DIY Dollar Store Halloween village!

I saw this pin and I KNEW that I would be making my very own Halloween village. I bought several Christmas village houses and people at the dollar store, spray painted them black, then added some orange glow in the dark paint accents, and some black glitter accents. Decorate with orange lights and spiderwebs, and voila! I love how it is so eerily dark . The people are creepy looking anyway, so making them black just added to that. I will probably add to it as time goes by, but I LOVE it!! Follow me on Pinterest!

Drawer Labels

If your children (and husband) are anything like mine, they can't seem to remember which drawer to put their clothes into. So, I created these labels. I laminated them and attached them to the drawers, and it works like a charm. Even when it doesn't work, they can't claim it's because the didn't know where the items belonged! Enjoy! Follow me on Pinterest!

Summertime girl

Love my summertime girl!

First day of school photos

So proud of my big boy! Kindergarten rocks!

First day of school teacher gift- a "Just in case" kit

A Luna bar in case she misses breakfast, Easy Mac in case she misses lunch, peanut butter M&M’s in case she needs a snack, Crystal Light energy drink packets in case she feels run down, Tylenol in case she gets a headache, Carmex in case her lips feel chapped, lotion in case she needs moisturized, Tums in case her tummy hurts, throat drops in case she has a tickle, a sewing kit in case she pops a button off, gum in case she has dry mouth, knee highs in case she gets a run, bobby pins in case her hair is out of control, a lint brush in case she gets stray hairs on her clothes, and Always liners in case...you know. What do you think about teacher's gifts for first day of school, Christmas, etc? I like to do them, but a friend of mine was insulted that she felt they were assumed. Thoughts?

Snow YAY! But....

I live in an area of Washington that actually gets less rain per year than Los Angeles. We have a ton of gray overcast days, but as far as actual rain it's minimal. We also tend to get very little snow in the winter. This is funny because it is so typical of people in this area.

Nutella banana trifle

If you are supposed to bring a dessert somewhere and want to impress the pants off everyone, try making a trifle! The traditional way is to layer custard, preserves, cake, fruit, etc. Usually it's pound cake with vanilla custard, strawberry preserves, maybe some banana. But, you can use whatever you like! My favorite favorite flavor combo in the world is Nutella banana.... so here is a recipe for that. If you have the time, I recommend making your own custard, whipping your own cream, etc. BUT, this is going to be the quick and dirty way and it tastes wonderful! Ingredients: One chocolate cake mix, prepared according to directions 2 boxes vanilla instant pudding, 2 cups milk 2 boxes banana instant pudding, 2 cups milk 1 large container of cool whip, divided 2 cups Nutella 4 ripe bananas, sliced Bake cake, and allow to cool completely. Cut into bite sized pieces. Over a double boiler, melt Nutella. Prepare banana pudding according to directions, and place in fridge. Prepare vanilla pudding according to directions. After it has been stirred for 2 minutes, temper in half of the melted Nutella, while whisking the ENTIRE time. I can not stress this enough. You have to temper (add it in slowly) and stir or else it will seize and make a gross unusable mess. After it is all mixed in, you should have Nutella pudding. Place into fridge. Now, temper the other half of the melted Nutella into half of the cool whip. Again, slow and steady WHILE whisking. Place into fridge. After the pudding is soft set (about 5-10 minutes) you can assemble the trifle. Just start layering, I do cake pieces, banana pudding, bananas, Nutella pudding, cake, plain cool whip, Nutella pudding, cake, banana pudding, bananas, Nutella cool whip, then cake crumbs, but really the order doesn't matter. I try to make sure the slices of bananas are between two pudding layers to keep them from browning. After it is assembled, place into fridge, and keep it there until serving. This will help the pudding to finish setting. I baked the cake and mixed the puddings in the morning, and then assembled it all 10 minutes before dinner. It stayed in the fridge during dinner, and when I brought it out after everyone ooooohed and aaaaaahed. Enjoy! Eat what you want the first time, because there will not be leftovers!