Bye-bye binkies

This past weekend we got ready to say goodbye to binkies forever. Charlie has been an avid binkie user 2 1/2 years, and in the last 9 months she's been addicted, like binkie in her mouth constantly. So we threw her binkies 1 last party, and said farewell.. we invited family over, ate pizza, cake & played outside. At the end of the party we tied all her binkies to large balloons, and she sent them on their way to all the angel babies. It was the absolute sweetest but heartbreaking at the same time. After she watched her binkies sail away she said, "but wait what if I need them?!" My mom heart broke. But shes been doing really well without them, we had a few rough nights but it's much better.

So that's how we said farewell to binkies forever!

Cacti Macarons

It's a balmy 20 degrees here in Iowa, like the windshield was completely frozen, such a bummer because we've got SUNSHINE on our minds. I'm wanting to throw a fun cinco de mayo party for my family, so I thought I would give these a try before hand to practice! My toddler helped, so I was a little worried how these would turn out, but they were successful, even with the extra added granulated sugar she added, she just couldn't help herself, haha!

Here'e the recipe source via Wilton:
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup almond flour
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup granulated sugar

whip egg white with cream of tarter until frothy. slowly add granulated sugar & vanilla, beat until stiff peaks form. sift sugar + almond flour. Carefully fold in dry ingredients to wet, add food coloring during this time. Add smooth mixture to piping bag, pipe shape or circle onto parchment paper or silicon mat.

275 degrees 18-22 minutes.

Just a tip, if your making these, make sure to keep the piping consistent and the shape the same sizes, and mirror the shape, so when you frost the cookies together the two sides will match.

Easter

We had the best Easter! Lots of cousin time, egg hunting, LDS conference, yummy food! We put this little get together for our cousins & of course the Easter bunny happily made an appearance with lots of filled eggs & baskets. I put together a list of charlies basket a few posts previous so check it out, she LOVED her princess Rapunzel apron, here's the link where we purchased ours, shipping takes a while. But so cute for dress up or helping in the kitchen.

Easter Dress.

 dress from Velveteen Clothing for Babiekins Magazine.

I told her shes's NEVER ever allowed to grow up, like ever, because the day that she stops loving twirling dresses, is the day I'll be in the corner bawling, because I'll want my little girl back. But that aside how cute is this dress from Velveteen Clothing? I'm obsessed over the details + color and those little metallic stripes in the dress. You can find there amazing dress selection on their website, and you guys I HAVE to tell you the packaging is just as good, everything packages in the cutest little fabric draw bag, the details are everything.

Hop over and pick out your cute little easter dress + ps if you are in the Omaha or Lincoln area do me or yourself a favor (you'll thank me later) and go to the Paper Kite Shop! It is the cutest if your looking for a gift for mama, little one or baby! We've loved this shop for the last 2 years, and every time we go in, we fall inlove all over again.

Toddler Easter Basket

one / two  / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve

Can you believe that Easter is quickly approaching! I love that the days are lasting longer, and that the temps are warming up during the day, lots of outside time!

I put together a round up of charlie's Easter basket! I'll be sharing it shortly put together, but these are the items that I gathered for her basket! Also that Walmart bunny basket, HALF the price as the similar on on PB Kids, so run don't walk to snag one! This year I decided to go with a traditional Easter basket because I foresee lots of egg hunting this year, and she needs a place to store them in, there's lots of storage room in this basket!

I'll share photos soon! Happy Easter basket shopping!

Outside Toys

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine 

Spring is on its way! We are so excited for longer days, warm sunshine, and green grass! Winters here in the midwest just get a little TOO long, so spring we are READY! As many of you know, we have the smallest back yard (since we live on a corner lot, we have a large hilly front yard & busy side street yard) so we are always looking for space savers in our backyard. These are products we have or plan on getting for the warmer days!

Also, if you looking for a cute sandbox that one is $50 or less, however we scored it for $26 in the middle of January, so watch for it on sale via amazon! We also scored the land of nod water table, its cast iron, super big & heavy duty for half off, it looks like it's out of stock right now but they should have some more instock soon!

Yay for warmer days! If you have any outdoor toy suggestions let me know! 

New Beginnings

Hello!

We just finished our New Beginnings for 2018, we went with a donut theme that I found over here. I used Corina Sorensen's idea for our new beginnings theme! We used the scripture from Alma 56:47-48. Trusting how the stripling warriors did not "do nut" doubt their mothers. We have a fun donut party. 

Ps make sure your donuts aren't super huge for your pegboard, haha! These were so big we had to space them out. We ordered ours from hy-vee, a local grocery store, they were $50 for 60 donuts, so not too bad!

I found the donut plates over at party city + the cups and table clothes. We also had little boxes the girls took home with a pair of little donut earrings we found these at Claire's. We also left a bag of now and laters on the table for the girls to take home with a tag that said "work on personal progress now rather than later" 

We served donuts of course, an assorted mixture, chocolate milk, regular milk, water, and donuts with mini cupcakes to take home

I attached the printables that we used and created, you can download Corina's printables here.

This idea was so fun + super easy to pull together!

printables link, here.