Pumpkin

Halloween Wall Hanging Kids Craft

October 31, 2013October 13, 2015 chantelledoll

Tuesday morning we celebrated Halloween at playgroup with snacks, costumes and a Halloween themed craft. Leading craft time has been my duty for the last couple months and I have spent a lot of time on pinterest trying to find toddler appropriate crafts. When I saw these Halloween Paper Plate Crafts through Tip Junkie, I knew right away they were what I wanted to make for our Halloween craft. I love the cute, simple shapes and thought they were something nice enough for the mom’s to actually hang in their homes as a Halloween decoration. Continue reading “Halloween Wall Hanging Kids Craft” →

Doll House, Our First House

Fall Front Porch Decor

October 16, 2013 chantelledoll

The leaves have all turned beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and have started gathering on the ground over the past few weeks – Fall is officially here. The flowers in my planters are looking sadder and sadder as the days pass and I am happy to have some fall themed items to put on the porch to spruce it back up and celebrate the change of season.

The large pumpkins I use on my porch are ceramic and were found at Winner’s several years back. They were more expensive then a real pumpkin, but I like that they are something I can reuse year after year. Combined with a few small real pumpkins or gourds, it is a quick and easy holiday display.

And the best part? Come Halloween all I have to do is rotate my pumpkins around, add in my “Happy Halloween” tombstone and switch the welcome sign for our house is ready for trick-or-treaters!

Hopefully it looks as good on the front porch of our Forever House next Halloween!

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: McDonald’s Pumpkin Spice Latte

October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 chantelledoll

I shared my Easy Pumpkin Creamcheese Muffins earlier this week, so I figured I would continue the theme and share my latest pumpkin discovery: the Pumpkin Spice Latte from McDonalds.

With September done and over, the kids and I are starting to fall into a bit of a weekly routine with playgroup on Tuesdays, Camden’s preschool class on Thursdays and another playdate or two to fill out the week. I usually enjoy a coffee at home from the Kuerig each morning, but last year with the rush to get ready and out the door I got into the habit of treating myself to a store bought coffee on the way to playgroup. This was usually from Tim Horton’s, and occasionally Starbucks or Second Cup when I was wanted something extra fancy.

I have tried the coffee from McDonalds before and enjoy their latte’s, but for some reason it just never comes to mind when I think of stopping for a coffee. I first tried the McDonalds Pumpkin Spice latte on a whim when I noticed a sign for it while ordering the kids a Happy Meal. I was very pleasantly surprised by the first sip and was immediately disappointed I didn’t order a larger size then the small. It is creamy with just the right amount of pumpkin and cinnamon flavour.

I do like the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte, but at $2 less per cup McDonald’s is a great alternative. It is missing the whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkling, but doesn’t come with the guilt of spending that much on a cup of coffee. It is the perfect compromise between economical and fancy coffee and has given me something to look forward to for the last several Tuesday mornings. There’s nothing better then some adult conversation with a good cup of coffee!

Recipes, Sweet

Super Easy Pumpkin Creamcheese Muffins

October 2, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

There’s a two ingredient pumpkin muffin recipe floating around pinterest that is simply 1 box of cake mix mixed with 1 can of pure pumpkin. I have made it before and the results are a dense, moist pumpkiny treat. It is good, but I decided I could make it a bit better – enter the creamcheese!

The idea for the creamcheese was actually inspired by a copycat recipe for the Starbucks Pumpkin Creamcheese muffins. That recipe asks that you blend the creamcheese and then roll it into a log and freeze to be cut into rounds. This seemed like a lot of work for me so I took the lazy way out and simply cut pieces off my brick of creamcheese and poked it into my muffin batter. If I am feeling extra ambitious next time I may whip the creamcheese first, but the lazy method still seemed to make some pretty tasty results.