Oh how I love December!

The scent of fresh balsam and cedar filling the house, crafts with kids that seemed like a good idea before the mess starts, baking cookies and having nothing to show for it the next day because it's Christmas and perfectly acceptable to eat an entire batch in 12 hours time, real Christmas trees that need to be swept under 30 times a day because your kids insist on rearranging ornaments all day long , hearing "can I have that for Christmas?" after EVERY toy commercial (thank you so much Disney junior), and then while reading the true story of Christmas to your toddler she says to you "Mommy, Christmas is Jesus's birthday! Yep mommy, it's every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30"...oh my child, you wish Christmas was every Tuesday and Thursday! LOL 

 DIY Christmas Tree Crayons 

This was so much fun! Ava helped to peel the crayons, of course.. Then we broke them and placed them in our silicone tree tray and baked them at 275 in the oven for 10 minutes or until they melted. We let them cool and then placed the tray in the freezer for a few minutes to really harden. 

Volia! A fun and festive crayon and the perfect stocking stuffer for the kiddos.

For the Glam Girl: Festive Nail Color 

It's fall time now and things are as crazy as ever! Ava started 3K-Preschool at the end of September and she is loving it. Which I'm definitely not surprised because she is my little social buttery fly.. a trait she gets from her father. 

As we head deeper into the fall season I thought I would share a few things that I'm loving this month so maybe someone else will find something new to love also. And of course no post would be complete if it didn't have some adorable tiny human pics. 

It's Friday!
I love Fridays and I am also loving so many new things right now that I just need to share them so maybe someone else can enjoy them also!

1.) Purify Essential Oils Cleansing Blend

The first of my current favorite things is Essential Oils! A sweet momma friend of mine helped to push my reservations about trying oils out of the way and helped me get started on a new natural path. Over the past year I've been thinking about incorporating oils into our daily lifestyle but I just needed that extra push along with LOTS of examples as to how they could actually help us.

What finally pushed me over the edge is the "smelly" towel issue in our house. I don't know about anyone else out there but I'm not strong in my 'laundry' game and believe me there is plenty around this house with farm clothes, kids clothes, ect... But laundry has always been a struggle because I honestly put it in the washer and then get distracted by a child or another household task and forget the load for about half a day and then its TOO LATE because the musty smell has set in. I always have about a million excuses I use when Aaron asks me why a piece of laundry stinks. I'm telling you, laundry is seriously my kryptonite. 

Then the Purify cleansing oil blend from DoTerrá arrived in the mail and my laundry has new life! I added two drops of Purify during the rinse cycle in the washer and then added 3-4 drops to a dry washcloth and tossed it into the dryer with every load. No more gross smelly towels and no more "how long did you let this in the washer?" from Aaron. Also I have come up with an alarm system on my phone to try and help me develop a healthier habit of remembering to change over the endless loads.

{In the two days that Purify has been in our house I've used it countless times.}
-I diffused 2 drops of Purify and 2 drops of Lemon oil freshen up the girls rooms
-I put 2 drops of Purify and 2 drops of Orange oil on a cotton ball and placed it in the vacuum canister - WHOA, I wanted to vacuum everything!
-I made a disinfecting spray with 2 cups water, 2 cups white vinegar and 10 drops Lemon and 10 drops Purify.

 {Purify is a combination of Lemon, Lime, Pine, Citronella, Melaleuca, and Cilantro essential oils. When diffused, Purify Cleansing Blend can help eliminate odors from pets, cigarettes, mildew, trash, food, and much more.} 

EO Spotlight: Purify 

{Here is a link to an spotlight post on Purify if your interested in knowing what else this amazing oil can do.}

2.) Passion Yoli Energy Drink Mix

About 2 months ago Aaron came home with two boxes of these drink mixes that he bought from a friend, I was skeptical but WOW I love this all natural, sugar free, no crash mix! Tropical Melon is my favorite flavor. Not only does it give me crazy energy for the day but they also help stabilize your metabolism, win win!

If your interested in trying this product you can check out Ellen's page, she is sweet and very helpful.
Yoli Passion

3.) Straws of Steel

There are a billion reasons I love spending time with my sister-in-law and one of the those reasons is she always has the most unique things and ideas. During the first morning of my visit to Chicago she made me an iced coffee in a mason jar {she knows my heart} with a stainless steel straw. Steel straw, say what! I was in love at first sip because the drink is ice cold until it hits your lips, literally. 

::Katie's tip: Mojitos are a must try with a steel straw::

You can find them at Restoration Hardware or at Bed Bath & Beyond

4.) Halloween PJ's and the 'Cat Dress'

Since having two girls I'm obsessed with putting them in matching/coordinating pajama's for every holiday. With the fall/halloween season finally upon us and I've been browsing and picked out my favorites.


Also I finally found this sweatshirt cat dress in Charlottes size yesterday at the Gap store
(It's selling out like crazy everywhere so grab it while you can)
The 'cat dress'


5.) Lush Products

My top three favorite Lush products right now to use when I get some "me" time is:
- Ocean Salt
Great for brightening your skin, body and face!
-Mask of Magnaminty (face mask)
Wash away impurities and tighten up your skin.
-Avobath Bath Bomb
Can I just say, SOFT skin!

No harmful chemicals - Check them out!


Enjoy your weekend!
-Tiffany

Fall is upon us even though the weather hasn't quite got the message yet, hopefully it does soon because I'm ready for cool mornings, mulled cider, lazy Sundays spent lounging under cozy blankets, and pumpkin buttercream candles burning all day long.
That said the tomatoes in my garden have sadly come to an end {but most roadside stand still have them} and I wanted to share this post weeks ago and just never took the time to post it.  I've always wanted to make my own tomato sauce, a universal sauce that you can use for pasta dishes, pizza, ect. Well, one day I was talking to a family member about three years ago and she told me about her Roasted Tomato Sauce recipe, best part? NO peeling and NO de-seeding! SCORE.
A lot of people have asked me for this recipe when I tell them how simple it is, with almost no mess or stress! I have turned my mom into a believer and we now spend a whole day making batches of this. Because lets face it, if you have toddlers help is always nice! 

 

Here is it, and it's so simple that I feel silly posting it BUT if your like me and don't have a crazy amount of time to devote to complicated recipes then this is for you! And it is delicious.

-Roma Tomatoes
-Plum Tomatoes

-2 garlic gloves

-1/2 sweet onion

-1/4 red pepper

-1/4 yellow pepper

-1 tbsp EEVO

-Italian Seasoning
-Salt & Pepper (to your liking)

{the simple steps} 

-preheat oven to 400 degrees

-line the baking pan with foil
  (make sure it has a lip because there will be lots of juice)
-fill it up with the first four ingredients

-drizzle with EEVO and sprinkle with seasoning

-roast in oven for 45-60 mins until skin is slightly browning

-pour everything from the foil (juices included) into a blender
-add salt and pepper to your liking

-blend and pour into desired containers.

I freeze all of my sauce in various sizes of containers and also in freezer bags.

Happy Saucing!

-Tiffany

Good morning!

I am a self proclaimed foodie. I'm no 'five star chef' but I love to cook and experiment with new recipes. Sweet, savory, I love it all. Lately I've been having this reoccurring dream where I have this HUGE kitchen and I cook all day long and then at night 'tiny kitchen fairies' come along and clean up all of the mess...hey, a girl can dream right?! Now that my favorite time of the year is drawing near I'm so ready to break out all of my rich & creamy soup recipes along with apple and pumpkin spice everything! 

Ava starts 3K Preschool next month and the both of us couldn't be more excited. Her "kitty cat" backpack (found here) came in the mail last week and she went bananas! So speaking of bananas I've been on the Pinterest hunt for easy 'toddler' breakfast options for our Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She's down for cereal any day at any time but I want her little belly to be full. So that is when I discovered these waffles at our local country store! They come in blueberry which is Charlottes favorite fruit. I served them with fresh banana and blueberries and the girls scarfed them right down and the nutritional values make me feel good about serving these to them! Score! 

Also I discovered an aweseome 'dipping plate' through our Citrus Lane box a few months back and we love it! It's perfect for any (all) meals that require dipping! 

It's the JJ rabbit plate and you can find it here. 

Now, as for me I am not a breakfast person.. unless it brunch. I'm usually not ready to eat until lunch time because I prefer lunch foods to breakfast foods and that is a very BAD habit. So though out all of the Pinterest surfing I came across Overnight Oats. I know I am probably very late to the Overnight Oats party because they seem to really be a thing now with about a thousand variations to choose from but...Oh. My. Goodness!! They are so good and sooo filling. Its like eating cold, thick (healthy) pudding for breakfast. I use the steel cut oats because they take longer to break down in your body so that helps with my low blood sugar issues. Here is the link to my favorite OO recipes, Raspberry Nutella anyone? Yeah, seriously amazing! 

And lastly, I am a shameless Starbucks addict so when I found this on the shelves of my local target my heart was happy! Yes it is ridiculously expensive for the size and I do plan to come up with an at home recipe. But in the meantime I plan to hide it in the back of the fridge and sip it sparingly with a splash of lemonade. 

Happy Foodie Friday!

Enjoy your last weekend of August (summer)! 

I say that because in my mind once we hit September it's officially fall over here! 

So excited to break out the pumpkin candles Tuesday morning!

 -Tiffany

Happy Monday!

Who wishes it was still the weekend?! My hand is raised way up high as I sit here nursing my new favorite cup of coffee: a 'donut shop' kcup with a splash of half & half and a drizzle of caramel coffee syrup, I have officially said adios to store bought coffee creamers and it tastes so good!

Reflecting on the weekend is how I make it though the first few hours on a Monday morning, this was the first weekend that we were around in a while and Ava's finally cast came off on Friday morning so we had some things to celebrate. First we celebrated by throwing on our suits and breaking out the splash mat, she was so excited.




I also wanted to take full advantage of all of the yummy local sweet corn and peaches that will sadly soon be coming to an end. So on Thursday my mom and I put up 10 dozen ears of corn in the freezer and I bought two baskets of Red Haven peaches to slice and freeze for smoothies and frozen yogurt this winter. I also made a peach puree and froze it in ice cube trays to make Wine Slushies!
They were SO refreshing and yummy.

>>Recipe can be found here. <<

..And then I starting craving tacos. But not just any tacos, tacos from my Chicago trip like brunch Tacos from El Mariachi and lunch tacos from Velvet Taco.
So I got all inspired and whipped up a Corn Salsa to spice up our weekly taco night.
Its so good that I could eat it with a spoon and the girls loved it also, bonus!



We ended our weekend with a small cookout with friends, we noshed on burgers, chopped taco salad topped with leftover corn salsa and washed it all down with some wine slushes while the kids played on the splash pad and jumped on the trampoline.
It was the perfect late summer Sunday afternoon spent at home!


I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekends as well.
-Tiffany

Our little Ava loves to live life on the edge. She typically has one speed and that's 100 mph! In six months time we spent a night in the ER getting gravel removed and chin stitches caused by a fall after running in a parking lot and most recently we spent time with an orthopedic pediatric specialist for our first broken limb (broken humerus to be exact). Both injuries happened to occur a week before planned vacations. So from now on I'll be crossing my fingers the week leading up to any planned trips. Although I shouldn't be surprised because her father is notorious for situations like this. Its not a normal week around here if he doesn't come home from the shop or barn and say to me "Hey you'll never believe what I did today.." I then proceed to look for what part of his body is duct taped. Oh yes, I said duct tape. 

As for Ava I'm learning with time to embrace all of these wild and spirited characteristics and traits that she possesses. I know that one day they will all be of great value to her (if we can just make it through these adolescent years without any more casts or heart-attacks for mom!) I've also learned that she is an incredibly resilient child and doesn't let much keep her down or slow her down. She takes everything in stride and lives by the new motto of "go hard or go home."

After all of the excitement we still decided to go on our planned trip to the beach. Although it was difficult for her to fully enjoy herself and understand her limitations she did extremely well! 

We stayed at the Seashore Campground and Rv Park in one of their cozy two bedroom cottages! On the first day Ava really wanted to play in the sand so to distract her a bit we decided to visit Cape May's FREE zoo. That's right, FREE! It was beautiful and the animals looked well taken care of, we will definitely go back! 

 The next day we braved the sandy lake area at the resort and the pool. I was able to find a waterproof cast cover on sort notice and it did the trick, and we loaded up on vet wrap from the farm. Ava was able to splash and play all morning in the pool and dig in the sand with Pop Pop & Mimi! Charlotte experienced the pool for the first time and LOVED it. 

 On our last night we hit up our favorite restaurant, the Lobster House for yummy seafood and then strolled downtown to grab some orangeades, fresh fudge to take home and ice cream to celebrate National Ice Cream day! 

It was the perfect ending to a long weekend away.

 -Tiffany

Charlotte Faye Hess