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 worldHear 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.Flashback Friday: Girls 1st Halloween
We have a cute little Brina Bumblebee and a pretty Karlie Flower
Today we Flashback to October 2005 when the girls were eight months old and celebrating their first Halloween! They were good sports with the Halloween costumes. We really didn’t go “trick or treating” instead we just stopped by to say “hello” to some family in the area that evening. The kids had a lot of fun playing and hanging out a little bit with family.
Our little Brina BumbleBee
Our little Karlie Flower
Karlie and Brina celebrating Halloween at Daddy’s work
Enjoying some play time on Halloween
Brina and Karlie trying to figure out what the Halloween treats from Grandma Kay were. They loved how the wrapping made crinkling noises.
Brina talking with cousin Jordan
Karlie with cousin Alecia and Brina with Jordan
Karlie and Jordan
Rachel with Brina and Karlie with Alecia
Happy Halloween!
We gave the girls a choice about what Halloween activities they wanted to do this year. They chose to stay home, play games, spend time together, carve pumpkins, make a special meal, and more fun instead of going out trick & treating! We had a lot of fun together! Thankful for our girls and sweet time together!
Baked and seasoned pumpkin seeds!
Karlie’s scary pumpkin!
Caramel flavored pumpkin seeds!
Brina creating her owl pumpkinFlashback Friday: Happy July 4th
Happy Independence Day from Brina and Karlie!!!
Today we are flashing back to July 4, 2005. It was the girls first July 4th Independence Day celebration! My Aunt gave the girls these adorable dresses to wear for the celebration.
We spent the first part of the day as usual. Getting everybody up, fed, changed, and some play time. That evening we went over to a friends house to play games and celebrate. They were good sports and happy babies the whole evening.
Brina, Riley, and Karlie all coordinated for the July 4th Holiday!
So many reasons to celebrate this July 4th!
Celebrate with Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection #FebrezeHoliday
The Holiday Season will be here before we know it! Already the stores are stocking their shelves full of Holiday items. Recently, we received this cute Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection box in the mail from Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks! The kids were thrilled to see the Holiday House and I was excited about getting all the amazing Holiday Febreze scents and goodies!
Have ever used Febreze to add an extra festive touch or to enhance the decor in your home? Febreze truly eliminates odors so your guests will only notice the fresh holiday scents when in your home. If you haven’t tried any of the Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection you should get some soon to help you get into the holiday spirit! The scents and the designs on the packaging helped inspire the ideas in the scentspiration box!
One of my favorite parts about the Holidays all the amazing smells! A wonderful way to ramp up for the Holidays is by using Febreze’s holiday scents including Frosted Pine, Apple Tart, Toasted Almond, Vanilla Latte, and Sugared Cranberry. Do you like having a different holiday scent for each room or one for the entire house? Febreze’s Home for the Holidays Collection is a great way to get your home ready for the holiday season!
We received the Frosted Pine, Apple Tart, and Vanilla Latte NOTICEables NOTABLES scents! My favorite is the Apple Tart!
Our Home for the Holidays house came complete with scents and a scentspiration box full of amazing recipes, activities, and home decor!
Febreze Home for the Holidays Recipe – Cocoa-Dusted Almonds
What you need: 1 pound raw almonds, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 8 packets sugar-free sweetner, and a pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Melt the coconut oil to a liquid, and then pour it over the almonds in a large bowl. Make sure each almond is covered.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar-free sweetener, and salt.
3. Pour the dry ingredients onto the almonds. Toss the almonds in the mixture until they are well coated.
4. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 250 degrees for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let them completely cool then ENJOY!
These were DELICIOUS! The Cocoa-Dusted Almonds would make a great item to take to the neighbors for the Holidays or to have at a Holiday Party! Our family enjoyed these toasted almonds this past weekend. This recipe is easy to make and tastes awesome! Have you ever made toasted almonds, if so what’s your favorite recipe?
Febreze Home for the Holidays Activities – Coffee Scrub
What you need: 1/ cup ground coffee, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup melted coconut oil, 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg, 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, and 3 to 4 drops of vanilla extract.
Directions:
1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Use a fork to mix in the oil and vanilla.
3. Spoon into a small mason jar or other airtight container.
Loved the refreshing coffee smell of the scrub! The Coffee Scrub would make a great gift for a coffee enthusiast this Holiday Season!
What is your favorite coffee flavor and when is the last time you made a cup of it at home? I really loved the refreshing coffee smell of the scrub! The Coffee Scrub would make a great gift for a coffee enthusiast this Holiday Season! What unique addition would you add to this scentspiration activity?
What are some fun Holiday activities or recipes you use to get you ready for the Holiday Season? I would love to see any pictures of the scentspiration activities you tried at your house.
More information about Febreze:
- Like Febreze’s Facebook Page
- Follow Febreze’s Twitter Feed
- Pick up your favorite Febreze Fall Home Harvest Scent at your local Walmart
A special thanks to SheSpeaks, Febreze, and Walmart for sponsoring this post! Any specific product information was provided by Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We received a complimentary products for sharing information and our family’s experience.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day Girls! They were greeted by the little treats left on their bar stools when they walked into the kitchen for breakfast!
Valentine’s Day is a great day to celebrate with the ones you love! We don’t usually do anything huge on Valentine’s Day, but we do try to take time to make it special for the kids as well as have some time together as a couple too. Spending time with the ones you love, showing, and telling them how much you love them shouldn’t only be done on Valentine’s Day!
“Owl Be Your Valentine” goody bags for the kiddos!
They are awake and ready for breakfast!
A fun Valentine’s Day breakfast!
Christmas Tree Ornaments
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!
Karlie squeezing paint into her ornamentTake 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.
Brina making sure the paint is covering the entire glassAfter 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.
Karlie swirling and coating the inside of her glass ornament with paintThe colors blend together and look pretty neat together.
Turn the ornament upside down in a styrofoam cup or muffin pan so the extra paint can drain.
Every few hours flip the glass ornament the opposite direction so the paint will dry evenly inside the bulb
One of the glass bulbs hanging on the trees
Beautiful ornament made by the girls hanging on the tree
The girls did a fabulous job making these ornaments.
Colorful and looking great on the Christmas tree
The colors merged beautifully on their glass ornaments
Thanks Renelle for an amazing craft! The girls had a craft and they turned out beautifully!
Welcome New Year 2014!
We had a fun time bringing in the New Year! It started a little later than we expected because Jake was on call with work, but we were able to pack in a lot of games, snacks, a play, and more exciting activities into the evening. The girls stayed up until midnight again this year to watch the ball drop and bring in the 2014 New Year! They were super excited to start the New Year with confetti!
We talked about all the amazing memories we had in 2013. All of us agreed that 2013 was an awesome year and we packed in a lot of great memories together as a family. Several fun trips – a cruise, Vermont, Charleston, Kansas, Atlanta, North Carolina, and more! We are truly blessed and have so much to be grateful for in our lives.
We discussed goals and what we are looking forward to in 2014. The girls decided they wanted to think of at least one goal for 2014. They took a whole 2 seconds to come up with at least one of their goals.
Brina’s first goal – “Spend more time outside! I love playing and being outside!”
Karlie’s first goal – “Read more books with 400 or more pages!”
The girls make me smile because in many ways they couldn’t be more different! One of the themes for 2014 Brina suggested was “Anything Can Happen!” Thankful for our girls and the opportunity to bring in the New Year with them. I am looking forward to seeing what God has for our family this upcoming year.
The confetti was a lot of fun and I am sure it will spread itself through the house even though we tried to sweep it up.
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 CookiesMy 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
