The Sweeter Side of Mommyhood

Raise you hand if you’ve ever made pumpkin bars. Is your hand raised? Mine isn’t! Before today I had never made them and I don’t even have a memory of ever eating one. But my sister in law, Erica, gave my Mom and I her recipe for pumpkin bars and I’m 100% addicted. The original recipe (which I believe comes courtesy of Erica’s awesome Mama, hi Patty!) has 1/3 cup more granulated sugar. I tend to cut down on sugar in recipes like this just for personal preference on taste- not for health reasons, ha... give me all the treats. I also added vanilla to my pumpkin bar batter and omitted the baking soda that the original recipe calls for. Erica’s recipe calls for cream cheese frosting ... read more

I was gifted two copies of The Kids Book of Paper Love thanks to Workman Publishing; one to keep and one to giveaway (find the giveaway over on Instagram) in exchange for this review. All opinions remain my own. **** You know how some people collect pottery or chicken statues or movie memorabilia or certain toys... my girls and I love to collect craft books. To me they're like cookbooks- the kind of thing that takes up shelf space but is endlessly useful and inspiring. We were delighted to open up the package containing this book. The Kids Book of Paper Love is thick and heavy and before we even opened it we knew it would be filled with goodies. After flipping through ... read more

This post is brought to you by Kidsburgh and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own. **** Even though I’ve lived in Pittsburgh for over 10 years now (how crazy is that), I still freeze up when people ask me for Family Friendly Pittsburgh recommendations. Sally, Olive and I exploring the Heinz History Center last year. Oh, I’m actually not from here, I live in the suburbs so... I’m more of a homebody and I’m certainly not an expert... A few of my token responses. But our family really does enjoy everything Pittsburgh has to offer from Fall Festivals to Museum attractions to food and art and theater shows and everything in between. As a Mama of four though, I know it can be ... read more

Hi Lilly! Fancy meeting you here, at our house. Ha! Is it weird to be interviewed by your Mom? Be honest.  Uh sort of... you know me pretty well so...haha! How did the idea for illyLillyDesignCo come about? Well, me and Daddy one day we were looking for a Christmas present for you and we really wanted to get you a teacher lanyard. When it came Aunt Haley and I decided we could make these and make them even better! We were even looking on Pinterest one day and you and Aunt Haley told me I could probably make even better ideas than we saw on Pinterest. A few months after that I saw some clay earrings on your Pinterest and it grew from there!  What is your ... read more