Custodians of Beauty

Cranberries were never my thing. In the past, my experience with cranberries was limited to the gelatinous form that comes from a can at Thanksgiving, and well, the cranberry juice my grandpa used to drink. Meh. Not my cup of tea.   Then it all changed when my aunt baked THE cranberry orange pecan cookies. They were delicious! There's just something about cranberry orange that makes my knees buckle. I'll be at the coffee shop ordering my usual beverage and catch a peek at their bakery case. At that point, there's no turning back. That cranberry orange muffin has my name on it. End of story.  I took it upon myself to bake cranberry orange scones this week. Now, I have never tried this before... so it was a shot in the dark as far as flavor goes. I used my strawberry scone recipe swapping out the strawberries for cranberries. Didn't have an orange on hand, so I improvised with lemon zest and orange juice to it spruce up. These cranberry orange scones pa...

This is the first year I threw a themed birthday party, and I'm very glad I did. My youngest celebrated her 1st birthday last week. It was a small gathering with immediate family. The party's theme was based on the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," by Eric Carle; it's one of A's favorites. We own the board book along with a stuffed caterpillar toy. These turned out to be perfect party props.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle The week before the party, I combed through Pinterest boards for food, decor and party ideas -- believe me, there were PLENTY to chose from. Lucky for me, I wasn't the first mama to put something like this together. ;) Here are a few photos of the festivities: Found these free coloring pages  for the party. Get your color on!    Instead of balloons, I used paper plates to create a caterpillar inching across the doorway. Gotta say, this was much faster than blowing up balloons. Plus, we're tryi...