Digging to Find China

There are fewer things A loves about playing outside more than getting to play in her turtle sandbox. She loves feeling it between her toes and using her little shoves to scoop up and dump out the sand. Tonight, her and Josh were out playing in the sandbox, and Josh was using a couple fingers to dig around in the sand. He told A, "I'm digging to find China!" A pushes his hand out of the way, puts her eyes right down next to the hole he had been digging and shouts to the top of her lungs, "CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINA, where AAAAAAAAAAARE you?!?!" repeatedly. I was actually inside, but could hear her through the windows. I ran outside to find out what in the world she was doing, and Josh was sitting on the deck rolling with laughter, and little A-bug had her hands up like she was looking for something with the most confused look on her face. This post really has no point other than this was something hilarious I didn't want to forget :)

A-bug's Favorite Bedtime Books

If you have followed this blog any length of time, you will know that since birth, Aria has loved books. She loves the pictures, she loves being read to, she likes reading to her Elmo and Abbie dolls, and she loves making up stories to go with the pictures in her books. Some of the best memories I have are of listening to Aria over the monitor reading to herself and her animals. I can tell what books she's reading now by the words she says, and I love it. 

Getting A calmed down for bedtime is sometimes easier said than done, and reading these books helps calm her down and signals to her that bedtime is near. She gets quieter and sometimes we even get some snuggles for a few minutes while we're reading to her. Then, right before bed, J takes her to her room, turns on her sound machine and sings "Jesus Loves Me" to her... now she'll sing with him, which is just too sweet.

How do you signal to your kids that it's time for bed? Do you have a routine that you do nightly? 

Here are some of her favorite " bedtime bookies" and the words she knows from them. 

She actually can say "I love you to and to" and knows almost all the words just by seeing the page. It's a favorite of hers, and I love reading it to her.

She calls this one "much love you!" and usually makes up a story about the rabbits dancing and jumping and always throws something in there about the moon at the end, right on cue with the most famous line "I love you to the moon...and back."

I read her this one just about every night and many times right before nap time. She knows most of the key words like "mouse," "cow over moon," "hush" etc. As I read it to her, I get quieter and quieter, which is kind of a signal to her that bed is coming.

She adores this book about all the different things that everyone loves. And the rhymes always end, "Elmo loves you!" and she'll finish it with me. And she always gives Elmo a kiss at the end of the book, just like he asks for :)

I think the reason she loves this book so much is because it has the word "cookie" in it so many times :) She knows "mouse" and "nap" and at the end she always says "share with friend."

This one's self-explanatory. We have a lot of ABC style books, but this one is her favorite with all the flaps and the different animals. She always sings the alphabet song when she gets to the end, too, which is adorable :)

Family Favorite Recipe: Cup 'o Cobbler

Let me start off by saying that this recipe is not original to me. I'm not sure who started it first, but my mom, aunt and grandma have all made this as long as I can remember, and I'm most certainly not going to mess with that kind of tradition. Since we all know what a stellar cook I am, you know if I'm making it that it's going to be easy. Let it also be known that in all the dozens of times I've made this, it's never turned out badly. Ever. That's how easy it is.

There's a reason it's called "Cup 'o Cobbler," and that's because the only measurement you need to remember is 1 cup. Like I said, easy as pie. Or cobbler rather.

1 stick of Butter 

1 cup of Bisquick   

1 cup of Sugar

1 cup of Milk

1 can of peaches OR 1 bag of frozen berries
Cinnamon to taste

Brown Sugar (for crunchy, yummy topping)

I always make this dish in a Pyrex 9x9, because I can just throw the stick of butter in the dish and pop it in the microwave to melt it. The butter needs to be melted completely. While the butter is melting, combine the Bisquick, sugar and milk together. Add this mixture straight to the Pyrex with the now-melted butter. Dump the fruit on top. Add your sprinkling of cinnamon and/or brown sugar as desired. Bake at 350 for about 40 mins, or until golden brown and bubbly. Bam. That's it. 

GB&B
(golden brown and bubbly)

My family really has no preference between the peach an berry variations of this classic - they're both delicious. In fact, the last time I made this, I accidentally used peach pie filling instead of canned peaches, and it was just as yummy. That's how fail-proof this is. It's the perfect EASY ending to a meal when it's both chilly outside or for a summer evening. Who doesn't love cobbler?

Pumpkin Muffins: Another Fall Pin-Win!

We've all seen this pin over the past month or so: 

Source Link

I have really wanted to try it, since recipes with more than 5-6 ingredients cause me to break out in hives. Pumpkin is also one of J's favorite flavors, so I wanted to make something yummy for him as well. These seemed to be the perfect, no-fail muffins. Even if I mess up, I've only spent about $2-3, so it's all good :)

First thing I did was read all the comments under the original post so I could get the best results possible, and I'm glad I did. I ended up subbing out Spice Cake mix for the regular vanilla, adding 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of Mexican vanilla (which I add to everything anyways.) I also sprinkled brown sugar on top of the muffins before baking.

So here's the recipe and process:

1 Spice Cake mix

15 oz. of canned pumpkin

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brown Sugar to taste

Mix the first 4 ingredients together. pre-heat oven to 350. Line muffin tin with .... liners. (Aren't they called something else? "Liners" seems redundant...) Fill muffin liners. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Bake for 20 mins. Consume. I mean, seriously. Does it get easier than that?! 

Mmmm...you know you want some! :)

I kid you not, before the second batch was out of the oven, we had already eaten half of the first, they are that good. A-bug broke down into tears when I wouldn't give her more, after she ate a whole one and half of mine... they are SO GOOD. J added cream cheese frosting on top because he's a sugar addict, but that's not necessary if you're trying to save on calories or sugar or whatever. Oh, and did I mention these are only about 100 calories?! Seriously?! Which is probably why I didn't feel guilty about eating 4. Yes, 4. Don't judge me.

Note: these can also be made with Devil's food cake and chocolate chips, but per my mother, the chocolate ones aren't as good as the regular Spice Cake mix ones. You can also add raisins if you prefer, which I may do for J later. I see a lot of batches of these in our future. 

Decorating on a Budget: Fall Decor Edition

So, if you haven't figured out that I absolutely LOVE Autumn, you haven't read enough recent blog posts. There are so many beautiful ways to decorate for Fall, and another bonus is that you can leave it all up from September till Thanksgiving. That's almost 3 months of seasonal decor done in one fell swoop, which is awesome for busy moms like me.

Before, when we were living in the apartment, we were so cramped, the extent of my Fall decorating was hanging a scare crow on our door, switching out the fake flowers in my kitchen's vase and setting out the Fall edition Reese's. Kinda sad. But not this year! This year I have a house to decorate! And I am so excited about this fact! My hubby (and his wallet)? ....not so much. So here's part of what I did in my living room for Fall this year to stay on budget while appeasing my inner Candice Olson.

The pumpkins are slightly unbalanced in this pic because
Aria had been playing with them right before I snapped this.

First off, I have an automatic advantage when decorating for both Fall and Christmas because my living areas are already green with pops of red. This was not intentional, but I will say it makes giving off a seasonal  ambiance for both of these major decorating seasons a lot easier. I got the candle holders at Ikea for CHEAP and couldn't love them more. They have a ton to choose from, and you can see all their candle holder options here. Mine are the dark brown finish, but they also have a white option that could conceivably be spray painted any other color you need. I also got the candles at Ikea for an awesome price - $10 for a 3 pack of the red candles and the white block candle was $5, I believe. I have not found another place on the planet where you can get candle holders and candles for that cheap. I got my pumpkins and faux leaf garland at Hobby Lobby for 40% off...I think I paid a total of $30 for all 3 pumpkins and the garland. The awesome thing about this is that I can just take the pumpkins and garland down, and swap out snowmen and twinkle lights for Christmas/Winter with the same candles and holders.

A lot of times, the key to budget decorating is getting great pieces on sale that you can use for multiple seasons (like the candles and their holders), and then buying clearance for the strictly seasonal items at the end of the season (think Fall decor in December, Christmas in January etc.) Investing in some nice silk flowers that you can swap out for the different seasons is a nice way to go as well. I get mine at Hobby Lobby when they go on sale for 50% off, which is rather frequently. Something else to invest in for ALL seasons is a set of glass hurricanes. They can be used for every season, and always look classy. They can also easily be moved around to make a nice centerpiece for a dinner party, or up and out of the way when the kids are having a play date. Here are some great examples of glass hurricanes filled for Fall. You should also check out this lady's Pinterest board strictly for glass hurricane decor. It's awesome. 

 See? Super versatile, and there are different styles for everyone. You can get them for cheap at places like Michael's, Hobby Lobby and sometimes even Meijer.

How easy is this? Leaf placemats from
Walmart that were stuffed.
Easy-Peasy.
Source Link

I'm really loving this page from the Better Homes and Gardens online magazine - pretty much all their ideas can be done for relatively cheap, some even for free! (A glass vase and branches with colored leaves? Does it get easier than that?!) Acorns are free if you can track them down at the park with the help of your kids (turn it into a game, they'll love it.) Baby pumpkins can be bought for about a buck from a farmer's market, and those can even be spray painted to match any non-traditional colors you're decorating with. And while twine and burlap may not be free, they can be used over and over again, so they're worth spending some money on.

Here are some other great Autumn decorating ideas that I'm loving from Pinterest right now.

These candle holders are
GORGEOUS, and can be
used all year long. The pillar
candles are mounted
right into the baby pumpkins,
which have been spray painted.

Again with the glass hurricanes -
unpopped popcorn, silk leaves,
twine and pillar candles. Bam. 

Finally, switching out the pictures in your picture frames can actually make a big difference. (Mine aren't up on the wall, so I will try and explain to you what I mean.) If you're like me, and try to get family pictures during every season, you'll notice a trend in the coloring of your pictures. Fall pictures usually have lots of browns, reds and golds. This is perfect if you're sticking with traditional colors for Fall decor.  This also applies for Christmas and Spring time. Swapping out color coordinated family photos is a simple way to give more of that seasonal feel to your home. If you don't have any yet, take some this year, and you'll be set for next year :)

Remember, you can see my entire Pinterest board for learning to decorate on a budget here!