Blended Strawberry Mock-aritas and Hot & Spicy Cheese Dip for Cinco de Mayo!

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DelimexFiesta #CollectiveBias

Wanting to celebrate a delicious Cinco de Mayo with friends and family? You'll love this delicious strawberry mock-arita... it's just like your favorite restaurant margarita, without any alcohol! Strawberry and lime abound, and they're delicious. It makes for the perfect drink recipe for summer. #DelimexFiesta #Ad

Green chiles and hot sauce add a little kick to this cheesy delight! You'll love this dip for your next fiesta, whether it's Cinco de Mayo or anytime! It's creamy, cheesy, and served hot, which makes it SO good for any time! #DelimexFiesta #Ad

I’m coming at you today with not one, but TWO recipes that will be perfect for your Cinco de Mayo fiesta! You’ll love these recipes for sharing with friends, or even enjoying yourself after a long day. The first is a perfect blended strawberry mock-arita (it’s alcohol free, so even your littlest sippers can enjoy some this summer!) and the second is a hot and spicy cheese dip that will be the hit of the party, whether you’re dipping chips or the Delimex Taquitos and Rolled Tacos that pair perfectly with it!

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Writing Letters to Your Children, Part Three: The Prompts

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So you'd like to write letters to your children as the perfect wedding gift, graduation gift, or just to instill a little wisdom in them.... but you don't know where to start! Here are 70 prompts to get you started on writing to your kids! They also make great journaling prompts!

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been sharing some ideas on writing letters to your children for a future date. The first week, we discussed why it was important to share these stories with your children. Last week, we talked about the best ways to write these stories and store them so they wouldn’t get lost or damaged over time. Today, I want to give you some ideas and prompts for what you can write about– it’s easy to say that you will or want to write letters to your child, and choosing a format is pretty easy, too, but it’s a lot harder to come up with ideas when you do sit down to write. Here are some prompts to get you started.

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How to Tackle the Laundry Pile (And Get Your Kids to Help!)

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LongLastingScent #CollectiveBias

Laundry stinks... sometimes literally! But tackling the laundry pile isn't impossible. Even the youngest of kids can help with laundry-related chores, because there's an age-appropriate task for almost anyone! So read this post, gather the family, and conquer the laundry pile, once and for all! | household tip | cleaning | laundry hack | #longlastingscent #ad

Laundry stinks. Sometimes literally. I’m not kidding, laundry is my least favorite chore. I don’t mind washing so much, but the remembering to move clothes from the washer to the dryer, the act of folding and sorting and turning everything right-side out drives me bonkers. And don’t even get me started on putting it away– I’d live out of a laundry basket if I could! But the laundry pile? It has to go, and with a little help from your kids, it won’t even take that long! Who says mom should have to do all of the laundry? It’s time to tackle the laundry pile, and get your kids involved in lightening the load, so you can all have a great break afterwards.

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Writing Letters to Your Children, Part Two: How to Organize Them

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Writing letters to your children can be a great gift to them when they're older-- at graduation, or on their wedding day. But what do you do once you've written the letters? How do you get started and how do you store them? Here are some ideas.

Last week on the blog, I shared my heart in terms of why it’s important to write letters to your children for them to read when they get older. Writing letters helps you leave a lasting legacy to your children and tell them stories that you want to preserve– don’t wait until it’s too late to share these stories. This week, I want to give you some ideas of how to prepare your letters for your children.

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How to Make Sponge Cake from ANY Cake Mix!

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You actually CAN make a sponge cake from any cake mix-- just like the light airy sponge cakes that you get at bakeries! This is the moistest, most air- and lightness- filled cake that you've ever seen... and it's from a mix! You'll show your friends you're a baking pro when you serve this delicate cake at your next dinner party! It's the best dessert recipe!

You know what I love? That perfect, light, airy sponge that you can get from so many bakeries. You know what I hate? Trying to duplicate that at home– it never seems light enough, airy enough, sponge-y enough. But those times are behind us, my friend… because you can take your standard boxed cake mix and create a delicious, moist, light, sponge cake at home. That’s right, I’m going to show you how to make sponge cake from cake mix, and it doesn’t really take any longer than just baking it by package directions. I’m serious.

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Tropical Mango Coconut Cookie Bars

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Do you love mango? What about coconut? These cookie bars are so easy, and so addictive, that you'll have trouble sharing them! With a cookie crust and a creamy, fruity topping, your friends will never believe these are semi-homemade! They're party perfect for spring and summer! | spring recipe | summer recipe | easy dessert recipe |

I love mangos. Seriously, whenever I see one that looks perfectly ripe at the grocery store, I just have to buy it. There is just something about that smell, that flavor, and that incredible texture when you slice open a mango. It just tastes like spring and summer to me! So when I saw Pillsbury release Tropical Mango cookie mix and frosting mix, I definitely had to put my own semi-homemade twist on it.

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Why My Toddler’s Mantra Is the Perfect Answer to Anything

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Recently, my sweet 3 year old developed a saying. At first glance, the saying is completely benign, even grammatically incorrect, but when you dig a little deeper, you realize that this mantra gives meaning to almost anything, and makes life a little bit more worth living.

You see, for the past year and a half, every knee scrape, every bad dream, would be met with the response from me, “Oh, Zach, it’s going to be okay, it will be fine, mommy is right here.” And Zach? Well, he’s taken it to a new level of meaning. Now, my son, in almost-Rastafarian form, replies to nearly everything with three simple words:

It Be Fine.

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Writing Letters to Your Children, Part One: Why You Should Do It

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Should you be writing letters to your children? Letters make an amazing keepsake for your children, and allow them a special connection, even after you've passed. They're also a great way to convey information to your children. Here are some reasons why you should write to your kids.

As parents, it’s so essential to us to impart as much wisdom as possible into our children’s lives while we have them. It seems like, as kids grow so fast, in a blink it’s gone, and they’ve grown up. It means there’s only a short amount of time that we can give them the wisdom we’ve learned through the years (and hoping desperately that they follow our advice, despite knowing that all of us have to make some mistakes ourselves in order to learn). Writing letters to your children is the perfect way to share that wisdom with them for years to come, even after they leave the nest.

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Our ASTC Journey: Visiting the Discovery Center of Springfield

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If you're traveling with kids, a membership to an ASTC affiliated children's museum is a great idea-- admission transfers to over 300 museums world-wide, including the Discovery Center of Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. This great museum has some wonderful hands-on activities for kids, making it the perfect field trip or summer activity. Here's an overview of some of the exciting exhibits!

Awhile ago, I mentioned Zach and I’s plan to use our Union Station membership, which is part of the ASTC Passport program, to visit other ASTC-affiliated museums. We recently had the opportunity to visit the Discovery Center of Springfield in Springfield, Missouri, which had some incredible hands-on exhibits for children. The entire four-story museum is filled with great activities for kids to enjoy, and we couldn’t wait to share our trip with you!

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Easy Easter Bunny Cake

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This Easter Bunny cake decorating recipe may contain affiliate links.

Looking for the perfect Easter bunny cake for your Easter celebration? Look no further than this cute chocolate coconut bunny rabbit cake! You don't need any special pan (if you've got a bundt pan at home!) and only a few fun toppings, to make this cake a true hit!

Everything about Easter just feels special. I love celebrating Christ’s resurrection, and honoring the new life that he brought to the world through dying and rising again. But I also love the fun, carefree traditions of Easter bunnies and eggs and chicks and all of the fun things we know and love associating with springtime. This Easter Bunny cake decorating idea is so simple. Simply start with your favorite pound cake baked in a bundt shape and get decorating! I love to use my delicious buttery chocolate pound cake, and with a few simple decorations, it turns into a show-stopper of a cake.

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