Valentine's crafts for toddler's

Valentine's Day is going to be here before I know it and I'm researching some fun little crafts and treats to make with my two year old. Here are a few fun things I've seen:

Crayon Hearts

via

Grow to Love Tree

via

Valentine Button Heart

via

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

via

Melon Kabobs

via

Happy Thanksgiviversary

Yes, Happy Thanksgiviversary. You see today is not only Thanksgiving but my wedding anniversary. We got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving so inevitably every few years we knew our anniversary would fall on Thanksgiving. Four years ago today we had the most amazing, beautiful and memorable wedding. It is a day I will never  forget. I truly married my best friend and couldn't imagine my life without him. I don't  look at my wedding photos that often but I decided to take a look a few days ago. I'm pleased to say I still love everything I chose. Here are just a few of many pictures: 

 Just Married

 Pretty much our marriage in a nutshell. 

 My new family

Some of the many details:

I can't believe how much our lives have changed in the past four years {like how much we have aged} I can only imagine what is in store for us in the years to come! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Feast

I really wanted to do Thanksgiving at our house this year, but with no dishwasher and a stove from 1945, I think I'm going to save it for another year. I will, however, make something to bring to my parents and my in-laws. The glorious thing about not having Thanksgiving at our house is that we get to have two Thanksgivings. All the magazines have wonderful looking Thanksgiving dishes inside and I really want to make something new this year. Here are a few things that have me salivating {click on image for source}:

Roasted Potato Stacks

Wild Rice, Fruit & Pecan Stuffing

Kabocha Puree with Ginger

Cauliflower with Mustard Lemon Butter

Parmesan Roasted Butternut Squash

Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie

Maybe I should try them out before I decide to serve them to 20+ people!

Christmas Tree

I'm pretty sure that a regular Christmas tree would spell DISASTER this year in our house. With a one year old completely mobile, wanting to pull up on everything and putting everything in her mouth, yes I am pretty sure a Christmas tree would be a disaster. My solution, get a Charlie Brown size Christmas tree and plop it on top of a nice round table. We won't get our tree until the 1st week of December but a few ideas in November never hurt anyone. Here's a few pictures that got me inspired {you can find the sources directly on my pinboard here}:

Gift Wrapping

I used to be a throw-it-in-a-bag type of girl. You know one that you can buy at any Target, throw some tissue paper add a note to the already attached card and there you go, present wrapped. I always loved getting something wrapped in nice packaging; where the gift wasn't only what was on the inside but I felt I never had time to put something special together for gifts that I gave. But now that I have a bit more time on my hands I am making a promise to not slap a bow on any of my presents this year. I've been searching around and there are some really pretty wrapping papers out there and ribbons galore. 

Here are a few inspirations I'm taking with me this present wrapping season {click on image for source}. 

Here are some of my favorite sites I've come across for wrapping supplies:

www.whiskergraphics.com

inspire lovely

www.paper-source.com

www.nashvillewraps.com

Halloween Treats

Look at these cute Halloween treats! Hopefully I'll have time to make some of them to take to a couple of the parties we have this weekend. I still need to put together the finishing touches to our costumes, how is it already the 24th!!!

{Click on image for source and recipe}

Halloween Costumes

As I said in a previous post, I am not a huge fan of Halloween, but now that I have a little one I figured I'm going to have to dress her up. We're going with a bug theme in our household. I picked up a lady bug costume for $13 at TJ Maxx. There are so many cute costumes out there!

Pottery Barn Kids:

Amazon.Com

Fall

I can officially say that it is finally starting to feel like fall here in Southern California. We had the hottest days of the year earlier in the week {thought I was going to melt} but it has finally cooled off and that fall feeling is in the air. We actually woke up to thunderstorms this morning which is especially unusual this time of the year, well any time of the year. It was kind of nice and was a good excuse to have a relaxing morning. Husband went surfing, which is probably not the smartest thing to do but it's not like I was going to stop him.

I love the fall, we got married in the fall, husband's birthday is in the fall, love a good fall meal, college football, throwing on a scarf, etc...As much as I love the fall I hate Halloween. I'm not a big fan of dressing up, don't like to be scared {AT ALL}, just not a fan. This hatred probably stemmed from an itchy fairy costume in the kindergarten Halloween parade and I remember it like it was yesterday. Maybe I'll enjoy it more now that I have a cute baby to dress up {already got her costume}. Needless to say I don't really decorate for Halloween but I do like some fall decor around the house. I was looking for some inspiration of a cute fall wreath for the front door. Here are some ideas I found on Etsy. The links to the individual shops are below.

Brown Paper Wreath

Autumn Oak Leaf Wreath

And my favorite that I'm going to try and DIY {husband asked what DIY stands for last night, oh I have so many things still to teach him}:

Fall Pumpkin Wreath

Happy Fall!

4th of July

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays and always makes me feel like Summer has finally arrived. We had a great 4th spending the day at Crescent Beach in Laguna followed by some great food and fireworks. I also attempted to make a few of the treats in the post below. This was my second attempt at cake pops and might be my last. They turned out OK only after trying three different types of chocolate to coat them with. FYI- The cheaper the better. The one that worked the best was some off-name brand from Target for about $1.50. Here are some pics.