Happy New Year's Weekend

Happy New Year's Weekend!!!

I thought I'd leave you with a really yummy recipe to try while you're watching the Rose Parade on Sunday morning:

I have recently been introduced to

Kneaders Cinnamon French Toast.

It is amazing...beyond amazing...I dreamed about it after my first time trying it.

I googled it to see if I could find a good copycat recipes, and what do you know...Kneaders revealed their recipe on Good Things Utah in 2009.

ABC4 was nice enough to post it so everyone can give it a try.

Now...the best part of this recipe is the actual Kneaders Cinnamon Bread...but any bakery Cinnamon Bread would probably be good as well.

You can find the recipe with images from The Sister's Cafe HERE and ABC's post HERE.

Ingredients:
Kneader’s Over-Night French Toast
1 loaf Kneaders Chunky Cinnamon Bread cut in 8 slices 
8 eggs
3 c. milk
1 T. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 T. vanilla
2 T. butter 
Preparation:
Butter a glass baking dish generously (9" x 13").  Place the bread flat in the baking dish.  Mix all remaining ingredients, reserving the butter and pour over the bread. Cut butter into pieces and dot over the top. Refrigerate over night or at least 1 hour.   Bake 45 - 50 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serves 8
Kneader's Carmel Syrup
1 c. Brown sugar
1 c. Creme
1 c. Light Karo Syrup
Blend together and heat on stovetop until sugar is smooth.
Serve warm.

See you next year :)

Christmas Recap - part 3

After staying up most of the night on Christmas Eve getting everything ready, I was wiped out.  I didn't even wake up when Saxon sneaked into my room in the morning.  I woke up to him whispering "Mom...looks like I've been good..."  LOL  After multiple threats of "Santa is NOT going to come this year if you act like that!"  he had to sneak out and verify for himself.

Here we are, so excited we can't stand it!

Except for Dalton.
This is how he felt about it:

Saxon LOVED his legos:

Bridger LOVED his Hotwheels:

I like it when my kids get gifts that make them think (like legos, race tracks to build, and books, and games).  My least favorite toy of the year: "Doggie Doo."

My cousin thought it would be hilarious to give Dalton a dog that poops.  You feed it "food" (which is more like slime) and take it for a walk.  As you wiggle it along, the slime makes it's way through the dog's body until it lands on your floor.  It even comes with pooper-scoopers in a variety of colors.  Each kid gets their very own.  Yeah.

What is your least favorite toy?  Whoopie cushions, Nerf darts, and Moon Sand also top my list of least favorites...

Review

Amanda from Ninth Street Notions won a shopping spree from Craftaholics Anonymous Black Friday Event and chose to use it in my shop!  I was so excited that she picked my shop and even more excited when today, she posted a review about it.

Go check it out at Ninth Street Notions.

Christmas Recap - part 2

After the fruity pebbles disaster and the peeing on the shower curtain disaster...Nate got home just in the nick of time.  He finished putting the house together and dressing the kids while I finished putting dinner together:

Costco Christmas Ham:

comes spiral cut and with a package to make your own glaze.  I love "Honeybaked Ham" but they are so expensive, and the Costco one is a comparable alternative.

Salad:
This is my favorite salad recipe.  Not only is it fresh and fun, but I love the colors :)
-Romaine Lettuce
-1 Granny Smith Apple cut into pieces
-1 Pear cut into pieces
-Strawberries sliced
-Feta Cheese
-Candied Almonds (we mix sliced almonds with sugar in a skillet until the sugar melts and caramelizes on the almonds)
-Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing

Christmas Lemonade:
2 liter bottle of lemonade
64 ounces of cranberry juice
orange slices

Christmas M&Ms:

Once we finished dinner, Gm. & Gp. G gave the kids matching jammies to open.  The big boys are Bumblebee from Transformers, and Baby E is a baby bumblebee :)  She's so cute!

After about a dozen attempts at a family picture...this is the best one we got:

Trying to get a "Grandma and Grandpa picture" was even harder.  We settled for getting everyone is the picture, even if no one was looking:

Once everyone left, we started trying to settle down the kids.  We tracked Santa online and let them know that they better hurry :)  We finally got Saxon down, and Dalton down, but Bridger was too wound up to sleep.  It was midnight by the time he was finally asleep...

I was cursing myself for not finishing wrapping all of the presents ahead of time.  At midnight, Nate and I started getting everything ready for Christmas Day...

Christmas Recap - part 1

This Christmas season has been unusually busy for us!

Between my etsy shop, and my husband having to work a million hours, it's been hard to get anything else done.

We invited my husband's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, but since Nate had to work all day on Christmas Eve, that left me to take care of the preparations by myself.

I was busy from the time I woke up in the morning...I didn't even dress my kids.  I wanted them to look nice for dinner, and I figured that the best chance I had was to dress them just minutes before dinner started.  I scrubbed the bathrooms...mopped the floors... folded the laundry... all while trying to make sure the rolls were rising and the fudge was cooling in the fridge.  

While I was entirely distracted, Dalton helped himself to breakfast...

Of course it had to be fruity pebbles that he dumped everywhere!  I was in a hurry, so I vacuumed up the mess and threw a tablecloth on to cover the fact that there were fruity pebbles wedged into the cracks of my table.  He was pretty impressed with his self-sufficiency:

While I was frantically cleaning up cereal, I heard Bridger go into the bathroom that I had just cleaned.  When he came out I said "Please tell me you aimed..."
Bridger: "Actually...I missed...sorry..."
Figures.
There was pee everywhere.  How does that happen?  So...back to cleaning the bathroom...

"My Gift" Ornament - Tutorial

I first saw this idea on A Lemon Squeezy Home and LOVED it!  I thought it was so creative, and such a fun way to teach kids to give back.  They are Christmas ornaments with a picture of Baby Jesus on one side and chalkboard on the other.  The kids can write what their gift to Baby Jesus will be on the back of the ornament.

Here's how to get started:

First, I had my husband cut and sand six, 4 X 4 inch, pieces of plywood.

Then I painted all of them, on both sides, with chalkboard paint.

You could also used chalkboard spray paint.

Next, I used Mod-Podge to glue and seal a picture of Baby Jesus on to the ornament.

I used several coats because I want this to last year after year...

(I bought the pictures at Seagull Book Store.  They were only 47 cents each.  They were a little hard to find this late in the season, so plan B was to just cut some pictures out of a magazine or ad).

Once it was dry, I flipped it over and stenciled each of the kids' names on an ornament.

I also had my husband drill holes in the sides (for attaching the string).

Last, I tied some twine on the top to hang it by.

I really love how they turned out!

Every year when we get out our Christmas ornaments, I'm going to have my kids write what their "gift" to Baby Jesus will be and we will hang it up on the tree as a daily reminder.

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas this weekend!

See you next week :)

Baking Day

BAKING DAY!!!

 Don't you love having a baking day around the holidays?

My sister-in-law and my cousin came over to help make dozens of treats!

We made:

Brown Sugar and Maple Cookies from Cheeky Kitchen

Oreo Truffles:

1 pound oreos crushed

8 oz. cream cheese

Dipping Chocolate

-Just mix the crushed oreos with the cream cheese until it forms a consistency like cookie dough.  Then roll them into 1 inch balls and put them in the fridge to firm up.  After 15-30 minutes, take them out and dip them in melted dipping chocolate.

Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies with Mint M&Ms.

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

(I cheated and just bought the Betty Crocker Mix.  I still haven't found a made-from-scratch gingerbread that I'm in love with)

My too-cute-for-words-identical-twin-nieces helping themselves to some oreo truffles :)

We finished by making English Toffee from my other cousin's blog.

Every year I buy cookies tins after Christmas when they are 75% off at Walgreens.

Then I pack them away with my Christmas stuff until the next year.

That way I always have a cute, "free" gift ready to give to a neighbor or friend.

Every surface of my house was covered in cookies!

So fun!

What I Wore...Holiday

This is what I wore to church on Sunday.

It is my FAVORITE skirt!

My mom sent it to me one year for Christmas and I wear it all the time!

Skirt - Surrealist

Sweater - Target

This skirt is solid lace.

I actually had to buy a slip to go under it because it really is all lace...LOL.

It is different types of lace in different layers, and sheer from the knees down.

I had to wear legging under it because it was FREEZING on Sunday!

I asked my husband to take a picture of my skirt so that I could show you the details in it, and this is the picture he took...LOL...oh well.

I'm also getting a little bored of my hair lately.  I need some suggestions for long-hair ideas.  Any thoughts?