Tissue Please

My kids had their Christmas choir program a couple of weeks ago. This consisted of singing a couple of songs. One song had motions. My daughter was nervous about it because she couldn't remember all the motions. My son helped her practice and told her he would sit by her to help her.

One of the songs they sang was "Silent Night". I shot a little video of it. (Make sure you pause the playlist at the bottom of the blog before you play the video.)



They look very excited to be up on stage singing don't they. The only time they smile is when they look at me. I especially love how my daughter wipes her nose on her arm starting at her shoulder all the way down to her wrist. Oh well. It's not like she was digging in the back of her pants with both hands! :) If you think they look a little tired, the program started at 6:30 p.m. and that's their bedtime. I think they yawned no less than 6 times while they were singing.

I just love children's programs, don't you? There's always something funny that happens.

Son's Baptism

I wrote back in November about my son having a new birthday. I tear up just thinking about it. I wanted to share some picture of my son's baptism with you.

We arrived to church and met with the man who was going to baptize my son. His name is Wilson and I remember him at our church from when I was a young girl. We met around 9:45 a.m. Mr. Wilson talked to my son and another man about what baptism was and why we are baptized. My son sat on the front row of a little room with his legs crossed, reading through the papers Mr. Wilson had given him with a calm, quiet spirit.

I asked him if he understood what he was doing and he said, "Yes."

The officer had to work, but showed up around 10:10 a.m. He helped my son get into his baptism gown and robe.

When my son was dressed, Mr. Wilson gave him instructions:

1. I will say a few words and then ask you what Jesus has done for you.
2. You will take a deep breath and hold it for 3 seconds.
3. You will go underwater during that 3 seconds.
4. When you come up from the water, blow our your nose and take a breathe in your mouth.

This is right up my son's alley. Specific instructions he can follow.

We had invited family and friends to share this day with us. In our church, you are allowed to walk right up to the baptistry to watch. With family and friends surrounding my son, he was baptized. Of course, I was taking pictures while tears rolled down my cheeks.

It was such a sweet moment to share with him. I will never forget it.

3 John 1:4
"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

We have electricity

Can't let the year end without telling you how great my mom is. Well she is a great mom, but she is an awesome grandma.

For my son's birthday, she got him 4 different science kits. She knows he loves to do the hands on experiments. She got him a weather stations, a can robot, a potato clock, and clean water science kit.

Not only does she come over every Monday to read with the kids, but the last couple of times she has come over she has done the science kits with my son.

This is been a lot of fun for my son. They got the potato clock running potatoes, bananas, and apples. They also did the weather station.



Do you like our fancy science lab? A green towel on the kitchen floor!

Thank you Grandma K for taking the time out of your busy grandma schedule (she's more busy than before she retired) to spend time with my children. I hope I am half the grandma you are. I love you!

" "

My daughter has started a new thing.

I suppose she has seen me do it.

A couple of weeks ago, she said to me, "Mom, I like those "twice-baked potatoes". "

I laughed. She used air quotes on the words "twice-baked potatoes".

I said, "Honey, why are doing that thing with your fingers. They really are twice-baked so you don't do that thing with your fingers." She just laughed it off.

Later, she said, "I love "Christmas time". Again with the air-quotes. Since I just laughed at her, she has been doing it to everything.

"I like "cookies"."

"I like that movie "Tangled"."

"Is that "Hobbs" (our dog) over there?"

She is still making up her own vocabulary words. I have kept a running list of her vocabulary so I can remember all the funny words she makes up. Tonight she asked me if she can have a snackerdoodle (snickerdoodle), a snickerdoodler, a snackdoodler..... it went on. She finally got it right.

The other night she came into our bedroom in the middle of the night. She said, "Mommy I can't go back to sleep. I had a bad dream." I replied, "Can you try to go back to your bed and go to sleep?" This usually works. She answered, "No mom. I am afraid if I go back to my room, I will have a continued story." Continued story: picking up where a bad dream left off when you go back to sleep. She crawled into bed with me and fell right asleep. These days won't last forever. I'll take them whenever I can.

Crockpot Chicken & Bean Soup

I made this last night for dinner and it was a hit, even with my kids. This is another Pinterest find. However, I can't find the original link to the recipe on Pinterest so I am not sure who came up with this recipe or where the picture came from. There's no name for it either, so I just called it what it is Crockpot Chicken & Bean soup.

Crockpot Chicken & Bean Soup

1 can of Rotel (just pour it all into the crockpot)
1 can of corn (pour it all in the crockpot)
1 can of black beans (drained & rinsed)
2 frozen chicken breasts (I loved that I could just throw the frozen chicken breasts in)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 packet dry ranch dressing
1 T. cumin
1 t. onion powder
1 t. chili powder.

Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook 6-8 hours.
Shred chicken, and enjoy!

I would double the recipe next time, it was barely enough for everyone. It was very tasty. Even the kids loved it. It would be yummy with some tortilla strips in it. This is perfect for those cold, wintery days.

Cowboy Caviar

I made this for a Christmas get together and it was a big hit. Guess where I found the recipe??!! You guessed it, Pinterest. It's called Cowboy Caviar. On Pinterest, the recipe is different than it is on the original link. You can find the original recipe here.

Here is the recipe that was posted on Pinterest. The recipe on Pinterest is a little easier than the original recipe. It's very simple - take it from me! :)

Cowboy Caviar
2 can of Mexicorn (drained)
1 can of rotel (drained) You can use hot rotel if you want.
2 cups of cheddar shredded cheese
6 green onions (sliced)
1 c. of mayo (I used Miracle Whip)
1 c. of sour cream
1 bag of Scoops Fritos to dip with

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and VIOLA you're done.

The picture below is the one from Pinterest. I had forgotten to take a picture of mine.

It was even good the next day. There was more flavor, but the corn has gotten a little softer. It was super easy to make since all you do is dump everything into a bowl and it makes a lot.

Randomness...

It feels like forever since I've blogged. I wanted to do it before the end of the year. I have had random things I've thought about blogging about; however, I didn't think I had enough for a whole post. So here are my random thoughts:

1. I like Sam Elliot's voice. He's does voice-overs for Dodge. He was Virgil Earp in Tombstone. That's it.

2. I like the "boots tucked into the jeans" look, but I can't pull it off. Firstly, I feel like my calves are too big for most the boots I like. Secondly, my legs are only 3 inches long and if I tucked my jeans into my boots then my legs would only look 1 inch long.

3. I have a severe weakness for snack size Heath candy bars. Yeah, I know you are probably chuckling saying, "Oh, I like ____________." Seriously, I ask for them in my stocking and the whole bag was gone 4 days later, but only in 3 sittings. Ugg.

4. I have another fascination - Pinterest. Those of you already on Pinterest, you understand what I'm saying. It can be a complete time waster, but I have purposed to not let it be. I have been making several craft projects from Pinterest, which leads me to #5.

5. I found out I LOVE Mod Podge, which for some reason I always pronounce Modge Podge. I have been making coasters and Christmas ornaments with Mod Podge. I found another thing I am going to try to make for some birthday gifts. Can't say what they are yet because I have a friend who has a birthday coming up! :)

6. I have also found a little joy in cooking. I used to really dislike cooking. It's probably because I felt like I had no idea what I was doing in the kitchen. I felt that because I really had no idea what I was doing in the kitchen. I hardly ever let the kids cook or bake with me because I just felt inadequate. However, thanks to Pinterest, I have found some recipes that have been hits and it has spurned me onto trying more.

I am putting together a cookbook I saw on a video during my Called to be a Keeper bible study. The woman suggested making two cookbooks. One cookbook would be a tried and true cookbook. It would be full of recipes that my family or I enjoy. The other would be a try-out cookbook. It would be full of recipes that I would like to try out. I spent last night trying to get these two cookbooks together. Now I have a place to put those recipes I have torn out of magazines and just laid in random places.

Right before Christmas, I spent the afternoon making some Pinterest recipes with my daughter for a Christmas get together. It was so fun!! My daughter had a lot of fun too and I thought to myself, "Why haven't I done this sooner?" She doesn't care if I am a good cook (not yet anyway). She just wants to spend that time with me doing something new and interesting.

I'll be posting a couple of recipes I tried that were hits on the blog in the very near future.

7. My hair is getting longer and I do not like it. I need to chop it off, but I haven't found a haircut that I like yet. I believe my hair is like it was in 1990 sans 2 inches in bangs. The gray hair is coming in like a beast. I am considering rocking the Stacy London look. She has that elegant gray streak in front (well I'm calling it elegant). What do you think???

8. I am dreading the timeline move on Facebook. I am seeing it more and more when I go to individual's profile. I am still not used the other newsfeed change they did a couple of months ago.

9. I got a new car just before Thanksgiving. My old car, a Nissan Altima, just wasn't dependable anymore. I got a 2010 Honda Accord. This is the newest car I've ever owned. It only had 8,700 miles on it when I got it. I would have driven my Altima until it absolutely died. Even with it's leaking trunk, cracked windshield, oil dripping engine, and broken cd player, it was still a good car - to me anyway. However, now that it's gone and I'm driving around in my new car, I have to say that I do enjoy my new car. A. Lot! Thanks officer!

10. A lot of blogging time has been taken up with my coupon page, Treasure Hunt for Coupons. It has a lot of fun. I love to hear when someone has gotten a great deal or saved a lot of money. I need to do better balancing this blog with the coupon page because a lot of fun stuff has happened that I haven't blogged about because me trying to keep up with the coupon page during the holiday season.

11. I am sad that one of my friends has moved away. They knew they were most likely going to be moving this year, and it finally happened this month. My friend, Mrs. S, shared my love of Sonic's Vanilla Coke and Panera Bread. Her family was one of the sweetest families I know. I will miss her and her family.

That's it. See each thing only amounted to a paragraph or two, but not a whole blog post. So what are your New Year plans? I am taking down the Christmas tree and going to try to get our house back to normal. My son walked out of his room on December 26 and said, "Here." He gave me back the two gingerbread men and a Christmas tree he had in his room. He said, "Christmas is over so here are you decorations. Thanks mom." My daughter is hanging onto her Christmas decorations in her room until I pack them away. :)

I hope you've had a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.