This year I needed to do a Family Photo and decided to do it a little different this year!
All I did was buy a piece of poster board and lined it with green paper like this...
I then used my green screen software, and edited it. I started with my baby girl since she did not need to hold the frame and then worked my way up. It was fun to do and I think it turned out really well!
Christmas morning was calm. We all got to sleep until 7:00. I got my coffee and then Tristan came out of his room. As he walked down the hall, squinting from the bright light, I said look Tristan, Santa came. He said oh yeah. His looked so happy and surprised. Here he is with his hot cocoa yelling "Merry Christmas"
Shortly after, Brayden woke up. He was pretty happy & surprised too.
This isn't really Christmas related, but in a way it is. Last week my mom and I went to our local school Christmas craft fair. They have about 50 vendors, it's big. We go every year, and every year the student perform some sort of musical. We never buy the tickets. Why? I don't know. But this year, it was Beauty & The Beast, my favorite Disney movie. So I convinced my mom to buy the tickets, she said it'll be an early Christmas present for both of us. I was ecstatic.
So last night my mom & I went to Disney's Beauty And The Beast. I have to give the actors and crew 5 stars. It was an awesome performance. The leads were all superb . They're singing, oh, was right on. I kept thinking some of these singers need to go for an American Idol tryouts, they were that good.
Over 4 years ago, my mom and I went to Pennsylvania on a bus tour, and one of the things on the itinerary was a dinner & theater, which was Beauty And The Beast. Those actors were older and professional, and I LOVED the performance there. But I have to say, the High School performance was just as good as those who performed at that dinner & theater performance. I'm still in WoW. My mom was hesitant at first, because being on a work night for her, she'd be awfully tired the next morning. But she enjoyed it and was glad she went. She said it was worth it.
Also I encourage any theater teacher out there, who don't know what to perform for their school, do the Beauty And The Beast! It's a great story, that everyone loves!
I really recommend everyone to check out there local school theater. Those kids work hard, and who know, may someday be famous! Plus it's great to get involve with the community!
Found a clip on you tube of the play...hopefully they'll be more.
I've started some of my Christmas shopping. So far I got 4 gifts. I decided to buy some Webkinz for my niece & nephew. I also bought Webkinz for my brother & sister in-law. My best friend bought me one for my birthday this year, and yes, there fun to play with, even for adults.
What is a Webkinz? Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. With it, you enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!
I have a monkey. I bought my brother a crocodile, my sister in-law a koala, my nephew a skunk and my niece a pink pony. They're so cute, plus they're collector items! They have a huge variety of animals!
My mom just informed me that we set a date for our family baking day. This is where me, my mom, aunt & cousins get together to bake cookies, candies, fudge or whatever we want to cook that day, then exchange with each other after we're all done. I can't wait. I got to find something different. One of the cookies I'm going to back is Chocolate Chip Cookies in the shape of Gingerbread Men. I've just purchased the Gingerbread Cookie Cutter 6pc Set from Amazon.com since I don't have any cookie cutters. So we're going to be doing it on December 20th. I'm going to do a trial run when my cookie cutters come in and I'll post a pic afterwords.
Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. They come out great when using an airbake cookie sheet pan.
1 Cup Butterflavor Crisco 2 Eggs 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar 3/4 Cup White Sugar 1/2 Teaspoon Water 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Beat Until Creamy
Add
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda 1 Teaspoon Salt 2 1/4 Cups Flour
Stir by hand. Add 1 6oz (or more for more chocolate chips) Chocolate Chips
Things are going to be tight this year. With me not working and the only income is from Adam, Christmas is going to be small. Small with presents that is, but that don't mean it's going to be a disappointment. I'm going to have the boys make some gifts for the family and how about those construction paper chains that we use to do as a kid. Tristan is 4 now, so I think he'll have fun doing that. Plus I'm planing on doing a baking swap. It's sort of like the cookie swap, the only difference is we all bake together. It's usually my mom, me, my aunt & my cousin that do this. We haven't done it in about 3 years. We all bring a recipe and bake/cook something and then when we're all done, we exchange what we made with each other. It's really nice to have the family together, even something simple as that. We usually end up laughing, and telling stories. Now my cousin and I have stories to tell about our children, heck they can help too.
I'm looking for more ideas of what a family can do during the holiday, and some homemade Christmas gifts. I already have one gift my sons are going to make for the family, but still looking for some more. The best thing about the internet, there are thousands of ideas out there!
I love this movie. Turning classic cartoons to real-life made this movie a future classic in my book. I actually went to the movie theater with my mom and nephew last year. It was a very snowy day. We actually got caught in a snow storm. I was surprised my mom still went, considering she hates driving in the snow as much as I do, but we went. It was a great movie. Though, if we do deside to go to the theater and it starts to storm in the future, we'll probably reschedule. Lucky for us, the storm ended when the movie finished. In this case, it was well worth it!
I'm going to make these for the children I give to this year. I think they are so cute.
Materials needed: Two standard-sized washcloths, tan and white 2 bars of bath-size soap 4 wiggle eyes 2 red pompoms 4 brown pipe cleaners 2 rubberbands 12 tiny jingle bells Decorative cord or ribbon Velvet ribbon for bow Small bell for Rudy Tacky glue Blush make-up for cheeks
Directions: 1. Open washcloth and place it on the table with one corner facing you. This makes the washcloth a diamond shape. 2. Place the soap in the center of it. 3. Bring the corner facing you and the back corner up together. Roll the two corners backwards down to the top of the soap. <>4. Take the two side corners in your hands and bring together at the top this will form the ears. Secure them together with a rubberband down next to the soap. Shape to resemble ears. 5. Fold one pipe cleaner in half and poke it between the ears and through the rubberband. 6. Cut another pipe cleaner in half and twist it around to make the antlers. Do this on both sides. 7. Now attach the tiny jingle bells through the ends of the antlers. Fold the pipe cleaners back to secure them on. 8. Tie a decorative ribbon, cord or bow around the bottom of the ears. The bow shown in the sample has a small bell attached. 9. Glue on pompom nose and wiggle eyes. 10. Put a small amount of blush on each cheek.
Step 1 Grab your pen and paper and jot down who you would like to call and invite them to come to your Cookie Swap. This is an opportunity for them to share their favorite recipes and bring their own homemade baked Cookies. Encourage them to also bring the recipes to the Cookies they are bringing to the Swap. Keep track of who is coming and what they are bringing. Be sure to set a specific date and time. Don't forget to send out Invitations to those who you couldn't personally invite.
Step 2 Create individual Goodie Bags to hold all of the guest's Cookies. Medium sized paper bags work fine. Use your pen to personalize each bag with the name of each guest. (You could also use tins, boxes or whatever you can imagine)
Step 3 On the day of the swap, be sure to have several copies of your favorite recipes on note cards displayed near the plate of the Cookies you just baked.
Step 4 Be sure that every guest is happy and takes home a variety of Cookies
