Gingerbread houses!

This morning we went to our library to make gingerbread houses and meet Santa.  Our precious H doesn't have a very good record of meeting Santa and sitting on his lap.  Last year this is what she did:

Check out that face!

And the year before:

Ooops, surprise!

I couldn't find the pic of her with Santa and

I am so bummed!!!  So I thought I would

include this pic of her and V before they met him.

Note the somewhat happy face.  After was not such a happy face!

And here we are in 2011- she would only

go near him if I was holding her.  That's

ok- at least she let me get a picture

of her and V with Santa!  And notice

she is smiling- because I am holding her.  :)

Here he is asking her what she wants for Christmas.

And of course, she is sucking her thumb and not replying.

Oh well, at least we got a pic!

I was so excited for the girls to go to

this event at the library.  I will have to

let you all in on my "secret".  I bought

a gingerbread house kit, oh let's say, about

4 years ago. I had great intentions of us

making it as a family. And every year it went

back in the Christmas totes, unmade, with high hopes

of making it the next year.  And so after 3 years of

doing this, I figured that the candy/icing probably

wasn't very good anymore and I threw it out

last year!  So, when I saw the library was doing this,

you better believe I jumped at the chance to do this!  :)

I can't believe I just told you that. 

Anyhoo, all that aside.... we FINALLY made

gingerbread houses as a "family!"  :)  At the library!

At first, we were all helping H make her house. 

Then I think the creative bug bit V and she wanted

her own to decorate!  :)

I just love watching her decorate her house!

Go V!!

Voila!!  The finished product...

a gingerbread house with 2 gummy bears sitting

on marshmallow stools warming themselves

beside a warm fire in the fireplace.  :)

You can see all that can't you!?!

Now for the update on Hannah's house:

While V was taking her sweet precous time

creating her beautiful house.....

H decided to "deconstruct" the house she just made!

Note how many walls are gone and the candy back in the

cups from whence they came!

Oh yes, we musn't forget all the gumdrops

that ended up in her mouth too!  :)

I'd say that was a very fun and memorable gingerbread

making morning!  Complete with a little visit with santa!! 

Hope you are having a blessed Christmas season as well!

A long awaited Novembver post!

Hey ya'll!  What a busy first 2 weeks of November!!  I had minor surgery, Chad and V had the flu and the weeks just have a way of slipping away before you know it! 

Thought I would catch you up on what's been going on round here.  :)

We did our trick or treating on the right day

but I can't say the same for carving/painting

the pumpkins!  We were just a wee bit late!

Garage sales have been my new "obsession" this

fall- every friday morning H and I hit them after

dropping V off at school.  We have gotten

some good deals and her new fav toy is matchbox cars!

I love the way V comes home from school

and finds something fun for her and

H to do together.  She's the best big sister!

This day she came home and took out

the play doh and played with her!

I think the play doh is a big hit!

You go girl!!  She is daddy's helper

when it comes to fixing cars!

I bet everyone wishes they had

a "Toria" too!!  :)

I'm giving you a "peek" into what I am blessed to

walk around/clean up every day!!!

I think it's amazing what a little 2 year old

can 'create' in a matter of a few minutes!

And if you stop by unannounced, you might

find this covering my family room floor!!!

Not only does she make huge messes-

she also uses herself as a big piece of paper!

And yes, she also occasionally finds

a piece of paper to color too!  :)

Look at my little turkey!

I got this idea off of Pinterest and

this morning we made it together.

It was so fun!!!

And she is SO proud of her turkey too.  :)

My mom gently reminded me I haven't posted a recipe

for a long while (thanks mom!!) so I thought I would

post this recipe I just made last night.  At first I didn't

like it but I thought it was waaay better the second day!

It was to satisfy my obsession with the salted caramel

mocha from Starbucks.  It was getting too expensive to

satisfy it there!  :)

Salted Caramel Brownies

(I got this recipe from my cousin's wife's blog and she posted that it was from Paula's Best Dishes Episode: Sweet Tooth)

Brownies:

One box devil's food cake mix

3/4 butter, melted

1/3 c. evaporated milk

1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a 13x9 baking pan.  In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, evaporated milk and egg.  Stir until smooth (the batter will be very thick).  Spread the chocolate mixture evenly into the prepared pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting:

1/3 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

6 T. whole milk

1/4 c. butter

2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. sea salt

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk and butter.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Simmer 3 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating at medium speed with a mixer until combined.  Beat in the vanilla.  Gently spread over the brownies; the frosting will thicken as it cools.  Sprinkle with the sea salt, gently pressing to adhere.  Cool complely.

Mmmm.

Enjoy!!!



Halloween fun!

Tonight we went to our church's Fall Fest and then went back home to do some trick or treating.  All in all, it was a fun night but H had a few meltdowns that resulted in me having a "meltdown".  But all that aside, we were blessed to share the time together as a family and made some new wonderful memories that we will remember forever!

H is getting the bags all ready for

loading up with candy!

Getting her shoes on and ready

to go to the church fall fest!

We had a great turnout!! 

It was so fun to see so many people.

V pretty much left us as soon as we

got there and hung out with friends and

worked a few booths.  She said

she had a great time!!  :)

H wanted to go in the jumpy house so

bad and bless her heart, she tried to

go in there.... 3 times!  Each time she

would get to the entrance and stand there,

turn around and look at me like I was supposed

to go in there too.  Then I would take her back down

and she would scream and cry.  Thus was the

beginning of the meltdowns!  Throw in me

trying to put her coat on when she didn't want it on,

plus she had a cold and it was cold out!  Arrrgh. 

She did enjoy some happier times with daddy

eating candy and.....

being held by her sister.  V can

pretty much always calm her down!

Oh, how I laugh when I think of how this pic turned

out with just V.  I wanted a pic of the girls but H wouldn't

go near the bench to sit down but instead hung out on

the left side of V. When we tried to get her next to V,

she screamed and cried.  V probably wanted to too!

Daddy saved the day!

Then we came home and went trick or treating in our neighborhood!

At first we walked to the houses,

but Chad really wanted to drive the dune buggy

around so that's what we did!!  The girls

had an absolutely great time!!

H loved going up to the houses

and asking for candy!

Each time we would leave a house and get

in the dune buggy, she would immediately

say, "more houses!"  She was too funny!

She took her job of "collecting candy" verrrry seriously!  :)

Back at the homefront:



V took it upon herself to make 3 piles of candy,

one for Chad, one for H and one for herself.

I was kind of wondering to myself how she

divided it up!  She certainly had the advantage of

picking her fav's and putting it in her pile.  :)

Then H had fun "moving around" the piles and making

V just a wee bit upset!  But she wanted to organize it too!  :)

Well, there ya have it in a nutshell!

Hope you enjoyed your halloween too.  :)