Cooking Thursday

Today's recipe doesn't require any baking. All you have to do is melt white chocolate!  This is a Christmas mix that's so easy to make and is always a favorite.  I made a bunch this year for gifts; some for the girls I used to work with, some for the neighbors and some for our small group from church.  If you need a quick gift, this is a good one!

Christmas Mix

3 cups Cheerios
2 cups Corn Chex
3 cups Rice Chex
2 cups mini pretzels
1/2 pound Holiday M&M's
1 pound white chocolate

Stir together dry ingredients. 
Melt white chocolate and pour over cereal mix.
Stir together and pour out onto wax paper.  Let cool and break apart.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Fun times with the girls

We had Alaina and Ruby overnight on Friday.  They stayed all day Saturday because we had a birthday party that night.  So - we had time to do lots of fun things!

We spent some time Friday evening making a gingerbread house. I had picked up a kit that looked pretty easy.

It was coming along well and they were being quite artistic...

But suddenly, things started sliding...

and there was no saving it. They were ok, had a laugh and said it was fun anyway.

We then watched Rudolph, and while watching, Alaina worked on a stocking cap.  She finished it before she went to bed.

On Saturday, the girls went out to Bob's workshop to work on something Alaina had seen and thought they should make. 

Doing sanding

and staining.

Here are the finished reindeer!  They were very proud of them and Bob enjoyed having the girls out in the shop with him.

That afternoon we made slime.  A few months ago we did pumpkin slime which they loved doing and said we should do some in green at Christmas.

They love playing with this stuff!

There was a lot of handwashing needed after this project.

We added red beads and glitter to make it festive.

They decorated jars to hold the slime.

It was a few days of fun!

A Day in my Life - December

Can you believe we're a week into December already?  So, I better get with it and share how I spent the first day of the month.

December 1 fell on a Sunday, which is a quieter day for us and I don't have lots of pics, but here's how it went.

It was a gray day.  Here's how it looked as we left our house to go to church at about 8:40 in the morning.

It takes about 10 minutes for us to get to church.  Look at that sky as we drove!

We have Sunday School before church so we started with that.  Then it was our turn to be greeters. It's always fun to say hi to people as they come in.

On this day, we had communion, and our Pastor was getting ready for that.

We are studying Revelations right now and had an interesting message on that. We ended up talking to several people after church and didn't leave until about 12:20.

One of my friends from church brought me this porch pot, and it looks nice sitting with some snow around it.

I had made Chicken Rice soup and had it in the crock pot so it was all ready when we got home.  A nice warm bowl of soup was perfect, after coming in from the cold.

We ate lunch and had a quiet afternoon. I did some work on photo books I'm trying to finish for my granddaughters.

Here's the view out back as we were getting supper ready.  As you can see, it stayed gray all day!

Inside, it was looking cozier, as I had gotten the Christmas Decorations up earlier in the week.

We had Sloppy Joes for supper, and then watched Endeavor - a British Detective show we've been enjoying.

That was about it, a quiet day, a good day!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

I have a fun recipe for you for this season.  This is a dessert dip, served with cookies, graham crackers, fresh fruit...  It looks festive with candy cane bits in it, and it's so easy to mix up.
I was asked to come back to my work place for a "dip party" for someone who works there and I took this.  We all liked it.

Candy Cane Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup crushed candy cane, divided

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips optional
Cookies, crackers, fresh fruit for dipping
Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Stir in the peppermint and vanilla extract, then stir in the Cool Whip.
Stir in 1/4 cup crushed candy cane and chill until ready to serve, at least 2 hours. Allow to sit at room temp for 15 minutes before serving.
Right before serving, sprinkle remaining crushed candy cane over top.

Recommended dippers: chocolate teddy grahams, pretzels, chessman cookies, vanilla cookies, animal cookies, oreos - chocolate or vanilla, fresh fruit.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Special Day!

Last week we went to Andrew and Heather's church to see Connor dedicated.

Here's Connor beforehand, wearing suspenders and a bow tie.

Cassie sitting with Grandpa before church started,

Connor was crying up there and ended up getting handed back to Heather.  :)

Heather, Andrew, Cassie and Connor after church.

It happened to be my birthday that day, so we went out for lunch after church.

After fussing and crying in church, Connor was full of smiles at the restaurant.

It was a great way to spend my birthday; seeing my grandson dedicated!

Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Day.  We had our daughters and families over and enjoyed our time together.  Here's a few pictures from our Thanksgiving.

Laura came early and brought these decorations for our table.

Here's our 3 granddaughters, Cassie, Alaina and Ruby.

Baby Connor was getting lots of attention.

He was wearing a cute turkey outfit that said gobble, gobble.

and he had a cute turkey butt!

Laura brought stuff along to make these cute gnome ornaments, so we did that later in the afternoon.

It was a good day to spend together and remember all we have to be thankful for.

Friday Funny

 

(And now that song is stuck in my head!)

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Photo Wednesday

 We saw this cool barn on our way home.  It was in Indiana. I rarely see round barns, so I snapped this as we drove by. Later I noticed the shingle work with the cow and chicken, and also the flowers.  That took some planning!

Adding this: My friend Debby at My Shasta Home found this article about this barn.

Annual shopping trip

Some of you will remember that every November, my sisters, Terri and Cheri, and I go out for a big Christmas shopping trip. Last weekend was our day to do that this year. As our kids are all grown, the shopping isn't the same as it was when they were kids, the gifts we buy are not the big toys that take up lots of space and fill the car anymore.  And we buy more online than we used to, so our day isn't as long as it used to be. But, we still enjoy doing it and spending the time together.

This year we met up around 10 to start the day.

We always have lots of fun and laughter!  I don't even know what we were laughing about here, but I love this photo.

I forgot to take any more pictures after this.  We did lots of shopping and then went out for supper.

Here we are checking into our hotel.  We always bring our packages in so we can sort them and then check things off our lists.

Here's Terri going over her list. She didn't spend the night because she had to be up at 5 the next morning for work.

Here's the breakfast area of the hotel we were at.  I thought the Christmas lights outside were pretty.

The next morning, Cheri and I stopped a few more places to pick up things we missed and were home shortly after noon.

And now, my shopping is pretty well done!
We had fun and accomplished a lot!

Sweet blog friends!

 I'm overdue at sharing this, due to my vacation, so forgive me!

I have to show you the sweet package I got from my friend Catherine at My Home and Garden. Catherine sent this package with goodies for us, and some fun things for Cassie all the way from France!

There was a beautiful little scrapbook and handmade gift tags along with lots of french treats that we are still eating

Then there was a gift bag for Cassie.  We had her open it when she came trick or treating (I told you this was late!), so that's why she's in costume in these pictures.

Looking at a painting kit

Showing me some sticker books

She was very excited and Heather says she's enjoying them.

Since you saw Cassie in her Tigger suit, here is Connor being a Tiger.

And here's a pic Laura sent of the other two.  They wanted to show me a potato they got while out trick or treating.  :)

And now, one more blog friend who sent me something sweet.

My friend Carrie at Northwoods Scrapbook sent this yummy basket as a congratulations on retiring.

It had the most beautiful caramel apples in it, along with chocolate covered pretzels, toffee, chocolates and caramels. I shared one of the apples with Alaina and Ruby and you should have seen their eyes when they saw it!  Anyway, it's all good and we'll be eating for some time.

Thanks to both of them, and also to the rest of you who sent cards and notes to congratulate me. Our blogging community really is a thoughtful group and a blessing!