Christmasy Wintery Fun

We are so excited that it's December around here.

There are so so so many fun things to do and enjoy as a family this time of year.  We are enjoying making special memories together!

We put the Christmas tree up a little early this year since we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving.   We may have the ugliest tree on our block... a certain someone can't keep his hands off of the ornaments and the branches...  All of the more fragile ornaments are toward the top so it just looks ridiculous.  We talked about getting a real tree this year, which I LOVE, but I'm really glad we didn't because of Mr. Trouble pictured above and below.

This girl was a big help with the tree though!

Look how mischevious and adorable I am!

Miss Lainey has been doing a great, great job at staying in her bed and staying dry all night.  I made her some hot chocolate one morning as a special treat.  She was so proud and loved drinking out of a mug like Mommy has her coffee in each morning.

I love my early mornings with that girl.

Lainey, Wyatt and Penelope played some piano at a friend's house the other night.  They were playing Christmas carols I'm sure...

We did a little Christmas goodie making the other night.  Oh boy was that fun with Lainey this year.  She was a great helper.  She kept saying, "What are we doing here Mommy?" each step of the way.  They weren't the prettiest cookies you ever saw, but they tasted great of course.

While we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, Jed and I got to work a shift at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Bloomington.  It was beyond awesome.  We love OCC ... it is an awesome ministry and it was so much fun to get some insight into what goes into the whole process.  Boxes are packed at local churches, in homes, etc. then they get collected at a local collection center.  They then go to a processing center like where we were.  At the processing center, each box is inspected, organized by gender and age, and then put in big cartons that get shipped all over the world.  The boxes coming out of the MN Processing center were heading to either Madagascar, India, Zambia or Kenya.  The boxes we specifically worked on that day were all going to Madagascar.  Jed got to lift some big heavy cartons and I got to do the pre-inspection job, so I checked each box first for donations.  It was so awesome to get a peak at the special gifts people packed.  There will be some very excited children in Madagascar sometime soon!  Many of the children who receive the shoe box gifts have never received a gift in their whole life and I've read many stories about how God often provides them with something they specifically need... simple things like socks, a toothbrush or pencils and pens for school.  National Collection Week is over but if you would like to build a shoebox gift online, you can do so here.

Tonight we had our good friends, the Laehns, over and the girls made gingerbread houses!

 I think we parents had more fun than the girls did :)  2 year olds have a lack of attention to detail.

There are still a few weeks before Christmas so I'm sure we will pack in more family fun coming up!  Blessed to make memories with my sweet family!

Rollin'

[This may or may not be the first non-Lainey post since her arrival... so if you're just visiting to read about Lainey, this post isn't for you... :)]

Some of my favorite memories growing up involve family road trips from Minnesota down to Iowa to see my Dad's side of the family in Knoxville and Pella. We would stay at my Grandma's and visit, play the game of Life, Phase 10, Catch Phrase or paper football, laugh (A LOT) and EAT! My Grandma Charlotte (where Lainey got her middle name!) is truly amazing in the kitchen. I know lots of people say this about their Grandma's, but they are all wrong, because mine is really the best. :) Some of her specialties include, but are not limited to, a traditional roast beef dinner (with mashed potatoes, corn, creamed peas, delicious gravy... yum), CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (I try and recreate this masterpiece all the time and never get it quite right), Chalupas, Chicken Tetrazzini, brownies... the list goes on. A few years ago, my cousin and I decided it was time for Grandma to teach us a thing or two in the kitchen. We first asked if she would teach us how to make her homemade pie crust, specifically for apple pies. Here we are learning the precious art of pie making...

Then, last fall we asked her if she would teach us how to make her dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls, since they are made from the same dough. These dinner rolls are amazing. They are flaky, buttery, soft and DELICIOUS. The cinnamon rolls are sugary and sweet. I think we both learned that working with dough is really a tricky task at first - there are many things that need to be done just a certain way ... Grandma's way! We all always tease her about her "measurements" and "recipes" - she eyeballs everything and usually leaves things out when sharing a recipe, which is why we couldn't just ask for it written down. We needed to get a hands on lesson! I hadn't gotten a chance to attempt the dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls... until NOW! With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow, it was the perfect opportunity for me to attempt the rolls!

All of the ingredients ready to go!

Simon... sigh.

Mixing the dry ingredients.

Scalding the milk and adding butter and margarine.

My sweet helper!

She makes the funniest faces... back to work...

Rolls rolled and rising...

Rolling up the cinnamon-y sugar-y goodness!

YUM!!

Obviously, my first attempt (top) was a learning experience and the second roll turned out much better!

Rolls baking away!

Icing drizzled on top of the warm rolls!

All of the finished products!

YUMMM!

Thankfully, little miss napped like a CHAMP today and helped me get a lot of this done without too many interruptions. I definitely learned a few things along the way and will have to try again soon and apply what I've learned. If you want the recipe, let me know, or want to join me next time I make these, you'll have to clear a good 4 or 5 hours out of your schedule, but you are more than welcome! :)

The BEST cookie you'll EVER eat!

That's right.
This is a FABULOUS, easy and delicious recipe. I don't know where my mom found it years ago, but it really is the BEST recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms. They always turn out perfect. Every single time! It's like a Christmas miracle.
I tackled one batch of these on Wednesday night and have the fixins to make another before Christmas. Good thing Jed's nickname is "the cookie monster" because otherwise, I'd be the one eating all of these cookies.
Here's the recipe and some photos of how to make these cookies!


YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!