Daily Photo – December 31st

Our year in review

Happy new year!

~Sela

Daily Photo – December 30th

Nathanael might be our musician. He was actually playing the piano with me, not just banging on it~S

Wordless Wednesday/Daily Photo – December 29th

Another bike riding picture…this was the outfit she chose to wear on our ride. Lately, she’s  also being a punk about taking her picture. Either making a goofy face or running the other directions, goofy girl!

Find more of this week's Wordless Wednesday (or Wordful) posts at 5 Minutes for Mom

~S

Daily Photo – December 28th

Kahlen needed more gas for her bike on our walk

~S

Daily Photo – December 26th & 27th

Nate’s new lovey – a blue sock monkey from Grammy

“Don’t take a picture of my pretty face, mommy”

 

~S

Daily Photo – December 25th

Happy Birthday Jesus! Taken the moment before he smeared the frosting in his hair. Now he smells like frosting ;)

~S

Daily Photo – December 24th

And the cooties said Merry Christmas! Picture taken by Kahlen :)

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 24

Well, we made it! We only skipped one day of our Advent Activities, amazing! Today, among other things, we made a birthday cake for Jesus. Now, since we just had Kahlen’s birthday, and still have leftover cupcakes, I wanted to make some other kind of cake. So this one doesn’t really *look* like a birthday cake, but that’s okay with us :) We went with a vanilla pound cake, and my, it looks delicious. So tasty, in fact, that we might just eat it for breakfast. Hey, not any worse than eating donuts or sticky rolls, right? 

Kahlen has enjoyed this Advent season, I think. More than if we had not done our activities anyway. Next year, I’ll be excited to be able to include both of them and maybe plan some of our own activities if I remember to :)

Merry Christmas!!

~S

Merry Christmas!

Carisa at 1+1+1=1 had the great idea of sharing our Christmas cards and how we display ones we receive.

Like her, joining the online community is sort of a strange experience. This year I have really jumped in with both feet into the blogging world, and enjoyed it. I love reading about what you are all doing with schooling, life, parenting, crafting, etc, etc. I hope you enjoy reading my stories too. So, here’s to another great year!

I am enjoying this Christmas season with my now four year old, and explaining to her the reason we celebrate. When she’s done with her nap (or quiet time, really), we’ll be baking a birthday cake for Jesus. Tomorrow we’ll be joining good friends of ours for Christmas dinner and Jesus’ birthday cake.

Hope you all are enjoying this wonderful season with your family :)

~Sela

And yes, I did end up making cards in addition to the ones I got from Shutterfly. I just enjoy it too much to pass it up this year :)

Countdown to Christmas – Day 23

We took the day off from our Advent Activity to enjoy swimming and lunch out with Buela for Kahlen’s birthday (a little late).

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

~S

Daily Photo – December 23rd

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 22

Still going strong on our Advent Activity chain. Okay, maybe not so strong, but still going! Today was watch a classic Christmas video day. Forgot to plan ahead and I don’t own any, so we watched this:

from Netflix on our Wii. Love streaming video!! We just had time to watch the first little story about Rudolph because we had a busy day and then watched our friend’s kiddos for their date night. We might get to the rest of this one tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes. We’re going swimming at the newly opened swimming pool in Loveland with my mom in the morning, so I’m guessing the kids will be tired after that. Maybe a video will be just what we need :)

Only three days left!!!

~S

Wordless Wednesday/Daily Photo – December 22nd

We went to Pump It Up for Kahlen’s birthday party today. We kept it small this year, and just invited a few friends. We had a blast! Even the mommies went down the slide :)

And yes, she’s wearing her pettiskirt. Doesn’t want to wear anything else :-)

Find more of this week's Wordless Wednesday (or Wordful) posts at 5 Minutes for Mom

~S

Tasty Tuesday – Basic Casserole

Welcome to another week of Tasty Tuesday here at The Young'ns!
There’s a recipe index under the food tab above if you’re ever looking for a recipe I’ve already blogged.
Every Monday, I plan on trying a new recipe. If it goes well, that’s what I’ll be posting on Tasty Tuesday. If not, I’ll post a tried and true (i.e. something I don’t have to think about too hard) ;)

This is something that I’ve been making for years. Don’t even remember where I got the idea, but it works when you don’t feel like making anything “fancy” but you don’t want spaghetti and sauce again. I like it because it’s very versatile and it’s a complete meal in one pan. You can change up each of the ingredients to make it taste completely different every time, yummy!

Basic Casserole

{Ingredients}

• 1 pound or so of ground meat. I use ground turkey
• Seasoning for your meat like Italian dressing or season salt or whatever you have on hand.
• 1 box noodles of your choice
• 1 package Knorr sauce mix and ingredients to make the mix (usually butter and milk)
• 2-3 cups veggies. I generally use peas, but you can use whatever you like.
• 1 cup shredded cheese. Mozzarella works well, but so does cheddar, so you pick.

{Directions}

• Brown meat. Add seasoning.
• Boil a large pot of water. Add noodles and cook until done. Drain and rinse.
• Cook veggies.
• Make sauce according to package directions.
• Dump meat, noodles, veggies, and sauce into a casserole dish or 9x13 pan. Mix together.
• Sprinkle cheese on top. Let sit for a few minutes until cheese is melted. Eat and enjoy!

~S

Linking up at

Daily Photo – December 21st

Kahlen and Daddy dancing to Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. Notice her very fancy outfit provided in part by Grammy & Grampa :)

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 21

In addition to it being Kahlen’s birthday, we also completed our Advent Activity :) Today the activity was to wrap a present. I had two presents for K to pick to give to her brother and then wrap it and write his name on it.

Don’t you love her outfit?

She wanted to know if the other present was for her, goofy girl. When I told her it was for Nate from me, she was a little disappointed. I’m sure she’ll be plenty happy with her presents, though, once she gets to open them.

~S

Happy 4th Birthday, Kahlen!

Wow, my little girl turned four today!
Kahlen, you have grown so much in the last year. You got to do so many fun things: go to the zoo, the museum, camping three times, and be the flower girl in your aunt’s wedding. You got your ears pierced on your half birthday and gave up your paci at the same time. You learned a lot too, both in school and in life. You’re getting better at cooking and love helping me in the kitchen. In school, you’ve learned 12 bible verses, all your upper and lower case letters, and had fun too. You love playing with your friends. You *love* your kitty, Stratus. You are shy around people, but will jump into just about any activity. You make your brother laugh and love playing with him too. I love you, little monkey!

~S
Here's last year's birthday post
And the year before

Daily Photo – December 20th

A rainbow seen in the West this morning when we came down for breakfast. For those of you not familiar with the area, it’s very unusual to have them in the west, and in December for that matter.

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 20

Since we didn’t get to our Advent Activity yesterday, we just reused that one today :) We were supposed to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, but she’s too young to care, and we already watched the VeggieTales version last week…

So, we got to do at home pedicures. Kahlen thought that was pretty cool! I had a pedicure set from Mary Kay that I got back in the day when I was a consultant, so I had fizzy bath pellets and all. She soaked her feet first (She’s on the way to a smile in this picture)Then we trimmed and painted both her toe and finger nails using Piggy Paint (Shh, Santa’s bringing her more for Christmas!). THEN I used my pedi-egg and my “special” Mint Bliss Energizing Foot and Leg Lotion. She felt like a pretty pampered little girl, which was the point. It is her birthday tomorrow, after all :)

~S

Muffin Tin Monday – Christmas parts 2 & 3

The theme for Muffin Tin Monday for three weeks is Holidays. I completely forgot to post last week, been a little busy :P So you get pictures from both weeks. I did not make a plan for either, so there’s some similarities.

Last week, we joined friends at the mall for a play date, so I made our muffin tin food to go. We had crackers and meat rollups, apples, cheese, meat, and fruit leather cut into trees.

 Today she wanted to be in the picture. I was going to crop this picture, but it amused me. You see Nate’s head. “Safe” things on the counter like a cheese knife and scissors, and a bottle of glue from a craft project earlier in the day. You can also sort of see my huge bucket of cookie cutters in the back right and the mess from making muffin tin food on the back counter on the left.

  Anyway, I made tree branches (carrot sticks), snow (ranch dressing), snowballs (Kix), pine needles (green beans), a Christmas tree (bread pizza with corn for ornaments), and a marshmallow snowman. She ate everything and asked for more!!

~S

Menu Plan Monday – December 20th

I have a recipe index, just for recipes that I’ve blogged about. You can find it by going to the food tab above.

Here's the plan for this week:
Mix-it up Monday (something new) ~ Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups (Holy ingredient list, batman!) 
Taco Tuesday (Mexican or Oriental) ~ Pizza for Kahlen’s birthday, she’s turning 4 today! 
Wow Wednesday (Date night or something like restaurant food) ~ Tacos
Simple Thursday (Crockpot or less than 30 min prep)~ Potato Soup (that I didn’t make last week) 
Favorite Friday (A family favorite) ~ Basic Casserole 
Lazy Saturday (leftover buffet) ~ CHRISTMAS! Having dinner with friends, I’m bringing Scalloped Potatoes and Jello Salad
Saucy Sunday (Italian) ~ Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Come visit me for Tasty Tuesday for some more deliciousness.
So, what are you having for dinner this week?
Link up at Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie or leave me a comment!
~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 19

We didn’t make it to our Advent Activity today, and I was kinda disappointed. We were supposed to do at home pedicures. I like painting her nails, and I like doing girly things with her. BUT at 5:45 when it was time to take a bath, she had a meltdown that she couldn’t recover from. I gave her the option of obeying daddy or going to bed, and she chose bed, so no pedis tonight :(

She did sing at church this morning, and was very cute doing it. This is the only picture I have because I was up on stage with her and daddy had Nate, but that’s okay, I’m sure someone else got pictures that I can have (anyone?). Here’s a video that one of the mommies posted on facebook, but I’m not sure if this is the correct link, so let me know if it doesn’t work.

She’s front and center in this picture in her pretty fluffy dress. And yes, she’s taller than just about every child up there, some of them by a head (she is in the 90th percentile) :)

Better luck with our activity tomorrow!

~S

Daily Photo – December 19th

My cute kids

~S

Daily Photo – December 18th

Nate’s new toy from Buela

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 18

Today our Advent Activity was to sing Christmas carols. Coincided nicely with rehearsal for tomorrow’s children’s program at church :)

~S

Daily Photo – December 17th

Playing with the magnifying glass

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 17

We’re still enjoying our Advent Activity every day. I’m enjoying that some of the days I just improvise what it says instead of following our “plan”. It’s a lot less work for me that way :)

Today we played this Christmas game that I originally found from The Activity Mom. Kahlen enjoyed it, especially because she won. She was being very female today, had lots of emotions about doing her schoolwork and anything else I asked her to do. Henceforth, we only played once. Maybe I can get her to play again with daddy :)

~S

Daily Photo – December 16th

For yesterday.

What I’ve been working on for the last week:

Go here for the tutorial if you want to make your own.

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 16

Was too busy doing our Advent Activity to post about it yesterday :)

We made “gingerbread” houses with some friends. 5 kids, 3 moms, and a lot of sugar (4 were made, one of the kiddos decided that it was an icky project. Can’t imagine not wanting to play with candy and more candy, but okay, can’t really debate that with a 2-year-old)

The supplies:

 

The process:   

The result:

~S

Wordless Wednesday/Daily Photo – December 15th

Find more of this week's Wordless Wednesday (or Wordful) posts at 5 Minutes for Mom
~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 15

Today for our Advent Activity we we went to the mall and looked at the pretty decorations. They have a big tree with three electric trains that circle the base and also a fun mechanical metal-ball-droppy-thingy (know what I’m talking about??). No pictures, because the camera was buried in the bottom of the stroller. They did have a good time though. We met friends there, had lunch, and played at the playland too.

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 14

Today for our Advent Activity, we decorated the living room! Okay, that’s not what it said on our ornament, but that’s what we had time for. We were going to have a family game night, but other things needed to be taken care of, like our poor naked Christmas tree.

I got Tim to take Nate to the store, since he needed to go anyway and having an 18-month-old around is not helpful when decorating with glass ornaments.

Kahlen and I had a lovely time. I even showed her how to use the camera (not the nice one)

Stole Borrowed an idea from a friend. Got the plastic balls at Target in the dollar section, swell.

(Kahlen took this one too)

I must go de-crumb the living room now, we’re still battling a mouse issue here :(

~S

Daily Photo – December 14th

Kahlen helping to decorate. ~S

Tasty Tuesday – Cranberry Cinnamon Bars

Welcome to another week of Tasty Tuesday here at The Young'ns!
There’s a recipe index under the food tab above if you’re ever looking for a recipe I’ve already blogged.
Every Monday, I plan on trying a new recipe. If it goes well, that’s what I’ll be posting on Tasty Tuesday. If not, I’ll post a tried and true (i.e. something I don’t have to think about too hard) ;)

I made these a few weeks ago to rave reviews. If you’ve ever made magic cookie bars from the back of a can of sweetened condensed milk, these are very similar, but with a nice holiday-ish twist.

Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars
Recipe by Our Best Bites

{Ingredients}

• 1/2 C (1 stick) real butter, melted
• 1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/4 C shredded coconut
• 1 C cinnamon chips
• 1 C white chocolate chips
• 1/2 C chopped pecans
• 1/2 C dried cranberries

{Directions}

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour butter into a 9x13" pan and spread with spatula to cover the entire bottom of pan.  Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter and spread into an even layer.  Press down gently with fingertips. 
• Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over graham cracker crumbs.  Continue with the remaining ingredients: cinnamon chips, white chips, pecans, and cranberries, sprinkling each in an even layer.  Press down gently with fingertips over entire pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and slightly golden on top.  Let cool completely before cutting.
• Be sure to share, and definitely don’t eat them for breakfast or you could. I did, yummy!

~S

Linking up at

Menu Plan Monday – December 13th

  
I have a recipe index, just for recipes that I’ve blogged about. You can find it by going to the food tab above.

I’ve had a plan for the last few weeks, just haven’t gotten around to posting it. December has been a little crazy!!

Here's the plan for this week:
Mix-it up Monday (something new) ~ Pizza for Mystery Shop, hooray for free food! 
Taco Tuesday (Mexican or Oriental) ~ Rice & Peas with Fauxtisserie Chicken
Wow Wednesday (Date night or something like restaurant food) ~ Date Night – hopefully out to either Texas Roadhouse or On The Border for a mystery shop
Simple Thursday (Crockpot or less than 30 min prep)~ Cheesy Hamburger Soup
Favorite Friday (A family favorite) ~ Taco Soup 
Lazy Saturday (leftover buffet) ~ Leftovers
Saucy Sunday (Italian) ~ No Fuss Potato Soup

Come visit me for Tasty Tuesday for some more deliciousness.
So, what are you having for dinner this week?
Link up at Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie or leave me a comment!
~S

C0untdown to Christmas – Day 13

Today for our Advent Activity we read a story that my MIL got for us two years ago. It’s a  pretty good story, slightly bent toward my in-law’s particular faith, but nothing I disagree with. 

It’s starts with Santa Claus overhearing a conversation that two women are having. They say that it’s his fault that Christ is being pushed out of Christmas. This makes him sad, and questioning his role. He goes to the church he visits every year after he drops off his toys, but sits in the very back row. He’s then visited by God who reminds him of all the good things he has done for Him, briefly outlining the life of St. Nicholas. It ends with Santa kneeling before the nativity scene.

It also came with a figurine, which we bring out every year. This year, it’s up on top of the stereo.

I guess at my in-laws’ house back in the day, they had one of these too, and my sister-in-law colored it with a sharpie. Which is why it will stay up high for now ;)

At our house, Santa Claus fills the stockings on Christmas Eve. How do you handle the question of Santa at your house?

~S

Daily Photo – December 13th

At the tree lot

~S

Countdown to Christmas – Day 12

Almost didn’t make it today! We decided sort of last minute to invite my in-laws over for dinner, so there was a small flurry of activity to get ready for that. After they got here, I decided we could do our craft anyway. Then I couldn’t find the beads for the project and realized I had left them at my mom’s :( I improvised.

So here’s our version of beaded pipe cleaner candy canes: Nana decided to make one too :)

We also got our tree today, it’s up but not decorated

Aw, isn’t it cute? It’s a little shorty this year. Last year we had a huge one and hubby wasn’t really a fan. He does like that it will be so much easier to clean up after because of the new floors though. Hopefully we’ll get to decorating tomorrow!

~S