Friday, December 23, 2011

Wimberley Winter Wonderland 2011

We took a trip to the hill country to visit Maggie's shop and bop around for  the day.  It was an overcast and chilly day - perfect for Christmas shopping!
  
  
  

 
  


 
We stopped at Wimberley Cafe for lunch.

 




My sister's shop 
Can't wait to visit Wimberley again soon!


Gina

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

In just three days...

You will be a teenager!  
 Thirteen years have gone by in a flash - so hard to believe.
I will remember that Christmas forever - the sense that we were finally completing a group of people to love and cherish and call a family.  A day that all of us welcomed you as a gift of love to our family. 
 Happy Birthday, Grayson! 
We will never forget that Christmas is your special day, too because having you as a part of our family means so much to all of us 


Gina

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas cookie tray 2011

I made a last minute cookie tray for Hubby to take to work one day last week.  Just found the ingredients for some basic stuff and ran with it!
Chocolate Pretzel peanut clusters, Russian Teacakes, and Jam Pastries.  YUM.
The clusters were made using the recipe off the package of some chocolate bark I've been wanting to use.  I subbed in pretzels for the chow mein noodles since I already had pretzels on hand.  They also have peanut butter in them - they were so easy and really good!
These Russian Teacakes go by many names - Sandies, Mexican Wedding Cakes, etc.  I made mine with walnuts as pecans have priced themselves out of my budget.  They are simple to make - here is a recipe that's very similar to mine.
I lined them up next to the pile of clusters and kept baking...
Last but not least were the jam pastries.  This recipe called for pie crust, jam, cinnamon sugar, and nuts.
You roll out the dough onto the sugar and press it in.  Then spread the jam on, sprinkle the nuts, roll the whole thing up, and slice to bake.
I think they came out so pretty!  Looks like I slaved for hours, but really,
I spent maybe one hour total on the whole thing!
I think these would be good for breakfast, too.  Today is another baking day at my house in preparation for the cookies we leave out for the Fat Man.  What's on your last minute agenda?  Any cookie baking?


Gina

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Kitchen Christmas swag

One of my favorite Christmas spaces in the house!
  
  Full of ornaments the kids have made over the years.  

  

 
A lot of them have pictures, and it makes the window seat such a happy place!

  
  


  
 


Do you have a spot like this for your kid's Christmas art?


Gina

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Tacky Homemades, Secret Santa version

That's how my mother always refers to gifts she makes at Christmastime - and they are always anything BUT tacky.  I got an idea to make ornaments for a co-worker who's name I may or may nor have drawn in our Secret Santa gift exchange. 
I started out with sparkly unbreakable ornaments from Michael's, and some shimmery white fabric paint.  I found the cutest Ho Ho Ho ribbon and was so excited!  Only to discover at home that someone had cut about half of it off the roll...so I had to settle on polka dots ribbon.
Still pretty cute - stripes and dots together work!
I used a measuring cup to hold the ornament steady and wrote each family member's name in white,

Then I added a dot of red to the lettering.  They dried pretty quickly.
And when they did, I added the ribbon to the tops to gussy them up a bit.  She will still be able to hook a tree hanger in there to hang them on their tree.  No worries about them breaking - hooray!
I packaged them in one of those red rectangular zip loc containers and bundled that with a box of Starbucks cocoa, candy canes, and gingersnaps. 
Merry Christmas, Mom of Three Cute Kids!


Gina

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

She wants a dog

The Girl dog-sat for our neighbors on Thanksgiving weekend.  
It included taking them out for walks one at a time - they have two Blue Heelers. 
 She took Bubbie with her and I trailed along, out of breath!
This is Allie, the oldest.  She loves tummy rubs and The Girl.
 "Mom, I reaaaally want a dog!", she says, every time she dog-sits.  I remind her that she has a lot to accomplish before she graduates college. She's just now learning to fend for herself and live on her own.
 I know she would love it and take care of it.
It would be a good companion and protector.  I know.
She makes some good points for it.
So I hope she will wait until after graduation. 


Gina