Busch Gardens Christmastown & Trey's First Ride!

Last week we headed to Busch Gardens for their Christmastown event. I've never been to BG during the holidays before but have always ooooh-ed and ahhhh-ed over everyone else's pictures of their trips to it. 


But, let's backtrack for a second. We don't usually go to amusement parks..... because it PAINS me to spend $50+ on a ticket for J.D. who doesn't ride anything. And I have to go on roller-coasters alone. Or with kids that are like 7 years old and call my husband a "chicken" (wait, that only happened once, in Disney World, on Expedition Everest).


Yea. You read that correctly. 


The husband doesn't ride roller-coasters. Or scary rides. Or anything besides *maybe* the swings. 


Me and my "scared-of-anything-and-everything" self will ride any roller-coaster or crazy ride that you put in front of me. I know, crazy, right?! I love them. LOVE. 


He thinks I'm crazy. And asked me: "Do you think Trey will want to ride them one day?" 


My response: "I mean have you met our daredevil child? I'm pretty sure he will be Mama's riding-buddy"! 


Anywho. Back to our trip. 


During Christmastown only parts of the park are open and everything is COVERED in lights. It was SO beautiful. I was really worried that Trey was too young to enjoy anything but he definitely had a blast!


We walked all around and took in the sites, had dinner at this fun place that served fried pickles (my first! YUM!), rode the rides like Alpengeist, The Battering Ram, Da Vinci's Cradle and Mach Tower. (Oh and we means, the SIL, future BIL and myself). It did start to rain for a little while but it didn't mess up our spirits any, we were lucky that it was unseasonably warm that day!

He just stared in awe at all of the lights! 

Our little family

On Mach Tower - my new favorite ride!!!

AND ~ Trey's first ride was The Little Gliders - he LOVED it!!

After I realized how much Trey loved this ride -  I was ready to sign up for whatever season pass package that they were offering right that second! J.D. reigned me back in but I am secretly counting down the days until they open in the Spring! 


p.s. So let's take a poll ~ do you and your significant other ride roller-coasters? I want to know! 

Duncan Hines & A Girls Night In!

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com. For the past couple years I have been lucky enough to attend an awesome cookie swap with some of my favorite blog friends! This year (and last year too!) it was hosted at the gorgeous home of Whitney Caroline! I carpooled over with J and had a wonderful girls night in!

We were supposed to bring a holiday cookie and a pretty plate to swap. I whipped up some chocolate covered pretzels, which was a total cop-out. I was tired, they were easy and luckily for my friends, still delicious! We ate appetizers, cookies, cakes, brownies and drank all sorts of yummy bevarages and just had an all around great girls night. We caught up on what is happening in each other's lives and laughed until our bellies hurt! (Or was that because of the cookies... Hmmm?)

I do have to share with you: my favorite cookie of the evening was by no other than, my shopping/starbucks/chatty partner in crime, Michelle!

She whipped up these!

via

Um, chocolate + coconut? YES PLEASE!

They are insanely good and Michelle said that they weren't difficult to make either!

Here is the recipe!

• 1 box Duncan Hines® Double Fudge Decadent Brownie Mix
• 2 cups coconut
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)
• Cocoa powder for an optional garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine brownie mix and coconut; mix well.
3. Mix in the oil, water, eggs, contents of fudge packet, and extract with a wooden spoon until all dry ingredients are moistened (dough will be stiff).
4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on prepared cookie sheets; flatten slightly with bottom of a glass.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set (centers will be slightly soft.) Transfer cookies to wire rack with metal spatula and cool completely.
6. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa powder.

Now go! Make some for your holiday parties that you are fragging your feet on deciding what to make. I know, personally I have procrastinated SO much this season. I am very thankful for easy and amazing recipes and gift ideas of any sort!!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Card Edition

O Christmas Tree

Every year since we have lived in our house we buy our tree at the same place. It's right behind the house and all proceeds of the trees go to the food bank. You can check out our Christmas tree venture with a BABY Trey dressed as a reindeer last year here.


We had so much fun playing with all of the trees and just chasing Trey around! It's such a special time even if he doesn't quite "get it" I know he has had a fun time lately with all of the crafts and activities we have been doing!

Trey & Mama clearly had different opinions on which tree to get! 

Trey wanted to check out the price list before he picked a tree!

This has ALWAYS been Trey's preferred method of transportation when we go somewhere! 

Winner, winner! The perfect tree! 

Oh yes, and Santa helped us out by tying it to the top of my car!! 

Trey's First Haircut

On Saturday we (the hubs......) decided it was time to take Trey to get his haircut. I do agree that he was looking a smidge Billy Ray Cyrus circa 1992 - however, I LOVED those little baby curls at the nape of his neck. LOVED them. 

I had finally pushed the appt off long enough. It was time to face the music. 

All of "the cool kids" apparently go to "Pigtails and Crewcuts" and they were SO awesome with my nervous-nelly self. They let us take 100 pictures and were so nice to Trey. 

Sidenote: We are all in the wrong business y'all: 5 min = $20. Yea...  

Am I glad we did it? Yes. 

He looks like such a little boy now, but still so sweet. 

Oh and did I cry?

Um, yes, BUT I did wait until we got out the door!!!! 

 

Pin-spired Link Up!

Today I'm linking up with the ever-so-sweet Kodi over at A Brighter Yellow for Pin-spired! 


My latest obsession with Pinterest is natural cleaners! 


This is what started it all:

Source: ideas.thenest.com via Beach on Pinterest

Instructions from The Nest:

Vanilla Extract

Clean the microwave and leave it smelling sweet with this household trick! Mix 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a microwave-safe container, and zap it on high for five minutes. When it's done, remove the container and wipe down the interior of the oven. Any gunk should slide right off.

Guess what? It worked! Like a charm! And for the rest of the day my house smelled like warm vanilla! YUM! 

Proof? 

Sadly, I don't have a before picture but I PROMISE it was NAS-TY!!! Ick. I'm grossed out just thinking about it! 

Meet my new arsenal of products: 

LOTS more posts on these guys headed at you! And not just for cleaning! 

My new favorite trick - I scrub my hands with a smidge of baking soda & water (I make a paste with it) after I use my sunlabs self tanner - and viola! No more discolored palms!! It doesn't dry out my hands either! 

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Random Instagram Edition

Trey's Nativity & Mama's Nativity 

Everything tastes better in a Christmas Tervis! 

We Itsy Bitsy Spider all day and all night around here!

We took Trey to a Christmas train show and he thought it was AWESOME! 

New favorite food: clementines! 

New favorite "toy": coffee filters. Yep, cheap and easy - I give him like 10 at a time and he gets SO excited! Ha! 

We really like color at the Mexican restaurant 

When we aren't too busy dipping our chips in white sauce!!!

Thanksgiving Recap

This was the 5th year that I hosted Thanksgiving at our house and I have to say, hands down it was the best and easiest year ever! I guess you learn a thing or two over the years. This was however, the first year that I did the turkey (RIP Bob! What? You don't name your turkey?) because we usually deep fry them and anyone who knows me is aware that I shouldn't be let near anything that could explode/catch the house on fire! 


And my favorite hosting tips of the year include:

• Cleaning my whole house a few days ahead of time, I'm sure y'all are thinking "DUH" but for some reason I usually wait until the last minute
• Make your mashed potatoes and then throw them in the crock pot on warm. No one likes cold mashed taters! 
• While you are at it, throw your Paula Deen ham in the biggest crock pot you can find. This clears up so much oven space and keeps the ham nice and juicy! (Don't forget to keep basting it! And put the crunchy glaze on last!) 
• Enlist help. I have a VERY HARD TIME asking for help with entertaining. So instead I put all of my relatives to work "watching" Trey and keeping him out of the kitchen (thank goodness for childproofing the oven with locks recently) this kept me free to cook and JD free for whatever crazy task I have in my mind at that current moment
• Send as much food as you possibly can home with relatives. This year we were headed out of town so it was an easy one for us but usually I end up throwing so much food away because JD and I can't eat it all or just get sick of it. This year I made sure I was stocked up on paper plates, press n seal and containers that I didn't want back so that we could find homes for the rest of the food. 

 I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because it was such a busy and quick day - but here are some!! 

What a difference a year makes!! 

Plum Organics & Baby Feeding Magic

 

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what's for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens!

Back when Trey first started solids I made each and everything from scratch, organic, with lots of mommy love. I read books, I went to all sorts of stores for just the right type of apple/banana/pear. I steamed, I pureed, I froze, I jarred. And you know what I LOVED it. 


BUT..... 


I quickly learned that sometimes we needed something that I could keep in my purse, that didn't need to be refrigerated and that was still organic for when we were out and about. 


Luckily I was contacted by Plum Organics and was sent some of their awesome products to review. I took that little spoon that hooked onto their pouches EVERYWHERE. And each and every time I pulled it out it felt like people came out of nowhere with "That's awesome!" "What is that?" "Where'd you get that?" and sadly, LOTS of "I WISH they had those when my kids were little!"


Can you blame them? Easy peasy for Mama and Trey always loved the flavors. 


Now that he is older, we have ditched the spoon but I still buy the Plum Organics pouches often for quick, easy and healthy snacks while we are on the go! 


And since this post is all about baby feeding magic, I thought I'd share some of the magic tips that I have learned from other Mama's along the way:

• Try again. I'm lucky to not have a picky eater but that doesn't mean it won't change or that the next baby won't "make up" for Trey's easy-going personality when it comes to food. LOTS of my mom friends made sure to say - even if he doesn't like it at first, wait a few weeks and then try again. You'll be surprised what reaction you may get!  
• Have FUN with it. I feel like the baby food stage went by so quickly. I feel like it was over so quickly, all of a sudden he wanted what he were having and wanted nothing to do with the "baby" food, I had so lovingly prepared. 
• Go with your gut. (And your dr's advice) Everyone will have different opinions on when is the right time to start each food. YOU are the Mama, you know if something doesn't feel right. Call the dr and do your research, you will know what is right, and when it is right!

What baby feeding magic tips do you have?

And I will leave you with this adorable Pac-man-like video by Plum Organic organics: The Quest for Yum! 

 I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Plum Organics, visit their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PlumOrganics.