CHRISTmas Parade

On Saturday, Jason and I bundled up the boys and headed to our community's Christmas parade. We met a few friends and their kiddos and had a blast waiting for and watching the parade. Grant, Hayden, and Henry waiting for the parade to start.

Eli playing with a necklace that he got at the parade.

It was pretty cold when we first got there. But by the time the floats started rolling by, all the kiddos had taken off their gloves so they could pick up candy and treats!

After the parade, we took the boys to a birthday party and then to pick out our Christmas tree. We stopped by Krispy Kreme on the way home and ate some yummy hot donuts for dinner. I think we may have to make that a new tradition! When we got home Jason set up the tree and put on the lights. Then the boys got busy decorating {the bottom half of} the tree. Now if only I could figure out how to keep Eli from un-decorating it!

C is for Coconut Cookies

I had a little bit of this: leftover from making Magic Cookie Bars.

**********************

So I decided to make these:

And fill up this:

For at least one day, anyway!

Chewy Coconut Cookies

{from allrecipes.com}

Ingredients1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

DirectionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

Help for the Holidays

I wanted to share a little bit about a great website that I found through MomSelect.

The "Real Holiday Helpings" website is a great resource for SUPER busy moms {like I know you all are} to use during the SUPER busy holiday season.

The website has a ton of SUPER recipe ideas for the holidays, as well as some awesome videos of Bobby Flay sharing his {holiday} magic in the kitchen!

The Caesar Salad Crostini that Bobby makes on one of his videos looks so YUMMY and SUPER elegant for a party! I am definitely going to be making them soon!

Plus, you can print out some great coupons and even enter to win a year's worth of groceries for FREE! What mom doesn't love free food?!?

I am planning to share a little more about this website and the SUPER yummy recipes one day next week. So come back and check it out...and I will be giving away a little surprise too {thanks to the people at Hellmann's Real Holiday Helpings who are supplying me with a $25 American Express gift card for one of my readers and one for me too}!