The Most Important thing in Life is FAMILY! {Wordless} Wednesday

Things I {L*O*V*E} Tuesday

As I have said many times before, I am a Pinterest-aholic!!! I absolutely ADORE pinterest. There have to be some of the neatest ideas, crafts, recipes, etc. on there! So, I figured I'd start sharing with you my pinterest finds that I absolutely adore!

MONTHLY MENU

{source: Robby Gurls Creations}

I don't know about you all, but I get overly obsessive about making out my menu for each week. I try not to have the same meals back-to-back each week. With this bad boy, you never will!! I am DEFINATELY making on of these!! Go check it out to see how you can make your own!

DIY APPLIQUE IRON-ON SHIRT

{source: Cleverly Inspired}

I definately see a couple of Christmas shirts for Miss T & Mr. J about to be made using this as the inspiration!

THIS MUCH CARD

{source: Day In My Life}

I absolutely LOVE,LOVE,LOVE this!! My kiddos will be making a couple of these for a few special people in their lives!!

These are just a few things that I love. If I posted every one, we'd be here all day!!

So, what do you love??

Menu Plan Monday

Today was grocery shopping day which means a new menu for the week!

What's on your menu for this week?

Our menu plan is:

Monday- Jambalaya

Tuesday- Crunchy Onion Chicken with Roasted Potatoes & Green Beans

Wednesday- Eat out

Thursday- Slow Cooker London Broil

Friday- Homemade Chinese Beef & Vegetable with Vegetable Fried Rice

Saturday- Chicken & Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups

Sunday- Slow Cooker Short Ribs & Vegetables with Walnut-Mushroom Tart

{Countdown to Christmas}: Days 2-4

We've recently started our countdown to Christmas and we've already fallen behind AND veared off of the plans we had for those days! We wouldn't be us if we didn't do that!! So, today (12-5) we played catch up!

Day 2 was to make an ornament for their tree! They have an ornament making playdate Thursday, so I figured why not make paper garland!

Day 3 should've been us going to the Kannapolis Christmas Festival, BUT.....

I had a Christmas photo session, and Mr. Homemaker kept the kiddo's for me. Awww.....what a sweetie! :)

He had the kid's outside playing pretty much all day with him (no complaints on their parts), so by dinner time (which is when we were SUPPOSED to leave) the kids were about to pass out over the dinner!! No way was I taking them somewhere that they'd fall asleep en route and be grouchy little monsters when we got there. So, we just skipped it!

Day 4 was supposed to be the kidlets taking a trip to the mall and visiting with the big guy in red, Santa!

BUT, my daddy ended up taking a trip to the ER yesterday and we went to visit him later that evening after he had gotten home. We ended up take out from

and watched

Even though our day didn't go as planned, we still enjoyed our evening!

{Wordless} Countdown to Christmas: Day 1

 

Countdown to Christmas

Every year I try to do an Advent calendar of some sorts for the kids. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate. They just enjoy the fact that there are activites for them to do each day.

With that being said, we have a SUPER simple calendar this year. A construction paper chain with Christmas tree! Easy enough!

Super simple instructions:

Cut out strips of paper for your chain and write your activities on them.

Next, cut out your Christmas tree. You can decorate it as you'd like, I just kept it simple.

Now, turn your paper strips of paper into chains!

Attach your chains & Christmas tree with some ribbon and your done!

Viola!

We hung ours from our fireplace in the den, but you could hang this anywhere!

North Pole Breakfast

While scouring Pinterest one day, I found a blog that introduced the NORTH POLE BREAKFAST!

I read all about it and fell in L*O*V*E with the idea!

So I went to the local craft store and purchased our Elf on the Shelf, better know as Mr. Jingles!

When my monkies woke up and ready for breakfast (the Sunday after Thanksgiving), the walked into the kitchen only to find THIS! Mr. Jingles had brought them breakfast all the way from the North Pole!

He brought them bacon & eggs, and french toast with SNOW!!!

And muffins, too!

And what would a breakfast from the North Pole be with out SNOW COVERED DOUGHNUTS!!

When they each went to their spot at the table, they found this!

A gift, candy, and note from Mr. Jingles himself!

Before they tore into their plates, we read the story of our elf!

They were sooooooo excited!

Now that the story was over, it's time to see what Mr. Jingles had to say.

And of course we had to put on the Christmas socks because, after all, it's VERRRRRRYY cold in the North Pole!

After all of the fun and festivities, Mr. Jingles decided to take himself a seat in the tree and watch my monkies!

Our North Pole Breakfast was a H*U*G*E hit with the kiddos, so I can definately see this becoming a recurring tradition in our house!

It's Beginning to look alot like CHRISTMAS!!

It's December 1st and you know what that means??!! Christmas is ALMOST HERE!!! I personally adore this holiday. Not only for the religious aspect, but for all the fun that brings for the family and me (in the crafting\decorating sense).

We're all Christmas-y here!! Mr. Homemaker and I purchased our 7.5 foot monster tree the day after Thanksgiving, along with some new ornaments. We've had hand-me-down ornaments since we got married and had our first Christmas together. We decided it was time for a change, and we went and got blue-white-silver ornamnets for our tree. I've been toying with this color scheme for sometime now, but Mr. Homemaker really gave the kick in the pants I needed to go through with it. I personally LOVE how it turned out!! (The picture does NOT do my tree justice...just sayin'!).

Keeping with my Christmas decorating, I made a new ornament wreath for 6 bucks!! I made one last year, but wanted it bigger. So getting ideas\tips from Pinterest, I made this one!

Another idea I picked up from Pinterest is the "snow" candle holders! All it is, is epsom salt (that I already had) inside of a mason jar (that I already had) with a small candle (that I already had) inside. I put 3 of these along my mantle in my livingroom, along with my ornament vases. All that is, is ornaments (that I had) sat inside of my vases (that I had). My mantle lined with garland and our stockings made my look I was going for complete!

And lastly, I put garland above my windows. And decided they were too bare. So......I added some ribbon with ornaments. It's not my favorite, but I don't think it's too bad.

I want to do more Christmas decorations in my house, so I'll probably head into the kitchen for that next!

Initial Tukery Shirt {No Sew}

Do you all remember the turkey applique shirt I made for Ms. T?  Well, I made Mr. J one today...just a little less girly! It's the same steps as Ms. T's shirt.

Candy Corn Cupcakes & A Birthday

Yesterday was my mom's 45th birthday (or 54th according to Ms. T) and Mr. Homemaker & I decided we would have her and my dad over for a birthday supper and cupcakes! I wanted to do something different...something non-traditional in terms of her cupcakes.

So, being the Pinterest addict that I am, I found Candy Corn Cupcakes!!

Bear in mind, my cupcakes are not as pretty as the one's in the above photo, but boy were they yummy!!

So here you go, instructions (with pictures) on how to make your own candy corn cupcakes!

All of your ingredients needed, minus the red & yellow food coloring I forgot to add in the picutre! :)

Add your oil, water, and egg whites to your boxed cake mixture. Add the quantities that the box calls for.

Have an adorably, enthusiastic 4yr old to assist with the mixing.

Take a break, and let your enthusiastic helper lick the beaters {her favorite part...I think that's why she likes helping!}

Divide your batter into 3 seperate dishes. This is so you can add the food coloring to make the batter white, yellow, and orange.

Add your food coloring and mix, mix, mix!!

Put a scoop of yellow batter in (I forgot to photograph that part), and next a scoop of orange batter on top.

Finally, add a scoop of white batter on top!

Once you fill the cupcake liners with the batter, bake according to the package instructions.

When the cupcakes are done baking, take them out of the pan to cool.

Finally, once they are cool, frost with vanilla frosting and top with a candy corn...or two!!

And when you open it up, this is what it should look like!