Our First Gingerbread House

I decided to get a gingerbread house for us to make with Evan this year. For our first gingerbread house, I think we did pretty good. I did start by getting a bit frustrated with the icing that started by just beating into tiny little balls (it really takes way more water than the directions said)! Then we had a mishap as I mistook the roof pieces for the side pieces. :) My hubby straightened it all out, and we were on our way, except we had to keep Evan patient as he wanted to get into the candy right away when the house was supposed to dry for 2 to 3 hours! Wish I'd know that in advance. We ate dinner to distract him and then got back to the gingerbread house. We only waited a little over an hour, but it seemed sturdy so we went ahead with decorating it. Brad did a great job piping the icing for the doors and windows while Evan and I were spreading icing on the roof, then he did a lattice pattern on the roof. Finally it was time to add the candy - Evan did one side of the roof and I did the other. It was fun for us all and I'm pretty proud of our first gingerbread house. A new family tradition is born. :)

My side of the roof

Evan's side of the roof - he did really good!

Christmas Craftiness

Well, in the midst of the Christmas craziness I actually found some time to do a little craft project - a Christmas wreath made out of American Crafts paper. I won't take any credit for the idea - all the thanks go to Holly who came up with this amazing project. And she gave step-by-step instructions! How easy...actually, it did take some time to assemble but was well worth it.

The hardest part was finding all the supplies. My local scrapbook/craft stores don't have much American Crafts selection. So I ended up with American Crafts Jolly paper (not the new Merrymint), but I really like that as well, so I didn't mind. And I had to order the Flair! buttons online. The toughest item to find was the extra large brads - couldn't find those locally so Holly pointed me online, but they were out of the largest ones and the slightly smaller 18mm ones just didn't look right on the flowers I tried. So, getting frustrated, I finally came across some 1 inch wood circles that had letters on them. They are thicker than the brads so my flower petals came out a bit smaller. I tried compensating by cutting the paper squares a bit bigger, but I still had noticeable difference in the sizes. The size seemed to also vary between my different paper choices. So when I put together the wreath, trying to overlap the flowers so none of the ribbon could be seen, I ended up with a larger empty space at the top. I covered that by doing a larger double ribbon.

In the end, I think it came out as great unique finished project! I'm so excited to display this every year at Christmastime.

Our Christmas Card

I was so excited that we finally captured a family photo with Evan smiling. As an active toddler, it's very hard to get him to slow down, not wiggle around and say cheese. Though he is getting better if you catch him at the right moment. Anyway, after several different trys we got a really nice family photo for our Christmas Card. Check it out below.

I always like to do a photo card because I love receiving photo cards. I keep them up for quite a while after the holidays and then I put them in a scrapbook page that I make with pockets to hold them. I love to look back and see family and friends growing and changing over the years.

Oh, and we have always had our cards printed at Costco. They have amazing prices on photo cards, nice designs, and they are a larger size than the typical photo card. I could actually design it myself if I wanted and have it printed at the same price. Unfortunately, I haven't been feeling well the last month or so, which meant I just didn't have the energy to design it myself this year, but there is always next year!

If you'd like to share your Christmas card as well, join the Christmas Card Carousel.

Christmas Cookie Exchange - Black Bottom Cupcakes

Okay, so these are not technically cookies. But they are always a hit when I give them out every year at Christmas. These go way back into my childhood as my mom made them every year. And now I do. It just wouldn't be Christmas without these.


BLACK BOTTOM CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

For Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For Cupcake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two 12-cup mini muffin pans with paper or foil baking cups. There are always fun Christmas ones around.


• To make cream cheese filling: using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt. Fold in the chocolate chips and set aside.


• To make cupcakes: in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, the baking soda and cocoa powder. Add water, the oil, vinegar and vanilla and blend with electric mixer until smooth.


• Fill each baking cup two-thirds full with the cupcake batter and top with 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Bake until the edges are firm to the touch, about 25 minutes.

Also, found nutritional info for those of us who need to know that.

Nutritional Information
Black Bottom Cupcakes
Servings Per Recipe: 24
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 137
Total Fat: 6.7g
Cholesterol: 19mg
Sodium: 144mg
Total Carbs: 17.8g
Dietary Fiber: 0.5g
Protein: 1.9g

Check out more Christmas cookie recipes at The Mom Creative blog.


Or for more cupcake recipes visit Hoosier Homemade.

Decorating is coming along slowly...

Well, we never get the chance to put up our Christmas tree and decorations right after Thanksgiving. But it's for good reason - we are spending quality time with my Mom and Stepdad in Melbourne the weekend after Thanksgiving. So, I've had to start getting the decorations up during the work week in bits and peices each night. So far, I've only gotten the tree up and the garland over the mantle and hung our new stockings from Old Navy. Oh, and the table centerpeice I made is out. Tonight I'm hoping to have Evan help decorate the tree. I already put some new candy cane ornaments I got up, and so far Evan grabs every single one of them down calling them "candles" and saying they are his. It's going to be interesting to see what he does once all the ornaments are up! :) And Evan still refers to our stockings as socks, like he did last year!

You can see the decorations as they were last year here. I'll post pics from this year in the coming week. I'm also doing a crafty wreath project and hope that will come together over the next week. I love Christmas time! Don't you?

Halloween Recap

Here's my cutie in his Halloween costume. He LOVES the movie Cars so this was the perfect costume for him. Plus, he had Cars light up shoes (thanks to his cousin Garrett!) to go along with it. He really got the hang of trick-or-treating. Too bad not many of our neighbors were in the spirit with only a few porch lights turned on and giving out candy. Luckily, we had gone to a fall festival at a nearby church first and Evan got a big bag of candy there. Evan's Granny and Papa joined us and we had a fun night.

Check out the pumpkins I carved. Brad ran out of time to do his, but he's the one who picked the white pumpkin and wanted to do the ghost. I did the Owl for the pumpkin carving contest at work, and with a 50/50 chance I was the only loser. :( Oh well. I enjoy carving them, and Evan enjoyed helping me pull out all the guts and stir it around while I did the carving. True boy!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween! Now I'm looking forward to the rest of the Holiday season as we wrap up this year.

Extremely Thankful for Life and Health

We have been enjoying time together lately with Brad's sister and brother-in-law before they leave for Tennessee. It is a bitter sweet time and I am seeing Evan bond with his cousins more than I thought he would at such a young age. He pitched a fit last night when we were leaving, saying he wanted to stay at "Garrett's house." My heart breaks for him, and for us, as we will lose this closeness we've come to cherish over the last 9 months. Our hope is to make plans for family vacations or trips to visit each other to make the time apart seem not so long.

But in the midst of the sadness, there is gratefulness. Gratefulness that God has brought a new job for Mike that uses his talent in illustration, which he loves. Gratefulness that they have good friends and a good church to go back to in Nashville. Gratefulness that Stephanie and Mike and the boys are all healthy. So much lately I've heard about people suffering, people with cancer who leave their families when they are way too young, even babies. Currently my friend April had her baby 10 weeks early and the baby is only 3 lbs. Please lift her baby girl Anna up in your prayers. She had surgery this morning because a valve in her heart hadn't closed. But she is proving to be strong, is eating well and has gained weight. I know God has his hands on her, and I've praying so hard for this new little life, and for comfort and peace for April and her husband Pete. That is why we need to remember every morning when we wake up that God has given us another day to live, another day of good health and happiness. All of this cannot be taken for granted.

This reminds me of the following verse. Thank you, Lord, for holding me and my family in your hands, finding us worthy and keeping us safe according to your will.

Matthew 10:29-31 (New International Version)
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Less Words Wednesday

There is a trend in the blog and twitter communities for a Wordless Wednesday, where you post a photo or photos for that day and not any words. Hence the name. But I am not really capable of no words, especially since I got my education and work in communications. So I've decided to change it to Less Words Wednesday. Here's my first one. These are photos of Evan from earlier this month that were taken by Brian Carlson, who goes to our church. Evan was not cooperating at all...typical terrible twos, but Brian still captured some great shots we'll treasure forever.

A Look Back at Last Year

Last year I compiled my first (and so far only) mini-album. It held 12 photos from Sept. 2008. See it here. I've carried it around in my purse for the last year and I've enjoyed looking at it as I've come across it, usually while digging through my never ending purse for something! It's amazing to see how much Evan has grown over the last year. Stacy Julian, who instituted the challenge to make the original mini-album, has now challenged us to make a layout using those photos, along with journaling that reflects back over the last year and the images we captured. It was a motivation for me to find the time to do this. I had just started getting back into scrapbooking last year and haven't gotten many layouts done at all, as life has proven to be so busy over the past year. But I was able to take these photos and put together a layout that mirrors the colors of my original mini-album. This will be the first layout to go in the new scrapbook album my husband bought me for my birthday in June. I'm hoping it will spark my creativity and drive to do more.

A Look Back Layout

here and now: original mini-album

Oh, Baby

I got to meet sweet little Tristan today and had to share some photos. God is amazing to create this beautiful miracle. Congratulations to Jessica and Tian!

Tristan George Chan, born 9/5/09 at 10:32am

6 lbs, 15 oz and 20 3/4 in long

Making Manicotti's

Well, life has gotten in the way again and it's been months since my last post. Today is the start of our staycation so I'm finding some free time on my hands! Yeah! For the next week no work!

This afternoon I'm in a quiet house (very rare) and enjoying some time cooking...my favorite, Italian manicotti's. This is a family recipe (I'm 1/2 Italian - yes, I didn't get the skin tone!) that I was taught to make by my Mommom (Dad's Mom). I don't get the chance to make it regularly, just on special occasions. The special occasion today - my good friend Jessica just had a baby! Another baby boy for my group of friends. I am so excited and promised her I'd make some food for her freezer. With the new baby to care for she's going to need prepared food that is easy to heat up but keeps her nourished to breastfeed the baby. I'm making a double batch so there will be some leftover for us too! To go along with the manicotti's, I'm making homemade pasta sauce and Italian meatballs. If I have time I'll also be making Gnocchi's tomorrow. I'm getting hungry!

With Jessica's new baby here, it makes me think back to when Evan was born. The time was so exciting and joy filled, and miraculous! It seems like yesterday at times...but Evan is almost 2 1/2 now! And seems like such a big boy already. Where does the time go? I'm enjoying every minute of it though. Today I took Evan to a park, and he meet another little boy who was 3 1/2, and they had such fun playing together. Such little boys...climbing up the slide and then slipping into each other and sliding back down laughing! I'm so glad he gets along so well with other children. By the end of our time there, they were calling each other friends. How easy little kids make friends. Now Evan is thoroughly worn out and taking a long nap...giving me quiet time to make my Italian fare! Boy, it smells delicious!

I'm hoping I'll get to meet little Tristan tomorrow if Jessica is up for visitors at the hospital. Haven't heard all the details on him except he was born sometime before 11am, weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and had a good head of hair! I'm sure it is dark like Tian's. Babies are miracles, and an amazing gift from God. There is no way you can't believe that or feel that when you hold a newborn baby. There has to be more than just us...a higher being, God, who creates. Welcome to the world, Tristan George Chan! Can't wait to give you kisses!

Had to share the photo of the cake I made for Jessica's baby shower last month.

Came out so cute!

Had the baby's name on top with little baby feet.



And a photo of me and Steph (the hosts) with Jessica.

Evan Singing

One of the funniest and cutest thing Evan does these days is sing songs that he doesn't quite have the words for. :) Tonight he was even singing Twinkle Twinkle as he was falling asleep. So we caught this cuteness on video and here it is...

Disney Day

Well, I had a great birthday celebrated over two weekends! What fun! :)

As we did on Brad's birthday, we went to Disney again on my birthday. Taking advantage of the savings in this economy. This time we went to Animal Kingdom, which was definitely the best choice. Being June and HOT in Florida, this was the best park as it had ample shade with overhanging trees on most of the walkways. It really was a big park and we didn't make it to all that we hoped so we'll be going back again in the coming months. Overall, this was a much better experience for Evan. He loved seeing the animals and we didn't really have any lines for any rides or shows. Evan and lines were a big issue at Magic Kingdom, so were out to avoid those this time. We got a fast pass to the safari ride that made all the difference. Otherwise, there just weren't big waits for the shows. He loved the Lion King show, but was a bit scared by the It's a Bug's Life show, though he still wanted to put his 3D glasses back on so I'm thinking he wasn't too scared. We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe, and had a full day of fun! Brad was even brought up to dance with some African dancers - and I've got it on tape! Finally Evan got a chance to see Tigger and Pooh - his favorite characters right now. "Iggy Pooh" as he calls them. He was really excited. Even though he didn't really smile in the photos he went right up to both of them and gave them a big hug, and gave Pooh a high five! Eeyore was there too but Evan didn't want to get close to him...poor Eeyore.

Evan and I on the safari ride

Evan noticing an animal on the safari ride

Look how close that Garafe was!

Checking out the Gorillas.

Evan with his 3D glasses for the It's a Bug Life show


Look at this big Gorilla!

Brad's Big Debut :)

Feeding these very assertive ducks some funnel cake! :)

Since I never posted photos from our day at Magic Kingdom in March. I've included those here as well.

He kept trying to close the door (which was not made to close) at Winnie the Pooh's play area

Evan still talks about seeing Mickey and getting a kiss from Minnie

(though he wouldn't let me put him down for the photo)