Laura Tucker

Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Cookies

November 28, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

No matter where you are in the world, there’s always that one thing that immediately takes you right back home. One of the most beautiful things about the United States is that each and every state has something unique that sets it apart from the rest. I pride myself on having roots planted deep within the Alabama clay, and I love to celebrate my Southern heritage because it’s a building block in the foundation of who I am (and this very blog, too!)

Out-of-staters may think of many different things when they think of Alabama (football, accents, farm land, etc.) but many people don’t know about the history of one little gem and how it completely turned this state around and revived it just a century ago:

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Tips on Enjoying Outdoor Play During the Cooler Months

November 21, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

“This post is sponsored by the Voice of Play. All opinions expressed are completely my own. We love to get outside and play, and we want to encourage you to enjoy #YearRoundPlay, too!”

The leaves are falling to the ground, and our sweaters and jackets are (joyfully) starting to make an appearance back into our wardrobes. Autumn is officially here, and we are savoring every sweet minute of it! In our neck of the woods, it’s horribly humid and hot for a large portion of the year, so once the temperature starts to drop, we waste NO time! We grab our coats and head right out the door!

And when it comes to outdoor play, we want our little girl to let her imagination run wild and to truly enjoy nature and all it has to offer. After we ate our lunch this past Sunday, we went on a little adventure to see what kind of fun we could find outside the four walls of our house.

If you have any trees in your yard that are dropping their leaves, you’re sitting on a gold mine my friends! My husband grabbed a rake and made a nice little pile of leaves within minutes for our toddler to play in. He’s a keeper, don’tcha think! 😉

This was the very first time our kiddo has actually played with leaves. Sure, she’s picked them up to study them a few times, and she’s even learned that they make a funny “crunch” sound when you step on them, but she’s never actually looked at them as a fun way to play. That is, until now! 😉

We try to make it a point to get some quality outdoor play time several times a week. I believe it’s important to find ways to get kids playing outside ALL year long, and not just during the warmer months. In fact, did you know that encouraging outdoor play is scientifically proven to benefit our children physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively? Plus, there’s no cost to play outside. There’s a whole wide world out there ready to explore, and all it takes is your time! 🙂

If you’re looking to get outside with your kiddos during the cooler months, here’s a few tips to help you get moving!:

Dress Appropriately
- Make sure you check the temperature and dress in layers that can easily be removed in case it warms up. Once you get moving and the blood starts pumping in your body, it can get warm quickly!
Wear Sunscreen
- Did you know that your skin can burn during the colder months just as easily as it can during the Summer? Children with fair skin should always have a little sunscreen applied to their face and any other part that may be exposed to sunlight while playing outside.
Take Advantage of Local Parks
- Local parks are a total gem! They’re a great place to spend some quality family time while getting some fresh air and enjoying the outdoors. They’re totally free for you to use, so get out there and have some fun!
Use Your Imagination
- Look for new ways to play outside with your kids, such as creating an obstacle course, going on a scavenger hunt, “gathering” sticks, acorns, rocks, etc. playing in leaves, building a snowman, hanging homemade bird feeders, and so on. The possibilities are endless! The biggest limit to how much fun you have outdoors is your own imagination!

For more ideas on how to get outside and enjoy the outdoors all year round, visit IPEMA’s educational website, Voice of Play. You’ll also find more information on all of the benefits outdoor play can bring to you and your children!

So what are you waiting for, friends? Grab your coat, get outside and enjoy the world around you!

The post is brought to you by Activate by Bloglovin and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Chocolate Chip Spinach Muffins

November 21, 2016 by Laura Tucker 19 Comments

Over the past 2 weeks, it seems like my diet has primarily consisted of cookies and things smothered and covered in some sort of cheese. To be clear, I’m not really complaining about that (I love my cheese and sweets,) but I realize that a continued pattern of eating those fatty foods is going to wreck havoc on my waistline and on my health in general.

So in order to get some green back into my diet, I’ve been eating a whole lot of spinach here lately. I love spinach WAY more than lettuce (not to mention it’s way healthier than lettuce,) so I don’t have much of a problem eating it as a salad. My problem is that I’m sort of anti-leftovers and I get burned out on foods very quickly. When I say I’m anti-leftovers, I really mean that I’m not crazy about eating something as a leftover more than once. I can eat something twice, but then my taste buds have to move on!

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Brown Sugar Pecan and Cinnamon Apple Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

November 18, 2016 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

There’s just something about a big golden sweet potato with butter and brown sugar that gets me so excited. I absolutely love sweet potatoes, so naturally when November rolls around I start planning my entire Thanksgiving menu around them. You may have seen me recently post about how I like to spice them up every once and a while, but sometimes I like to stick with something a little more traditional, too.

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Green Bean Casserole Stuffed Loaded Baked Potatoes

November 17, 2016 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

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

There’s an unwritten rule here in the South that says it’s not really Thanksgiving until you’ve had more than your fair share of multiple kinds of casserole during Thanksgiving dinner. You’ve got your sweet potato casserole, cornbread casserole, broccoli casserole, and the coveted green bean casserole. Casserole is certainly king in the Southern states, and it’s part of the reason why I’m SO cheerful during this holiday season. Seriously! I’m not even going to lie, y’all. When I count all of the things I’m thankful for, I count casserole twice. It’s so darn good. 😉

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25 Edible Christmas Crafts for Kids

November 16, 2016 by Laura Tucker 3 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s time to trip up the tree with Christmas stuff…like bingle balls and woofoo fluff! I remember the weeks leading up to Christmas break when I was in school were always so much fun. We’d watch Christmas movies at the end of the day while we munched on sugary Christmas-themed snacks and worked on our Christmas list to give to Santa.

Times were SO much simpler back then weren’t they? Seeing all of these delicious edible Christmas crafts takes me right back to those days, though. Maybe that’s why I love them so much! Since I’ve been looking for some really fun snack ideas to share with my daughter this season, I thought it’d be fun to put together a whole list of some of my favorite! All of the content is original to some AMAZING bloggers which I’ve listed beside each picture. Take a look around and let me know which ones are your fave! :-D…

Spinach Walnut Pesto Recipe

November 16, 2016 by Laura Tucker 3 Comments

Have you ever had a surplus of something in your fridge and you were left wracking your brain trying to figure out WHAT in the world you were going to do with it? Last week we had a church function where we were to bring salad and all of the fixings to feed a large crowd. I purchased a few heads of lettuce and my mother in law purchased several big packages of spinach. We actually wound up with a good bit more food than we needed, so we were left with all of the spinach to take home.

I feel like I’ve been up to my ears in salad here lately because of this spinach surplus. I’ve been eating spinach salad for a few days now, so I’m definitely ready to move on. Since spinach has a pretty short shelf life, I knew I needed to get busy finding other ways to incorporate it into our meals.

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3 Tips to Help You Prepare Your Home for the Holidays Ahead of Time

November 15, 2016 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

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

You better watch out, you better not cry, and you certainly better not pout…and I’ll tell you why! The holidays are here, and all of your family and friends are coming to town! If you’re lucky enough to be hosting a crowd in your home this season, this one is for you. 😉

I’ve been there before. Slightly stressed, making lists, checking them twice, frantically cleaning my home to give off the illusion that I am, in fact, a clean and tidy person- and all because company was coming “home” for the holidays! But stress is not something that I really like to keep around during this time of year, so this time around I’ve got my head in the game and came up with a few tips that have proven to help me make my home holiday-ready without the stress!

One of the very first things that I do is make sure that my budget isn’t going to suffer while I’m out and about buying things I’ll need around the home when company comes over. As much as I love to hunt down a good deal and shop around for the best prices on household essentials, I feel that my time is way too valuable to be spending my energy doing that. Because this season is SO busy (and harsh on my pocket book,) I depend on Family Dollar to be my one-stop shop to get the best deals on the things I need to get ready for the holidays.

I love checking things off of my shopping list, and two of my must-have items on my list (Angel Soft® bath tissue and Sparkle® paper towels) were even on sale!

After making my stop at Family Dollar to pick up a few supplies, I started making my plan as to how to tackle the notion of making sure all of the guests in my home have a wonderful holiday experience. To avoid completely losing my marbles, I like to start this process a little early so as to not be completely loco come Christmas time. Here are a few tips that I’ve found to be super helpful for me, and hopefully they’ll help keep your home full of cheer this year, too!

Set a Cleaning Schedule

There is absolutely nothing fun about running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off moments before guests come over trying to clean and tidy everything up. Been there, done that. One way that I helped combat that hopeless feeling of not getting everything clean before company arrives is to start breaking down all of the tasks into smaller portions throughout the week leading up to people actually having to see and be inside my house. Who’da thunk something like planning ahead and getting things done early would work?! 😉 It totally does, and it helps me keep my sanity in check during this time of year!

To help me get all of my cleaning done, I print out a weekly cleaning schedule (there’s tons available to print for free online) and start breaking down big cleaning tasks into short 10-15 minute cleaning sessions per day. To make sure I tackle all of my cleaning with ease, I keep a roll of Sparkle® paper towels in my basket along with all of my other cleaning supplies. I can always depend on Sparkle® to get the job done when I’ve got a mess on my hands, and their price point is great for my budget. They’re also the perfect paper towel to keep on hand when you’ve got a house full of friends and family over to celebrate the holidays with!

Stock up on Disposables

A few years ago my entire immediate family (on my side) took up residence in my home for a few days during Christmas. As much as I love hosting, this particular year was hard. Like, really hard. My home is approximately 1100 sq feet and has 2 bedrooms and 1 tiny bathroom. It’s already cramped for my own family of 3, but adding 10 more people to the mix was rather…interesting. And I kid you not, y’all, it felt like we were blowing through a roll of toilet paper every other hour. The dishwasher could not keep up with the amount of dishes we were using, and spills were happening left and right.

Stocking up on disposable goods like toilet tissue and paper towels wasn’t something I really thought of. Luckily we made it through without any catastrophes or having to use leaves to wipe our behinds, but it’s a miracle! Making sure I’m thoroughly stocked up on Angel Soft® bath tissue and Sparkle® paper towels is a high priority on my radar from here on out!

Save those Toilet Paper Tubes

Say what?! I know what you’re thinking. What in the WORLD do toilet paper tubes have to do with anything at all? Why in the world should I be hanging on to those things when I’m trying to clean and declutter my house? Trust me, I hear you. But you know that mile-long Christmas shopping list that you’ve got that seems to have everyone in the world written on it? Toilet paper tubes can actually help you out with that! I’m not saying you should wrap them up and give them as gifts to people. No one would want that! But you CAN turn them into something really cute to put your smaller gifts in! Think along the lines of stocking stuffers, candies, money, gift cards, small toys and trinkets, etc.

Saving your bath tissue or paper towel rolls from your Angel Soft® toilet paper or Sparkle® paper towels is a really inventive and frugal way to plan ahead for the holidays. There’s little guesswork in how to wrap up a small gift for your friends or family – just stick the gift down inside the tube, wrap a layer of tissue paper around it, tie off the ends with ribbon and stick a gift tag on it! Voila – you’re done! I love that they look like little candies once they’re wrapped. I think it’s a really cute touch!

By the way, you can find a sheet of free printable gift tags (pictured below) that are already sized perfectly for a toilet paper roll by clicking right here. Think of it as my gift to you! 😉

Shop Smarter this Season at Family Dollar:

For a limited time, you can snag some sweet savings at Family Dollar on several of your favorite brands (including Angel Soft® bath tissue and Sparkle® paper towels) by using their digital coupons! They’re a great time-saving perk that lets you skip right over physically clipping out and keeping up with coupons. Just visit their website here and save them to the account that you create. Redeeming is as easy as entering your phone number on the keypad at checkout! Here’s a look at what I redeemed during my shopping trip:

Save 50¢ off ONE (1) Angel Soft® Bath Tissue, 12 Family Roll or 12 Big Lavender Roll

Offer: Save 50¢ off ONE (1) Sparkle® Paper Towel, 6 Roll

I saved $1.00 off of two of my favorite brands just by using Family Dollar’s digital coupons! These particular deals are valid from 10/20 – 12/27/16, so stop by and pick up these household necessities today!

Do you have any tips that help you stay sane and keep your home holiday ready during this time of year? If so, drop a comment below and share the love!

Gift Ideas For Kids Crazy About Elmo

November 12, 2016 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

Affiliate links are included in this post at absolutely no cost to you. I’m doing a lot of “Elmo shopping” for the holidays this year, and I put this shopping guide together in case you are, too!

We’re gearing up for Christmas #2 with out little girl, and there’s already so much excitement in the air. Last year she had no idea what was going on, but this year is a little bit different. She still doesn’t understand exactly what’s going on, but she really picks up on the excitement we’re all feeling and acts so excited, too!

About a month ago she started taking a strong notice of Sesame Street. We have an “I Spy” type of book where you have to try and spot Elmo and Grover on every page. She immediately took an intense interest in Elmo and shrieks with joy when she spots him on the page. It’s the cutest thing EVER!

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25 Christ-Centered Christmas Crafts for Kids

November 11, 2016 by Laura Tucker 5 Comments

As much as I love the Christmas holiday season, I always have to be careful with how caught up in the hustle and bustle of it all. It’s so easy to get suckered into the commercialized aspect of things and completely lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas.

My family celebrates Christmas because it symbolizes the day that God sent his son, Christ Jesus the Messiah to be born. Christ’s entrance into the world is nothing short of miraculous, and I want my daughter to know why we celebrate. Sure, we can get excited about Santa Claus and presents, but those are all Earthly things that will pass. We celebrate our Lord who is not of the world, and gives us eternal life in Heaven!

So since December is quickly approaching, I decided to throw together a compilation of cute and fun little Christ-centered Christmas crafts that are geared towards little children. I know that there’s going to be plenty of Santa Claus crafts to go around this season, but these crafts offer a valuable teaching lesson and an opportunity to share with children about the birth of Jesus Christ!

All of these crafts have been put together by some pretty AMAZING crafty moms and bloggers from all over the world. If you decide to try out some of these crafts with your kiddos, I’m sure they’d love for you to leave them a kind and encouraging word on their posts!

Nativity Finger Puppets (Source: The Crafty Classroom)

Stained Glass Nativity (Source: Housing a Forest)

Star of Bethlehem Ornament (Source: Equipping Godly Women)

Wise Men Stick Puppets (Source: Made by Millie’s Mom)

DIY Stable Ornament (Source: Adventures of a DIY Mom)

Clay Pot Nativity (Source: Fun Family Crafts)

Angels We Have Heard on High Craft (Source: Happy Home Fairy)

Away in a Manger Cookies (Source: Catholic Icing)

Jesus Lights Up My Life Crafts (Source: Danielle’s Place)

“Names of Jesus” Printable Ornaments (Source: Bible Story Printables)

Paper Plate Angel (Source: Our Potluck Family)

Christmas Shepherd Craft (Flame: Creative Children’s Ministry)

Baby Jesus Ornament (Source: What Shall We Do Today? Life as an Air Force Family)

Jesus in a Manger Hand Print Craft (Source: Crafty Morning)

Stained Glass Window Advent Craft (Source: Kinder Craze)

Christmas Scripture Kisses (Source: My Daylights)

Symbols of Christmas Kit (Source: Peppermint Plum)

Footprint Christmas Nativity Canvas (Source: Munchkin Time)

Nativity Chalk Silhouette (Source: The Chaos and the Clutter)

Graham Cracker Nativity Scene Edible Craft (Source: Gluesticks Blog)

Cookie Jar Christmas Craft (Source: The Lettered Cottage)

Fingerprint Manger Scene (Source: Crafty Morning)

Scripture Craft Stick Christmas Tree (Source: Fun At Church)

Simple Baby Jesus Craft (Source: Happy Home Fairy)

Wise Men Toilet Paper Roll Craft (Source: JDaniel4’s Mom)

I hope that you’ve been inspired to share the word of Christ with others this season through these creative crafts projects! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season coming up, and that you find the love of Christ wherever you may go!