Long Time...

So the holidays happened.  The boys had not one but two birthday parties.  A new job entered the mix & life just got crazy.  Not sure if we will keep this blog or not.  He says yes, I say no.  Maybe if he blogs a lil more often...
Anyway... The blue truck died on Christmas Eve so we bought a 2009 Town & Country that looks something like this...

We love the extra room but not the extra gas expense.  This thing gets terrible gas mileage!  Other than the extra $$  things are going good.


Other than that we've just been working on the house.  Finally have some wall stuff hanging.  They are empty picture frames, but at least they are up!  Light fixtures redone, and more wall stuff...  It's coming together bit by bit.  :)

Valentines day was great!  I found misc. Valentines Day stuff on the counter (mug, blanket, candy) and had gotten a dozen roses the week before.  Started to make coffee & found a zippy bag buried in the coffee grounds.  Pulled the bag out to find tickets to Elton John!  While neither of us are huge fans, he will never come back here again.

For his Valentines Day gift I ordered him an MP3 player (so he stops using mine), new ear buds, slippers, and a few other misc. items.  Overall, great day.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

Cranberry Pecan Biscotti & Monster Cookies...

Started the holiday baking finally.  I made Monster Cookies with the boys.  They truly believe that the cookies are for Monsters.  It's too funny!  Next up was Cranberry Pecan Biscotti drizzled with white chocolate.  They are so good I can not wait to make more.  Here's the recipes:

Cranberry Pecan Biscotti

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1cup dried cranberries
•  3/4 cup crushed pecans
• White chocolate or almond bark for melting/dipping (optional)
• For added flavor you can add orange zest, almond extract, cinnamon, &/or nutmeg depending on your tastes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.   Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place dough onto cookie sheet & form into a 2 inch log.  Bake in oven for 35-40 min, or until it is golden brown.  Remove from oven & cool for 10 min.  Using a large kitchen knife, slice diagonally into 1 inch slices.  Arrange slices onto their sides & place back in oven for 10-20 min (or until desired dryness is achieved) at 275 degrees.  Melt chocolate or almond bark & drizzle (or dip) biscotti.  Enjoy!

Monster Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1-1/2 cups peanut butter
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon corn syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup M&Ms
• 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Chill dough for an hour in fridge (this is optional, I find it less messy when cold).  Roll into 2" balls & place on cookie sheet 3 inches apart.  Flatten slightly with a fork.  Bake in oven for 13 min or until golden brown.  

Next baking project... Christmas cut-outs (ugh) & something with peanut butter because we have at least 4 jars in the cabinet. 

Sick Day...

The boys have been sick with a stomach bug this past week.  Today I had both of them home from school.  Most of our day looked something like this...

It's been a day full of lil boy movies & cleaning/disinfecting.  Hopefully they will be on the mend soon & no one else gets sick.  :)

Elmer's #CanYouTopThis Challenge- Christmas/Birthday Countdown!

December is a really big deal in our house.  Not only is it Christmas time, but the boy's birthday as well.  This is the first year the boys understand that Christmas (Dec. 25th) & their birthday (Dec. 26th) are right around the corner.  Because of this realization, I am bombarded with questions on a daily basis.  Most of those questions are as follows:

• Is it Christmas time yet?
• Is Santa coming to my house today?
• Is Santa coming tomorrow?
• Is today my birthday?
• Am I 4 now?
• Am I still 3?

Since we have twin boys, we get twice the joy along with two times the questions. Every. Day. All. Day. Long. After a month of questions I decided that I would have to make some kind of Christmas/Birthday countdown in order to save my sanity.  I figured I could pull out the construction paper & Elmer's glue, making a paper chain with a star or something on top.  You know, like the one you made in first grade?  I thought that would be simple enough.  Then I saw Tonya Staab's Can You Top This Challenge.  This provided the perfect opportunity to do something more.  So I decided to take the #Canyoutopthis Challenge.

Supplies:

• 28"x40" Elmer's tri-fold board
• Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick
• Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive
• Hot Glue
• Elmer's Construction Paper
• Fabric of choice to cover tri-fold board
• Scrapbook & Card stock of choice
• 24 Thumb Tacks
• Paint of choice (I use Plaid Folk Art)

Somehow between my birthday (I turned 29 again last week), Thanksgiving, tons of Black Friday shopping, & life in general I found the time to create a Christmas/Birthday countdown.  It started with purchasing an Elmers 28"x40" Tri-fold board at Walmart. 

 

We made a quick stop at Joann Fabrics where the boys & I picked out a light blue fabric from the remnant bin.   When we got home the boys & I pulled out my paper trimmer so I could start cutting out 3"x3" black squares.

Next I got out my Cricut so I could save time (and sanity) cutting out circles.  The boys helped me choose some red, green, & white scrapbook/card stock paper.  I cut out 3" circles for the calendar & 2" numbers for the dates.  So now it was looking like this...

 

While my kiddos were sleeping I glued the squares, circles & numbers together using my Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick.  I LOVE this stuff!  It's the only thing I use on the boy's scrapbooks.  It's great because you can fix or change things if you do not like it (or if you goof up a lot like me).  No worries about permanent glue.

   

I also attached the light blue fabric to the tri-fold board so it could dry overnight.  I used Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive, which I had on hand, to glue fabric to front of the board.  Then I used some hot glue to attach the fabric along the edges on the back side.

Next was Black Friday shopping... I had to take a break from all the glue fun to go get my shop on...  After catching up on some sleep (we stayed up all night) & finding way too many good deals it was time to grab my templates, the Cricut, & get back to work.  I used some of our Elmer's Construction Paper that we had on hand for the Christmas tree & balloons.  The Cricut cut December out in 4" letters.  I glued everything together again using the repositionable glue sticks, even attaching the shapes & letters to the fabric using the same glue.  Found some Santa hat photos of the boys & added those to the Birthday side of the board (they love seeing themselves).  I painted some thumb tacks red & green so I could easily remove them from the board.  This is the final result:

If you are interested in the Can You Top This Challenge there is still time to enter.  View any of these blogs for entry rules:

• Create Celebrate Explore with Tonya
• Sarah's Deals
• Super Saving Sense with Sarah
• Dealusional
• Confessions of an Overworked Mom
• Mama Buzz

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope everyone had their fill of food today.  We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Now go get your shop on at some Black Friday sales!  We have already made purchases at JCP, Kohls, Lowes, & Sears.  Next up is the Walmart madness (and Target too). 

Wedding Party- Photos!

Finally got our photo CD from the party in October.  Here's several of my fave shots.

Cupcake stand (yes we made this, non-metric tutorial will be posted!)

Candy Buffet (was a huge hit!)

Tables...

FUN!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Got the tree set up today.  The boys have been asking me every day since Halloween if it's 'Christmas time yet?'  So we decided to dig things out of storage.  It's a little early this year but that's what worked with our schedule as a family.  Two very excited little boys helped with everything.  I'm sure we will be making cookies for Santa in our near future...