• Flashback Friday: It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

    Christmas Fun - Karlie and Brina (9 Months, Nov. 2005)c

    Karlie and Brina

    The girls were super thrilled with all the neat Christmas items around the house to play with.  We were constantly putting Christmas ornaments back on the trees and various decorations back in their place.  Their curiosity was peaked and they loved exploring all the cool stuff.  The most interesting place we found a Christmas decoration during their first Christmas Holiday was in a diaper.  We went to change Karlie one time and she some how managed to get a good chunk of an ornament that she pulled off the tree down her diaper.  We think she was chewing on it, dropped it and it fell down in her dress only to re-appear at her next diaper change.  We were pretty surprised, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all.

  • Song: Peace Has Come by Hillsong

    As we enter into this Holiday season let’s be a joy and blessing to those around us.   Sometimes it is easy to get caught up on the Holiday celebrations and we forget the true meaning of Christmas.  I am thankful for my Savior and the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with those around me.

    Behold the star of Bethlehem
    The word of God has become flesh 
    Unto us a child is born
    The Savior of this broken world

    Hear the angel voices, 
    Sing come let us adore Him,
    Peace has come, for our King is with us.

    Fully God and fully man
    He comes for all with open hands
    He rules with love on David’s throne 
    All praise belongs to Christ alone.

    Hear the angel voices, 
    Sing come let us adore Him,
    Peace has come, for our King is with us.

  • Christmas Tree Ornaments

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    Thanks to my sweet cousin Renelle the girls got a cool Christmas Ornament craft this year.  Renelle sent glass ornaments and some paint so the girls could make their own Christmas tree ornaments.  They had a blast making these ornaments!  The ornaments turned out beautifully too!

    The ornaments have a tie die and swirl mix of several colors.  Brina and Karlie were so excited to have these hanging on the tree.  Both girls agree that they want  to do more of these or another Christmas tree ornament next year!

    P1070553cKarlie squeezing paint into her ornament

    Take the glass ornaments and slowly squeeze paint into them.  Add at least 2 or more colors and swirl around until the glass ornament is coated on the inside.

    P1070563cBrina making sure the paint is covering the entire glass

    After adding paint rotate the ornament around until the paint has coated the entire inside of the ornament.  The colors will start to blend as you do this which is very fascinating for the kids to watch.

    P1070558cKarlie swirling and coating the inside of her glass ornament with paint

    The colors blend together and look pretty neat together.

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    Turn the ornament upside down in a styrofoam cup or muffin pan so the extra paint can drain.

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    Every few hours flip the glass ornament the opposite direction so the paint will dry evenly inside the bulb

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    One of the glass bulbs hanging on the trees

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    Beautiful ornament made by the girls hanging on the tree

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    The girls did a fabulous job making these ornaments.

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    Colorful and looking great on the Christmas tree

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    The colors merged beautifully on their glass ornaments

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    Thanks Renelle for an amazing craft!  The girls had a craft and they turned out beautifully!

  • Gingerbread Boy Meatloaf (Diary & Egg Free Recipe)

    The girls have been asking me to bake something in the gingerbread man pan this week.  Since we have already made several different cookies (sugar, gingerbread, and shortbread) I decided that we didn’t need any more sweets so we decided to bake a gingerbread boy meatloaf for our meal. If you don’t have to worry about dairy or eggs you can use the same amount of regular milk and eggs in this recipe instead of the non-dairy and egg substitutes.

    Gingerbread Boy Meatloaf Recipe

    Topping:

    • 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
    • 1/2 cup Ketchup
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

    Meatloaf:

    • 1 pound Lean Ground Beef
    • 1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
    • 1/2 cup Onion, chopped
    • 1 Garlic Clove, chopped
    • 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
    • 1/2 cup Almond or Soy Milk
    • 2 Egg Substitutes (Ener-G Egg Replacer works awesome!)
    • 1 cup Bread Crumbs

    Preheat over to 350 F.  Spray oil into the bottom of a “Gingerbread Boy”, 8″ x 8″ dish, or 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.

    Press the brown sugar evenly into the bottom of your oiled dish.  Mix together the ketchup and 1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce.  Spread the mixture over the brown sugar.

    Combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Mix in the 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, non-dairy milk (almond or soy), Ener-G Egg Replacer, and bread crumbs.  Press the meat mixture into the pan shape.  If you like your meatloaf a little sweeter you can another layer of of the topping layer.

    Bake for 1 hour or until cooked through.  Once done flip the meatloaf out of the pan onto a plate or pan and serve hot.

  • Dairy & Egg Free Sugar Cookies

    3D Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

    My friend Ashley at Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life brought over some amazing Christmas cookies earlier this month.  They were delicious and they were a huge hit with our family!  We have one family member that is not eating dairy and eggs so I adjusted Ashley’s recipe a little bit and the cookies came out delicious and beautiful (you would never know they didn’t have eggs and dairy)!  My Mom gave the girls these super cute 3D Christmas trees which the girls loved decorating and putting together.  Thankful for some time to spend with the family and enjoy special treats!

    Sugar Cookies

    • 1 1/2 cups Non-Dairy Butter (soy or almond), softened
    • 2 cups Granulated Sugar
    • 4 Egg Substitutes (Ener-G Egg Replacer is our favorite and lasts a long time too)
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • 5 cups All-Purpose Flour
    • 1 teaspoon Salt
    Cream non-dairy butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in egg substitute and vanilla.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.  Place cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
    Next day:  Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick.  Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.  Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Cool completely.
    We decorated some of the cookies with sprinkles prior to baking.  The remaining cookies we decorated with icing after cooking.
    Cookie Icing
    • 1 pound Powdered Sugar
    • 1 stick Non-Dairy Butter
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • 1/4 cup Non-Dairy Cream (coconut, almond, or soy milk)
    • Add Food Color or divide in multiple bowls and create a variety of colors

    Blend together all the ingredients until smooth.  Chose one food color or divide up into multiple bowls and a variety of colors.

    A batch of the girls decorated cookies

  • Merry Christmas!

    Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  May this Christmas Season be a wonderful time packed full of many amazing memories for you and your family.  We have so many things to be thankful for during this special Christmas Holiday!

  • Go Ape by Patch

    I picked up the Go Ape game by Patch at the grocery store on clearance for the girls for Christmas.  It was a huge hit!   Our family has already played this game several times since Christmas.

    The Go Ape game adds a fun twist to the traditional game of Go Fish!  Instead of asking another player for a card you act out the funny monkey picture on the card!  The person who collects the most monkey matches wins the game.

    It is hilarious watching the girls act out the various monkey faces!  The girls is for 2 to 6 players and for ages 4 and up.

  • Jesus Born on this Day by Avalon

    Today a child is born on earth
    Today the glory of God shines
    Everywhere for all of the world
    Jesus, born on this day he is our light and salvation
    Jesus, born on this day he is the King of all nations
    Behold the Lamb of God has come
    Behold the Savior is born sing of his love to everyone
    Jesus, Born on this day heavenly child in the manger
    Jesus, born on this day He is our Lord and Savior
    Today our hearts rejoice in him
    Today the light of his birth thrills us with hope
    Brings peace on earth
    Jesus, born on this day He is our light and salvation
    Jesus, born on this day he is the King of all nations
    Today a child is born on earth
    Today the glory of God shines everywhere for all of the world

  • Teaching Our Children: How to Wrap Gifts

    Letting the kids wrap their own gifts

    As I sit in the middle of the floor with little scraps of Christmas wrapping paper around me I have to smile…..  The girls LOVE going to the store to pick out the perfect gift(s) for each person.  They also really like to wrap the gifts!  While they have a tendency to make a mess, use more wrapping paper, put on too much tape, and take a long time wrapping they have a blast doing it.  Although, I have noticed that every year they get a little better and more efficient.

    Each girl starts the gift wrapping activity by picking out their own roll of wrapping paper to use for their gifts.  They use that roll of wrapping paper on all the gifts they have to wrap until there are no more gifts to do or the wrapping paper is gone.  They do the entire wrapping process on their own from cutting the paper to taping and even labeling the gift.

    While we still have the occasional – “Mom, I didn’t cut the wrapping paper big enough” overall they are getting better at the whole process.  At times, I’ve even had problems not cutting the paper big enough!  Typically, we spend an evening or two (depending on the amount of time we have) doing a “wrapping party” while listening to Christmas music.  As they wrap their gifts I will tackle some that I need to do as well.  Everyone has fun and we get a lot accomplished at the same time.

    I love that they take the extra time to not only wrap the gifts but label, add little notes, or draw pictures on the outside of the gifts.  They started doing this on their own last Christmas.  It was so cute reading their notes and talking about their drawings as we opened the gifts.  They were so proud of the gift and the wrapping which they did from start to finish.  Here are some of the sweet drawings and notes we found under our tree last year:

    Silly notes written on the gifts…..made me smile

    Brina even picked out turtle food at the store for the turtles and wrapped it for them.

    Karlie drew a planet, specifically Saturn, on this gift

    I Love You note on the gift

    Brina drew little “heart” people on the outside of this Christmas gift.

    Picture of the sweet sisters on the gift

    While the gift wrap my not win a decorative prize the girls are proud of their work and are excited to share.  They are learning many lessons during this too (hand-eye coordination, measuring, sharing, giving, etc….).  Pretty soon I will have to start delegating more gift wrapping tasks to them! 🙂