Fun Appetizer

Once again, Taste Of Home Magazine inspired me to try a new recipe.  I made these crispy shrimp cups for a Christmas party over the weekend. 

It was the first time I had ever gone to the store in search of wonton wrappers!  They are located in the produce department of Fred Meyer next to the bagged salads, of all places.  By the way, Fred Meyer is my grocery store go-to place.  The prices are pretty good and we are on a serious budget right now.

As the recipe prompted, the wonton wrappers are in the mini muffin pan.  The edges are brushed with the garlic and butter mixture.

Add the cream cheese/honey/hot sauce mixture.  Bake for 8 more minutes.  Just to warm it through.  I didn't have fresh parsley, so sprinkled some dried parsley on top.

Terrible photo, but the shrimp have been added and also a small lemon wedge. Basil leaf would've been perfect- but I didn't have any.

They are pretty, stand up on their own, crunchy, and fun! 

Meanwhile, look what arrived in the mail!  I was very sick on Sunday and Monday.  I actually had to CLOSE yesterday.  That doesn't happen very often to me.  Praise the Lord that we paid the mortgage this month- I have put my faith in God that He provides for our every need.  He even knocked our socks off with a couple of extras. 

Here is what I have been practicing in.  They are beautiful- and quite ambitious for me.

Yowza!  You must understand how frightening this is for someone who wears hunting socks and slippers for most of each work day.  I am VERY excited to get dressed up with my handsome hubby and go see what I consider to be Beethovens finest composition.   Happy Tuesday! ♥♥♥

Cinnamon Rolls

I had not attempted cinnamon rolls until this morning.  The smell that the dough emitted while proofing was enough to make me want to just take a bite out of it.  Thank you Taste Of Home website- these are sooo good!  You can find the recipe we used here.  I love Taste Of Home magazine, and so far EVERY recipe I have tried from one of their publications has been decadently delicious.  Above, the cinnamon rolls were ready to go into the oven.

We made one pan with raisins.

One pan without!  Imagine my delight when I realized this recipe makes TWO dozen instead of one.  I wasn't aware of that when I started.

Julianne was a taste tester for me.

Stephanie gave me a taste test approval, too!♥  I am very happy with the results of this recipe!

Aiden was happy, too.

This recipe has earned a slot inside of my antique cake and biscuits tin.  The tin is reserved for worthy internet recipes that we consider outstanding.

Welcome home, cinnamon roll recipe!  Happy Saturday!♥♥♥

Jesus Beats Santa

I'm kind of annoyed by Santa Claus.  More than kind of, actually.  Who is this mythical figure who is trying to steal Jesus' thunder? It can be hard to get the kids to think about Jesus at Christmas time.  We discuss it often at Henle House.  Most of the places they see probably cram Santa Claus down their throats.  Toys, cookies,  candy, stuff, ho ho ho, now go sit on the scary fat mans lap so you can pay $25 for a photo of your child crying.  Can Santa Claus walk on water? NO.  He is not real.  I am  guilty of feeding the Santa Claus fantasy for my kids.  They all believed in Santa at some point.  Our youngest still does.  I guess I still like the idea of kids having an imagination, but I enforce much more strongly that Christmas is about Jesus.  Jesus is not a figment of our imagination, He is very real. We created our own little baby Jesus yesterday.

All the while, discussing how amazing it is that Jesus is REAL.  His gift never breaks, we don't have to give it up, we don't need to fight over it.  His gift fills our hearts with joy- no piece of plastic can ever do that.  He is a king without a crown.  He probably would've chosen to be born in a manger.  I think the girls really understood what I was trying to tell them.

It was THEIR idea to pray and thank God for the baby Jesus.  I have never been so sure of anything in my entire life than that I need Jesus.  We all do.

They played with Jesus for hours.  The animals came to see Him.

They formed a parade!

It was a celebration, indeed.  My prayer is that everyone will feel the way I do about what Jesus did for us.  Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Music To Our Ears

We got out the guitar yesterday and danced and sang some Christmas songs.  Thanks to the internet, we had so many songs to choose from, guitar chords right at our fingertips.♥

♫♪♫Dashing through the snow..♫♪.. (The kids rang jingle bell bracelets and danced!) Followed by Oh Holy Night, and Away In A Manger. ♫♪♫♫♫

Stephanie got out her clarinet and proved her talents by playing a Nutcracker score beautifully!♥

Not everyone thought it was beautiful.. But it really was!♥

I showed Steph the previous photo and we both had a great laugh while she defended her playing.  Honestly- I was impressed!  She's got great musical talent.♥

All the while, we created some festive construction paper candy canes.  Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Christmas Countdown

Yesterday marked 12 days until Christmas. I thought that was a good time to create our count down chains.  Last year, we made them on December 1st- boy did that take FOREVER!  Twelve links to the chain was just right.

They created a Christmas tree scene.

These little paper strips came from Oriental Trading and have some envelope type glue on the ends of them for easy assembly.  Just lick and stick!

They were excited when they noticed the pattern!  I was proud they picked up on that.  We've been learning about patterning.

Finished!

Meanwhile, Aiden was posing for me in his new jammies.  I specifically looked for jammies with the black pants because he likes to wear a pair that are too small.  He calls them his ninja pants, and immediately upon wearing them, his ninja super powers arrive.  He is now invincible!  (For at least the next year.)  Happy Wednesday! I am currently baking cupcakes for Jesus' birthday party tonight at AWANA.  Join us from 6:30-8:00 to celebrate!

Pinecone Bird Feeder

The air is frozen, yet the birds are fluttering around as though it is spring.  A pine cone bird feeder is a great way to spoil your birdie friends!  Aiden made the one above at school and we hung it up immediately.  The kids waited.  And waited....

A visitor arrived!  Not just one, but a group of 7.   I thought, "Hmmm, nothing for the bird to stand on while it pecks away at the seed."  It was neat to watch the bird grab onto the yarn and sort of slide down it to the pine cone.  The photos didn't turn out.

 They loved the treat.  Want to make your own?  Spread some peanut butter on a pine cone and then roll it in some bird seed.  Easy!

Here came Niko, the yard boss beast.  He was in bird heaven, yet chose to let them live.  What a good boy.

Meanwhile, we are STILL playing with frozen spider webs.  Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Aaaw, look at the baby of the family!  Today is his 6th birthday, he has been counting down for months now.  Aiden has been such a fun boy to have around!  See how he is looking to the right?  We thought that he just preferred to do that.  As it turned out, he had a condition called Torticollis.  It is the tightening of a muscle in his neck that resulted in his always looking to the right, and that resulted in his misshapen head called Plagiocephaly.  If we had only been diagnosed with the torticollis BEFORE his head was so lopsided, we could've prevented the helmet!

See?  Looking back at all of his photos, we sure wish we could've just gently helped him stretch out that muscle by turning his head the other way.  Isn't he cute?  Our baby.♥

Aiden is inquisitive!  He is my sweetheart pie.  I want to reach into this photo and kiss him to pieces!

He waited until he was seven months old to get the helmet.  That way his neck would be strong enough to handle wearing it 23 hours per day.  Yep- he had to sleep at night with it.  I think it was harder on us parents than it was on him.  If it was exceptionally hot outside, we would take it off.  But otherwise, it was on.  The helmet prevented the round parts of his little skull from growing outward any further, and allowed the flat parts to grow out into the correct head shape.  The helmet was amazing- it worked wonders although his head is still a little misshapen to this day. 

Poor quality photo, but Aidens grandpa painted the helmet to be a tiny replica of a Seahawk helmet!  Suddenly the other kids wanted one, too.

Aiden loves to follow his big brother Ethan around.  They are pretty good "buddies" most of the time.  Look at those little legs!

We had a birthday party yesterday!  He had a great time surrounded by friends and family.  Aiden is one lucky little guy!

Happy 6th Birthday to my "snuggie"! He has declared that he will still be my "snuggie" even though he is now six.  Thank goodness! ♥♥♥