Celebrating Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas morning! Gretchen ran into the living room and immediately found (and fell in love with) her red wagon from her gran and grandpa! We conned her into getting out of the wagon with more presents!

She was very good at opening the presents by herself this year!

She received "bug" and "sheep" from Word World! If your child hasn't seen this show on PBS, then you should definitely turn it on! It's my all time favorite!

Gretchen also received a new outfit for this spring! It has umbrellas on it, because it rains so much here in April!

She climbed back into the wagon, and decided to just open her next present in there.

But, we convinved her to climb out again to open her baby doll.

She's such a good little mommy!

Her grandpops and grandma Dee got her a huge national parks puzzle, along with tons of baby doll accessories!

In her stocking, she received a straw cup, play-doh, nail polish, bubbles, and color wonder tablets for the tub!

How we spent Christmas Eve!

What a week we've had! I've taken a bit of "time off" since we were busy potty training Gretchen (posts to come later). But, I've enjoyed the week with my family, just the 3 of us! It was nice this year to not travel, although our families were missed!

DJ made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. Gretchen has been wanting to "help" in the kitchen, so we let her climb up on a barstool and play with some measuring cups and spoons. She was also able to lick her very first beater! (We try to keep as many sweets away from her as possible) She wasn't sure what to do at first! We told her that she could lick it, but she just pretended.

She finally took a "lick" and loved it!

We went to church on Christmas Eve. Gretchen wore her Strasburg dress from Gran.

When we got home, she picked out a few cookies for Santa.

She put them on the plate, and helped daddy carry them to the living room.

She set the cookies on the table, and had to have one for herself!

Then, she needed a sip of Santa's milk.

We were able to get a few pictures of her by the tree before she headed off to bed!

Christmas day pics coming soon!

Merry Christmas from us!

Merry Christmas!

- DJ, Elaine, and Gretchen

Play-doh

Gretchen and I have been stuck in the house since Sunday! There's snow on the ground, it's cold, and more importantly, we've been potty training. Which, is going well by the way!

I decided that I wanted to take part of the afternoon today to make homemade play-doh with her. She had a great time helping and pouring everything into the bowl. We used the recipe, and divided it into 3 equal balls, and I let her choose the colors. She chose pink (which turned out more red), purple, and green. My hands are still stained from pouring in too much food coloring!

I let her play with the play-doh when it was all finished. She hasn't been able to play with play-doh in a while, because she eats it! Thankfully, she did not eat this, and had a great time playing!

A few weeks ago, I made play-doh for my neice, Katie, for Christmas. I decorated 3 containers, and made 3 colors of play-doh, using the same recipe.

Katie, recieved pink, green, and purple. I wrapped each in saran wrap and placed in a sealed container. The play-d0h also keeps longer if you store it in the refrigerator.

Below are the 3 decorated play-doh containers for Katie. She also received a set of cookie cutters!

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**

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!

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?!

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!

Be a Giver: Homemade Gift Ideas

Christmas can be a difficult time when it comes to giving gifts to all of your loved ones. Especially, if you are required to give to your co-workers as well! I was never a fan of homemade gifts, but as I've become a bit "craftier" and more resourceful since we're on a budget and we have to provide for Gretchen's Christmas, I think that homemade gifts can be a great idea!

All of these gift ideas were found here. The first is a message board. This would be great for anyone! If you're giving too a teenager, use fun and funky fabric with coordinating ribbon! If it's for a parent, friend, or co-worker, use something a little more timeless that can go with the decor in their home or office. DJ and I acutally have a magnetic message board and I love that it hangs on the side of our fridge and holds all of our little importang messages!

The next is Cocoa in a jar. If you are required to give gifts to your co-workers, this would be a great idea! You could also include a cute coffee cup!

Okay, so the 3rd is a little strange, but I remember making these as a little girl, so I had to include them! Pinecone fire starters are fun to make with kids and can serve as a great gift to grandparents or great-grandparents- just make sure they have a wood burning stove. Take your child on a scavenger hunt to find pinecones and melt your old candles to create the wax. Tie a string around the top, and let your child dip the pinecone in until it's fully coated.

If you know a mother who needs some time to relax; make her these adorable soaps! You can use cookie cutters to make different shapes.

Or, give her a beautiful jar of bath salts!

DJ and I are giving a few homemade gifts this year for Christmas. I'm not going to post them until after the holidays, so I won't ruin the suprise. But, I'm excited to share them with you! Hopefully, you can take some of these ideas or google for some of your own!

A touch of Christmas: Our tree!

These are the last decorations I have to show you, but it's my favorite!!!! Our Christmas Tree!

DJ put the tree up while Gretchen and I were in Branson, and we spent last Thursday evening decorating it! I love that our tree is so personal to our family. DJ and I always purchase an ornament when we travel, instead of a cheesy souvenier. It's so much fun to unpack the ornaments and remember all of the fun places that we have been! If anyone ever wants to buy me a cheesy souvenier- please buy me an ornament instead!

DJ's favorite is the ornament he purchased when he went to Hawaii. He purchased it from the Pearl Harbor memorial. I'm not sure if I could choose a favorite, but we purchased a Mardi Gras themed ornament last year when we were in Alabama for the bowl game, and I love it!

The pictures aren't very good, for some reason I can never take wonderful pictures of my tree.

But, I hope you enjoy! Our tree with the lights on.

The top half of our tree. The angel came from my Aunt Donna; I love her!

A further away view of the tree. I purchased the gold tree skirt from Hobby Lobby a few years ago, and the little train, came from my great-aunt Mary Lou. Gretchen's fascinated by trains, so we have to warn her to not touch it!

See!

I took a few pics of her Saturday evening after her bath; hence, the wet hair! My mother purchased these pj's for Gretchen and monogrammed her name under the snowman!

I would love to see pictures of your tree, so if you have a moment leave me a comment with a link to your blog!

A touch of Christmas: Kitchen and Living Room

We finally have our entire house decorated! Much thanks to my husband for putting up all of the lights (he even bought timers for all of them!) while Gretchen and I were in Branson.

I have been racking my brain all weekend about what to post; I feel like it's been a while and we had such a busy weekend that I really had to take some time to get in the mood. But, as Gretchen and I cuddled by the fire last night with the Christmas tree beautifully lit and watching The Santa Clause 2; it just put me in the mood! I needed that- the holidays are so stressful and I'm not sure that's what God intended as He sent His Son to be born on that day. I hope that you are finding some time to relax and enjoy the season!

Okay, on to the fun stuff- the decorations!!! Have I told you yet how much I love Christmas?! It's my favorite holiday, and remember I was married at Christmas time! A few weeks before our wedding some wonderful family members of mine hosted a Christmas themed bridal shower for me, and it was by far my favorite! Thanks to this shower, I was set for Christmas decorations for our tree and house, and wound up with beautiful serving pieces. If you know someone getting married, you should keep the idea of a holiday themed bridal shower in the back of your head!

Alright: I had to post a few more of my decorations in the kitchen: Our advent calendar (has pb cups inside-yum!) and an adorable serving dish that I received from my high school friend/sorority sister, Rebecca. I just received the smaller countdown from my Aunt Mary while we were in Branson.

A few decorations on top of my fridge (sorry for all of the cluttered art work and menu's- that's what happens when you have a child!) I have a Santa cookie jar and Santa pitcher; I believe my grandmother gave me both of them.

And, in our back hallway. I placed all of my "country" themed decor on our antique secretary. I purchased the sign above the secretary last year after Christmas (on sale; so it was dirt cheap!) and placed the ribbon to hang it with hot glue!

My mantle- I wanted to make it "big", but this was about as big as I could get it! I used garland, gold mesh netting, beautiful holly bushes that I have, my 2 rose bowls (1 with a candle, the other with sparkling berries), and 2 candlesticks (a gift from my MIL last Christmas), along with our snowflake stocking holders and stockings- purchased from Lillian Vernon.

And, another view....

If you haven't taken the time to post your holiday house on your blog, please do so! And, leave me a comment pointing the way to your blog so I can see everything! I still need to take the time and post my tree (I love it!), but I can't wait to see everyone else's! If you still need some holiday inspiration, check out this blog!

And, don't forget to enter the December giveaway! I'm probably going to throw in a suprise for the winner!!!!