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

Ornament Show and Tell & RAK Roundup

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... At least IN our house. Outside it's still 65 and rainy, and that does not feel like Christmas. But, walk in my front door and it's cozy, and warm, and cherry and merry. Ahhhh, I love it.

With that said, my friend Sarah over at Our Journey is hosting an Ornament Show and Tell and I couldn't pass this up.

Ornaments are a big deal in my family. It is tradition to receive a new ornament every year at Christmas. When I go home to my parents I love gazing at their tree, spotting all the ornaments I collected before venturing off on my own. Each ornament holds a special meaning: graduation, a sports accomplishment, an ornament to mark a trip we'd taken... I've taken that tradition and implemented it in my own little family. I get little goosebumps as I look at the ornaments I've received that now adorn my tree in my home. There are so many favorites of mine, it was hard impossible to narrow down a single favorite.

I love this ornament. We received it from my mother in law, and it's a beautiful reminder of what The Season is really about.

Family is priority, and here a few of my favorite ornaments from our family.

Upper left: The cake topper from our wedding cake. 

Upper right: Marcus' first Christmas (I hope to have one with his photo in it soon).

Lower left: To commemorate our first Christmas as a married couple.

Lower right: To celebrate the anticipated arrival of our little monkey.

Home sweet home. We miss the Midwest something fierce. These ornaments help bring a little bit of home to our house during the holidays.

Upper left: An actual light bulb from the famous Plaza Lighting in Kansas City.

Upper center: If I click my heels three times... "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Upper right: Though our favorite football team isn't doing very well this season we still love them.

Lower left: We love our Royals!

Lower center: A tag describing the Plaza Light bulb, and year the bulb was received.

Lower right: Another Plaza Light.

Some of our travels...

Upper left: Lake Tahoe (2011).

Center left: USS Arizona Memorial, Oahu, Hawaii (2012).

Lower left: Hawaii, Hawaii (2012).

Upper right: St. Thomas USVI (2010, our honeymoon!).

Center right: Cabo San Lucas (2008).

Lower right: Vegas, baby (2010)!

Representing our teams. Go State!

And, every tree needs a "husband section."

These are not necessarily my favorite ornaments, but they do reflect the good humor and fun that my husband displays on a daily basis.

The Christmas Story leg is front and center on our tree. We had quite the discussion about the placement of that one...

The Family Guy ornaments are a few of the first ornaments I ever gave Scott. Even though they aren't so pretty they hold a little bit of sentiment for both of us.

Lastly, I'll leave you with this... No tree of mine is complete without a butterfly.

What are some of your favorite ornaments? 
Please leave me a comment if you have your own Show and Tell, I want to see them! If you aren't a blogger you can still join in the fun - just post a few pics of your favorite ornaments of Facebook and let me know, I'd love to see what is hanging on your tree. Don't forget to swing by Our Journey, check out Sarah's ornaments and share yours with her, too!

*****

Be Kind. Be Generous. Be Thankful.
Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Roundup

Friday, November 23
I crashed a wedding! Ok, I didn't really crash a wedding. But, I did crash a wedding registry. I went to an online registry, typed in a few random letters, and a few names popped up. Some random couple is one registry item richer.
I can't even begin to explain how giddy I was when I did this! :)

Saturday, November 24
We were super busy Saturday, but I took a minute to register as a guaranteed organ, tissue and eye donor. If you haven't done so, and would like to, it was super easy and took me less than two minutes to complete the form. Click here to become an organ donor today.

Sunday, November 25
It's never easy for me to donate blood. I have the world's worst veins. But, I signed up to give to the Red Cross. I filled out the required paperwork, had the awful iron test (where the end of your finger is pricked - terrible, right?!), and waited my turn. When my number was up and I was all prepped to go. The nurse checked my left arm, then my right arm, and shook her head. There was no way she was even going to try and tackle sticking me with a needle. I begged to try the top of my hands, even the top of my feet. But, to no avail. I left feeling a bit defeated. If your veins are better suited for giving blood please check this site to find a blood drive near you.

Monday, November 26
I noticed I had several coats and jackets in my closet that hadn't been worn in quite some time. Those coats made their way to a coat drive that was held in a nearby community. There may be a coat drive in your community, visit One Warm Coat to find a place to donate your gently used coats.







Because I wasn't able to give blood on the 25th I felt I needed to do a double RAK. I purchased a fresh meal for a homeless man who can often be found at a bus stop I pass frequently. Something as simple as a sandwich, fresh fruit, and chocolate bar seemed to make his evening.

Tuesday, November 27
While doing a little Christmas shopping for my monkey it really struck me how fortunate we are. My little man will have plenty under the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, Santa may not find his way to all the little munchkins out there. To make sure Santa is able to find a few more kiddos this year I made a donation to Toys for Tots as I was checking out with my big guy's gifts.

Wednesday, November 28
In high school I remember how exciting it was to go prom dress shopping with my mom. It was such a mother/daughter bonding moment that I looked forward to each year. After a bit of research I found there  are organizations in the LA area that collect gently worn formal dresses. I rummaged through my closet and found some formal dresses that I will no longer wear or need and I sent them to the Cinderella Project with hopes that another girl will have her moment and feel just like a princess. To find a dress drive near you click here.

Thursday, November 29
Things got busy around the house, and before I knew it the day had slipped away (the Holiday season is officially upon us)! I took a few minutes online to find several ways to give back.
~With a few simple clicks, and just a few minutes of my time to watch a few advertisements, I was able to provide almost three weeks worth of clean water to those in poverty - and it didn't cost me a dime. Click For Your Charity will allow you to do the same.
~To keep the ball rolling I went to The Hunger Site where one simple click provided food for the hungry world wide, and also helped with relief efforts that are still ongoing due to Hurricane Sandy.
~Because I couldn't stop there I made my way over to Ripple where with three simple clicks I was able to provide access to clean water, help a village to feed itself, and gave two days of access to education. Ripple has also pair with Google as a search engine. Every time I use Ripple for an online search a donation is made.

Friday, November 30
I wanted to do something for the men and women who serve our country, but there is a budget that needed to be adhered to. With a bit of searching I found Operation Shoebox; currently our servicemen and servicewomen are in need of travel-size hygiene products. Easy enough! I rounded up some products and sent them to those good men and women who are keeping us safe. Some of those who will receive the products are away from their families this Holiday season so that we may be with those dear to us. For that I am forever grateful and thankful.

Corn Chicken Chowder

It's been cool around these parts and I'm loving it. I think it is safe to say the summer clothes have finally taken a back seat to all those cute fall and winter clothes that have patiently been waiting their turn.

With the change of season and clothes comes a slight change of dinner menu items. My slow cooker will be making more of an appearance (can I get a hallelujah for the slow cooker?!), and soups will be added back into our evening rotation.

Last night it was rainy, our tree was up and lit, and nothing could cap the night better than a piping hot bowl of creamy soup.

Before we go to much further with this I feel I need to give a bit of a heads up. This soup, in the slow cooker, takes a good 8 hours on high. You'll want to make sure you have everything prepped and ready to go in the morning if you want this ready by dinnertime. But, it's worth it, so, so, so worth it.

Corn Chicken Chowder

6-8 potatoes peeled and diced (I used 9, as my potatoes were on the smaller side)
1 can cream corn
1 can whole kernel corn
3-4 chicken breast
1 cup diced onion
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
2 cups half and half

Place potatoes, both cans of corn, onions, chicken broth, and chicken breast in slow cooker.
-- I placed my partially thawed chicken breast on top. 30 minutes prior to serving I shredded the chicken breast and placed them back in the slow cooker.
-- If you like your chowder more soupy do not drain the whole kernel corn. If you like your chowder a bit creamier drain the whole kernel corn prior to putting it in your slow cooker.
Cook on high for 7-8 hours.

Shred chicken, and add back to chowder.
Add butter and half and half.
Mash potatoes to your desired consistency.
-- I simply used a wooden spoon to mash the potatoes against the side of the slow cooker.
Cook for an additional 30 minutes, on high.

The smell that permeated through my house all afternoon as this was cooking was almost too much. Because I didn't start my slow cooker until almost noon we had to wait until after the little man was in bed to eat. Torture.

This dish was the epitome of comfort food, and a hit in our house that will surely be repeated several times during these cooler winter months.

Enjoy!

Source: Adapted from The Crockin' Girls