Gift Idea!

this is a cute necklace for the little girl in your life. perhaps I love it too, because for the first time in my life; I'm dieting and goldfish crackers are off limits. Only $12 from Pumpkin Pye Boutique on Etsy.

from the mouth of babes

the other day 5 yr old Sweetpea tells the family at dinner time; "today at recess I told a group of kids that I could take them out in less than a minute." My husband and I gasped, so she continued. "But I didn't really DO IT, I just TOLD them that I could. So it's okay, right mom?"

Holiday Decorating... even a Kindergartener can do!

from Real Simple:

Feast for the Eyes

Gather a bunch of doilies in white and silver and tape them together (or secure with a dab of glue) to form a one-of-a-kind table runner. For an inexpensive wintry centerpiece, fill glass vases and large compotes of different heights with pinecones. Spray-paint them gold and silver for extra sparkle, or leave them as nature intended.

I want these!

I love coasters, and every one from Funky Chicken Designs are cool. Now I just need to get a coffee table to have a use for coasters.

Recipes for Back to School

"Chew On Your Pencil Sandwiches"

This is our first full week of school, and already the kids are getting tired of boring lunches. So I turned to my trusty Family Fun Magazine website and found an entire page dedicated to fabulous brown bag lunch ideas for the kids. Although, I might just need to pack a lunch and include some tasty Cheese Straws and a Sailboat Sandwich for myself!

"No honey, blackberries are more than just phones..."

It's blackberry season! Woohoo! My kids have become expert berry pickers (grandma has raspberries growing. Well, she does until the kids come over. Then she just has little grandchildren with full berry bellies) and we need to go pick us some berries and make some fabulous desserts to celebrate. {Here's a link for info on berry picking.}

I found this recipe below from Martha Stewart, and I want to try it! It looks easy enough I can even have my girls help me in the kitchen. Although, they'd probably just eat all the berries when I wasn't looking...

Blackberry Crumble

Ingredients
Serves 4
4 cups fresh blackberries (about 14 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for ramekins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6 store-bought sugar cookies (about 2 ounces), coarsely crushed
1/4 cup rolled oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Stir blackberries, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, and the lemon juice in a bowl; set aside.

Put butter, cinnamon, salt, and remaining tablespoon sugar into a small bowl. Stir vigorously with a rubber spatula until creamy. Stir in cookies, oats, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons flour.

Work mixture through fingers until it forms coarse crumbs ranging in size from peas to gum balls.

Butter four 5-ounce ramekins (about 3 1/2 inches in diameter). Divide blackberry mixture among ramekins; transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with crumb topping.

Bake until juices are bubbling and topping is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack 20 minutes before serving.

The Camping Fork

So I came about this awesome product by accident. I was searching online for camping places near Forks, WA (yes I'm a "Twi Fan" but I have always liked camping in the Rainforest too...) and I put in a google search for "forks camping". There is in fact, a website called campingforks.com, but it's not for campgrounds... it's for forks used during camping!

Anyways, I found this cool marshmallow tree stick. Isn't it neat? Think of all the S'Mores you could make at once. And, I could use my purchase from campingforks.com when I go camping in Forks!

(BTW, here is a good link for campgrounds near Forks, La Push, and the Olympic Penninsula)