Sickness strikes and so does Mommy!

It seems as though our family is always sick around the holidays. This weekend I became sick, as did little miss Lia. I am forever sick when she is. I have to cuddle my little baby whether she is sick or not! I try to limit kisses and such but it is just so hard. My wonderful husband, since he is finished with his finals, was able to help me completely. I took full advantage of this. 


I covered up on the couch Sunday after church and just worked on knitting Ava's scarf that I want to put in her Christmas stocking all day long. Ian's scarf is finished and I cannot wait to give them these cute scarves. They both picked out the exact yarn color that they wanted. These are simple scarves mind you. I am just beginning and Ian's stocking was the very first one I have ever knit. The color he picked was great though because it almost looks like I worked very hard on making stripes. Yeah right! I aspire to get there. I really do but I am not there just yet. I will post pictures of the kids wearing their cute little scarves once I give it to them. I hope they love them!

Anyway, this weekend was fun, minus the sickness, and it was actually somewhat relaxing. Jared woke me up with coffee, eggs, and toast. What a nice surprise but I do believe I ate about the first half of breakfast with my eyes barely open! I do love that man. (o; I am so truly blessed. 


Today is PJ day for Ian in his Kindergarten class and he woke up with the sickness. Uh! I hope that he will be feeling well enough to attend school today in his pj's. Tomorrow is his Christmas party in school so I will be praying extra hard today that he is able to attend tomorrow to have his fun party at school.


I hope you have a blessed day! †

Candy is Dandy for Christmas time!!!!!!

I love chocolate. I love it. I just love it. I know that God loves me because he blessed us while we are here with coffee and chocolate. Oh there is nothing better than these two things in life. These are the two essentials things in my life. ANYWAY...now that I got that out of my system. I could go on forever.

Here is a SUPER simple recipe for a great little treat over the holidays and let me tell you from my toughest critics that this is truly a hit! My son told me I am a genius (which I think I am so I am glad he is finally on the same page!). I found this recipe the other day on My Computer is My Canvas by Colette but I have seen it elsewhere also. My sister-in-law had made these and I thought they were cute a while back and when I saw it on Colette's blogs I just had to make them. She made them with the peppermint kisses which are great but VERY strong peppermint flavor so I decided to mix it up! Please check out her site. She has the most amazing printable for this that she made. How cool?! Really check it out and you could totally make little bags of these up for neighbors, friends, or even your children to share with classes.

The end product! Yum (o;

Here's what mine look like. I made dark chocolate kisses, milk chocolate kisses, hugs which is the white chocolate with white chocolate inside, and the peppermint ones as well. I found the peppermint at our local grocery store, Giant. JUST A QUICK TIP...the different chocolates have a different melting point which completely did not even pass through this poor little mind of mine. The white chocolate hugs (which by the way I hate calling it chocolate when it is not chocolate whatsoever) melted SUPER fast in comparison to the white and the dark chocolate. I would suggest to always do the white separately since the time is just a bit less for that. You do not want to end up with a mess!

Anyway...it's so easy. Here's what you need...
Baking Tray
Wax or Parchment paper
Bag of Square pretzels (My personal preference is Snyder's and I'm sorry but everytime I look at the bag I just wanna say "OH SNAP!!!!!!")
Hershey's Kisses
Hershey's M&M's
(I live in PA so...GO HERSHEY!)

Square Pretzels & Kisses

M&M's

These are ready to go into the oven. Place one kiss on one square pretzel. Make sure they do not overlap whatsoever!

Put one little M&M on each and push it down slightly. Let these cool in the fridge or anywhere cold. Our enclosed sun porch works WONDERFUL when it's so cold outside.

DONE!

So that's it! My hubby is going to be a happy camper taking these into his Christmas party at work tomorrow. When I was making them he really didn't believe it was as easy as I told him and he couldn't believe how quickly they were done. He did steal some already to test. I am also making some homemade biscotti but these were the easy peasy recipe. Now onto the more time consuming recipe. I hope you get to try these because they are fabulous and especially the dark chocolate kisses. YUM!

On a totally 'me' note, I was listening to music while writing this post and heard the Happy Holiday by Bing Crosby (Beef Wellington Remix) and I thought, "Man...I need to put that on my mix for my blog because I love it!" Yeah...I was listening to the mix on this blog. HELLO?!?!?!?! Sheesh...I am one tired mommy. I need a nap myself. (o;

Have a fabulous day and I pray these little treats will be a blessing to you and yours!

God bless! †

Boredom Equals Danger

There is virtually nothing in my house right now that is safe from my craft spree I have been on lately. I can almost see the things in this house cringing when I look at them like they are thinking "Oh man...is she going to turn me into something else?!" Yes...I probably would if I could. There is a beautiful little black frame that my husband bought me as a gift that might possibly be the only thing safe in the house that I am not willing to rip apart, mod podge, or hot glue at this point.

Here it is in fact. The one thing I own I promise I will NEVER use for crafting purposes. What a great husband I have!

"You are the one who makes me smile."

Anyway...yesterday I got bored. I was not bored in the sense that I had nothing at all to do. No. I had lots of cleaning and things I should be working on but I was bored in the sense that it was absolutely nothing that I wanted to do. That's always a problem for me. I need to have the proper motivation and you can never tell what that's going to be at any given time. I don't know if anyone else has this problem. I kind of hope so because sometimes I feel like SUCH a slacker because of it. Instead of cleaning I had decided to try and finish up Christmas decorating which I feel like I will never be done with but not because I have SO much to put out but just because I keep coming up with so many neat ideas.

I had this sign that I saw at the Dollar store that I thought was just hilarious. I put it out last year but this year I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted something that was a little more country and felt like it fit into our home more. I love, love, love the warm country farmhouse look. That is what I am trying to achieve in our house. Little by little it is coming together. Good thing it's not coming together too quickly or I would be out of things to work on. LOL

This was a fun project yesterday while the girls were napping and our son was at school. Here's the original sign which I do still find funny.

I looked at this and thought boy I would love to redo this but I do think it's funny and I don't know if I feel like dealing with all the sparkles on the front....then I flipped it over!

The back was PERFECT and already painted a nice red for Christmas. I also just happened to have some scrapbook paper to put on it.

I only used the top portion of this paper above that I already had in my stash. I can't wait to figure out what to use the bottom half for. I just love that little house! I carefully printed out NOEL from Word in a font and size that would work and PATIENTLY cut out the letters from some red card stock type scrapbook paper which matched the back of the sign. What a pain but it was worth it.

I used Mod Podge underneath and on top of the cut piece of scrapbook paper. Then I placed the letters on carefully after the first layer of Mod Podge dried and did a layer over the letters. This is what I ended up with.

I like it. It's cute and simple but I don't think I am totally finished with this. I may run to Michael's and get a sprig of berries to hot glue to the sides of the sign or something.

This was a fun little project, cost me nothing at all, and I don't think it looks too bad!

Craft Overload!

I have pretty much been on craft overload and so thankful for it! I was so upset about not being able to buy much for Christmas being a one income family of 5 now. I've been looking up so many blogs of people who do these great crafts and spend almost nothing to make them! I almost could not believe it! There is no way this person made this amazing thing using items from the Dollar Store. No way...but they did!

I purchased this beautiful wood frame from Michael's for $1. I decided it would be my first project and I wanted to make it for my dad's birthday gift. He loves camping so I wanted to make him a frame that would had some camping accents on it. Here's what I started with although this is a picture with the edges already painted green. (Special thanks to Ian's paints he already had in his room!)

Before...

After!

All I had to purchase was a pack of embellishments from Michael's for about $4, I already had the ribbon and scrapbook paper, and I did purchase my very first bottle of Modge Podge. I could marry this stuff I love it so much now! LOL The frame was my very first project so please don't judge too harshly. (o;

Here's another project I just finished yesterday and was absolutely bubbling over about. I took a very nice (in theory) mirror from the Dollar Store again for $1! That's all I had to spend on this one. I had the ribbon, hot glue gun, Modge Podge, alphabet sticker letters, scrapbook paper, and the flower I snagged from the girls room. They won't miss it!

Before...

After!

I am so proud of how this on turned out. I made it for my niece who is super girlie, girlie and loves to play dress up, put on lip gloss, & do her hair. She doesn't have a mirror in her bedroom and I thought this would be a great present for Christmas for her.

I have another project I am in the middle of for Christmas. It's a wooden sign that says 'Love'. It was completely unfinished and I did get to pick the color scrapbook paper to Modge Podge onto the letters. I just need to paint the rest brown to match the 'E' and then add some special touches. I should have painted first THEN did the scrapbook letters but my impatient nature needed to see what it was going to look like and just HAD to start something on it. Obviously I need to run out to get a little thing of paint or that would have been done first like it should have. I am pretty precise with my painting skills so hopefully it will not get on the front of the letters.

Love sign in process

How blessed am I that God gave me this passion for creating things and set me up to be able to do this. I was always creative but never thought I would be able to do anything with that side of me in my life. I will do this every year for Christmas from now on. One item thoughtfully made with that person's tastes (hopefully) in mind! I love it.

Now I just need to get better with my camera skills! These pictures are not the best and I apologize. That's another thing I intend to work on getting better with. I might need to bust out the good camera now. I just wish it was digital and not film. Hmmm...

Playing Catch Up

So...there has been so much going on that I haven't even found the time to write about it! Here's a quick recap of what has been going on since the last post.

We celebrated our oldest child's birthday. Ian turned 6 and I am still in a bit of denial that I actually have a 'little' boy who is six years old already. How can this be?! Time really does fly. He is just so intelligent, energetic, and up to try anything. He had requested a pirate theme and a pirate theme he got. A pirate theme right before Halloween...seriously it was like throwing me an easy pitch. Ok...I am not into the baseball analogies. Anyway it was easy peasy! The hubby made a pirate ship out of a large furniture box a very wonderful family member got and dropped off for us. They did games and Ian even told me he wants another pirate birthday next year.

Ian doing his best pirate snarl. ARRGH!!!!

We also celebrated our middle child's birthday. Ava turned 3 years old right before Thanksgiving. She told me while eating her birthday breakfast that she is a real princess now. Apparently that's the threshold. Hit three years old and you can officially become a princess. Aw...Ava you were always our little princess. When I had Ava I said "Nothing pink and definitely no Disney Princesses on anything!" Yeah...she had different plans. She is pink everything and just has to have everything princess she can. Oh boy! At least it was gradual so I could warm up to the idea of so much pink and so much girlie!

Little Miss Ava

We also had Thanksgiving. What a wonderful time to be thankful to God for all the blessings in our lives that He has given us. I love getting together with family in the warmth of our home. I love having a holiday that we do here at our home so we don't even have to go out into the cold once that day. Yay! I love cooking so this is my all time favorite holiday to do here.

The hubby with our turkey. No this is not fully cooked. It came out after searing at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. He does a great job on the turkey!

I also went out Black Friday shopping. Oh my! It was only my second time out on this crazy adventure. The main reason I wanted to attempt getting up at 2:45 am to leave the house at 3:30 and make it to Target that early was to have fun with my sister-in-law and her twin sisters. You think that's crazy, right? Waking up at that hour when I woke up the day before at 4 am to start the turkey in it's fabulous brine. (Thank you by the way, Alton Brown, for making the best turkey recipe EVER! This was our third year and I don't know if I will ever make another recipe it's that good.) Well my sister-in-law and her sisters are hysterical. Not just funny mind you but hysterical. I had the best time and I even got a few things. I can't wait for Christmas! I got home exhausted that day only to have the hubby ready to start taking down Autumn decorations and put up the Christmas ones. Now I can't wait to get our Christmas tree this weekend. The kids are super excited.

Anyway...that's been our crazy couple of months. Now my brain has moved on and been on complete overload on craft projects for Christmas presents but more on that in the next post!

Sleep is NOT overrated!

Whoever said sleep is overrated, must have obviously not been a parent of multiple young children. I have always treasured my sleep. I feel as if I am half falling asleep writing this post!

The joys of motherhood definitely come at a price. That price is sleep deprivation! Some days I wish I could just sleep the day away. Do you know that I have realized I NEVER just lay on our couch. Never! I used to lay there and watch a show during the day or movies but not anymore. Now I go, go, go from the moment I wake up until just about the time I pass out at night. I still sit at night and think 'Seriously...what did I DO all day?!" I know that I am physically in motion all day but sometimes it really feels and looks like I did absolutely nothing productive or that anyone is ever even going to notice the things I actually did get done. Is my husband going to notice I wiped the baseboards downstairs or sanitized the door handles in our house or Magic Erased the black scuff marks on the walls from the kids? No. I know that full well and honestly if the shoe was on the other foot I suppose I might not notice those things either. I know that is just my prideful self coming out that craves the pat on the back at doing a good job. Praise God that He is watching and notices all those little things that I do actually get done. It's the silly things that my neurotic brain thinks of to do. I guess someone here needs to be neurotic about those things or they wouldn't happen.

I often try to remember what it was like when I was young and carefree. When I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted without having to get a babysitter, etc. I can't even fathom that life anymore. I am definitely much happier in my life now at the point that I am but every once in a while a little sleep would make me a happy woman!

I love to watch my children sleep. I think because I am living vicariously through them in the sleep department. That AND sometimes it is the only time all day their little mouths are quiet. I definitely have a lively bunch! I took Ava to the store last night and she just about talked my ear off the entire trip. Now I know how Jared must feel when I continually interrupt him with all my crazy thoughts such as...

'Where do peppercorns come from????'

'Why do they insist on calling dried grapes, raisins, but they call dried cranberries, dried cranberries? Why don't they call it like it is and package them as dried grapes??!!'

Yes, I know I could Google these but it is so much more exciting for me to find out if my husband knows the answer and drive him crazy trying to explain it to me.

Here's to desperate prayers to God for His strength, caffeine, and tylenol during this season of life!!! Can I get an AMEN from all my moms out there?! LOL

Have a blessed day!

F is for Fall AND Fun!

I just found this really fun looking fall project that does not take much to make and the kids to help do it! Yay! It is a cute country pumpkin made out of a roll of toilet paper.

I am excited to make this and if you want the tutorial on this one click here!

Fall is such a fun time for craft projects!

If anyone wants a really simple but cute project to do with the kids for fall...check this out! We have it on our agenda to do next week. I just found it this year and I am excited to have this cute garland hanging up for our Thanksgiving dinner. I think this project will have to be an annual thing!

You can get the full tutorial on this project here.

Enjoy!

Another day another dish!

Our dishwasher and I have had some words today. It has decided to stop washing our dishes and that's just unacceptable. I don't know where it gets off thinking I am seriously going to wash all these dishes especially when I hate getting my hands wet. I know...Jared laughs and thinks it's hysterical. I can't help it. I just hate getting my hands wet and especially doing dishes. Needless to say the dishwasher and I are not on speaking terms at the moment and I am going to need Jared to come to the rescue. I will seriously strike over this one. I just can't have a dishwasher that doesn't work if I am expected to try and keep my sanity. Jared has commented to me that I cook like I am on Food Network with a staff of people just swoop in after me and clean up. Of course as he was telling me this all I could do then is daydream about a huge kitchen where I make it a total mess and someone else comes through and cleans it up. Not only cleans it up but organizes it and puts out all the things I will need for the recipe I will be making next. Doesn't that sound wonderful, ladies? Oh well. Jared's my only current staff and I need to get the other members of the house trained up on this.

I also locked myself out of the house which was quite exciting. Luckily all the kids were with me although I did it once before a year or two ago and Ian was able to unlock the door for me. That would have been a great big help but this time Jared had to come to our rescue. I am not smart enough to have a spare key at the neighbors house. I am so thankful to God for our wonderful neighbor who was home and let me use the phone. Yes...my phone was in the house, too. I guess I need to change some of my habits so that does not happen again. It was not fun.

Lia is not feeling well today. She has some type of wheeze when she breathes and cries so I am taking her to the doctor. They need to make Lysol bombs for homes when sickness hits. Our whole family got sick last week and I refuse to get sick again. I feel terrible that out of all of us that my little Lia is not feeling well. Hopefully the doctor will be able to give her something to make her feel better very soon.

Um...can you tell it's been a very interesting day for me? Maybe another cup of coffee will make me feel better although I think a little Starbucks liqueur would make it so much better on a day like this. It certainly would give me a little more energy to get something done today.

Well off now to make dinner and make more dishes! Grrrr

To Blog or Not to Blog...

Alright so I have been kicking around this blog thing for a long time now and I think I am just going to stop thinking about it & do it! Our lives are so super busy and I do not see it slowing down anytime soon. I am learning that sometimes you need to just make the decision and move on.

This is THE best time of the year in my opinion. I love fall. I love the smell of a crisp Autumn morning, meals in the slow cooker, and the beautiful colors that God allows us to enjoy in the trees. There is the excitement of upcoming holidays to be spent with friends and family.  I love pumpkins and yes I even love it getting dark earlier. I just love having a warm ambiance in the house with the glow of candles and even the lights of stores when driving around in the evening. I love it all!


On another subject, I have found a passion for all things creative! I absolutely love making gift baskets for people. Here is one I made for my sister-in-law almost 5 years ago for her baby shower.

This next picture is a diaper cake I recently made for another baby shower.

I need to make this into a business! I can not imagine being able to have this much fun using the creativity that God blessed me with and getting paid to do it. How awesome would that be?

Well for now these are the fun little projects I am doing for family and friends. There will be pictures to come of the one that I will be making for another baby shower.

I guess in ending this post...the answer is YES...with all the things going on in my life I will be blogging and it will be more for my sanity than yours but if it helps yours then that's just a plus.