Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

It's snowing again so I've been busy in the kitchen while the "kids" are out playing in the snow.

I made peanut butter balls this morning, which is a family favorite, and had some left over chocolate. So I dipped some orange slices and sprinkled with a little sea salt. So good and highly recommended!!

I'm ready for Christmas, just spending these days making memories with the family. 

Our almost 3 month old is so strong he stands for 10 minutes holding our fingers and can pull himself up to a sitting position. Should I be nervous? 

Snow Day!

When the weather outside is frightful, the house smells delightful. There's simply no place to be, let it snow, let it snow!

Well with the weather snowy and icy, I decided to cook up some holiday snacks! Both of these are extremely easy and quick to make.

Peppermint Bark Popcorn:
10 cups of popped corn
14 oz bag of white chocolate chips
5 finally crushed candy canes
1 cup of milk chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave and stir into popcorn. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the crushed candy canes. Spread out on wax paper. Melt the milk chocolate chips and put in a pastry bag to drizzle on the popcorn and sprinkle with remaining candy cane. This literally took 10 minutes! If you like peppermint flair stir in 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract into the milk chocolate! So good.

Of course what holiday is complete without good old chex mix. I just use the recipe on the box and use all cashews. I also cook it in the oven not the microwave like suggested. The crunch is so much better. 250 degrees for an hour stirring every 15 minutes. Wondering if these will last till football on Sunday....

Spreading Holiday Cheer

We've had an exciting December so far. We had our first snow storm in which we got Jessy out of bed and into snow clothes to play. There wasn't much snow last year so this was her first time really playing, hopefully we get more!

Of course afterward we had to have hot cocoa with whip cream and "prinkles", which is also called Jessy's coffee. I love her names for things!

And then she had a cuddle session with her baby brother. Oh the way she loves him melts my heart.

On an entertaining note... remember that reading tree that I blogged about last time?  Well it was going so great, every night we would open a book and read it.  Well yesterday I was nursing the little guy and I could hear paper tearing in the other room.  Of course I can't yell because he is JUST about to finally fall asleep.... by the time I get out there, Jessy had unwrapped all of the books under the tree and was sitting in a pile of paper. Sigh... 

'Tis the season!

25 Days of Christmas

Well I tried potty training a 2 year old while holding an 8 week old AND we're all sick.... after I had a good laugh (possibly a few tears and a glass of wine) I decided to put up our Reading Tree instead.

I wrapped 24 books to place under a new tree I purchased specifically for this project. Each night the kids open one book to read for family time. Of course the last book is The Night Before Christmas that is read by grandpa on Christmas Eve.

I wanted a woodland theme tree and I happened to have the ornaments on hand from last year. I love how it turned out.  

Some of our favorite books
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas 
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Frosty the Snowman 
The Littlest Elf 
Little Blue Truck's Christmas 

Christmas in a Manger

Source: 

Tree - Ballard

Pine Cones - Michael's