Weekending....

Well, it has been 21 days since my last post.  Yikes!  January is almost through and I am looking forward to the warm-ish temperatures we are having for this January thaw!  Our month has been relatively low-key which may explain my lack of posts.  Weekends have been busy of random things, including a trip for Jay to Alexandria for a bachelor party, then a trip for Ella and I to Morris the following weekend for a bridal shower.  This weekend, Jay was at a Gopher's game, so Ella and I saw the movie Paddington and loved it!  I made a delicious berry cobbler to enjoy over the weekend -and it was a huge hit!  Seriously easy and super yummy!  Cherry Berry Cobbler.  Try it!!  Recipe here 

Yesterday, I made a full turkey dinner.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade bread and even cooked carrots (believe me, it was a LONG day in the kitchen).  But it was worth it and now we have some leftovers so I don't have to think about what we're going to eat for a few nights.  :)

Yesterday afternoon, Ella spent some time taking Jay to a ball where they danced the day away.  :)  She had a lot of fun but those dress-up heels are slippery on wood floors!! 

This week at school, the kids are doing nursery rhyme presentations.  Ella has chosen Humpty Dumpty.  We finished her props and she practiced for us last night.  She will do great.  She had a fun time painting those props too!  Check back for a video of her presentation.  :)

Happy Monday!

Christmas on New Years!

Happy 2015!  We celebrated the Abbas Christmas on New Years Day and we hosted it this year!  Yikes!  It was a bit of prep work for me on New Years Eve, but we all had a good time and I think everything went pretty smoothly.  We did an Italian theme for the food, since everyone had already had their share of the holiday hams.  :)  I made homemade Italian meatball sliders using this recipe from The Pioneer Woman and they were super simple and delicious!  After the meatballs were done on the stove, I transferred them to a crockpot on low/warm until lunch was served.  Worked out perfectly!  I also made THREE pans of baked ziti.  We only ended up eating about one and 1/3 pans.  Lots of leftovers!  :)

I also made a new cake - Earthquake Cake - using this recipe.   My cake picture is below.  It was pretty good, but I was hoping it was going to knock the socks off of everyone.  It didn't really have that effect, but it was certainly tasty.  :)

There were lots of gifts to be opened by the little ones (Ella and Harrison)!

It was a fun day!

Weekending (post-Christmas style)....

Whew!  Happy 2015!!  We are hopeful for a wonderful year ahead.  This morning was a big wake up call - back to the routines people!!  I have a feeling this week will feel like a long one!  We had a good relaxing weekend.  Lots of time to snuggle in new blankets gifted to us and Ella had lots of time to enjoy her new toys!

Like singing karaoke on her new FROZEN karaoke machine....

Even singing duet with Dad!

And keeping warm in a super soft new robe WHILE singing karaoke!

And spending lots of time playing Sands Alive (a/k/a "squishy" sand)

I baked scratch cinnamon rolls using The Pioneer Woman's recipe!  Here is the link to the recipe.  I'm told the full recipe yields LOTS of rolls, so I halved it for my first attempt.  I was able to get 2 full pie pans plus 3 extra rolls.  :)  Here's a picture of my results - they were a yummy morning breakfast!

Christmas 2014

We had a great Christmas Day!  Santa was here!!

 And he brought Ella the Doc Mobile!

 And "squishy" sand!

And FROZEN figurines! 

And lots of other fun things.  :)

Our original plan was the spend the day in town - go to a movie and just hang out.  But, plans changed when Ella decided she didn't want to see Big Hero Six.  So, we decided to pack up the car and head to Worthington early and surprise my mom.  It was a BIG surprise.  :)  But, a fun one and it was nice to relax with some family after spending the afternoon in the car!  We all wore our PJs on the road trip.  This made for interesting sights when we all needed an ASAP bathroom break.  We must have looked crazy!  HA!

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad and Dianne and the rest of the crew on Saturday morning.  We all went out for a delicious breakfast and then the kids were able to open some gifts.  Ella got all kinds of fun stuff that was on her Christmas list: a Lambie robe, a Frozen book, some new dance wear (see below), lots of fun new games to play and many more awesome things. 

Then, it was another celebration with my Mom and Randy on Saturday afternoon.

An Elsa doll!

 Baby Lexi got in on the present action too!

Chase and Ella always have a blast when we're in town!

Let's see if we can get a group picture of the kids with Grandma shall we?

 

Well, we tried.  HA!

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to indulge in some yummy treats (or two).  Here's my treat tray this year!

 Off to fix some toys with that Doc Mobile!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve!

We stayed in town to celebrate Christmas Eve in our new house!  

First things first - church at Hosanna at noon.  Ms. Ella in her Christmas dress.  

No hair bow - we were running LATE!

 Ella wanted to take a picture of Mommy and Daddy too!

SMILE!

Waiting for the service to start.  Ella wasn't much for smiling normal!

The service was really awesome and we enjoyed the live nativity scene again this year.  

Camels, goats, a donkey, sheep, a calf and ducks galore!  

The message included reference to The Grinch and his small heart and how it grew with the joy of Christmas.  A good reminder to be joyful!

*We* was supposed to spend the afternoon baking cookies for Santa, but Ms. Ella was too excited to do that!  She played the afternoon away and I made the reindeer cookies for Santa (just like last year)

Christmas Eve dinner: Grandma Alice's pea soup with fresh made bread -YUM!

We opened gifts before bed.  Ella's phrase after each gift:  "I Love It!"  :)  

She liked everything we gifted, so that's great news. 

It was a very Merry Christmas Eve!

Smurf Elf 2014

A recap of our Smurf Elf's adventures this year!

12/1 - Smurf Elf arrives with the book to read and a craft project to do (make an ornament)

12/2 - Smurf Elf was enjoying one of Elf's favorite food groups - SYRUP!

12/3 - Smurf Elf played finger puppets with Doc McStuffins!

12/4 - Smurf Elf was being sneaking and sitting up on the ledge with some peppermint candies for Ella to find

12/5 - Smurf Elf started to count down the days until Christmas day!

12/6 - Smurf Elf was caught looking for our Christmas movies!

 12/7 - Enjoying the Christmas Tree and gifting Ella her own Elf ornament!

 12/8 - Joining the snowman choir

12/9 -Hanging out in Ella's room

12/10 -Smurf Elf did a little decorating of his(her) own and left a Christmas Sing-A-Long DVD for Ms. Ella to enjoy!  He also left a snowflake made at the North Pole for Ella to find

12/11 - Smurf Elf was playing Charades with friends!

12/12 - Smurf Elf made a "snow angel" in the kitchen using flour! (and I forgot to take a picture!!)

12/13 - Smurf Elf was hanging out in the doll house!

12/14 - Smurf Elf was sitting near the Grandma Alice Christmas Tree with a gift and a note! (After visiting Santa)

12/15 - Smurf spent time making "cookies"

 12/16 -Smurf Elf was up to something tricky - decorating Ella's mirror!!

12/17 - Smurf Elf was sitting on the Holiday Moose and brought Ella a Christmas book!

12/18 - Smurf Elf made a Christmas Tree out of Ella's legos!

12/19 - Smurf Elf was making hot chocolate!

12/20 - Smurf Elf was hiding in the pantry and eating holiday sprinkles cereal!

12/21 - Smurf brought Ms. Ella a Disney Christmas CD and was hiding behind the tree decoration!

12/22 - Smurf Elf really got wild!  Playing dress up with Hallie and drew on Ella's school pictures!

12/23 -Smurf Elf built a silly tower of books!

12/24 -Goodbye!  Be Good!  Merry Christmas!