Featured Follower: A Fellow Super-Mama

After giving my sophia a snack..raisins and cheese. i hopped on my computer to check my blog stuff. Right after helping sophia get the raisins at the bottom of the box (her hands are too chubby. haha. poor thing.) i saw i had some new followers so i checked them out! and I came across this lovely blog that i had to share! It's so me and this girl rocks...(besides her great style-she had a dress on that i have. haha.) she is a mama...starting her own jewelry line and did you see that cake she made her daughter for her birthday?? sophia's first cake i made her was like the size of the first floor of that castle haha.

one thing i love to use this blog for is passing on blogs of other mama's so go visit her blog and tell her i sent you! ps how funny is that picture of her with her mixer(birthday gift)?? cracked me up.

p.s....

I should also mention a story to make you feel better about yourself..haha.

my husband and i started up the young adult group at our church.. and today we threw an "indoor cook-out" to boycott the snow that is taking over our lives. and ben was going to mass tonight at the teen mass (he is the youth minister) and so he was with some of the guys being grill masters cooking up the burgers during church....and of course the fire alarm goes off throughout the church...i look around the cry room and all our friends who were coming to the cook out look at me and we just start laughing like..yeah...thats probably the boys. haha. luckily i'm pretty sure most of the parish thought that it was some naughty kid in the back. sorry innocent little child for the blame!

now go hug you grill master hubby if you have one and then go visit this blog!

 have a great day. i must go..sophia is tackling me. lovingly. :)

Inspirational Children's Birthday Party Themes- AMAZING!!

A friend of mine asked me to try and come up with some ideas for her 3 yr old daughter's Princess Theme Birthday Party! And of course.. i love a good party so i couldn't resist! But as i was searching i came across some lovely finds!! a treasure-load of amazing children's party ideas! so i had to share. i mean i had to. i wouldn't of been able to sleep. haha. but seriously...we all know that our kids birthdays will be here before we know it. these images can give you some inspiration. plus they are just pretty to look at. :) 

i'm in the mood for a party now. hehe.

click each image to be taken to the post full of awesome details!!

1. Butterfly Birthday

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2. Airplanes

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3. Art Party

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4. Monkey Mania

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5. Puppy Party

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6. Tee Off! Golf Theme

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7. Princess Party Theme

mini desserts make you feel all fancy!

cupcakes..make your own parfait..i mean sundae ;)

Here's some great ideas to go along with that theme that i came across at Busy Bee Paperie

Some Wording Ideas
Hear ye Hear ye! Calling all fair maidens and knights in the kingdom....your presence is requested at a Royal 3rd Birthday Honoring Princess Grace.

The Royal King and Queen of Rogers request the honour of your presence at a celebration honoring the third birthday of their daughter....Princess Alexis.

Come as a Princess and celebrate with me
It's my birthday....I'm turning three.

Please join us for birthday fun....we'll have our hair and fingernails done! It's a Princess Pampering Party in honor of Natalie's 6th Birthday!

Menu Options
Petit Fours
Miniature sandwiches cut into tiny triangles
Princess Punch (aka pink lemonade with sugar rimmed glasses)
Of course the fairest cake in the land...a glittering castle or tiara topped masterpiece.

The Games
Kiss the frog (pin the lips on the frog)
The Princess and the Pea (read the story of The Princess and the Pea then use a pillow and a ball to create a game of the story with all your princess guests)

Decorations
Since all princesses love to play dress up, have all your girls come in their best princess outfits and provide them with the necessary accessories. The extra tiaras, crowns, and jewels laying around will serve as a sparkly touch to your party decor.

Favors
Anything that sparkles! Hair clips, stickers, you name it. The more glitter the better!

Peanut Blossom Cookies - my childhood cookie.

oh mama...you hooked me on these. every major holiday we made these...and now that i am grown and have my very own mixer and am a mama of my own.....i make them way too often when my baby goes to bed. haha. but....they are a crowd pleaser so get baking and SHARE THE SWEETS!

my mom passed on the recipe....

via a scan of her index card in a plastic sheet. haha..

**my husband just called on his way home from work...he is so cute. that's all i have to say. he's been all sweetie sweetie lately..which every pregnant lady needs. haha.**

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup Flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs milk

48 Hershey Kisses (or chocolate of your choice!)

The best part of this recipe.....all you do is throw the ingredients in all together at once. except the chocolates.

Mix on lowest speed until dough forms.

yum.

roll balls in sugary goodness.

place on ungreased cookie sheets. 

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.....now..chocolate time...

i'll have a bowl of chocolate please! 

we didn't have any hershey kisses.. but we did have plenty of hershey bars left over from a youth group bonfire (smore supplies) perk of husband being a youth minister. :)

remove from oven and press a candy into the center of each cookie.

 return to oven and cook 2 minutes longer.

i started off just putting the whole piece of chocolate on the cookie..but then i started breaking them in half. 

i love these cookies. they are cute & yummy.

And The Winner Is. . .

Apricot Crisp Recipe

I have been in the mood for a crisp..but i didn't have any fresh fruit. I've been cleaning out our pantry and fridge/freezer so i thought i would try something new with some canned/frozen fruit. I'm all about using up what you already have in the house! Sooo happy with how it turned out. and happy to have not spent any more money on this treat.

Ingredients

topping:

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 cup raw rolled oats

1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup butter or margarine melted (i prefer margarine..but used butter this time)

*i doubled this..but i don't know why..haha. so i have a bowl full to use somehow.)

fruit filling:

apricots(i also threw in some strawberries to see how they would cook up. yum.)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon flour

pinch of nutmeg

The topping is from my mom's apple crisp..i got the recipe for the apricot filling from honeyandjam.com(her photos are LOVELY)

Preheat oven to 400

fruit filling first..combine apricots..

i threw in some thawed-frozen strawberries.

combine flour, sugar and nutmeg.

topping time...... combine flour, brown sugar and oats.

pour in melted butter..stir it up. i started using a knife and fork but since it was melted i had to just stir it up to form clumps. mmmm..this is the best part. but cancels out any healthy-ness from the fruit haha.

pour fruit mixture into pan. i'm using one of my fav pans from william sonoma. (wedding present)

sprinkle mixture over fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. 

I accidently almost burnt the crisp because i was busy working on the computer and dancing to the black eyed peas. not even joking. haha.

try my mama's apple crisp!

recipe here.

My taste tester...approved the crisp. she ate up the apricots. but before i let her eat it i was a cruel mama and made her say cheese a million times before eating it. 

after a certain point though she was fed up with my photo taking

 and wanting to dive in. 

(this is her "mean face"..i think we encouraged it too much from laughing.)

the winner of the giveaway will be announced later today! i'm so excited!