Thanks Kim for taking our picture! You're awesome! :)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thanks Kim for taking our picture! You're awesome! :)
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Update in Photos
This Christmas break, I am trying to clean/organize a few things...including my phone. So, I had a bunch of random photos on my phone from things that have gone on in the past few months so I thought I would share with all of you. My sister-in-law did this awhile back and I thought I would do the same. :)
1. A few months ago Kristin and I had a craft day and we decided to make pillows. This orange damask pillow was one of the ones I made to go on our big bay window. I bought the material at Hobby Lobby and stuffed it with polyester stuffing. Note to self: pillow forms are much better! More expensive...but it keeps the pillow from getting lumpy!
2. This is the second pillow I made that day. I sewed it out of burlap, painted on it, and then stuffed it and closed it shut. This pillow now serves as a throw pillow for our bed. I love it! Only next time, I wouldn't rush the painting. I can see about five different things I would change.
3. This is gourmet hot cocoa from Christmas in Fair Park (Paris). This nice gentlemen sold to to me for $1 instead of $2...and it was delicious! Hot cocoa with hazelnut, whip cream, a candy cane and sprinkles. YUM!
4. This is a picture I took with Santa when he came to visit Justiss Elementary.
5. Well, I am sure you are wondering why I have a picture of Corn King hams on here. Yes, it is weird...but these hams were apart of a huge project I took on at our church in December. I headed up our annual Christmas basket ministry. It was a LOT of work and I am pretty sure there were some people who didn't think I could do it. BUT, I did and we ended up handing out about 100 baskets in one day. :) This was the brand of ham that I ordered from Wal-Mart to go with the baskets. Overall, the project was a huge success and I am glad I could do something to give back this holiday season.
6. Those two beauties are my Aunt Misty and puppy Kate. I rode with Misty to Greenville one day to pick up Kate from the pound. When Misty and I walked into the pound it stunk something terrible!!! Plus, it was very sad to see all of those lonely animals. Kate jumped/rolled out of her box to greet us and Misty knew that was the puppy for them. She is adorable and I am glad they did something for puppy humanity. When Grayson (Misty's son) saw her he said it was the best Christmas gift ever!
7. Chocolate Chip (Pecan) Cookie Pie- I decided that for Christmas I would make a few recipes that I have pinned on Pinterest. I pin things all the time and never make them so I thought this would be a good opportunity to test a few out. This one turned out great and was super easy to make. If you know me at all, you know I am not very good at baking...so if I say it's easy..then it REALLY is!
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Beat the eggs, on high, until foamy. Beat in the flour and then both sugars. Beat in the butter. (I usually have a few small specks of butter left in the batter- this is fine and the pie will turn out great.) Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon into the pie crust and bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
For the topping:
Melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Add about a 1/2 teaspoon oil. Stir and pour into a zipper bag. Cut off a tiny corner and drizzle over the pie.
Optional:
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
8. Parmesan Chipotle Corn- Well this recipe I made up all by myself. I talked to Kim about making some food for Christmas, and this recipe somehow popped into my head. I LOVED it and got a lot of compliments so I am pretty proud of myself. Try it sometime! It's super easy!
9. This is a picture of the Hanley men with a shirt that I had made for them for Christmas. It says, "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken. ~Hanley Family Motto~" What I should have put on it was the Hanley MEN motto. Anytime we are at dinner it is me against the three of them. I guess Kim as just learned to smile and watch...but for some reason I am still in battle mode. So, we have been joking about this quote for awhile and I kept telling them I was going to have a shirt with this quote put on it...and I did! I think the guys really liked it. Thanks T-Shirt Shoppe! You did an awesome job!
1. A few months ago Kristin and I had a craft day and we decided to make pillows. This orange damask pillow was one of the ones I made to go on our big bay window. I bought the material at Hobby Lobby and stuffed it with polyester stuffing. Note to self: pillow forms are much better! More expensive...but it keeps the pillow from getting lumpy!
2. This is the second pillow I made that day. I sewed it out of burlap, painted on it, and then stuffed it and closed it shut. This pillow now serves as a throw pillow for our bed. I love it! Only next time, I wouldn't rush the painting. I can see about five different things I would change.
3. This is gourmet hot cocoa from Christmas in Fair Park (Paris). This nice gentlemen sold to to me for $1 instead of $2...and it was delicious! Hot cocoa with hazelnut, whip cream, a candy cane and sprinkles. YUM!
4. This is a picture I took with Santa when he came to visit Justiss Elementary.
5. Well, I am sure you are wondering why I have a picture of Corn King hams on here. Yes, it is weird...but these hams were apart of a huge project I took on at our church in December. I headed up our annual Christmas basket ministry. It was a LOT of work and I am pretty sure there were some people who didn't think I could do it. BUT, I did and we ended up handing out about 100 baskets in one day. :) This was the brand of ham that I ordered from Wal-Mart to go with the baskets. Overall, the project was a huge success and I am glad I could do something to give back this holiday season.
6. Those two beauties are my Aunt Misty and puppy Kate. I rode with Misty to Greenville one day to pick up Kate from the pound. When Misty and I walked into the pound it stunk something terrible!!! Plus, it was very sad to see all of those lonely animals. Kate jumped/rolled out of her box to greet us and Misty knew that was the puppy for them. She is adorable and I am glad they did something for puppy humanity. When Grayson (Misty's son) saw her he said it was the best Christmas gift ever!
7. Chocolate Chip (Pecan) Cookie Pie- I decided that for Christmas I would make a few recipes that I have pinned on Pinterest. I pin things all the time and never make them so I thought this would be a good opportunity to test a few out. This one turned out great and was super easy to make. If you know me at all, you know I am not very good at baking...so if I say it's easy..then it REALLY is!
- 1 unbaked pie shell
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels (plus additional chips for drizzle)
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Beat the eggs, on high, until foamy. Beat in the flour and then both sugars. Beat in the butter. (I usually have a few small specks of butter left in the batter- this is fine and the pie will turn out great.) Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon into the pie crust and bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
For the topping:
Melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Add about a 1/2 teaspoon oil. Stir and pour into a zipper bag. Cut off a tiny corner and drizzle over the pie.
Optional:
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
8. Parmesan Chipotle Corn- Well this recipe I made up all by myself. I talked to Kim about making some food for Christmas, and this recipe somehow popped into my head. I LOVED it and got a lot of compliments so I am pretty proud of myself. Try it sometime! It's super easy!
- 3 cans White Chipotle Corn (strained)
- 8oz. sour cream
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 4 tbs. of chopped cilantro
- 2 tbs. butter
- salt and pepper to taste
9. This is a picture of the Hanley men with a shirt that I had made for them for Christmas. It says, "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken. ~Hanley Family Motto~" What I should have put on it was the Hanley MEN motto. Anytime we are at dinner it is me against the three of them. I guess Kim as just learned to smile and watch...but for some reason I am still in battle mode. So, we have been joking about this quote for awhile and I kept telling them I was going to have a shirt with this quote put on it...and I did! I think the guys really liked it. Thanks T-Shirt Shoppe! You did an awesome job!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Fall Updates
So I am not going to give you a bunch of excuses as to why I haven't blogged lately---besides to say that it's just been extremely busy. To be honest I'm not even sure what all has gone on that's "blog-worthy." I guess I'll just give you the hi-lights!
HALLOWEEN
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Last year Matt and I were in Denton and we just hung out at the apartment and turned our porch light off. haha! But this year we decided to sign up to host a Trunk-or-Treat vehicle at our church. I decided to paint a drop cloth to decorate my car. I figured it would take a lot of effort this year (which it DID!) but for the next few years we can just unfold it and hang it up. It took me ALL afternoon one Sunday to paint. Haley even came over to help but it still took forever. BUT, I am still glad that I did it. I think next year I will add some glow paint so it glows in the dark!
It was also very cool to see some of my students come out to our church's T-O-T. I don't get to see them very often outside of school so I liked seeing them all dressed up in their costumes. I do have some pictures with some of my students, but since I don't have their parents permission, I won't post them on here. Here is a pic of Matt and I from that night (the drop cloth is in the background).
ULTIMATE FRISBEE/FOOTBALL
Matt and Clay organized an ultimate frisbee game one Saturday afternoon (which ended up turning into football). Matt and I invited Shannon and Kristin, some of our friends, and Clay got some of the LACOC youth to come play too. We had a LOT of fun! Kim came to take pics while we were playing, and James even got out and played for a bit! Here are some pics from that day (thanks Kim!)
THANKSGIVING/BREAK
This year we got a week off for Thanksgiving Break. It was AMAZING! I got so much done and am looking forward to the TWO WEEKS we get at Christmas Break. We had three Thanksgivings to attend this year and they were great, but I don't have any pictures. We had lunch with Matt's family on Thanksgiving Day, dinner with my mom's side of the family on Friday night, and dinner with my dad's side of the family on Saturday night. It was great getting to spend time with all of the family! Here are a couple of recipes I made for some of the festivities.
Death by Chocolate
One of my FAVORITES!
1 18.25oz devil’s food cake
1 5.9oz instant chocolate pudding
1 16oz cool whip
6 heath bars
Crack Potatoes
HALLOWEEN
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Last year Matt and I were in Denton and we just hung out at the apartment and turned our porch light off. haha! But this year we decided to sign up to host a Trunk-or-Treat vehicle at our church. I decided to paint a drop cloth to decorate my car. I figured it would take a lot of effort this year (which it DID!) but for the next few years we can just unfold it and hang it up. It took me ALL afternoon one Sunday to paint. Haley even came over to help but it still took forever. BUT, I am still glad that I did it. I think next year I will add some glow paint so it glows in the dark!
It was also very cool to see some of my students come out to our church's T-O-T. I don't get to see them very often outside of school so I liked seeing them all dressed up in their costumes. I do have some pictures with some of my students, but since I don't have their parents permission, I won't post them on here. Here is a pic of Matt and I from that night (the drop cloth is in the background).
ULTIMATE FRISBEE/FOOTBALL
Matt and Clay organized an ultimate frisbee game one Saturday afternoon (which ended up turning into football). Matt and I invited Shannon and Kristin, some of our friends, and Clay got some of the LACOC youth to come play too. We had a LOT of fun! Kim came to take pics while we were playing, and James even got out and played for a bit! Here are some pics from that day (thanks Kim!)
This year we got a week off for Thanksgiving Break. It was AMAZING! I got so much done and am looking forward to the TWO WEEKS we get at Christmas Break. We had three Thanksgivings to attend this year and they were great, but I don't have any pictures. We had lunch with Matt's family on Thanksgiving Day, dinner with my mom's side of the family on Friday night, and dinner with my dad's side of the family on Saturday night. It was great getting to spend time with all of the family! Here are a couple of recipes I made for some of the festivities.
Death by Chocolate
One of my FAVORITES!
1 18.25oz devil’s food cake
1 5.9oz instant chocolate pudding
1 16oz cool whip
6 heath bars
- Bake cake and let cool
- Make pudding and put in fridge
- Once cake is cool, crumble
- Break Heath bars into small pieces (or use pre-crushed toffee bits)
- In a trifle dish, layer cake, pudding, cool whip, heath pieces
Crack Potatoes
I found this on Pinterest, and my sister-in-law made it a few weeks before. It's delicious! Click here if you want to go to the site it originally came from.
2 (16oz) containers sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits
2 packages Ranch Dip mix
1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind
- Combine first 4 ingredients
- Mix in hash browns
- Spread into a 9x13 pan
- Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes
SCENTSY PARTY
I hosted a Scenty party last week for Lindsay McCarter (who is a Scentsy representative). It was so much fun and I got a LOT of great, good-smelling, free stuff! My sister-in-law helped me prepare for the party and I appreciate it so much! (Thanks again Kristin!) Again, I don't have any pictures from the event, but I did want to mention it on here in case you were interested in ordering, or wanted to have a party of your own. Here is Lindsay's website.
Well...that's all I can think of for now! Hopefully I will start posting more frequently. ;)
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