31 Days: Autumn Festivities Tracker

Good afternoon, friends! And happy Saturday!

Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Creating A Holiday Planner in 31 Days!

Below is a FREE blank printable where you can fill in all of your favorite crafts to make and movies to watch during the autumn season! It could probably go without saying, but I've included this printable in my Holiday Planner under the Autumn divider tab!

I don't know about you, but Pinterest is my go-to place to quickly find ideas for crafts and DIY projects, but there's also nothing that beats curling up with a good magazine for inspiration! What do you hope to make this season- crafts with the little ones, a few festive decor pieces to bring the fall season indoors, a great vignette in the front entry way or porch? 

Here are a few things that are on my "To Make" list to get the creative juices flowing! And feel free to check out my Pinterest "Holiday: Autumn" board to get even more ideas!

• Fall wreath
• Autumn subway tile printable
• Fall hair clips for the babies
• Pressed leaf bunting
• Autumn-inspired pages for our felt quiet book
• Autumn sensory bin for the toddler
• Citrus & clove pomanders
• DIY fabric pumpkins

With the cooler weather rolling in, fall is one of my favorite times to snuggle under a blanket on the couch, perhaps with a cup of hot tea or apple cider, and take in a good movie with the family! While the kids are napping, watching a movie also a great time to snuggle up with the hubby and get in a little in-house "date night" too!

Here are some family & adult movies that are perfect for the Autumn season, and some that just have a "fall feel" to them in our opinion! What other movies would you add to your "To Watch" list?

• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• Pocahontas
• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
• Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
• Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh
• The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad
• Hotel Transylvania
• House of Mouse Villians

• Lord of the Rings trilogy
• The Hobbit series
• Sherlock Holmes movie series

( Download your FREE printable here )

As a bonus, to go with  your "to watch" list, turn it into a Family Movie Night! Feel free to check out my post about creating a whole themed meal and decor to go with your movie viewing and get the free printable (and others!) you see below!

Family Movie Night Printables post

31 Days: Create A Family Autumn Bucket List

Good morning all! 

Well, I guess it's actually nearly afternoon here... but, either way, welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Creating A Holiday Planner in 31 Days!

Today's printable is for creating a family "bucket list" of things to do throughout the autumn/Halloween season! You can see part of my list above. With DH in the Army, we move around a fair amount. After 3 years in the deep south, we're SO excited to be farther north again where we can go visit apple orchards and pumpkin patches! I love watching the leaves change color and that sweet smell that fills the area during the fall. What things are on your "must do" list for the fall season? Don't forget to check out any local fall festivals that your area might be hosting! 

Below is a FREE blank printable where you can fill in all of your favorite activities to make sure you don't miss out on doing anything during the autumn season! There's a column for items to "do" and a column for items to "bake!" I love baking with the maple, apple, and pumpkin flavors for fall! They make me want to cozy up on the couch with a good book and a cup of hot apple cider :) 

( Download your FREE printable here )

It could probably go without saying, but I've included this printable in my Holiday Planner under the Autumn divider tab!

Today I actually have a BONUS free printable for ya too! Do you do an Autumn Cleaning, like a Spring Cleaning but in the fall? If so, here's the perfect place to keep track of all those cleaning projects or other items you want to get done during the fall!

( Download your FREE printable here )

31 Days: How To Set Up Your Holiday Planner

This month we're creating a Holiday Planner to help organize all of the fall & winter holiday busyness! If you're new to this 31 day series, check out the original post...

Creating a Holiday Planner in 31 Days!

So why a Holiday Planner, you may ask. I don't know about you, but come the end of the year, between autumn festivities, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years (not to mention our Anniversary and second baby's birthday thrown in there!) things get a bit chaotic! Keeping track of everything can seem like an insurmountable task at times. So in comes the Holiday Planner. A single place to keep track of everything "holiday" related for the months of September/October through early January. So let's get started...

Setting up a holiday planner is really rather straight forward:

(1) Gather supplies

(2) Create your categories

(3) File all your ideas into your planner!

Step 1: Gather Supplies

• a binder
• dividers
• tabs
• printer paper (28 lbs- optional)
• scrapbook paper & decorations (optional)
• label maker (optional)

First, choose a binder to be your dedicated Holiday Planner. 

It can be something new, or I used an old binder that was no longer being used and dressed it up with some scrapbook paper & decorations. If you're like me, this binder will become a dedicated year-round to being a Holiday Planner. For example- throughout the year, I'll shop sales and clearances for gifts for friends & families. I keep track of everything I've already bought throughout the year in my Holiday Planner, so come Christmas time, I've already got a head start on gift buying! I also keep my "bucket lists" for each holiday in there and add to it throughout the year, as well as adding any new traditions our family plans on starting the next year!

Step 2: Create Categories

Second, choose the sections you desire and add them to your tabs.

Here's an example of the sections I decided on for my planner:

• Autumn
• Thanksgiving
• Decor (for Autumn/Thanksgiving)
• Christmas
• Advent
• Meals (for Christmas)
• Decor (for Christmas)
• Gifts (for Christmas)
• New Years

I actually did this step after I started collecting my printables and other ideas- once I had an idea of what papers and I had and what categories they naturally could be broken down into. We don't really participate in Halloween, but that might be another section you want to add to your planner.

Throughout the upcoming month, I'll show you what printables and such I've included in each section! Once I decided on my sections, I used my label maker and label punch to create some simple tabs for my sections. I chose a few colors to use too- doing all Autumn/Thanksgiving tabs in yellow, Advent in red, Christmas in green, and New Years in blue. 

Step 3: File Ideas

Lastly, start adding in your ideas!

In my planner, I have tons of printables (which I'll be sharing throughout the month!), calendars, lists (largely to keep track of ideas I've pinned on Pinterest!), magazine clippings, "bucket lists" for each season, fliers for local parties and festivals, and more! Whatever you need to keep track of the goings-ons of the seasons :) I personally prefer, when printing out printables and the like, to use slightly a thicker 28 lb printer paper. It will hold up better to the constant referencing, erasing, writing and everyday wear and tear it will probably see over the next few months and years!

Creating a Holiday Planner in 31 Days

Hey all!
So I know it's been a little while since I've been on here- sorry! We just brought home a Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy. I'm entering my third trimester with little Baby K #2. Oh yes, and of course there's always the energetic toddler running around. Suffice to say things have been CRAZY around here!

Anyhoo, I'm joining in with The Nester's 31 Days initiative again! I love it- it's a great boot in the pants to get regular about blogging again :) So wish me luck!!

I'm super excited to be sharing with you... 

"Creating a Holiday Planner in 31 Days" 

organizing for all the fall & winter holidays!

Here's a sampling of what you can expect...

LOTS of printables! 

How to Set Up your Planner

Menu Planners for Autumn, Christmas, New Years, and more

Lists to help plan out your fall and winter activities, crafts, baking, and more

Grocery Lists for your big holiday meals

Gifting Lists to help budget and keep track of what gifts you've bought

Gift Ledger to track who gifts items to you and writing out thank-you notes

Advent Lists to plan out what activities you plan to celebrate

and lots more!

I hope you'll join me as we set up our holiday planners together and if I can figure out Linky, we'll even have a fun link party at the end of the month for everyone to share their awesome creations and help inspire each other! Check back here each day for a full list of the current posts!

Day 1: Creating a Holiday Planner in 31 Days- Welcome!

Day 2: How To Set Up Your Holiday Planner

Day 3: Create A Family Autumn Bucket List

Day 4: Autumn Festivities Tracker

Day 5: Autumn Homeschool Tracker

Day 6: Autumn Decor Tracker

Day 7: Thanksgiving Lists

Day 8: Thanksgiving Menu Planners

Day 9: Our Autumn Toddler Book Basket (30+ books!)

Day 10: Our Thanksgiving Toddler Book Basket (10+ books!)

Day 11: Our Winter Toddler Book Basket (20+ books!)

Day 12: Our Christmas & Advent Book Basket (40+ books!)

Day 13: Holiday Book Basket Lists

Day 14: Create A Family Christmas Bucket List

Day 15: Christmas Festivities Tracker 

Day 16: Christmas/Winter Homeschool Trackers

Day 17: Christmas Decor Tracker

Day 18: Christmas Season Meal Plan

Day 19: Christmas Eve & Day Menu Planners

Day 20: Christmas Gifting Trackers

Day 21: Ornament Ledger

Day 22: Christmas Card Tracker

Day 23: Advent Scripture Planners

Day 24: Advent Calendar & bonus- party ideas!

Day 25: Master Advent Planner

Day 26: Epiphany Menu Planners

Day 27: New Years Eve Festivities & Countdown Fun

Day 28: New Years Menu Planners
Day 29: Extra Printables!

Day 30/31: Wrap Up & Link Up!

Disney Family Movie Night: Emperor's New Groove

* clipart from: classroomclipart.com *

So last night's Family Movie Night was The Emperor's New Groove! It almost has a more "Pixar" feel to it than traditional Disney, but I have to say, it's one of Disney's funniest movies! I love it :) It started because corn on the cob season has reached us here in the south, and that is my favorite food group! So at our local Farmer's Market, we picked up some corn on the cob, and built our meal and movie around that!

Menu: 

Peruvian-style Ribs 

Peruvian-style Porkchops

Kronk's Corn on the Cob

Chica's Cucumber Salad

Chaca y Tipo's Arroz y Frijoles (Rice & Beans)

Pacha's Peach Salad

Kuzco's Poison
(the latter most is not pictured... nothing special, it was whatever we were drinking that night!)

Crafts: 

Decorate Pacha's Hut & Kuzco's Palace

And here's the photos!

Starting out, here's our craft for the evening... wee princess got a head start ;) I used my Cricut to cut out the castle and cottage images.

Next up, the spread! Complete with "Incan drawings" as DH called it and an alpaca-yarn poncho. I decorated the table with rich silky "royalty" colors, if you will, and added the bright red table runner as that's the color he wears as king. There's also a pile of jewels (bottom right corner- shown better in a later picture) to represent Kuzco's wealth.

Here's our dessert and appetizers: Pacha's Peach Salad (local peaches, cherries, and blackberries, topped with whipped local cream- yum!) and Kronk's (also local!) Corn on the Cob

And we've got the menu, along with homages to the llama and squirrel in the background, and can't forget the jaguar! One of my favorite scenes... "HA!... no touchy..."

Here's Chica's Cucumber Salad. Again, the cucumbers were also local! We had a great haul at the farmer's market that morning! In the background is DH's Peruvian-style Porkchops. Local chops done up with a Peruvian rub.

DH's (yet again local) Peruvian-style Ribs, done with the same rub as the porkchops.

Here's Chaca y Tipo's Arroz y Frijoles (Chaca & Tipo's Rice & Beans)- sorry, forgot to uncover those for the photo, whoops!

Couldn't forget to photograph "Kuzco's Poison!" These were probably my favorite decoration, hehe... oh and here's the pile of jewels.

And here's the "Incan drawings" hehe... anyone recognize this scene?! :)

Disney Family Movie Night: Brave

*clipart from abackgrounds.com*

A few weeks ago, we had our second family movie night, featuring Brave! The past two weeks we've been on vacation visiting family up north, so no more recent movie nights, but we hope to get one in this weekend! Just like last time, I used mostly Pinterest (see my board here!) and Disboards.com to find most of my inspiration! This night was a bit more low-key than our last one as it was thrown together a bit last minute! I don't remember how we settled upon this movie, but here's the rundown...

Menu

"Bear" Brats

"Highland" Ham (aka. bacon)

"Castle" Cabbage

"Triplet" 'Taters

"King Fergus'" Fruit & Cream 

"Witch's Brew": nothing special, whatever we were drinking that night, hehe

Scottish Sweet Buns

Crafts

Shield Decorating

The Cast of Brave

And now what you've all been waiting for... a few photos!

Here's the craft for the wee one. She loves anything that has to do with coloring :) I cut out some crude shields from construction paper, slapped on a few rhinestones (which the wee one promptly removed, lol), and let her color away!

 Here's the spread! Again, really simple this time around. Just a plaid throw, some Celtic fabric, and a green felt table runner. I also threw on some Celtic ribbon, a Celtic candle, and a few goblets.

Here's the menu, a close up of some of the decorations, the cast of Brave (playset printed out from Disney Family) and of course I had to pull out one of my Breyer horses from my youth to stand in for Angus! 

On the left is "King Fergus'" Fruit & Cream- peaches from our local farmer's market with fresh whipped cream. Then DH's plate on the right of "Bear" Brats (bratwursts), "Highland" Ham (aka. bacon), and "Castle" Cabbage (just standard cooked cabbage). 

On the left are the "Triplet" 'Taters- just breakfast potatoes topped with parmesan. I'll post the recipe on here soon! It's a staple in our house for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! To the right are the Scottish Sweet Buns as well as the "Witch's Brew" which was nothing special, just whatever we were drinking that night, but in a festive goblet!! :)

Last, but certainly not least, Scottish Sweet Buns: recipe from Disney Family. We used oat flour to make them gluten free, left out the walnuts as we're waiting to introduce nuts to the wee princess, and just used our standard cake frosting recipe for the topping- delish!!! We promptly made another batch the next day, they were THAT good!

I'll be linking up to these fabulous parties...
Friday Link Palooza @ Blissful & Domestic
Link Party Palooza @ Today's Creative Blog

Disney Family Movie Night: Lilo & Stitch

* Menu Clipart from: clipartbest.com and clker.com *

Hey all!
Back again today to share our first Disney Family Movie Night! Our trip for this year got cancelled due to DH's fluctuating Army schedule (would have been our first DVC trip, my parents just bought earlier this year!). So to keep the Disney magic alive until our next trip (maybe Christmas 2015? TBD really...) I thought Disney movie nights would be perfect! We plan on doing them weekly, except December where we'll switch from Disney to Christmas movies ;)

I'm a planner, so this took a bit of planning for me. I scoured the internet for ideas, using mostly Pinterest (see my board here!) and Disboards.com to find most of my inspiration. Then I printed out a bunch of printables, the ones that I shared with you yesterday {here}, and jotted down the myriad of ideas.

Thankfully DH was totally onboard with the themed movie night idea (so blessed DH now loves Disney as much as I do!) so off we went... At first we were planning to watch Pocahontas, but when DH found Hawaiian pork at the local farmer's market that morning, we switched it to...

***** Lilo & Stitch *****

Menu

Hawaiian Pork & Shrimp

Maui Cabbage

Coconut Rice

Tropical Fruit Salad

"Ohana" Bread (just regular gluten-free bread from a local bakery, but had to have a fun name!)

Honey Butter & Pineapple Jam

Hawaiian Dump Cake (just a dump cake with cherries and peaches, should have done cherries and pineapple!)

"Jumba Juice" (yes, I misspelled it on our menu, whoops!)

Crafts

Lilo & Stitch coloring pages

Big leaves to decorate & color

Make Hawaiian flowers

And without further ado, here's a few photos....

Utensils, menu, and "Ohana" bread. Decorations were just green felt "table runner," lime green tulle, and flowers from a deconstructed lei. The character cutouts were from Disney's Lilo & Stitch Print Center online.

The food buffet! Leaves were made with my Cricut Expression using the Accent Essentials cartridge.

Honey butter & Pineapple Jam! The tikibar cutout was made with my Cricut Expression using the Nifty Fifties cartridge.

Tropical Fruit Salad (kiwi, pineapple, strawberries) and the Hawaiian Pork, Shrimp &  Maui Cabbage (that's all DH- I'm vegetarian!)

Coconut Rice and "Jumba Juice" (guava juice and POM coconut &  pineapple blends)

Hawaiian Dump Cake (aptly named because you literally dump in two cans of fruit, a boxed cake mix, and a stick and a half of sliced butter, in the oven for 1 hr at 350 and it's ridiculously delicious! I'm not usually one to use boxed mixes, but GF cake is something I just haven't mastered yet and Betty Crocker has! hehe)

Our arts & crafts table- decorated with some scrapbooking paper & more lei flowers. There were coloring pages (also from Disney's Lilo & Stitch Print Center online), cut out some more leaves for DD to decorate with stickers, and since the wee one is too small to make the flowers herself, I assembled them for her (cut out flowers, poke 2 holes in the center, thread a pipe cleaner up through one hole and the button then back down through the other hole and twist the pipe cleaner together, done!)

Sharing at these awesome linky parties:

that DIY party @ DIY Showoff

Catch a Glimpse @ A Glimpse Inside

It's a Summer Celebration @ Design Dining & Diapers

Inspiration Gallery Link Party @ Design Dining & Diapers

Feature Friday @ Blissful & Domestic

Family Movie Night (printables)

Hey all!
Long time no talk, I know I know... It's been 6 months since we moved into our current place after our latest move with the Army, but I'm still trying to make this place a home. Army life is always in flux, and until we know for sure how long we'll be in this house (a few more months? a few years?) we've been holding off on stuff like painting, or unpacking certain items, etc. That combined with DH's ridiculous work schedule, well, things just haven't gotten done. This week's projects include unpacking and organizing the garage and putting up curtains. Maybe I'll throw in hanging up some art work while we're at it, who knows!? hehe... with any luck I'll start being on here more with you all and share some of the stuff I actually have gotten done around here! Anyhoo, on to the real topic of today...

Family Movie Nights!!!

This weekend we began a new tradition of doing family movie nights, like themed movie nights- decorations, food, movie, the works! We're doing Disney movies for the most part (except December, which will be Christmas movies, of course). The impetus behind our new tradition began with our Disney trip for this year getting bumped due to fluctuation Army schedules. Such is the life though... but to hold on to the magic until our next trip (hoping for Christmas 2015, gosh that's a long ways away!) we decided to do themed nights. Thankfully DH loved this idea (love that he has turned into as big of a Disney fan as I am!) and so off we went! He handled most of the food, and I handled decor and the like. Got to bust out my Cricut for the second time ever, which was exciting :) Still learning how to master that- so many features!

Anyhoo, I'll be sharing all the fun details and photos about our first Disney movie night in my next post. Today I wanted to share my printables I created to capture ideas for future movie nights! I thought perhaps if you already have this tradition, or want to start it too, that these might come in handy :) If you want different colors, feel free to drop me a line and I'd be happy to customize them for you too!

(download FREE Disney Movie Night printable here)

(download FREE Christmas Movie Night printable here)

(download FREE Family Movie Night printable here)

(download FREE Family Movie Night Index printable here)

You can see I also created a master Index sheet for my movie night printables. I have ideas jotted down for well over 80 movies with a few blank sheets for more movies to come. I went through and numbered all of my movie sheets and then created an alphabetical list in the front so I can easily flip to a movie title!

I'll be back again soon to share our first movie night with you... Lilo & Stitch!
Blessings,
Shauna

Memorial Day

All gave some... some gave all. 

(Source: USAA)

Remembering those who have laid down their lives defending our great nation, and praying for the families who are left behind. A humble 'Thank You' will never suffice.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
~ John 15:12-14

Baked Asparagus with smoked cheddar

So I realize this post is a bit (ok SUPER) late in coming! I shared it over on the Comestibilis blog where I contribute recipes, but never posted here- whoops! Anyhoo, on to today's recipe post...

I have never been a fan of asparagus, until I read about baking it! 

Ingredients:

1 lb. asparagus

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

block of your favorite cheese- smoked cheddar or parmesan work great!

Instructions:

(1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

(2) Cut the woody lower ends off asparagus and use a vegetable peeler to gently remove the skin from the stalks. The stalks are surprisingly delicate, so it takes a light touch to peel asparagus! I recommend peeling over a cutting board so you can easily salvage any pieces that snap while you're peeling (unlike I usually do and peel over the sink, thus loosing many a pieces to the depths of the garbage disposal... I digress).

(3) Cover a baking sheet lightly with olive oil. Using a silpat works well for this recipe too.

(4) Spread asparagus on baking sheet and cover with more olive oil, salt, and pepper.

(5) Grate cheese liberally over asparagus.

(6) Cook for 8-10 minutes and serve!

Don't be put off by it until you give it a few tries- bake it, steam it, grill it. Check out this AMAZING article at Quick Easy Cook for more asparagus details- everything from how to tell when it's done cooking, to the different methods of preparation, to how to tell when it's gone bad! Also discussed- some of the incredible health benefits of this often overlooked food. 

Happy Wednesday!
- Shauna