happy new year!

ella :: nye 2004

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

frankfort, kentucky

the week before christmas we went to our state capitol for the visitation of my godfather's mother.  we decided to take the children with us and make it a quick family road trip (i am a huge fan of road trips, drives in the country and getting lost on old country roads).  after visiting with family at the funeral home, we took a drive through the city of frankfort, looked at the lights and cruised past our state capitol and governor's mansion.  frankfort is a lovely town, and i was dissapointed we weren't there earlier in the day to actually go into the capitol, so this might have to be another road trip for the summer.

road trips, no matter how short, are a perfect time for me to sneak in some crocheting 

driving through horse country 

the kids were absolutely amazed by the christmas tree clock 

governor's mansion

kentucky's state capitol building 

and....the great wall of bamboo.  there was a house hidden behind it! 

Hashbrown Casserole

Right before Christmas I was looking for a tried and true Hashbrown Casserole recipe that I could make ahead of time and cook on Christmas Eve morn when we gathered with my family to celebrate.  I wanted something easy but delicious.  Several friends sent me their recipe and from theirs I created my own, using bits and pieces of each recipe.  I was quite proud of my creation, and everyone at the table really seemed to enjoy it! 

Hashbrown Casserole

(can be prepared the night before - except for the cooking part)

2 lb. bag of shredded hash browns
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 stick butter (melted)
1 cup (or more!) chopped onion

Mix ingredients well and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, until it is bubbly and golden.

my baby ~ eleven months old

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

sugar cookies, a holiday tradition

Each Christmas I get together with a few of my cousins, my sister, and my sister in law and we spend an entire day baking sweet treats to share with friends and family.  It's always a special day, filled with laughter, flour, reminiscing, icing and love.  This year we made buckeyes, oatmeal chocolate chip cranberry cookies (thank you anna!), peppermint bark, oreo truffles, funfetti cookies (thanks haley!), chocolate covered pretzels, and of course, everyone's favorite: sugar cookies decked out with icing, candies, and sprinkles.  I love watching our decorators pull out all the stops with their designs.  I thought I would share my sugar cookie dough recipe with you.  What are you baking this holiday season?

Sugar Cookies

1 1/3 cups Margarine
1 ½ cups Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 ½ Tbs. Milk
4 cups Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt

Mix all ingredients well, divide dough into halves (or even quarters) and put in ziploc bags. Chill for one hour (I’ve chilled overnight). On a floured surface roll out dough (about 1/8 – ¼ inch) and cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 7-8 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool and then decorate.

queen city christmas

here's a christmas music video starring henry who and his mad dancing/climbing/singing/standing skills.  thanks to jake speed and the freddies for providing us with such a fun christmas soundtrack (and cuz too)!  be sure to watch the original video by the band...it's hilarious!
song:  queen city christmas from the losantaville cd

a few of my favorite things ~ christmas edition

we all know that the spirit of christmas is not about what "things" we have.  but sometimes the "things" help us celebrate the season, they hold memories and help us pass on traditions to our children.  sometimes just a look at something you hold dear can bring on a rush of memories, or a good feeling inside that makes you smile.  here are a few of my favorite "things" around the house this holiday season.

i love this sight in the winter:  fireplace ablaze with flames and mantel adorned with stockings.

this sweet little santa bell makes me smile, especially when i see the smiles on little faces as they ring the bell.

and how about this santa?  this guady little gold santa?  he's just adorable.  he was a gift from a student years and years ago when i was teaching at a childcare center during college.  he was one of our very first holiday decorations.

you are my sunshine...when we were first married michael and i started giving each other ornaments for st. nick's.  the ornaments i gave him were of a celestial theme (the sunshine above was this year's), and his were always santa designs (like the little blue santa bell).  we don't do this every single year, but it's still one of my favorite traditions.

our tree.  we made a huge change this year and purchased a pre-lit faux evergreen instead of a live tree.  for environmental and economical reasons we decided to take this step, and we are quite happy with our decision.

frosty - he sits on my windowsill (you know how much i love my kitchen window), and he reminds me how much i love winter and the christmas season!

and i love love love all of the old ornaments from my childhood that decorate our tree.  like this little gem from first grade. 

this is an odd favorite...an ash tray made by my great grandmother Rose.  we use it as a candy dish though.  homemade "things" are my definately my favorite kinds of things. 

Easy to Make Ornaments

I did this super-simple craft with ella's class for their Christmas party this week.  I gave them pipe cleaners and beads and told them to design their own ornaments.  It was great because it did not require much prep work ahead of time (key factor since I had so many sick kids this week).  And I way overbought on the beads and pipe cleaners, so I can repeat this at other holiday parties, or use the materials for other projects. 

The kids loved it.  And I got a kick out of seeing what they created.  I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few!

The materials:  beads + pipe cleaners

This would be a great activity for kids who need to work on sorting or patterning skills.  Or for children who need help with fine motor skills.

This guy loved making candy canes. 

This little girl made a Bengals ornament for her dad. 

One boy was making stars...pretty cool!

These are just a few shots...the possibilities of shapes they can make are endless, and you can always connect more than one pipe cleaner to make bigger creations.  This would be a fun project for kids to make ornaments for grandparents, aunts, uncles, or you could even do it as a service project and make ornaments to pass out to residents of a senior center near your home. 

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:  A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

our week in a nutshell

 
our family has a serious case of the sickies ~ teething, ear infections, stomach bugs, colds, and pneumonia (you can thank me now for not posting pix of max and his stomach bug!). it's been kind of a crummy week in these parts, but i keep trying to focus on the positive. at least we are (hopefully) getting all of this out of our systems before the holidays, AND it least none of it is so serious that any of my children are in the hospital. we are all resting and mending at home. thank goodness for snow days!  here's another silver lining to the sickies:  lots of cuddling!

eating cereal ~ sam style

Making Christmas Cards with Kids Part TWO

In November I wrote about how I like to involve the kids in making our Christmas cards.  It's fun to collaborate with them on this creative endeavor.  This year the kids decided they wanted to decorate ornaments to put on our cards.  So I used my beloved Cricut to cut out a bunch of paper ornaments and let them decide how to decorate each and every one.  It was a long, fun process.  It was interesting to see how each child approached the activity.  As you can see from the pictures below, most of Sam's painted ornaments were brown.  He loved that brown paint.   And Max was all about the stripes. 

The first approach we took was to paint the ornaments with watercolors.

 After that they tried other methods...Ella's favorite seemed to be just coloring with crayons, which ended up being beautiful like a stained glass window when put on a black card.

And then there was the glitter glue...oh how they loved the glitter glue!

What kind of card does your family mail out?

Christmas Portraits 2010

Ok, you've seen the "out-takes", here are the "keepers". I told you how much fun it was trying to get a decent picture of the four of them, but in the end, I had several shots that I loved. We took our pictures in the gardens of Baker Hunt in Covington and Highland Cemetery. That's right...I took my kids' Christmas picture in a cemetery. If I had planned better we would have headed to my favorite place for photographs ~ Spring Grove Cemetery. I think that cemeteries are beautiful, peaceful places.  Where is your favorite place to take pictures?

If you look closely in this last shot you can see the headstones that I had to crop out ;)

my very first guest post

Recently I was asked to do a guest post on the blog: It's not just lunch.  It's a great blog, you should check it out.  Kelly Lester has recipes, ideas for lunch packing, giveaways and more!  Kelly Lester is the creator and CEO of Easylunchboxes.com.  I realize I'm going to sound like an infomercial when I say this...but our family is totally digging these lunchboxes!  We have reduced waste in our lunches each day, and it's help me pack more perfect portions for everyone.  My favorite thing about this company though is that it is Mama-owned and operated!  As a small business owner I am a big supporter of other mamas who own their own businesses.  Check it out and take a few moments to read my little guest post about packing lunches at our house.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:  A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Tis the Season Ornament Giveaway WINNER!

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have a winner!  Congrats to Sarah from Texas, who said...


My favorite thing is choosing names off of the Salvation Army angel tree. We always try and pick out a few kids the same age as our little guy.

For those that didn't win, thanks for visiting the blog, and please keep byJeneene in mind for your holiday shopping.  There's still time to get unique hand-made ornaments delivered before the holidays!

Tis the Season for Gift Giving: Hand Made Wooden Ornament Giveaway - CLOSED

This year I did some of my holiday shopping on Etsy, I love Etsy, it's a wonderful way for crafters to sell their wares.  Have you checked out this site yet?  You really should, you can find just about anything you'd like on here.  There's a handmade gift out there for everyone on your list.  There's such a wide variety of unique items, I can't even begin to list my favorite sellers.   Sorry for the informercial here, but I am a proud Etsy shop owner, and an addicted Etsy shopper.

But while looking for ornaments on Etsy I stumbled upon Jeneene, who makes handmade, personalized wooden ornaments.  And the discovery of her shop was like a trip down memory lane.  You see, for years a friend of our family has bought ornaments for me and my siblings each year for Christmas.  And when I was a very little girl she had bought two ornaments for me that were made by Jeneene.  Imagine my surprise to find the creator of these treasured ornaments on Etsy!  So I of course made a purchase.  And asked her if she would like to do a giveaway on the blog ~ because I love her ornaments so, and I know my readers will love them too!  So this week's giveaway is an ornament of your choosing from Jeneene's wide selection of hand-crafted wooden ornaments on Etsy.  I really think you are going to love Jeneene's work.  She has been making ornaments since 1975 and she has made hundreds of different designs!  So even if you don't win this one, you might find something in her shop for those special people on your holiday shopping list!  And as long as you order by December 17th you should get your ornaments before Christmas!

Here are the rules:
One winner will receive a FREE handmade personalized wooden ornament from byJeneene's Etsy shop. 
The winner will be chosen on Thursday, December 9, 2010 using random.org
The winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen (be sure I have your contact info!)
Two entries per person (see below)

How to enter:
~ Entry One:  Visit byJeneene's Etsy shop and leave a comment below telling us what your favorite ornament in her shop is.
~ Entry Two:  Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite holiday tradition is

Best of luck!  And happy shopping on Etsy!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Tastefully Simple Giveaway Winner!

Drumroll Please....the winner of the Tastefully Simple Giveaway (Beer Bread + Warm the Oven Dip Mix) is:
No Wine Untasted who said...

Just tried the crab dip and can't wait to try it with wonton wrappers. Shared on facebook, and found this via LibraryMom!

Email me at: Katie@Cards-by-Katie.com to claim your prize!
And if you didn't win this one, not too worry...there's another great holiday giveaway coming very very soon!

french onion dip

I wanted to share this french onion dip recipe with you.  I'm in love with it.  And of course, like most of the recipes I pass along...it's easy to make!  I think it is best served with "everything" bagels cut up in large chunks, the flavor combo is delicious!

gather your ingredients:

one onion (dice it up baby)

olive oil

kosher salt

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayo

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

saute the diced onion in olive oil, with just a smidge of kosher salt.

did i say saute?  i meant carmelize...they should look like this

meanwhile, stir together the sour cream, mayo, pepper and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

cool the onions then mix with the sour cream/mayo mixture.  chill for a few hours before serving.

 

tada!  like i said...best served with everything bagels!