A Christmas Tag

Sarah over at Our Journey included me in a Christmas tag, and I couldn't say no. There is so much the celebrate and be thankful during this season, and it's fun to see how others enjoy this time of year.


Here's how we celebrate...


1.) What makes Christmas such a special holiday for you and your family?

Family is what makes Christmas so special. From playing games, to making doughnuts, to going to Mass, to eating many a meals together, to simply lounging around watching bowl games... I love that we are all together to continue traditions that make this time of year so magical.

My monkey's Christmas monkey!

2. Were you told the truth about Santa Clause by your parents, or did you find out another way? Do you plan on telling your kids about Santa (if you have them or plan to have them)?

I don't remember... I don't think my parents ever actually told me, I'm pretty sure I found out at school. But, I do remember confronting my parents and they simply told me, "If you don't believe you won't have anything in your stocking on Christmas morning." That said, I believe in the Spirit of Santa, and that this time of year is about giving... Not necessarily with gifts, but giving with your time, talents, and heart.
 

Santa will visit Marcus. However, I want him to understand the meaning behind St. Nicholas. And, I will also stress that this time of year is about the birth of Christ, and that is the greatest gift of all.



3.) Real tree or fake tree?

Growing up I remember having a few real trees. As my brother and I got older our parents got a fake one. I'm sure the upkeep was easier. 

Now we have a fake tree. But, I'm begging Scott for a real tree... Someday.

4. Do you open presents on Christmas morning, Christmas Eve, or both?

Growing up we always opened gifts from our parents of Christmas Eve (a tradition we have continued). We reserved Christmas morning for gifts from Santa, and spent the rest of the day enjoying time as a family.

5. What is your favorite Christmas movie to watch, and favorite Christmas song to sing or listen to?

No holiday season is complete without watching A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation at least a half a dozen times.

Go Tell it on the Mountain, Gloria, and The First Noel, or any Christmas music by Trans Siberian Orchestra or Mannheim Steamroller, cannot be sung or heard enough.

 Now, this wouldn't be a true Christmas tag if, well, people weren't tagged.

Here are the five bloggers I'm encouraging to tell their Christmas stories:

Alisa - Chantilly Lace and a Pretty Face
Ann - Hot Coffee Momma
Ashley - Keeping Up With the Clarks
Shawna - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Tamara - (aspiring) Domestic Goddess

Ladies, if you participate please leave your link in the comments section so I'm sure to see what your holidays are like! And, head over to Raising Reagan and leave your link there as well, Lanaya started the tag and would like to see your responses as well.

Christmas Family Photos - Outtakes

This past weekend I rounded up the little guy and the big guy and I made them get all classy looking. We were in need of some good photos to use for our Christmas cards.

The cards are heading to the post office today... Fingers crossed they reach their final destinations before Christmas.

We had a tough time choosing exactly which photos we wanted to use. Here are a few that didn't make our card.

My dashing little dude. It cracks me up how chubby his cheeks look in some of these (see right center photo)!

Between the rocky beach and the crashing ocean Marcus had many distractions. Posing and smiling for pictures was not high on his agenda. He wanted to soak in everything the beach environment had to offer.

Thanks to our photographer, and neighbor Amy, and her husband Rick, and son Colt, we were able to snag a few smiley pictures of the little man.

Our little family.

Of all of the pictures taken this one may be my favorite...

The Dog Dish

I'm so confused. With ALL the toys Marcus has to play with he opts for the nasty, slobber filled dog dish. I do not understand the appeal.

It's not often Marcus is allowed access to the dog dishes; our kitchen has marble floors, so we keep that area gated off most of the time. I feel a bit guilty Drake doesn't have easy access to his water. But, if the baby gate is down, and Marcus is awake, things could get wet and messy quite quickly.

That look of his... He's plotting how he is going to get away with the trouble he is about to embark upon.

On the rare occasion the baby gate is down Marcus literally bolts for the water bowl. There are several things in our kitchen that Marcus could potentially be drawn to (our Christmas tree, actual toys of his, the cabinets and drawers), but none compare to that gross water.

Forgive the blur. The little monkey was moving so fast, he knew I was hot on his heels, and he was bound to get his hand in that dish.

The little dude knows he's not supposed to play with Drake's bowl, but he tries his darnedest to make a few splashes before I can get to him.

What a stink pot.

Point Vicente Lighthouse - Take Two

Back in September we attempted to tour Point Vicente Lighthouse and failed. The lighthouse is only open the second Saturday of each month, and we showed up the second Sunday. Whoops.

Our second attempt was a success.

The marine layer was quite thick while we visited and the temperatures were cooler, and for some reason that completed our little outing.

Near the lighthouse is a building that serves as sort of a museum. Old lights, articles, artifacts fill the small two-room building.

A smaller lighthouse light.

Maritime knots. I have a hard time keeping my running shoes tied... I can't even imagine trying to attempt any of those!

After perusing the little museum we were ready to head into the lighthouse. 

It was obvious as we neared the lighthouse that it has been around for awhile, and has gracefully weathered the relentless, unforgiving salty air.

The Kelty backpack was marvelous. Marcus was able to take everything in with a bird's eye view.

Seventy-four steps lead up to the light.

The light can be seen over 20 miles out to sea.
The lens is 185 feet above sea, and flashes a white light two times every 20 seconds.

Legend has it the lighthouse is haunted by "Lady of the Light;" the shape of a tall serene woman in a flowing gown who paces the tower's walkway.

According to some, she is the ghost of the first lighthouse keeper's wife, who stumbled from the edge of a cliff one foggy night. Others say the lady waits the return of a lover lost at sea, and still others think she is a heartbroken woman who threw herself from the cliffs when she found herself abandoned by her intended.

"Lady of the Light" didn't make any appearances while we visited. Bummer

The lighthouse was plain and lacking any inkling of glamor, but there was just something so awesome about the place.

We can officially check Point Vicente off the bucket list!

Park Play

The little monkey loves being outside. LOVES IT. If he's in a fussy mood all we need to do is step outside and he is immediately transformed into a happy child once again.

With mild, beautiful fall-like temperatures this past week I had to get out of the house with my big guy. We've been getting out and going for jogs in the B.O.B. and wrapping up our runs with stops at the park to play. And, Marcus is finally able to sit in the infant swings without slumping over like a little blob.

Anyone else notice the dribble of drool that was about to hit my camera lens in the left photo? Baha!
My kiddo can't keep his shoes on to save his life. (Upper right)

I'm next to certain my little monkey would stay outside all day long if he could.

Marcus has been throughly enjoying our little outings every afternoon. I'm a bit bummed about the upcoming forecast of rain, so we're taking full advantage of the sun and 70 temps while we can.

Happy Marcus Monday!

While taking some photos this weekend for our Christmas card Marcus gave us this gem.

Happy Monday!

Candy Cane Blossoms

Confession #1: I don't really understand the hub bub about holiday baking. Maybe it's because I don't really do holiday baking. I just bake when it strikes my fancy (and if I'm feeling really ambitious).
Confession #2: I don't recall ever making sugar cookies in my adult life. *Audible gasp* How is that even possible?!
Confession #3: I may have a serious addiction to the Hershey Candy Cane kisses. It's bad people. I can't stop with just one, or two, or three. Can I just make a bag of those a meal? Maybe not ideal for the waist, but I almost don't care.

Now that I've aired my dirty laundry I thought I'd try to combine all my confessions together to make something fantastical. Something glorious. Something easy.

I made sugar cookies. They look Christmas-y. They have Candy Cane kisses incorporated. They're awesome. And, they're easy.

My guess is these have been made by almost everyone but me. But, hey, I can now say I've got some holiday baking under my belt. I'm also guessing almost any variety of Hershey Kiss would be awesome in the center of a sugar cookie; if you're not a fan of the Candy Cane (I don't get how that's even possible) you could easily switch it up to fit your fancy.

Candy Cane Blossoms

35-48 Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane Mint Candies
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp milk
Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar, or powdered sugar (I went for the red and green sugar crystals, naturally)

Heat oven to 350.
Remove wrappers from candies.
Beat butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. If you have a small ice cream scoop that will work perfectly.
Roll in your choice of sugar.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are lightly brown and cookies are set.
Remove from the oven; cool 2-3 minutes on cookie sheet.
Press a candy piece in the center of each cookie.
Remove from cookie sheet to a cooling rack.
Cool completely before eating (good luck with that).

Yields between 3-4 dozen cookies.
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Bake time: 8-10 minutes

Bring these to your next holiday party. Give them as gifts. Whatever you do, I'm giving you fair warning... They're good, and addicting, and you can't have just one.

Now would someone please take these away from me (left over candies included)?!

Source: Hershey's Kitchen

Big Boy Bath

The little man loves his bath time. Let me rephrase that. Marcus loved his baths in his infant tub. But, at 29ish inches and 24 pounds it was clearly time to move upwards and onwards in the in-home aquatic world.

As much as he loved bath time in the infant tub I assumed he would have no problems moving into the big bath without incident. That wasn't necessarily the case.

The first attempt he looked at us with wide eyes, and then alligator tears formed. He wasn't having it. Attempt number two went very similar to the first go-around, until I got in with him. Then, everything was right in Marcus' world again. By the third night our little man was ready for his big boy bath sans Mommy.

The little man loves splishing and splashing. I cannot tell you how much it THRILLS me that my big guy doensn't mind lying on his back in the water. Proud Mommy moment!!

Big smiles during bath time fun.

My sweet little water bug.

Hey, Drake, wanna switch spots?

Though we have fun in the tub our bath toys are slim pickin's. I'm all ears to bath time toys that would be fun for our little monkey.

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

Every day Scott and I have the same conversation that goes something like this:
S: "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?" By the way, this usually occurs around 9:00... AM!
Me: "I don't know. What sounds good?"
S: "I don't know. What do you want?"
Me: "Nothing really stands out." Thinking to myself, I just finished breakfast. Dinner is too far away. There are a hundred diapers and two naps between now and dinner.
S: "What's in the house?"
Me: "Not sure. I'll look around and see what I can come up with."

That's pretty much every.single.day. Yesterday was no different. And, I searched the house high and low for something that would be deemed an acceptable meal.

I spotted some frozen hash browns and turkey sausage in the freezer. Those were purchased after eyeballing a crockpot breakfast casserole that sounded too easy, and good, to be true.

*Light bulb moment*

A-ha! Breakfast for dinner. Done and done.

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

1 - 30 oz bag frozen hash browns
12-14 oz breakfast sausage (I went with the turkey variety)
12 eggs
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
6 green onions
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Spray crock pot with non-stick spray. I used a crock pot liner for easier clean up, and just sprayed the liner.
Brown your sausage in a medium skillet.
Slice the green onions.
Place half the hash browns in the bottom of the crock pot.
Top hash browns with half the browned sausage.
Add half the onions and half the cheeses.
Repeat with hash browns, sausage and cheeses.
Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper together.
Slowly pour eggs over casserole.
Four hours on high, or 8 hours on low and you're good to go.
Prior to serving sprinkle the remaining green onions on top of the casserole.

This was a great change up in our dinner routine. I loved it, and I'm not generally a breakfast-any-time-of-the-day type person. Scott liked it, but would probably throw a little salsa on his next time.

I'm thinking this would be absolute perfection on Christmas morning!  (Hint, hint Mom!:))

Enjoy!!

Source: Iowa Girl Eats

Christmas Wrapping 2012

Last year I made my own bows with left over wrapping paper and I couldn't have been more pleased with the end result. Click here to see how to make bows with scrap wrapping paper.

Alas, paper bows are no match for being stuffed into luggage and flown half way across the country. By the time we reached Iowa/Kansas to celebrate Christmas with our families the bows looked sickly. Many of the bows couldn't be saved. Reviving paper bows is basically impossible.

This year I wanted an even more simplistic approach. After searching a few stores for holiday wrapping I quickly concluded I was not about to pay upwards of $10 per roll of paper.

Scott suggested we just wait to wrap our gifts when we get to the Midwest. He was serious. I laughed at him. Not even an option. Silly, Scott.

I found a way to wrap gifts that required minimal cost, minimal effort, and fit the bill for looking cute and traveling well.

Here's what you'll need:

• Packaging paper - I suggest checking out the post office (they usually sell the stuff by the roll), or your big box stores. I found mine at The Container Store for less than $3 a roll. Note: Packaging paper rolls give you about two to three times more paper than what you'll find on a gift wrap roll. 
• Stencil of letters of your choice - I just went to my Word program, printed off the letters I needed in font Cooper Black, size 400.
• Marker colors of your choice - I went with a more traditional forest green and burgundy, but the color options are endless.

Wrap your gift with packaging paper.

Trace the stencil.

Begin coloring in the letter.
The kid in me LOVED this little coloring activity.

Completed gift wrap with built-in (colored in) gift tag.

There are a few names in the family that start with the same letter, so to nix any confusion the green letters are for the men and the burgundy are for the women.

The letters on the packages served as name tags, I had the markers on hand, and all I needed to purchase was the packaging paper; this year's gift wrap cost me a whopping $3.

Though my wrapping isn't glitzy and adorned with fabulous bows I am so pleased with the outcome. These gifts look great under my tree and will look great under the Christmas trees in Iowa and Kansas. Holiday travel will be no match for my wrapping this year!

Happy Marcus Monday!

Bouncy play was oddly quiet for an extended period of time.

Upon further inspection...

Out cold.

Happy Monday!

Reflection: Random Acts of Kindness

November has come and gone and I'm a bit sad my Random Acts of Kindness has come to an end.  

In the past month I've learned a lot about myself, as well as others:

• Giving doesn't necessarily mean spending money; I was able to donate with my time and talents, not just my checkbook.
• It's amazing what people can do when they come together for the common good and well-being of others. 
• Helping out is sometimes as easy as a few clicks of a computer mouse, and can take just a few quick minutes.
• A simple "thank you" can leave an impact bigger than ever imagined.

Of the RAKs I preformed a few really stand out:

• Preparing over 100 Thanksgiving dinners for families in our community - that day it really struck me how fortunate my family is.
• Our mailman was so appreciative of something so simple as scotcharoos and thank you. 
• I wrote thank you notes to a few high school coaches of mine, and I received a note back regarding the thank you... it made me cry. **My husband was the beneficiary of one of your notes, and you brought tears to his eyes. You have no idea how much your thoughtfulness meant to him. He has been taxiing our kids to different events for the last four years because my job has kept me away from home more than I like. Consequently, he has not had time to coach. Your note inspired him to check into coaching openings in our district again since our oldest can now drive.

I will continue to challenge myself to Be Kind, Be Generous, and Be Thankful whenever I possibly can. As my little man grows up I want him to know how truly fortunate and blessed we are. I want Marcus to see what a little good, a lot of kind, and a heart full of thanks can do in this world.

Here is a list of organizations I utilized in my 30 day RAK challenge. Click on the provided links to learn more about each, and what you can do to help:

American Red Cross
Click for Your Charity
Cinderella Project
Color Run 
Donate Life
Donate My Dress
Free Rice
Goodwill
One Warm Coat
Operation Shoebox
Ripple
Salvation Army
The Hunger Site
Toys for Tots


May I encourage you to Be Kind, Be Generous, and Be Thankful, especially with the holiday season upon us.

Though the month is over my journey hasn't concluded. In fact, it's just begun...

To see what each day of November brought me click on the links below:
RAK - Week 1
RAK - Week 2
RAK - Week 3
RAK - Week 4
RAK - Week 5