Grateful for Christmas Break

Ahhh. The day after Christmas. Time to unwind, clean up, and relax. I was so ready for Christmas day. For all the craziness of the season to finally be over. Not in a bad way, just ready to relax and enjoy versus the days leading up to Christmas that were filled with hurrying around, millions of trips to the store (with 3 kids in tow), and last minute projects like Christmas cookies and Christmas cards. Each thing is enjoyable in its own right, but when all is said and done, they are big projects that Mommy ends up finishing herself. I'm excited for this week between Christmas and New Years. I am hoping to relax, get some projects/deep cleaning done that I don't usually have time for, and do some fun things out of the ordinary like playdates, playing with Maddy during nap time, and playing with the kids with their new Christmas toys!
These days, there isn't much "down time" where we can just relax, catch up on stuff, or work on projects. Life has been full of lots of busyness but also lots of blessings. This summer, while on vacation, I was really trying to take that time to think, pray, and counsel with people about what "things" I should keep in my life for the next school year. I have lots of opportunities to do things, be involved, and serve. But the reality is, I can't do them all! And when I try, I end up frustrated, miserable, and exhausted. I am still in the same boat. I think after all that thinking, praying, and counseling, I dropped 1-2 things out of our hectic schedules. It was good that I actually did drop 2 things, but I could probably do better. I just don't like being the frantic mom who is always running behind, stressed out about something, showing up early to everything because I have to prep, plan, prepare something. This semester, Thursdays were my favorite day of the week. I have bible study on those mornings, and it was the one place I could go, be around godly women, socialize, make new friendships, and just be. I didn't have to serve, work, show up early, coordinate, or run around. I could simply partake and take in what was being offered.
Now, I'm not saying that I just want to relax, be on vacation, and take instead of give all the time. I'm just saying that sometimes it feels like I am just go, go, going all the time and rarely have the time to just be. That's why God knew He had to include the "Be still, and know that I am God" verse in the bible. Just for me. And maybe you.
Those moments of being still and quiet are so rare, and yet so vital to our relationship with God. We forget that. Satan tempts and lures us with all these "things" we need to be apart of, serve in, and do, and yet God tells us to just "be still." Now, of course we are to serve, love, care, give of ourselves as a living sacrifice, and I get that. But hopefully not at the expense of our still moments.
So this next week, I am hoping to get some of those still moments. To relax, and to get some reading time in. I am looking forward to reading the appropriate book for my life season right now by Lysa Terkeurst called "The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands." Hopefully I will get a book review out about it once I finish it!!
So, Happy Holidays, my fellow exhausted, weary Moms!! Get some rest and some still moments in soon, and let God speak to you about what you should keep in your life, and what you may need to let go of!! Blessings!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

We have been so blessed this year and are enjoying being a family of five!! We had a wonderful Christmas with Tad's family, and all of his siblings were in town on Christmas day! I miss my family in Ohio and other places, but I look forward to seeing them this summer!!

Tad has had a change of jobs this past year and enjoys delivering mail for the United States Postal Service. He practically runs all day long delivering mail and has lost quite a bit of weight doing it! He has done several races this last year, including his first ultra-marathon in Arizona!! He finished 40 out of 50 miles, when he injured his IT band. I was so proud he made it so far!! He is also now the worship leader of our praise and worship team at church, and he is doing a great job!!

I have been busy homeschooling Madelynn, who is in second grade this year, and Judah, who has started preschool! I also teach Maddy's class once a week for a group called Classical Conversations, which is a Classical, Christan model of education and we learn a History Timeline, History sentence, World Geography, Latin, Science, English, and Math, as well as Fine Arts, Presentations, and Science Experiments. The kids love it! And it is such a good opportunity for them! I also enjoy working out, running, cooking (as always), and spending time with family!!

 

 

Madelynn is in second grade this year and is doing great in all her subjects. She has become quite the reader and also takes piano lessons (from me!) and swimming lessons at the YMCA. She has passed all of her swimming classes and is about to move on to Intro to Swim Team! We are so proud of her!! The wheels in her head are always turning and she is always asking questions, trying to figure things out, and trying to come up with solutions to problems. She is also a huge giver, and spends a lot of time making things for other people. I love those things about her! She is full of energy and spunk!!

Judah is doing preschool this year and is doing a great job. He is very smart! He just turned 4 on Christmas Eve! He does a preschool class once a week during Classical Conversations and is learning so much!! He loves art, wrestling with his dad and uncles, playing with his sisters, playing computer games, and cooking with Mommy. He is such a joy and is still my little cuddler. He also has been doing swimming lessons and has come to really enjoy them!!

Ruth will be 2 at the end of February and we love her so much!! She has been such a fun addition to our little family!! I can't believe how much she is doing at this age, but I think when they have older siblings, they learn to do more at an earlier age. She pretends with the kids, will lay down with a blanket when they are playing doctor, crawl when they are playing kitties, or call Madelynn "Mommy" when they are playing house!! It is so cute to watch them all play!! She has a similar personality to Maddy: loud, outspoken, very opinionated, and a ham!!

Well, we hope you enjoyed some of our funny family photos, and that you all had a great Christmas and will have a wonderful New Year!! We are so blessed to have our little family, and wonderful friends, and of course, salvation, blessings, and redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord. God Bless you all as we enter 2014!!

'Tis the Season (with a cookie recipe!)



The mailman came to help decorate our tree :)



Well, it's that time of year again. Time for all the hustle and bustle, getting a million little (and big) things done, and enjoying the holiday festivities that only come around this time of year. I love it, but I'm always ready for a break from the busyness of the holiday. I do enjoy all of our holiday traditions, and also doing new things each year to make it fun and different. Some of our yearly traditions include doing our advent calendar with candy for each day, making cookie plates to give to our neighbors and friends, decorating Christmas cookies with the kids, Christmas coloring books, decorating the tree as a family, watching Christmas movies, having Christmas pictures taken to go in our Christmas card, and having biscuits and gravy on Christmas day with Tad's family. There are lots

 of other things we do different each year that make it different and fun for us and the kids. It makes it so much more fun to have kids and to see their excitement over all the fun facets of the holiday season. We have chosen not to do Santa with the kids, but they know who he is and still enjoy watching movies about Santa and me teasing them about Santa bringing them gifts. We have just chosen not to tell them that Santa is real.

This year, we also have a cookie exchange at our church. While I have heard of these, I don't remember ever being a part of them so it will be fun. We actually have to make 6 dozen cookies for ours - 5 dozen to be shared with others (to take home) and one dozen to put out to enjoy at our women's Christmas party. And I am so proud of myself that I got all my cookies made almost a week in advance!! So I am going to give you the recipe for the cookies I made out of Allrecipes.com's new magazine!! I am so excited that they have a magazine since that is my favorite website to get recipes off of! So the recipe might seem a little confusing, because they take one of their top-rated recipes and then they test it in their own kitchen and make extra suggestions next to the original posted recipe. So I will post it that way, and then, after all that, I will give some of my own suggestions.


Big Soft Ginger Cookies
Allrecipes.com
armagazine.com/ginger-cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened (from Allrecipes kitchen: Use butter, not margarine, for the best flavor)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine and 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, then stir in water and molasses. Gradually stir sifted ingredients into molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut-sized balls and roll them in remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (From Allrecipes kitchen: We got a yield of thirty 2 3/4 inch cookies.) Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

143 calories per cookie

So these cookies turned out pretty good, and taste pretty much like a gingerbread cookie, so if you like cookies with all those strong flavors, you will like these. I will say, the dough was really hard to work with, so what I found is that if you refrigerate the dough for at least 10 minutes or so, you can work with it and get it shaped into a ball and rolled in the sugar without it being all stuck to your hands and really messy. Once I figured that out (like on the last batch!!), it was much easier. It really was a great cookie to make for a cookie exchange too, because it was fairly easy and a tasty, popular option to give out. I think I will also make this one as one to put on our cookie plates for friends and neighbors. Or I might just do gingerbread men so the kids can decorate them. We'll see!
So, as I love this time of year, I also am stressed out with all there is to do. But after these next few days, of scheduled events every night, we are almost totally free, so that will be nice, and less stressful.

Maddy helping to decorate the tree at church!

Another highlight from this year is that we got a chance to perform at our annual homeschool group Christmas talent show. Usually, Maddy would display something she had made, but this year she wanted to play the piano (like one of the first songs she has learned!) and she did great! Also, our family sang "Jesus loves me" while I played the guitar and sang. It was so precious to this momma's heart! I have always wanted a singing family, so this is just the beginning!
I hope you all have such a wonderful year of making Christmas memories and starting or continuing beautiful traditions with your families. Here are some links to some previous Christmas posts I have done in past years, with an advent reading schedule if you are interested!!

Cookie Plates
Loving Christmas Break
Coconut Snowballs and Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Homemade Gifts: Christmas Sweets in a Jar
Time for Christmas (with Advent Readings)
Christmas Festivities

A Broken Arm, a New Job, and Field Trips

The kids outside Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Uncle Joel hijacked the picture!!

 It's been a busy, crazy, and exciting couple of weeks. I know I have been totally MIA from my blog lately. We are trying to get school done before our trip to Ohio in June, we finished CC for the year, we had 2 field trips last week alone, and have exciting news to share. Tad got a new job with the post office! He starts May 18 and we are so excited! It will be a pay increase, better benefits, and unfortunately, more hours. But God is providing for us, and we are so thankful!

In his splint before he got his hard cast

About to get his hard cast on!

The glow-in-the-dark cast is fun!!

About a week and a half ago our little Judah broke his arm, poor thing! We went to watch his Aunt Naomi and Aunt Charity (who are 10 and 12) do their gymnastics show. When we came home Judah was trying to do gymnastics moves and said "watch, Mom, this is what the gymnastics people do" and proceeded to do a cartwheel type of thing. All he did was run and do a little hop-hop thing that was close to the ground and he must have landed wrong and was instantly crying like he was in a lot of pain. After about 30-40 minutes of nonstop crying, we finally took him to the ER where they confirmed that he fractured his humerus bone right above the elbow. And because it is around 6 growth plates, they usually have to rush right in and do surgery, but he was so lucky (no, it was God!!) that his bones were in alignment when he went in for x-rays 5 days later. So no surgery! They just put a hard cast on it and will x-ray it weekly until he gets his cast off. He picked a glow-in-the-dark cast!!

He is figuring out how to do things even with his arm in a cast! Good thing he is right-handed!!

 We also went on 2 field trips, one to see a bunch of different insects. It was very hands on, and they could hold some, touch some, and just look at others. Not my favorite thing but the kids loved it! Of course Judah was walking around with a little glass jar filled with ticks (in a solution) and dropped it and broke it. Of course!!
 

 
 



Later that same week we went with our homeschool group to a Wildlife Park in Kansas called Tanganyika Wildlife Park that was very hands-on! The kids got to feed birds, giraffes, lemurs, goats, and alpacas!! They loved it! It was such a fun day!

 

Well I can't believe we finished up our first year of CC and it was such a blessing! It was very challenging at times, I'm not gonna lie, but it was also so rewarding! And the things that Maddy learned and experienced this year were totally worth the stress and time commitment!
We are trying to wrap up our school year since we have been out of town so much! The weather is getting so nice, so it's hard to have all this schoolwork! I have realized that Oklahoma's spring is like the summers I am used to up north. Green grass, beautiful temperatures, sunshine everyday. The summers here are the pits! Too hot to do anything but stay inside a lot of the time! So we are trying to get out and enjoy this weather! We went on a compass walk last night as part of our school. We attempted to look at clouds too, but there wasn't really a cloud in the sky!!

Happy Spring Everyone!! 

This Time of Year

Well, we have officially been on our CC break for almost 3 weeks! It has been such a nice break and a back-to-normal of homeschooling and taking care of the house and kids! Well, in addition to all the holiday hustle and bustle that is now upon us! We are a little late in our decorating this year; we have been so busy, and honestly, it is a little hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is 75 degrees outside and we can wear shorts and short sleeved shirts to go outside! But, nonetheless, it is great playing weather for the kids!

Judah doing crafts at our church Holiday decorating party!

Judah is about to turn 3 years old on Christmas Eve! I can't believe how fast time flies! He is such a joy to our family, and I can't believe how fast he is growing up! He is my snuggler and sweet, calm one and is just a delight! We are going to have a small birthday party for him, his first friend birthday party, themed around his puppy pillow pet which he adores. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees his cake that will look like his pillow pet! Of course made by his very talented Aunt Lydia!!

First Thanksgiving!

My sister, Briana and I

The Thanksgiving spread

Tad and his sibs on Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was good! It was fun to have my sister, Briana, and her family come visit from Colorado! They spent Thanksgiving with us at Tad's parents house, and we got to do some other fun stuff with them while they were here!
We have a few more weeks of school and then a 2 week Christmas break, which will be nice! I'm sure it will all go by so fast! And Ruth is about to have her first Christmas! She is getting so big! Well, not really big, persay! She is only 15 pounds at 9 months! She is only in the 3rd percentile for her weight! Both of my other kids had teeth by now and were crawling. But Ruth is taking her sweet time! She is pulling halfway up, and is so close to crawling. She does some kind of scoot thing while she is sitting up which helps her get around some.
Maddy has been sick a lot lately. I'm gonna do some research as to how to boost her immune system because I don't think it's normal how much she has been sick. She has had 3 rounds of the stomach flu (all of which didn't last very long at all), and now she just came down with a nasty cold with a fever, sore throat, and incessant coughing. I'm not sure what's going on with her, but I'm planning on pumping her full of vitamins and healthy food to try to build up her immune system. Any suggestions please leave in the comment section below!
Maddy is also about to have her first ballet recital! Last week, they performed in a nursing home, and I really look forward to seeing their full routine in their Christmas performance! She will actually be done with her ballet, tap, and jazz class after her recital. It wasn't her favorite class and she is actually anxious to get back to swim lessons! So I will savor this recital! I will try to post pictures if I can!
I have really been trying to lose weight during this eating season. Eating is my biggest downfall, and I haven't done so well in that department. But I have really stepped up my workouts, and have tried to vary them so that I can confuse the muscle groups and keep them guessing! A lot of times, I get stuck in a routine of doing the same workouts, and I really want to work different areas and also not get bored!

Tad, carving the turkey on Thanksgiving!

Tad has been working with his clients at work, and also doing some odd jobs for his parents and our pastor. He is running a 50 mile trail race with some good friends from Moody in the spring in Arizona, so he is training some for that right now. He has gotten in really good shape over the last few months!

 

So that's our most recent update! Sorry I haven't been too regular on this here blog! Sometimes I feel more inspired to write and other times I feel like I don't know what to share! So this post was kind of jumbled! But that's where we are at! If you are still reading this long-winded post, Happy Holidays to you and your family!!

Family Holidays!

Briana and her family in Branson

I'm so excited that my sister and her family are coming to visit for Thanksgiving! We haven't gotten too many visitors since we moved to Oklahoma, and I was so happy when she said they wanted to spend Thanksgiving with family! So we will all venture over to Tad's family's house for a big feast! I can't wait! And it just so happens that Tad is off work on Thanksgiving and the day after, so it works out perfect! We saw my sister and her family this past summer in Branson for our family vacation, but it will be nice to get the cousins together (our kids only actual cousins!) again and show them all where we live! I warned them there isn't much to do in our town, but they are looking forward to just spending time with family! I always have to throw that disclaimer in there, especially after everyone was used to visiting us in Chicago where there were so many fun things to do! All you have here is us in Oklahoma!

The cousins!

 I'm still in the middle of planning my part of the menu for Thanksgiving! I pretty much had everything picked out, and then I realized that I was making a lot of fun extras and not really helping with the traditional sides. Then my mother-in-law told me that she wasn't going to assign me ANYTHING since I will have family in town. Well, if you know anything about me, you know I just LOVE to cook and I look forward to Thanksgiving especially because it is so fun to make so much stuff. So anyways, I know I am going to make Pioneer Woman's pecan pie, as usual. And I think I will make my homemade applesauce. I still need to figure out which traditional sides I should help make. I just love cooking outside the box, and making different, exotic, yummy tasting things but Tad's family isn't used to anything like that, so I have to stick to traditional things. But that's okay!

Homemade applesauce!

We are just getting over being sick, and got a little "fall break" from school, if you will, so it's nice to have a little bit of extra time to get things done. The stomach flu is making its way through our family right now, and I'm wondering who it's gonna hit next! But it's a really fast bug! Hopefully everyone will be better by Thanksgiving!

What are you making for Thanksgiving? Any fun new websites, recipes, or ideas you could share! Please share in the comments section!

Raspberry Cream Scones

 
I have been waiting to post this recipe for a long time! It is one of the best things I have ever made! I love scones, and finally found a recipe I love! Yes, I have already posted a recipe for mini scones, but this recipe is much better! And you can really cut them into any size! I also love sharing recipes out of cookbooks, since they aren't so readily available on the internet for everyone to use! I recommend dipping them into whipped cream! Or putting jelly on them, or butter, or if you're really authentic and English-like, you can somehow find or make clotted cream! Which I have yet to do! These definitely aren't gluten-free, so Tad won't be having any of them, but I actually made these and took these pics during the summer, so he did get to have some!


Raspberry Cream Scones
The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook
Food to Live By
Myra Goodman

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into bits and chilled
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream, plus 2 tablespoons for the glaze
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
3/4 cup (from 1 half-pint) fresh raspberries or frozen (unthawed) unsweetened raspberries

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.
2. Place the flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine well. Add the chilled butter. Using a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingers, blend the butter into the mixture until it is crumbly and well combined.
3. Place the egg, cream, and almond extract in a small bowl and whisk to combine well. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Gently fold in the raspberries. Do not overmix the dough or the scones will be tough.
4. Turn out the dough, along with any loose dry bits, onto a lightly floured work surface and pat into a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the dough with a knife into 6 pie-shaped wedges and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Brush the scones with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream and sprinkle them with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
6. Bake the scones until they are golden brown and firm to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and let the scones cool for about 10 minutes. Serve the scones warm or at room temperature. The scones taste best the day they are made but, if necessary, they can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat them in a microwave for about 10 seconds or in a preheated 350 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

Cookbook suggestions: You can substitute 2/3 cup of any kind of fruit or nuts for the raspberries. You can use fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped nuts, dried fruits like apricots, cranberries, or cherries, and you can also substitute vanilla extract for the almond, or orange zest for the lemon zest!!  And they also freeze well! So you can freeze the dough, transfer them to an airtight bag or container, and thaw them overnight on a baking sheet before you want to serve them, and glaze them right before you put them in the oven! Ah, possibilities!!

You will seriously drool over these scones! These are perfect for a brunch, shower, or having your friends over for tea!  Or in my case, coffee!

Coconut Snowballs and Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Every year we make and decorate Christmas cookies to bring to our friends and neighbors! This year is no exception!! But the people we have always brought cookies to have changed!! We usually would bring cookies to our apartment neighbor, our doormen downstairs, the office ladies in our apartment building, and close friends!! It makes me miss them thinking of bringing cookies to them in previous years!!
Well, we have made good friends here in Oklahoma and have been here almost exactly 1 year!! Can you believe it? And each year we pick different kinds of cookies/fudge/goodies to make and give to people. I can't give away all of what we have made this year yet, but this is one of the recipes!! I found this recipe for Coconut Snowballs in an old Family Circle magazine from 2008!! I doubled the recipe and decided it didn't look like enough, so I doubled the recipe again since I had everything out already! It was pretty easy and went quickly once I got going!

Coconut Snowballs Family Circle Magazine 2008

1 cup sweetened flake coconut
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
Pinch salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons milk

1. Grind 1/2 cup of the coconut in food processor. Chop remaining coconut and set aside. Add flour, 1/4 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the salt. Pulse to blend. Add butter and vanilla; pulse until dough comes together.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough balls 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake cookies until firm but tender, 15 minutes. Remove to rack; let cool completely.
4. In small bowl, stir together remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar and enough milk until smooth but still thick. Dip cookies in glaze (about 1/2 teaspoon for each), letting it drip down sides. Dip in chopped coconut and set aside for glaze to dry.



Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am not very crafty. I have to push and stretch myself to do crafts with Maddy; to find them, figure them out, and buy the materials. It does not come naturally to me. But we have done pretty good since last year with preschool, where we had a lot of crafts to make going along with the curriculum we had! Madelynn is super crafty and so I have to get outside my box and do crafts with her! It has been good for me...and her!

I found this tutorial on Coffee Filter Snowflakes via Alicia's Homemaking via Made By Britta via Pinterest via Under the Big Oak Tree.

Did you catch all that? Well, the actual website to click on is Made by Britta which is where you can find a step by step tutorial for how to make these easy, fun, cheap snowflakes to decorate your house and windows!! They were really fun to make and Maddy had fun cutting different designs and making different patterns on each one!!

It was super easy, and I think we are going to make more for our big front window!! All you do is fold a round coffee filter in half, then in thirds and then get creative cutting different designs in each one!! They all come out totally different, and it's fun for little ones who are old enough to use scissors!!! Fun winter craft!!

Well, we are almost to Christmas and I will be happy when all the to-do lists are done and we can just relax as a family on Christmas!! Tad has a 3 day weekend including Christmas off from work, so it should be glorious!! Not to mention that Judah turns 2 on Christmas Eve so we have a birthday party this weekend too!! He is getting so big! Check out other adventures at aliciashomemaking.com!!

Homemade Gifts: Christmas Sweets in a Jar

I have always seen these homemade gifts and thought they were adorable and such a cute idea!! I would love to get these already-assembled cookies or brownies in a jar! I love to cook and bake, but sometimes I don't want to put forth the effort to make something homemade, but this gift saves someone all the effort of measuring everything out! From what I hear, there is some website that has tons of different ideas, like soups and other things that you can put in a jar as a gift for someone! And if you plan ahead and have a lot of the ingredients on hand, it would be a quick, fun way to get a lot of people's Christmas gifts taken care of! And fun for the kids to help make too!
They recently had all the ingredients for us to make these at our Christmas Women's party at our church. Such a fun activity! Although when you are chatting with other ladies and measuring at the same time, there is some room for error!! And also, it was a little tricky to fit all the ingredients into each container, so if you have that problem, you can always add the leftover ingredients in little bags or containers. I didn't write down the exact recipes for the cookies and brownies we made, but I found some recipes for similar things on Allrecipes.com. So, here they are:

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar Allrecipes.com

1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I left the pecans out, also it helped everything fit better too!)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Layer the ingredients in order in a 1 quart jar in the order given. Press each layer in place before adding the next layer. (We actually mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, just like you would if you were making it at home.)
2. Include a card with the following instructions:

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar
1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in the entire contents of the jar. Shape into walnut sized balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in preheated oven. Transfer from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

It's also a fun way to include the kids in making people's Christmas presents!!

Brownie Mix in a Jar Allrecipes.com

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use them in this recipe either, I'm not a big nut fan, and it also creates more room in the jar for the other ingredients!)

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt (either in the jar or in a small bowl first.) Layer the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Press each layer firmly in place before adding the next layer. (It also says here to wipe out the jar after adding the cocoa powder so that the other layers show through!)
2. Attach a tag with the following instructions:

Brownie Mix in a Jar:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 inch pan.
2. Empty contents of brownie mix into a large mixing bowl and stir to blend. Mix in 3/4 cup melted butter and 4 eggs. Mix thoroughly. Spread batter evenly into pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely in pan before cutting into 2 inch squares.

Once you have the mixes assembled, you can make them pretty any way you want!! You can add ribbons, bows, get creative with the little tags you attach with the recipe, or you can add little pieces of fabric cut into circles with some puffy stuff (I don't know what it's called!) before screwing on the rim. So many possibilities!!
Enjoy! Your Christmas presents made easy this year!!
Head on over to alicashomemaking.com to see other people's New Adventures for the week!! You can get such good ideas!!

Pumpkin French Toast

I'm not gonna pretend that this is my favorite recipe or anything, but for those of you who like french toast (I do not) then this recipe might be for you!! Tad is a huge lover of french toast, and I usually only make it for him on his birthday!! But this year, I was running out of ideas to use up my last bit of pumpkin, and I got this recipe in an email, so I thought I would whip it up for breakfast one morning. Tad said he couldn't decide if he liked this recipe or the other recipe I made for his birthday better, which was overnight baked french toast, which I'll have to give you the recipe for later!! He loved both of them! Enjoy!!

Pumpkin French Toast allrecipes.com
8 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tbs. white sugar
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 loaf Texas toast thick-sliced bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. butter, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 by 13 pan.
2. Whisk the eggs, vanilla extract, 2 tsp of cinnamon, the cloves, nutmeg, and white sugar together in a bowl; beat in the pumpkin and mix well.
3. Arrange the bread cubes in the pan in a single layer in the baking dish; pour the pumpkin mixture over the top, and mix to coat.
4. Stir 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, flour, and butter together with a fork in a small bowl until it is crumbly and sprinkle over the top of the bread cubes.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

Drizzle with syrup and you are good to go!!

Christmas Festivities

Let's just say that I LOVE Christmas and I always have. Even when I was a kid I had boxes of Christmas decorations for my room, a Christmas music CD collection, and loved making homemade cards and buying everyone gifts with my money! Now, as an adult, it is just as fun, and I have added decorating a home and holiday cooking to the mix! Not to mention shopping for my kids, new family traditions, and the joy of experiencing Christmas with my little ones in new ways.
Pictured above is a little concoction I found on Pinterest on How to Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas. It is simply wonderful!! In the past, I have just added a bunch of spices to some boiling water and let it cook down for a couple of hours. But this recipe actually has you adding some yumminess that makes the house smell wonderful, and I just so happened to have these things on hand!

Holiday Stove Top Potpourri Mix
makeitdo.com

One whole orange or just the orange peel
1/2 cup cranberries
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
3 sticks of cinnamon or some pieces of cinnamon sticks
a bit of grated nutmeg if desired

All you do is quarter the orange, or place all the orange peels into a saucepan. Add the other ingredients and fill with water. Put it on the smallest burner on the lowest setting and get ready for your house to smell amazing! You can refill with water if desired. Also, it says you can reuse this throughout the season, or bag up the ingredients and give it as a gift! How cute is that! But I will say that I saved it after I used it once, drained of course, and the next time I used it I did not like the smell! So, maybe just personal preference!
One of my favorite things around this holiday season is decorating! We lived in our last apartment building for about 4 years, so it was fun this year to be in a new house and have a different place to decorate!! Now, notice my counters/house is not spic and span when I took these pictures, but, you get the idea!!
I found this cute little tree with the lights and a burlap bottom for only $2.49 at the thrift store!! Can't beat that!!

This is the first year we have our piano, so it made for a fun surface to decorate!! I actually used a table runner across the top, and it made it look even more festive!!
This year we opted not to go get a real tree and to save a few bucks by accepting the artificial tree from Tad's family. I was bummed we weren't getting a real tree, but once we got it up and decorated, I was happy with the outcome!! And I am convinced that ornaments are so special and it's so fun to talk about the stories behind the ornaments as we hang them on the tree! Tad's family's tradition is to get a new ornament every year, for each child, so Tad has all his ornaments from when he was born!! And they have given our kids their ornaments too! So fun!
The kids eating their breakfast in front of the tree! And of course, watching their morning cartoons!!
Aunt Lydia decided to get her sisters and Maddy a different kind of present this year!! Instead of picking out a toy for them, she got them tickets to go see Cinderella at the local theater on opening night!! They got dressed up and had a blast!! Here they are before they left!! Isn't Maddy getting big??

So now, we still have the traditions of making our gingerbread house, making Christmas cookies, and getting Christmas cards out, amidst other things I'm sure!! But it is a blast! It's fun being in our new little home and continuing to make new memories with our growing little family!! And just in case you need a reminder, my due date is February 27! It's been changed a couple of times, but this date was confirmed at my last appointment. Third trimester!!!!!

Happy Holidays!!