Team Francks

Advent Highlights...

I promise we're almost done with Christmas posts!  I just want to journal this so I don't forget details.

I loved loved loved our advent system this year... worked out so well!  And I'm soo glad that I stuck with 15ish activities (instead of trying to do 25)... it was the perfect amount for us! It wasn't too stressful or overwhelming because I planned ahead and knew what was coming up (why can't I do this for all things in my life!).

As I mentioned in this post I wrote out our 15 activities on little cards that I had on hand... the night before an activity I slipped it in to the appropriate pocket. He's little enough that it wouldn't have been a big deal if I'd put them all in at once... but I can see as he gets older that its easier if they don't know what the upcoming activities are (in case there are last minute changes).

Our 2011 Advent Activities in review:

• Toys for Tots Family Home Evening

Met up with some friends for dinner and then went and dropped off the toys... There were many tears on the way home when he realized he didn't get to keep the gifts. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of service yet. :)

The moment when he realized the gifts were staying in the box and not coming home with us!

• Ward Christmas Party

• snowman craft

• make magic reindeer food

• Family date night... dinner out and Christmas lights at our local park

• make thumbprint ornaments to send to Grandparents

• Decorate Tree and house

• Watch Elf (our favorite!)
  

• Letter to Santa

• Brunch on Christmas Eve at Cracker Barrel

• Decorate cookies and hot chocolate date with our neighbors

• New Christmas PJ's and read the story about the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve

• Visit Santa

• Special (dress up) Candlelight Christmas Dinner and Family Home Evening
  

 

Activities that didn't happen this year:

make paper snowflakes

Live Nativity at Cowboy Church - its only one weekend a year and we only had one night we could go and it happen to be the weekend that everyone had a nasty cold.... so we'll try again next year!

make handprint ornament - I'm still planning on doing this one in the next week... I just ran out of time.

And there you have it... our very fun, very successful Advent activities for 2011!

 

Christmas: Top 11 in 2011 (part 2)

Onward and upward with the rest of my favorite Christmas highlights of 2011!

6.  The magic of Christmas with a three year old is seriously so so fun.  He was in to Christmas this year... was excited about the activities and Santa and the gifts... loved it! (mental note: do not put presents under the tree early!  torture for both of us for entirely different reasons!)

Christmas morning was really fun... we didn't let him in the living room before Church so when we came home and let him in he the room he was SO excited!

All morning he kept saying "oh wow!"... he'd open a present... go play with it for awhile... come back open another gift...  play with it... it was seriously so fun.  Loved it!

    

7.   Decorations around the house (old and new).  Decorating for the holidays is one of my very favorite things.. I didn't pull everything out this year... which was still plenty.  We got a new tree on clearance after Christmas last year... went with a new snowflake theme on the tree... just lots of fun little touches.  I love a house all festive for the holidays!

 

This bench sits on my porch... but when Christmas comes I move it inside to my dining room so that I have room for my snowman on the porch... I bought the sign for $4 in Canton this year... I love the sign (its all sparkly!) and thought it was cute just sitting on the bench. 

Bought this little tree for around $6 after Christmas last year... set it up in Buddy's room and he LOVES this tree.  Calls it the "Buddy Tree" and will tell anyone who will listen about the tree in his room.  Best $6 ever!

8.  We started a new gift giving system this year... I got the idea from my friend Kim McCrary ... each person gets five gifts...

• Santa
• Gift you want
• Gift you need
• Gift you wear
• Gift you read

This was my first year doing it... and I have to say I love it.  I still want to get some ideas (from Kim and others who do it) so that next year goes smoother. But I love love love the concept... helped me keep Christmas about Christmas and not just the gifts. 

Plus I love lists... so I just wrote out those five gifts on a paper and then plugged in the gift idea... totally made it easier.  Looking forward to fine tuning it for next season.

Here's a print out I found on Pinterest. 

9.  Christmas Dinner

Like I said earlier... I don't want to be in the kitchen all day Christmas... I know... that's not very festive... but I just remember my mom spending ALL day long cooking and cleaning on Christmas... and that just doesn't seem fun to me... so as I mentioned we do our nice Christmas meal early.

But... with that said... I still try to make it a nice easy meal... this year for Christmas Eve we did appetizers... 

For Christmas dinner we did BBQ sandwhiches (in the crockpot and on these rolls... soo good!), loaded baked potato salad (which was sooo good!), green beans and bacon and pecan and pumpkin pie for dessert. 

I made everything (except for the green beans) two days before... and so it was just a matter of warming it up and setting it out.  Yummy and easy!

10.  Visiting Santa... we got to see Santa a couple of times this year... let's just say... Buddy is not quite a fan yet... :)  In his defense Santa was a little scary this year.

Totally makes me laugh. 

11. Gifts of Time

This year we decided to focus more on family gifts... my cousins family does "Gifts of Time" which I thought was such a fun idea!  So we totally borrowed the idea this year (and will do it going forward).

Each person in the family gives a gift that the whole family does together... an afternoon at the movies (child presenting gets to pick the movie), sledding together, ice skating, etc... basically a family activity together...

You could TOTALLY do this as a low cost/no cost activity... or you could give a game that everyone plays together, a DVD that everyone watches together... just the fact that you're together.

Our Gifts of Time this year:

Buddy gave us a gift certificate to Chuck E. Cheese (his favorite place!)

I gave us a day at a local(ish) Animal Park/Wildlife Center... you ride a safari type bus around the park and get to see animals (giraffes, zebras, etc) out in the open (not behind gates).

Joey gave us a day at a Waterpark in Dallas

and my mom gave us money for Christmas that we'll be using for our Summer swim passes to the local pool.

My rule was that when giving the gift you actually had to have something wrapped to present... you couldn't just tell people what you were giving.  So Buddy actually had his Chuck E. Cheese gift certificate wrapped under the Tree.

I had a print out of the animal park with a map tied to a toy kangaroo (that we already had)...

We presented our gifts of time at the end of the morning after all the other gifts were opened.

Next year I'm going to have the kids present smaller gifts (like a movie, game, sledding, etc) and me and Joey will give the bigger gifts... that way we keep the cost down.

Anyway it was a fun fun addition to our Christmas and will help focus on "memories" vs. "stuff"

It was such a wonderful magical year... so incredibly grateful for our Savior and the reason we celebrate this wonderful season! 

Christmas: Top 11 in 2011 (part 1)

This Christmas was so so great... simple... wonderful... almost perfect.  If we'd been with family it would have been perfect... but alas Skype had to fill in for us.

Here our my favorites of this Christmas... in no particular order.

1.  Fancy Christmas Dinner

I decided several years ago that I don't want to spend the whole day in the kitchen on Christmas... so we have our nice fancy Christmas dinner the Sunday before Christmas... we have a Family Home Evening on our Savior and its the perfect addition to our Christmas season.

Usually we wear dressier clothes... but the boys opted for PJ's this year.

Eventually I'd like everyone in the family (and if we have visitors) to have a part in the Christmas FHE... musical number, story, etc. 

This year we did it early since Liberty was in town and wanted her to be a part of it... after dinner we went and looked at lights and listened to the First Presidency Christmas devotional. 

2.  Adeventing

I want to do a whole post on our advent activities turned out...  it was perfect.  It kept us focused on doing meaningful/fun activities throughout the whole season... 15 activities was the perfect amount. Loved it!

3.  Christmas Eve Eve bowling

Joey and I both had Christmas Eve Eve off... so we got together with our neighbors and went Christmas bowling... I think we have a new tradition in the making.  So fun!

4. Christmas Eve

We had Christmas Eve brunch and Cracker Barrel, attended a Christmas Eve Party and then came home and opened our Christmas Pj's, sprinkled Reindeer Food and read the nativity story.

5.   Christmas Day... love having Christmas on a Sunday.  We had the sweetest church program, came home had our Christmas breakfast, opened gifts, took a nap, ate, talked to family.  Perfect!

to be continued.... 

making: the christmas edition

1. Reindeer Cookies

I found these cute reindeer cookies on Pinterest (have I mentioned my complete and utter love of Pinterest?!  LOVE!)

The Pinterest version is way cuter... but they were just for my Nursery class... and thankfully the 2-3 year old crowd is easily impressed!  

Recipe found here.

 

2.  Easy peasy crafts... Walmart had the best selection of easy foam crafts this year... and for under $2 (everything included!)... Buddy loved doing it and I just let him do it.... I didn't try to micromanage (which is what I usually do when crafting)... especially when it comes to sprinkling glittered... but I just let him go crazy!.  It was a really fun activity together.

 

 

3.  Holiday Pretzel Treats... Hugs and Rolo's versions.

The boys are awesome candy peelers (is that word?).

 

4. reindeer thumbprint ornaments... gifts we made in nursery... the kids loved them... we loved them... hopefully the parents loved them.

5.  Easy Peacn Pie... My friend Amy makes the BEST Pecan Pie... I love Pecan Pie... but I've never attempted to make it... she sent me her recipe and now its on the menu for Christmas Dinner. Super excited!

The secret (in my opinion) to good pecan pie is having the pecans chopped in to small pieces... I'm not such a fun of big huge pecan pieces.

Easy Pecan Pie

1 stick of butter

1 cup sugar (I use 1/2c. brown and 1/2c. white)

1 c. Karo syrup

3 eggs,beaten (add to cooled mixture)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, melt the butter but don't let it brown.  Mix in the sugar and corn syrup and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.  After mixture cools-- Stir in the eggs.   Mix well. Stir in the pecans.  Pour into the pie shell and wrap edges with foil.

Bake 40-50 minutes until pie is only slightly jiggly in the center. Remove foil the last 15-20 min. Allow to cool.

What are you making??

Seven on Sunday

1. Two weeks ago my bff Liberty came to visit all the way from Chicago... we've talked forever about her coming to visit (I was at her house in 2006)... but she's busy, I'm busy and the timing just never worked out.

But she had an opportunity to use some stand by tickets that were going to expire at the end of the year... so it was now or never. 

We had so much fun... the five days flew by... and we were both exhausted by the time she left.

Did I mention that my three year old LOVED her... LOVED... he called her "Bibby" (Libby)...

Highlights of her trip:

Lunch at Olive Garden

seeing Breaking Dawn

Girlfriends Christmas Party

Mexican food from "The Bus"

Canton

Seeing Santa

Baking Cookies

Special Christmas Dinner, First Presidency Christmas Devotional and seeing the lights

and other fun fun adventures!

I'm sooo happy that she got to come!  We had the best time!  Thanks for coming Bibby!

 

2.  While Liberty was here I hosted my annual Girlfriends Christmas Party...really it deserves its own post... but for lack of time I'm putting it in this post.

I thought this year was a lot of fun... I changed up the guest list a teeny tiny bit and I thought it was just a really great mix of women.

In the past I've cooked dinner for everyone... one year we went out to dinner and then came back to my house.  This year we did appetizers and dessert.  I think it turned out well.  I don't know if it was too much work for the guests to bring food and 12 gifts... but at 8.5 months pregnant its what I could manage this year...

Everyone had such great ideas for their gifts and it was just so fun to be together.  It's one of my favorite traditions. 

3.  My little on graduated from Nursery today and will move on to Primary the week after Christmas... We had a little diploma ceremony (we have a GREAT nursery leader!)... sniff sniff.  Where did the time go?  It feels like he just started Nursery!  I've so loved working with him in Nursery the last year!

 

(my attempt at blurring out other peoples kids!)

4.  Last night was our Church Christmas party... it was so much fun.  They did such a great job!  Probably the best one in the last few years... which is sad to say since I helped plan last years... but I can admit defeat... this one beat ours hands down!

5.  baby Jesus ended up in the tub with Buddy's 5,000 other toys... even the Holy Family is not safe from my three year old.

6.  I looooooooooooooooooooooove online shopping.  I love that I hit a little button and boxes show up on my porch.  Love love love!  Amazon has been my best friend for Christmas shopping this year... I may never visit another retail store again....  well, until Wednesday when I have to do grocery shopping.   I have one more gift to buy and I am DONE shopping for the year.  Hallelujah!

7.  This week I was missing eye drops, prenatal vitamins, lotion and tweezers... couldn't find them anywhere.... until I saw Buddy playing with his "treasures" and low and behold there were my missing items.  Next time its the first place I'll look.  Hopefully he'll understand our talk on "leaving mama's stuff alone". :)

 

And with that the weekend is over... back to work and real life! Have a great Monday!

 

Peppermint Meltaways

This last weekend my BFF Liberty was in town (a whole post on that soon!)... while she was here she introduced me to Peppermin Meltaway cookies... my life will forever be better!

Soooo soooo yummy and sooooo easy!! 

The receipe says it makes 3 dozen... you would have to make them really really small to get three dozen (I would definitely double or triple the batch if you want enough to share). Definitely a new favorite Christmas cookie!

Peppermint Meltaways

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch

FROSTING:

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions:

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, extract and food colring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies (we crushed the candies and put them in the frosting).

Printable receipe here.

advent activities...

We're breaking in our new advent calendar this year (last year we didn't get it in time to use it for Christmas)... I definitely want our Christmas season to be focused around memories and the magic and meaning of the season versus stuff. 

Joey's not here most of the time so I tried to keep the activities very simple and age appropriate for a three year... I'm also hoping to get some more service activities in there.

I was hoping to type them up in a cute font ... but alas for this year they are handwritten on a little cards I had on hand.

I put them in the advent the night before the activity... that way if work gets too crazy or I have to change things up a bit nobody is disappointed.

I'm not doing 25 activities this year... I'm picked about 15 activities to do this year... on the days that there are no activity in our advent calender there will be a piece of candy.

Here's our list for 2011:

• Toys for Tots Family Home Evening
• make paper snowflakes
• make handprint ornament
• Ward Christmas Party
• Live Nativity at Cowboy Church
• a story and snowman craft and/or reindeer foot craft
• make magic reindeer food
• Family date night... dinner out and Lights at Loy Lake Drive
• make ornaments to send to Grandparents
• Decorate Tree and house
• Watch Elf
• Letter to Santa
• Brunch on Christmas Eve at a favorite restaurant
• Decorate cookies and hot chocolate date with our neighbors
• New Christmas PJ's and read the story about the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve
• Visit Santa
• Special (dress up) Candlelight Christmas Dinner and Family Home Evening (the Sunday before Christmas)

Over the last year I've collected a big list of Advent ideas... these were my favorite blogs posts for advent ideas:

http://kimmccrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/activities-advent.html

http://www.pinkpistachio.com/25-days-of-christmas/

http://heatherannmelzer.typepad.com/heather_anns_web_land/2009/12/christmas-spirit.html (great ideas in the notes too)

http://heatherannmelzer.typepad.com/heather_anns_web_land/2010/12/happy-december.html

Happy Advent-ing! 

Highlights of Christmas 2010

In no particular order:

Our family service project for December was to do the 12 days of Christmas to a family who could use some Christmas cheer... I don't know why I thought it would be easy... it so wasn't easy... but we had lots of fun sneaking gifts on to their porch and mailbox each night.   It might be a couple of years though before I attempt it again though. 

The Christmas Book Basket... one of my favorite things of the season.

Buddy on Christmas morning... a wagon, a bouncy horse, a Caillou doll, a tent... talk about overload... but it was so fun to see him get so excited.  He kept clapping and saying "Oh wow!"

 

We had several opportunities for service this Christmas... a few days before Christmas we found a family that wasn't going to have much...  so Christmas Eve morning we got to put together a Christmas dinner and a few gifts for this family and then got to deliver the gifts with the missionaries from our Church.  

We also got to join in as they shared a Christmas message... we didn't understand much of the message as it was all in Spanish but the spirit of Christmas was there so strong and it was one of our favorite highlights of the whole season.

Little man all bundled up in his jammies and coat with his pink doggie and silky ready to look at Christmas lights…. How he exclaimed “oh, wow!” and “havay! (hooray)” over and over again at all the pretty lights… and I always want to remember how incredibly magical Christmas is with a two year old.  

 A little lesson on the birth of the Savior and then the gifting of the Fisher Price Nativity to Buddy... I love love love this nativity set.  

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel on Christmas Eve morning... random but totally fun.  You should try it sometime.

 

Authentic Tamales from our favorite Mexican Bus for Christmas Eve dinner... 

Sprinkling magic reindeer food...

 

My new stocking board that holds my cute cute stockings! (stockings made by Liberty)...

Cookies for Santa

My other favorite purchase of the year... our new Advent calendar...  Love love love it!  Next year it will be filled with fun activities to do every day during December.

Tracking Santa... technology is so fun!

 

Every morning when Buddy woke up he'd run in to the livingroom, put his little chair in front of the tree and say "Lights, Mama!  Lights!"  One of my favorite memories of the season.

And just overall joy of the season... so much happiness with this little one!

I'd love to hear your traditions and favorite memories of the season!   

Hope your Christmas season was Merry and Bright!!

Hip Hip Hoooray... Christmas is here!

Merry Christmas from me and mine to you and yours!  I hope its a wonderful day!

A Very Texas Christmas...

Does anyone feel stressed that Christmas is in four days???  I need another week!!!!!!

But here we are... ready or not!

On Saturday I got to help throw a Christmas party for 150 of my closest church friends... haha!  If you're LDS then you probably know that the activities committee has been done away with so it was kind of an informal assignment.

I got to pick the theme... I decided to go crazy and vere away from the traditional Ham and Funeral potatoes dinner.  I thought it would be fun to something Texas-y since we live in Texas and all... and I love bbq so I thought "A Texas Christmas" would be a fun change.  It was a really fun theme to work with.  We served pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, chips, beans and everyone brought dessert.

Our decor was kind of rustic and countryish... lots of cranberry's and stars.

All in all I'd say "A Texas Christmas" was a hit!  It would be easy to adapt (if you don't live in Texas) to a Cowboy Christmas or a Country Christmas... totally fun!

 

This picture makes me laugh... not his wife... just a sister in our ward kissing Brother Todd oops... I mean Santa

The centerpieces were really cute (way cuter than the picture shows) a good friend made the fabric squares... they were so cute and perfect for the look!

Santa's living room on the stage

Little one is not a fan of Santa this year... he avoided eye contact as much as possible.

Besties from my days in Young Women's

Ho Ho Ho!