Snickers Rice Krispie Treats

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago on the Saturday Six, I threw out a link to this recipe I'd stumbled upon whilst scrolling through Pinterest. I told you I don't normally recommend recipes I haven't tried yet, but I didn't see how it could be wrong, so I shared the link anyway.

Naturally, I felt responsible to follow up on this recommendation, so I made a batch just to see if I'd done the right thing.

I did the right thing.

And I did the right thing again this week, with a few modifications to suit my own tastes. ;)

I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm actually a huge fan of Snickers bars. (And most candy bars, if we're being honest.) Ryan found it both amusing and surprising to learn that in some of the fluffier stages of my life, I used to eat a full size Snickers bar almost every single day. Explains a lot, doesn't it? I couldn't even tell you now the last time I ate a full size Snickers or any other candy bar. I tend to go for bite size candy bars now and then, but not so much on the full size.

But if you like a good Snickers bar, I really do think you'll like these. The bottom is just a standard rice krispie treat combo of cereal, butter, and marshmallows.

Let's talk about the peanuts, though, shall we? The recipe I found on Pinterest called for 1/2 cup of peanuts, so that's what I used the first time I made them. It wasn't enough for me. I mean isn't the motto of Snickers built around the fact that it's packed with peanuts? This was more like a sprinkle. So I recommend using a minimum of one full cup of peanuts, and honestly I recommend just covering the entire top of that pan of Rice Krispie treats with a single layer of peanuts. That's kind of the magic of this whole thing.

Then you have your caramel and your chocolate, and it really does taste like a remarkably recognizable version of a Snickers.

It's also very easy to make, which I love. The most time-consuming part of the entire thing was unwrapping the caramels. (If you have kids, you can delegate that task. I didn't think Braeya could be trusted with it, so I did it myself.)

So if you'd like to try this deliciousness, here's how I made my version:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (which is 1/2 stick) butter
5 cups (which is 1 standard sized bag) mini marshmallows
5 1/2 cups (which is 1/2 a standard sized box) rice krispie cereal
1 cup (or more!) peanuts
16 ounces (which is 1 1/2 standard bags) caramels, unwrapped
3 Tablespoons milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat. When it is melted, add the marshmallows and stir continuously until they all melt. Add the cereal and stir until completely combined. Press into a 9x13 baking dish and press down. (Don't press TOO hard. You'll break the cereal!) Layer the cup (or more) of peanuts over the top. Melt together the caramels and milk over medium heat in a smaller sauce pan. Once it has melted, pour caramel over the peanuts. Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and melt in the microwave. (Should take about 90 seconds, melting 30 seconds at a time.)  Spread melted chocolate over top of the caramel. Let it set (which will take several hours), cut, and serve.

Tips:

* The original recipe called for salted peanuts but I bought unsalted. (We tend to keep unsalted nuts around the house, so habit made me do that.) You can choose your preference.

* Reminder: don't skimp on the peanuts if you want the most authentic taste.

* Don't forget to unwrap the caramels - ha!

* If you want a thicker layer of chocolate, you could use more chocolate chips. I think this is a perfectly fine layer - authentic to a candy bar - but if you are used to the thicker layer topping Scotcharoos, you may want to add more chips.

* These are pretty rich! That doesn't bother me in the least, but fair warning for those of you who might want to cut smaller pieces!

Why We Chose Our House

I've been reading a fun blog hop this week (I'll tell you more about it Saturday) where the bloggers share the reasons behind the houses they chose to buy. The bloggers live in houses of all shapes and sizes, all over the country, in town and out in the country. I love reading their stories, though!

Even though I'm not on the hop, I thought it was a fun topic, so I thought I'd tell you some of our favorite things about our house! Of course if you've been reading here for very long, you have seen the transformation we put our move-in-ready house through when we bought it. It was in great shape, but we did many things to put our personal touches on it. And we'll probably keep right on doing that as long as we live here! Always freshening, always sprucing, always dreaming.

But even though it may look different from when we first arrived, here are the things we loved the most when we saw it the first time!

***

You've heard us say it before: we aren't even really sure why we looked at this house when we found it online. There were some pretty strong checklist items it didn't meet for us. But the year we moved, the market was hot (much like it is right now in our city) and we had more than one house showing canceled on us, because the houses sold right out from underneath us before we could get there to see them. So maybe we went with this one because we could get in the door.

But before we got inside the door, we fell in love with the porch.

It looked different back then. It had a railing across the front, and the people who lived here had a porch swing (with umbrella) nestled into that porch. But there was something just delightful about this little cove of a porch, overlooking a quiet street. It seemed like the place to sit on summer evenings, clutching a cup of coffee, and listening to cicadas.

And indeed, we have done that! We eventually got rid of the railing (and embraced the previously obstructed view) and purchased a little patio furniture set that would allow us to enjoy front porch living. We still love our little porch. It is as welcoming to use each day now as it was that first day when we walked on its old carpet for the first time. (We're working on getting rid of that, too, by the way, and introducing a more timeless, less goose-poop-magnet look.)

***

And when we walked inside the house, we promptly fell in love with the foyer. Why? Because it existed. 

Our Marion house was foyer-less. When you walked in the front door, you were immediately in the living room. And if it was a rainy or snowy day, you dripped and sloshed your way over the threshold onto the carpet. You stuffed your coat onto an already overcrowded coat hook on the wall, because we didn't have a coat closet. You put your stuff on the floor, because we didn't have any sort of seat or table to catch the overflow.

So...a foyer? With a water-resistant floor? And a coat closet? Oh yes. OHHHHHHH yes. I'm learning I'm still a bit foyer-naïve. Sixteen years of being foyer-less isn't cured overnight (or in three years, apparently). It's coming along. For my birthday this year, Ryan gave me this darling little table that can hold hats, gloves, scarves, dog leashes, and more. And along the way, my Dad gifted me his old typewriter, which I love. I still have ideas for sprucing up the foyer and giving it a bit more personality, but right now, I'm just still so happy it exists. 

***

And then there was the kitchen. I don't know that there's another room in our house that we immediately loved AND changed so much. 

Our kitchen in our old house was a galley kitchen. It was cozy, for sure, but after spending many hours in there, cozy can feel a lot like straight-up skinny and crowded. You couldn't eat in there, unless, of course, you stood up over the sink and ate. (And I was known to do that upon occasion.) This kitchen seemed huge in comparison, with room for a tiny table, lots of counter space, and HUGE windows that let in all kinds of light.

OH! And a pantry. Did I mention the pantry?

In our three years here, we've made this room over in many ways. We removed part of  a wall to make a more open space between the living room and kitchen. We put a new finish on the cabinets to allow them to contrast with the floor. We put up all new hardware, updated the appliances, and Ryan added a stone feature backsplash. It's still one of my most favorite rooms in the entire house. Cooking is a true joy in this much space. 

And it has room for our coffee bar. And that pretty much completed our lives.

***

We loved the living room from the start, too. It is so big!! Our old living room was a long, narrow space, with windows and doors arranged in such ways that furniture placement was a bit puzzling. Not impossible. But puzzling. So a great big square room with plenty of wall space was something brand new for us! 

My favorite part has always been the stone wall Ryan put up shortly after we moved in. He worked so hard on this wall, and we get so many compliments on it. We love it, and we love this space. It's perfect for the two of us, and it's perfect for hosting small groups, entertaining our friends, and even having parties. 

***

In our old house, our bedroom was one of the bigger rooms, and that's actually surprising considering the age of the home. Bedrooms back in the day of its construction were usually pretty small. But even though the old bedroom was big, our new bedroom is HUGE! A whole little suite just for the two of us. In some ways, it's bigger than it needs to be, but we do love it. It has a beach feel to it, and even though there are more things I want to do to sort of tie that theme together, I do love the sanctuary and haven that room is for the two of us!

***

While we did move from a three bedroom house to a three bedroom house, the layout of our present house made the construction of a guest room a bit more conveniently located. In our old house, the two upstairs bedrooms were connected to each other. You had to walk through one to get to the other. Since ours was the one at the top of the stairs, it made it awkward to turn the other one into a guest room. But the downstairs bedroom didn't have a nearby bathroom, which could also be awkward for guests.

In this house, having a bedroom near a bathroom, in an area separated from our room, has made hosting overnight guests much easier to achieve! We love our cute little guest room, and we've had singles, couples, and even whole families stay with us here in this house! (And in the off-season, as you can see, this is Braeya's room.)

***

And then there is the office...light, bright, and a beautiful space for creating. I loved it that it was the right size for bringing over the bookshelves my dad had made for our Marion house. I loved its cozy nature and knew it would be the perfect place for writing and other forms of creativity - and I wasn't wrong!

Of course there were the other things we loved, too: the location, the garage, the age of the home. All those things ended up convincing us (without any arm-twisting, really) that this was a great choice for us. And it has been. We've made an incredible amount of memories in this house. We've continued to settle in, a little project at a time, to make it more ours. 

That's why we chose our house...why did you choose yours?

An Update on the County Tour Project

I've had an influx of questions lately (in person, mostly) from people wanting to know if we have been to all the counties yet.

That would be a solid no.

But I thought I would pause to update you on this project of ours, including some of our top takeaways so far from the project.

It all began almost exactly six years ago now, when I stole a brilliant idea from a listener who called in to WBCL and said she and her husband had a goal of visiting all 92 counties in the state of Indiana. They were retired schoolteachers with a deep love of history, and they wanted to tour our fine state to unearth all the fascinating historical gems found within its borders.

I wasn't sure about the history part (back then) but I thought the whole thing sounded like a grand adventure indeed, so I immediately concocted a plan for us to take a similar tour. We began about six months later, on the very day of a nasty polar vortex storm, barely arriving back home ahead of the snow dump. Our first county, Blackford, was the 4th smallest in the state of Indiana, and it only had two towns of significant size and not a whole lot to see between the two.

But it did have a fantastic coffee shop, and that was one of our goals: find a coffee shop in every county.

Because Ryan works so many weekends and because I speak so often and because...well...life, we haven't plowed through this project with nearly the speed I'd hoped, but that is okay! As far as I know, the counties aren't going anywhere.

To date, we have purposefully toured 28 counties, which brings us just about 1/3 of the way to our goal of all 92.

(If you want to see the highlights of the counties we've seen so far, go here and scroll to the bottom of all the travels. The counties make up the last list.)

Things We Have Learned About Indiana From This Adventure:

* Indiana is NOT a boring state. I feared it would be. Since I grew up here, I was sort of trained to believe Indiana is the armpit of the USA. (Perhaps most state residents feel that way about their own states.) But Indiana is far from boring! Even in the 4th smallest county, it's not boring. We have seen beautiful landscape, explored some fun cities, uncovered some small-town gems, and learned things (yes, even about history!) that we hadn't even remotely known.

* Indiana is NOT all cornfields. Granted, we do have a good number of them here in our part of the state, but the northern 1/3 of the state is dotted by beautiful lakes and even has some proper sandy dunes! The southern 1/3 of the state is so hilly, you'd be hard-pressed to know you're even still in Indiana, and it's also covered by thick forests. And even the flat, field-y part of the state is beautiful in its own way, with a good number of treasures to be found among the fields.

* Indiana has a lot of good coffee. In fact, so far we've only been disappointed in one county. (It had a Starbucks, so I guess technically it had a coffee shop, but it was the only county where we failed to find a proper local coffee shop.)

* Indiana is proof that you don't have to travel hundreds of miles to find something fun to do. While we still enjoy crossing the boundaries into other states to explore even more options for fun, we have learned there are TONS of fun things right here in our own backyard. (And even if you are not from Indiana, my guess is the same is true of your own state.

* Indiana counties are creative in their tourism. Well...maybe not in all the counties. But many are becoming that way. Some have trails, and I don't mean hiking trails. Barn quilts, statues, food stops...all kinds of trails you can follow to explore the best of what the county has to offer. Some of the smaller towns are upping their game in drawing you in for a taste of small-town life, and it's truly beautiful to see.

Some of Our Favorite Finds in Indiana So Far...

* Shaka Shack Coffee - It was only the second coffee shop we visited, and yet it remains at the top of the list of our favorites. It stays there partly because the coffee was great and partly because we loved the atmosphere and vision of the shop and its owner. I think this is the only coffee shop we've made a purposeful visit back to see - other than the one in our own county, of course.

* Clifty Falls State Park - The state park that DEFINITELY reminds you Indiana is more than flat cornfields. We hiked many miles and climbed many steep trails in this one, but it remains one of the most beautiful parks we've seen yet. (And we fully expected that from pictures we'd seen from our Clifty Falls-loving friends prior to our trip!

* Auburn, Cord, Deusenberg Museum - This was from our most recent county tour, which was rather hastily thrown together, but it was memorable in a wonderful way. This proved to us that we really do like history after all! (And cars, apparently!) All the classic cars in a huge building...beautiful! This was also the day we learned that Indiana has a much richer automotive industry than we even knew.

* The Garfield Trail - This was our adventure in Grant County back when Grant County was our home. We feared we wouldn't find anything fun to do there, since it really was our own backyard. But when you live in the same county where Garfield's creator hails from, you spend the day driving to all the far reaches of the county to find all the Garfield statues! It was so fun (and there are even more on the trail now than there were back then).

* French Lick Resort and West Baden Springs Hotel - More proof that history can be fun! When we visited this area, we couldn't afford to stay at either of these hotels, but we did spring for the tour, and we ended up having a great guide who made history fun. We learned so much about the industry of that area and the history of these amazing hotels - one of which had undergone a mind-blowing renovation to bring it back to its original state.

* Indiana Dunes State (now National) Park - This was one of my favorite weekend trips we've ever done. We actually knocked out three counties in one weekend, and part of our trip involved hiking the 3 Dune Challenge at Indiana Dunes State Park. Just a few months ago, the park was upgraded to a national park - a first for Indiana, I believe! It was a beautiful park I'd love to visit again, even though we've checked off this county for tour purposes!

* County Line Orchard - This was part of that same weekend and was actually an "accidental" find after we started our trip. One of our other stops didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would, and we found ourselves with several hours to spare. We happened upon a postcard for the orchard and thought we'd check it out. It had a huge corn maze, tons of photo opp props, and we had a blast!

That's just a highlight list. We've actually had a great time at EVERY single county we've visited so far. Looking forward to lengthening that list a bit in the months to come!

Here are the first twenty-five counties in a collage:

And then the last three we've done:

A Little Acting Fun

It's podcast Tuesday, and we have some stories for you! Enjoy! :)

Listen here

You can hear more about this on today's podcast, but Ryan and I had a first this weekend; our co-acting debut. (Please read that term extremely loosely.)

Our children's pastor preached the main message this past Sunday, and a couple of weeks ago, he asked if Ryan would be willing to have a part in a skit prior to the sermon. Of course, Ryan needs NO coaxing to agree to such things, so he said yes, immediately.

The skit called for three people, so the pastor later asked if I could take the third (very small) role. You should know that I am terrible at memorizing things, so I'm not sure why I thought saying yes was a good idea, but I did.

I don't think I've been a successful church actress since circa 1988, when I played the role of Miss Prissly in the church VBS skits:

Yes. That's me right there in front of the whole church in my bathrobe.

I didn't have to wear a bathrobe this time.

I don't have a video of our debut, but if you'd like to see the message of the skit we did (which was really very good), you can watch a version of it here. It's only a couple minutes long. Like ACTUALLY only a couple of minutes long...not the kind of "couple" of minutes that really means ten.

Ryan's cousin was kind enough to take some pictures for us, so I do have a few to show you!

I only had about four lines and still required massive amounts of prayer to get through it. I am not an actress!! But it was fun to get to serve with Ryan in a bit of a different way!

Celebrating

Yesterday Ryan and I had the chance to be part of a beautiful, sacred service, and it made my heart so full and happy.

If you've been reading here for any length of time, you know that I had the privilege of being in the delivery room for the births of four little ones...all siblings. The first of those babies, Carol, would have been nineteen years old this past week, but she died when she was just six months old. Her life and death marked my faith profoundly, and I've written about that before. 

Since we don't all go to the same church anymore, and since we live over an hour apart, we rarely get to see each other, and any chance to see each other is a special treat.

Back to the births for a minute, though! Not many people get to be right there to see the very first breaths, and I still remember each one so distinctly. I remember the absolute miracle of hearing the very first cry and seeing their very first startled blinks in the bright lights. The beginning of brand new life is a wonder indeed. 

And yesterday, these two little ones (not so little anymore) were baptized, and Ryan and I were able to witness that equally wonderful moment. 

Look at them now!

And also...THAT POND!!!

The baptism was held at this beautiful pond that brought back so many memories of my own baptism. I loved that day and everything it represented, and I loved this day for these guys and all it represented for them.

I love it that Ryan fits right in with them and we can all be one big family together.

(Before I forget...I got to see their sister, too, so we sneaked in a picture. Ryan went with me to her baptism back when we were dating!)

The baptism service was so beautifully done. Ryan and I really enjoyed hearing what the pastor had to say.

I may have shed a few tears:

Even though I don't get to see them often, I am crazy proud of all three of these kids and the way they're growing up. Yesterday was a delight. 

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Sunday!!! Hope you've had a good week, and for those of you who returned to school this past week, I hope the transition was as smooth as it could possibly be! (So strange to see buses going by our house again already!)

Here's a peek at our week!

* Last Sunday was all about relaxation for us. I got to scrapbook for a long time, I got a massage, and we went on a nice, long sunset walk, where we were able to talk and enjoy the beautiful weather. (Side note: we have both loved that this week included beautiful evenings that were the perfect temperature and not soaked with humidity!)

* I always love getting the mail (almost to a toddler-like extent) but we got some REALLY fun mail on Monday! My sister had our little great-niece color a picture for us and she mailed it to us. It took me back the days when my niece was that age, and my sister would send us her little art creations. Loved it, and it looks so cute on our fridge! Braeya sat with me while I did my online Bible class (which made for interesting typing - ha!) and that night, I made Mexican pizzas, which Ryan said were completely delicious. He actually said every recipe this week was a winner!

* Tuesday was, by far, our busiest day this week. (It was kind of nice that all the busy landed in one day.) I worked hard at home all day, including finishing up our new neighbor gift. (Side note: we ran into them later in the week and presented it to them, and they loved it!) After Ryan got off work, we had a meeting with one of the pastors at our church, followed by a rehearsal for a skit we're part of this week, and then we went over to Phoebe's house to visit with her people, have dinner with them, and even accompany them on a walk in the park. Love me a good sunset! And as a bonus, I made another recipe Ryan loved, AND it was pretty. I love cute food.

* We started out Wednesday in the wee hours (which is what 7 a.m. feels like to me) getting our wellness checks for insurance. I learned that I am very healthy and only a little fat. (Wording may not exactly reflect that used by the woman who worked with me. But it's the main idea.) I enjoyed my day at home, working on writing project, porch-dwelling a bit, and welcoming Miss Phoebe back for a few more days! That last photo is after I washed my hair and let it air dry, where it promptly grew to lion's-mane status.

* Thursday was a beautiful, wonderful day at home with Phoebe. She followed me around while I worked. When I got the mail, I found the next issue of Light from the Word, which is a devotional publication I write for sometimes. I am in the upcoming quarter's list of writers, so that was fun to see! We took Pheebs on a walk that night, and she was ALL about Ryan for some reason that day. (Traitor.)

* Friday was our 80th monthiversary, and I surprised Ryan at work by bringing him a latte. We did our grocery shopping that night and then ordered a pizza and hung out at home together for our date. (Sometimes being at home together is more fun than going out, and this was one of those days.) We went on a walk, practiced our skit, and declared the day really wonderful!

* Phoebe was still with us yesterday, so she and I hung out while Ryan worked. (We finished a whole scrapbook!) Ryan washed the cars and then we worked to put up a new cover on our pirogi. We lost the old one circa three years ago when the tornado came through. We're nothing if not prompt about replacements! Ha! Ryan took me out for ice cream last night, too. I love ice cream dates.

The Saturday Six

One.

I don't have $323 to spend on this, but surely it can't be so hard to DIY. If you could find hexagon (or another shape) wood pieces at the craft store and then use a map, you could make a design of all the places you've visited!

Two.

Random Bekah fact: I don't like oatmeal. I love oats, but not oatmeal. It's a texture thing, not a flavor thing. I use oats all the time in desserts and granola and all that, but I don't like eating regular oatmeal for breakfast. (I wish I did!) Nevertheless, I know many people do, so I thought I would share this post. If you are trying to have some quick, easy, healthy, on-the-go breakfasts on hand as the school year starts up again, this blogger has some great suggestions for making your own packets. You can eliminate all the weird ingredients and use only the add-ins you like. I think her system is pretty great, and if I liked oatmeal, I'd be jumping right on this idea.

Three.

This may be the best school bus-to-RV conversion I've ever seen. If you showed me a picture of the bathroom away from the context of the article, I don't know that I would be able to figure out it was a mobile bathroom!

Four.

I found out yesterday that NEXT FRIDAY, AUGUST 9th, Moody Publishers is running a 50% off everything sale. If you're looking for a new Bible study for fall, they have some great ones! Erica Wiggenhorn (you remember Erica) has three studies published through Moody. I've done both her books on Acts and am working my way through Luke right now. Highly recommend them all. And at 50% off, I recommend all three! :)

Five.

Katie, over at Dashing Dish, made some announcements this week of some new things {some coming, some already here} happening in the land of Dashing Dish. One of the new things is this clean eating freezer meal prep guide. It's not a free resource, but at $15, it isn't a bad price to learn how to make healthy freezer meals. It comes with 20 healthy recipes, a grocery list to make sure you don't forget any of the supplies, three videos to walk you through the preparation process, and labels for your finished products. If you need prep-ahead ideas for a busy life season OR you want to make healthy freezer meals to gift to people who have just had a baby or are recovering from health issues, this is a great option! {Disclaimer: I haven't purchased it myself yet, but I trust anything Katie offers.}

Six.

I haven't read all these books...but if you have, do you agree with her choices on the best and worse houses in the land of fiction? (I still dream of visiting Green Gables...)

Sit a Spell

I was originally planning to include this article in the Saturday Six tomorrow, but it kind of took on a life of its own with my week, so I'll link to it here instead. This past weekend, I happened upon this article about recovering the lost art of porch sitting. (It's a thought-provoking read, so hop over and check it out.)

A couple of years ago, I read a book called Next Door as it is in Heaven, which talked about how neighborhoods are very different from what they used to be "in days of yore." The authors talked about how people used to know everyone in their neighborhoods, because they used to work close to home, go to church near their house, and sit on their porches because it was more comfortable than being inside. This was before air conditioning, you know.

But now we commute everywhere and have central air and lots of things stored on our DVR, so we don't know our neighbors and we don't sit outside.

And that brings me full circle to the article I read last weekend. What if we did just what it suggests? What if we determined we were going to recover the lost art of porch sitting? (Do you even have a porch? The article points out that a lot of newly constructed homes have a prominent garage and little to no porch.}

When Ryan and I lived in Marion, our house had a big front porch that ran the span of the house. But the neighborhood wasn't entirely conducive to front porch dwelling, so we didn't. We also had a nice back patio - and our beloved pirogi - and we spent quite a bit of time in our backyard if the weather permitted. We ate many meals out there and would sometimes hang out in the hammock or at the fire pit. It was a secluded backyard and we really loved it.

When we moved to our current house, the front porch was actually one of our favorite things. It was so cute!! But we found we didn't sit out there very often, because we didn't have comfortable furniture.

So we bought some.

And then we didn't sit out there very much because there was a railing that obstructed our view. Sitting out there was kind of like sitting in a crib.

So we took down the railing.

And then we still didn't sit out there.

To be fair, part of it was because we've had some pretty buggy weather over the last few months. Tons of mosquitoes, and I'm their lunch. But right now, it's not terribly buggy outside, and I decided it was time to try out porch sitting.

My goal this week was to go out there at least 20 minutes a day and read. Or sit. Or nap. Or watch cars speed down the road.

So there was Monday:

Followed by Tuesday:

And Wednesday:

And Thursday:

And I fully plan to be out there again today: reading, drinking coffee, hanging with Pheebs.

I really like it out there. It pulls me away from work for a minute. I get to sit and read, or listen to birds and the breeze. I get to pray. I get to zone out. And after a few minutes, I'm ready to stand up and tackle the chore list again. I've rested. I've enjoyed. I've stepped aside. I can go back, refreshed and regrouped.

There's something to it, this sitting a spell. I like it.

New Neighbor Offerings

I mentioned this last week, but we just had some new neighbors move in, and I wanted to get some kind of little gift to share with them to welcome them to the neighborhood.

It can be awkward when you don't know people at all, you have no idea what they might like or hate, and you want to strike the balance between being kind without going overboard or being too cheesy.

So, of course, Pinterest.

I found the idea to put together this basket:

If you want to make one of these and want the printable, you can find it here.

We met them in passing one day (prior to assembling this gift) and learned that although they are from our general area at large, they are new to this particular town, so I also put together a list of things they might want to know about our town and our neighborhood.

I tried to keep the town part pretty generic, because my gut feeling is that even though they haven't lived here before, they've probably come to events and restaurants here.

Here are some of the things I listed:

* Our favorite ice cream stand (and a tip that their portions are very generous, since if you don't know that kind of thing, you can end up going home feeling awfully miserable)

* Our favorite coffee shop

* The cake/cupcake shop we love (and a tip about which weeks are cake slice weeks and which ones are cupcake weeks)

* Our favorite donut shop

* A couple of our favorite restaurants

* A list of outside things you can do for fun as a family, including Kokomo Beach, the biggest parks, First Friday events downtown, the baseball stadium, the skating rink, and the ball drop on New Year's Eve

* A list of services you might want to know about if you're new to the area, including: photographer, pest control, and HVAC servicing

* Information about our church and when the services are held

* Trash and recycling pickup

* When the mail comes

* Our contact info

I have the basket assembled and ready to run over to their house the next time we see them outside!

Thanks, Pinterest, for the gift idea and printable!