February 6, 2025 Valentine’s Day Fudge Brownies
I usually don’t have time to make homemade brownies, so I fancy up some box brownies. (Throw in some candy or add on some home made frosting…) But I found myself with some extra time the other day and decided to make some fudge brownies from scratch. I found a recipe from Karli, cookiesfordaaays on Instagram, and hers looked amazing.
The recipe couldn’t have been easier to make and they came out delicious. Perfect for a dry run for Valentine’s Day.
You can keep the brownies plain, as is, or add frosting. Check out her recipe here.
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February 5, 2025 Sweet Treats for Your Sweet Valentine
Desserts are my favorite – I think you should eat them first. We bake desserts for friends for all the holidays, it’s our love language. I usually don’t make sandwich cookies of any kind, because I just can’t handle the extra step, but we had some fancy jam, and, these seemed like a fun idea for Leah.
My neighbor from growing up is the best baker. She makes these iced sugar cookies that I adore. She’s even given me the recipe, but I can’t make them taste as delicious as she makes them. So I patiently wait until Valentine’s Day, or my birthday, and I don’t even share them with my kids, that’s how much I adore them.
Cupcakes are our go to dessert to make in our house, the design options are pretty endless. We made these piped hearts with sugar crystals and plain vanilla frosted topped with jelly hearts.
When you want something besides a food options, I give those too. I made this up for my little. A heart belt bag from Target, sparkle boots from Target, Ooly scented stamp able markets, ooly chroma blend watercolors, Construction Site: You’re Just Right, an ice cream truck notebook, some fun bracelets, and some heart glasses that you add glow sticks to.
Another popular dessert that we make on Valentine’s Day are m&m cookies.
If you are looking for a fun and festive dessert, but are short on time, don’t be afraid to take a short cut. We bought mini ice cream sandwiches and rolled them in different sprinkles. They look like a million dollars, that you spent so much time on them, when really, it was under five minutes in the kitchen (most of which was spent unwrapping the paper).
I love all the containers from Bullseye’s Playground. I picked these up last year and filled them with all kinds of fun and colorful Valentine candy.
Another close up of the cupcakes, this batch in chocolate.
Last year Blackbird Doughnuts offered these cute chocolate chip cookies shaped like doughnuts.The kids adored these. Hope they bring them back for this year.
Another container from Bullseye’s Playground – we filled this one with our sprinkle cookies.
This glass Tupperware was from Target as well, but not the dollar section. Although I did pick up at the end of the season, so they were deeply discounted. One of my other shortcuts (shhh don’t tell anyone) is to get store bought brownies if I am short on time, and top with a delicious salted caramel sauce. It makes them seem very fancy. If you have a few extra minutes, but not a ton of time, you can fancy up some box mix by swirling in some sauce or peanut butter!
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February 4, 2025 Valentine’s Day Sweets and Treats
I love a good m&m cookie on Valentine’s Day. They just give a good pop of color and a nice hearty cookie with a crunch on the outside that I love. Our neighbors love these too, they even request the crunchier the better 🙂
I know that snackle boxes are the new thing, but I love a good old fashioned muffin tin. Why not use what you have and not go out and get something new. And mine just happen to be pink!! Fill with all your favorite candy – a real mix of salty, sweet, gummy, hard, chocolate, crunchy, and maybe even throw a bowl of popcorn on the side just for good measure.
Usually I am a strict vanilla with vanilla cupcake kind of gal, but I do make exceptions on Valentine’s Day. I do love a strawberry frosting and the garnish, well the sky is the limit. I love these XO chocolate covered crackers, I love the Valentine Candy that is available, m&m’s, anything Reese’s….and while I don’t actually like the taste of conversation hearts, they do sure make a cute decoration.
These Crescent Ridge cupcakes come as a six pack and can be in your weekly delivery for $16.50 a package. They start with a brownie base and are topped with vanilla or cookie dough ice cream. Top with some whip and sprinkles and you are good to go! Chef’s kiss.
They did at one point last year do a collaboration of a red velvet ice cream whoopie that was kind of knock your socks off….this year they are doing a gingerbread one, which I like….just not as much. They also have a peppermint ice cream sandwich option which is enough to rock your world. Did I mention they can get delivered to your door?
Ok, Simple heart sugar cookie heart cut out. My neighbor growing up makes these. She gave me the recipe. I follow it to the precise T. They NEVER come out the same. Im convinced that she left one key thing out so that I can’t ever make them as good…. 🙂 The frosting is light a sugary, but not TOO sweet, and when I was at college and I was missing being at home….I would legit eat the whole tin in one sitting. But let’s not unpack all that psychology right now.
As I mentioned in a previous Valentine post, I rarely have time to make from scratch brownies, so I like to fancy up box brownies. One way would be to cut then out into shapes. I do like this option, but there is a lot of waste. And by waste, I mean, add to my waist-line. But I cut this batch up into hearts and I think they are just thge cutest things in the whole world.
Keep them plain, as is, of you can add a little frosting. Make from scratch, or if you are in a hurry, put premade frosting into a piping bag and add a little to the tops of the hearts and cover with fun sprinkles.
Here are some fun rainbow ones I tried to make cute.
Another fun thing that we sometimes do at our house is sheetpan pancakes. SO we tried to make then and then cut then out and make them into fun shapes because I certainly can’t compete with my son’s friend’s dad who can whip up colored pancakes every weekend. I mean, we all have our strengths…
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February 3, 2025 Advent Calendar for Valentine’s Day?
Are you always trying to keep things new and exciting for your kids? I can never keep up with all the things they see on social media. I tried to get a little crafty and take some inspiration from those ornament wreaths I saw over Christmas. I whipped out the hot glue gun and started attaching the cute heart containers to a heart wreath from the Dollar Store. Each heart had something fun inside (nothing too crazy): a little candy Swedish Fish, Lindt truffles, gummy nerds, sweet and sour hearts. I added some non candy treats as well – some conversation heart stickers, a few heart poppers, a slinky, a disco heart keychain, a small eraser, some ninja bounce balls and even a little Starbucks gift card shaped like a conversation heart. Go as big or as little as you want – but make it fun and personalized.
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January 31, 2025 100 Days of School Craft
When I had my first, I thought I was pretty crafty. I handmade my kid’s Valentine’s for school, no store bought for this family. By the time my second came around, I was still feeling pretty proud of myself, until she came home from school and she had this Valentine of a sheep, like the one above, with pompoms glued on to it. It was from a boy mom, first child. IMPRESSIVE. It stuck with me. Still has, to this day. So when we had to do our 100 days of school craft, for some reason, this popped into my head. I looked up a picture of a sheep on Google, printed it out on my Cricut, ironed it onto a shirt, and hot glued 100 pom poms onto the body of the sheep.
What is your 100 Day of School craft?
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January 30, 2025 Will You Be Mine? Valentine Piñatas
I always like to pick up discounted Valentine merch at the end of the season. I found these at Home Goods last year Рfilled with gummy candy, which I promptly threw out. The pi̱atas themselves were still good and we filled them with out own treats (fresh ones!) to give to friends this year. How cute are they?
If you can’t find these, you could also make them inexpensively. Pick up some heart shaped boxes at the end of the season (you can find them at Michaels for about $1) and then cover with fringed tissue paper to make your own.
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January 29, 2025 Chinese New Year and Dumpling Making
To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Leah invited us over to make dumplings at her house. The kids and I took over her kitchen and we got to work.
The kids liked the pork dumplings, but we also made a mushroom version for Henry and Dan.
The kids had the best time scooping and filling. They tried to pinch the dumplings, and even came up with some new shapes and ideas of their own. The “pizza” style became popular towards the end!
Leah made these dumplings, look at how well they are folded! Best part of the day, definitely the taste testing!
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January 28, 2025 Viral Chocolate Chip Valentine Cookies
I was chatting with my hairdresser and she was telling me about how she tried to make the viral chocolate chip cookies for her boyfriend, but they turned out a total bust.
I asked her if she tried to make one of the cookies home made, knowing that I had tried that too, and made the same mistake. So much for trying to be fancy. Do yourself a favor and just buy the premade cookie dough – the chocolate chip and the cut out sugar cookie hearts. Place the sugar cookie hearts on top of the chocolate chip cookie dough (I got the heart sprinkle ones, but as you can see, you couldn’t even see the cute sprinkles), and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Pillsbury cookies aren’t my jam, but boy, they are cute…and the kids loved them!
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January 27, 2025 Chinese New Year Crafts
Chinese New Year falls on January 29th this year, the year of the snake. It is said that people born in the year of the snake love with their entire hearts. White rabbit candy is very popular, a milk based candy with a soft, chewy texture and a vanilla flavor.
Last year was the year of the dragon, and we did some fun crafts for school. We made paper chain dragons.
Cut out long strips of red paper in equal lengths.
Staple the first strip of paper into a circle and begin making a paper chain. Make as long as you’d like.
Tape the head of the dragon to the first link and the tail of the dragon to the last link. for extra stability, tape or glue popsicle sticks to the head and tail and make the dragon dance.
These toilet paper roll dragons were a fun craft. You will need: empty toilet paper rolls, streamers, pom poms, eyes (either stickers or googly eyes), construction paper, and double sided tape.
Measure out the width of the toilet paper roll and then roll the construction paper to fit completely around the roll. Use double sided tape to attach streamers to one side of the paper (the long side). You can cut into squiggle shapes or leave straight).
Add two pieces of tape to the short sides of the paper.
Roll the paper around the empty toilet paper roll and secure with the double sided tape.
This is what your finished product should look like.
Add two small pieces of tape towards the back for the pom pom eyes and two pieces of tape near the streamers for the nostrils.
This is what the final product should look like. Glue googly eyes to the back set of pom poms or use eye stickers.
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January 25, 2025 Harry Potter: The Exhibition – Extended By Popular Demand
Sponsored Post: I was hosted for this experience. All opinions are my own.
Witches and Wizards alike will love the Harry Potter Exhibit now at the CambridgeSide Galleria. Fans now have until April 27th to come and experience the magic. Choose your house carefully and earn points by completing tasks. Make potions, test out spells and even face your biggest fears! Have the chance to see authentic movie props and costumes and even try your hand at quidditch.
The boys loved trying to repot the mandrakes and taking pictures until the famous stairs on Privet Drive. The interactive experience made it fun for everyone – they loved seeing their names pop up on the Marauder’s Map.
They have just announced a special ticket bundle that includes 4 FLEX tickets (go any time), 4 commemorative posters, and 4 audio guides for $175 (a $250 value). We went on MLK day when the kids had off of school – it’s a perfect place to spend a few hours during school vacation week!
We had so much fun doing this together since we are on book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and we have just finished the first movie!
For more information, or for tickets, check out their website.
Tags: events, family friendly
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