Home for the Holidays

I must start this post by saying that "my God shall supply ALL your needs, according to HIS riches!" His ways are not ours, Praise the Lord.

Our housing situation has been one of woes and tears, but we trusted God had a plan. On Wednesday, December 23... we bought a home AND moved in that day! We put an offer on the house about 3 weeks ago and it was accepted. Eric and I decided not to tell ANYONE, this was going to be something that he and I prayed about and followed God's calling on. And NO ONE knew until we closed on Wednesday at 9. I had to tell my friend Kelly because she kept JH for me while we started to move! We called Eric's parents and told them, but we did NOT tell my parents.... we had a plan!

They were coming for Christmas on Wednesday and we told them there was a house that we wanted them to look at. So if they could meet us at the house that would be great. Mom said when dad got in the car he looked at her and said, "they have moved." Mom's response was there is NO way, Kendra could not keep that from me and she would have wanted me to bring all of her decorative stuff (curtains, prints, etc.) Well we both pulled up to the house at the same time, and we smiled real big and said. "welcome home for the holiday". TO which they responded... WHAT, we didn't bring our work clothes!

It has been a whirlwind of the past 2 days, but we are loving every moment. When the movers set up my kitchen table I started to cry.... just felt like home! Our garage is still FULL of boxes, and will be for a while I am assuming! But this is what we have wanted...

I will post more pictures I promise... but we are taking a moment to celebrate the birth of our LORD. The holy child, welcome to our world!

PS... yes we set up our tree and even put out a few decorations! We have officially LOST our minds!

Favorite Christmas Memories

I have been thinking a lot about my favorite Christmas memories... there are so many and each one is near and dear to my heart so I thought I would write them down for keepsake:) or at least for me!!

1) Christmas has ALWAYS been about Jesus in my family... we celebrate his birth first then the rest follows. Always with a muffin and singing Happy Birthday Jesus to the King. It is a tradition I keep as I left home and one we continue with John Hunter

2) For some reason my mom and dad have ALWAYS chosen one or two wrapping papers and wrap all the gift in that... it makes wrapping easy and it makes the tree look great!

3) One present on Christmas Eve, dont ask for two or you wont get one.... well at least that is what my mom says:)

if you have minite share with me what your favorite Christmas memory is...

Monster Cookie Recipe

Several of you have asked for the Monster cookie recipe.... I just made ANOTHER batch for Eric to take to work tomorrow. They are some yummy! Today I used chocolate chip and butterscotch along with nuts... I must say they are YUMMY!

Monster Cookies:
3 eggs
8oz brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter melted
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c peanut butter
4 1/2 c oats
8oz chocolate chips

OPTIONAL:
1c. M&M
1c. coconut
1c. nuts (i use chopped pecans)
1c butterscotch morsels

Perfect Saturday Night

This is the perfect Saturday night... we are bummed because we could not go to Cincy for a Christmas party, but we made the best of it. We went and looked at Christmas lights, went to Hamilton Towne Center for a little shopping, in the snow:) And then to the store to fix some dinner!

I made some cookies, cleaned the house, and now we are curled up on the couch watching a movie... let me just say perfect!

Gift Ideas

So here are a few gift ideas I thought I would share. These are mixes that you can make and jar and give out as gifts.

Rich and Creamy Hot Chocolate
4 cups powdered mmilk
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups of sugar
dash of salk

Mix all ingredients together in the place in the container of your choice. Add a tag with the following instructions:

Per cup: Spoon 1/4 cup of mix into a mug. Add 1 cup of boiling water and stir until dissolved...

This gift I put in small bag tied with a cute ribbon, and then placed in a mug I got at a the dollar tree... should have taken a picture (oops)

cappuccino mix that is great as well
1/2 cup powdered creamer
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup instant coffee

Add the following ingredients to above mix to make these different flavors:
Orange- 2 orange-flavored hard candies
Mocha- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Cinnamon- 1 tsp. cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is a fine powder. Place the mix in your container of choice. Add a tag with the following instructions:

Per Cup: Spoon 3 tablespoons of mix into a mug. Add 1 cup of boiling water and stir!

Sickness Get Behind Me

Well sickness has entered the White House... better this week than next huh? Well, yesterday JH and I were doing a little shopping at Target and all of the sudden he started yelling and holding his head saying it hurt "wrealllly bad" Poor thing. We came home gave him some meds and he took an almost 3 hour nap before we went to Nolan's party (more blogging on that later).

On the way home he asked if we could go and see the doctor because his ears hurt. Of course at this point it was too late. He was running a fever and we check on him throughout the night.... this morning we went to the doctor were we discovered... DOUBLE EAR INFECTION.

Poor thing, we have been laying low today, and have had the best time. He is pretty tired seeing how he didn't take a great nap. But he is chillin on the couch while I make dinner watching a Christmas movie...

Eric too is sick. His started with a sinus infection, the strep, and now it is getting into his chest. Poor babe! He is pitiful when he is sick. But he has gone to work for a bit, and now home for a long winters nap. We just bought a new humidifer, so I am hoping that this puts the sickness behind us! Say a little pray for us...

I am hoping to go do some Christmas shopping tonight after the BOYS go to bed, and set my DVR for the new show, Sing along... I am pumped! What about you, what are you into tonight?

Holiday Pretzel Treats

Here is another fun "cookie" to make!

1 bag of ROUND/ SQUARE pretzels (synder brand sells these)

1 bag of hersery kisses ( used candy cane ones, but whatever, the hugs would be good too, as well as plain kisses)

1 bag of holiday mix M&M's

Preheat oven to 350,

cover cookie sheet with wax paper

Place pretzels down on wax paper (in rows)

Place unwrapped kissed on top of pretzels

Put in oven for 5-7 seven min, or until kiss is melted

Once out of the oven, place an M&M in the middle of the melted kiss and let cool!

So yummy, and super fun to do with a 3 year old in tow!