WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WEIRD BUT TRUE! CANADA EDITION

Did you know that Canadians eat more than 12 kilograms of cheese every year on average?

Did you know the first Thanksgiving in North America was celebrated in Newfoundland on May 27, 1578 with a meal of salt beef, biscuits, and peas?

Did you know it’s the 10th anniversary of National Geographic, Weird but True! books??

Ever since we’ve received our Weird But True! Canada book, I found myself telling James all these random facts about Canada. I’ve had so much fun discovering all these random facts about our country!

Luca loves looking through it as well. So many bright, fun pictures and we read the facts together!

During Christmas time we loved reading through the Weird but True! Christmas edition. So many crazy, fun facts!
Here are some of my faves:

• The ideal snow temperature for building a snowman is 30 F (-1.1 C).

• Hot chocolate was once considered a medicine.

• The world’s largest gingerbread house was a two-story home!!! It was made with 1800 lbs of butter, 7200 eggs, 3000 lbs of sugar and 22000 pieces of candy!!!
  

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, National Geographic has updated the original 10 Weird but True! books. Check them out and purchase them on their site!

Even though Luca is just 2, he loves flipping through these books to look at all the fun pictures! I can’t wait for the day when he will be able to read these fun facts for himself! But in the meantime, I’m going to keep reading them so I can impress others with my random fact knowledge, ha!

I highly recommend getting these books as a family. They’re the perfect size for your coffee table and you will love seeing your kids discover these fun facts!

XO,
Laura

I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

2018 READER SURVEY

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Can you believe the year is almost over! I really can’t! We’ve been taking it VERRRY CHILL over the last few days but I am excited to get some goals established for 2019. Here is the link for my 2018 Reader Survey. It means sooo much to me that you would take the time to fill this out! And if you want to leave your email, you will be entered in to win a $25 starbucks card! Thanks in advance!!

NUTELLA STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

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So you know how my mum and I made cookies on cookies on cookies a few weeks ago? Well, James and I decided it wasn’t enough and we made two more types of cookies, ha! We went for a basic peanut butter one with a hersey’s kiss and these Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Cookies. THESE ARE AMAZING! I’ve blogged about them before but the pictures were so horrible that I decided to take some new ones…enjoy!

NUTELLA STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

makes two dozen cookies

ingredients needed:

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

2. Brown the butter by melting it in a saucepan over medium heat. start whisking the melted butter. Keep whisking and the butter will begin to foam. Keep whisking. After a long time the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and gives off a nutty aroma. As soon as it gets to this point, pour the butter in a bowl to cool.

3. Mix the butter and sugars in an electric mixer until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. then add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Fold in all of the chocolate chips.

4. Now chill your dough for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. I know!!! This seems like a ridiculous step BUT it is essential for the cookies to taste AMAZING.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After the dough is chilled, measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of it and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand and then place 1 teaspoon of chilled Nutella in the middle and fold dough around it. Gently roll into a ball. Place dough balls on a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper 2 inches apart. Flatten cookies super gently with your hand!

6. Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 2 minutes and then sprinkle some sea salt on top. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

7. Enjoy!

EGGNOG SUGAR COOKIES

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Let the Christmas baking begin! Over the weekend my mum and I made a ton of cookies! We made my favourite gingerbread ones, candy cane biscotti (recipe coming soon) and these eggnog sugar cookies! They were super easy to make and are soo yummy. I am NOT a professional cookie decorater so do not judge me on my sloppy icing job, ha!

EGGNOG SUGAR COOKIES

(makes about 36 cookies)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp cloves

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tbsp rum extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, spices and salt.

2. In an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in eggs and rum extract. Gradually add flour mixture until just combined.

3. Gather into a ball then divide in half. Shape halves into two flat discs and then wrap each one in saran wrap and put in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment. Dust a surface with flour and then roll out the dough until it’s 1/8 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out some fun shapes and then arrange cookies on the cookie sheets.

5. Bake until cookies start to brown at the edges (about 7-8 minutes). Let cookies cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

6. Decorate with Royal Icing.

Enjoy!!!

MY ORGANIC SHEETS REVIEW

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This post is in partnership with My Organic Sheets. All opinions expressed are my own.

Say hello to the softest crib sheet you’ll ever meet! With having two babies still in cribs, we have tried a fair amount of crib sheets. But I have never felt one as soft as this one from My Organic Sheets. Even Luca commented on how soft it was!

They are ridiculously soft because they are made with organic bamboo! Each sheet is 300 thread count and is cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter. The bamboo causes the sheet to be stain resistant! Which is a very good thing for us because this boy will be starting to potty train soon.

There are 5 great colour options: white, pink, blue, light pink & light blue! Use code LAURA40 to save 40% off your purchase. They'd make a perfect gift for a new mama who wants the softest sheets for her babe! Go check out My Organic Sheets and let me know what you think!

XO,
Laura