It's day 2 of 10 days of Halloween crafts for Toddlers. My house has been a chaotic mess of paint, glue, eyeballs, glitter (I accidentally left a container where my LO could find it) and halloween stickers, but you know what? It's been amazing! Take a look at my dining room table....I set out all of the craft supplies at the beginning of the season so it's super easy for us to run in and grab some stuff to do a quick craft or two each day! I'm definitely going to do this all the time from now ...
Halloween Craft Day 1: Halloween Resist Painting, Drawing Spiderwebs
So, the plan was to do 15 days of Halloween Crafts for a toddler but it's already the 21st so I'm a few days behind (does it really surprise you) - I guess we'll be doing 10 days of Halloween Crafts. Anyways, we've been doing a lot of Halloween themed stuff around the house since the weather has gotten a bit colder and we've had some cloudy days. This should keep you busy for a half hour or even an hour (if you're like us and made like 10 pages of spiderwebs)! First up, learning to draw ...
Choo Choo Train, Vintage Railroad, Americana Themed Second Birthday
This Vintage Railroad, or, as my son calls it "Choo Choo Train" Birthday party was amazing so I have to share the details! The day of the party was perfect, 67 and sunny (the weather has since turned to fall and we've got cornstalks flanking the front door and pumpkins on our porch BUT I promised a post with all the details - better late than never). The party spanned my entire house. My driveway had some couches to lounge on, a table with beverages, snacks, and also in the front yard, a bounce ...
Crock Pot Rootbeer BBQ Pulled Chicken; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
As usual I'm playing catch up and I'm still trying to finish up all of the posts surrounding my son's second birthday party. I cooked everything from scratch (with help from my mom and step mom) and happily, everyone complimented me on both the party itself and all of the food (which was really awesome because although I planned the meal, I was winging the recipes - some I had made before but didn't write down, like this one, and some I completely made up)! We eat gluten free, dairy free, soy ...
GF Pumpkin Spice Cake Recipe; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
This pumpkin spice cake recipe is a hit! It was loved by everyone at my son's 2nd birthday party, even those who aren't gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and nut free so I figured it would be great to make again less than 2 weeks later for my grandpa's 90th birthday that was being attended by both gf and non-gf diners... We had my son's 2nd birthday party a few weekends ago and he had a BLAST (I promise I'll have a post dedicated to it)! As always, I have to make everything from scratch for ...
Finger Painted DIY Birthday Card
Now, I don't think my toddler cares, but for some reason having a purpose for doing activities makes me feel more sane - this is a perfect example of finger painting with a purpose! So, I'm sure we've all had our little ones make birthday cards for everyone under the sun....mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and if you're suuuuuper lucky, maybe even a great-grandparent or two! Today we were lucky enough to make this for my grandpa's 90th Birthday card. I can't believe he'll be ninety! It's so ...
GF Pumpkin Pancakes; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
I can't believe it's that time again! Has it really been a year since I meant to post these gluten free, dairy free, soy free, nut free pumpkin pancakes? I read an article last night that blames the pumpkin spice obsession on Starbucks who created the pumpkin spice latte back in 2003. Well, sorry to say but my family has been obsessed with pumpkin spice everything for much longer than that! Even the newest member of the family loves these, in fact, they're his favorite flavor of pancakes so we ...
Convection Roast Whole Chicken; The BEST Tasting Chicken Ever!
Whew.....We have been busy! My little one's second birthday party was last weekend and we've been going ever since. He was such a little party animal - he partied too hard and then got sick! Nothing too serious, just a cold but I'm afraid to say that now, 3 days later I've developed it. Luckily, I knew this would happen so 2 days ago I convection roasted 2 whole organic chickens and made 3 batches of my homemade bone broth (I make it in the crock pot, directions here) so we've already been ...
Canning Homemade Tomato Sauce
I haven't really canned many tomatoes, mainly because while living in Chicago because the second the tomatoes would take on even a smidgen of that pinkish hue they get before they turn bright red, the squirrels would run up the stems, knock them off, take one bite, and then leave them. It made me ridiculously angry! In Chicago I could never find tomatoes priced low enough to make my own tomato sauce, so I never did (although I did do salsa - and have no idea where my delicious recipe went). Now ...
Best Ever Dill Refrigerator Pickles, Made with Dill Seed
Most of my garden seems to be doing wonderful. My son, who loves to be outside and therefore spends a lot of time around my garden, only trampled a few things before learning that these are "momma's lants" (he spends most of his time pushing his truck around running over my herb garden). We've had broccoli, bok choy, TONS of green beans, kale, collard greens, celery, and FINALLY last week I got my first ripe tomatoes! It's great when a plan comes together! One thing that isn't doing so hot - ...