Christmas in August

Just a little followup first...my Ammonia cleaning worked A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-L-Y!!!  Honestly...how I never knew about this I can't tell you; but it's amazing. My stove top is almost brand new looking. I think I'm going to do it once more next week to finish it up and make it perfect. Considering this is the first time we did this cleaning in 8 years I can't complain about the little bit that was left over. And honestly it's so minor, but now I'm on a mission. The only downfall? The smell...reminds me of my 80's spiral perms.

Now back on topic....

I'm a planner. I love to plan and I spent the last month or so planning out our Holidays; mostly Christmas. Why? Well, let's face the facts that this holiday season is going to be busy especially since A will be celebrating her 1st birthday in the middle of it all.  So I've made my lists and will begin (hopefully soon) to cross items off. I love Pinterest....it makes planning a lot more simple.

What's on my list? I've made a couple. The first is things I want to do with the girls, as a family...traditions and activities. Here is my list:

 1. Make an Advent Calendar like this for the 25 Days of Christmas. Each card will be something to do.

Some ideas of what we will do: make cookies, make/mail cards, visit santa, read about the birth of Jesus

2. Random Act of Christmas Kindness (RACK)

I want to do something with this idea every year with the girls...its important for them to learn about the true spirit of the Holiday and how simple acts of kindness can help out others! I love this idea and you can read more about it on this great blog: tsjphotography

3. Make Christmas Eve and Day outfits for the girls and PJ's for Christmas Eve/Morning. Of course they will have to match!

My other list is my shopping list. I want to find/make/give meaningful gifts to those close to me. Living off 1 income I figure I should start now and make things easier on all of us. Plus the idea of shopping with the girls during the holidays doesn't really put me in the holiday spirit!

I'm not 100% done with the first list, I know I will continue to add to it as I come up or find things. I think by having this going I will be more likely to do these great things with the family. I'll be sure to share pictures and  updates as I begin to tackle my lists. I need to start now...because before you know it the holidays will be here!

-A

Trying it Tuesdays

I want my girls to look back and have memories of simple things. Things that we did together that they really enjoyed. Right now E is into animated movies (Pixar and those of that nature), rest assured that I don't plop her in front of a tv all day long...but my car has a DVD player and she loves to watch movies as we run errands. This love of movies has made its way into our home and for the last week or so E and I snuggle up about 45 minutes before her bedtime and watch a movie...or part of one.

I love this new tradition with E. It's my time (or time with Dad and I) with E...A is fast asleep and E can have 100% of our attention. While grocery shopping today I came across Tiny but Mighty Popcorn, it's the make-on-a-stovetop-pot kind and thought this could be something really cool to do with E (who recently fell in love with popcorn too). I was nervous that I would burn it and our place smell of burned popcorn, but it was quick, simple and AMAZING!!!

Here it is in the process....

I had to try and keep it healthy...after all I'm feeding it to my 2 year old right before bed! I used 2 T olive oil and 1/3 cup of the kernels. I also saw that I can use coconut oil, which I am going to do next time I think it would give it an even better flavor.

Within about 2 or 3 minutes it went from the above to the below! E loved watched the corn POP...it was the highlight of my day to see her watch in true amazement.

 I didn't deny E of the good stuff I did make sure to add some butter (the real stuff...yum!) and a bit of salt. I'm going to visit our local farmers market this weekend and see if the spice guys have a good seasoning to add as well.

The 1/3 cup of un-popped kernels made 2 of the shown containers...and E and I ate about 2/3 of it!!! I doubt we will continue to eat this much but we did indulge since it was our first night. How did it taste?! Honestly I would take it over movie theater popcorn....and the price online is so much cheaper (about 1/2 what the grocery store charged!).

Seeing that this was such a huge hit with E, I think it is needed to invest in a 'popcorn' bowl. I really see this tradition to be one that sticks!
-A