2021
  

Family Experience Gift Ideas & Giveaway

This year I wanted to share some family experience gift ideas with you. I've always loved memory making gift ideas but sometimes it can be challenging to come up with those! It can be especially tricky to come up with fun things to do as a family with teenagers but the ideas I'm sharing today are great gift ideas for families with teens, tweens, and kids alike!

I have an "under the tree" idea (with variations) and some stocking stuffer ideas. Stay tuned to the end of the post for some giveaways!

Christmas Experience Gifts


Each year I try to include some sort of experience Christmas gifts under the tree that the whole family can experience together. This year I'm excited to give the gift of an epic family Nerf battle!

Each member of the family will find their own Nerf blaster under the tree.

Family Experience Gifts

"We Love You" Jar

This Fall-themed "We Love You" Jar fits right in with the coming season, but it could of course be altered slightly to work for any time of the year. 

A few years ago when our friend Charity had a birthday during October, we left her a little surprise on her doorstep. We gave her some Pumpkin Spice candies and wanted to do something a little more personal than just candies, so we came up with this personalized "We Love You" Jar:

DIY We Love You Jar Craft for Fall

If you'd like to recreate it, or make your own version, here's what we did:


Dragonwatch Book 5: Return of the Dragon Slayers

Talia was very excited to get the opportunity to read Dragonwatch Book 5: Return of the Dragon Slayers, the 5th and final book in Brandon Mull's Dragon Watch series. 


Talia's Review of Dragonwatch Book 5


Popsicle Stick PomPom Spider Craft

We made this cute popsicle stick spider craft a few years ago and they were so cute & can be used in so many different ways that I wanted to re-share this post with you now that we're into October!  I hope you're all having some fun preparing for Halloween!

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We are in Halloween craft mode over here! Earlier this week it was a spider treat and today it's a simple spider craft. These would be fun to hang with fishpoping wire, just about anywhere, to give a creepy (yet cute) vibe. :)




How to Make a Popsicle Stick Spider


Here's what you'll need to make your own:

Apple Shaped Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

With Fall around the corner, it felt like the right time to share these Apple Shaped Oreo Cheesecake Truffles! I have a recipe for you, but don't feel you have to make them look like apples- they're good with any coloured coating, fancy-looking or not!

It's been nearly 10 years since I threw my sister a School Themed bridal shower, and made these Oreo cheesecake truffles, dressed up to look like apples! They were so cute and it's time to revisit that recipe!

Apple Shaped Oreo Cheesecake Truffles
My mom & I worked together on these with a recipe from a friend of ours that is so simple & so delicious! Want to try them? I thought so! ;)

Frozen Hot Chocolate Recipe

Have you ever tried making frozen hot chocolate?
We shared this recipe way back in 2015 and I thought it was time to share it again!

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Summer Holidays are officially here & we are HAPPY about it!!! :) This morning I told the girls that I wanted to make a special treat with them today at snack time and right away they started guessing. One of their first guesses was hot chocolate! It's funny because they will often ask for it, even when it's hot out. So, when that guess came up, I said, "Nope! It's too hot out for that! But we're going to make FROZEN hot chocolate!" and that prompted some wide-eyed faces!

DIY Frozen Hot Chocolate Recipe

I am SO glad that we decided to give this a try because my goodness, it was good!!! I have seen a few variations of this around the internet and after reading a few different recipes, I made a few little changes and combinations from different recipes and here's what we came up with:

We're Moving!

We have big news- we're moving!

We're Moving! Moving Announcement Photo


The last time I wrote a personal "life update" type of post was near the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, a lot has been going on with us!

How to Avoid Distractions and Stay Focused

Learning how to avoid distractions and stay focused is crucial and in this post I'll share a simple challenge to help you with that!

How much time do you spend on your phone? Is it your main source of distraction or is something else?  

How to Avoid Distractions and Stay Focused

Today I’m going to share a little exercise you can try, to avoid that distraction and keep your focus where you want it to be.

How To Take Care of Wavy Hair

Learning how to take care of wavy hair was new for this mom with very straight hair! I'm happy to report that although curly and wavy hair requires more attention than I'm used to, getting a fabulous look is not as difficult as I originally imagined! 

how to take care of wavy hair

Keep reading to learn how we took Katrina's wavy hair from unpredictable limp waves to the beautiful beachy waves you see in the above photo!

Overcoming Worry

For years I could see that worrying wasn't helping anything, but I didn't know how to stop!  In this post I'll share the simple mindfulness practice that made a huge difference for me in overcoming worry!

Overcoming Worry
Overcoming Worry


How to Stop Being A "Worry Wart"


Mindful Hand Washing

Mindful hand washing is a simple way to become more present in your daily life. It's easy to create a mindful moment for yourself and this exercise can be applied to lots of other activities in your daily life.

mindful hand washing



Mindfulness Videos

I will be publishing a series of mindfulness videos over the next several weeks. The videos will be hosted on YouTube and shared here on the blog, along with a coordinating written blog post for each video. The first video introduces a bit about why I decided to create this series:

mindfulness videos


Grown-Up Imposter Syndrome


I had this idea, growing up, that once I became an adult, got married, and had kids, I was finished with my personal growth and my task in life was just to live out adulthood, raising my children, teaching them what they needed to know, and taking care of things in my life… and that I would just know how to do all of these things because I was an adult- I was grown up!

The Ultimate List of 100+ Fun St. Patrick's Day Ideas!

Do you love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with fun green and rainbow activities and treats?
Do you set leprechaun traps or decorate or give little gifts?


This collection of 100+ St. Patrick's Day Crafts & Activities, Leprechaun Trap Ideas, Free Printables, Recipes, and other Food Ideas will have you covered!


(And if you have other ideas to add, you can do so at the bottom of the post!)





Get-To-Know-You Jenga Game

As a fun ice breaker, I made this D.I.Y. "Get-To-Know-You" Jenga game for our first activity with the girls (ages 8-11) at church! I've included the list of prompts or questions that I used, to help you get started if you'd like to make your own- it makes a great party game!

Get to Know You Jenga
Get-To-Know-You Jenga

How to Make Your Get-to-Know-You Jenga Game:


How to Make Your Own Rimming Sugar

I've always thought it would be fun to make our own rimming sugar when we want to have a special drink. When the girls decided they wanted to have Disney Frozen themed birthday parties I thought it would be fun to have a blue drink and rim the glasses with sugar for an icy look. Around that same time we were putting together a gift for my mother-in-law who loves Piña Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiris, so we set out to figure out how to make our own coloured and flavoured rimming sugar as well!

DIY Rimming Sugar
Rimming Sugar Recipe


What kind of sugar do you use to rim a glass?


To Make Regular White Rimming Sugar, all you really need is white sugar and a citrus fruit!

To Make Flavoured, Coloured Rimming Sugar, here's what you'll need:


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