Chocolate Croissants

On Saturday mornings I like to make yummy breakfasts.

Things I make are: Monkey Bread, Coffee Cake, Pancakes, Waffles or Chocolate Croissants!

My girls love these and they are so simple!

 Here is what you need:

- Can of crescent rolls

- Skippy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

- Mini Chocolate Chips

- Chopped Pecans (optional)

Directions:

On a baking sheet (I line mine with parchment paper) spread out the crescent rolls & add a drop of the dark chocolate peanut butter:

 Sprinkle on some mini chocolate chips & pecans:

 Roll it up:

 Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (until the rolls are slightly browned)

 After they come out of the oven, dust with powdered sugar:

  These taste best when warm...they are ooey & gooey.

 YUM!

If you are a chocolate/peanut butter fan, you will love these!

These would be a perfect little treat if you were hosting Easter Brunch or a shower!

Need other Muffin & Bread Recipes? Check out my Recipe Box {HERE}

Enjoy!

Disclosure: This post was written as part of my participation in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. While Hormel Foods provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, the thoughts and statements in this post are my own.

St. Patty's Day, March Madness & World Water Day

What a busy week it has been!
It was conference week (which if you are a teacher, know how crazy that week is!)
We also celebrated St. Patty's Day, one of my favorite days of the year!
It was 3 years ago on St. Patty's Day that we told the girls I was pregnant.
You can read that post {HERE}
And, here he is...my Irish Lad, Lukey!

 Our leprechaun arrived like he does every year, with a box of Lucky Charms & a treasure map.

Finding the map:

There was a trail of gold coins (rolos) leading the kids to their treasure.

They love grabbing the map & finding out where the treasure is:

 The pot of gold coins is always near the treasure.

 The treasure was Rainbow Fishies for Luke, Watercolors & Skittles for the girls:

The girls opened up the paints right away & made Leprechaun pictures:

 The leprechaun also does some mischief around the house
 Boulder's water was turned green:

 And he left a mess in our bathroom:

Some people might roll their eyes at us for doing ridiculous things like this on holidays that don't really matter, but to us, this is the stuff memories are made of.

I love spending a few minutes dying things green and making green food and sending my kids on a treasure hunt. It is so fun for us. It only takes a few extra minutes out of my day, but to see the wonder & excitement on my kids faces makes it all worth. 

They are only kids once...and next year Kate will be 8....will she even believe anymore?

My motto is to make it fun while it lasts! But, to each their own!

 We are part Irish, so it is fun for us to celebrate St. Patricks Day.

 Normally we have our traditional Guinness Stew for St. Patty's dinner, but since the weather was so nice, we decided to have a court St. Patty's Day block party. I was assigned to bring dessert, so I whipped up some Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Rolos in the middle & Bailey's Irish Creme frosting.

 YUM!

 The kids got chocolate & vanilla cupcakes:
Everyone hanging out:

 Cornhole, Corned Beef & Cocktails. It was a great St. Patty's Day.

 In case you missed it, I have a Rodan + Fields March Madness Special going on this month.

Email me melissa_larson17@yahoo.com to place an order or if you have questions!

Speaking of March Madness, did you fill out a bracket?
March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year.
That's why I haven't blogged in a few days...too busy watching Basketball!  

Luke is more into his trains than watching basketball :)

I have Duke winning the whole thing, who do you have?
How is your bracket doing?
Mine was doing okay until this afternoon. Kansas lost & I had them in the Finals against Duke.
But, I picked a few upsets that have panned out & I am still in first place for my Poo...for now :)
 This is what my bracket looks like now:

Did you know that today, March 22 is World Water Day?
In honor of World Water Day, yesterday we joined Team World Vision's 6K for Water.
 We each walked for a child in Africa who now has water for life.
Right now 748 million people in the world don't have access to clean water.
  Over $5000 was raised for today's event. $50 will give a child in Africa water for life.
Here are the kids that we walked for:

 I was so proud of the girls, they walked the entire 4 miles!
It was a great lesson for them, we explained that the girls on their bibs that we supported have to walk 4 miles each day to get water & sometimes that isn't even clean water.
We let them know that now those girls will have access to clean water for the rest of their lives!
If you want to donate to the 6K Water for Life, you can click my sister's fundraising page {HERE} She organized the event, I am so proud of her!
She is a part of Team World Vision and this October, she is running the Chicago Marathon for World Vision and to bring awareness to the lack of clean water in Africa.
Another organization that helps provide clean water is Charity:Water.
If you have read my blog for awhile, you know that in 2009 myself and 5 other bloggers started Project 320 where we raised money for fresh water wells through charity:water.
Read my Project 320 Posts {HERE} We raised over $15,000 for charity water & helped fund 3 wells in Africa with Project 320. Clean water has been a passion of mine for over 5 years, and I think World Water Day is so important....to bring awareness that millions of people in the world don't have access to clean water.


Hope you all had a great weekend & Happy World Water Day!

Seascape

I have lived here in California my entire life.

I was born here in the Bay Area and haven't left (except for the 4 years when I went to college at University of Colorado)

All these years of living here and I didn't know about the hidden gem of Seascape. 

It is less than 75 miles from my house! How did I not know about it?

I have been to Santa Cruz & Capitola more times than I can count, but never knew about Seascape which is nestled in right there.

We headed to Seascape this weekend with Kevin's entire family to celebrate my mother in laws 70th Birthday!

I love Capitola!
We started out Friday afternoon meeting in Capitola for a late lunch.
 Nachos..
Yummy Cocktails:

Sandwiches...mahi mahi and also a seafood melt. Yum!

 All the cousins playing beach soccer. Luke was in heaven.

 Luke LOVES the sand. He would dig all day.

After walking around Capitola we headed to Seascape to check into our condos at the Seascape Resort. A lovely 5 minute drive along the ocean.

We had 3 condos right in a row (there were 18 of us)

 After we checked in, we headed down to the beach! 

Our Friday night plans were to have a bonfire at the beach, have appetizers, dinner & then S'mores!

 We practically had the entire beach to ourselves! I am telling you...Seascape is a hidden gem!

Appetizers:

 We took a family pic since all of us were on the trip!
 Kevin, & his brother & sister and the spouses:
 All 18 of us:

5 of us:

 Playing in the sand as the sun was setting:

 So pretty!
S'mores on the beach:

After the beach we headed back to the condo since it was way past bedtime. What do you do when you are sandy & smell like smoke from the bonfire? Have the kids go swimming!

Kevin got us donuts for breakfast & we enjoyed them on our balcony.

 Here is the view from our balcony:

The weather was incredible on Saturday, so we hung at the pool all day

 At the pool, you could pick up a phone and have food & drinks delivered to you! YES!

 It was 88 degrees all day...we were at the pool for over 6 hours. Playing cribbage, playing in the pool & swimming with cousins. It was the perfect day.

That night, the power went out, so we ordered pizza & all had dinner by candle light and the sunset was amazing!

 We are spoiled here in California!
It was an awesome weekend with Kevin's side of the family celebrating my awesome mother in law!
We had so much fun, we are going to make this trip an annual tradition!

As we drove home, I was noticing the different landscapes we have on just an 1.5 hour drive home.
We had the ocean.

Then we had the mountains with pine trees...
As we headed out of mountains, we were in the foothills...
More hills....

 Then really green hills....

And, as we got home, more hills with yellow mustard everywhere:

 I love the diversity of California & the scenic drives we get.

++++++++++++++

And, if you missed it here is my Rodan + Fields March Special in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

My March Rodan + Fields Special is going on all month for new Preferred Customers & new business partners! It's one of the best deals I have all YEAR!
$20 cash back, 17% off your order and FREE Shipping!
If you are interested in joining the business, you get 17% off your business kit! 

AWESOME DEAL!

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Acne:
 
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Message me or email me melissa_larson17@yahoo.com to place an order or if you have questions!

All products come with a 60 day, Empty Bottle, 100% money back guarantee!

 Hope you have a great St. Patricks Day!

We are having Guiness Stew tonight.

Recipe {HERE}
How about you? Any fun St. Patty's Day plans?