Attempting to be a Super Mom

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas before I get us packed up and on the road to KC for our family Christmas.  I'll be back in a few days to share our one Christmas craft (Ben was too sick to do anymore), a few recipes, tons of pictures and some fun stories about our holiday. M e r r y C h r i s t m a s f r o m m y f a m i l y t o y o u r s !

It has been quite chilly lately!  We've had a little snow and last night some freezing drizzle.  With the cold weather comes the dreaded common cold.  We seem to have caught that here in this house.  Sydney and I caught it bad. We've had the fever, runny nose, cough, the whole thing, and Ben seems to have the cough and runny nose but that's pretty much it.  Finally though, everybody is starting to get back to their old selves again. I have so much to do, it's insane!  My Christmas shopping has barely even begun.  That's my goal this evening.  I have yet to take the picture for the Christmas card.  I need to get that done ASAP!  It's been hard with Sydney being sick, and you could see it just by looking at her.  That's not what I want all of our friends and family to see in their one picture a year they get of our kids... I did tell you that I would post pictures of the finished Christmas tree.  It turned out wonderful and I'm so excited to show you.

I came up with this really cute idea to make hand print ornaments.  In the past with Ben we did the plaster hand print, but really, it's to heavy to actually put on the tree.  I came up with another really cool idea.  Since Sydney isn't old enough to decorate hers, I did it for her. Hand Print Ornaments What you'll need: construction paper cardboard (I used and old cereal box) scissors glue markers anything else to decorate with (glitter, sequins, etc.) 1.  Trace and cut out their hand print. 2.  Glue another color of paper to the cardboard and cut out a shape for the backing of the ornament. 3.  Let them decorate the hand print any way they like. 4.  Glue the print onto the back shape. 5.  Write their name and the year on it. 6.  Put holes in the top and weave yarn through to hang it. And you're done.

Ok, so I can't take credit for these cute little ornaments at all.  We got them from  Nerd Nest .  If you haven't gone to their blog, YOU SHOULD!  They are such a cute couple who are quite crafty and creative and have an adorable family. Santa Hat Ornament What you will need: red construction paper cardboard (I used an old cereal box) cotton balls scissors glue 1.  Glue the paper to the cardboard. 2.  Cut out the shape of a Santa hat. 3.  Glue the cotton balls to the Santa hat. Super cute and very easy! Button Wreath Ornament What you'll need: Green construction paper cardboard (I used an old cereal box) green buttons glue scissors 1.  Glue the paper to the cardboard. 2.  Cut out a wreath shape. 3.  Glue the buttons to the wreath. Another super easy and really cute ornament.  Of course I put a whole into each of them using a whole punch and put yarn through it so we can hang them on the tree.

Last night, I was craving some delicious creamy chocolate, so I decided to make some fudge.  It came out so well that my husband and I have been fighting over it.  Haha! Super Easy Chocolate Fudge Ingredients: 12 oz bag of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate) 14 oz can of condensed milk dash of salt about 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract Directions: In a microwave safe container, mix the chocolate chips and the milk.  Heat in the microwave at full power for about 3 minutes.  Stir to make sure it's all melted and mixes together.  Add the salt and vanilla. Line a 9 x 9 pan with wax paper and pour the fudge mixture in.  Put in the fridge for about 2 hours. After cool, pull the fudge out by pulling the wax paper up.  Flip upside down onto a cutting board and remove the wax paper.  Cut into bite sized pieces and put into a Tupperware container to store in the fridge. Warning:  This is super addictive!

I feel like if I blink, I miss weeks at a time.  It's insane how hours, days, and weeks go so fast.  This week we are getting our house decorated for Christmas.  I feel like last week we were carving pumpkins. Last Friday, we went to get a Christmas tree at the farm with Shawn's family.  It was fun but of course, doing anything with the family is fun to me and I LOVE all things Christmas.  Riding out to pick out the perfect tree.  Ben was so excited and kept saying that the farm was so cute.  Bunches and bunches of trees.  Daddy and his baby girl.  We found the perfect tree and now we're all riding back.  Granny holding both of her grand-babies.  The swag my parent-in-laws bought us for our front door. The swag on the front of our house. We were supposed to decorate the Christmas tree we got, last night, but it took a little longer than planned to find all of the decorations.  We'll decorate the tree tonight and I'll post pictures and

My friend Meagan posted on her blog showing her "messy" kitchen.  She wants to see everybody else's messy kitchen.  Well, here goes nothing. My kitchen isn't too bad.  I just need to put away the clean dishes.  The real problem is my dining room! My skin is crawling knowing that people will be seeing this.  I've got a lot to do today so we can decorate our Christmas tree tonight.   This makes me curious too.  I want to see your kitchen, and if you have a different "messy" area in your house that you'd be rushing to clean if you had company on their way over, show me that too.  Put the link in the comments section of this post.