How We Celebrated: Christmas Cookies 2017

Welcome back to our holiday kitchen!

A few days before Christmas the kids and I spent an afternoon in the kitchen baking up our holiday cookies.  Check out these photos from our fun:

Supplies

This baking adventure started out with several cookie mixes (the gingerbread failed 😖),  a cake mix for Mamaw's birthday (dark chocolate & Andes mints 😊), a gigantic pile of sprinkles, M&Ms, icing, color gels and the crock pot. 

I included the crock pot in the photo because after four hours of baking, there was no way that I was cooking dinner.  I can't remember what I had in the crock pot, but I was glad it was there! 😁 

Sprinkles!

I love having a large variety of sprinkles for decorating my baked goods, but they can get expensive really fast. My strategy is to wait until right after a holiday and buy them when they are 75% (or more) off. 

Tip:  Check the 'sell by' dates to be sure, but usually they are good for a year or two after purchase.  Store them in a cool, dry place and you are good to go 😉

Little Hands

My Baby Girl and my Little Man had different 'techniques' when it came to 

rolling out dough, but both had a lot of fun 😀

Sugar Cookies

Tip:  We cut and baked our sugar cookies first so that 

they would have time to cool before decorating.  I highly recommend having a set of cooling racks on hand if you are going to be baking a lot of anything at once.  It doesn't take long to run out of work space and stackable racks are a life saver!

Sprinkle Tray

In the past I've set all of the sprinkles out on the table and let the kids shake them out as they wished.  It worked but a whole lot were wasted on the floor 😏 

This year I decided to take a couple of mini muffin tins and use them to create sprinkle palettes.  Each of the kids got their own tin and spoon and had a much easier time.....Well, my girl did.  The Little Man just sat there eating sprinkles with the spoon, but that's ok 😀

Santa Cookies

Each of the kids made a special cookie to be left out for Santa on Christmas Eve.  The rest they divided between themselves and Daddy 😉

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Here are the rest of the cookies we made that day:

Chocolate chip with red sprinkles

Double chocolate chip with Andes mints and green sprinkles

Chocolate chip with M&Ms

Snicker doodles with red, white and green sprinkles

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Those were our holiday cookies this year.
I hope you enjoyed the baking post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018

Tree Ornaments and a Bonus Photo Tip - 2017

My Kitchen Tree Collection

The ice cream cones and macaroon on the left are available at Wal-Mart for just under $1.  The ice cream cone on the top right I found treasure hunting this year, but can't remember the price.  I want to say that it was .25 but I'm not sure.  The set of silver snowflake measuring spoons were part of my birthday gift from Husby's parents this year.  All of these have been incorporated into my kitchen candy tree.

You can click here to see more of my kitchen tree.

Side Note:  I had no idea that the macaroon was a macaroon until Baby Girl told me so, I just thought it was cute! Let's hear it for super smart kids! 😁

Baby Girl's Ballerinas & Barbie

Each of these were found treasure hunting this past summer for $1.50

  Apparently this was a steal because I just saw similar ones at Kohl's last week for $14.99 each 😁

The Little Man's Doggy & Plane

The blue puppy can be found at Wal-Mart for under $2 and the plane was another $1 treasure hunting find.  My Little Man loves his ornaments so much!  Originally, his ornaments were dispersed evenly around the tree, but I've been noticing that they keep moving.  Now we have an entire section (in the back by the couch) that features all of his personal ornaments along with anything of Daddy's that he also took a liking too 😉

Care Bears

Baby Girl has an entire box of vintage Care Bear toys that she no longer plays with, but the Little Man, however, loves to drag them out and drive them around in their little cloud car.  So when we were treasure hunting and found a set of Care Bear ornaments ($3 I think), he begged to have them.  He generously gave the larger pink one (Cheer Bear) to his sister and kept the tiny one (aptly named Share Bear 😍) for himself.

Husby's Truth

I found this one at Wal-Mart for under $4 and had to grab it because, yeah, he'd probably rather be hunting...or trapping...or fishing...😁😁😁

Aside from the very first photo, all of the remaining ornaments in the post were added to our family tree in the living room.

You can click here to read more about this tree.

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Bonus Photo Tip:  Another treasure hunting find this year was a set of plain 16x20 canvases that I found for $1, still in the original packaging (the wrapping says that they are sold at Hobby Lobby, $7.99 for a set of two).  Any way, I grabbed them thinking that for that price the kids could have fun painting on them, but I've ended up using them as canvas backgrounds for my blog and eBay photos.  Each of the photos in this post was taken by simply laying the ornaments onto an unpainted canvas.  I have also had great luck using them in the same way for my wedding package flowers.  The framed canvas means that you don't have to worry about wrinkles like with fabric, and the light reflects really well without creating any shiny flash spots.  I also like how easy they are to keep clean and ready to go without taking up much storage space - In other words, I don't have to go to the trouble of getting out and setting up my light box and backgrounds, etc.

I'm always looking out for photo tips so if you have anything you'd like to add, hit me in the comments section!

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I hope you've enjoyed this holiday & photo post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017

Baby Girl's Room Part 2: Toys Are Fun :)

I found a few several more photos from my Baby Girl's toddler room and couldn't resist sharing.
I love toys, fun and happy kids rooms and I'm so glad I took all of these photos, just clicking through them I was flooded with happy memories 😁

You can click here in case you missed the original post, otherwise enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this photo post from the past, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017

From the Archives: Baby Girl's Room & Closet Decor (2015)

I love blogging and sharing the creative aspects of my personality, however, I strive to be really careful when it comes to protecting the privacy of my family. 

I took these room decor photos when my Baby Girl was only 2, but didn't feel quite right about sharing them at the time.  Now that 6 years have passed (😌) and she's a completely different person, I think it's ok to go ahead and share a bit of her -used to be- personal space.  Enjoy!

Welcome to Baby Girl's room from 2015:

Rocker by the Window

The rocking chair in the top left photo used to belong to Husby as a child originally featured a dark wood finish.  A fresh coat of white paint updated it nicely and allowed it to blend right in with the existing decor.

A pink black-out shade was a pretty way to stop the light and prevent sunshine from interfering with my Baby Girl's sleep.  I used a twin sized flat white sheet to create a curtain and pulled the fabric to the side with a few smiley fabric flowers from the dollar store.

(You can click here to read more about making curtains from sheet fabric)

Toy Corner

Lots and lots and lots of toys here 😄

 I love the use of toy hammocks for corralling a million stuffed animals into place.  They run about $10 each but I was able to find these while treasure hunting for .50 and $1.

The table was a freebie from a family member and served as a great way to store the dollhouses as well as to provide a play surface.

The cabinet hanging above the table was handmade by Husby's father to match the rest of the bedroom furniture.

A Set of Beds

We always intended on having two children so when it came time to move Baby Girl into a 'big kid bed', we opted for adjustable bunk beds.  For the time being we turned them with the ladder toward the wall to keep Baby Girl off of the top unsupervised and used the top for additional toy storage and she slept on the bottom.  Later, after the Little Man was born and big enough for his own 'big kid bed', we took them apart and had two beds ready to go - no additional purchase necessary 😎

I also opted for plain white sheets and plain comforters.  Kids acquire so many different character items over the years (and go through so many different phases) that I figured basic colors would be easiest to decorate around.  No matter what the current interest is, plain pink (and now plain blue for the Little Man) goes with just about everything.

Character Close-Ups

At this point in time, Disney Princesses, Care Bears and Lalaloopsy were much adored!

Back of the Door Storage

Baby Girl also used to have a large collection of Beanie Babies which we displayed in hanging shoe organizers. 

I love re-purposing shoe organizers in other areas of the house.  Currently, the white organizer now hangs in the kids bathroom to collect all of Baby Girl's hair accessories and the green one ended up in the garage.

Paintings & Wall Art

The water colors were painted by my Grandpa and are actual pictures of Baby Girl. 
The butterfly art is the front of a gift bag that I cut out and framed.

Disney Castle

Husby and I found this vinyl castle sticker on clearance at Wal-Mart right before we moved into the house.  It was a bit of a splurge (for something that would undoubtedly be ripped apart by tiny hands - and yes, it eventually was 😁), but worth if for Baby Girl's very first room.

I used glow in the dark plastic stars to accent the castle (found for .50 while treasure hunting) and the night time effect was adorable.

More Wall Art

Each one of these framed posters is actually the front of a gift bag from Baby Girl's second birthday.

I can't stress enough how easy and economical this project is!  Kids are always changing tastes (and always having birthdays) why not continually update their room decor and recycle at the same time?

In to the Closet

Part storage and part fun, this walk-in closet is large enough that it almost served as another room.

Storage...

I think even storage areas should be neat, bright and welcoming 😊

I opted for open basket storage (instead of drawers) because I am creatively better when I can see all of my options - yes, that also applies to choosing outfits 😁

Having all of your clothing on display however can mean things look messy pretty quickly.  One obvious tip is to keep everything neatly folded, but using the same color throughout the space also helps.  By having most of the storage baskets, bins and drawers in the same shade of crisp white, the storage furniture visually blends away.

...And Fun

Since the closet space is large enough, I set up a little dressing area for Baby Girl as well.  The makeup table was a $5 find and the purple flowered wall pegs were $1 for the set, all treasure hunting finds.

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And that was my Baby Girl's room, back when she was 2! 
I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017

Birthday Boys 2017

With Husby and the Little Man sharing a birthday, is was time for another double celebration!  Baby Girl wasn't too happy about their birthday falling on a school day, so I made sure that she had fresh cinnamon rolls -with sprinkles- ready for breakfast.  We spent most of the day relaxing and lounging and went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Everybody had been sick with colds so a low key day was nice.

For dinner Husby chose bacon (BLTs) and the Little Man wanted 'Donalds' (McDs).  But not before the Little Man got to open his presents.  Why aren't their any gifts for Husby?  Because he opens them as soon as they arrive, that's why 😁

Treats

The Little Man's actual birthday cake was a yellow mix with red icing and lots of sprinkles.  Baby Girl  had a great time adding the candles and Thomas the Train toys to the top.

Husby's treat of choice was sugar cookies with buttercream icing.  The blue icing was leftover from those shark fin cupcakes we had at the pirate party (post coming soon).

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And that was how we spent their actual birthday this year.  I hope you enjoyed the update, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017

Easter 2016: How We Celebrated!

We had a fun and enjoyable Easter this year, here is how we celebrated:

Glowy Eggs

We kicked off the holiday by having our annual glowy egg hunt the weekend before Easter.

Apparently glowy eggs have become a trend because Wal-Mart now sells miniature sized glow sticks intended to fit into plastic eggs.  This is sooooo much easier than trying to bend the bigger ones in half!

(You can click here to read more about my glowy eggs)

Egg Dye

The kids enjoyed coloring a few hard boiled eggs on Saturday.

Translation:  Baby Girl enjoyed decorating eggs, the Little Man enjoyed discovering how to crack open the shells ;)

Painting Eggs

After coloring the real eggs, the kids had a fun time painting up a few foam eggs too.

Easter Baskets

The kids woke up on Sunday morning to buckets filled with all sorts of fun outside activities and a bit of candy too :)

Low-Key Table

A bit of filler grass and yellow napkins added a small festive touch to our brunch table.

Centerpiece

A yellow napkin topped with filler grass and a handful of 'carrot' eggs created a simple and colorful centerpiece.

Peeps

The kids love these, I think they are gross.  But, they add so much cuteness to our brunch!  So I bought a pack to dress up our plates and smoothies.

Brunch

A breakfast casserole and colorful smoothie.

I made our smoothies 'Eastery' by topping with jelly beans and a bunny peep.  Use a knife to cut a slice into the peep and they will fit nicely on the rim of any glass.




Easter Eggs

This years eggs contained either jelly beans or coins.  I filled 24 for each kiddo, color coding them to prevent squabbles ;)

Can you see them?

Yeah, so I forgot how green camouflage eggs would 'disappear' into the lawn.  Sorry Little Man, it's a good thing you have a sweet big sister ready to help you!  Poor kid....

:D :D :D

Hatching Bunnies

You didn't know that bunnies hatch from Easter eggs?  Well they did this year!  The kids had a good time soaking and then breaking apart these eggs to find the toy bunnies inside.

I found these 'hatchable' eggs at Wal-Mart, $3 for a set of two.


And that was our relaxing Easter Sunday.
I hope you enjoyed this holiday post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016