Food Fanatic Friday!!!

Yes, I know it's not Friday.....but I wanted to update on Thursday just in case you wanted to try these yummy recipes for your New Year's Eve bash.

Jeremy and I decided we would stay in again this year.....ringing in our New Year with our girls and eachother :)

We have plans to order-in dinner and watch Despicable Me with the girls. After we send the girls to bed, we have are having our very own grown-up party!

We are watching the movie Date Night, snacking on some Fondue (with my new pot from my sis and bro-in-law), and then ringing in the New Year with Dick Clark's Rockin Eve :)

So, here is the recipe for our yummy cheese fondue...

Wisconsin Trio Cheese





•1 1/2 cups shredded butterkase cheese
•1 1/2 cups shredded Fontina cheese
•3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
•3/4 cup white wine
•1/4 cup dry sherry
•2 teaspoons chopped shallots
•1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
•1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
•2 tablespoons chopped scallions

Serve with: Carrots, Cauliflower, French, Rye, and Pumpernickel Bread

Directions:
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 25 mins

1. Toss the Butterkase and Fontina cheese with the flour in a bowl. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water. You may also use a conventional double boiler. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the white wine and sherry into the bowl. Stir in the shallots using a fork. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

2. Add half the cheese blend and cook until the cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add the remaining cheese blend in a small amount at a time, stirring constantly in a circular motion after each addition until the cheese is melted. Fold in the pepper and Blue cheese. Pour into a warm fondue pot and keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the scallions.

We are also having some milk chocolate fondue, but it is simply made by melting 8 oz. of milk chocolate. We are having cheesecake, rice krispie treats, bananas, brownies, strawberries, and graham crackers as our dippers. Yum, yum! We are so excited!!!!!

To some people, staying in on New Year's Eve may be totally lame, but if lame means I get to be around the 3 people I love more than anything.....then call me LAME!

Happy New Years!!!! 2011 whoot, whoot!!!! Okay, that was lame!

Pure Excitement!

This year, I feel that I only need to post 1 picture to describe our Christmas.

Check her out!

But I am sure you want to see some of our other pics of Christmas.

Enjoy!

These pics were taken from my new camera (thanks to my mother-in-law). That night I uploaded my pics from the old camera to Snapfish, and haven't figured out how to retreive them yet. Hopefully I can figure out how to retrieve and post all my pics from Christmas last weekend and Christmas Eve. We had a blast at the Taylor Family Christmas and Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Nate :)

Check back in on Thursday for Food Fanatic Friday. I'm going to be sharing some recipes that Jeremy and I are planning on using on New Year's Eve for our "After Kid's Go To Sleep Party".

Have a great week!!!

For Your Listening Pleasure.....

....Macy will entertain you her renditions of Jingle Bells, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, "I" Wish You A Merry Christmas, All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, Oh Happy Day, and Baby Jesus We Love You.

And yes, I am aware that McKenna is shirt-less in the first song......Houdini escaped Daddy as he was getting her dressed :)

Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours!!!!!!

GLAM IT UP!

Did you happen to see the Kardashian's Christmas card?


Wow! Maybe next year my family should go all glam for ours......okay, maybe not!


Check out my post from last year about our Christmas Traditions. Click Here!!! I have to say...Christmas time is so fun this year with a 1 year old and an almost 5 year old!

Food Fanatic Friday!!!

This is my new FAVORITE!!!!!!!

I call these "Hershey Kiss Pretzel Treats". I am not sure if they have a REAL name or not. I got this recipe from my mom, and have also seen it online. We did a practice run at home last weekend, and ate ALL OF THEM!!!

This weekend, we are making a large amount, along with some peanut butter fudge, and chow mein chocolate clusters. We are placing them in cute tins, and passing them out to all 6 of my girls' teachers. It should be a very tasty Christmas treat!

Pretzels (square)
Hershey Kisses
M & Ms

Heat oven to 170*. I covered my cookie sheet with waxpaper. Place an unwrapped Hershey Kiss on each pretzel, on the cookie sheet.

Bake in oven 4-6 minutes. It will be getting soft, but is still in the form of a Hershey Kiss. When you pull them out, take one M&M, and press it into the center of the Kiss. Allow treats to cool in refrigerator for 10 minutes.

There are lots of different Hershey Kisses you can use to make these treats extra special......milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, hugs (white and dark), or mint.

Enjoy!!!

Keeping Your Kids Busy.....

During the LONG Winter Months!!!

Here are a few things we have been doing in our house to stay busy!

• Strip down your little ones, and give them some fun foods to keep their hands AND mouths busy.

Here's McKenna "painting" with yogurt and puffs:)

• Give your older ones some "water play" time. Add some food coloring for some extra special fun....and learning (mixing colors).

Here's Macy pouring, splashing, and mixing :)

A water table is another fun way for kids of all ages to learn and explore.

• Do some baking or candy making. Yum, yum!!!
  

• Collect some snow from outside and play, play, play....or eat, eat, eat!
  

• Making homemade playdough is another great hands-on activity. Macy loves to make "cookies" or practice her cutting skills.

Here's a great playdough recipe:

2 c. flour, 1 c. salt, 2 tsp. cream of tarter, 2 T oil, 2 c. water, food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients. Combine oil and water and add food coloring. Mix both together and cook over medium heat, stirring, until soft and begins to form a ball (mashed potato consistancy). Dump onto wax paper and knead for a few minutes. Store in air tight container.

• Give fun opportunities for your older ones to work on writing/spelling skills.

• Draw pictures for others....or Daddy, in our case :)
  

• Take a drive to view some Christmas lights, don't forget to tune into your favorite Christmas station. It makes the experience even more special :)
  

• Go visit family and friends!

• Make some fun crafts, or Christmas gifts.

We used some acrylic paint, and some glass ornament bulbs to make......

THIS!!!!

• Use the leftover paint to let your kids paint the ornament box.
  

I'll post more fun winter activities in some future posts! Enjoy your time inside :)

A Wonderful Winter-Kind-Of Weekend!!!!

The Monument-Downtown Indianapolis

Macy and I climbed the steps to get a look from inside.

Yay, we found Santa's mailbox!!!

What do you think Macy asked for?

We even found one of Santa's reindeer!

Our family playing in the snow :)

Who doesn't love a sled ride?!?!?!

Town Lighting Ceremony-Franklin

We had a fun night with Mamaw and Papaw :)

We drove around and checked out some Christmas lights. This house was decorated in the front and back....all Colts! It was amazing! It was a blue glow! They even placed lights diagonally in the yard....can't see them due to the snow...but they are there!


I can't wait to continue making lots of holiday memories over the next few weeks!!!!

Food Fanatic Friday!!!

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

With all of the holiday parties approaching, I thought I would add a treat that is a hit at any party!!!!

1- 8oz. cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T brown sugar
1 c. mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients (except chocolate chips) with a mixer. Stir in chocolate chips. Serve with graham cracker sticks or Teddy Grahams.

Can I Be 9 Months Again, PLEASE?

Being 1 year old isn't at fun as I thought!!!! I heard Mommy tell Daddy and Grandma that I wasn't going to be very happy at the doctor's office today. Mommy dressed me all cute, packed us up, and hauled us off to the doctor's office. Mom chatted and laughed with the nurse and doctor, and I thought to myself, "this isn't too bad after all!" I was running around the room in my diaper, but hey, I kinda like running around naked. What was going to make so unhappy???



That's when the craziness happened. Doctor Roscoe made me sit on Mommy's lap, and he put this cold metal thing on my body. Brrrr.....I may like running around naked, but I didn't say you could still ice cold things on me! Then he checked me neck...I tried to pry his hands off of me. Then he stuck something in my ear....I tried to turn my head away. Then he stuck a stick in my mouth. I think he was trying to gag me!!!



That is not even the worst of it! I thought I was all done with this torture, and then in walked the nurse with her "toolbox". Before she even started, I gave her the sign for "all done" over and over and over, but she must not know sign language. She pinned me down and jabbed me with 3 needles. I held me breath for a few...turned a little blue....and then thought FINALLY, I'm done. That is when it happened. She grabbed my hand, and poked me with ANOTHER needle. Then that crazy lady squeezed and squeezed my finger and MADE ME BLEED! To make matter worse, she wrapped my entire hand up...I look like a mummy, I tell ya! I held my breath some more, turned a little blue again, and thought FINALLY, FINALLY I am done.



Guess again.....that nurse forgot a shot. We were getting our coats on and everything. So she pinned me, pulled down my britches, and stuck me again! Talk about TRAMATIC!!! I sure wasn't going to fall for the "all done" trick again, so I cried and cried....all the way home....until I finally fell asleep. That trip sure did make me UNHAPPY, and TIRED! Check me out now!




When I am not getting tortured, or too worn out to play, you can find me here. It's so much fun searching for new places I can fit into :) Did you notice I had to pull EVERYTHING out to make room? Mommy sure loves it when I explore!

When I am not exploring, you can find me lounging around with my favorite person in the whole world! I don't care what my big sister is doing, I'm right there with her.....even when she goes to the bathroom!

Overall, my doctor's appointment was HORRIBLE, but I guess there were a few good things. I am continuing to grow!



Here are my stats:
Weight: 19 lbs, 9 oz. (naked) 25%
Height: 28 1/2 inches long 25%
Head: 25%



I am now drinking whole milk for all my feeding except for 1 (early morning). But Mommy says that is going to change in the next week whether I like it or not....whatever that means. I enjoy feeding myself with a spoon, and I love trying new things. I had my first peanut butter sandwich today...YUM :)



Well, couldn't leave Macy out of this post, so here she is. Mommy took this picture this morning before we took Macy to school. Macy wanted her picture taken in the snow! I don't know about this stuff called snow, but my family sure seems excited!




Have a great week!

Love,
McKenna (aka Big Mac)