Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Need an easy, sweet treat idea for your V-Day party? Look no further. 

When I decided to make cupcakes for Valentine's Day I had only one demand; hearts of course. I knew I wanted to incorporate hearts somehow but I didn't want to settle for heart shaped sprinkles and I had to keep my budget in mind. While on Instagram the other day I noticed a picture by one of my favorite blogs, The Disney Sisters. They had just thrown a Queen of Hearts DisneySide party and that post inspired these little heart topped, pink frosting filled beauties.

One of my absolute favorite songs in Alice in Wonderland is, "We're Painting the Roses Red" so my first thought was to pipe white roses on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle them with red sugar but then I remembered I needed HEARTS! So I went with the white hearts dipped in the red sugar.

Here's how I made them:

1. I used Pillsbury vanilla cake mix because that is my personal favorite but any cake flavor/brand will work. I always fill my cupcakes liners up about 2/3 of the way no matter what the box says, the recipe will yield 18 cupcakes instead of 24 but I prefer to have to larger individual portions.

2. While the cupcakes are baking prepare your frosting, I used a medium consistency Wilton Decorating Frosting. I colored about 3/4 c of the frosting with red gel food coloring until it was the pink I wanted.

3. Once cupcakes are cool, take your largest piping tip or a sharp knife and cut a hole in the center of the cupcake. You only want to go about 2/3 of the way through. You may have to dig out a little cake to get the hole even.

4. Fill the cupcakes with the pink frosting. I used a large tip on my piping bag, doesn't have to be specific type.

5. Using the largest round tip you have, pipe hearts over the hole using the white frosting. I found that piping the hearts in one motion was easiest and had the best outcome. Remember to flatten any tails and dip in the homemade red sugar.

Easy, pretty and delicious! The red sugar against the white frosting almost looks like red paint splatters - love it.

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day? Share your sweet treats with us!

Disneyland's Diamond Celebration

60 years ago on July 17, 1955, Walt Disney welcomed the world to the Happiest Place on Earth; Disneyland. 

Courtesy of Dlandlive

That means this year will mark Disneyland's 60th anniversary and in true Disney fashion they are pulling out all the stops. At roughly 8 p.m. last night on Disneyland's Main St. USA some of the details were announced. Lets review!

World of Color Celebrate will be centered around Mr. Walt Disney and his journey to make his dreams (and mine) come true. If the show is all about the Man behind the vision, then it's only right that the show be hosted by the Mouse that started it all, Mickey! I'm hoping for a lot of vintage footage of Walt at the Park but whatever they come up with I sure will dazzle us all. 

Paint the Night will be the latest in a long line of wonderful parades that have graced Disneyland's Main St USA. As you can tell from the pictures the floats, characters and performers are covered in hi-tech led lights that will interact with the surrounding environments, including the guests. 

Disneyland Forever fireworks spectacular is going to be nothing short of amazing. The largest installment of projection mapping that any Disney park has ever seen will be incorporated throughout the show. Disneyland Forever will obviously include wonderful Disney fireworks, with the addition of projections running up and down Main St. USA and from the renderings it looks like they will be using different visuals on the rooftops of Main St as well. There are also two original songs during the show, including one titled "Kiss Goodnight", written by Richard Sherman himself! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!!

Both Sleeping Beauty's Castle and Carthay Circle in DCA will be receiving a blinged out make over. Both iconic buildings will be decked out in diamonds, topped off with a large diamond encrusted "D" on them. 

There are many many more surprises in store for us before May 22nd, which is the official start of the Disneyland's Diamond Celebration. For more updates follow along on Twitter and Instagram using the #Disneyland60. 

PS. look at the new popcorn buckets! I'll take one of each please!

Here is the YouTube Video that Disney Parks released.

** all photos are courtesy of the Disney Parks blog**

The Magic of ABCmouse.com

First thing I hear almost every morning is, "ABCmouse please?"

My 2 year old daughter has been using ABCmouse.com for about 3 months now. My Husband and I have noticed amazing improvement in her ability to recognize her numbers and letters in context, her vocabulary has exploded, and she is using longer sentences. She has already graduated from the "Toddler" learning phase and has moved onto "Preschool". She plays games, colors pictures, assembles puzzles, follows along with books, and sings songs pertaining to the lesson that she's on. For example, this morning I watched her as she popped the bubbles with the letter "F", and we sang all about the letter "F" together.

Being a Stay-at-Home Mom, it's my responsibility to make sure that our daughter is prepared for school when the time comes. Since I decided to stay at home I have been doing my best to work with her but I am no teacher. I sometimes got frustrated with my daughter and myself, she would get bored and loses interest. I wouldn't know how to salvage the our activity and I would honestly feel a little defeated.

We were watching TV one afternoon and I saw an ad for ABCmouse.com. This was not the first commercial we had seen for the website but this particular morning I decided to check it out, and I'm so glad I did. The month we started happened to be a free trial month (bonus) so I signed up without hesitation and it was only $7.99 monthly to continue.

By the second lesson she was hooked. She loves to earn tickets and spend them on new items for her virtual fish tank and pet hamsters. We sing songs and play games, she just can't get enough. I'm not even ashamed to say that I occasionally let her play ABCmouse while on the potty, she's potty training an we can be in there for a while sometimes.  Since they launched the ABCmouse Android App I been able to let her play while we grocery shop. I know she is learning and she requests it before anything else. We make sure to limit her time on electronics so she doesn't play ABCmouse all day. We supplement her learning with different activities, most of which I find on Pinterest.

As long as she enjoys playing, we will continue subscribing to ABCmouse.com and I cannot thank them enough for creating a program that helps my child love to learn.

Easy On-The-Go Breakfast Biscuit

A quick breakfast that you can take with you on those busy mornings.

I don't know about your house but mornings can be pretty hectic around here, especially on Fridays. Friday mornings we have Parent Participation classes at gymnastics, then we always have run errands to prepare for our weekend. I needed an easy breakfast that my daughter could eat in the car, I found yet another recipe on Pinterest but I changed it just a little.

What you will need:

• Pillsbury Crescent Biscuits 
• Your favorite sausage - 8 pieces
• Your favorite sliced cheese - 4 slices cut into halves
• Eggs - Scrambled (I omit the eggs for a cleaner car ride.)
• foil lined baking sheet

How you do it:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Cook your sausage and scramble your eggs (if you aren't eating in the car)
• assemble you biscuits 
• place 1/2 slice of cheese, eggs, and sausage onto unrolled Crescent Roll
• arrange rolls on baking sheet to prevent the biscuits from touching when they bake
• follow baking directions for the biscuits

Enjoy. 

No-Peek Chicken - A Delicious, One-Dish Meal

Need an easy dinner for you and your family?

Even though I'm a Stay at Home Mom and homemaker, I'm also a student and a part-time blogger. Sometimes I have nights like most busy parents, where I cannot stand the idea of hovering in the kitchen making dinner. So I have become a HUGE fan of the "One Pot (in this case, baking dish) Dinner", but No-Peek Chicken has to be one of my favorites.

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest, I didn't have some of the exact ingredients that are called for so I changed some things. For example, I used Uncle Ben's Brown Rice instead of Long Grain Wild Rice and I swapped Cream of Mushroom for Cream of Chicken with Herbs. I also decided to add broccoli to the mix because we still needed a veggie.

You will need:

• 1 cup Uncle Ben's Brown rice
• 2 cans of "Cream of ..." condensed soup - I usually use Cream of Chicken with Herbs or Cream of Mushroom
• 1 can of water
• 1 medium stalk of broccoli 
• 2 or 3 lbs of chicken breast
• well greased 9x13 in baking dish

I forgot to take a picture of the individual ingredients, sorry.
So you get a picture the assembled dish prior to covering with tin foil and cooking.

How to do it:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix rice, soup, water and (rinsed) broccoli tops in a bowl and pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish
• lay chicken breast on top of mixture
• cover tightly with tin foil
• bake for exactly 2 1/2 hours.
• DO NO PEEK UNTIL IT'S FINISHED!

Voila, the finished product!
 Chicken should fork tender and the broccoli and  rice should be cooked through
Be careful of steam when you remove the tin foil.

Enjoy.

Decorating Disney - Frame your Favorite Pins

Pins in a Shadowbox
Show them off all the time.

I don't know about you guys but I've been obsessed with collecting and trading Disney Pins ever since the trend started. As you can imagine, over the years I have accumulated quite a few pins that I will never trade. Some are limited edition and others hold very special memories, either way they will never leave my collection. So instead of keeping them on my lanyards I decided I wanted to hang them on my walls.

This is what I came up with...

...and here's how I did it!

• I used a shadow box that I already had but you can find one at any craft store, Walmart, or Target and they usually run around $10-$15

• The backing to my shadow box wasn't thick enough for my pins to pierce, so I found an old cardboard box, cut it to size and covered it with a piece of scrapbooking paper with a neutral print.  

• Hot glue your piece of cardboard to the shadow box back. **Make sure that it is centered otherwise the shadow box won't close properly** 

• Position your pins on the cardboard but do not push them through yet. Move them around and make sure they are exactly where you want them. I failed to do that and you can see the holes left where I had to move some pins around. 

• Once the pins are exactly where you want them, push them through the cardboard. Remove the pin and place a dab of hot glue on the pin hole and replace the pin itself.

• Once all the pins are in place put the shadow box back together and admire your artwork!

I am currently in the process of redecorating my living room and bedroom and I have found the perfect place for this just yet. But my next shadow box pin project will be for my daughter's room. She picked out her first pin during our last trip and I will be using that as a centerpiece surrounded by photos and other mementos that we picked up on our first family trip to Disneyland. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I've finished. 

Going to Disneyland? Where are you staying?

Going to Disneyland? Need help deciding where to stay? This may help...

First things first... You've decided to go to Disneyland!! HOORAY! 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way... Before you start looking at hotels we have to remember to consider the following:

1. How many people are you traveling with? and will they require any special amenities? For example: babies that are light sleepers may require a separate room to nap. Or a Grandparent that may want to retreat back to the room to relax before returning to the parks for Fantasmic or World of Color, so a living room-type space or comfortable seating areas may be nice to have.

2. If you have certain requirements for your party then start you search there, if not then consider how much time you will be spending in the room. My last trip to Disneyland and DCA was a Girls Trip, 18 and over only! No babies means no need to break for naps or scheduled meals. We were up and out the door by 9 a.m. and we usually didn't come back until after midnight. If you are only in the room to sleep that means you can look for the most basic rooms, which is a great money saver.

Ask the PhotoPass Cast Members to take pictures with your cell phone.
A handy tip if you always lose your PhotoPass cards like me. 

3. Drive, Walk or Shuttle?? There are tons of Good Neighbor Hotels right across the street from the Parks. If you don't want to drive or take the shuttle, research exactly where your hotel is in relation to the street entrance. Hotels use the phrase "directly across the street" very loosely. Just remember you have to walk to the to the street entrance, then continue walking through the shuttle drop off/pick up area until you've reached the bag check points.  Travel time from street entrance to Park entrance (depending on rate of walking speed and the bag check line) is about 10 mins. If you decide to Shuttle it, your hotel or vacation rental will have the best pick and drop off areas for you. Last but not least, if you are staying further than you'd like to walk and/or you don't want to depend on a Shuttle then driving is the way to go. You can park at any of the Disney Parking Structures and if you are a AAA member they offer free days or discounts for your stay. If you want to be a little wild, you can always park in the Downtown Disney Parking area. The walk isn't that horrible, especially if you take the Monorail into or out of Disneyland. Just remember you are parking there at your own risk, technically that parking area is for Downtown Disney patrons only. Remember to VALIDATE!

4. Once figured out what to look for you can really start the hunt for hotels and rentals. Over the years I've stayed at a lot of the Good Neighbor Hotels and all I have to say is you get what you pay for. I just stayed at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn and for the 9 hours that we spent in the room each day/night, it was perfect. If you have the money, I recommend looking into any of the Disney Hotel properties. My personal favorite is the Grand Californian but that's also the most expensive hotel in the area. But if I were travelling with my daughter, younger siblings or in-laws and on a budget, I'd be strongly recommend considering a vacation rental. Most of these Vacation Rentals understand that there are lots of decent room rates surrounding them so they will offer competitive pricing per night but a minimum night stay is usually required. Also a great, money saving feature of the Vacation Rentals are the KITCHENS! We all know food is a huge way to save money on vacation and anyone who has been on vacation with an infant or a picky toddler knows a kitchen can be KEY to a good vacation. 

Like I said before, I've stayed in lots of different hotels and rentals over my many trips to Disneyland and it takes a lot for me to try a new company. With that in mind I just discovered a fun new Vacation Rental Company called Funtierland Rentals. Owned and operated by a young Southern California couple, this awesome property offers several condos for rent; they are bright, big and Disney themed of course. They all look rather spacious and with the added bonus of a nursery and a full kitchen?!? Everything about that sounds perfect! Next time we take a family trip to Anaheim, I'm checking their availability first!

Main St. U.S.A. with my ladies

Share a Bank Account? Make your Next Gift

Happy Anniversary Husband

how to surprise your hubby if you share bank accounts

Since getting married and getting a joint checking account, it's been a struggle to surprise my husband with any gifts. So over the last few gift giving holidays I have started making him gifts to show him my love and gratitude.

 I was always told that the best gifts are not the most expensive ones but the most thoughtful ones. It's not always easy coming up with the a worthwhile do-it-yourself gifts so when all else fails, I stick to the thing I know he loves the most, his daughter. Anything his little lady helps create he will always love.

This time around I wanted to highlight the two of us and our journey together as a couple. He has been the one constant in my life that has yet to falter and I need to thank him for that with something special just from me. 

Ribba Frame - Ikea
Wooden Letters - Michael's Crafts Store
Watercolor Color Pencils (numbers) - any craft store
Off-white Cardstock - any craft store

We  were celebrating our 8th anniversary together so I decided that I wanted to showcase some of our BIG milestones together. So I hopped on handy-dandy Pinterest and looked into different DIY gift ideas and I came up with this the above pictured; 3 milestone dates (our anniversary date, the date he purposed and the date that we became parents) flanked by our initials. I already had a cheap frame from Ikea ($9.99)  just waiting to be use and I bought the wooden letters for $2 each and hot glued them to off-white cardstock I also had on hand. It took 10 different tries to get the numbers just the way I wanted them but I love the way it turned out and better yet, since I already had the frame and the cardstock it only cost roughly $5 bucks and my husband was completely surprised. 

Go start crafting, Ladies!

Taking your Toddler to Disneyland? I Can Help

For Disney people like me, taking your child to Disneyland for the first time is a monumental occasion. Although this is not her official first trip to a Disney Park this is the first trip where she can walk/run, has developed full fledged opinion and voices it regularly, and is in the middle of potty training. I consider myself a Disneyland professional but tackling the parks with a toddler is a whole different beast. I admit I did a fair amount of research during the week prior to my surprise trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure so some of these tips aren't my own but they are the ones that benefitted my toddler the most. 

• Measure your toddler at home - Rides are a huge part of the Disneyland/DCA experience and we wanted to take our 2 year old daughter on as many rides as possible. Although there are a lot of rides that anyone can ride, there are some with height restrictions. If you measure your kids at home you can get a general idea of the rides that your child can go on and try different shoes to see if there's a pair that gives them a little height advantage. You can then use that information to plan your trips itinerary and avoid running around measuring your toddler at the attractions themselves. If the Cast Members suspect that your child doesn't make the requirement they will ask you measure them in front of the attraction and then once more before getting on the ride itself.  

• Prep your toddler for Characters - We have all seen the kids that are terrified of meeting their favorite characters. I didn't want to risk the screaming and crying scenario, and the best way I found to prepare my daughter was to show her videos on YouTube of small children meeting different characters at the Parks. I showed her the size difference and explained that they are a lot taller and their heads are a lot bigger when you meet them in person. For a small person who is used to watching Mickey or Minnie on TV  or playing with their plush characters, seeing them in person might be a little intimidating but I have to say my girl handled the photo ops like a pro.

Top row: Toon Town
Bottom row: Jingle Jangle Jamboree -
on the path behind Big Thunder Railroad

• Bring your own souvenirs - I've written about how to save on Disney souvenirs before and if you want to read more on that click here but when it come to toddlers I think this tip is especially important. As parents we all know that it is hard to keep our kids occupied and we also know that it's too easy to spend tons on trinkets to keep them happy, especially at a place like Disneyland. In order to keep this trip as thrifty as possible I tried to pick up little toys the week prior to our trip to bring with us. My plan was to pull them out when my daughter wanted something that was out of our price range and also to keep her occupied while waiting in long lines. I spent $10 on tons of glow sticks at the local Dollar Tree (we still have a bunch left) for our nighttime adventures and another $12 on a small toys. We did buy some special merch from the Parks to remember our first family trip but overall we spent under $100 on glow sticks, 5 small toys, a book, an Eeyore plush, a Disneyland Pin, and a wooden Disney Parks train. That total could have been lower had we inspected our receipts but more on that later. 

• Bring a ton of snacks - Disneyland and DCA have no shortage of things to snack on but they aren't always the cheapest or healthiest options. We drove to Disney so we were able to bring a lot of goodies with us, from drinks to fruits and veggies and even some chocolate. Little baggies of carrots and grapes saved us from a melt down more than once. As a mother of a toddler I usually bring at least one snack with us wherever we go, why should this trip be any different? Make sure you pack your snacks in accessible area so you don't have to unload everything to reach them. Also, keep in mind all bags will be checked prior to entering the Parks, so remember to leave all alcohol and glass containers at the hotel.

• Take in all the Magic! - We wanted to do everything that we could during this trip so that meant catching shows and parades like "Fantasmic" in Disneyland and "Disney Jr. Live" and "The Play Parade" in Disney's California Adventure. Check the show and parade schedules for both parks during your trip dates, once you decide which ones you want to catch and you can figure you when you might want to watch them and plan the rest of your day around that showtime. My daughter is in love with all the Pixar films so "The Play Parade" was perfect for her and we watch "Fantasmic" regularly on YouTube so I knew she would love to see that in person. 

The Play Parade - in front of Carthay Circle Theater, to the right of the doors.
 We got there 10 mins before the parade started and we still got an amazing view, which got even better
 when we made friends with the family sitting on the curb.

"Disney Jr. Live" a 30 min show that features The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,
 Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
The show is located in Hollywood Studios near Off the Page.

***A few weeks before we we arrived at Disneyland they began offering a FastPass for "Fantasmic", I know how difficult I can be to get good viewing so I decided to try this would be a good idea for my little family. So after rope drop we went straight to the distribution area behind Big Thunder Railroad on the path from Frontierland to Fantasyland. I will say that once seated they were the best seats that I have ever had from "Fantasmic" but be warned! Get in line at the beginning of your return time, remove your toddler from your stroller and collapse it before they start letting people in. Once they opened the gates it was a literal free-for-all, our sleeping daughter was almost trampled while in her stroller and they whole concept of a "line" was lost. If you are in the "sitting only" area your strollers will have to be collapsed 45 mins prior to the show anyways so why wait. Once the show is over STAY WHERE YOU ARE. Do not try to hurry over to see the fireworks from Main St., save that for another night. We didn't heed that advice and we were caught in the worst mass of people than I have ever experienced in my many trips to Disneyland. The Happiest Place on Earth quickly becomes substantially less happy when people are crammed together like sardines trying to go in all different directions. Overall the awesome view out weighted the horrible experience prior to and after the show, we will be utilizing the "Fantasmic" FastPass again now that we know how it works. We did make a stop by City Hall to talk to Guest Services to address the lack of line control at the FastPass line up, hopefully all the kinks will be worked out be our next visit. ***

• Attend Rope Drop at least one day of your trip - Rope Drop is the ceremony that officially opens the Lands. The Park opens at 8 am if you don't have Magic Morning hours, get there around 7:30 it you can, take Sleeping Beauty Castle or Disneyland Railroad pictures, take in all the wonderful details around Main St. U.S.A., then head over toward Fantasyland about 10 mins till 8 am. Listen you the announcement welcoming you to Disneyland and wait for the ropes to drop! The lines are considerably shorter and there are always a few characters wandering around to greet guests. While in Fantasyland wait for Toon Town to open at 9 am., Mickey and Friends walk to the gate pick one or two special kids each to walk with them to their picture spots. We are able to visit with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy within 30 mins, it was a perfect start to our day. Not to mention the photo ops are countless.

The majestic Big Thunder Mountain

Practically deserted Fantasyland

Toon Hole Cover in Toon Town

Mini dance party with a Matterhorn backdrop

• Ask the PhotoPass Photographer to take pictures with your camera - If you are the family photographer like I am then the PhotoPass Photographers can be very helpful. The PhotoPass Photographers are positioned near all the iconic photo spots like, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, throughout Radiator Spring, and are present during most character meet and greets. If you run across a PhotoPass Photographer and you want a picture of the entire family, ask them if they'd mind taking a few pictures with your camera and they will be happy to help. They will also snap a few shot with their camera and scan a plastic PhotoPass card to give to you, hold on to it and give it to the next PhotoPass Photographer you use. The card has a code on the back specific to your photos and you can access them online later on. Not only will the PhotoPass Photographers give you the chance to be in some vacation photos but if you choose to use the PhotoPass you may get some great pictures that you may have missed during the character meet and greets. 

Being silly with the Goof!
Photo courtesy of a
 Disneyland PhotoPass Photographer

• Baby Care Centers are your best friends - If your toddler is potty training then you know that consistency is key and that fact still rings true at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. The Baby Care Centers are a great Disneyland/DCA secret that's not so secret. Not only are they climate controlled but they have areas to breastfeed and change diapers, and they have toddler-size toilets, high chairs, microwaves, an area for the rest of the family to while Mom or Dad is with the baby. They also have a fully stocked area of nothing but baby products for purchase if need anything. Not to mention the BCC Cast Members are lovely women who are happy to lend you an extra set of hands if you ask. The Baby Care Center in Disneyland is located behind the Corn Dog cart near the Plaza Inn and there are 2 in Disney's California Adventure, one is located next to the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate shop and the other is across from The Baker Tour in Pacific Wharf. 

• Read your receipts - This is a tip that we didn't learn until it was too late. I don't know about you guys but when I'm at the Parks I hardly ever look at my receipts unless I think that I was charged incorrectly. Once we were home we and collected all the receipts, we noticed that our Quick Service meal receipts had coupons for merchandise at certain stores at the bottom. The coupons did expire the same day at 1 pm but who doesn't want a coupon for Disney merch?! The Cast Members never mentioned it once, so look at those receipts folks!!

• Do your research!! - If you are reading this I can only assume that you are already using this tip but the more research you do prior to your trip the better. If you are planning the trip start to finish and you are new(er) to Disney (or you're just obsessed with Disney like me) then I suggest reading as many Disney blogs as possible, some of my favorites are disboards.com, disneyfoodblog.com and my most favorite is freshbakeddisney.com,. I also highly suggest looking into crowd predictor websites like www.isitpacked.com, download wait time apps like MouseWait, and look into Good Neighbor Hotels. Looking up showtimes and reviews, reading ride descriptions, looking into food options and checking out the Parks layout are all great things to look into before a trip but they can be even more important if you have a small child. 

• This isn't really a tip, it's more FYI, parents generally respect the needs of other parents -  If your toddler is in need of a time out while at Disneyland then you should address the issue. If you need to exit a line handle the issue then return to your spot, please do so, just make sure it's okay with the people around you first. Nine times out of ten they are happy to oblige and hold your spot, in fact, they might be secretly hoping you address the issue too.

Although I usually avoid the busy Christmas/ New Year season at Disneyland because the crowds are out of control but both parks are especially magical when they are decorated for the holidays and this trip was a surprise from my husband. These tips can really helped during this crazy trip but they are certainly just as handy any time of year. I hope that at least some of these tips and tricks will help you make your trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure a little bit more magical for you and your toddler. Enjoy!