Two of my very dear friends have had birthdays while I’ve been on bed rest. This is such a bummer since I would love to have taken them out for brunch at one of our favorite spots. I hate IOU’s, so with the help of my mother and Pinterest I was able to get a quick and easy brunch together in no time.

Bacon Cheddar Quiche

This is my go to recipe when I’m having a brunch or I can’t think of anything to fix for dinner. I love quiche and this one is super quick and easy. My secret, I use a ready-to-bake pie crust to save even more time. Once you have a basic quiche recipe that you love, you can add anything to it to change it up a bit. I’ve made this quiche for my friend before and have added other veggies for something different.

Layer a pound of chopped bacon and 1 cup of cheddar cheese on the bottom of your ready to bake pie crust. Beat and add 4 eggs plus 1 cup of heavy cream, then pour over the top of the bacon and cheddar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

French Breakfast Muffins

These super easy French Breakfast Muffins are from Ann at Velvet Lava Cafe. She has taken such simple ingredients and made something decadent. I had all the ingredients in my pantry so I didn’t need to send anyone out to the store to make these beauties. One taste and you’ll feel like you are eating at a Parisian Cafe! If you don’t use cupcake wrappers, you can actually coat the whole muffin in the sugar mixture. YUM!

Cherry Blossom Puffed Pastries

I love just about anything made with puffed pastry. Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake had a super easy way of creating a messy scrumptious treat. This is also a recipe that requires very little ingredients and isn’t time consuming. Both of these are very important when you are the supervisor shouting out directions from afar!

Simple Fruit Salad

Having a fruit salad with seasonal fruits will be refreshing and add color to your table. I make a quick whipped cream for topping. Nothing is better than fresh whipped cream and it’s so easy. Put 2 tablespoons of sugar, a little vanilla, and a cup of heavy cream in a chilled bowl. Use your whisk attachment to get the perfect consistency. It takes my mixer about 5 minutes.

Set it up buffet style, add flowers, and break out the champagne glasses. See, it’s that easy to throw together a quick and easy brunch. This is also an easy way of letting the ones you love know how much you appreciate them!

Pinterest has left me wanting to do so many fun projects. I’ve been trying to think of a cute project to give the kids at pre-school for Valentine’s Day. Candy is not an option and I needed something that was gender neutral. I was really excited to see the perfect project, Crayon Hearts!

I have to say, this was by far the easiest project that we could have done. I love that Em got to do about 90% of the work for this project. I just had to supervise and get them in and out of the oven.

If you want a fun and creative project, try making these crayons. You just need a couple items to have a great gift!

Here’s what you need: Crayons and your favorite mold.

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Break up your crayons into random pieces. I sorted by color first, then put them into the molds by color groups. Fill each mold about 1/2 way full. You could even add a little glitter to make them shine.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the crayons have fully melted. Wait until the crayons have cooled before removing them from the molds.

How easy is this? I love this project, you can do it for any occasion too. The best part, there is no mess and very little clean up!

Thank you to Julie @ Dutchbeingme for sponsoring the #PinterestChallenge: Week 22

I think I had four diaper bags with Em before we found one that really worked for us. Now that we are having another baby, I’ve been obsessed with finding the perfect diaper bag. It’s been a least two years, maybe longer, that I’ve been without a diaper bag. I can’t believe how much they’ve changed. I want a diaper bag that will last, is comfortable, and will hold everything. Basically, I want a bag that will look stylish and fit all of my needs.

I’m looking to only buy one bag this time around, not four. Here are a few bags that I really like. They’re all so different in style and price but they all have the same features I’m looking for.

Skip Hop: VERSA Diaper Bag

continued

“Everyone gets to experience some kind of challenge or heartache during their life.” Words from my husband. Words that were suppose to reassure me. Because the words I had heard from my doctor, just a few minutes prior, didn’t leave me feeling reassured.

I don’t know why, I just assumed that my second pregnancy would be just as normal as the first. Em was textbook, just a little early. I’ve heard of women having complications, but I never thought I would be one of them. continued

Today I had my monthly OB follow-up appointment. My husband was actually able to come with me to this one, and we were hoping to get in a quick unscheduled ultrasound. He just wanted to take a peak at our little girl. We have an awesome OB who doesn’t mind doing ultrasounds whenever we like. What we weren’t expecting was a necessary ultrasound that would change the course of my pregnancy. continued

Well, we went a whole four weeks without being sick. I have to be thankful that we weren’t sick during our vacation or throughout the holidays. But still, it makes the days very long when we are home sick.

Em got several new board games for Christmas. We really didn’t think she’d be interested in them yet, but we were sure wrong. Today we stayed home and played those games.

It made me smile thinking about how I played these same games when I was a kid. Even though we were sick, it was still a good day.

What made you smile today?

I never really follow through with projects like this one. I’m really going to try though. After writing my year-in-review, I realized we really slowed down on our picture taking. I know this happens to all of us at some point but I want to get back into the habit of picture taking before baby #2 arrives this spring.

I started the January Photo A Day (#JanPhotoADay) project a couple days in. I have pictures from the first two days but haven’t published them yet.

I’m starting #JanPhotoADay with day 3 because it’s something I absolutely adore, Em

I think we all have the same thoughts every year. We wonder where the time went and how the end of the year is here already. This year is no exception. I realized early this year was that I wasn’t taking nearly enough pictures. The older (and more pregnant) I become, the less I remember. This year my goal is to take at least one picture a day a week.

Ashley from My Front Porch Swing and Jessica from Four Plus An Angel thought it would be fun to put together a quick and easy year in review. I couldn’t agree more! NoThankYouPlease is my new project and less than a year old. That doesn’t mean I don’t have great memories to share with you though.

Happy New Year! continued