Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins {Recipe}

Theres an amazing grocery store called Wegmans

If you live near one.. if you don't.. you must.

They make all things amazing.. and a part of their amazing bakery section they recently started making these Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins.

They were so good my kids were literally fighting over the only ONE I bought last week.

I decided that I need to know how to make them myself before I go broke, or someone gets hurt

 

Turning to trusty ole Pinterest

 I found a very very close recipe from My Daily Morsel blog.

 

Samantha had a friend over that day, and she ate 2 by herself, and took some home as well.

We all enjoyed them, and I will be making them again, because they lasted about 1 day.

 



 

For the whole recipe, you can find it under my Pinterest "Muffins" board, or click the My Daily Morsel blog link above.

 

 

The End of Nursery School...

The Day was here.. Her LAST day of preschool

She had no idea what an amazing milestone this was... but I did.

My little baby.. all done with her first year.

A year that started off not so smooth.

A year where I was going to school WITH her with my 9 month old on my hip, sitting in nursery school chairs, and urging her to join the class, and not to cry...

 

It was a year of growth

For her.

For us

And these teachers deserved a good gift at the end of it

I'd been working on it for a while



Anthro Mugs, Homemade Vanilla Almonds, Homemade Soy Candle, and Home-Sewn Cards.

I got the idea from Pinterest of course, and a regular blog I read.

 

Here she is...last day

 

SJ with some of her dear friends she met this year.

 

Going in for her last class.

 

I had tears in my eyes as they all came down the stairs from the park for the last time. 

 

Great big goodbye hugs that just melted my heart

 

Her teacher was amazing.

She is retiring, and this was her last class ..



 

I wish she could stay in this class forever!

We loved her first school experience, and we will never ever forget the lovely teachers that made the experience so wonderful.

So school ended last week, and I'm trying to keep her involved and busy this summer.

She is going to an extended summer program for a few weeks at her school. New teacher & classmates, so I think it will be good for her. Especially preparing her for the new program that she got accepted into next year.. its EVERY day... but I think it will be a wonderful preparation for Kindergarden

{peeking...haha}

Bubble Gum Ice Cream {Recipe}

Samantha and I love Bubble Gum Ice Cream

And since purchasing my awesome Cuisinart Ice Cream maker, we've been experimenting with a lot of new flavors. We had some really good Bubble Gum Ice Cream in NC at the beach.

So while sitting on the beach I pinned a bunch of recipes, and was reading on how people made their version.. I dont like using any eggs in any of my ice creams.. at least I havent tried yet.



 

So here's my version, and I loved how it turned out...

 

I just used the recipe from my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Recipe Packet

 

Bubble Gum Ice Cream

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream (I halved the recipe)

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup and 1/16 cup granulated sugar

1 & 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 bottle (3.7ml)- Bubble Gum Oil

 

 

 

In mixing bowl I whisked the whole milk and granulated sugar until all sugar was dissolved. I stirred in the heavy cream, vanilla & bubble gum oil, then added blue/turquoise food coloring until I got this pretty blue flavor.

 

Put it all in the ice cream maker, and turned it on for about 25 min.

Chilled in the fridge for another 4-5 hours.

 

 

Money Making... {RentBack.com}

Dear Readers who are students or know someone who is a student...

 

I have been contacted by RentBack.com and notified of a new amazing program for making money on books you are finished with at the end of the semester!

I wanted to share this program with all of my readers.

 

Used books.. cost an arm and a leg when you bought them... then the class is over, and what do you do? Sell them back for 1/4 of the original price you paid, and loose tons of money?

 

 

 

Now YOU can rent your books out to other students.

Its a great opportunity to rake in 2-4 times more cash than if you would sell the books back instead.

 

There is a good video that explains how it works, and you can look up what your book is worth right on their site.. RentBack.com

 

SO go to their site HERE.

It sounds like an amazing opportunity, and if I was a college student, I would have not only SAVED money.. but MADE money too.. and we all know as poor college kids, a little money goes a long way.

 



 

What a great company.

 

Im a little sad that I cannot personally take advantage of such an awesome program!

Like having your little book business and extra cash at the end of each semester/school year.

 



Back into The Routine

Since we've been back from vacay, its just been all about getting back into the routine around here.



The best of our seashell finds from Surf City.

Looking at this just makes me happy.. and sad too.. I really miss it!

 

 

I have done a TON of crafting lately ...just getting some late Mother's Day gifts done, teacher gifts, and some other Pinterest finds that I'm trying.. more deets to come on the craft blog.

 

Samantha celebrated her summer birthday at school this week...

So I made some fruit kebobs & pink krispie treat S's

 

The sweet moments & gentle kisses are very plentiful lately.

And Daddy and I want nothing more.

I know they'll fight .. naturally.. but they've been very very sweet to each other these days.

Little Man.

He's back home, and we can tell he's a happy camper

We've really tried to cut out juice from his diet, and are concentrating on him eating more food.. (since he has a tiny appetite) & load him up with Milk instead of juice.

And if / when he wakes in the night, I give him milk now instead of water

He's had a few really good nights.. And I also picked up some Blackout room darkening shades to go under his wood blinds.. ha! Hey... whatever helps!

Baka and Papa came in this weekend from Ohio.

Bringing treats and spoilings for my babies.

We soaked it all up, and had so much fun with them.

The weather was really nice the last few days.. and water is our best friend...

Last night we tried a new yogurt place in our neighborhood.. and it was really really good..

But whats bad is, we can walk there.. 

 

My husband, father in law & Samantha are the only ones who think that The Three Stooges is hysterical.. I just don't get it ... 

All she wanted to do was watch the Stooges with her favorite partner in crime.. Papa

Papa & his Grandkids.

It was a nice visit!

We cant wait till they come back again.



Surf City {Day 4 & Traveling Back Day 5}

Day 4 - Sadness.

Our last day at the beach.. and I would have to say goodbye to my favorite place for I dont know how long.. booooo

 

Daddy and SJ had become sand castle experts.

They had so much fun together.

We got Andrew to take a nap for a good hour on the beach & half way through we got a little downpour of rain. It rained for maybe 5 minutes.. then the sunshine came back out.

Samantha thought it was so funny that we stayed at the beach under towels while it rained on us.

 

She discovered her "guys" ... Little sea creatures in shells that bury themselves in the sand.

She gathered as many as she could and gave them water

I don't know what their technical name is.. but you can see their tentacles? eyes? legs? who knows what they are sticking out of their shells... but she was fascinated.

We stayed at the beach as long as we could ... because night time re-visits had proved to be not such a good idea from the previous couple nights. So we headed back for naps, and I started packing away for the flight home the next day...

{hiding}

he looved playing hide and seek, and finding Samantha and I.. he's so far advanced because he has an older sibling to teach him everything. 

That afternoon we got some greasy southern fried goodness to eat from one of my favorite places, Batson's Galley. Fried Oysters, Shrimp, Scallops... Fries, Coleslaw, Hush Puppies.. OMG...

Daddy's friend & fiancé came to visit us, and we went for Frozen Yogurt.

Cake Batter, Candy Bar & Snickerdoodle toppings... yes please. 

 

 

And then just because there was a firetruck parked in the parking lot..

we decided to climb all over it.. good fun entertainment.

 

We got back, and said goodbye and Daddy and I started some more laundry, and organizing... and throwing out stuff we didn't need.

And these two were entertained thank goodness.. 

And just like that ... it was time to return home...

Luckily, the Wilmington airport is pretty small, and very kid friendly.. while we waited.

A quick flight down to Atlanta...and we suvrived the first flight again with no problems, whining, crying .. ANYTHING!!! Amazing....

 

Entertainment was taken care of in ATL, since we had a great view of one of the runways.. where a plane takes off every 3 or 4 minutes.. Andrew & Sass were in their glory.

 

What a much needed vacation..

And don't let me kid anyone.. It was tiring, sometimes stressful, but well worth it.

Im so glad we got away for a while.. and theres no better place than our old little beach town.

Hope we get back there again someday soon!

Surf City {Day 3}

Day 3

All we needed was a little rest!!

And they were ready to go!

My two babies..

on the beach where our little family started..I loved it.



I hit up my favorite family dollar for some goodies.. and we made some cool stuff with these pipe cleaners in the sand.

Andrew just loved playing in the sand.

Feeling it between his fingers, and making sand piles.



 

Naptime happened ... and I hit up some Antique & Consignment Beach Shops.

And purchased some beach treasures.

At night we spent some time at Soundside Park, then headed for some ice cream

 



Bubble Gum is her favorite sans the pieces of bubble gum.

 



Strawberry for the little man.

 

And then home for the nightly baths, books, & bed routine.

Andrew was still waking up at least 2-3 times.. I would heat up some milk, and rock him back to sleep.. I was very very tired the next day.. so coffee to the rescue was pretty much how I survived this vacay.