A Little Christmas Baking

I've been having so much fun baking this Christmas! Here are some photos of what I've been up to in my kitchen!

"Christmas Baking"

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Do as I say, AND as I do!

So lately,  I have been hearing a lot of parents comment about their child's behavior. Mostly they consist of,  "I wish my child said things like that", or "I wish I could get my child to do things like that", or "I wish my child knew how to act that way". My reaction to all that is, "well, what are you teaching your child?!" I know children are not robots and they do not do everything we tell them to do, but telling your child something  is totally different from teaching them something. This is so simple, especially if it is coming from me. We all know I am not the person to be coming up with something profound, trust me on this. In no way am I a  parent who thinks they have it all figured out, not even close! I just believe that it is so important for us as parents to lead by example. If I am constantly reminding my son to say "please" and "thank you", but am not saying it myself why should I expect him to follow through? I cannot expect him to be a great helper and to think of others if I am not practicing what I preach. We've all heard it, "children are like sponges, they absorb everything", it is so, so true. I love my dad dearly, but I do remember him always telling me "Do as I say, and not as I do". Well, sorry dad, this is one piece of advice that I totally don't agree with. Hope you forgive me! :) Our children are totally going to learn from what we do, good or bad. Maybe not 100% everything we do, but we do not have control over choosing which habit good or bad that they pick up from us, so we should try to be conscious of our decisions and attitudes on a daily basis. Believe me, I'm taking my own advice, because I definitely am not always aware of my attitude! My husband can testify to this with a big "AMEN!" (as I'm sure he did as soon as he read this). Remember though, it can be as simple as always being sincerely gracious to your waiter at a restaurant, holding the door for anyone you can, recognizing and showing thankfulness when someone else does an act of kindness for you, asking your child to hold the door for someone or help someone in need at the grocery store or wherever you are. They are always paying attention, always absorbing. It's Christmas time, and this is a great time to teach your child about being thankful and generous. Our children (every one's children I know, including my own) are very spoiled compared to other parts of the world. They receive way too many gifts in my opinion, and it's like the more gifts they receive the less appreciative they become. It's overwhelming the amount of presents they get and every Christmas and/or birthday it's like they become desensitized to all that they have. It's really, really sad. This year we have agreed to give each child three gifts from Chris and I. We give three gifts to signify the three gifts given to baby Jesus by the wise men. After all, this is why we celebrate Christmas and why we give gifts, right?  A friend of mine does this and I loved the idea so I borrowed it from her. Much thanks to Jen! I also believe that it is very important that your child stop and say "thank you" before opening another gift. To me it just shows appreciation for each individual gift they receive. There are many other points I could touch on about how we can use this time of the year to teach our children, but this post is becoming way longer than expected. Sorry, kinda venting. This stuff is just really important to my family and I. So speaking of my family, I am reminded of something that happened at my five year old sons school last week. I went to pick Cale up from school and as we were walking out of his class, one of his classmates was jumping up and down trying to reach something in his cubby. Dying to get home from a busy day of work, I zoomed right by and proceeded to the door. Cale stopped me, and said "Mom, could you  help Logan get his paper please?". I was so proud of him for recognizing that when someone needs help with something, that we should stop, no matter how busy we are, and help them. When you teach your child these things, you'll find that in certain instances, they will be the ones teaching you a few things as well. You cannot expect your children to respect you or others if you are not showing respect yourself. Constantly teach them and show them generous, respectful, and grateful behavior and I think you'll be surprised and very proud of the child you are raising. (not saying you wouldn't be proud anyway, but think of the difference it could make.) I also like to think of the man or woman they will someday become because of the teachings we impress on them. Their spouses will surely thank us someday! ;) Hope someone learned something from this, I definitely did just from typing it! There are always areas we can improve in, no one is perfect and no one should expect to be. On that note, HAPPY PARENTING!

"Start children off on the way they should go , and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Toffee Cookie Squares

Ok...I admit I'm going a little crazy with all the baking lately, but it's Christmas time and that's what I do. Come January all the sugar, flour, and butter will be removed from my kitchen till the next fall/winter :) So now on to the deliciousness, this is yet another recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website and again so, so easy. (I am also learning how to take better food photos from her website. Simple, but great tips! I think this one turned out pretty good for a rookie!)  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar                                                                  
• 1 whole Egg                                                       
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla                                           
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Chocolate Chips (milk Or Semi-sweet)
• ¾ cups Finely Chopped Pecans

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and flour and mix until combined. Spread on cookie sheet with an offset spatula until thin. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle on chocolate chips. Return to oven for 1 minute. Remove from oven and spread chocolate thinly over the cookie layer.

Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Cut into squares.

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

First, let me start by saying, these..... are... absolutley.... delicious! Extremely, ridiculously, horribly bad for you, but hey...that's why they taste so good! Second, let me say how incredibly easy they were to make! If I could make them, anyone...let me repeat that, ANYONE can make them. Last year I told Chris that I wanted to start a new family Christmas tradition by making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I gave up after I thought about it for oh....five minutes when I remembered how horrible I am at making things from scratch. The whole "add yeast, let it rise" scares me and totally turns me off. I visited The Pioneer Womans website and was so excited when I saw that her recipes included step-by-step pictures. Seriously, how hard could it be if there are pictures? So I decided to give my new family tradition idea another go and decided to follow the pictures and recipe for her cinnamon rolls. It was a total success and they are the second best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. First place goes to my grandma Blackwell. :) I cannot wait to enjoy these with my sweet family when we wake up every Christmas morning! We are also going to stick a birthday candle in one so we can celebrate our Saviour's birth, because HE is our only reason for the beautiful and happy season!

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Gingerbread Fun!

Cale and I had fun making these cute gingerbread men. Unfortunately, it's easy for me to get a little OCD in the kitchen, trying to do things my way, but this time I was going to take a step back and let him do it Cale's way. It's amazing how much more fun it all becomes. I thought decorating cookies was a great way to let his artistic side come out, and boy is he artistic! ;)

 

"Gingerbread Fun!"

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Latest acomplishments! Gwyneth Rose can sit up all by herself and use a sippy!

This big girl is doing big girl things! I cannot believe how fast you are growing Gwyneth, I am truly enjoying every moment of it!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday spending time with family!

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake recipe

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake recipe

Made this yummy cake for my sweet family tonight! Taking the rest for my coworkers to devour tomorrow! :)

My Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving only 2 days away, I thought I would share just a few of the many, many things I am so thankful for....

First and most importantly, I am thankful for my creator, and heavenly Father. Without Him I would not have anything else to be thankful for. He has blessed my life so abundantly with people and things I am so undeserving of and has shown me love and forgiveness that I cannot even comprehend. Thank you God! :)

Next, I am thankful for my husband. Again, someone God has blessed my life with. God gave me a second chance when He sent Chris to me. I absolutley LOVE our life together and love every moment we have together. There are so many things that I love and appreciate about this man........ I love that he takes our family to church and loves God. I love seeing him read his Bible and asks to pray together before bed. I love seeing him with Cale and how great of a role model he is to him. I love how he stepped up to the plate to become an amazing father figure to a son who wasn't his. I love seeing him with Gwyneth and how he falls in love with her more and more everyday. I appreciate how much he helps me around the house, making dinner (usually more than I do!), changing diapers, waking up to check on Gwyneth, and giving the kids their baths. He has made raising our children so much easier with all his help and support. I love how he woke up at 4 in the morning just to run by my side at my very first race. I love that he is teaching Cale how to treat women by the way he treats me. I know that Cale will make an amazing husband one day thanks to him. I love that he gets so excited when he's trying to surprise me with something that he ruins it everytime. ;) I love that we share the same morals. I love that he understands that I am a girl, and that means I love to shop. I love that he remembers all my favorite things. I appreciate that he got up to rub my back in the middle of the night when I was sick last week. I love his heart..... so big, kind, and giving. I appreciate last Christmas when I really dreaded taking down all the Christmas decor and I came home to all of it boxed up aknd in the attic. ( I am just now remembering that one!) I love the way he smells. Even his dirty shirts smell good! Seriously, how does that happen?! I love how I can't spend enough time with him. Even when I have to do a work event or someone asks me to do something, I'm bummed because I'd rather be with him. I love how our daughter looks so much like him. I know I always say I kind of wished she looked more like me because I wanted a mini-me, but secretly I love looking at her and seeing the man I love so much in her. There is so much more that I could list, but I think you get the point! I am truly married to an amazing man.

Finally, I am so thankful for my children. Both of them are so sweet and special in their own ways.

First, there is Cale. He has such a sweet soul. He is caring, gentle, soft spoken, warm, and compassionate. He is my little helper, always wanting to assist in some way. He is also five going on fifteen. He wants to be a big boy, doing big boy things. He is a "yes ma'am", "thank you", "my pleasure", "exuse me" mannered boy. He is also my pouter (trying to work on that one) and always wears his heart on his sleeve. Everyone says he's going to be a heart breaker when he gets older, but sometimes I see it the other way around. He's too sweet to break hearts, and so sweet that his heart becomes broken too easily. (If that made any sense at all....it does in my mind anyway. :) Sometimes I forget just how well behaved and sweet he is, until I see him around other children and am I'm reminded. I love listening to him pray and realizing how much his prayers are growing from repetition to actual conversation as he gets older. I can never get over how big and chocolatey brown his eyes are and how increasingly jealous I get of his flawless tan skin. He's never sleepy, but falls asleep as soon as he's still enough. Quite the little athlete too. If he spots a flower you can be sure he's picking one for his momma and little sister.  Hands down, the sweetest little boy I know and I am proud to be his momma.

Last, but certainly not least is my sweet and beautiful Gwyneth Rose. I can't tell you the overwhelmingly number of people who told me that I was in for a surprise with my second child. According to their experiences, the second child no matter what the sex, was the "trouble" child. I heard this alot, "If I would have had my second child first, I would have stopped right there in the kid department." I was starting to worry, because Cale had always been such a good kid and I always felt it was pretty easy with him. I stopped to think about it and decided I was not going to let their opinions and experiences become my reality. Even though she is only six months old, they could not be more wrong. She is the easiest and happiest baby! I'd even have to say, easier than Cale at this age. (which is saying a lot!) I'm going to go ahead and brag a little here....after all she's only six months, how else could I describe why I'm thankful for her? :) Not only are we able to lay her in her crib wide awake when it's bedtime or naptime, but she sleeps 12 hours straight through the night! How awesome is that? She definitely gets her love of sleep from her momma. ;) She just has an excellent disposition and sweet nature about her. Her smile can totally make my day. She is becoming such a big girl way too fast. She proudly sits up all by herself now, and is just weeks away from learning the mechanics of that crawling thing. She loves the spoon airplane, especially when it lands and deposits yummy apples in her awaiting mouth. Her bubba is the probably the most entertaining and fascinating thing in her world. She undeniably looks alot like her daddy and has the most beautiful hazel eyes I've ever looked into. We are avoiding that whole "princess" role with her and hoping for more "little lady" demeanor. I hope to instill values in her that more and more girls/women today are lacking. I want her to respect herself, be strong, and never be afraid to stand up for herself. I also desire for her to have a Christ like heart and have compassion for others. I look forward to seeing her grow into a beautiful young lady and developing a mother/daughter realtionship that is built on trust, love, and understanding.

This is my Thanksgiving 2010. I hope you have just as much to be thankful for!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Who God says I am!

Good morning! I just received a text from my mentor a few minutes ago saying she wanted to encourage me this morning. She said, "You are who God says you are period! Not how you feel, not what others say, not even what you say. You are holy and blameless in His sight. Allow Him to wooo you in His ways this day."

How awesome is that?! Just minutes before I received this text I was changing Gwyneth's diaper and told her "It's going to be a good day sister! We're going to believe it's going to to be a good day!". Minutes later, I receive a text confirming it!

I needed to hear those words of encouragement this morning. I've been feeling extremely lethargic lately, and to be reminded that I am not how I feel, but only who and what God says I am feels great! God is doing seriously amazing things in my life right now and in my family and I am welcoming Him and all he's doing with widespread arms!

When I started this blog I really just wanted for it to be for my families eyes, because I didn't want others reading it and judging it. It's not intended to be all profound, educational, and witty, or whatever reasons people read blogs for, but today I don't care! I don't care if people judge it! Like my mentor said, "You are what God says you are!". In the same way, my blog is what God says it is! :) I can't even begin to describe how freeing that is! :))))

Who do you have in your life encouraging you? Just as important, who are you encouraging? I love my mentor and appreciate all she has taught me. She undeniably speaks truth to my life and truth is exactly what we need!

"For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight." Eph 1:4

Park Day

 Today we went to Mitch Park! It was Gwyneth's very 1st trip to the park! I remember Chris and I going on a walk in this same park when I was about 3 to 4 months pregnant with Gwyneth. The topic of conversation of course, was about my pregnancy. We would soon be finding out if we would be welcoming the sweet little lady of our dreams and I remember expressing just how sure I was that SHE was in there! Now fast forward a year later and here she is swinging on a swing with me at that same park. :) Love my family so much and thankful that God has blessed me far beyond my imagining.

Thanksgiving Craft Night

Cale and I spent all night tonight making these two great Thanksgiving crafts! I found these on a parenting website and thought we would have fun making these together and also thought they would look cute in the house! ;) Thanks to my small amount of OCD, it was a little stressful at times, not to mention a few blisters I have from the hot glue gun AND, my first experience with raffia straw was quite the experience to say the least,  but all in all we enjoyed making them! :) I so did not get one single drop of craftiness from my mom or sister, but oh well, I try for my childrens sake!

Babbling Miss Gwyneth

This little girl has so much to say lately! The way she's going on and on here, she may end up like her Aunt Kim! Won't be able to get a word in! ;) Ha! Just teasing Aunt Kim! Hard to believe she is already 5 1/2 months old!

Halloween 2010

Kids, especially Cale, had a great time at Storybook forest. Cale said his favorite was Hanzel and Gretel, mine and Gwyneth's was definitely Repunzle! Very neat idea and I suppose it was worth the hour long wait in the car line! :)

Ok...I have now joined the blogging world! Yay! :) The sole purpose of this blog is to share updates and pictures of the sweet, sweet family I adore so much! Also to offer words of inspiration and encouragement, because let's face it.....we ALL need to hear those things every now and then! :)

Everyone is welcome here! :)