Every Kid's Dream: A "Sprinkle Bar"

Hi all.  Feels like summer around here.  The last few days have brought temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius.  No one's complaining though - it's perfect for ice cream, sprinkler play and BBQs.

Hubby gave me 2  peony plants for Mother's Day.  They have bloomed beautifully.  Here are the last few tissue-like blooms (and my three babies!):

That's a whole lot of loveliness in one photo!

Last night, grabbing a cookbook, I actually had things tumble out of this cabinet that stands in the  corner of our kitchen.  What a mess! Books, bowls, cookie cutters, food colouring, and bottles of bubbles (Yep - you read right!!) Time for an organizational makeover!!

I thinned out the cookbooks and re-shelved them for easier use.  I love cookbooks but I find I don't use them as much as I used to.  Pinterest, blogs and foodie websites are where  I search for meals lately.  However, the good  old-fashioned cookbook still has a place in my kitchen.

There are some classics here, as well as ones bought simply for their beauty.  

The bookshelves turned out  well - time to move onto the lower shelves where I keep all of my baking accoutrement. 

  I bake A LOT.  Cookies, cakes, muffins -  you name it, I make it. So with this baking obsession comes the gear.  I have sprinkles coming  out of ears - every colour, texture and flavour.  The kids adore them on everything so we are never in short supply.  But I really needed a way to store them so that they are handy for me and accessible for the kids.  This is what I came up with :

Several  spice jars bought at the second-hand store

And a kitchen organization basket from IKEA.  I attached it to the inside of the cabinet door using my hubby's brand-new Father's Day gift lithium-powered drill.

Then little lady helped me pour several bags of sprinkles into the little bottles.  Not an easy job, but well worth it! 

Ta-da!!!

In celebration of the new "sprinkle bar" we put our homemade ice cream maker to work again (as we do EVERY weekend!) and made some fresh Butterscotch Cookies'N'Cream  ice cream as a vehicle for all those sprinkles!

Here, Camden adds green sugar to his bowl:

 And Afton adds pink to hers:

See those darling Disney spoons?  We had ONE with Mickey Mouse on it when my sisters and I were growing up and we fought over in constantly.   Recently I found SIX of them at the thrift store - 2 Mickeys, 2 Minnies and 2 Donald Ducks.  And for 29 cents each!!  Can you believe it?  Now my kids can eat dinner with  Disney forks and dessert with the matching spoons.  So cool.