At this point in my life, if there’s one thing I’m an expert on, it’s what a two year old boy likes to play with. At least my particular two year old boy. 🙂 Zeke is a crazy constant motion machine, but over the past year (he’ll be three in February), we’ve figured out a few things that will cause him to actually sit and play for longer than 5 minutes. If left to his own devices he’ll often be found getting into mischief, so I do my best to give him something that will occupy his attention long enough for me to get a few things done. Maybe, just maybe, these toys will appeal to your boys too.

Go Go Smart Wheels – we only have the basic track set, but we are planning to add to it this Christmas. This track is perfect for toddlers – they can build it (and take it apart) themselves and the pieces are very sturdy. There are tons of fun add-on items and you can build elaborate playsets with the extra tracks and cars.

Wooden Blocks – Zeke got this as a gift for his birthday when he turned two and it has continued to be a favorite. At his age he usually needs some adult interaction, but since this is one of my favorite toys of his, I don’ t mind. 🙂 We build roads and parking lots and parking garages, and lots of other things. This is a great set because it has plenty of blocks and they all fit inside a little wooden crate. And yes, there is more than one way to fit them in there! 🙂

Construction Vehicles Mini Machines – I got this set for Zeke for his birthday. I made him a construction vehicle cake and put these trucks on top of it. He loves them and they end up all over the house and yard depending on what he is playing that day. They go in the dirt, in the sandbox, in his bin of rice, and even in the playdough.

Creative Cars – I love this lego set! It’s a duplo set, so perfect for little hands. It comes with three car bases and plenty of other legos to mix and match so you can create lots of different types of cars. Zeke’s favorite is the tow truck because it can actually tow the other cars, and most recently he is into creating his own cars by putting as many legos on top of a car base as can possibly fit. It’s fun!

Duplo Train Set – This was Zeke’s first duplo set (and the reason we bought the creative cars above).  It was a gift over the summer, and I can’t believe he hasn’t broken that train yet. He loves for us to set his track up for him and built a tunnel for the train. The train moves on its own with just a push of a button, and it goes on the floor too not just on the track. That train has traveled all over our house with Zeke trailing behind. He loves it.

Rice Bin  – This is so easy to make, and one of Zeke’s favorite things to do. I just dumped a ton of rice (bought it at Costco) in a plastic bin, added some scoopers and measuring cups and a few trucks, and let him go to town. He asks for this all the time and will play for  a long time before getting tired of it.

Scooter – We bought him this scooter over the summer after seeing some other toddlers riding it at the park. We LOVE this scooter. It really is the best toddler scooter out there. It is amazingly steady and is perfect for a two year old. The handlebars don’t turn, which is why it’s so easy to ride, and you’d be surprised at how fast kids learn to steer by leaning. Zeke took off on this thing and hasn’t slowed down since.

Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site – This is one of Zeke’s favorite books, and it is by far my favorite to read to him. He enjoys all the trucks and I enjoy the lyrical rhymes. It has a ton of wonderful reviews on Amazon, so it is clearly a favorite of many little kids.

Reusable Stickers – We have the transportation/vehicles set of these Melissa and Doug reusable stickers and they have gotten a ton of play. They don’t make a mess, they’re easy for Zeke to do by himself, and you can use them again and again. Love them!

So there you have it – our favorite toys and gift guide for two year old boys. Feel free to leave any questions or other ideas in the comments! Now – does anyone have any suggestions for me on what to get a 3 year old boy?? 🙂

I love baking for Valentine’s Day. It’s so fun to focus on chocolate, red velvet, and all things pink. As you’ll see here, I’ve come up with quite a selection of Valentine’s Day treats! I chose my 14 favorites and listed them out for you. Hopefully you’ll find something to inspire you to get in the kitchen and start baking. The only problem is where to start?? 🙂

1. Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

2. Chocolate Truffle Cookies

3. Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Homemade Conversation Hearts

5. Chocolate Waffles

6. Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pots de Creme

7. Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

8. Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake

9. Classic M&M Cookies

10. Red Velvet Cheese Ball

11. Chocolate Sugar Cookies

12. Chocolate French Silk Pie

13. Chewy Brownies

14. Red Velvet Brownies

And, because I just couldn’t stop at 14, I’m giving you one extra AMAZING recipe that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. These chocolate frosted brownies are rich and decadent, with an incredible chocolate flavor and ultra creamy chocolate frosting. You’ll definitely want to try these. 🙂 Enjoy!

On Monday morning I was on Fox17 in Grand Rapids talking about pizza ideas for the Superbowl. I had such a good time thinking about (and making and eating) all the delicious things I mentioned on my segment that I decided I would expand the idea a little bit and make it into a blog post! We absolutely love pizza around here, and I’ve managed to come up with a bunch of different ways to incorporate it into our weekly menu plan. Any one of these would make a great Superbowl snack idea – after all, who doesn’t love pizza??

p.s. if you want to watch my tv segment, you can see it here. 🙂

So here you go: my favorite pizza recipes, all ready for the Superbowl snacking to begin! 🙂

• Quick and Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
• Homemade Pizza Dough
• Roasted Vegetable Flatbread
• Barbecue Chicken Pizza
• Zucchini Pizza Bites
• Roasted Garlic, Chicken, and Herb Pizza
• Roasted Vegetable Stromboli
• Loaded Pizza Bread
• Pizza Dip
• Cheesy Tomato Bread
• Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
• Pizza Bites
• Margarita Pizza

Looking for even more ideas?  Check out these 50 Superbowl recipe ideas or one of the following posts: Superbowl Ideas : More Superbowl Ideas : 40 Great Superbowl Recipes!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays and got to enjoy time with family. It’s a little late this time, but I’m here to share the annual look back at the most popular recipes of the year! I love seeing which recipes ended up being reader favorites, and how they match up with my personal favorites. 🙂 This list is built from google analytics and is based purely on the number of hits each post received. Did your favorites make the list? If not, I hope you’ll give some of these a try! And here’s to another wonderful year of recipes in 2015 🙂

	10. Buffalo Ranch Chicken Bites – These make a great appetizer or light dinner and are easily customizable. But people do seem to love the buffalo and ranch combination!
	9.  Crisp Cucumber Salsa – this light and fresh salsa is a wonderful alternative to the traditional tomato version. It’s perfect for the new year – nice and healthy!
	8. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip – I’ve noticed that this dip seems to bring about strong reactions from people. Judging from the comments section, people either love it or think it tastes terrible. We loved it. 🙂
	7. Nutella Swirled Banana Bread – Nutella + Banana Bread; it doesn’t get much better than this.
	6. Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites – These are some of my favorite Christmas treats to make, both cute and delicious.
	5.  S’mores Dip! What is it about s’mores that makes people go crazy?  I’m not a s’mores fan, but I do love this dip. Pretty much anytime melted chocolate is involved, it’s a guarantee I’m going to love it.
	4. Slow Cooker Honey Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches – this is an incredibly easy recipe, and it tastes wonderful! I just made this for our New Year’s party, and as always, it was a big hit. 🙂
	3. Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Tacos with Cilantro and Lime – Slow cooker recipes are always popular, the easier the better! And of course it doesn’t hurt that these tacos taste great as well.
	2. Thick and Chewy M&M Cookie Bars – I love dessert bars, especially thick and chewy ones, and it seems like you all agree with me.
	And finally, number 1: Breakfast Enchiladas – I LOVE these. This is easily one of my favorite recipes I posted in 2013. It is my new go-to recipe for a breakfast casserole.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” – Luke 2:11

In honor of the cooling temperatures, beautiful fall days, and all of the crazy amounts of apples and pumpkin I’ve been eating, today I’m sharing with you 40 of my favorite recipes for fall! It’s crazy to think that I have all these and more on my site, but I guess you could say I really love to cook and bake this time of year. 🙂 These recipes truly are “must-make”, but if you’re looking for more, check out my fall flavors board on Pinterest!

1. German Apple Cake
2. Pumpkin Candy Cups
3. Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow
4. Apple Cheddar Soup with Bacon
5. Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
6. Pumpkin Trifle
7. Baked Apple Chips
8. Easy Caramel Apple Turnovers

9. Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones
10. Apple Cheese Danish
11. Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
12. Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
13.  Homemade Cinnamon Spice Coffee Creamer
14. Whole Wheat Banana Maple Muffins
15. Pork Chops with Apples and Onions
16. Homemade Apple Pie Spice

17. Pumpkin Bread
18. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
19. Soft Iced Pumpkin Cookies
20. Pumpkin Spice Scones
21. Pumpkin Bars
22. Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
23.  Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
24. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

25. Apple Pie Bites
26. Apple Streusel Bread
27. Homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer
28. Broccoli and Apple Salad
29. Apple Spice Muffins
30. Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins
31. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
32. Harvest Time Pumpkin Bars

33. Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream
34. Chicken, Caramelized Onion, and Apple Pizza
35. Crock Pot Applesauce
36. Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
37. Quick and Easy Apple Strudel
38. Glazed Apple Cinnamon Bread
39. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
40. Apple Pie Dip

McClure Tables is giving away a beautiful 12×18 inch butcher block cutting board!

I have a wonderful giveaway to share with you all today! Imagine my excitement when McClure Tables (located right here in West Michigan!) offered to send me my very own fancy butcher block cutting board, and also asked me to give one away to one of my readers! McClure Tables is best known for their shuffleboard tables, but they also produce high quality butcher block counter tops, chopping blocks and cutting boards. I’ve only had my cutting board for a little over a week, but I already love it. When not in use, it looks so good just hanging out on my counter, and when it is in use, I absolutely love chopping on it. The only downside is that after browsing around their website awhile, I now want to re-do all my countertops with butcher block! 🙂

McClure Tables kindly sent over some facts about their cutting boards:

• Solid Hard maple wood cutting board with natural oil finish
• 2 flat surfaces for chopping, slicing, cutting, dicing and more
• Great alternative to plastic and easier on the knifes
• Won’t harbor bacteria
• Their kitchen products are considered eco-friendly since they recycle leftover wood from the shuffleboards and countertops to make the chopping blocks and cutting boards.

And, as a side benefit, it also works great as a photo backdrop! 🙂

**Giveaway!**

Enter to win a 12×18 inch butcher block cutting board!  To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know the first thing you would chop on your new cutting board. (*Note: if you are reading this in your email or in a reader, you need to click over to the actual blog post and leave a comment there to enter). For an extra entry, “like” McClure Tables on Facebook, and leave a separate comment letting me know. Giveaway ends Sunday, September 28th at midnight. Good luck!!

*McClure tables provided me with a cutting board. I was not compensated in any other way, and all opinions are my own. For more information, like McClure Tables on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or see what they’re pinning on Pinterest!

After I posted my recipe for copycat Starbucks lemon loaf last week, I started going through all the lemon recipes I’ve previous posted on the blog. And let me tell you, I must love lemon, because there are a ton of recipes! Many of them are older and I was afraid they were being lost in the shuffle. Since I always think of lemon flavoring around springtime, this seems like the perfect time to highlight all things lemon. So just for you, and to bring attention to some of my old favorite recipes, here is a list of 25 lemon recipes for Spring.

1. Lemon Sugar Cookies
2. Lemony Lentil Soup
3. Lemon Feta Dip
4. Blueberry Breakfast Cake with Lemon Glaze
5. Glazed Lemon Muffins
6. Lemon Crumble Bars
7. Lemon Puppy Chow
8. Strawberry Lemonade
9. Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
10. Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf

11. Lemon Pudding Cakes
12. Mango Lemonade
13. Asparagus with Lemon, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan
14. Lemon Cream Pie
15. Lemon Thyme Biscuits
16. Lemon Meringue Pie
17. Peach Lemonade
18. Lemon Drop Cookies
19. Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

20. Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
21. Lemon Mousse
22. White Chocolate Lemon Truffles
23. Lemon Yogurt Cake with Strawberry Coulis
24. Blueberry Buttermilk Cake with Lemon
25. Lemon Orzo Salad

The prize pack includes:

• Red Emile Henry pie dish
• Maple rolling pin from Williams Sonoma.
• Michigan Apple goodies (an apron, a grocery tote and a spatula)
• A small gift box of Michigan apples.

And let me tell you, out of all of those prizes, the one you should be most excited about is the gift box of apples. They sent me some a few months ago and the apples somehow still tasted freshly picked!

To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know your favorite way to eat apples. For me, it’s a toss up between sliced with peanut butter on the side, or a freshly baked apple pie! Yum 🙂

Giveaway ends Wednesday, April 30th at midnight.  

I will choose the winner using a random number generator. Must be over the age of 18 and have a US shipping address to be eligible to win.  Prize will be shipped by Michigan Apples.

For more apple goodness, be sure to follow Michigan Apples on Facebook and Pinterest!

1. Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos with Cilantro and Lime
2. Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies
3. Baked Onion Rings with Chipotle Ranch Dressing
4. Banana Split Dessert
5. Slow Cooker Honey Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
6. Crisp Cucumber Salsa
7. Double Chocolate M&M Brownies
8. Lemon Feta Dip
9. Zucchini Pizza Bites
10. Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken Stew

11. Pizza Dip
12. Pretzel Dogs
13. Buffalo Ranch Chicken Bites
14. Barbecue Beef Sandwiches
15. Cheesy Tomato Bread
16. S’mores Dip
17. Roasted Garlic, Jalapeno, and Feta Dip
18. Classic Guacamole
19. Cream Cheese Brownies
20. Cosmic Brownies

21. Pretzel Rolls
22. Queso Blanco Dip
23. Fontina and Herb Flatbread
24. Soft Pretzel Bites
25. Restaurant Style Salsa
26. Crescent Wrapped Baked Brie
27. Chicken and White Bean Chili
28. Chicken and Corn Chili
29. Hawaiian Pulled Pork
30. Honey Beer Bread

31. Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
32. Kielbasa Balls
33. Stovetop Popcorn
34. Creamy Chicken Taquitos
35. White Chicken Chili
36. Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
37. Bagel Chips
38. Turkey Pesto Sliders
39. Chipotle Turkey Chili
40. Pizza Bites

41. No-Bake Peanut Butter Squares
42. Bugs Bunny Chocolate Chip Bars
43. Easy Fudgy Brownies
44. Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
45. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
46. Chewy Brownies
47. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
48. Texas Sheet Cake
49. Monster Cookies
50. Layered Brownies