Holiday Baking!

It's the time of year, where everyone is baking tons of yummy goodies! I baked a few weeks ago, knowing that the week of Christmas would be crazy, and I wanted to give my homebaked goodies as gifts!

I remember helping my mom in the kitchen and baking with her. I can't wait to continue this tradition with Gretchen.

If you are doing some last minute baking this holiday season, I wanted to share some of my favorite recipes with you!

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips
These were my absolute favorite as a child. I would take them to school as my lunch snack and all of my friends would make fun of me and tell me it was gross. That is, until they tried one! If you love salty, chocolaty, and crunchy, then this is the treat for you!

Melt 1/2 block of chocolate almond bark in the microwave. Make sure you stir often, it will not take more than 2-3 minutes to melt the chocolate. Purchase a bag of ruffled potato chips. The Great Value Wal-Mart brand works well, too. Lay out a sheet of wax paper. Then, dip each potato chip into the chocolate and lay on the paper. Allow to harden and voila!

Oreo Truffles
I first tasted these when we lived in Louisiana, at my work Christmas party. These are absolutely divine, and take you back to the days of your childhood of dunking oreos into milk!

Crush one whole package of oreo cookies (use a large ziploc bag). If you want, use the low fat oreos! Pour into a bowl. Add 1- 1 1/2 packages of room temperature cream cheese. Mix well with the oreos. Put the mixture in the refrigerator and allow to harden. Lay out wax paper onto a cookie sheet. Pull the mixture out of the fridge and form into balls. Place each ball onto the cookie sheet and back into the refrigerator. Melt white chocolate almond bark in the microwave. Using a toothpick, dip each ball into the white chocolate and place back onto the cookie sheet.

These are more time consuming to make, but they're definitely worth it!

Red Velvet Truffles
Follow the same steps for the oreo truffles, but replace the oreos with red velvet cake. Simply bake a red velvet cake mix and let cool. Crumble and add the cream cheese. Follow above steps and using toothpicks dip the truffles into white chocolate.

** enjoy**

Potty Training begins!

We've had a relaxing weekend at home, in spite of th efact that Christmas is 5 days away! It snowed here on Saturday, so we spent the day cleaning the house and enjoying the time as a family.

Gretchen got a bath on Saturday evening, and she even let me blow dry her hair! I had to get a picture of her in front of the tree in her cute snowman pj's! (sorry I can't turn it around!) Gretchen also learned that she could color on her hand with a pen:

And, our big announcement: we begin potty training in the morning! So, I won't be around my computer as my full attention needs to focus on her. DJ and I took Gretchen to Target this afternoon, so she could pick out a package of panties and a potty training DVD.

This evening, we let her open a very early present from mommy and daddy. She did very well unwrapping her gift; which makes me excited for Christmas morning!

She received a lot of panties! I think we have at least 20 pair!

I think she's very proud to be a "big girl". She enjoyed showing off her panties to the camera. She even tried on a few pair over her diaper.

We are using a 3-day potty training method, and I just pray that we will all get the hang of it. As a parent, it's actually the most nerve-wracking thing I think I could ever do. I literally, had nightmares about it last night!

So, wish us luck, and have a wonderful week!

Train Ride and Letter to Santa

I haven't posted in a while (at least it seems), but I have had the busiest week ever! Today was my last day of work for 2 weeks and I'm so relieved to be off for Christmas break. I wanted to post earlier in the week about the rest of Gretchen's trip to the mall on Sunday.....

After visiting Santa (what a disaster that was!) we let Gretchen ride the train. For a girl, she loves trains! Each time we drive over a train track Gretchen says "choo choo" and I always point out a train when we are stopped by one, which is quite often in Muncie! I wasn't sure how she would do riding the train, since it was too small for DJ and I to fit in with her. But, she walked right up to the "conductor" who helped her in the train. We all had to convince her to "sit down", and once she did, she had one of the biggest smiles on her face! She grinned from ear to ear as the train went around the tracks. Sadly, the train ride came to an end and Gretchen through a fit trying to get out, but a group was handing out cookies, so she was easily bribed by that! Gretchen getting into the train.

Gretchen sitting in the train and holding on to her candy cane from Santa.

After the train ride, we went to Macy's. Macy's has an area set up where you can write and send a letter to Santa. Macy's will also donate $1.00 to a charity for every letter. So, we let Gretchen write a letter.

She took a minute to show daddy her letter.

She let daddy help her drop it into the box. We were very suprised that she dropped her letter in without throwing a fit that it was "gone".

I love making these holiday memories with my family, and I hope that you are taking this time to make your very own memories and traditions!

Happy 4 Year Anniversary DJ!

Today is my 4 year wedding anniversary! It has been a wonderful 4 years, that have gone by so fast. DJ and I have been very blessed to have lived in some wonderful places, met amazing people, and have a beautiful little girl. Through it all, DJ has been an amazing support system for me, and my best friend.

Here are a few pictures from our wedding: Mr. and Mrs.

Walking down the aisle with my brother.

My wedding bouqut.

One of my bridal portraits at the state capitol.

My muff, bouquet, bell, shoes, flower girl basket, and ring bearer pillow.

As I reflect on our wedding day (I really wish he'd burn the videos onto DVD) I realized this morning how much our life has truly changed (and how blessed we are amongst all of the chaos). DJ got Gretchen up, and for once she wasn't calling for 'mama', changed her diaper, and sent her to me so I could get her dressed. I had to force her clothes upon her as she was trying to pull them off. I then went into the kitchen where DJ had fixed her breakfast. She refused to sit in her chair, so I had to hold her in my lap while we both ate. She then stole my cereal bar, so DJ had to get me another.... I asked DJ to iron my pants while we ate breakfast, but I had to go find them for him. By this point we know we are going to be late. He decides to take her to daycare, and we are scrambling to get out of our bedroom and into the cars, as Gretchen decides to dump out a glass of water onto our furniture and herself. She requires a change of her shirt, and DJ cleans up all of the water. We head to the door, and as I get in the car I hear my daughter screaming because I left her with her daddy.

I think this morning pretty much sums up our normal, romantic, fairy tale life, that I don't really remember dreaming about on our wedding day 4 years ago. But, through it all, I'm thankful that DJ is there with me to share in these moments!

Happy 4 years, honey- I love you!!!!

Dancing with Daddy

DJ is a much better disciplinarian than I am. Therefore, there are times where he feels that Gretchen loves me more. But, it's moments like these where I think, "she truely loves her daddy".....

On Saturday, DJ jokingly spun me around the kitchen while Gretchen was eating lunch. She immediately hoped down, grabbed daddy's hand and started spinning herself. It was so cute to watch them dancing.

After they twirled a few times, they stopped so I could take a good picture of the two of them.

And, they shouted, "mommy!"

Winner!!!

Jeni is the December giveaway winner! Congratulations Jeni!

I've just sent you an email, so hopefully I will hear back from you soon to get your snowman clippie and suprise in the mail!

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 2 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Gretchen's Visit with Santa

DJ and I finally had some time to take Gretchen to see Santa on Sunday! This month has been so busy and we don't even have a bowl game to prepare for!

We were able to get one good picture with St. Nick, but only because I was in it! Gretchen would not go near him! She would not sit on his lap, she would not sit beside him, and she would not sit in front of him. She simply....... ran away!

She only approached Santa because I told her that he had candy. She shyly approached him signing "more". I had to tell Santa that she wanted the candy and that his candy was the bribe to get her to approach him. But, as you can see, the candy was not enough to keep her near him!

Applesauce Ornaments

I had this great idea to make cinnamon-applesauce ornaments for family members as a part of their Christmas gift. DJ, Gretchen, and I had fun making them, but our finished product wasn't as I had envisioned!

If you are feeling brave, or just want to have a fun activity with your kids, you can always try this and hope (or pray) that yours come out better than ours!

The recipe is very easy. Measure out 1/2 c. applesauce and pour into a bowl.

Next measure out 1/2 c. cinnamon. Stir ingredients together forming a dough. Form into a ball shape and place on a sheet of wax paper. Place a 2nd sheet of wax paper on the top and roll out the dough.

Using cookie cutters, cut out the shapes. Place them on a baking sheet and bake at 150 degrees for 1 hour. *Note- ours did not dry out in that one hour time and our oven only goes to 170 degrees. You can also let them dry overnight (or for a few days). Make sure you poke a hole in the top to thread ribbon, so they will hang on your tree.

To all of Gretchen's grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.: Please note that you will not be receiving these! It did not help that our toddler wanted to poke holes with her fingers in each one. Also, DJ poked the holes in the middle of the ornament, so even if they did dry, which they did not, they would not hang properly on your tree! We may try this again, but not until next year! It is the thought that counts; right?!

Gretchen's 1st (real) Band-Aid!

Gretchen required her first "real" band-aid this week, and being the 1st time mommy that I am, I had to snap a picture!

She has had band-aid's in the past, but only to cover up shots from the pediatrician's office, so this was the first time that she required one at home.

DJ as busy cooking dinner (yes, he cooks!) and I was unloading the dishwasher (as you can see from the picture below), while Gretchen was coloring (at least, we thought she was). She came over and said "uh oh" and showed us her finger, which had quite a bit of blood on it. The blood was also on her face and on her picnic table (where she was suppose to be coloring). I quickly grabbed a wet wash cloth to soak up and clean up the blood, and found a band aid. Sadly, I couldn't find the really cute themed band aids that I had purchased months ago for this type of occassion, but I had some plain ones in her first aid box, so that had to do. Before applying the band aid I looked at the cut and told DJ that it was just a paper cut and that she'd be fine.

Here she is showing off her band aid:

She was so proud! I later told DJ how pathetic it was that her first band aid requiring injury was from a paper cut! And we went on with the evening as planned.

After she was in bed, DJ found a small ornament shaped candle holder on the floor by our bookcase. He picked it up, and saw that it was broken. He quickly realized that Gretchen cut herself while playing with this, instead of a paper cut from coloring!!!!

Be a Giver: Gift of Love

One of my co-workers is making this adorable gift for her parents! I've been on a kick of creative homemade ideas and when she told me about her project- I had to share!

In theory, the project is relatively easy. Think of a word that would be meaningful to the receiver. In this case, she choose "love". Then, look for architecture and unique items of the letters in the word. This is definitely the hard part!

She first found the "o" in Chicago. Then, found the "e" from a strand of Christmas lights; she just zoomed in. The "l" is a staircase banister, and the "v" is a harp. She wanted each of her letters to go with a Christmas theme.

After you find all of the letters, you can crop, edit, and then frame the photos to spell out your word and voila you have a great gift idea!

I love that this gift can be used for any time of the year! You can do last names for newlyweds, grandparents names for mother's day, father's day, grandparent's day, or birthdays, or you can choose more meaningful words for special occassions. "Love" would even work great for Valentine's day!