*Going to Work With Mommy….Almost!

You may remember from last Christmas that Hannah went to work with Mommy on Christmas Eve day.   My dad had the same employer I do for the majority of his career and I remember going to work with him on Christmas Eve day each year from when I was not much older than Hannah!   This year was going to be no exception for us and Hannah had talked about going to work with mommy for a couple of months.  When she’d ask I’d tell her she could to with me at Christmas.

The day dawned bright and sunny and as we were getting ready Hannah was excited to be going to ‘Mommy’s work!’ 

We parked the car but as we began to walk towards our building I realized that our morning would not go quite as planned.

It’s not easy to see from this pic but when we arrived at work our building was encompassed by 3 fire trucks and 6 police cars…that we could see.  I believe there were probably more parked out back as the street behind our building was closed to traffic.

So, what does any good worker do when they can’t get into their place of employment?  They go for coffee! 

Due to the situation inside the building (which we never really found out many details about) we were sent home mid-morning.  Yay!  An extra couple of hours 2 days before Christmas was a welcome treat!

Before we left the coffee shop some of my co-workers came over and gave Hannah a bag of treats and oh boy did she enjoyed those!  Puzzles, chocolates, stickers and more!

Thanks Miss Pat and Miss Hema!!

What did we do with our extra time that day?

We went for an yummy unplanned sushi lunch with Grandma

and then after nap it was time to visit Miss Ruth Anne who cuts mommy’s hair just in time for a cute trim for Christmas!

A fun day and gift opening at Nana and Papa’s was still to come!!

PS – Yes Auntie M, if you read the hair cutting cape I’m wearing it’s bilingual…English and FRENCH!  ;o)

Christmas Yummies

Over the Christmas season there are a few things that I make each year and they’re my ‘go to’ appetizers.  I often make them in bulk and then freeze them, taking out what we need when we’re going to an open house or Christmas party with family or friends.

I have two all-time favourites and want to share them with you. 

Ranch Stars

I think over the Christmas season I made about 20 dozen of these and took them to lots of places.  (And I didn’t remember to take a single picture!)  Each time they were gobbled up and I took home an empty plate which truly is the goal of any food I take to a potluck….no leftovers.   

Here’s the recipe:

2 cups tri-cheese shredded mix (I use Tex-Mex blend)

1/2 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground turkey

1/2 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

1 small bottle ranch dressing

1 small can black olives

2 packages won ton wrappers (1 package normally has 2 stacks of wrappers)

Use mini muffin tin to create stars to hold filling.  Place wonton wrapper in mini muffin tin and press into place.

Bake at 375o for 5 mins.

Prepare filling:

- fry ground pork and ground turkey and drain well

- finely chop peppers and olives

- mix all ingredients in a large bowl. 

- fill each wonton with mixture.  At this point these can be frozen and baked later or, if using immediately, bake for an additional 5 mins. at 375^o.  Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

These take a bit of time to put together but trust me, they’re more than worth that time!!  This year I had a little helper with me to hand me the chestnuts and toothpicks and that made the making of them that much more enjoyable!

Ingredients:

1 lb. bacon

2 small cans whole water chestnuts

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

• cut bacon strips in half
• wrap each water chestnut in a slice of bacon, securing it with a toothpick
• place in 8x8 pan

Bake for 30 mins at 350^o

Remove from oven and drain

• mix brown sugar, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce together
• pour over water chestnuts

Bake for an additional 20 mins

Delicious!  Enjoy!!

Candy Cane Popcorn with Chocolate

This was a new recipe that I found on Pinterest this year and will be added to our annual repertoire for sure!

16 cups popped popcorn

2 cups white chocolate

1 cup crushed candy canes or mints (divided)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 Tbsp. butter

• pop popcorn and place it in a large bowl (remove unpopped kernels)
• melt white chocolate in the microwave: melt on high for 1 min, stir, then at 30 second intervals until melted
• stir 1/2 cup of crushed candy canes into chocolate
• pour over popcorn and mix together while sprinkling in remaining crushed candy canes
• pour onto cookie tray
• melt chocolate chips and butter following above method.  Using spoon drizzle over popcorn
• cool
• Enjoy!!

I hope you enjoy these ‘go to’ favourites as much as our family does!

Where Bobble Chippey Go?

Hannah really enjoyed her adventures with Bobble Chippey and one thing I didn’t anticipate was that more than a week later she’d still wake up each morning and talk about him.

I’ve told her that he’ll be back next Christmas and that he’s helping Santa at the North Pole make toys for next year.  (This is also sweet as her comment to that is often, ‘He make toys for Kenna?  I already have toys. )  I tell her he’s playing with his friends Frosted Flake and Chippey but still, she talks about him each morning.  It’s cute and it shows me how much she enjoyed this fun little tradition that we began this year.

Does any one else’s child still talk about their elf each morning?

Bye Bye Gingerbread House!!

Almost as much fun as decorating her gingerbread house was smashing it to pieces!

Trying to eat it proved much more challenging!  (We had a few nibbles here but then the rest magically disappeared and she hasn’t asked for it.)

Until next year gingerbread house…….

(Green) Milk and Cookies for Santa!

It wasn’t planned this way but when Santa arrived at our home on Christmas Eve he was greeted with a feast of green milk and green cookies! 

The green milk was thanks to Santa’s Elf ‘Bobble Chippey’ so since he’s now living back at the North Pole with Santa until next December, he’ll have to deal with him about that!   But, the cookies were all my doing.

When we were in Florida in November I saw a neat Christmas decorative icing package so picked it up.  We hadn’t used it so Christmas Eve day we set to using it, decorating cookies for Santa.  I was working on some last minute appetizers to take to a friend’s place that night and to family the following days so Hannah was set up near me, ready to decorate sugar cookies (thanks Auntie Norma!) for Santa.

You can see that this year she needed no help at all and quickly set about getting the important job done!

Adding many, many….MANY sprinkles!

The finished product all set out for Santa!

And since it’s fun to do this, here’s a recap of Hannah’s Santa offerings for the past couple of years.

2010  (21 months old)

2009  (9 months old)

And one final note to Mommy.  Don’t let this innocent face fool you!

Next year schedule cookie decorating (which equals eating copious amounts of sugary icing!) at a time other than 2 hours before Christmas Eve service!  Let’s just say my excited bunny and I enjoyed the service from the hall and overflow room…along with other excited toddlers!

One Word…Family

(There are a number of posts for 2011 that I still have to create before printing our annual book so for the next bit you’ll find some older posts coming up.  Hopefully that means I’ll finally find time to finish our Disney posts from August!!)
The week following Christmas we were blessed to travel 5 hours away to spend time with our extended family.  These are precious people in our lives who mean so much even though we only see one another a couple of times each year.  Family = blessed!
When we get together with my cousins and their children it is a sea of little ones and Hannah is in there with the rest of them!  I love to see her playing with her cousins!  Have you ever tried to get 22 kids to look at a camera at the same time?    This was the best we did…not bad!
Can you hear right through the pic the amount of noise these kiddos were able to make?  SO much fun!  I love how close in age my cousins children and Hannah are! 
This pic just made me laugh!  Look what happened when we opened the box of chocolates!  Some serious chocolate selections for sure!
Many dress-up layers happening here.  Her friends Ro and Ree would be proud!
I’m so thankful for our family both near and far!

Grandpa’s Girls

On Sunday as we were waiting to open gifts as a family, Dad called out to us to come and bring our cameras. 

When we arrived in the family room he told us that he was already holding his gifts and that he needed nothing more.

It wasn’t until after I’d snapped the pic that I remembered this very same one being taken just 2 short years ago.  How can time move so quickly?  Slow down!  Slow down!!!

(I’d forgotten how round Hannah’s face was then compared to now.  She still looks very much the same minus *sniff* the ‘baby’ look and yet the shape of her little face is different.)

Christmas Morning 2011! Two is Such an Awesome Age!!!

After beginning our day in the upstairs hallway reading the Christmas story in Mommy’s Bible and in one of Hannah’s books we made our way downstairs.  I love how excited she was!!!  (Smart cookie too!  She quickly recognized the M&Ms candy cane in her stocking as the same gift I’d given my piano students this Christmas.  Can’t get much over on her any longer!)

LOL!  If you listen carefully to the beginning of this one you can hear what she’s looking for.  So cute!  Also, love how excited she got with each and every gift that she opened!!

The infamous ‘underpamts’.  You can see in this pic even though it’s blurry that she was happy to receive these and it seems to have set things in motion.  She’s asking to use the potty more often and is ready to begin potty training.  I was going to wait until late Jan when we had a Saturday at home but I think Monday is going to be the big day!
Let it snow!
Minnie Mouse pj’s
A new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD
A Leap Frog LeapPad was my main gift to her.  It’s designed for ages 3-7 but since she’ll be 3 in just 2 short months (whaaat???) I decided we’d give it a go!  She’s done wonderfully with it and already knows her way around it playing games, watching videos and even using the camera!

LOL!  Love how she blends into the sea of Christmas wrapping.  And, that one lone gift still under the tree.  She was so excited to play with some of what she’d already received that it sat there for a good hour until she was ready to open her final gift.  I wanted her to have time to enjoy her gifts rather than open everything before the playing could begin.  Guess it’s one of the perks of it just being the two of us.  It gives us lots of time to take Christmas morning at our own pace and do what works for us.  Fun!!
And…if you’re not already bored to tears with all the videos in this post, here’s just one more.

Merry Christmas from my adorable little sweetie and myself!! (Note to self – make sure to take a pic of us together on Christmas day next year!  Oops!)
And yes, I still pinch myself all the time because I cannot believe this amazing, fun, wonderful, precious, sweet, beautiful little girl is my daughter!  Truly God has blessed in ways we cannot measure!  Oh how I love her!!!!!

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And….HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!  May 2012 be an amazing year for you and your family!!