. I can't exactly remember how much they cost, but Amazon now sells the exact same ones for $23. They are made by Capstone and come with 6 wireless lights and a remote. We decided to test these out to see if we would really like the lighting. We do love having the lights, and we hope to install something more permanent in the future.
So I have been meaning to write about the Baby Care Centers at Walt Disney World for quite a while. I mean we last visited them in February! However, it has been falling on the back burner. With us planning another trip at Christmas, I decided I probably need to look back at the Baby Care Centers for myself for some planning purposes. So why not write about them now?!
Brad loves Philly Cheesesteaks. Me, not so much. Mainly because I do not care for beef as much as he does. I was searching for some new recipes to try in August, and I ran across a crockpot Philly Cheesesteak recipe. I knew I didn't want the steak, so I changed the recipe up some and used chicken. My version is below!
Emily and I decided to take our girls to a splash pad for the first time recently. We waited until school was back in session so that the crowds would be fairly small. Our local outdoor mall has a fun splash pad that is free that we used.
Our summer vacation this year was a trip back to the Opryland Resort. Brad and I have been a handful of times, and we even went last year at Christmas with Melody. Our experience this visit was much different than our trip at Christmas for a number of reasons. Melody is older and mobile; she eats more than baby food now; she doesn't have a cold; it was much warmer; the resort was far less crowded; and there was construction going on at the resort. We opted to go mid-August to avoid any of the out-of-school crowds that may also use this as a vacation resort. And to also help with the crowds, we decided to go in the middle of the week (Wednesday-Friday).
Brad bought me a Silhouette Cameo 3 for Christmas last year. I wanted one for a while, and I was ecstatic when he finally bought me one. I started doing projects almost immediately. As you may have read, a lot of Melody's first birthday was done using my Cameo. Below are some of the projects I have done so far!
Greeting cards are so expensive to buy these days. We usually buy a large box set from Costco containing a large variety of greeting cards to always have on hand. However, I like to give Brad something more personal. For his birthday, I decided to make cards for him from both Melody and me. See them both below.
I love BBQ Sauce, but we rarely use it for some reason. I guess in my mind, BBQed items are meant for the grill. Well while visiting my parents, they made BBQ Pork Chops (on the grill), and I decided to attempt them myself but in a skillet. I personally don't care to grill. I like food from the grill, but you won't find me using it. I liked this so much, I may try it on chicken sometime soon too!
