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That Banana Bar sounds awesome. I will definitely try it. Little One's Christmas was great as well, she definitely was spoiled. By the way, she LOVES her make up from Kiki!
We got back yesterday from being down at Mr.I's parents' house, it was so fun but it is so nice to be home. I have been taking down all my Christmas decorations and Mr.I was a great husband, as always, and hung a ton of things for me. One thing was my craft today! I have not done anything with our boot pictures and have wanted them incorporated somehow into the powder room. Well I decided(with your help) to paint a bunch of frames yellow to put them in! So fun. I also took out the glass, which I really like. I then remembered I had some old black shelves from our apartment and got those out, arranged them on the wall and we are good to go! I love the pop of color that it adds :) Woohoo! Well nothing too exciting going on, sorry no fun stories. Missing you!

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We had an awesome Christmas!  The kids got totally spoiled!  We got home late last night and are still recovering from being "on vacation" for 5 days.  Sorry I am writing you so late.   I am exhausted, the monsters are exhausted and everything is in shambles.

Before I left town Mama T brought a dessert that she passed around at work.  It was AMAZING and she promises me that it is easy peasy.  I haven't made it yet but I tell you what the recipe looks easy.

Mama T's Banana Bars
1/2 C margarine (1stick) soft
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 C sour milk (plain milk & add 1 tbsp white vinegar)
3 mashed ripe bananas

Mix all ingredients and bake in a sheet pan for 20 min at 350 degrees.  Top should be nice and golden brown.  Frost with cream cheese frosting.  Enjoy!

Cream Cheese frosting
1 8 oz cream cheese
1/4 C margarine softened
2-3 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 C powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla until smooth.  Gradually add powdered sugar until perfect consistency (your preference).

I know that Little One will LOVE this.  SO good.  It would be good for bunco nights.  Well I'll get some pictures of the kids and their Christmas haul.  Love you guys.

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I wish I could be there to experience your crazy days first hand. All I have to say is HILARIOUS! This SAHM watched one of Little One's buddies this morning and man did my child not want to share her toys! Needless to say it was a LONG morning. I did make two crafts with the girls, but of course it took no time at all HA! We made your melted snowmen ornaments (okay I made them) and the other one you'll hear about later ;)
Yesterday Little One and I made a craft that we heard about from a friend. She had a blast! I bought a canvas from Micheal's and some of there acrylic paint (.59 cents each). I then used masking tape to make her initials on the canvas. Little One got 3 brushes with different colors and went to work! When it was dry take the paint off and there you go :)

I am making beef stroganoff and ginger snap strips and andes mint brownies for a prelude to Christmas Eve on Friday. I can't wait. It will be like we are with you all! We'll have to skype :) Missing you!

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I am so glad we are back onto speaking terms :).  Ok so get a load of the night I had....
First things first.  Tomorrow is our big company holiday feast extravaganza.  Each person is to bring their favorite treat to pass and we can just snack all day long, AMAZING.  I thought chili dip sounded good.  But well that isn't exactly classified as a holiday treat so I decided our all time easy peasy heath bar cookies would definitely be a crowd pleaser.  And talk about cheap!  Done.  So I told the kids they could help, oh why didn't I just wait until they went to bed.  Instead of making a double batch I thought I'll bring caramel popcorn too.  I put Lou on heath bar duty and Buffalo on caramel corn.  Well don't you know Quinnie just had to help too.  Ugh, big mistake.  As soon as Lou's sauce started boiling Quinnie dumped in corn syrup.  Shoot that was supposed to be in Buffalo's sauce.  Rats.  So one thing led to another everything started boiling, boiling over, burning onto the stove top all while I was trying to pop popcorn, lay out saltine crackers, contain Quinnie from burning her hand on the stove or dumping more of the unwanted ingredients into the sauces.  Well after all this yes I did, I lost it totally lost it.  I quickly told the kids if they got ready for bed all by themselves I would let them fall asleep to a movie (parenting tip 107).   Of course this got them up and moving so that I could try and salvage the night.  THANK YOU ABC FAMILY for playing Christmas movies.  They quickly discovered that the Polar Express was on and got themselves tucked in before I even had a chance to come check on the situation.


 I was trying to be super mom and well as usual I got in way to deep and the world started spinning out of control fast.  I have found that the only good part is that burnt caramel sauce on the cook top smells like burnt marshmallows and who doesn't like the smell of burnt marshmallows.  (okay but after scrubbing for an hour I'm WAY over the smell of toasted marshmallows.)
Well I think I recovered and everything looks like it turned out.  And I even cleaned up the kitchen so you can just barely tell that there was a bomb that went off.  And I didn't mess up my manicure that I just "got done".


The saving grace of the night was when I was looking through the pictures of the day.  Whatever Quinnie does Lou tries to "disrupt".  So tonight it was wearing my shoes while Quinnie was playing dress up.  He looked at me and said "Mom, these shoes you got me are a little big!"  HOW FUNNY!!  He is such a goof.

And so that is how my night went.  Much to say I am sitting with my feet up drinking my favorite drink... waiting for C to come home with sweet potato chips.  I can't wait.  Oh yeah and I may be sitting watching Polar Express.  Oh how I love Christmas.  Between the music and movies life couldn't get much better.  Guess I better get back to wrapping some presents while the monsters sleep.

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You're right I was mad. I kept opening up the page hoping to find something hilarious from you, but alas nothing! Boo to you. Just kidding I love you!
Our weekend was a pretty quiet one. Little One is doing awesome with potty training now. I have even taken her out of the house twice now with undies on! Last night she had an accident on the way home. We were so close! She said mommy potty and I just thought hold on, hold on, but she couldn't. Oh well she is doing great. Okay and I always thought I would so not be that mom to talk about my kid's potty habits, and look at me go. Sad, I will stop now I promise!

Our errands took us to Micheal's last night because my cousin KH told me about a cute craft she made with her kids(for another day) so I wanted to go get supplies. While we were there I spotted the embroidery hoops and realized they were only $1. They were pretty picked over, but  I did come away with 4. When Little One went to bed, I got to work. I have a bunch of leftover fabric from a quilt I made as well as some from the skirt I made Quinnie. I decided why not just put the fabric in the hoops as a wall decor for my guest room?!  Then I remembered a super cute idea from pinterest:diy-spring-button-flowers So I added flowers to the hoop that had solid green fabric. I changed it up a bit from my inspiration because I need to buy some new, fun buttons. However, I have adorable brads that I have never used and just popped those through the fabric as the flower. Then I took my embroidery thread and made stems. Mr.I helped me hang them and DONE! I now have something in my guest room finally! I think I want to get a ton more and make my cluster way bigger. It is just so fun and easy. The whole project cost under $5 because I already had fabric, brads, and thread! I need to start my quilt ASAP for that room so it will go with my new wall decor :) Again, that's for another day.
Are you having a popcorn party? If so wish we were there! LOVE YOU

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I know you're mad at me.  I should explain that after I write about something so funny it is hard to think of how to top that.  Well I guess I just need to come to the realization that I am not always going to be funny, and I'm not always going to have some crazy story to tell but I should just get to it and write you something.

The other day while I was looking at some blogs that I read I came across a recipe that looked delicious.  So I tried it.  And I liked it.  I mean really liked it.  You have to try this.  They are SUPER good.

Source: sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

SO GOOD.  Did I say that already.  Oh you gotta try these.

Right before I sat down to do a post I told Little Lou that we could go get a movie for the night and so Quinnie, Lou and I got ready and headed out.  Well Quinnie got her hand slammed in the door.  I FREAKED out.  It creased her hand and instantly turned purple.  Of course C was gone so I had to decide what to do (of course I called Dad to assist in my decision) so I thought milkshake, ice pack, and an hour or so to see how it was and then I would take her in.  Fortunately the milkshake did the trick!  She can wiggle her little fingers which I think is a good sign and seems to be ok.  I guess we'll see tomorrow how she's doing.  In the mean time we are having a pizza, movie, caramel popcorn party.

Hope you are having a good weekend!  Love you.

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Oh man Kiki, you crack me up. Mrs. Marsh and I were reading your post just laughing out loud! I love that you go for it on everything you do, I probably would have given up and just bought cookies at the store ;)
I found out today I passed my BIG teaching test! Halleluiah! Little One and I were on a Chick-fil-a play date and my friend and I screamed out loud as I read the third email that said all three were good to go! (Sorry C if you are reading this, I am not trying to make you jealous of my frequent Chick-fil-a stops.) Little One also took a 4 hour nap today, yes you read that right! We were in San Diego all day yesterday with Mr.I's sister and her kids and Little One did not get a nap. It was a fun time and I actually got my craft today from my niece's kindergarten craft. Yes I stole it from a kindergartener but it was so cute! Okay back to Little One's 4 hour rest. Did I get anything accomplished? Not really. Typical. I did some laundry, talked to someone about renewing my credential and slept an hour of it. My house needs to be dusted, I need to vacuum, I need to go grocery shopping, I need to do a ton of baking for Christmas, but it was sure nice sleeping HA!

Alright, so on to the kindergarten craft: A Christmas tree made out of a pine cone! Way easy and cute! I got a pine cone from outside, the trunk is a cap from a water bottle that I hot glued fabric to, and I hot glued the ribbon and buttons on, cut out a star from yellow paper and glued that on. Done in less that 10 minutes for absolutely FREE! LOVE IT.
Off to finish making some cookies and do a little knitting :) I can't wait to hear some crazy tale from you tomorrow! love you sister.

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Today was the big Cookie Exchange at work.  My first one ever.  It was so totally worth it.  I have a giant box filled with an assortment of all kinds of cookies.   Awesome!  In the words of Mr. Lou... "Best Day Ever!"  Okay so now that you know that I completed the challenge at hand and reached the ultimate prize of going home with a whopping 108 cookies let me take you back to Saturday at the start of my journey into the cookie exchange extravaganza.  I decided to make Mom's awesome gingersnap cookies.  They make a ton and are SUPER DELICIOUS, and from the recipe they appeared to be fairly easy.  I say this with a pain because me "so-called" easy cookies turned into a tear fest.  You think you are emotional ugh you got nothing on me sister.  Cookies bring me to tears every time.  As we know I don't like to bake.  I bake because it makes my kids happy but it drives me insane.  I am not good at baking and try to avoid baking at all cost.   I thought, however, that since I have watched Mom make these cookies a bazillion times I would be fine and have instant success.  I don't know what the problem was but it turned into a mess.  The first batch I cooked up were thin as rails.  They burnt up and after fanning out the smoke and dumping the cookies into the trash I tried batch number two.  For whatever reason they were sticky I mean sticky!  When I tried to roll them into loaves they stuck all over the place (and all over Lou, because he had to help me and Quinnie because she didn't want to be left out either).  I tried improvising and roll them on wax paper and then transfer the wax paper to a cookie sheet to avoid them sticking to the counter and not getting onto the cookie sheet, etc etc. blah blah blah..... umm yeah wax paper is not like parchment paper (don't use as a substitute).  These cookies also burnt to a crisp (they did rise however) I salvaged what I could and then threw the rest away.  Admist the cleanup of the sticky fingers and throwing the burnt cookies into the trash, fanning the smoke to get a clean breath and I get a phone call from Mom telling me that she was at Embassy Suites and was missing us (oh such a good story for another day)... insert tears here... she was like sorry for making you cry.  You know those moments when you just need a mom to come and save the day, boy did I have one of those, but she couldn't come because she is a million gazillion miles away.  (I know I am the one that took a job in another country.. aka NE, but I still miss being 20 min away from mom and dad).  Well, I quickly hung up, cleaned up my mess (2 batches, 120 cookies in the trash later) and went down to my room and took a nap snuggled with Quinnie.  And then the next day arrived and as much as I wanted to give up I still had to make 108 cookies for my cookie exchange, so I called my little sister for encouragment and advice and she says to me "how can you mess up gingersnaps"... really thanks Tia.  So I put my big girl panties on and tried again.  SUCCESS.  Third time was the charm and by my fourth batch (yep 240 cookies later) I believe I have mastered (okay slight exagertation) the art of the gingersnap strip.  I was so proud of my self with my individual packaged goodies  = 108 cookies for 27 people.  Until my Buffalo says to me  "I used to like the smell of gingersnaps but I think I have smelled it to much and these taste a little burnt, Grandma's are better."  OH goodness thank you Mr. Buffalo, again insert tears here.   All I could say to that was, yeah you're right Grandma's are better.   Well at least all my cookies got snatched up today at work.  I was even asked to distribute my recipe.   So I may not be the perfect baker but when push comes to shove I get the job done. 

Mom's FABULOUS "raccoon approved" Gingersnap Strips

1 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1/4 Cup molasses

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

2 Cups flour

1/4 Cup sugar

Heat oven to 375degrees.  Mix 1 Cup sugar, oil, molasses, and egg.  Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Divide dough into halves.  Shape 1 half into 2 strips about 15"x 3" about 3" apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle each strip with 1 tbsp. sugar.  Bake until edges are light brown and tops appear cracked 6-7 min. for soft cookies.  Cool 2 min. Cut each strip crosswise into 1" slices. Remove from cookie sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Store cookies in a tightly covered dish.  Makes about 5 dozen.  ENJOY

So that's my story, hope it makes you smile.  I am such a worthless baker.  I guess I will stick to cooking dinner.  Although honestly it makes me happy when I get home from work and C has something simmering away on the stove.  Makes me heart smile!  He is so good to me.  Maybe someday I'll get my groove back. But for now I am okay eating my husband's cooking, mom's baking, and my sister's homemade goodies!  I am so spoiled!!!!!  LOVE it.  

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I think it's great that you can just throw stuff together and make a dinner. I on the other hand need a recipe. I definitely am not brave enough to make from scratch. I will add things here and there if I have made it before but yeah no off the top of my head meals here. So good for you!
Last night we were supposed to have Bunco but 4 girls canceled. We decided to have a sock exchange and play the game Celebrity. Have you ever played? It is pretty fun. You are in teams of 2 and each person writes down 3 names (they can be from books, movies, tv, politicians...) All the names go in a bowl and you have 1 minute to name as many as you can. The first round you can say anything other than "sounds like". The second round you can only say 2 words and anything like umm or a mutter counts. The third round you have to act it out. When it is your turn you take one out of the bowl then your partner does and you switch like that. You should try it with your friends.
This morning I went to boot camp with one of the girls from Bunco. Oh my, I don't think I will be picking up Little One tomorrow hahaha It kicked my butt, but felt so good! I love finishing a work out, it is just the starting that does me in.
My craft today is fun hair bows :) Too bad my daughter won't leave them in her hair! I love making them and they are so darn easy! Since my little one does not have a lot of hair I took a nylon stocking, cut it, and made it into a headband so that it was nice and soft on her little head.

Love you lots!

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Well it is snowing again.  It is that wet, heavy snow that is just beautiful to watch.  But it is also ICY and cold.  That is not so fun.  I do not look forward to getting up tomorrow and having to deal with snow, ice and getting the kids to school and me to work on time.  Ugh.

And because I am already thinking about how yucky my morning is going to be I am not in a fun recipe blogging kind of mood.  I know snap out of it. I tried to make dinner using things that were just sitting around.  It's called being resourceful.  So I decided to make a chili mac & cheese.   I had 2 cups of elbow noodles (perfect amount), a can of nacho cheese soup, and 4 cans of chili with beans.  I thought throw it all in a pot and call it a day.  I cooked the noodles and then put the soups with the cooked noodles and heated through.  Umm.... well my resourcefulness didn't really pan out.  Lou ate every bite (but then again he usually does), Quinnie poo took 3 bites because that is how old she is (or so she says), and Buffalo sat and rolled his eyes at me and told me he wasn't hungry.  I didn't think it was terrible.  Best thing I have ever made... well not really but hey come one I didn't have to buy anything and I used things that have been sitting in my pantry (a.k.a the box in the computer room).

I guess I'll have to think ahead a little better tomorrow.  Oh and guess what I signed up for our department cookie exchange at work and guess how many cookies I have to make over the weekend.... 9 dozen.  Yeah that's right 108 cookies.  OH MY GOSH.  I think I know what I am going to make.  I'll take lots of pictures so you can see the chaos.

Oh and by the way I think your medallion is cute, mirror or no mirror.  And back off on Little One.  It took Quinnie FOREVER to stop having accidents.  I think she enjoyed having accidents because then  she got to pick out a new outfit :).  It will happen just give it time.

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Those wings are so good! Thanks for the recipe and I'll take a picture of beautiful snow any day! I do miss looking out my window and seeing a white blanket of snow all over. There is nothing like playing in the snow, ice skating, making igloos, and hot chocolate. We need to take Little One to the mountains this year so she can experience it. It is sad to think she doesn't even know what she is missing.Speaking of my Little One, potty training is still happening but still not many successes. She doesn't even seem to care that she has accidents. That is a bad sign right:? Shouldn't they be upset that they peed all over themselves as well as their mom? I mean hello, that is so not nice. I thought she was going to be so easy, I was wrong. Okay okay I know it has only been 3 days and technically she is sick (bad cold) so that is probably playing a factor, but hello 3 days are supposedly enough time. Who writes this stuff and why do I choose to listen?
On a new note, I had this great idea for my craft and it didn't really turn out. I am not a fan of days when my crafts don't work :( Mr.I was so sweet and brought me home a medallion (that you put on the ceiling above a chandelier) because he thought I would like it on the wall and could do something fun. He knows me so well! Alright, my idea was to get a small mirror for the middle whole and antique it to make it super cute. I got the mirror, put on the paint stripper, waited, nothing, put on more paint stripper, waited, nothing, more stripper, waited, NOTHING! UGH! what in the world! Alas, I have not finished it, the medallion is on the wall but it taunts me because it isn't complete! I am thinking I could put fabric in the middle if the mirror doesn't work. I just don't want a normal mirror, ya know? It is the worst to have something in your mind and you can't get it to turn out. Maybe it will surprise me and in the morning I can scrape the paint and it will work. Who knows. 
LOVE YOU my crafty sister!

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Can I just say.. jealous!  I know that Miss S is going to LOVE LOVE LOVE the afghan.  I have got to start knitting.  I have asked Santa for knitting needles in my stocking and I have been a very good girl so I have hope that I will start knitting soon.

I just love the ornaments!  They are so cute and totally handmade which makes them all the more precious.  I love the holidays!  I also love "theme" ornaments it takes me back to all those times putting up the tree at Alphabet Soup.  Oh how I loved that little store.  Maybe someday we can open up a boutique of our own.  That would be so fun... oh alas I get distracted.

So the other night I did something that I usually never do.  I made dinner for C.  I know I am spoiled but the man likes to cook so I let him.  We were watching football and what better thing to eat while watching the game than wings.  Oh man they were good.  My pictures didn't turn out (sorry) but use your imagination.  They are so good.

Mom's Chicken Wings
2 lbs wings
(Mom always doubles the spices.. I do too)
2 tsp seasoned salt (when you don't have any and you have already started thawing the chicken you can substitute Red Robin seasoning.. it seemed to work out quite nicely for me)
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line pan with foil.  Combine seasoning, mix well.  Arrange wings in single layer on pan.  Sprinkle with half the seasoning mixture.  Bake 30 min.  Turn over.  Sprinkle with remaining mix and bake another 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.

SO DELICIOUS!  Oh man... it has warmed up considerable since this morning we are at 9 degrees outside.  BRR... but that is a whole lot better than 0.  We should be getting more snow on Thursday, I can't wait!  I love the snow.  I don't know how you live where you don't get snow in the winter time.  Just because I know you have to miss it here is a picture of the back yard from the kitchen window.

Enjoy the view!  Love you.  Stay warm!  Enjoy potty training.  

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Okay seriously Kiki, you are so crafty! That is the cutest ornament and I am so making it! Adorable!!
So today I have officially started potty training Little One. We only had one successful potty and many accidents but she was having fun. Mr.C needs to call me and tell me how he did it! As for me, I am still in my pajamas from last night. The "theory" I read is 3 day training and you are supposed to not leave your house at all on the first day. Well, I thought why get dressed when she is probably going to make a mess on me anyways. Total stay at home mom today, no make up, no shower, yeah Mr.I was so excited to see me when he got home ;)
All that to say I had high hopes for a super cute craft today, but I still have to buy part of it and that didn't happen. I am going to show you a knitting project in the works. I remember snuggling up in Grandma H's afghans growing up and just thinking I can't believe she made this! Miss S had mentioned that she would love a warm blanket for her sweetheart's bed and that made me think. Miss S has given me a love for quilting and she has a TON of quilts but I want to show her a love of knitting. I am making her sweetheart an afghan for her bed! This may be on going for a LONG time! haha who knows how long it will take but I am excited to make it. I will be so sad to give it away but at least it is going to someone I know will use it!

I found the pattern here
LOVE YOU SISTER

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Well it was a productive day at our house.  I can  cross off ornaments on my list.  I saw a melted snowman ornament and it got my creative juices flowing.  I know you are the crafty one but I figured it seemed so easy surely I could handle making an ornament out of hot glue.  So I did it today while Nena had Quinnie Lou and the boys were outside playing in their igloo.  I think I did pretty good if I dare say so.  I totally think Little One needs one too.

Inspiration:

Source: flexibledreams.com via Katie on Pinterest

While the hot glue was still hot....

 I used everything I had at the house so I could really call this one free!  Which of course made C happy. I used peppercorn for the eyes and mouth, orange ribbon for the nose, and twigs from an inside plant, and of course I sprinkled a little white glitter to give them a little something extra.  So easy peasy.   And just so you don't think I got away with this too easy, Lou came in right while I was sprinkling glitter and of course wanted to help.  Oh sure why not.  BIG MISTAKE he dumped the entire container on his snowman... Fortunately I was able to blow off the extra but that meant QUITE a mess on the kitchen table.  At least it was pretty and it cleaned up fairly easy with the help of a really good suctioning vacuum.

Finished product on the tree

Hope you enjoy!  Don't worry I will share a recipe with you on Tuesday.  It's a C pleaser so I am sure Mr.I will enjoy as well.  Hope you had a great relaxing weekend after your busy craft/cookie exchange night out with the girls!

XOXO

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Kiki,
I am so sorry, I keep dropping the ball! First off, that sunset looked amazing! Second, the craft night was a success. I got home late last night because Miss S hosted and I stayed after to help clean. Sadly, I did not win a prize for my awesome cookies :( Other than that the night was very fun. Christmas music, treats, and crafts, what more could you ask for?
We made pine cone garland, frames, and ornaments. I have to say I am not a fan of my ornament. It's cute but I feel I did not make it as cute as I know I could. boo to that. But the frame and garland turned out. I got home and made Mr.I put the garland up right away. The garland I found on pinterest, of course. The other crafts Miss S and I thought of on our own(yes, sometimes I actually do have ideas). I also made spiced hot chocolate. A favorite of mine! I know you are the recipe girl but this is just too good not to post.

Spiced Hot Chocolate: (this is doubled)
2/3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
8C milk
2/3C sugar
1/2tsp nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon
Melt sugar, chips, and 1C milk until they melt and just comes to a boil. Then stir in the rest of milk and spices. Heat through but do not boil. Transfer to crock pot and there you go! Yummy drink for the night :)

Here are the pictures of my crafts. The frame we bought at Micheal's for $1, spray painted them, and the yarn bow I made is the easiest thing possible. You just wrap yarn around 3 fingers until it is as thick as you want. Take it off, cinch in the middle and tie yarn around the middle and you have a bow. Add a button and its done :) I am going to make a little Christmas quote to go on the inside of it.

 

LOVE YOU and give those monsters kisses from Tia! I miss them so much. I had a sobfest on Wednesday and Mr.I said do you need a hug? He knows me so well. It does get harder each time, especially now that the kids are older and can  play together. Ugh, okay I am going to go now and cry some more.