Oliver talking to mommy and keeping me company

Today I made some holiday goodies. I needed something that would be easy and I preferred no baking required. With Mr. Oliver I never know how much time I have before he needs a scenery change. I first made fudge with salty pretzels. Only 3 ingredients pretzels, (12 oz)chocolate chip, (14 oz)sweetened condense milk and sea salt (optional) on top.

I also made dirty snowball but instead of regular Oreo cookies I made it with golden oreo's. Only 3 ingredients: package of oreo's, (8 oz) cream cheese and melted chocolate. So yummy! This is the kids favorite cookie. I promised Brandon I would make him peppermint bark but that might have to wait until Christmas Eve. I don't think I can stomach another bite of chocolate at least not for another couple of days! .

Finally Some Snow!

Brandon sent me this picture through via text. We didn't get much snow maybe a half an inch at most. But it was enough that they spent hours both Saturday and Sunday sliding down the hill in the driveway. Gabe got his Christmas wish....Snow!

Making Baby Food for Mr. O I just started making baby food for Oliver. I've never done it but the last couple of months I've been doing some research and checking out the ins and outs of making your own baby food. I just started a week ago. Oliver is loving apples and now the latest sweet potatoes. When I put on his bib he gets so excited. I love it when he says mmmmm after having a spoonful, it's music to my ears! Happy Baby makes a Happy Mommy!

I made apples, squash and sweet potatoes one morning once the kids were off to school. Boiled the apples and sweet potato. Baked the squash. Once they were done I puree them then I used a strainer to make sure there wasn't any chunks. Then I use ice cube trays to freeze them. Once there frozen I store them in a Ziploc bag and date it. It's so easy! I can't wait to try different fruit and vegetables.

This is made up of 4 sweet potatoes, 2 acorn squash and 8 apples.

Say Cheese

It took me at least 20 odd shots to finally get one picture that seem to look good of the kids together.

Christmas cookies

On Monday I made some cookies for Lily's class for her snack day. I made a couple dozen extra so the kids could decorate some of their own cookies. I gave them each three dixie cups each with different color frosting and some sprinkles. They had a blast and it gave them something to do on their day off of school. When Brandon came home there was only one cookie left with his name on it, not literally. I had to throw a few in the garbage because I saw two of the kids licking the spoon then putting frosting on the cookie with the same spoon. I threw them out with out them seeing and when Noah throw out the empty cups he was horrified to see cookies in the garbage...Oops.

Lily helping Noah redecorating his cookies

Thanksgiving Fun

I get asked what my favorite day of the year is by the kids all the time and they all know the answer...Thanksgiving! We started 4 years ago staying home and spending the day together. We usually start off with a large breakfast and then we start decorating the house and tree. Typically every year "knock on wood" Brandon and the kids leave me for an hour to go to Walmart (only store open that day) to get some more Christmas tree lights or something I forgot to pick up at the grocery store. After dinner we take a drive and check out Christmas lights. When we get home we have dessert and then we enjoy a Christmas movie. This year with having a small baby and going to bed by 9pm we didn't get a chance to see Christmas lights or watch a Christmas movie.

My little turkey-gobble gobble

Clint, Karen and Josh came out the day after Thanksgiving for a visit. It's always nice to spend time with them. Lily always talks about her favorite Uncle Clint and who could blame her. He plays with her doll house with her and helps her put candy canes on the Christmas tree. Lily even wanted to be in their family picture! She loves her Uncle!:)

Christmas Tree

Well it's that time a year again...picking out our family Christmas tree. We typically go Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving. This gives the tree some time to let the branches lay into place. The past 4 years we decorate our tree and house on Thanksgiving day, such fun we have. Monday night we entered the garden center with no one in sight except the cashier, hence the pictures of the kids. At the store all the trees were netted up so you couldn't get an idea what the tree looked like. A guy came out to help us and asked us if we wanted him to cut the net so we could see the tree. I at first said no but within seconds retracted my statement and said yes please. Brandon gave me a sigh and a look that made me believe he was thinking I was being high maintenance, so I then decided we would just go with it and be surprised once we got home. Well it's not the prettiest tree or even remotely close but a lesson learned always check the tree before taking it home and don't let Brandon rush me while shopping. It definitely doesn't get mistaken for a fake tree, that's for sure. But once we decorated it, covered the large gaps with ribbon and large ornaments it became one beautiful tree.