A day of baking

Well, I have been at it all day (so far). I am tired. (I am always tired, so that is nothing new, lol)
The good news is, I think I am done...baking that is. I still have lots to cook for Christmas dinner. (it is at our house)

Here is a look at what we have done today.

this is what we started with this morning.
PLEASE do not judge me for using pre-cut
sugar cookies.  I hung my cookie cutters on my
tree in my kitchen this year and did not want
to take them down to use them. So I improvised.
Other than being on the small side, they are just
as YUMMY!


CJ helping...though we did scrap these, bc
the hershey kisses did NOT melt AT ALL.
Not even a little.  UGH!!! 

Next, I cooked the sugar cookies and
iced them. CJ decorated them. We have
stockings, trees, and snowmen. YUM.
 
ok, so this is not a picture of
something we baked, but this
is one of CJ's Christmas crafts.
They are wooden ornaments
that normally you would paint,
but I just let him color them and
we will add his picture to them
later. These will be put on the
front/tops of his gifts to his G-ma's
and aunt.

these are the peanut butter chews.
one of PJ's fave. Did you have these in
school as a child?

a pan of brownies. (peanut butter
cup brownies)

our Birthday cake for Jesus.

I have two pans of these. They are not
finished yet. I still have to add a scoop of
vanilla ice cream on each one. They are called
ice cream peanut butter pie cups. The
recipe came off of a rice crispy box from when I
was a child.
Umm...I think my family likes peanut butter.  lol

Well that has been our day so far. Now I have to run some things over to my sister and pick up some pictures.
Everyone have a great day!!!

MERRY CHRISTmas!!!

CJ's day out

This morning we met our playgroup at the children's museum called, Aha. (a hands on adventure) It is a lot of fun for the little ones. And always nice to catch up with the other Mom's.

Below are some pictures from our morning.
 
at the grocery
   
               making a pizza

           
getting ready to put the pizza in the oven

 
multi layered giant pizza
  
the water table...tons of wet fun
thank goodness for those aprons

  
this is just a shot to show you one side of the area
this side has the water table, house building, fishing, garden area, legos, sand table, face painting and more

CJ in the building a house area 
 

"Spiderman" taking a break for lunch
   
        flying an airplane

 
the honeycomb maze

the garden center

I am so bummed out that I did not get a picture of the opposite of the area, where they have a stage with working lights, curtains and microphones for the kids. And a closet full of dress up. They also have over there a pretend bank, grocery, vet, pizza shop(shown), book area, plop zone for younger babies.
It really is a lot of fun for the little ones. And very interactive.
Now I am ready  for a NAP!!!  (ha ha ha)

Not Me Monday

 

Well, it is Monday again, time to inform blog-land of the things I did NOT do.  ;)

1. I did NOT shush my husband in church. Nah, first I would not do that and second, he would not talk during church. 
*Really he doesn't usually, but one of his employees (only 19yrs) came with us to church and he would not stop talking to hubby.

2. I did NOT take our family Christmas picture in our bathroom.  Who does that? Not me, that's who. Honestly, I just wanted the picture to be in front of the shutter doors in there.  (lol)

3. I did NOT buy my son a $30.00 Mac (from CARS) just four days before Christmas. No, I would not do that. Do you smell that? Well, do you? It is my Son....he is SPOILED!!!
*To be honest, the boy is 3.5 yrs and STILL will NOT go to the potty ALL the time. Sometimes he  will, others he refuses. I am tired of buying diapers and pull ups for him. So the Mac truck was a bribe. He can have it as long as he goes potty, the first time he does NOT, he loses him. I AM a mean Mommy!!!

4. I did NOT sit on the couch 90% of yesterday doing NOTHING but watch Christmas movies.  Oh wait, yep that was me...I already admitted to it on a previous post.  (woops)

5. I did NOT go to dinner at Frisch's Big Boy in my pj's this weekend. I would not step out of the house in my jammies. (I did atleast have make up on and my hair some what done)

6. I did NOT not lay something out for dinner, so that we would have to eat out.  ;) NAH, I would not do that...I LOVE the to cook. ;) And I did NOT do this a couple times this week either.  :-0

Well that is it for what I did NOT do this past week.
To see what everyone else did NOT do check out MckMama's blog:
my charming kids

decisions...decisions...

My hubby is self employed. He installs flooring. (carpet, laminate, & vinyl) While this job pays pretty decent, with any self employment there are pros and cons.
I am not going to go into the great detail of those pros & cons, but I will say that installing carpet takes a toll on your body. Most installs have to have knee surgery(ies), retire early from this "career" into another job, etc. (some even end up in wheel chairs)

Since we have been together (six years) he has wanted out of carpet/flooring. But, since the pay is so good he has stayed. His job allows me the luxury to stay home with CJ and for that I am so very thankful.

We recently found out about a possible job opportunity that may be suitable for PJ. We know the people who are hiring, etc. He is not overly qualified, but is not under-qualified either. (there is some clerical work and he has never worked in an office setting before, but knows most of the programs and can type)
This job would offer a stable schedule (most likely four days a week 9-5) Extreme flexibility, benefits IMMEDIATELY, vacation, salary, etc.
The ONE drawback for us is that it would be a HUGE pay cut. We are talking almost half of what he makes now. We are trying to decide if we can "afford" this cut.
I am not one that is into money. I always say, "money does not buy happiness" and I believe that. BUT, we have a mortgage, two car payments, (one is almost paid off), medical bills, ins., etc. I really do not know if we CAN afford to take the cut.

We are praying about this decision and know that the Lord will lead us where we need to be. (remember we are about to put our house on the market and rent while looking for land to build, this would drastically cut back our mortgage/rent pymt) Plus any day now my Dad's estate should be settled and I will receive a portion of it, which could pay off the two car loans or help us out otherwise financially. So money wise, we may be ok in the grand scheme of things. But this position they are wanting to fill ASAP. So time is of the essence.
UGH...I HATE making decisions.
Please say a prayer for us that we make the right decision and that the Lord leads us where we need to be.

THANKS Ladies!!!

a few random pictures

Just a few random pictures from the past week or so, because today I have done absolutely NOTHING. I have sat on the couch most of the day today watching Christmas movies on Lifetime and The Hallmark Channel.   (lol)
It has been a relaxing day to say the least.
ENJOY...
 
this picture was taken last friday in our home. These are CJ's cousins on his Daddy's side of the family. (PJ's sisters' kids) The are (L to R) 5, 3, 3mo., 2 and CJ, 3) This is part of my MIL's Christmas gift. 
 
this is CJ in his playroom. (guess he did not want his picture taken) He thought he was a toy, I suppose, dumping all those cars out to climb in the bin.  (too funny)

 
this is how he positioned himself to take a nap yesterday afternoon. He played with that laundry basket ALL day.
he likes this hat, but it does not fit his head. (it came with a Christmas frog, years ago. Still he runs around the house with this sitting on his head all the time. Of course I usually find it lying around, where it has fallen off.

tonight he came running into the kitchen laughing, just like this (minus the Santa hat) So I of course asked him to "pose" in front of the tree for a pic. He LOVES his potato head pieces. He is my human potato head.

Well that is it for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Is everyone done Christmas shopping and wrapping?