HIPPITY HOPPITY. . . .

Easter's on its way!  Do you remember that song?  Dan sang a line of it to Levi and now he asks me to sing it all the time.  The only part he can remember is "hip hop Easter is on its way".  Too cute.

I've been working on the boys' baskets.  We do the whole Easter Bunny hiding the basket thing along with coloring eggs, leaving carrots out, etc.  I'm a big fan of tradition and this is what I did as a child.  I remember one year when I felt that my mom was lying to me about the bunny bringing our baskets, that I left a note for the Easter Bunny asking him to please sign his autograph on my note.  I figured I could compare my mother's handwriting to the autograph and really know she was "lying".   Well, mom was one step (or hop) ahead of me and apparently used her left hand to write "Easter Bunny" on the paper.  It sure did look like a rabbit used his paw to write it and so for one more Easter, I believed that a rabbit really hid my basket! 

Levi's and Noah's baskets are so easy to fill - too easy, I might add.  I have to stop myself from buying all those little things for fillers - bubbles, crayons, paints, matchbox cars, and of course candy, etc.  So much fun for so little money.  Tyler's and Tanner's baskets are a different story.  What on earth can you buy teenage boys from the $1 aisle????  I picked up some large candy bars, Jr. Mints, and I will probably get them a gas card or car wash dollars from the local convenience store.   I have to say that Ty and Tanner are such good sports about the whole pretending the rabbit is coming and all.  They hunt for their baskets just like the little guys and play along with it all.  I truly am blessed with such great boys. 

Here is a bucket I found at the Target $ aisle.  I personalized it with my Cricut for a certain girl who's coming to visit us this week.  I filled it with some cute things and a little bit of candy.  I hope she likes it.

IT WAS A LOVELY DAY

How was your Valentine's Day?   Ours was busy!  On Saturday, Levi and Noah helped me decorate cupcakes to donate to the Ronald McDonald House.

 

  

Well, they sort of helped.

Then, I made a special dinner for my guys on Saturday night.  I finished it off with a cute dessert:

 
  It is just a brownie cut out with a heart cookie cutter, then I sprinkled powdered sugar and drizzled chocolate over the plate.   I finished it off with a side of cool whip and cherry.  All the fancy desserts I ever ordered have chocolate sauce drizzled all over the plate - try it - it just says "fancy".

Dan got me some gorgeous flowers: 

And we ate at Applebee's later last night after Levi and Noah went to bed.  I was not feeling so hot, so now I wished I would have taken a rain check from my Valentine until a time I felt better.  I actually only took about 6 bites of my meal and I was really not very good company.  I'm still not feeling all that great today, but all you mothers out there know, there is no such thing as a sick day for moms. 

Share with us what you did for Valentine's Day!

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED

Well, Christmas is over and the decorations have all been put away for another year.  It is rather depressing to me.  I mean, we spend so much time decorating, planning, baking, shopping, and wrapping.  Then, in a heartbeat - it is over!  I like the colorful decorations, and the house looks rather bland when they are all put away.  Winter is so long with nothing to look forward to, so what's a girl to do?


One of my BFF, Dawnie, likes to decorate for Valentine's Day.  So several years ago, I decided to start decorating for it too.  I know it is not a big holiday, and if you are single, it can be downright depressing (I'm thinking back to my jr. high years when no one sent me a carnation in school-sniff sniff).   Having a special occasion to plan for and to decorate for makes it a little brighter.  We don't spend much money, but I do get all my boys something little, and I try to make cut out sugar cookies and have a special meal that day.  Dan and I may go out if we get a sitter, but otherwise, that's about it.  

I put up some decorations the last couple of days and the house looks happy.   I brought this skinny pencil tree up from the basement.  Dan does not like this tree, but he's gracious enough to tolerate it for my sake :-).   I put some clear lights on it and it looks so nice and makes me so happy when I look at it.

  

 

I made this wreath this afternoon with some dollar tree stuff.  I thought it turned out okay.  And here are some more hearts and LOVE hanging from the pine garland (which I keep up all year) in the doorways.  I cut these out on my Cricut machine and made hooks using floral wire.  The window clings I made on the Cricut too with some scrap vinyl.

Christmas Eve Menu

I have to say how much I miss not having to cook anything for the holidays!  I guess I'm lazy :-).  When I lived in Pennsylvania, we were invited so many places for the holidays, that I usually ended up only making an appetizer or dessert - sometimes just some cookies!   I figured when my kids grew up and left home, that would be my time to do all the cooking and invite everyone to my home.  My how times have changed!  I now do A LOT of cooking - sometimes most of it!  I guess that's okay - just different from what I was used to.

We invited Dan's parents over for Christmas Eve again this year.  I am making lasagna.  Does that sound dull and boring?  I figure we had turkey for Thanksgiving, and my sister in law is making a ham for Christmas (yeah I don't have to cook on Christmas).  Dull or not, lasagna it is!  I will make some homemade bread, green beans with bacon and onion, and a peanut butter cup pie for dessert.  I am making some appetizers as well - Tanner requested a shrimp cocktail ring, and I think I'll wrap some water chestnuts with bacon.  Oh, and I made slush to drink.

I'll share my slush recipe with you if you share your holiday menus with me!  I need inspiration!  

SLUSH:
1 thawed can orange juice concentrate

1 thawed can lemonade concentrate (tried limeade this year)

1 cup strong tea
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
mix it all together.  Put it in a large bowl with a lid.
Place in freezer.   Several times in the first 12 hours,
stir and scrap sides.  It looks like "slush".
After it has frozen, it is ready to serve.
Take 1-2 ice cream scoops of slush and place in a glass.
Pour 7 up, Sprite, Ginger Ale, etc., over the top of it.
It is quite tasty and won't get you arrested if you need to drive
home after your party!

I put a sign on my microwave to remind myself I need to stir my slush!



Please share those menus!

For Christmas day, my sister in law invited us down.  She is having ham and asked me to make Snickers Salad.  How deceiving is that - anything with salad in the title should be low cal and WW friendly, right?  Well, not with this one!  But it is seriously worth the extra calories - yum!


I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to see some of you soon - if the weather cooperates.

HOMEMADE HOLIDAY, PART DEUX

Holly, my bff from way back in high school (who is also 42 btw) asked on her blog to give ideas of Christmas ideas that were home made.  I posted a couple of days ago the candle holders I made using my cricut and glass etching cream.   Here are some other items I made this year.

This is a Woodland Santa creation.  It is made using scraps of material and cutting them out (from a pattern) and piecing them together with wonder under.  I stitched around each piece, then framed it.

These are just large candy bars I purchased and then, using paper, made them look like a Santa body.  Presentation is everything!

Here are some items I ordered from Arts Cow with photos I've taken all year.   There is a hard back book, and a photo calendar.  The scrapbook (which I purchased separately), then made some very simple pages with scrapbook materials for pictures of the boys.

These items I did not make, but put together for a themed gift basket.  I love giving and receiving these.  This is for the ultimate popcorn lover!  It has 3 kinds of popcorn salt, popcorn (of course), special popcorn oil from Sam's Club, a couple of big bowls, and just for kicks, I threw in a cute dishtowel and pot holder that looks like a gingerbread man.  I put them all in a big bucket that would be great for icing down drinks for a party.

Please share your great gift ideas!  I'm always on the look out for creative gifts to give and fun ways to give them!

HOMEMADE HOLIDAYS

I enjoy making gifts.  I'm not very good at it, but sometimes I get a cute idea off the internet and it turns out just right.  I made these cute candle holders for some people.  They were pretty plain when I got them:

Then, I cut snowflakes out on my Cricut machine and used the negative part to create a stencil.

 

Then I filled it in with glass etching cream. 

 

I let it sit for about 15 minutes for good measure and rinsed it off.  I removed the vinyl, and voila - custom made candle holders.

 

Get a Cricut machine!  It is awesome!

 

 

O Christmas Tree

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How crowded are your branches! 
At least the ones down by the floor;
the little boys kept adding more. 
O Christmas tree, O Christmas Tree,
how crowded are your branches."

 

O

Oh, the Christmas spirit is alive and well in the Anderson/Hoffman household.  Santa's helpers have decorated the tree and then the obsessive/compulsive Mrs. Clause had to move some of the decorations around - there was a huge cluster of ornaments at "elf" level.   

I hate to admit it, but our tree actually looks kinda nice this year.  Not a bad selection by Mr. Clause and his elf helpers yesterday.  Sorry, Mrs. Clause was shopping and did not get any photos of the annual hacking of the tree.

FOLLOW THE LIGHT

Christmas lights, that is!  The town of Marshfield, which is about 7 miles from my home, has a Christmas light wonderland every year.  It is so beautiful, I even forget how much I hate winter.  It gets better and better every year as they add more and more scenes and lights.

They decorate the whole zoo area - wrap lights up the trees, light the walkways, have North Pole scenes up everywhere, and have Santa himself in a little cabin for the kids to visit

  You can drive thru it and also walk - we do both.  The cost is just a bag of canned goods, or a small monetary donation of your choice.  When you drive, you tune  your radio on and they have the lights synchronized with the music - way cool!   

This year was the best for Levi and Noah.  It was not as cold as in years past, the crowd tonight was minimal, and they were old enough to walk most of it on their own.  They loved it.  We took my Saturday son, Kaleb, with us also.  He loves to tag along every year.  We always hit McDonald's after wards too, so that was a big hit for the little guys also.

These pictures just don't do justice to the beauty of the lights.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Follow the Light, Christ.

HOLIDAY PITFALLS

COOKIES-my sworn enemies.  At least when I'm trying to stick to the Weight Watcher's plan.  Oh, I've done so well the past 2 weeks.  Then, we do a cookie exchange at our congregation, and BOOM - I fall off the wagon.  The buttery texture, the chocolate, the powdered sugar, the Hershey kisses - oh, how can I help myself.  Someone needs to get these cookies out of my house - I swear I can hear them call my name! 

Here are the cookies I made for the exchange. 

  (After dipping and sprinkles)     
We had to make 10 dozen and wouldn't you know it - I was 2 COOKIES SHORT!  So, I cheated and gave 11 cookies to 2 people.  I am confessing this now so I don't have this little sin to my name :-).   I made White Chocolate dipped Maraschino cherry cookies. 

(Before dipping)

I think they were good- like I said, I was 2 short for the exchange, so I really did not get to taste mine, and I really don't feel like making anymore.  We'll just eat the ones that I got from the other participants.  Next year, I'll make some of these for my family.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.

I LOVE WHITE TRASH

I LOVE WHITE TRASH!  That totally sounds like a country song, doesn't it?  (Which is why I don't listen to country). 
  White Trash- it is awesome!  What is white trash?   It is a simple, very tasty holiday treat.   I make a batch of this every year and the only bad thing about it is that it gets eaten too quickly.  It is great to bag some up or put some in a pretty container to give out as a small gift (or send to a college student).

Here is how you make it:


10 oz. mini pretzels
5 cups Cheerios
5 cups Rice Chex
2 cups SALTED peanuts
1 pound m&m's (usually I use plain, but I grabbed the peanut m&m's this time, so that's what we used today)
2-12 ounce packs of vanilla chips
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Melt the chips and oil together in microwave (careful not to burn), toss all together until coated.   Place on wax paper until white chocolate hardens.

YOU'D BETTER WATCH OUT

You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout, I'm telling you why . . . . . . Santa Claus is coming to town!

Oh, he's a spunky boy sometimes - takes after his Pa-Pa Nulph.

Here the boys are looking at the Fleet Farm toy catalog.  Making a list for Santa.  



The top of the list is a "jumper thing"- a round, blow up trampolene.  Their crazy mother actually thinks this might be the answer for the jumping on the couch and bed thing.  Plus, I'm just hoping it will wear off some of that energy - that is if Santa brings it :-).   Dinosaurs are another thing that tops the charts this year.  Walking, roaring dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs that make loud noises while the tv is blaring, Ty and Tanner are yelling for them to be quiet, and Daddy is trying to ask me a question about dinner or something. . . .  I'm feeling the weariness of it all already.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Love grows by giving.

DECK THE HALLS

24 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!  Does that scare you?  This year, I have a pretty good handle on my gift purchases.  There are a few things that are causing me some stress, but I'm trying to get a handle on it.

I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving.  I got all the decorations up, except the tree - that is another story altogether.  Unfortunately, we put up a live tree - not a nice one that is harvested from a tree farm, but one that is cut from our property.  The tree looks lovely out in the woods with snow on it, but something happens to it once it gets set up in my living room - see for yourself (this was taken a few years ago):
Beautiful tree!

 What happened to it???  Try as he did, even Tanner could not make it look good!









The other decorations around the house look pretty good, though.  Here are some:

I put the poinsettias and the fake bulb ornaments around the entry ways in the kitchen/dining area.  The pine garland stays up all year, and I add decorations according to the season/holiday.






















Here is the fireplace area.  Ty made the moose silhouette thing for me a few years ago - it is a permanent fixture.   The bear statue is also a permanent fixture.  My bff, Marie got it for me last summer.   I add things to the mantle for the holiday.  The cute picture below the mantle was made by Kevin's mom - it is cross stitch. 

Here is a nice wreath someone got me.

Those are just a few touches I've added for the holiday.  Red seems to brighten the place up - maybe I should make it more a permanent color in my home!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Creativity means believing you have greatness.

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

How's the holiday spirit coming along in your home?  I think I'm off to a good start this year, although I still have a lot of shopping to do and some gifts to make yet (I'm waiting on materials to arrive in the mail).  I work well under pressure, so I'm still calm at this point.  I have however, been making some arrangements with holiday greenery.  I'll share some with you.


Let me give you some background information:  I have this need to shop at consignment stores.  I find some really cool stuff there.  It's true, I'm cheap, but honestly, this is not about being cheap.  It's a treasure hunt.  Garage sales, Goodwill, consignment stores - it's all about what you can find cheap and do something special with it!  It's a sickness, really.  Anyway, there is a new consignment store in Spencer and I stop frequently.  I found this adorable bench there for $5.99!  There is a small water mark stain on it, but that's not a problem!

I fell in love with this cute little thing.  I decided to turn it into a holiday bench and give it as a gift.  I feel badly giving a gift with something I got so cheap at a second hand store, but I figured if I would jazz it up with some greenery, I could sell it for $25-$40, and that would make a nice gift for someone!  Here's what I did:

I just wired in some pine greens, hot glued some poinsettias and then an adorable cardinal.  I was going to add a bow, but it looked too gaudy, so I left well enough alone. 

My second arrangement I made for my sister-in-law, Deanna.  She used her Cricut machine to cut the flying reindeer out of vinyl and added it onto an already painted tin container.  She bought some artificial flowers and greenery and asked me to make the arrangement.  I have to say, I love doing this, especially when I have not paid for any of it! :-)  I thought it turned out okay.  Please remember - I'm not a professional anything, I just goof around until I think it looks okay.  Deanna was thrilled, so I guess that's all that matters.

 
Sorry about the distracting background.

My other little endeavor is to be used on my Thanksgiving table - but since we'll have several tables set up in various locations around my home to accommodate all of our guests, I will probably place this somewhere on the food buffet.  I found this idea on the Cricut message boards; I emailed it to Deanna because I thought it was cute.  I should have known she would have wanted me to make one - she has this knack for seeing something and then deciding "we" should do it :-).  She cut out all the pilgrim pieces on her Cricut and gave them to me along with the silk leaves.  I had the little bucket and the dowel rods here, so I got the hot glue gun out and got to work.  I think it is cute, however, 95% of my guests will probably never notice it - they'll be too busy talking about hunting.  

Isn't Thanksgiving supposed to be about family and being thankful and all that????  When did hunting EVER get invited in?  I could go on, but I'll leave that for another post :-).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:18

Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!

Okay, so I don't have a bear here, but I hope you all had a fun Halloween. Here are my little Lion and Tiger.

We took the little guys to a few family members' houses to beg for candy tonight, then we went to a nice part of Marshfield and walked a few blocks.  These people were fun!  Almost everyone was out on their porch or in their yard and was dressed up - they even dressed up their pets.  I think I had as much fun as Levi did.  Noah was just not feeling in a festive mood today - he was sick most of the night, and although he felt better today, he was tired from his routine being messed up.  It is tough being almost 2.

Anyway, tomorrow is our monthly church potluck.  We do our potluck a little differently from most, and I have to say, I really like it.  We ladies make up a menu each month and list the stuff people can bring.  That way, the other ladies just sign up for something listed and we are guaranteed to not have 4 potato salads, 3 baked beans and no meat!   Tomorrow's menu is Sloppy Joes (or "Barbecue"-that's what they call it here).  I am bringing cheesy potatoes and a dessert I call "Cookie Dough Brownies".  Here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Two-Tone-Fudge-Brownies If you are like most people I know and love cookie dough, you will LOVE this recipe.  My mom and I made this for a potluck one time she was here visiting.  We had to make the cookie dough part twice because we could not stop "sampling" it :-).   As it goes now, I just always double the cookie dough part anyway, because I find from experience, it is what most of the people like the best.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:   Make each day a memory - you never know, it might be the last memory you get to make.

LITTLE PUMPKINS

I sometimes feel guilty for celebrating Halloween.  If you look at the history, it really is not a nice holiday for a Christian.  Yet, I try to keep things fun and not really look at the history.  After all, in my childhood, I never once thought of worshiping the devil because I dressed up on Oct. 31 and begged for candy from my neighbors and family (who usually did not give out apples, thankfully).

Here is a walk down memory lane. . . .   This is Ty and Tanner - don't have a year, but they were dressed like King David and King Josiah (I believe Ty was 8, because he was King Josiah, that makes Tanner 5).   These were the days that I actually got creative and sewed a costume.  Wow-hard to believe I was ever that ambitious.

here is Tyler before a Cub Scout party - he is Zorro.  I have more of Ty in my computer right now because I had scanned a lot of his pictures for the music DVD I made him for graduation. (Sorry Tanner).

This little peanut is my great niece, Naomi. I took this picture of her a couple of weeks ago.  I just think it is adorable.  Love the costume.

Levi and Noah from last Halloween - Levi is a pirate and in case you can't tell, Noah is a lion.  I don't have a picture yet from this year's costumes, so stay tuned. . . .

Here is one of Ty from 1st grade.  They had a pumpkin decorating contest and he made a pumpkin snowman.  He won 1st prize, I might add.   The snowman is holding a sign that says "snowballs for sale" and he has a bag of marshmallows.  The idea was our neighbor's and it turned out pretty cute.


It is hard to believe that all these years have passed - so many trick or treats in New Bethlehem and around the Limestone neighborhood.  Wow-they sure do grow up fast!


Well, for all of you moms out there still making costumes and having to buckle everyone up to go trick or treating - stay calm and when you get home, help yourself to some of the kid's candy - after all, you deserve it!   For all you moms whose babies have grown and you don't do the trick or treat thing, buy yourself some candy and enjoy it because you deserve it!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but LIVE TODAY!