This past weekend we went on our very first “Santa Train” as a family! My husband and I both had Santa train experiences as children and were excited to finally have Haylie have that same memory.

Every Christmas season I’m always reminded m about Santa trains too late. I will spot cute pictures, go try and book and sold out.

This year I actually spotted a Facebook ad a few weeks before the excursion & booked my little family a table. The best part?!? This train was only an hour away. 

50 Commercial Street, Gowanda, New York 14070, l
​716-532-5242

When you first arrive & check in, you can proceed to a table and write a letter to Santa. They have pens & paper ready for your kids to write out those lists.

Then while on board there will be snacks such as chips and Candy. Then non-alcoholic beverages all for purchase. 

Santa & his elves will then make their grand entrance.

​Then be prepared to be entertained with a few fun games like guessing how many chocolate kisses are in a jar to win a prize all while social distancing.

Santa Claus will be present on board, while social distancing mask and all. He does have gifts for all good boys and girls! My daughter received a Charlie Brown mug that you color that has a train on it!! Pretty cool since we were on a train. However, no sitting on Santa’s lap. My tip would be to have the kids sit on the outside when you spit Santa walking so you can get a cute photo with Santa & your kid in the shot 

Saturday & Sundays in December

11am
12:30pm
2pm
3:30pm

• $19 Adults
Ages 13-61
​
• $15 Children
Ages 3-12

• $17 Seniors
Ages 62+

• Free Infants
Ages 2 and Under

• $75 Table For 4 People
All Ages • Seats 1-4 People • Price per Table

Tis the season of giving!!!

One of my favorite gifts to spoil my loved ones with?! Wine!!!! It’s one of those gifts you just know EVERYONE will be happy to receive. My tip is to always give bubbles to those you don’t know their preferences! With NYE just days after Christmas, you know that bottle will get used regardless if it’s on the yum list!!!

So Eat, Drink & Be Merry this holiday season and print out a festive gift tag!!!

My daughters all time favorite cookies? Oreo! Every time a new flavor pops up on the shelves, you best believe we scoop up a package to try! 

When we spotted the new White Fudge Oreo, I got extremely excited. So many cute fudge covered Oreo activities, but I hate playing with melted chocolate lol. The cleanup is just horrid!!! 

Now that you can purchase the Oreo, pre-fudged, let the Oreo creation fun begin!!!!

Ingredients 

• White Fudge Covered Oreos
​• Christmas Sprinkles 
• Christmas Mini m&m
• White Frosting 
• Mini Reese’s Cups

Serve & enjoy! 

Christmas crafts!!!! Literally a favorite of mine!! And finally!!! I can start crafting with my little Princess and the activities can be glam and not some paper plate, slime, toddler concoction!!!

The first craft on my 2020 to-do list was a snow globe candle holder made out of a wine glass!!! Wine and candles are two of my favorite things, so this was right up my alley!

Supplies 
Wine Glass
Green Flocked Bottle Brush Tree
Iridescent Faux Snow
Batting
Wood Slice
White Chalk Paint


Tools
Sponge Paint Brush
Mod Podge
E6000 Glue
Q-tip

Step 1 
Cover the wine glass with faux snow. Using a sponge paint brush, cover the base of the wine glass with Mod Podge. Pour the faux snow on top to cover, then shake off the excess. 

Next, paint the stem with Mod Podge. Hold your glass sideways and pour the faux snow over it while rotating the glass to cover all sides. 

Lastly, stand the wine glass upside down and paint bowl area around the stem and include a few dips down the bowl to mimic snow falling down the glass. Pour faux snow over the upside down glass to cover the Mod Podge. Shake off any excess snow. 

Steps 2 
Paint the top and edges of the wood slice with white chalk paint. Let dry (approximately 10 minutes). 

Step 3 
Use a dab of E6000 Glue on the bottom of the mini bottle brush tree and place it in the center of the wood slice. 

Step 4 
Pull apart a small bunch of batting material. Add 3 small dabs of glue to the wood slice and arrange the batting material to cover the area around the bottle brush tree. Sprinkle the batting with a few pinches of faux snow. 

Step 5 
Add glue to the rim of your wine glass. I used a q-tip to easily cover the rim of the glass with glue. Turn the wine glass upside down and place it on to the wood slice. Remove any batting material that sticks out from under the glass by pulling it or you could probably use scissors to snip any excess strands. 

Tips
Hot Glue can be substituted for the E6000 Glue. Hot Glue will adhere faster where as the E6000 glue allows you to move items for a few minutes to make sure everything is in the right place. 

The faux snow will flake off if touching it often. You can seal it with a spray on acrylic sealer or adding another coat of Mod Podge. If using Mod Podge, wear a pair of latex gloves and dab the Mod Podge over the faux snow with your finger. I tried using the sponge paint brush and it took off more faux snow than it sealed. I ended up just dabbing Mod Poge over it with my fingers, but it was time consuming so I only sealed a small portion. I would suggest trying a spray acrylic sealer. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!! My daughter was quarantined for the past week. A kiddo at school tested positive so her whole grade has been stuck at home since... so long story short, y’all got extremely lucky since we had a ton of free time on our hands. An 8 year old can’t stay home alone, so we did a ton of holiday baking to kill time.

First on our list was Christmas Cool Whip Cookies! 

Ingredients 

• 15oz Box Butter Cake Mix
•8oz Container Cool Whip
• Red & Green Food Coloring
• 1 Cup Powered Sugar
•1 Tablespoon Vanilla
•1 Egg

Serve & enjoy!

Ahhhh the holiday season is finally here! With Thanksgiving just days away and then bam! Christmas! We all need to remember to take care of ourselves. While the holiday season may not look the same as usual, having to do ALL the holiday dinners and all that holiday planning you usually split with other family members, it’s safe to say we are all going to be a tad bit busy this year!

So when you’re starting to feel a tad bit stressed and not your jolly self, take a break and play a little self-care bingo! We can all use a little self-care so please take that time to yourself to recharge so you can once again be in the holiday spirit:)

Rudolph the red nosed donut!!!!! Literally the cutest donuts EVER if you ask me!!!! A red DOT candy for a nose! Pretzels for antlers & I always have loads of candy eyes in my kitchen since I’m always trying to create new and fun kiddie creations in the kitchen. Such a fun breakfast idea for the kiddos. They can even make their own Rudolph!!! 

Serve & Enjoy!

Ahhhhhh the holidays!!!!! My favorite time of year to stock up on all those beauty must haves since everything is actually affordable for once. I also LOVE to spread holiday cheer to my loved ones by making them feel over the top glam on Christmas Day by giving the gift of all things beauty! 

When I spotted Victoria’s Secret having a $5 sale on all their body splashes, I picked up every last one I could for myself and a few of my favorites to add to a few gift baskets!

I was able to score 10 out of the 15 since that was all
that was left available when I placed my order. Apparently everyone spotted that killer email and just had to stock up as well.

Since I pretty much have the whole collection, I figured why not make a guide to help all of you holiday shopping online this year due to the pandemic. . 

BOMBSHELL ~ My favorite out of all of the mists! Bold & confident! I definitely see why it’s America's #1 Fragrance. It’s a sparkling mix of fresh-cut Peonies and exotic fruits. If you’re into fruity or floral scents, this is the one for you. 

• Fragrance type: Fruity Floral
• Notes: Purple Passion Fruit, Shangri-la Peony and Vanilla Orchid

Polar Bear Toast?!? Have you ever seen a cuter toast?!? So obsessed with the cuteness! My daughter and I actually made these awhile ago, but I wanted to wait until Christmas time to share. I know, it’s still November, but close enough right?!? 

Anyway, these are so easy to make! Perfect activity to get those kids in the kitchen.

​Enjoy :):) 

Take a slice of toasted white bread and spread whipped cream cheese on top.

Take two blueberries and place them on the toast as eyes. Take another blueberry and place it on the banana mouth/nose.

Serve & enjoy!

Cats!!! Literally my favorite animal!!!! Even though y’all see my pup Abby Cadabby all over my socials, I’m a crazy cat lady at heart. Cats will always be my number one.

I have been trying to figure out how to make a cat rice cake for some time. I was struggling big time on the whiskers. Everyone on Pinterest seems to use sliced apple strips, but that just seemed like so much work to me.... it’s one thing to cut a strawberry in half to make ears and a nose, but to cut perfectly sized strips? Naw! So happy I figured out that simple pretzel sticks would do the trick. Enjoy!

​

Enjoy!

Such a classic!!! I don’t know why they say men are meat and potato people, because this girl right here?! I could live on both for the rest of my life and be very content. Potatoes are literally life!!

I received a new instant pot from an Instagram gig I did for Walmart, and the very first thing I decided to make was mashed potatoes! So yum & honestly, I think they taste better than stove top! The potatoes pressure cooking in the chicken stock really makes a huge difference taste wise! Beyond delicious!!!!

Place potatoes in instant pot. Pour in Chicken Stock. Pressure Cook for 15 minutes and Quick Release.

Open the pot. Add butter and milk then mash with the potato masher. Stir in salt and pepper.

Serve & enjoy!

I cannot believe it!!! For how crazy boring 2020 has been with everything closed and zero real travel, it sure has been flying by. October is pretty much over which means Thanksgiving is next on the holiday list!!!

My daughter is obsessed with Oreo. Like if we walk by Oreo at the grocery store, full in tantrum until I toss a pack in the cart. 

To fuel her obsession, I thought it would be fin to make Turkey Oreo! Super cute and easy to make! Just make sure to take your time sliding those candy corn into the cookies because if you do it too fast, cookie breakage galore. 

Enjoy!

Enjoy!!!

The Circus!!!!! We attend every year and I’m just heart broken that there will not be any circus festivities this fall/winter. We also love catching all of the Cirque shows when they come to town and ughhh.... who knows when shows will be traveling the country again. 

Since I don’t know a kiddo out there not totally obsessed with the Circus, I thought a circus activity pack would be loads of fun!!!! Watch a few circus videos on YouTube and then work on a few circus worksheets!!!! Sounds like one fun day of school to me.

​Enjoy!

Another season means another Too Faced palette!!! For those of you that are new here, I have an obsession with Too Faced. Too Faced, Chanel & even though Mac has been slipping lately, I will still include them in my holy grails! 

When fall first hit, there was a soft case pumpkin palette all over the gram! I was somewhat bummed since it just didn’t have that splurge appeal to me. So glad I waited because Pumpkin Spice came out and o yeah, I added to cart lol. 

Like all Too Faced Palettes, fall out is very minimal. One of the main reasons I tend to reach for my Too Faced palettes over other brands. I just hate it when half of your palette ends up being a pile of dust. You definitely get your money’s worth with these palettes & Pumpkin Spice was no different.

As for shades, I honestly love how they added a few pastel glitter shades in a fall palette!!! So fun to mix with traditional fall shades for a cute look! 

Fall Vibes, Spice Spice Baby, Falling For You & You Want A Piece Of Me are my favorites!!! 

Totally recommend this palette if you’re looking for
a non traditional spin on fall shades! Plus the packaging is to die for!!! So cute!