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...

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 s...

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...

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.

This restaurant that we, and I believe most people in Lawrence, love released the recipe to one of their famous soups in April and we finally got around to trying it.  It was A-MAZING! Free State Brewing Company Cheddar Ale Soup Ingredients: 4 tablespoons salted butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup minced yellow onion 1/4 cup small diced red bell pepper 1/4 cup small diced green bell pepper 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup Free State Ad Astra ale 3 ounces cream cheese 3 cups cream 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon white pepper 1 teaspoon hot sauce Fresh parsley and thyme to taste 6 ounces grated Alma white or yellow cheddar cheese Directions: In 1 tablespoon butter, cook onion, peppers and garlic until onion is transparent. Add remaining butter and flour, stir well and cook mixture on medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add beer in small increments, mixing smooth after each addition. Cut cream cheese into smaller chunks and add to mixture. Mash and stir c...

I got this recipe from  Food Network  and it turned out great.  I'm not usually a fan of cranberry sauce but I really liked this one. Cranberry Sauce Ingredients: 1 lb Cranberries, cleaned and dried 2 cups sugar 1/3 cup water 1 cinnamon stick 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1 orange, zested and juiced Directions: In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar and water.  Stir to make sure it's all mixed well.  Cook over medium heat until boiling.  Add the cinnamon stick, nutmeg, and allspice, stir and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for an additional 5-7 minutes.  Some cranberries will burst and some won't.  Add the orange zest and juice.  Allow to cool before serving.

I made these for Thanksgiving and they were so good!  I can't believe how amazing they turned out.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of them. Cinnamon Apples Ingredients: 4 to 6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 cup, firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 2 tbsp water 2 tbsp butter Directions: Toss the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a zip lock bag and shake it up, making sure to coat the apples with the mixture. Cook the apple mixture with the water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the apples are tender. You can serve them warm, or like we did, eat them cold. Enjoy!

I'm a little late on that, I know.  I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Nothing is better to me than spending time with people you love and delicious food.  We had a wonderful and really relaxing day.  I did all of my cooking the day before so I could relax.  Thanksgiving morning, Shawn got up to play football with his friends and the kids and I laid in bed and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We spent the entire parade waiting for the Buzz Lightyear balloon which turned out to be about one of the last things in the parade.  Ben was so excited to see it.  Then we went to Terry's (a family friend who is pretty much family) and had a wonderful lunch/dinner with Shawn and Terry's families.  It was wonderful.  Friday night, we had dinner at Terry's house again.  Yummy leftovers! This coming week I have a few goals...  Get my car tagged, come up with ideas for our advent calendar, try at least one new recipe, wor...

I promise you haven't been forgotten.  I've got 2 crafts and an update to post and every time I think I'm going to have a little time to do it, something else comes up.  I thought I would have time tonight, but now we have tickets to the Jayhawks game.  I'm not complaining, I'm excited to go, I just wanted to give a quick update to say I haven't forgotten the blog.

Yay!  My power cord finally came last night.  We purchased a spare as well, so hopefully I don't get caught like that again.  Does anyone else have problems with their laptop power cords fraying near where it plugs into the computer? Halloween came and went.  We did some fun stuff to celebrate.  As shown in an early post, we made and frosted sugar cookies.  We also made rice crispy treats with Halloween sprinkles, carved pumpkins, did a ghost craft with cotton balls, and roasted pumpkin seeds. These are the kids pumpkins. Ben and his "scary" pumpkin.  Me and Shawn's pumpkins. We did 3 different kinds. 1. Cinnamon and sugar 2. Seasoning salt 3. Salt, garlic powder, and curry powder. The day before Halloween, one of Shawn's cousin's got married, and we went to the wedding in Omaha.  Ben was sick, and I was worried about the car ride.  It wasn't too bad, but Ben didn't do well on the ride home.  Sha...