fall | family | Family Fun | fun | holidays

Pumpkin Palooza

By on October 30, 2017

We sure had our fill of pumpkins this year! We visited a pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, and went to two different pumpkin festivals. We also made pumpkin pie and (of course) had at least one or two pumpkin spiced lattes from Starbucks. Needless to say, I’m pretty pumpkin-ed out at this point!

But in case you’re still craving more pumpkin, here are all the fun pumpkins we saw this month:

Pumpkin Palooza!

Stone Mountain Park here in Atlanta had some awesome movie-themed pumpkins –

Pumpkin Palooza | sunshineandholly.com | stone mountain park
Toy Story
Pumpkin Palooza | sunshineandholly.com | stone mountain park
Indiana Jones…with a dinosaur.

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fall | Family Fun | food | friends | fun | holidays | parenting | party

Our Halloween Traditions and a Spooky Halloween Lasagna

By on October 18, 2017

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up, carving pumpkins, taking the kids trick-or-treating, and making fun Halloween-themed snacks and crafts.

Our Halloween Traditions and a Spooky Halloween Lasagna | sunshineandholly.com | halloween party | oreo eyeball truffles

However, I’m not a big fan of scary movies or haunted houses. I’m such a scaredy-cat! Although believe it or not, Josh and I saw The Ring on our first date back in 2002. Soooo creepy! (The movie, not our first date. Ha!)

Before we had kids, we’d always either dress up and go out bar-hopping, or host a small Scary-Movie-Night party at home with some friends. The past few years we’ve just had a couple of close friends over for a Halloween themed meal, and then headed out to trick-or-treat either in our neighborhood or at a local trunk-or-treat.

Here are a few pictures from Halloweens of the past:

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family | Family Fun | kids activities | motherhood | parenting | Uncategorized

A Tale of Two Temperaments

By on September 13, 2017

I’ve mentioned before how my children are so different. Complete opposites in a lot of respects. Graham can chow down on some food. Maddie eats like a bird. Graham isn’t affectionate at all. Maddie would crawl back inside of me if she could. Graham loves building things. Maddie loves active play. Graham loves super heros. Maddie loves princesses.

A Tale of Two Temperaments | sunshineandholly.com

They’re so different when it comes to discipline. Graham has so many wonderful traits, and he’s truly an amazing kid. But he is also the most stubborn, manipulative, and argumentative kid I’ve ever met! Needless to say, we’ve tried any and all discipline tactics with him and have finally settled on a few that work…most of the time. I am mentally exhausted every day trying to get him to do what he needs to do. Maddie is a people-pleaser, and already very empathetic. It doesn’t take much to get her to obey. 

A Tale of Two Temperaments | sunshineandholly.com

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family | Family Fun | food | fun | happiness | home | kids activities | recipe | Uncategorized

Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer

By on August 14, 2017
Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer | Sunshine and Holly

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I mentioned in the recipe for my caramelized onion bolognese that we served the sauce over homemade pasta. If you’ve never made homemade pasta – you should at least try it once. It’s not that hard – I promise! Our kids love helping us make pasta, almost as much as they love eating it!

Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer | Sunshine and Holly Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer | Sunshine and Holly

Although on this day, Maddie was the only one interested in cooking. Graham decided he would rather play on the iPad. Silly boy.

Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer | Sunshine and Holly Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer | Sunshine and Holly

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family | Family Fun | fun | home

5 Things to do When Your Kids are Driving You Nuts

By on July 28, 2017
5 Things to do When Your Kids are Driving You Nuts | sunshineandholly.com | kids activities | tired mom | toddler activities

Wednesday was just one of those days. You mamas know what I’m talking about. Days when the time seem to slow down to a snail’s pace. You think for sure you’ve been playing with your kids for at least 4 hours, but when you look at the clock, it’s been 12 minutes. Days when your kids won’t play nicely together and seem to be rotating though screaming, fighting, hitting, and arguing…over and over and over!

5 Things to do When Your Kids are Driving You Nuts | sunshineandholly.com | kids activities | tired mom | toddler activities

I looked at our clock, and it was still 3 hours until my lifesaver, my hero, my relief, Dada, would be home. It was way too hot to go outside, we couldn’t go to the pool, and we’d already had way more than the recommended screen time for the day.

What’s a mom to do? (Besides pour a nice tall glass of wine.)

Here’s my go-to list of 5 things to do when you’re kids are driving you nuts.

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