Tag Archives: baking

Valentines Love Bugs Snacks

Valentines Love Bug Snacks

Nothing says Valentines like a cute little love bug! My girls love ladybugs, and these sweet little treats are such a hit! These are perfect for school parties, play dates, or just for making your little ones’ day special! And, if you are in need of easy snacks, then you’ve come to the right place. (For those of you that follow along, you know that I love anything that requires minimal time and simple ingredients). Here are three Love Bug snacks sure to steal some hearts!

Happy Valentines Day! xo

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Easy Christmas Morning Cinnamon Buns

Christmas Cinnamon Buns

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is making cinnamon buns to enjoy on Christmas morning. They are the most indulgent breakfast ever, and pair perfectly with presents and a little fancy coffee. This recipe is incredibly easy, and can be put together in five minutes (…as in at midnight after finishing your wrapping!) 😉

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Yummy Christmas Tree Brownies

Christmas Tree Brownies

Festive baking is one of my favourite things to do! With two little ones, I always turn to recipes that are easy, tasty, and fun. These Christmas tree brownies are super simple, and will have people raving! I brought these to our preschool party last year and was asked for the recipe twice (confession… they aren’t homemade!). I especially love that the decorating is simple and straight forward!  Continue Reading

Spring Preschool Party Snacks

Spring Snacks Ladybugs

Spring is here! And that, my friends, is worth celebrating! My oldest daughter is in preschool, and a few times a year they have a celebration and shared snack at school. Last week they had a Spring party and I couldn’t resist these sweet little lady bug pretzels! We usually stick to healthy snacks, but Vienna loves lady bugs and the colour red, so I knew she’d be especially excited to share these with her friends! These would also work great for a Valentine’s party, too!

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Double Birthday Bash

It’s a double birthday! Given the girls’ birthdays are just one day apart we took advantage of having one big family party for their first and third birthdays. Or so I thought… I say “took advantage of,” but I really didn’t think through baking and icing cakes and cupcakes for an entire evening and morning. But, it’s so nice for the girls to share their day together and to have one big gathering.

We had a great day! We ate snacks, had cake, and enjoyed visiting with so many family and friends. The kids are young enough that we didn’t do a kids party and there are enough kids in our close friends and family circle to make it pass as a kids party anyways. I did a fun activity table that was SO easy and all of the kids loved it. I’m going to recycle this idea for all future kid events! All it entailed was a roll of white craft paper, a few mason jars of markers and crayons, some stickers, a couple of easy Halloween “crafts” and a jar full of play dough containers. The kids had a blast! And it involved zero adult participation. That’s a win in my books! I didn’t do goody bags, we just sent each child home with the play dough of their choice and some stickers.

As for decor I went with pink and gold, of course, because that’s what we already have on hand. And for the record, my decorating mainly consists of baked goods– that’s my strength 😉 Each of the girls had a two-tier rose cake piped with different shades of pink frosting, and I made large and small pink frosted cupcakes too. I truly love making their birthday cakes, along with cakes for my sweet nieces and nephews. I’m no pro, and sometimes my perfectionism makes it a bit crazy in the kitchen, but I love seeing them so happy with their cakes. Vienna blew out her candles at the start of happy birthday, and quietly watched us all sing to her. And Aria had zero interest in “smashing” her cake.

Besides baking my other favourite decoration to include is a photo line, where I string up photos of the girls from the past year. I’ve done this for each of Vienna’s birthdays already, and it’s one of the few times (some) of my massive amounts of photos get printed. I take the photos and put them in a mini album and tuck them away in a box for her. One of my favourite things as I grew up was looking through old photos from my childhood. We never seem to print photos these days and I want the girls to have some to look back on down the road.

I’ve done blogs celebrating each of the girls ages here  (Vienna) and here (Aria), since catching them sitting still at their birthday party is next to impossible! Here’s a quick photo recap on the details of the day, enjoy! AND how cute is that family pic with the girls in their birthday outfits by the talented Jennifer Harwood @ Blink Photography!?

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Soccer Cupcakes!

We’ve been busy around here lately, especially in the kitchen! It’s been a busy few weeks for Mike and the weather has gone from crazy hot to crazy rain, meaning the girls and I have spent a fair amount of time inside lately. On Friday it poured rain and we baked up some cupcakes for my friend’s daughter Kadence, who is like a niece to me. I love that I’ve been making her cakes since she was 5! I’m no professional, but I love trying my hand at decorating cakes and cupcakes, and the kids love them perfect or not 🙂

I wanted to do this post because I always look to Pinterest for decorating ideas after I get a theme from the kids. But, it’s annoying when you can’t find good sources for info on what to use to make them. These Soccer cupcakes were easy (although piping grass on 24 cupcakes is time consuming!) and the best part is the grass is meant to be messy, so for a perfectionist like me there is a bit of leeway where I won’t drive myself completely insane trying to perfect them– although I’ll confess that I did test out what it would take to make very even turf grass. Moving on…

Here’s the details:

  • Icing tint: Wilton’s Kelly Green concentrated paste- these paste’s work really great for colours.
  • Decorating tip: Wilton #233 Flower Center/ Grass
  • Soccer balls: This one is tricky (and what I searched all over Pinterest for how to make) They are edible sugar decorations. They are here on amazon, which will work for anyone who starts planning their projects sooner than 3 days before the event. Note to future self. Or, check with your local cake store, you might get lucky, I did!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest 11 year old we know! xo

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