The Wisdom of Kylie

According to Kylie, when she was little, like she is now but at the age of 3, she has gone to a doctor, and there were two nurses. One checked her heart beeping and the other gave her two shots in the leg and the one who gave the shots was not nice. The last time she had to have shots was before she started pre-k so its been a good six months to nine months now since she had that done. 

Some of the things that come from her mouth I have the hardest time not laughing at because it is so funny. Earlier today she came up and asks, "why do you have thoughts in your brain in your head?" Now that one I did laugh a little at. The little sayings like this I think make it all the more fun when Kylie starts rattling off the little sayings she has. 

Just thought I would share her wonderful 4 year old wisdom for today.

Till Next Time!!!!

Christmas

 Hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a very nice Christmas here at home this year. The kids had a last tearing open presents, and spending the day lounging around the house this year. Jamie and Amaurie came over for a visit and to exchange gifts and Jerrod and I fixed us a nice Christmas dinner with chicken, stuffing and all the fixings.

The kids seemed to have a good Christmas. Kenzie got some science experiments (a make a volcano kit, dig a gem, and grow your own crystal kits), and a moon, some games and I think her favorite, a new charm bracelet, along with 2 new charms. She has already got all of her gems dug out of the little sand block that had them hidden in it. Her volcano is setting up and as soon as it is finished hardening we will explode it! She is excited about it. Her crystals we will start this afternoon. We all played one of her games last night before bed, trouble, and had a blast. Kylie was even able to play it and did good about not being a sore loser since she didn't win. (Gabryle played my last turn which won me the game! He will be on my team from now on!)

Kylie got some new Disney Princess toys, Barbies, a camera, and she got a charm bracelet also with 2 charms. She was thrilled about the Bracelet! Kylie has been wanting a charm bracelet for a while now because Mommy and Sister have one. We got her 2 charms, one that says Mommy's girl, and one that says Little Sister. She thinks she should get some more today with some of the money she got from Christmas, but we shall see. She also got a set of Disney Princess dolls that she didn't have yet. It came with Aurora, Snow White, Tiana and I believe Ariel. The Ariel doll is made to use in the water, Aurora is made to sleep with (her body is very soft), and the other two are just normal dolls like barbies.

Tool man Gabryle
Ready to fix things

Gabryle got some Sesame Street toys and a tool set, and a train whistle. He absolutely loves his new cookie monster toy he got. He comes with 3 cookies and you feed them to him and he will count them as you feed them to him and talk to you. The cookies fall down into a backpack on his back and you can get them out that way. It's really cute. He also absolutely LOVES his new tool set. He walked around all day yesterday with a drill or screwdriver in his hand tyring to fix things. It even has a tool belt that he can wear and another hard hat.

 This week we'll just relax around the house and let the last week of the girls break be low key, and a lot of relaxing.  I kind of think Kenzie is ready to start back to school. She's worked hard over the break learning her spelling words and is ready to go back to school to pass her spelling test. Hope you have a wonderful New Year!!!

Kylie's New Barbie

Till Next Time!!!!!

Kenzie, Kylie and Amaurie

Kids playing with their new things

Kenzie's new board games

It's Christmas Eve!!!!

It's Christmas Eve, and the kids were up early and excited. Kylie was worried at first when we woke up this morning due to the fact that Santa had not come yet to give her a present. I quickly assured her that it was only Christmas Eve and that he would in fact visit her, but not until tonight. This quickly satisfied her and we started fixing breakfast.
Every Christmas Eve we have some things that we have started as some holiday traditions. While Jerrod works, periodically throughout the day the kids and I check the NORAD Santa Tracker online. The girls find it fascinating to see the places that Santa has already been to. I kind of find it interesting too honestly. The girls were up early this morning and as we checked it for the first time around 7:30, and he was in New Zealand.
Tonight, after dinner and before the kids go to bed we will all sit in the living room and read The Night Before Christmas. The girls love the story, and they have been looking forward to it for a few days now. Kenzie has already told me that she plans on going to bed way early tonight so Christmas Day will come even quicker. Before bed the girls will set out the cookies and milk for Santa, and they have already started debating on whether they will put out ones that Kenzie decorated or the ones Kylie decorated. I made it a point to tell them that no matter who decorated them, Santa will love them.
Kylie is also excited about all the presents and everything with Christmas. Her biggest concern though, is how will Santa get into the house since we have no fireplace. I assured her that Santa has a master key that works for all houses that have no fireplace, so he can get in and out with out having to wake someone up to get in the house. We started that explanation with Mackenzie, and it has stuck with explaining how Santa gets in without a fireplace and it works.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Till Next Time!!!

New Recipe

This year the girls and I tried a new cookie recipe for our Christmas cookies. I didn't want to do our traditional Sugar cookies we have done every year that are usually store bought. So this year we made some Cut Out Chocolate Chip Cookies. They actually are not that bad! I was a little hesitant at first, but I think it was worth it. It's worth putting the icing on the cookies. I didn't use a prepared vanilla frosting but instead made a powdered sugar icing and I think it worked just as well. The recipes are below. Enjoy!


Till Next Time!!

Cut Out Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1/3 cup granulated sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 large egg yolk 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels, divided 

1 pkg. (16 oz.) prepared vanilla frosting, colored if desired 

Directions

BEAT butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract and salt in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg yolk. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in 1 1/2 cups morsels. Divide dough in half; cover. Chill for 1 hour or until firm.

ROLL half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness between two sheets of waxed paper. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Lift from waxed paper; place on ungreased baking sheets. Chill for 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.

BAKE in preheated 350° F. oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Spread with frosting; pipe with melted chocolate.

TO PIPE CHOCOLATE: Place remaining morsels in heavy-duty plastic bag. Microwave on HIGH (100%) power for 45 seconds; knead. Microwave for additional 10 seconds; knead until smooth. Cut tiny corner from bag; squeeze to pipe chocolate.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Powdered Sugar Icing


1 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP milk or water
1 TSP vanilla
food coloring if so desired

Mix sugar water or milk and the vanilla together until smooth. Add additional sugar if to thin, and a teaspoon of water or milk to thin as desired.
Mix in food coloring then frost on desired food.

Lazy Days

Keeping the girls busy during the holidays sometimes is not the easiest thing to do. The girls are used to having a packed day of scheduled school activities while they are there. Today we stayed home and let Jerrod keep the car since he works 8 am to 9pm, which is no biggie. The girls have played in their room, played some video games, and read some books. Gabryle has chased the girls around, rearranged the games, and taken a nap, along with coming up to me and giving me hand shakes, high fives, and kisses and hugs. (you can never beat your own kids hugs and kisses!!!)  They've also been pretty good at sleeping in too. Granted Jerrod has had to be at work at 8 every morning this week, it's still nice that the girls try to sleep in till he leaves. If they do wake up they usually stay in their room and play with a toy or read a book. Gabryle has come in our room the past few mornings around 530 or 600 but falls asleep once he gets up in bed between me and Jerrod.
This evening we sat and ate dinner in the living room tonight, and after we finished eating we played some Super Mario. The girls love to play the coin battle, so we put that on and played a few levels of the coin battle. We had fun and then we tried a new level on it, the roller coaster level as they call it. (It's level 8-7 for those of you that know Wii Super Mario Brothers.)  Gabryle thought it was the most entertaining thing he had seen! We were all laughing hard and had a great time.
I even let them help me this morning fix our dinner. That was I think the highlight of their day. They both helped me wash the potatoes and then Kylie would hand me one, I would cut it into 4 pieces then Kenzie would put it in the crock pot (we had a rump roast with red potatoes for dinner).  Anytime we let them help in the kitchen, whether it be me or Jerrod, they absolutely love it! They don't care what they are helping with as long as they get to help. I think they have a favorite of helping when I bake cookies or bread or cake. Of course what kid doesn't like to help when it involves sweets.


Till Next Time!!!

Homemade Colored Sugar!!

our 3 colors. Purple, Green and
yellow.

Christmas is less than a week away and the girls are ready to make cookies for Santa. One thing I forgot to get and really have no big worry of going to the store to get is colored sugar. I am not a big fan of the holiday shopping madness. I did research online and found you can actually make colored sugar in your kitchen.

Green colored sugar we made

All you need is some Sugar and some food coloring, whether it be the liquid food coloring, the Wilton Gel Food coloring or the packets of dry food coloring. (If you use the packet of dry food coloring, mix it with a few drops of an edible alcohol based clear liquid.) I used the Wilton Brand Food Color Gel. It's what I always use for decorating and need to color things.

Yellow Colored Sugar we made

Put the desired amount of sugar you want colored in a clean dry bowl, then add as little or as much of the color you desire. Start mixing well with a fork until the color is mixed evenly throughout. After a little bit I just used my fingers once the majority of the food coloring was coated in a little sugar. It seemed to mix better using my fingers. Once you have the desired color set it aside and let is dry completely! Once it is completely dry you will need to break up the sugar and then store in a Ziploc baggie or a Tupperware container and use when needed.

Purple Colored Sugar we made

It was quick and easy to do! I always have plain white sugar and always have food coloring around, so it will be great knowing I can make colored sugar whenever I need, and in a specific color if needed.Hope you give it a try!
All in all, this year Santa's cookies will be made entirely from scratch. I have a sugar cookie we will try, along with a new Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe we will try, that allows you to roll it out and cut out shapes like sugar cookie dough. I'll let you know how that one turns out also!!

Till Next Time!!

Snowgirl: Part 2

So, as I mentioned earlier today in my blog Kylie made a snowgirl for her class. Little did I know Kylie would want a scarf for her snowgirl. I knitted a little one for her and it actually turned out pretty darn cute. She will turn it in tomorrow so it is officially complete. Enjoy the photos!

I also included pictures of the Christmas Tree she made in class today. They used a waffle ice cream cone and covered it in Frosting colored green then used M&M and white chocolate chips as ornaments. It turned out adorable!

Till Next time!

Kylie's Christmas Tree

The finished project WITH the scarf

Snowgirl

Every month Kylie's class gets to do a special art project at home to be put out on her classes' wall outside of their door. Each kid can decorate the paper sent home with the design on it, whether it be a father, pumpkin, or as the most current project we did a snowman/girl. 

For January her teacher is decorating their wall with the Snowman/girl that each child decorates. The only thing that she asks is that we make sure its a winter snowman, not a Christmas snowman. That one for Kylie is easy to do! I went while she was at school and bought her a couple small squares of fabric that were a dollar. One in pink and one in purple.  I brought them home then cut out a top hat and mittens out of a cardboard box and covered them with the purple fabric. 

when Kylie got home she was thrilled she got to use pink fabric to use on her snow girl. We cut out enough to cover the area we wanted to cover and she helped me glue it on. She then showed me where she wanted each mitten to be and how we have to put the hat on for it to be cute. She then drew on the eyes and the mouth and we glued on a cardboard "carrot" nose for the nose. She loves the nose cause we used a scented marker and it smells like oranges. Knowing her she will tell everyone to smell the nose. 

After we finished that I showed her how we can use some glue and glue sugar to the face and make it look more like snow and she loved the idea. We then spread glue all over the face and then sprinkled sugar all over the face and let it dry then brushed off all of the extra sugar and let it dry. It turned out great and she is extremely happy with how it looks. Or at least she told me she is happy with how cute it is. I've put picture below for you to see!

Till Next Time!!!!

Kylie Rise and Shine!

Kylie is peeking out from behind the boy in the hoodie.
She is in the white and red shirt.

At the girls school every Monday they have Rise and Shine, which is an all school assembly where they start the week off all together as a school. Every Pre-K through second grade student attends. The do the flag salutes, sing a few songs and then tell everyone of student accomplishments that happened since the last Rise and Shine. Also every Rise and Shine, 1 class gets to be the presenters for the assembly. Mackenzie's class did it a few weeks ago, and Kenzie actually got to have a speaking part. (She LOVES to do the speaking parts in front of the school). Today, all 4 of the Pre-K classes did the presenting and then got to play the bells. Kylie has been SO excited about getting to play the bells for the school. She was thrilled because she got to have a red bell!

Kylie talking with one of her friends before Rise and Shine
Was about to start. Can't remember which friend that is,
but I know she plays with her at centers.

 This morning Kylie seemed to be excited that it was her classes day to do Rise and shine. She got dressed with her long sleeve red shirt, jeans, and the reindeer t-shirt that Kenzie made when she was in pre-k to ring the bells. When her class came in the cafeteria she was all excited when she saw me and brother standing waiting to watch her play today! She kept giving us thumbs up and waving at us and was grinning from ear to ear! She did great when it was time for her to play the bells. Granted she only had 2 notes to play plus the end when everyone rang their bells, but she did great.

Getting ready to play the bells. She is in the middle of the
picture. she is between the boy in blue and the
boy in green. (She's the shortest kid in her class.)

Her class got to do the beginning part of Jingle Bells. The song was broken up into 4 parts, one for each class. Her class were the starters. As they were lined up I realized for the first time, Kylie is the shortest girl in her class. Shortest out of the whole class actually. (of course she is almost the shortest out of her her Mackenzie and Gabryle also. Gabryle is almost as tall as she is and a full 2 years younger!)

After they were done she seemed upset since she couldn't come sit with me. Her teacher had her sit with the rest of her class, which is what I would have wanted her to do anyways. Gabryle after an hour at the school was ready to go. (we got there early to take Mackenzie's class cupcakes and juice drinks for her class party). If I can get the video up on here I will get it posted. I'm having trouble with it at the moment.

Till Next Time!!!

Mackenzie Birthday

Well, today Miss Mackenzie turned 7. She seemed to have a great day today. We spent the morning and early afternoon doing some things around the house that needed to be done then at 4 headed over to where we were having her birthday party.

This year we decided to have it at Pizza Hut, which turned out great. Kenzie invited 7 of her friends from class, (all the girls), and 4 of them were able to make it today. Kenzie was thrilled! Some family members even came which made the party even better. We ate pizza, opened presents, then had some cake. After the cake Kenzie helped pass out the treat bags to her friends and cousins and then gradually people started to head their own ways.

Mackenzie seemed to have a blast and that's the important thing. She was thrilled we got her a little Ipod Shuffle and a few songs to put on it. She was even more thrilled when she found out that we got her some Justin Bieber songs to be put on it. She also loved her cake that I made her. She said it turned out just like she wanted too. The Guitars and stars on the top were a hit with the kids too. All of the girls wanted a guitar to eat. I should have made more than 4! Luckily between the guitars and stars there were enough for the kids and they weren't too disappointed.
 Tomorrow she will have cupcakes and some little juice pouches at snack time in honor of her birthday today to have a little "party" in her classroom with all of her friends. After that her birthday celebrations will come to an end. Of course she will go and spend her birthday money, but as for celebrating we will be through.

Til Next Time!

Finished the Afghan!

 I finally finished my afghan I was working on a few weeks ago! I totally forgot to post pictures for everyone to see. It felt like to me that it took longer to put all the fringe on it than actually knitting the main part of the afghan. I'm rather proud of this one.  I think it came out really well, even though I missed a stitch or two.  It keeps you all nice and warm and the kids sometimes fight over who gets to use it when laying in the living room on the sofa. Most of the time though however Jerrod and I use it. I have started on a second one that I will make a little larger than this one. I have to say for the first one I have ever made it turned out great! 

The one I just started will be the tan color, but I might do a blue or green as the fringe instead of the red. Still not for sure on that!  I'll make sure and keep you updated on the second ones process!

Till Next Time!

Kenzie cake

The finished stars and 7's

 Well, I finished most of the decorations for Mackenzie's birthday cake yesterday. I think they turned out great. I am especially proud of the guitars that came out great. I haven't put any strings or details on the guitars yet but hopefully I will soon!

Kenzie has already picked out her 2 favorite guitars and want them to be the center piece of the cake decorations. She also loves the number 7's I was able to make. She's still debating on which one of those she would like me to use. All of the stars she says are good so we can use which ever ones we want along with any of the polka dots I made. (I had some left over royal icing so I just made some dots. If I don't use them for Kenzie's cake I can use them on some other cake in the future.)

The Finished stars and guitars

I'll let them dry for a few more days then store them till I am ready to use them next Saturday when I make her cake. I'm going to try a new recipe later this afternoon for a cake to see if she likes it and if she does use it instead of the normal cake I use. If it's good I'll make sure and post the recipe for you!

Till Next Time!!!

Busy busy busy....

Christmas is fast approaching along with Mackenzie's birthday. Things are busy with the girls at school, and I am busy at home starting to get things ready for Mackenzie's birthday party, and also things ready for Christmas, like Keeping Gabryle from pulling the Christmas tree over on top of him.

Kylie's class has started decorating their room for Christmas and they have cute decorations hanging on the wall outside of their class. She was thrilled to show me her Gingerbread kid we decorated hanging with all of the other kids decorations. It was neat seeing we were not the only ones who used something like cappuccino mix or cinnamon to decorate the gingerbread kid. She was thrilled that hers is on the bottom row so its easier for her to see when they are walking past the display.

Mackenzie's class has been busy working on a present for each family. She has been so careful at not letting it slip to what they are making and that has made her so proud. Her class will also be building gingerbread houses. Each student has to bring 1 supply so there are enough for each student. Mackenzie was asked to bring 2" miniature candy canes. I saw that and figured, okay that would be easy to find. How wrong was I about that!

We looked at Wal-Mart cause I assumed they would have it. Why not they had some last year. Boy was I wrong! The kids and I spent 40 minutes searching the entire store for them and they did not have them. Next we went to Dollar Tree, which was a no go either. After that we got Jerrod from work and then went home and had dinner. After we finished watching Mars Needs Moms, Kenzie and I ran to the mall to see if we could find some. We looked at Big Lots and they didn't have them so I decided that we would look next door at Hobby Lobby and bingo! We found then finally! They had 2 boxes left, one that had been opened and one that wasn't so we grabbed that box quickly and then went and looked around at some other things before heading home.  Never thought it would be so hard to find. I assumed when I read the note that Kenzie had that it would be easier to find especially since a lot of places had started setting out Christmas decorations before Halloween. Next year I will know to look at Hobby Lobby first!

Hard to believe Kenzie's birthday is almost a week away. She is so excited about it this year! She has heard from at least 4 of her friends in class that they will be coming to her party, plus lots of family has said they would come too. As we were looking through Big Lots last night she kept showing me things that she would like for her birthday. Little does she know we have already bought her gift and its sitting in the top of the towel closet. We think she will love getting a little Ipod Shuffle to listen to her music. Plus we downloaded her the new Justin Bieber Christmas album and the Kids Bop 20 album. She will love it!

Once I get some of the cake decorations made today and tomorrow I'll post pictures of them. Have to figure out how to make a guitar......Not sure how well it will turn out, but I will try my hardest. It's what she would like!

Till Next Time!!!