I have always seen the Today Show's Steals and Deals, but I have never found anything I really wanted or could justify buying. Well Brad and I love to buy and make iced coffee. One day they had a steal for a cold brew coffee maker. It was $24 for the coffee maker as well as the travel bottle. The total of those items were $55, so that is quite a bit of savings!
My sister in law is due with her second little girl at the end of November. I know it is not customary to through a huge baby shower for the second baby, but I still wanted to do something for her. I decided to throw her a sprinkle. She just invited family, and we kept it small and simple. I will post links to a few posts later going into the details of how I did a few things, but overall you can check out the Baby Sprinkle below!
I found this recipe in one of my Family Circle magazines. The only reason I noticed it was because I wanted to try the chicken recipe attached to it. Then I noticed the chicken recipe also included a squash salad recipe. Check it out below.
Is it weird to see a recipe on a day other than Friday?!? Well this really isn't a recipe so to speak. The pictures speaks for what the recipe is. But I did want to share it because it was really yummy nonetheless. I found this "recipe" on Pinterest. You can customize it anyway you want. The base is lettuce, then the toppings are up to you! I added avacado, sour cream, salsa, taco meat, cheddar cheese, and green onions. I lined it all up nice and pretty, then I mixed it altogether to eat! Yummy!
A few years ago I posted a budget spreadsheet template that we have been using regularly. This year I decided to make a change to next year's spreadsheet. I wanted to put all of the entries in one tab instead of individual monthly tabs. I did this so that we had a better view for the entire year if we wanted to view it that way. You can still filter by month if you want to view it that way too. The budget itself is still by month, but you can still view it yearly too. I have been using this new version for September and so far in October, and we have loved it. I wanted to go ahead and share it with you all in case you want to start working on your 2018 budget!
So many months ago, I saw this delicious looking recipe being made on the Today Show. I used to get a lot of my recipe ideas from the Today Show. These days I don't watch the Today Show quite as frequently. We would watch it a lot at 9 am, but when they replaced Today's Take with Megyn Kelly Today, I stopped watching that hour altogether. I gave it a chance, but I didn't care for the setup. Anyhow, I decided to make this recipe after seeing it, and I really enjoyed it. My only complaint is I didn't care for how the tater tots reheated for leftovers. I think this is a great dish to serve to a larger family or gathering. Brad ate the leftovers without complaint though.
A few years ago I did a post about how I make our monthly menu and grocery lists. A lot about how I do that has not changed, but I did want to update you on how I actually decide on our meals these days. Being a stay at home mom means cooking in a lot more. Having a baby means not traveling and going out as much in general. So I have had to make a few adjustments to my process. The steps are still the same for the most part. I will refer to each of the steps and note any changes I have made to accommodate our new needs.
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?!
