Christmas is Over . . .Now I Can Breathe

Well . . .
all of the company has gone,
all of the presents have been opened,
all of the cards have been sent (well . . . almost all . . . I still have a few addresses to nail down . . .better late than never, right??),
all of the cookies have been added to my waistline,
all of the carols have been sung.

It was a good Christmas.

It was a cozy Christmas.

I don't want it to be over.

I think I'm going to leave our tree up until February . . . I just love sitting in here just staring at it.

Every ornament means so much to me.

I know where I got each and every one.

When the kids were helping me put them on the tree this year, I had them ask me where I got each one and I rememebered every. single. one.

Even the ones my students made for me when I was a teacher 15 years ago.

I love ornaments.

I love Christmas.

I will post some pictures soon of all our Christmas happenings.  I have been trying to just enjoy these two weeks I have with my kiddos. 

We've been mostly sledding (yes, we have a very WHITE Christmas here in Illinois!), playing games, and watching movies.

Have I mentioned that I adore Christmas?? (but I am glad that the busy part is over, so I can breathe and enjoy)

Cute Cookie Recipe

Caroline made these cute reindeer cookies for a cookie exchange party. 

Aren't they cauuute?!

We got the recipe out of Parents magazine.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

Pillsbury's Simply Peanut Butter cookie dough

Chocolate covered mini-pretzels

white cookie icing

mini chocolate chips (the recipe called for M&M minis)

Red M&Ms

Directions:

1. Cut the cookie dough in half and shape them into 1 1/2 inch triangles.

2. Bake for 8 minutes at 350*.

3. While the cookies are still warm, press the pretzels on the top of each side for the antlers.

4. Let the cookies cool.

5. To make the face, put the chocolate chips on for the eyes and a red M&M for the nose with cookie icing.

Easy and cute!! 

Florida - Part 3

Helloooo! 
I AM still alive!
I have been so very busy doing the things people do during the holidays, so I really haven't had any time to sit down and blog. 

I wanted to share the last set of Florida pics before I moved onto all my Christmasy pics.
I promise I won't wait so long in between posts again. (maybe)

See you soon!

Thanksgiving

I decided to take a little break from posting Florida pictures and show you a little of what went on around here for Thanksgiving.

My goal this year was to decorate cheap (as in free).
For name cards, I cut up a Trader Joe's bag into the shapes of little leaves, wrote everyone's names on them, and tied them onto the napkins with twine.

My mom brought a bunch of Indian corn, so I made a corn garland using twine and hung it on our dining room mirror.

John's mom brought flowers for the table.

My sweet friend, Megan, quilted me a runner for my birthday. 
It looked great on our table!

John's mom brought a cute turkey to put flowers in for the food table.

Oh, the food was pretty good, too! :)

My dad made sugar free/gluten free desserts that were DELICIOUS!!
He made a pumpkin pie . . .

 . . . and a cheesecake (low carb, too!!).

If you would like the recipes for these, just e-mail me at FiveKoz@sbcglobal.net .

Florida - part 2

Oh my!!

I took almost 600 pics while we were at Disney.  I chose a few of my favorites to share with you.

We went to Animal Kingdom the first day.

We got completely SOAKED on the river rapids ride.

Expedition Everest was a favorite ride and we didn't have to wait in line at all for it!!

We saw tons of animals on the safari ride. Caroline really liked that.

Goofy posed with us.

Pocahontas was so sweet to Caroline.

Jake discovered funnel cakes.

Minnie was sooo sweet.

Minnie's float in the Christmas parade was piping out chocolate smell . . .mmmmm.

The kids got Mickey's autograph.

The second day, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.

On our way to the Magic Kingdom.

We took the ferry.

There it is!!

We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom!!

Caleb loved the "It's a Small World" ride.  Uncle Colin and Auntie Diane did, too. :)

I would go on this ride again just to watch the look on the kids' faces as they looked around at everything.

We had to go on the teacups!! Can I say . . . d i z z y ??

Big Thunder Mountain . . . a favorite.

I completely remember this bridge as a child.  So fun!

Turkey legs anyone??

I really could not keep my eyes off of the castle at night. . . .

. . . and it kept changing colors.

Yes . . . it SNOWED on Main Street USA . . . magical indeed.  Like goose bump magical.



 . . . to be continued . . .