"Listen, Santa. I've been a veeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy good boy this year."
12.23.2010
12.21.2010
Baby Bump - 15 weeks
Here's the first baby bump photo from this time around - at 15 weeks.
I'm thinking this could get scary by the end! I started showing around 10 weeks, but this is the first photo I've gotten. I had hoped to be more diligent, but I just haven't gotten around to it until now. Hoping to get more from here on out.
And just for grins, here's 15 weeks with Alex. I was still wearing a non-maternity skirt with a belly band, but let me just tell you that there's not a chance I would be able to do that today - ha!
And just for grins, here's 15 weeks with Alex. I was still wearing a non-maternity skirt with a belly band, but let me just tell you that there's not a chance I would be able to do that today - ha!
12.17.2010
Mini Cherry Pies
I had my little elfin helper with me in the kitchen today.
We whipped up a batch of Mini Cherry Pies.
If you're looking for an easy-peasy, festive-looking, individual-size dessert, may I recommend this one to you.
4 ingredients:
1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Let both crusts soften by setting them on the counter for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425ยบ. Remove softened crusts from pouches; unroll on work surface.
With 3 1/2- or 4-inch round cutter, cut 6 rounds from each crust. (You can see I only got five with my cutter. I used a smaller cutter to get the 6th round (not shown here).)
Save scraps. Alex thought they were delicious to eat. (Yes, he is his mother's child.)
I had to convince him that we wanted to use the scraps to cut small stars to place in the center of the pies. He wasn't ever fully convinced. (A cookie cutter about 1-inch in size is perfect.)
Lightly dust each side of the round-shaped crust with flour and place into 12 ungreased muffin cups, pressing in gently. (You can see the two smaller rounds I had to cut. They were the perfect size if you wanted to make "tarts." Or, in my case, they were perfect for taste-testing.)
Spoon about 2 tablespoons pie filling into each crust-lined cup. (Use less if your rounds are the smaller size like the two above.)
Place one star in the center of each pie.
Bake for 14-18 minutes or until edges are golden brown and filling is bubbly.
While pies are cooling, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk for icing drizzle. (If I had this to do over again, I'd probably use 2 or 3 teaspoons of milk and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I think the flavoring would have been better. Hind sight of an amateur...)
Spoon icing into small ziploc baggie. Snip a small corner of baggie so that you can drizzle icing onto pies.
Enjoy!
We whipped up a batch of Mini Cherry Pies.
If you're looking for an easy-peasy, festive-looking, individual-size dessert, may I recommend this one to you.
4 ingredients:
1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Preheat oven to 425ยบ. Remove softened crusts from pouches; unroll on work surface.
With 3 1/2- or 4-inch round cutter, cut 6 rounds from each crust. (You can see I only got five with my cutter. I used a smaller cutter to get the 6th round (not shown here).)
Save scraps. Alex thought they were delicious to eat. (Yes, he is his mother's child.)
I had to convince him that we wanted to use the scraps to cut small stars to place in the center of the pies. He wasn't ever fully convinced. (A cookie cutter about 1-inch in size is perfect.)
Lightly dust each side of the round-shaped crust with flour and place into 12 ungreased muffin cups, pressing in gently. (You can see the two smaller rounds I had to cut. They were the perfect size if you wanted to make "tarts." Or, in my case, they were perfect for taste-testing.)
Spoon about 2 tablespoons pie filling into each crust-lined cup. (Use less if your rounds are the smaller size like the two above.)
Place one star in the center of each pie.
Bake for 14-18 minutes or until edges are golden brown and filling is bubbly.
While pies are cooling, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk for icing drizzle. (If I had this to do over again, I'd probably use 2 or 3 teaspoons of milk and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I think the flavoring would have been better. Hind sight of an amateur...)
Spoon icing into small ziploc baggie. Snip a small corner of baggie so that you can drizzle icing onto pies.
Enjoy!
12.15.2010
Fantasyland with Santa
The History Museum of Western Virginia puts on an extraordinary event for children each year.
Fantasyland with Santa was absolutely magical, joyous and educational. I had the chance to take Alex today, and we so enjoyed it.
Santa played the guitar and sang Christmas carols. All of the kids joined in. Alex raised his arms and danced while the other kids and adults sang along.
Santa told stories of two lesser-known reindeer, Holly and Buck. Holly was the sweet reindeer who was really good at seeing what people needed in their lives and helping give that - because, after all, sometimes the best gifts we can give are the practical gifts that people need. There was a cute little story to illustrate this.
Buck, on the other hand, was not so on his game. Sometimes he wasn't a hard worker. But Santa gave him jobs to do that he believed Buck was capable of doing. Santa shared that it is important to believe in people - especially when you give them jobs to do. Because we all need people who believe in us.
Santa also talked about the importance of love. Here he is showing his love sprinkles. He said that love was something we all had within us but that we didn't necessarily see until we gave it away to others.
I tell you, Santa was a wise old soul. I just ate up all of his messages about the things that matter most in life. Here's Alex listening to Santa talk about how each of us is different in our own special way but how we are all a part of the same family - mankind.
At the end, Santa spent time with each child for photographs. He got out of his chair to come sit with Alex on the floor because, while Alex was perfectly content to watch Santa at a distance, he was not too sure about sitting in Santa's lap by himself. But Santa was prepared for times such as these. He brought out his bag of animal crackers and shared them with Alex. Amazingly, it stopped the flow of tears, and we actually got to get a few pictures (even if I had to be in them)!
You'll have to look past the fact that Alex couldn't put on a smile at this very moment. He still wasn't too sure of things. But I was so proud that he took the animal cracker directly from Santa and ate it without tears - signs of progress.
I can say that this is definitely one of my favorite memories from this holiday season so far. Yea for Fantasyland with Santa!
Fantasyland with Santa was absolutely magical, joyous and educational. I had the chance to take Alex today, and we so enjoyed it.
Santa played the guitar and sang Christmas carols. All of the kids joined in. Alex raised his arms and danced while the other kids and adults sang along.
Santa told stories of two lesser-known reindeer, Holly and Buck. Holly was the sweet reindeer who was really good at seeing what people needed in their lives and helping give that - because, after all, sometimes the best gifts we can give are the practical gifts that people need. There was a cute little story to illustrate this.
Buck, on the other hand, was not so on his game. Sometimes he wasn't a hard worker. But Santa gave him jobs to do that he believed Buck was capable of doing. Santa shared that it is important to believe in people - especially when you give them jobs to do. Because we all need people who believe in us.
Santa also talked about the importance of love. Here he is showing his love sprinkles. He said that love was something we all had within us but that we didn't necessarily see until we gave it away to others.
I tell you, Santa was a wise old soul. I just ate up all of his messages about the things that matter most in life. Here's Alex listening to Santa talk about how each of us is different in our own special way but how we are all a part of the same family - mankind.
At the end, Santa spent time with each child for photographs. He got out of his chair to come sit with Alex on the floor because, while Alex was perfectly content to watch Santa at a distance, he was not too sure about sitting in Santa's lap by himself. But Santa was prepared for times such as these. He brought out his bag of animal crackers and shared them with Alex. Amazingly, it stopped the flow of tears, and we actually got to get a few pictures (even if I had to be in them)!
You'll have to look past the fact that Alex couldn't put on a smile at this very moment. He still wasn't too sure of things. But I was so proud that he took the animal cracker directly from Santa and ate it without tears - signs of progress.
I can say that this is definitely one of my favorite memories from this holiday season so far. Yea for Fantasyland with Santa!
12.09.2010
Momma's Little Elf
Momma's little elf has been very busy. Here's a little of what he's been up to these days.
Train rides around the Winter Wonderland at the mall with his Noni (and Pop Pop, even though he's not pictured here).
Posing for Christmas card photos. And looking quite dashing in his outfit that his Noni and his Great Granny made for his Uncle Zack nearly 27 years ago.
And an elf's gotta have a goldfish snack after all that posing. Or should I say, all that running around? This little elf doesn't really believe in poses.
Meet Mickey Mouse, or as Alex calls him, "Baba." (I think that's his version of Clubhouse - as in, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.) Looking at this face, I imagine him thinking, "What? You mean there's a whole Kingdom of Baba and friends? When can we go? WHEN CAN WE GO?!"
Because this kiddo has taken to Mickey like nothing I've ever seen him take to anything before. I mean, he's sharing his milk with him for crying out loud. Mickey must join us at meal times, nap times, bed times, car rides - he goes everywhere that Alex goes. Today we even used our circle shapes to make a Mickey Mouse head. Oh, and Alex wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all. the. time.
Speaking of, here he is watching Clubhouse with his daddy. And he's rather styling, don't you think? Ha!
Another new friend - Santa. Such a good little elf, Alex is on the lookout for Santa everywhere these days.
And here's my little elf with his new apron from his Aunt Mel, Uncle Russell, Lindsey and Whitney. We got this in the mail today. Just in time because we have fudge and rice krispy treats to make next week. Thank you guys for such a fun gift - personalized with his name and everything! I hope to get some pics of him helping in the kitchen, too!
Sweetest little elf I know. When he's not busy with the things above, he's certainly busy checking out the tree below. So far, only one ornament broken. Here's hoping that's the only one before it's all said and done.
Train rides around the Winter Wonderland at the mall with his Noni (and Pop Pop, even though he's not pictured here).
Posing for Christmas card photos. And looking quite dashing in his outfit that his Noni and his Great Granny made for his Uncle Zack nearly 27 years ago.
Meet Mickey Mouse, or as Alex calls him, "Baba." (I think that's his version of Clubhouse - as in, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.) Looking at this face, I imagine him thinking, "What? You mean there's a whole Kingdom of Baba and friends? When can we go? WHEN CAN WE GO?!"
Another new friend - Santa. Such a good little elf, Alex is on the lookout for Santa everywhere these days.
And here's my little elf with his new apron from his Aunt Mel, Uncle Russell, Lindsey and Whitney. We got this in the mail today. Just in time because we have fudge and rice krispy treats to make next week. Thank you guys for such a fun gift - personalized with his name and everything! I hope to get some pics of him helping in the kitchen, too!
Sweetest little elf I know. When he's not busy with the things above, he's certainly busy checking out the tree below. So far, only one ornament broken. Here's hoping that's the only one before it's all said and done.
12.04.2010
Gearing up for Christmas
One thing I love about Christmas is a live tree to smell up the house. And I do love getting those trees at the tree farm. Usually. But this year, I was more about the convenience, so we got our tree from Lowe's. Not quite the tradition I hope we establish moving forward, but it was quick and we had a gift card there, so Lowe's it was.
Here's Alex scouring the aisles in search of the perfect tree.
Did we find one? Looks like a winner to me.
Before we decorated the tree, we put Alex to work doing a little house cleaning. Looks like our prayers for him to be a hard worker are starting to pay off.
We also used him as a human mop - his latest and favorite pastime with Daddy.
To help us really get into the holiday spirit, the weather brought us a few snow flurries today.
Shouldn't last, but it sure was pretty to look out the windows while we were decorating the tree. Yea for snow says Alex!
Settling in tonight with a movie and a little hot cocoa. Good night, all.
Here's Alex scouring the aisles in search of the perfect tree.
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