My First Non-Family Photo Session!

1:00 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post

I've recently started a small photography business.
So far, I had taken my cousins engagement and wedding pictures - but had not yet ventured out of the family.

Until this past weekend!
I was so happy to get my first "job"!

I really love the way the pictures turned out and I really wanted to share!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Dr Seuss Birthday Cake Ideas

1:00 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post
My baby is turning four! I cannot believe it! He's going to have his first friends only party! He is beyond excited to have his four best friends over! 

This kid is crazy about The Cat in the Hat, so he's going to have a Dr Seuss party - problem is I'm a huge procrastinator and I only have 11 days to get this whole party put together! 

First thing....cake ideas. I need something that I can make. I'm leaning towards cupcakes...just because it'll be a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds eating them, and I think it'll be easier.

Here are the ideas I really liked....


I love these cotton candy cupcakes from Serendipity Soiree. I'm thinking I could make these cupcake liners pretty easy. 



I also like this idea of some easy cupcake toppers, these cute designs are from I Heart Cupcakes Too.



The Lorax cupcakes from Hoosier Homemade look easy enough for me to make!


I'm also a huge fan of free printables. I think these are what is really going to make this party come together. 
Check out these awesome free printables from Wanessa Carolina Creations! (Cupcake liners, water bottle labels and more!)




Love these free cupcake liners from My Paper Lily! (Water bottle labels also available!)



I really, really love these free prints from The Crafty Woman! These would be perfect framed sitting on the table or to go in the goodie bags. 



Candy Bar wrappers from Princess & The Peas! These would also be perfect for goodie bags! 


I really love that there are so many creative people out there willing to share their work with craft-less people like myself! I'm excited to get started with all the work!

I'll have more on Wednesday about what I've bought so far for the party!

Thanks for stopping by!

Make sure and follow me on Dr. Seuss Pinterest board for all of the great ideas I've found!

Linking up to:
Someday Crafts, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Gingersnap Crafts, The Trendy Treehouse, Southern Lovely








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The Best Game - Scavenger Hunt for Kids by University Games

7:23 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post
First of all, this is not a paid or sponsored post! I bought this game - Scavenger Hunt for Kids as a Christmas gift for my boys. We always try to do something fun as a family on Sunday nights and decided to try out our new game.

 

 This is seriously the best game ever.

The object of the game is to find things around your house within a certain time frame. For example...tonight, one card said "Something that begins with the letter M". Ashton and I grabbed a Mug...while Chris and Colton got a Marble. When the card said to grab a picture of a bald person - I grabbed a picture of my dad, Chris grabbed an old picture of Ashton as a baby! 

All four of us were running around the house screaming and laughing. Chris and I were completely out of breath after the game was over....and the kids kept asking to play again!

The game is made for ages six and over, so since Colton is only 3 - we decided to play teams and it was still a blast. We cannot wait to play this game again!

And, we both said this game would be a riot as a couples game. Men versus women and a person that lives in the house on each team. I'll be planning one of those nights soon!

I found this game at a local independent toy store here in town, you can find it on Amazon or check out other locations here. 

Again, completely not sponsored at all....just letting you know that if you want a seriously fun game that involves the whole family - check out Scavenger Hunt!




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An Apple a Day Muffins

5:24 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post


We're trying to get the kids away from eating sugary cereals everyday for breakfast. I've been trying to find some alternatives that are healthy for them and still fill their bellies with the nutrients they need to keep their brains working!

I had a few apples in the fridge, so I decided to make some apple muffins with them. I used this recipe from Betty Crocker for Zucchini Bread and just made the old swtich-a-roo for apples!

I also switched out white flour for whole wheat flour and oil for apple sauce.

3 cups shredded apples (about 3)
1 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 overflowing cup apple sauce
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 1/2 tsp baking powder



First, I put all my dry ingredients into the mixer and let them get good and mixed. 


I started out with three apples. I cored and peeled them, they needed to be shredded and the easiest way to do that is in the food processor


Once you add all of your wet and dry ingredients together, the mixture will seem really thick and heavy. Not to worry...all in well in Apple Bread Town!


The "muffins" don't have to be muffins, if you prefer a bread...make a loaf of bread. Anything in the shape of a muffin make my kids want to eat them, so I went with muffins.

If you're making bread - make sure to grease and flour your pan! 
Otherwise, pull out your muffin tin and some cool liners....and fill each one about 3/4 of the way full.


For muffins, you'll bake these bad boys in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
For bread, you'll bake it at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. 

To make sure they're done, stick a tooth pick in the middle and hope that it comes out clean, if it doesn't - try another 5 to 10 minutes in the oven. 

These muffins are awesome! My kids and hubby gobbled them up for breakfast! They store great in an air-tight container in the fridge. I set enough out in the morning on the counter and in about 10 minutes, they were ready to go! 

You could also add some ground flax seed to these for the added health benefits or drizzle them with some icing if you just feel like having something sweet! Raisins would be good too...or nuts!

Another bonus of this recipe is it's really easy to cut in half for a smaller family.

Either way - these are some yummy muffins!


Thanks so much for stopping by! 
Make sure and PIN this recipe and follow me on Pinterest!


Linking up to:
I Should Be Mopping the Floor, The Girl Creative, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-o-Matic, It's So Very Cheri, StoneGable, Homemaker on a Dime, Sew Chatty, Flour Me With Love, Sew Can Do, Someday Crafts, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Gingersnap Crafts, The Trendy Treehouse, Southern Lovely




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Friday Followers

6:14 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post
Chubby Cheeks Thinks    Freaky Friday Follow
bloghopbutton  
Aloha Friday Blog Hop


Hello!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm Samantha...Sam for short! On Cooks and Creates, I share all the yummy things I like to cook and occasionally I show off my some-what crafty side and make some stuff too!

To keep up with me, you can follow me via GFC  
------->
on Twitter  or Pinterest

Make sure and leave a link to your blog in the comments, so I can make sure and come by!

Here are a few of my favorite posts: 

My Sloppy Joe Bowls



My Best Smoothies



and Saving Money at the Grocery Store Without Coupons!

Click here to see the rest of  Cooks and Creates!

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

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How to Use Milk that's About to Expire

5:54 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post

My kids drink a ton of milk, so it's pretty rare that we ever have milk that expires. During the week of Christmas, we weren't home very much so I ended up with almost an entire half gallon that was going to have to be tossed that day.

I needed to make a few things that would take up a lot of milk and that could be stored in the freezer.

I know that milk can be frozen, but I cant' think of when I would use it. 

Here's what I made with my almost-spoiled milk...


Two batches of pumpkin pancakes! I also made three batches of regular pancakes. Store the mix in freezer bags and toss in the freezer. The night before you'll use them place one bag in the fridge and in the morning just snip off one corner of the bag and squeeze out your pancakes! 

Between the four batches of pancakes, the milk was almost gone....the last cup of it was used to make some alfredo sauce for dinner that night! 

Let nothing go to waste! 
Share your tips for not letting food go to waste.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to: 
Tidy Mom, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Craft Junkie Too, The Girl Creative, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-o-Matic


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My Boys Birthdays - The Gift of an Experience

1:00 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post
Even though my boys are five years apart...their birthdays are only one day apart! Which means January is just about as hectic for us as December is!


Each boy get their own little party with just us on their actually birthday. Then they get a big family party together....AND....they each get their own parties with their friends.

That's FIVE parties in ONE month!!!



The little parties on their birthdays are just that....little. It's just whatever dinner they want, cake, ice cream and a few presents from mom and dad. For our oldest, Ashton, he will also take cupcakes or something like that to school with him that day to have a class party.

The family party is pretty big. So big, that we don't even try to have it at our house anymore. With 20 people in our immediate family...our house just cannot handle it. So, now the family parties are at my moms house. 




And, lastly, we have the kids parties with their friends. This will be the first year Colton - who's turning 4 - will have a party with his friends. He'll have 4 of his playmates over to play some games and eat cake. Ashton - who will be 9 - wanted to have a sleepover/Wii party. So, we'll have seven boys spending the night later on in the month. That should be interesting...

Anyways, so with my family - everyone always wants gift ideas for the boys. For Christmas I told them Hot Wheels, Nike stuff for Ashton, any type of cars or "boy" stuff....they'd love it all. 

This Christmas was craziness. The boys got way too much STUFF. Between Chris and I...and the rest of my family it's too much. And, my mom went over board this year. My dad passed away earlier this year, so I think she bought more then usual. 

I started thinking about ideas to send out to the family and was stuck on anything that the boys actually NEEDED. Nothing at all came to mind. 

Then I thought about some experiences that they would enjoy...going to the movies, going bowling, taking a trip to a museum! They would love all of that!

Gifts of experience! I love this idea!

Hopefully, my family will also think it's a great idea - because I'm not sure where else I would put any more stuff! So, if you have a child's birthday coming up soon, think about an experience gift they might like.

Here are some more ideas:

-Movie tickets, you can buy tickets through Fandango
- Gift certificate to a local bowling alley
- Tickets to a museum
-Gift certificate to a place like Pump-It-Up
- Bookstore gift certificates...most parents don't think of books as "stuff"
- Gift card to a local kids themed restaurant
- Zoo Memberships...or tickets for a day
-Redbox gift cards and movie candy
- Tickets to the local skating rink
- Event tickets (local baseball team, ect)
- Theater tickets
- Amusement Park tickets
- Laser tag gift cards
- The "experience" of going to McDonalds or Burger King (my kids don't get to go very often, so would love this one!)



What other "experience" gifts would you like your kids to get? 


Linking up to:
Someday Crafts, Sew Much Ado, GingerSnap Crafts, Southern Lovely, Shabby Creek Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Tidy Mom, Fingerprints on the Fridge. Craft Junkie Too, The Girl Creative, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-o-Matic, Homemaker on a Dime

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