Happy New Year! 2023 was filled with so many family adventures, milestones, and delicious food. 2024 will have a lot more of that, and we are looking forward to celebrating everything, including our youngest’s second birthday (his first). But first, here’s a round up of our top posts and videos in 2023. 2023 Round Up: Best of the Blog Favorite Glow Up Post We like to go back to our…
A previous version of this post for How We Make The Best Apple Pie was published in October 2012. We took new photos, reworded the written content, included our YouTube video, and adjusted the recipe. AKA we gave this post a major facelift. Apple Pie is one of my favorite desserts to make in autumn. The warm spices, soft and slightly crunchy baked apples, and a flaky pie crust is just…
Another Halloween is upon us! When brainstorming for our Halloween costumes this year, Fatima and I looked to our kids. What did they do this year, what did they watch, what were they obsessed with? We had short list: Cars, Paw Patrol, Super Mario. Spoiler alert, we went with Super Mario costumes. Cars was easy to remove from the list. Too involved. We seriously considered Paw Patrol. We looked at…
Last year, we did a lot of pumpkin crafts for Halloween. This year, I am trying to diversify with monsters, bats, and other creepy things. The ghost handprints were a huge hit with the kids, so we made these Frankenstein handprints in more Halloween cards. We had another rainy weekend, so we spent the day building LEGOs, reading, and crafting. Liam and I were doing some Halloween crafts while Blair…
In the enchanting world of childhood play, few things capture the imagination quite like toy trains. For generations, miniature locomotives, inspired by iconic figures like Thomas and Friends, and the timeless craftsmanship of Brio wooden trains, have whisked young minds away on captivating journeys through their wildest dreams. For Halloween, we had a spooky train time building session! Join us through these series of videos as we embark on a…
I love that my kids love the fun and cooky crafts I give them. We try to do crafts all year, but spooky season gives us a special opportunity to get crafty. This weekend, we made these Halloween suncatchers. Growing up, I lived for the holiday window stickers. When Autumn began, I loved going to the store to pick out a new Halloween-themed sticker sheet. When we would take out…
The last time we had floating candles in our house, we were throwing a Harry Potter-themed Halloween party. That was one of my favorite parties to-date. For spooky season, we’re trying some out of the box floating candles and having a lot of fun along the way. This year, we bought this set of floating candles on Amazon. Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small…
Every fall, I am on the lookout for an apple cider donut. One of my favorite things to do when we pick pumpkins is to grab a dozen apple cider donuts, sit in the pumpkin patch, and share them with the kids. It’s a whole vibe. Between the whole family, you must empty the box. I’ve tried baked apple cider donuts, Bon Appetit’s apple cider donuts, a loaf cake, and…
A previous version of this post for Peanut Butter Blossoms was published in December 2012. We took new photos and adjusted the recipe. One of my favorite flavors, as you are well aware, is peanut butter. What better way to celebrate the holidays than to mix peanut butter and chocolate? These peanut butter blossoms are really easy to make *cue eye rolls* trust me, they are! Remember when I tried…
I cannot believe this is our fifth year celebrating Halloween as a family…and it’s Blair’s first Halloween! We (I) got so many new Halloween decorations to display around the house. This year, Liam was adamant about being Spider-Man. I did not put up a fight because that meant we could reuse his birthday costume. Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of revenue from…
This weekend, we caught up with a close friend over homemade brunch. We had fresh fruit, made sweet potato hash, pumpkin brioche french toast, and enjoyed an apple cider mimosa…or two. We have plenty of apple cider recipes on our blog: sangria, donuts, loaf cake, and margaritas. We might have more apple cider recipes than pumpkin! Surprisingly, we didn’t have one for an apple cider mimosa. Apple Cider Mimosa Let’s…
What are Boo Baskets, you ask? They’re like Easter Baskets. Instead of a ‘bunny’ delivering them, a ‘ghost’ delivers these baskets. Boo Baskets are just another excuse to fill something up with candy and goodies to give to kids. This year, I was feeling extra festive and wanted to send my nephews and niece some goodies for Halloween. Target’s Halloween pails were only $1 and we found a lot of…
After the success of our summer crafts for kids, I needed to continue arts and crafts for Liam, but themed for the fall and Halloween. Our son has been loving the arts and crafts sessions we do on weekends, school holidays, and rainy days. We get to practice cutting, gluing, taping, and working our imaginations. But my main goal is for these projects to be fun. Here are some of…
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the lead up to Halloween even more. I think it’s just the whole autumn vibe I love about this time of year: the cozy lattes, crisp and cool air, carving pumpkins, leaf colors etc. Oh, and the decorations. On our YouTube channel, we started a new series called Unboxing Halloween! Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a…
Did you watch Hocus Pocus 2? That weekend it came out was fall perfection, minus the rain. To celebrate the sequel, we went over to our friend’s house for a viewing party. For dessert, we brought cute and spooky Halloween dirt cups. I can’t remember the last time I made Oreo dirt cups. Literal decades. Yes, plural. This was one of my favorite Halloween desserts growing up. You typically layer crushed…
This kale salad is really as basic as it looks, but we loved it. To be honest, we tried this recipe to make the croutons, haha. They were really good and are the star of the salad. If you’re looking for a lite, yet seemingly hearty salad, this may be for you. Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of revenue from your purchases.…