Gingerbread House Tutorial

I am sure everyone is busy doing their Christmas baking! I wanted to provide you an easy tutorial on how to make the PERFECT gingerbread house with your kids. Grab your paper and pen and take good notes. Really, it is easy and fun. If you are thinking to yourself that you already know how to make a gingerbread house, you may not know how to make this one. You know...the Perfect One.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

1. Invite a friend who has a good sense of humor and who is NOT a perfectionist. Also, make sure she has NEVER done a gingerbread house as well.

2. Buy a gingerbread kit. It is much easier and everything is provided. Do NOT read the instructions until the kids are gathered around and ready to decorate the gingerbread house.

3. Cut a big hole in the icing bag. This way the icing comes out in clumps instead of nice neat lines. Smear the icing on with your fingers. (Make sure you lick your fingers before and after your smear the icing.)

4. The kit instructions will suggest you put the icing on and hold the pieces together for 1 minute. No need to do this. The kids are ready to decorate!

5. Gather the cute kids around the table and build up the anticipation of making a gingerbread house.

6. Make sure you have a very active 2 year little boy. This way most of the decorations get eaten.

There you have it. A "Perfect" gingerbread house! Oh, wait until you see the next picture. It shows how "Perfect" it is.

That is why you DON'T want to hold the pieces together for 1 minute. It just would not turn out like this!

Final step: Make sure you have lots of fun and laugh alot.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Birthday Idea for Your Man

So the other day was the Big Guy's birthday. I never know what to get my man. It is so hard to surprise him. He always says he just wants to be with his family on his birthday. However, I wanted to do something for him. For those who know my guy, you know he LOVES his Tarheels and Carolina Hurricanes. Unfortunately for me, hockey season and basketball season are at the same time. I fought it for years! Well, I have learned to "try" to embrace it. I will have to say I love to go to hockey games. They are fast pace and to be honest, I love a good fight among the players.

Back to the birthday....I came up with an idea of dressing the kids in his favorite team attire. The little guy wore a hockey shirt and the first born wore a cheerleader outfit. The kids had so much fun. So one afternoon when the Big Guy was working hard, we had some fun in the backyard. It took several shots.

Could not use this one. Bailey's eyes were closed.

Ok, help mommy out. What about a smile!

I have to say I did not get that perfect picture I was wanting. With a little editing, I made it much more desirable.

Uploaded the picture, picked it up the next day, tossed it into a frame and wha la (however you spell it), there is a gift for the man.

We all went out to eat. The kids wore their outfits to dinner. He loved the picture and being with his family. But we are not finished yet. Birthday Cake!!! I wish I could say that I decorated or even baked this cake. My dear friend, Kimberly made it in the middle of trying to show her house to sale. I did not have any specific request and this is what she put on the cake. Perfect! It went along with our theme. She knows he loves the Tarheels. Thanks Kimberly! He loved it.

My guy had fun (except at the table when Bailey WOULD NOT eat her dinner but that is another story) and a great birthday.

A Little Late!

So I am a little late wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful day. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving By the Sea. Thankfully, my decorations made the trip. We had lots of food. The adults enjoyed every bit of it and the kids...well, let's just say they tried new things. The turkey cookies were their favorite.

I don't know about you but do you ever have an idea in your head and it turns out something totally different but better. As you know from my previous post, I had an idea about decorating the table for Thanksgiving. In my head, I visualized a soft look of white plates, shells, white pumpkins, etc. You get the idea. Well it turned out nothing like I thought it would. It was even better because I watched my mother-in-law work with the kids on some table decorations. She helped them make the cutest turkey cookies and place cards out of leaves. My mom brought a ceramic small turkey that was my grandmothers. She gave it to Bailey to have.

I also had this sweet helper.

She insisted the forks be on the plates and not beside the plates.

So you see, I had visualized a picture in my head like the ones I see in the magazines. But you know what? Those pictures leave out the love of a family. They don't show the grandmothers working with the grandchildren to create name cards that may not be perfect. Martha (and my grandmother) would have a fit that the forks are not properly placed. Our table was perfect for us!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are ready to celebrate and enjoy Christmas.

We enjoyed our holiday by the sea. We missed those who we did not get to see.

So much to be thankful for!

Not Quite Ready

Lately, my little guy loves to tell me that he is "not quite ready" to do whatever I am telling him to do. In his little voice he will say "not yet mommy" or "just a minute" or "not quite ready."

How many times do I say that to God? It goes something like this....

Not quite ready to do that Lord. See I have a million and one things to do like go to Target, grocery store and oh yea....the mall to get that cute shirt I saw the other day.

Not quite ready Lord to have a little girl go to kindergarten. See Lord, preschool is all about having fun and I am not ready to have to buckle down and help her with homework.

Not quite ready Lord, for my little guy not to be 2 anymore. See Lord, he is my baby and my last baby. So I am not ready to take down that crib and take away his pacifier at night.

Not quite ready Lord for my parents to age. See Lord, no matter how old I am, I am still their daughter and receive that unconditional love even when I am grumpy.

But the Lord says....

It is time to put your list to the side and think about what I want you to do.

She is ready to go to school and I have already chosen the school for her.

And about the little guy.....enjoy these days with him and help him grow into a man who loves me.

As your parents age, remember the unconditional love I have for you and that you are a daughter of Christ.

So the next time I say to my little guy to clean up and he says "not quite ready", I will remember to say Lord, I am ready.

Nothing Better Than A Parade

Before we head to the beach, let's enjoy some downtown fun.

A parade always bring smiles to young and old. I decided at the last minute to take the kids to the downtown Christmas parade. We met some friends and enjoyed some fun. The weather was just right for a parade. The kids enjoyed getting out their hats and scarfs for the first time this year. The best part of the parade was watching the kids smile and wave to the participants.

Enjoying the little moments!

Thanksgiving By the Sea

Thanksgiving By The Sea

Thanksgiving will be here soon. I don't want to skip over Thanksgiving despite what the retail stores say. Seems like the Christmas trees have been up since Halloween. This year, our family is going to do something a little different. We are having Thanksgiving By The Sea.

I will go ahead and be honest with you. Cooking is not my thing! I can follow a recipe but I just don't have the joy of cooking in me. However, I am blessed to have a mother-in-law who does. She loves to cook and everything she makes is yummy. Between my mother and mother-in-law, our Thanksgiving dinner will be taken care of. We will be spending the day cooking together. 3 (I mean 2) cooks in the kitchen! I hope we survive.

I may not have the joy of cooking in me but I have the joy of decorating. I love to decorate. I started thinking about how to decorate our table for Thanksgiving. How about a little sand and shells thrown in with some pumpkins? Bright orange pumpkins don't really go with white sand and shells. So I grabbed some white spray paint and started spraying. I had just enough to paint 8 little pumpkins left from Halloween.

Throw in a table cloth, a few star fish and I am ready to hit the beach for Thanksgiving. I will add white dishes and more shells the day of.

I just hope my pile of decor does not get booted out of these containers. This is what we use to transport things to the beach. I hope the big guy in the house does not see the decorating items as unnecessary!

Come back to see how I use the items to create my Thanksgiving By The Sea.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving however you spend it. There is so much to be thankful for.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day.  For some it means they have a day off from work, there is no mail and their kids are home from school.  For others, it is a big reminder and a time to say thank you to those who have served or who are currently serving our country.

I was leaving a comment in seasoned-sister.blogspot.com/.  Her post today was about Veterans Day.  As I was writing a LONG comment I was reminded by so many things.  I went to a military college so several of my friends from college are military families.  Even though I do not keep up with them on a regular basis I always think of them and their sacrifices. 

 - I remember visiting a special friend in Ft. Hood before her husband was deployed in Desert Storm.  

- I remember several of us hanging a huge American flag over our college apartment banister during Desert Storm.  

- I remember us checking our campus mailboxes hoping to get letters from friends who were deployed.  This was all before email and cell phones.

- I remember stopping whatever I was doing at 5:00 to salute the flag.  We would even get out of our cars to salute the flag. Rain or shine.  

- I remember hearing taps every night before I went to bed.

- I remember waking up to the military guys marching by my dorm.

Many of those friends went on to serve the military after college. Oh I forgot to tell you....I was not in the military program.  Just did not think army green was my color!

I think of my grandfather who served in WWII and did not see my dad until he was 2 years old. I think of my mom's past boss who served as a physician in Vietnam.  

And I think of all who are serving now to keep the bad guys away (as my daughter would say).

So thank you, thank you, thank you for those who have served or who are serving.