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Free Christmas Printables!

Just made a new blog friend! She was kind enough to gather up TONS TONS of free christmas printalbles! Sassy Sites, check it out! So many cute things! 

SASSY SITES: CLICK CLICK!

Eggnog Fudge (as a plea of forgiveness)

Ok...funny story, I disappeared I know and my reasons for that could be excuses that go on forever so but who has the time? SO...I will just move on to this AMAZING recipe for fudge I found from Recipe Girl.

I tend to stress when I am taking something to events...I like to make something that people will like, but have it be that something new and just AMAZING. Also I wanted to stick with the holiday theme...long story short I was dying for some fudge...holiday fudge. Peppermint? No. Plain fudge...not holiday enough. But EGG NOG FUDGE?! Winner! I love love love eggnog so I was so excited, I know my husband doesn't like it but I didn't care, there was bound to be some peanut butter something for him.

My only regret in making this was that I didn't do it in the morning because it smelled divine and oh so Christmasy! Here is where the funny story comes in...I was just loving it the whole time taking deep breaths over and over...MMMM...and just as I am finishing up and enjoying the first taste of my labors my husband walks in and says: (loudly and with disgust) "oh that stinks so bad!" I would have been offended but it was too funny because I had just been enjoying it so much! Also I pity him poor soul doesn't know what he is missing. But if you are like me and LOVE eggnog this is something you should try!

eggnog fudge

Yield: 30 to 40 pieces

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 12 min

ingredients:

2 cups granulated white sugar
1/2 cup salted butter
3/4 cup dairy eggnog
10.5 ounces white chocolate bars, chopped into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus a little more for the top of the fudge
One 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
1/2 teaspoon rum extract*

directions:

1. Line an 8 or 9-inch square pan with foil and let it hang over the sides. Butter the foil.

2. In a heavy, 3-quart saucepan combine sugar, butter and eggnog. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 8 to 10 minutes over medium heat or until a candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

3. Using a wooden spoon, work quickly to stir in chopped white chocolate and nutmeg until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in marshmallow creme and rum extract. Beat until well blended and then pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle a little freshly ground nutmeg on top. Let stand at room temperature until cooled. Refrigerate if you'd like to speed up the process.

4. When completely cool, cut into squares. Store in a covered container.

tips:

*I cut down from 1 tsp of Rum Extract and it was perfect for me but its your call.
*This fudge freezes well. Place in a covered container; it will keep for several weeks.

Source: photo and recipe from RecipeGirl.com (Adapted from Recipezaar)

homemade hot chocolate, and peppermint mallow's

We blessed my little girl last week and I did NOT want to do the whole packing everyone into my house thing yet I wanted everyone to stay a while...I know I know. So my solution was hot chocolate and cider. Easy thing for people to stand and enjoy and just perfect since the first real snow of the season was the day before.

And because I like doing cute fun things I made some peppermint marshmallows. Now if I were really good I would have made marshmallows but I didn't and this was a fun and pretty alternative.

You need:

• marshmallows I used big ones
• chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)
• candy canes
• about a table spoon of oil to mix into chocolate if you want it soft

Pretty simple really, dip your marshmallows into chocolate then into peppermint pieces. Place upright to set up. I put them into a pretty dish along with plain one's so people could choose. It was fun!

Homemade Hot chocolate

(In a crock pot, and way better than a mix! YUMMY YUMMY!)

recipe courtesy of MrsHappyHomemaker.com

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 6 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups of milk chocolate chips

Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips in a crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving. Garnish as desired.

Ok, she also said to replace a 1/2 cup cream with sweetened condensed milk to make it even richer! Woah! PRINTABLE

Our Halloween Breakfast

Adorable pancakes anyone??? These have been a fun little suprise this morning. I decided since I love love halloween we just had to have something fun. So we made some jack-o-lantern pancakes.

Just make your favorite pancake recipe and add in equal parts of red and yellow food coloring to make the batter orange.

Then pour out your batter into your hot greased skillet and if you didn't get a pumpkin shape by pouring just push it around a little with your spoon.

Next add some delish chocolate chips. I had the large chips on hand so thats what we used! Place onto pankcake while it is cooking on the first side then when its ready flip and WHALA!

The best part was Flints face when he saw his 'punkin' pancake! A easy fun treat for breakfast! 

No bake cookies and cream bars

The other day I was going to a family gathering and about ten min before I forgot I was supposed to take cookies. Thankfully I remembered these little babies I found on picky palate!  Seriously a little melting a few stomps on a oreo package and wala! They were a hit! Really grind them up or leave a few more chunks, its totally your call!

No Bake Cookies and Cream Bars

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• One 16 oz package of Oreo Cookies
• 5 cups large marshmallows
• 4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Butter an 8X8 inch baking pan. Line the baking pan with parchment paper letting the paper extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Butter paper; set pan aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse Oreos  until ground.
3. In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt butter and marshmallows in the microwave until puffed, about 1½ – 2 minutes. Stir in ground Oreo Cookies until combined. Transfer to prepared baking pan. Using a piece of wax paper, press rice mixture evenly into prepared pan.
4. Let set up for at least 10 minutes. Cut into bars and serve.

Yields: 16 bars

pom pom spiders

This was fun! Sunday we made some pom pom spiders at my mother in laws! Such a great activity for my kiddo! All you need is:

Large pom poms
pipe cleaner
beads for extra cuteness
glue
stickers for eyes (we used styrofoam stickers)

You just take four pipe cleaners cut to desired length twist and glue under pom pom. Bend legs as desired and add whatever beads you want add some eyes (googley eyes would be fun too!) The kids loved doing it and loved playing with them even more! They were cute easy and so fun!

Let it go...

What did I do for myself this week? I let things go. I didn't worry about my house 24/7 I always chose the kids first. And you know what it was wonderful. Now I always really choose my kids first anyone who knows me knows I don't have the imaculate house I just dream about it. But I let myself not worry about it. And to be honest my house was just as clean if not more than usual.

I swear I saved energy not stressing over what I wasn't doing. Insead I made halloween costumes, and ran a booth with the beehives at our halloween carnival, went to black island farms, and shopping for family pictures (that one would have been better without my kids) but it was all wonderful! We TOTALY survived and at naptime I honestly had a little more energy to get things done and in a few short bursts I was able to get as much done as would normally take me a whole morning! So for the following week what I would challenge you to do is just LET IT GO. Don't worry, it will be fine and kids aren't kids for long. So don't stress just enjoy...baby steps, over a few naps you can get done what you need too.

Slacker...but...Doughnut Cupcakes.

Ok, I am a slacker but come on my baby turned two and my other baby is growing so fast I can't even believe it! Anyway with how fast life is going I get so behind and I can never seem to make it to the computer it often comes down to blog, or bed...and I choose bed. But here is a doughnut cupcake recipe to sweeten you up...and hopefully help you forgive me.

For Flints birthday we took him to the Zoo, it was way better than trying to fit everyone in my house. I just took some cupcakes and found this recipe in a book I have. I am assuming they are supposed to be like a cake doughnut and while they weren't as doughnuty as I would have liked...they were still a tasty cupcake. Perfectly sweet, but not overwhelming, and a little more dense than a normal cake.

Doughnut Cupcake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/4 cup mashed potatoes

1/2 cup milk



Mix together and divide into paper liners. Cook at 350 for 15-18 min.


Easy peasy but...if anyone has a cupcake recipe that is more cake doughnut than actual cake...let me know because that just sounds delish!

Getting Organized!

Ok, one thing I've decided to do for myself is get organized! I always want too, and I am but there are always those areas that I never get too because the everyday stuff keeps me so dang busy. So as with many other things on my now almost year old resolutions list there is no more tomorrow I am doing it TODAY! So yesterday I got my house pretty clean and I really didn't even mean too I was just thankfully super productive! I played with kids and had a house people could come too without me wanting to crawl under one of the messes and die. Yeah. It felt pretty good.

I had a friend tell me about fly lady about a year ago and I got as far as the sink and of course life happened. Now while I am not sure I'll do everything of hers I will keep up the sink thing. She says shine your sink and keep it that way. So like you rinse a dish then put it in the dishwasher because you have to dry your sink out so it will stay shiny. And from having a shiny sink you want everything looking shiny. I will say that is true...it seems to work for me so I am going to go finish shining my sink and organize my little guys new clothes and I will feel really good about today. Then if I get showered and the cupcakes made for my little guys party tomorrow anything else will just be a bonus and I will be a HUGE SUCCESS!

Also update: I did Zumba and while I learned I really need to loosen up (I kept cracking while I tried to move and groove) I liked it. I wasn't miserable...but I did break a sweat and get my heart rate up and the next day I was sore but the good kind where I could just tell it worked. 

Ruffle Shirt

We have family pictures coming up the end of this month and I have spent more time than I would like to admit or think about looking for something to wear. I haven't been able to find anything...I know what I want in my head but not really...I dunno but look at his ADORABLE shirt! Family pictures or not I totally want to make this! And I can with this great tutorial from Tea Rose House! Thank you Thank you!

Zumba!!!

Ok, I am one that needs motivation to workout...I just don't like it enough to make time for it. So every once in a while I have to buy myself a workout video to give myself something new to do! And I do the video thing because it only makes it harder to workout if I have to leave the house.

I get sucked into the whole info-mercial thing and I saw one for Zumba and it looked like my thing...seems fun...and hello I will look like all the people they showed if I do it right??? :) ha ha jk I know its not that easy I have to give up my peach cobbler and ice cream for lunch first...baby steps.

So instead of investing in the kit over the phone at 3 am (I have a life Hinkley had a tummy ache so we were hiding downstairs so I would stay awake and not wake daddy) I looked around and happened to find one on KSL classifieds! Sweet. A pretty good deal came with the fancy weights and all...so I will be trying it and letting you know!!!

DIY onesie upcycle

My little Hinkley was so much smaller than my first that I wasn't prepared with cute little outfits for her that were that small! I had one to bring her home in but that was about it. Even jammies she only had one thing that didn't drown her. For some reason it was so important to me to have her in cute things that fit and when I couldn't find any little outfits to buy I decided to make some...Onesies were my best bet since my kids are long and skinny and I had some hand-me-downs from my cousin so up-cyling was the perfect solution! 

For the owl I took random fabric scraps and just cut them until I liked the shape, used fabric glue to attach on roughly then my sweet mommy helped me stitch around the edges to hold and define!!! And you can do fabric or googly eyes whatever you have! Easy peasy.

The ruffle onesie was even easier! I cut ruffles off of a pair of pants I wasn't going to put her in and started attaching with fabric glue! Just make sure you have something in-between the front and back of the onesie so you don't leak and glue them together! Then to secure for sure for sure just add a few stitches but your glue should work just fine!  FUN HUH!? Free, and they have ended up being my favorite things for her!

CHALK!!!

Today I have been looking for fun summery things to do with my babies because I know the nice weather will be gone soon and I will be missing it! And now is a better time than ever because it is warm but not scorching! YAY! So this is what I will be doing in days to come: 

• Playing with some classic sidewalk chalk. Maybe drawing a target somewhere and throwing sponges at it til it disappears...so fun especially for my little man that LOVES throwing anything!

• I will make sidewalk chalk paint...and let my kids make a beautiful glorious mess! Thank you ohdeedoh!

• And I WILL be making HUGE homemade sidewalk chalk using this tutorial from oh my handmade! Seriously people are so cute and creative...thanks for being that way so I can have fun!

I love things like this because they are so simple and can make such fun times and good memories for you and your babies!!! So chalk it up!