Christmas cupcakes....

Tonight, we are spending some Christmas-time with my parents, Nana and Pops. We will be celebrating by eating pizza...something I haven't eaten in months (low carb diet has been rough but I lost 12 pounds in a little over a month) and enjoying some dessert. 

I am in charge of providing birthday cupcakes for Jesus! Our youngest son was very interested in making a birthday cake, but was happy enough to make cupcakes because it was easier. Let's just be real...the holidays are crazy busy and I am all for taking some short cuts to make things more stress free.

So cupcakes it is. To dress them up a bit, I printed out some cute toppers I found HERE and glued them to some lollipop sticks I had left over. Man, I wish I had one of those circle punches. Cutting these out by hand is annoying and doesn't make them nice and perfect circles. Oh well....maybe next year :)

Strawberry with cream cheese frosting....

With 8 Christmases to attend, I will be cooking and baking a lot this week. Problem is, I don't have everything I need to make things. I am going to have to brave the madness tonight and go to the store to get supplies to make Mexican Layer Dip, 2 Strawberry cakes, a ton of snacks.

Happy baking everyone!

Monogram glitter ornaments

I was playing around with the idea of giving a couple of my friends homemade ornaments this year as a gift. While I am not sure if I will actually give them, I think they turned out pretty nice. 

Remember how I say that I don't have a Silhouette? Well, I still don't. So, the monogram had to be free handed in paint marker. 

That is the part that I don't like so much. But the more I look at them, the more ok they are. Hmmmm, to give or not to give...that is the question.

Peppermint Marshmallows

We are heading out this afternoon on a quick trip to College Station with our kiddos. Josh is rarely home so we are taking advantage of this time as a family. 

College Station is the home of Texas A&M, my alma mater...so I am hoping to tour the college a bit and put a bug in my kids' ear about going to college there! We also found a small RV park about a mile away from my old apartment complex so we will be staying there. 

Even though it should be a bit warm this weekend, the kids are going to be wanting to drink hot chocolate....so I made a few cute peppermint marshmallows to put in their cocoa. 

This was super easy and they are cute. I almost want to eat them on their own. :)

Here are the supplies you need:

Very simply, you need lollipop sticks, marshmallows, melted chocolate, and crushed peppermint...

Put a stick in the marshmallow, dip it in chocolate, and roll it in peppermint. Done! The kids are excited to use them!!!

2nd Grade Christmas Program

Tonight we attended the 2nd grade's Christmas program at our sons' school. It was so cute!!! 

This was the program that we made the 80 penguin costumes for a couple of weeks ago. It turned out great!

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Jansen usually does not like to participate in musicals or anything as evidenced in Exhibit A:

That is one sullen little reindeer....he wouldn't even move

But this year, he was VERY into the music. He sang and danced his little 7 year old heart out. He ran to us after the programs exclaiming, "I wasn't even nervous!"

Here are a few pictures after the show:

We are so proud of that little penguin!!!

School Giving Tree

The PTO decided to create a Giving Tree for the teachers this holiday season. I know we all rack our brains to try to find something to give them that is meaningful and that our teachers can really use. Well enter...The Polk Elementary Giving Tree!

Our tree covered with ornaments

Close up of the ornaments

One of our moms created the tree, laminated it, and got it up on the wall, while a few of us created little paper ornaments to tape to the tree. Each teacher was given 5 paper ornaments to start off with. They wrote their name and a gift item they would like for their class. Then they attached them to the tree. Parents can then come in and find their child/children's teacher and pick an ornament off to go shop with. 

Our district is under some major budget cuts, so the basic things are often hard to come by. The teachers listed things like sidewalk chalk, markers, pencils, staplers, construction paper, playground balls, board games, flash cards, and gift cards. 

Not only did it turn out very cute, the parents have really been using it. It is a great way to grab a few things for the teachers that you know they can use. 

Merry Christmas to our hardworking teachers!

Mustache cake

One of my bestest friends, Carmela's son is having a birthday party today. He is the big 6! 

His party is at the world famous Chuck-E-Cheese and his mother has a lot of really cute mustache details going into it. I offered to make a little mustache cake to bring to the party. 

please excuse another crappy phone photo

It's pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

Our Christmas yard....

My husband has gotten a new job within his current block. It's sort of a promotion, of sorts. Currently, he is an outside operator for our local chemical company. Now he has taken the position of Outside/Inside operator, which means he is going to be learning "the board". He tends to be a workaholic, and works a lot of overtime, which means he is not home very much. With this new job, he will be training on his days off...which are few and far between, meaning that he will be training until June 2013. For real. 

Instead of complaining about it, we are just trying to make the time that he IS home, as special and meaningful as possible. Well, this year, that includes him spending less time putting up lights and coordinating them to music, so that we can just put up the kids' favorite inflatables. 

So, this is what my husband came up with last week on his 12 hours off :)

Jansen imitating the sock monkey

Personally, I would have switched the Santa and the Snowman so that the biggest inflatable is on the left....but my husband did it and wasn't changing it, so I am not complaining since it got done. 

The kiddos next to the giant Santa!

The kids are happy, and while I wish there were lights included, I am not getting up on that roof with my bad back...so I love it! :)

We are blessed that my husband has this new job opportunity as he works his way up in the company. I am thankful for the moments he is home with us. We are thankful for his hard work and dedication to his family, that has allowed me to stay home, and now to return to nursing school. 

Happy December everyone! This is the end of Hurricane Season 2012!!!!!!!!