Thanksgiving and Baptism!

Thanksgiving is officially over!!!! We had an extremely busy 4 day weekend!! Why I think we should cram everything into a few days I do not know!! Buut all well, it was fabulous none the less! Thanksgiving was celebrated with Russ's family at his parents house, thankfully for us all we had to make we're horderves! Which were specially requested! Sausage stars! Recipe to follow :) anyway do that was utterly relaxing!! And his cousin had just had a baby just a few days before so I got my baby fix :)

Sausage stars- any holiday party they will be a hit!!

Ingredients:
Yield:
60 mini wrappers
1 lb cooked crumbled sausage meat, casings removed (2 cups cooked)
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups monterey jack cheese
1 cup hidden valley original ranch salad dressing, prepared from mix
1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 (60 count) package wonton wrappers
vegetable oil
Directions:
1
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2
combine drained cooked sausage meat with the cheeses, salad dressing, olives and red pepper Lightly oil mini muffin tins and press a wrap in each tine so there are 4 wings sticking out Brush with oil bake 5 minutes until golden, remove wraps from pan, place on a baking sheet Fill wraps with the sausage, cheese mixture bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly& brown.

yumm!!

As we finished up thanksgiving I was clipping my coupons for my first Black Friday shopping trip!! And wow! We were out from 9pm at night to 6:30 in the morning and I was completely exhausted!! Got everything on my list and saved around $200 though!! So I will say it was a success, however next year I think I will be using amazon as they were price matching and had free shipping!

We then decorated the house for Christmas!! Pictures to come soon as I finish the details!! As well as our family Christmas pictures! :)

Then an exciting time as we got our kids baptized! It was a whole family affair with Russ's neice and his sisters neice as well!! Soo it was a eventful and exciting weekend!!

Christmas updates to come!! :)

Holidays Have Arrived!

I know, I know, been a LONG time!! Soo Sorry!

I am in full holiday swing these days and have even started off with hosting a Holiday Cookie Exchange last weekend! I have never hosted nor been one before so it was all new teritory for me, but I am soo wanting to establish new holidayu traditions for my kids to grow up always remembering, although they were not interested in anything to do with the cookies, other than eating them... :/ maybe next year!

Anywho I tried to research how other people have hosted them and decided to have people do 6 dozen (which happened to be WAY too many for the amount of people who could make it) and then I made 6 dozen sugar cookies just for us to decorate during the party! It seemed to be a hit and everyone had more than enough cookies to take home! I even brought a box to work and so did the boyfriend, there were about 3 dozen cookies gone in about an hour! Cookie Monsters I tell ya!

So i ventured into making Peppermint bark, which again I have never attempted to make beofre and to my surpise it was VERY simple and i will be making much much nore as Christmas comes closer!! I went off of the recipe and instruction that I found on Pinterest, Here is the link! http://pinterest.com/pin/589210891/

They turned out soo cute doing them in cookie templates! I couldnt find a silicone one and just used a metal one and it still worked great! Just be careful when getting them out of the pan so they dont break!
I also decided to take another Pinterest idea and make a holiday cake stand to put my bark on and I have to say for under $2 it looks pretty dang good!! Thank you Goodwill for the candle holder and tray! Just used spray paint I already had and some tacky glue, and BAM! :) Love it!

Soo All in All we had a GREAT first Annual Cookie Exchange!! :)

More Chirstmas Updates soon as I slave away at Black Friday lists, who else is braving the crowds?!

Toy Story on Ice!

Well this weekend we treated the kids to Toy Story on Ice and leading up I really am not sure who was more excited them or me!! I had never been to anything Disney on Ice and was beyond excited! And I have to say that it was amazing!! Loves every second of it as did the kids!! Nevermind their annoyed faces, there were so many toys the last thing they wanted was a picture!

And now I am on to complete Christmas mode, I do realize that Thanksgiving has not come and go w yet however I am already in the Christmas spirit! Doesn't help that the original grinch and elf were on last night!! :)

I will update tomorrow on the spray paint extravaganza I had yesterday, it involves both Christmas and glitter, could it get any better?!

Happy Halloweenie!!

First and foremost, Happy Halloween!! We had quite an eventful weekend at our house! We wrapped up Fall Soccer season with a party at Bounce It Up! Which was amazing the kids had a blast, okay so did I! :) Then they had thier last game on Saturday afternoon, and thank goodness because I don't know if I could handle anymore standing around an staring in space! ;)
All in all it was a great experience!

Then on Sunday we went to the Seahawks game which if you saw it I am a little embarrassed to be a fan! Buut it was my first one ever and I loved every second of it!! :)

Then when we got home I had a little project waiting for me, I had decided like a month ago to make these cute little cupcakes for the boys to take to daycare for Halloween an have been so excited about then because they were just the cutest thing! However, at 7:30 last night I was not that excited, but I did them anyways and I am so glad I did because they are the cutest!! Super simple, just cake mix baked into green ice cream cones, chocolate frosting, black sprinkles, and black icing for the faces! Love them!! Then I got these little bat printables to write the kids names on them here http://partyplanningcenter.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-banners.html?m=1
They turned out so cute!

Very excited to take the kids Trick or Treating tonight!! They were thrilled they got to wear their costumes to daycare today!!

Happy Halloween from my Pirate and Dinosaur!

Pumpkins..Finally!!

Well I should have never vowed to blog every other day because that always ends up in a way of me not being able to possibly post that much!! Needless to say we got extremely busy and really I just couldnt find time to upload pictures and blog! Bahh! Now however, we FINALLY carved our pumpkins and I have pictures to prove it!! :) Soo here you go!!

The kids had a BLAST with it!! They had to pick some of the hardest ones to carve...but they are carved and seeds are roasted!! I will get into that in just a minute :)

Aww they just turned out soo cute!! I wont mention that we still have a WHOLE other pumpkin to carve! Sheesh....I forgot how much time these little bubbers take!!!

Then the seeds!! Ooh the seeds, we did two different kinds, one with just jonny's, pretty basic but delicious! And then we did salt, sugar, and cinamon!! And Ooh Man!! They are delicious!! I am soo pleased! :)

We have soccer party tomorrow night so I will update with pictures of their little trophy's, cant wait to see thier little faces when they get them! :)

I was Stampin' Up This Weekend!

I realize that I take waaayy too long to post in between each posting, my new vow is to post at least everyother day! There are always things I want to say I just run out of time to tell you all! Soo every other day, thats the goal!  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! We were VERY busy this weekend and it appears we will continue to be busy until about January 10th. Fun, but oh so exhausting!

I dont know how many of you like Stampin Up but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! Better yet, Russ's Mom is a Stampin Up Demonstrator and it just so happens that she had a Stamp Camp this weekend, might I say that everytime I go to one all I want to do is create and make things for about a week! It seriously kills me when I realize I have to go back to work the next day! But anyways, I wanted to share the cards that we made

this Stamp Camp!

I have to admit I thought we would be on holiday cards, we weren't. However she did assure me that they are coming soo I must be patient! Speaking of holidays though ;) she did make an advent calender that she had on display and OH MY GOSH!! I am in love! It is the cutest little thing I have ever seen!!! I forgot to take a picture of it of coarse! But here is Bobbie's Website and I think you can find it on there! Otherwise if you are interested in coming to a Stamp Camp or purchasing anything from Stampin Up she can help you with whatever you need!
Bobbie Meyer Stampin Up=

Soo theres one event from the weekend! I just love these cards, they are soo cute! Next is to make a card box to organize and put them all in :)

Dinner Dinner Dinner Time!

Okay fellow bloggers, I do not know about you all but I am totally into the fall crockpot mode! I dont really think I have ever fully taken advantage of the wonderful appliance that is the crockpot! You can seriously cook ANYTHING in that bad boy! You just put it in, turn it on in the morning, and viola! Dinner ready when you get home! It really is a beautiful thing! Soo with that...we have decided to try to menu plan better for multiple reasons really, but mainly we found ourselves not eating dinner until 8pm at night! Which is entirely too late, especially for the kids who then go to bed at 9pm. So this week I have to say has been HUGE success thus far and boy have I given my crockpot a workout!

I have to give HUGE kudos to http://www.crockpotgirls.com/ and my wonderful neighbor Heather who told me about them! They have dozens and dozens of recipes, I mean anything you can think of they have!
So on Tuesday we did the Chicken and Dumplings and might I just say it was AMAZING!! I love me some chicken and dumplings! The boyfriend had never in his life had it (i really dont know how thats possible) but he said it was good, although I dont think he loved it because he didnt eat much) but I thought it was great!
Here is the recipe:
http://crockpotgirls.com/recipes/main-dishes/chicken/chicken-and-dumplings/

Then last night we did Au Jus Sandwhiches - seriously soo simple and soo good!!

Let the roast cook all day, come home shred it up add some fried onions and some swiss cheese and ohhh man do you have a good sandwhich!

http://crockpotgirls.com/recipes/main-dishes/beef/au-jus-sandwiches/

Tonight steak Fajitas, but tomorrow Crock Pot Chili!

This menu planning thing is just waay too easy ;)

Have a good night everyone!

Ooh P.S. I will update you all with the exterior halloween extravaganza next week after we go to the pumpkin patch this weekend! :)