Who...

...would have thought
that something so little {the cookie and kid}

could have made such a big mess?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
******************************** I did NOT let Eli play in the kitchen this week while I sat at the counter and blogged closely supervised him. He did NOT have a blast playing with all the spoons, spatulas, tongs, ladles, vegetable peelers, and ice cream scoops. I did NOT simply pick up all the above mentioned utensils and place them back in the empty drawer when he was finished playing. I would never let my one year old play with sharp perfectly safe utensils and then put them up without giving a second thought to cleaning them.

I have NOT been SUPER lazy about putting out Christmas decorations this year. Half of my decorations did NOT go right back to the attic as soon as Jason brought them down. The other half is NOT sitting in the dining room patiently waiting for me to get a little motivation. Because of my SUPER laziness, I did NOT buy this {oh so cute} box at Hobby Lobby thinking that it would be a great {and easy} replacement for our nativity set.

The First of Many PJ Parties

Henry and Grant had a PJ party at church this week to celebrate the end of preschool choir for the year...and to celebrate CHRISTMAS of course.

They made fun Christmas ornaments, ate pizza and cake, and got a cup full of fun Christmas goodies. I figured I would let Eli join in on the PJ fun too. Plus it was nice to come home and put them all in the bed!
Considering the fact that we have at least three more PJ parties planned in the next week....I think you may be seeing more pictures of their SUPER cute PJ's again soon!

The Stockings Were Hung...

...on our stairs! After I made our new SUPER cute Advent Calendar, I decided that we also needed new Christmas stockings. For one thing, the old ones were just sad...and they also clashed with the pretty Kelly Greens and Christmas Reds in our calendar.

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I used some of the same {polka dot} material, along with some red satin, and white dotty minky material to make some new SUPER cute stockings for Henry, Grant, and Eli!
I used our old {and ugly} stockings to make a pattern. I just traced around the stocking on some brown packing paper!
I cut out two stocking shapes in the green polka dot material for the outside and two stocking shapes in the red satin material for the liner. Then I cut the white dotty minky fabric about the size of the cuff on the old {ugly} stockings and monogrammed each of the boys names on them!
I attached the cuff to the front of the stocking and sewed around all the edges.

Then I attached the two stocking pieces together along the long {non-curved} side.

I did the same thing with the red satin liner.

I layered the two pieces, right sides together, and sewed them together across the top edge. Don't forget {like I did the first time} to add in a stocking hanger too!

I laid the stocking pieces and the liner pieces right sides together and sewed all around them....leaving about a three inch whole in the liner about halfway down the side.

You use that hole to turn the stocking right side out, then sew up the small hole. This is the tricky part if you haven't ever done it or seen someone else do it. Finally, you push the liner down into the stocking and then you have brand new SUPER cute Christmas stockings....

...hanging on your stairs!
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DISCLAIMER: Though our Christmas stockings turned out SUPER cute, I am not currently planning on quitting my day job to become a stocking maker. I didn't really use a pattern {other than what I traced from our old stocking}, and my sewing plan took a few hours of contemplation and ultimately was borrowed from a dress pattern that I have {and only used once}. I am NOT a professional, but if you need help with these instructions {and you really want to make a SUPER cute stocking} send me a message and I'll see if I can help!

WINNER!

I want to thank everyone for entering my SUPER fun giveaway!

I wish I could make a SUPER cute shirt for all of you!

I used Random.org to select a winner and it is:

CARRIE from MARTIN MANOR HAPPENINGS!

I am so excited...mainly because I am going to get to make a fun girly shirt for Miss Emily! YAY! I have already emailed Carrie and she emailed me back with the details....so now I am going to get busy working on Emily's SUPER cute {PINK} shirt!

Wordless Wednesday: In Front of Grammy's Tree

"Real Holiday Helpings" and another GIVEAWAY!

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! You can also print out a coupon for Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise and enter to win year of free groceries!
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I tried out one of the recipes from the Real Holiday Helpings website and it turned out so YUMMY! I just made half the recipe to try it out...but this would be a great party appetizer for a crowd!

CAESAR SALAD CROSTINI

A Bobby Flay Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. anchovy paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 loaf French baguette, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1-1/2 cups finely chopped romaine lettuce leaves
3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Instructions:
Combine Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper with wire whisk in medium bowl. Remove 1/2 of the dressing to small bowl; evenly spread 1 side of bread slices with dressing mixture. Arrange bread on baking sheet, dressing-side-up, and broil until lightly golden brown. Let cool slightly.
Toss lettuce with remaining dressing and cheese. Stir in vinegar and, if desired, salt and pepper to taste. Top each crouton with salad.

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Just for sharing a little bit about this wonderful website, the wonderful people at Real Holiday Helpings are letting me give away a $25 American Express giftcard to one of my readers!

So here is how to enter:

For your first entry leave a comment...any comment will do!

For another entry, visit Real Holiday Helpings and tell me which recipe you would love to try.

For one extra entry, follow me and leave a comment telling me that you do.

For another entry, put my button on your blog and leave a comment telling me you did.

For one more entry, follow me on twitter and leave a comment telling that you do.

For three extra entries, blog about my giveaway linking back to this post and to Real Holiday Helpings, then leave three comments telling me you blogged.

**This giveaway will end on Wednesday, December 16th at 12:00 pm CST. Winner will be chosen using Random.org and the winner will be announced on my blog.**

Special thanks to Hellmann's and Real Holiday Helpings for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the winner and myself a $25 gift card.

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.

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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}!

Wordless Wednesday: It's Beginning....