Top Posts of 2010

I thought it might be fun to revisit some of the posts that were viewed the most by all of  you in 2010.  That is, at least, according to my Google Analytics!

Just in case you missed any of them.

Here is my own New Year’s Eve countdown.

Starting with Number Ten.

Lemon Cream Chicken – Next time you have one of those comfort food cravings give this recipe a try – it won’t disappoint.

Number Nine

Snickerdoodle Muffins – yum!!  If you haven’t tried these yet you really must – really!!

Number Eight

Key Lime Bars – these were a huge hit at the church event I served them at.

Number Seven

The Best Chocolate Cake.  Seriously, this cake is pretty amazing.  My neighbor won the cake contest at her office with this recipe.

Number Six

Mongolian Beef I think I could eat this every week – so good!

Number Five

Bloomin’ Onion – if you are still looking for a New Year’s Eve appetizer you can’t go wrong with this one – bread, cheese, butter and garlic!  It never even makes it onto a serving plate at our house -it’s always eaten straight out of the oven.

Number Four

Avalanche Bark– a fun new bark I tried this holiday season thanks to a blog reader sharing the recipe with me.

Number Three

Cupcake Tutorial If you missed my first ever video tutorial be sure and check it out.  Please be kind, I do share some great tips for decorating cupcakes.

Number Two

Cake Plate Tutorial A fun tutorial on how I make cake plates out of things I find at Goodwill.

Since two of my tutorials were in my Top Ten most visited posts for the year maybe I should make another one – any suggestions?  Anything you’d like to see on a tutorial?

AND in first place – my most visited post in 2010 goes to…..

Sour Cream Apple Bars So these are good, they are really good.  You are going to like them, I promise!!

So there you have it – hope you enjoyed my little review of 2010.

Tomorrow I’ll have a little review and recap on how I did with my Word of the Year for 2010 and then the next day I’ll have the big reveal – my Word of the Year for 2011.

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Finding 50 – Days 351-357

We enjoyed a wonderful week at our house. I hope you did too! We had all four kids home for four days and I was in heaven! Unfortunately Clark had to get back to work but we have Logan and Cali through the New Year and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it. Despite the craziness of the week I managed to find the pretty!

Day 351 – December 20

Day 352 – December 21

A trip to Saint Cupcake for some cupcake pretties!

Day 353 – December 22

Cookie Baking a day!

Day 354 – December 23

So glad to have all these feet on the same street!

Day 355 – December 24

Off to see Santa for our family photo.  Twenty six years in a row!

Day 356 – December 25

Merry Christmas!

Day 357 – December 26

Nothing better than real maple syrup in a pretty little container on a pretty little doily!

Hoping your holiday week was full of pretty!

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Annual Cookie Baking Day

Note:  This will be my last post until after Christmas.  My boys arrive home tomorrow and I can’t wait.  I’m going to enjoy my time with my whole family home under one roof!  Wishing you a wonderful and joyful Christmas!  See you back here next week.  I”ll have some fun recipes perfect for New Year’s Eve celebrations!

Yesterday was our annual holiday cookie baking day.

Cali, Tessa and I were joined by neighbors Debbie and Hannah and Lizzy of Your Cup of Cake is home from school for the holidays.

We baked and cooked our little hearts out.  Went through a ton of butter, sugar, flour and eggs and made quite a mess of the kitchen.

I got up early and mixed up some of the cookie doughs that needed to refrigerate for awhile.

The night before I had made up a batch of white chocolate popcorn, white chocolate cinnamon pretzels and some caramels.  I learned a lesson though.  My old, family heirloom candy thermometer had broken so I bought a new one.  Don’t buy a cheap candy thermometer!  They don’t work.  And your caramels don’t work either when you use it.  But we did find a use for that caramel that didn’t set up – Lizzy piped it into some amazing Chocolate Turtle Pecan Muffins she made.

We made a batch of lemon drops, snowballs and chocolate crinkles.

I think my favorite cookie of the day was one that Lizzy made – eggnog cookies.  The eggnog flavor was just right and the eggnog glaze and cinnamon sprinkled on top were the perfect addition.  If you like eggnog you are going to love these.  Hop on over to Lizzy’s blog for the recipe.

We also made some candy.  Debbie made this amazing peppermint fudge.  It was so good.  I was going to wait to share the recipe with you next Christmas but I’m not sure I can wait – want it now or later??  There was a batch of chocolate butterscotch fudge too.

The girls all pitched in so we got a lot done.  They did have their silly moments though.

But all in all it was a lot of fun and a lot of sugar!

I remade my batch of caramel with the new candy thermometer I went out and bought at 8 a.m. at Target before we started baking and they turned out perfect.  That’s another recipe  I’m going to have to share soon.  Look at what I made with some of the caramel – Millionaries.  Rice Krispies covered in caramel and topped with chocolate!

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Breakfast with Santa

Our annual Breakfast with Santa that we host for some of our neighbors was last Saturday.  This event has turned into one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

When my children outgrew going to Breakfast with Santa at Meier & Frank but I hadn’t, I decided to host my own Breakfast with Santa and invite the neighbor kids!

The menu is always the same (it makes it easy):

Buttermilk Pancakes with the choice of cinnamon, buttermilk or maple syrup.

Little sausages

Fruit

Hot Chocolate

My neighbor Katie also brought an egg dish for the grownups.

Last year I put together a hot chocolate bar and it was so much fun we had to do it again.

I mix up a big pot of hot chocolate.  I just use a mix but always use whole milk and add in some vanilla for that special touch.  The hot chocolate bar has lots of fun mix ins and toppings.  Of course you need some fun stir sticks – chocolate covered pretzels, candy canes and pirouette cookies.

And there was whipped cream and lots of toppings to sprinkle on top.  Crushed candy cane, whoppers, toffee bits, rainbow sprinkles, mini chocolate chips and mini M & M’s and chocolate jimmies.

And of course there were marshmallows – lots of marshmallows!

Each of the kids and adults had fun putting together their own personalized concoction.

The kids loaded up their plates and all ate together in the dining room.  The adults hung out in the kitchen.

After eating we decorated gingerbread houses.

And then of course there was a visit from Santa with gifts for all the good girls and boys.  Fortunately everyone had been good this year.

We were missing a few kids this year but here’s the neighborhood crew!

What’s one of your favorite holiday traditions?

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Breakfast with Santa {2010}

Our annual Breakfast with Santa that we host for some of our neighbors was last Saturday.  This event has turned into one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

When my children outgrew going to Breakfast with Santa at Meier & Frank but I hadn’t, I decided to host my own Breakfast with Santa and invite the neighbor kids!

The menu is always the same (it makes it easy):

Buttermilk Pancakes with the choice of cinnamon, buttermilk or maple syrup.

Little sausages

Fruit

Hot Chocolate

My neighbor Katie also brought an egg dish for the grownups.

Last year I put together a hot chocolate bar and it was so much fun we had to do it again.

I mix up a big pot of hot chocolate.  I just use a mix but always use whole milk and add in some vanilla for that special touch.  The hot chocolate bar has lots of fun mix ins and toppings.  Of course you need some fun stir sticks – chocolate covered pretzels, candy canes and pirouette cookies.

And there was whipped cream and lots of toppings to sprinkle on top.  Crushed candy cane, whoppers, toffee bits, rainbow sprinkles, mini chocolate chips and mini M & M’s and chocolate jimmies.

And of course there were marshmallows – lots of marshmallows!

Each of the kids and adults had fun putting together their own personalized concoction.

The kids loaded up their plates and all ate together in the dining room.  The adults hung out in the kitchen.

After eating we decorated gingerbread houses.

And then of course there was a visit from Santa with gifts for all the good girls and boys.  Fortunately everyone had been good this year.

We were missing a few kids this year but here’s the neighborhood crew!

What’s one of your favorite holiday traditions?

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Finding 50 – Days 344-350

Day 344 – December 13

I’ve got a thing for Christmas bulbs lately.  I seem to be filling every available container in my house with them!

Day 345 – December 14

Day 346 – December 15

You may not have noticed, but I have a thing for cake plates!  My favorite new holiday color combo.

Day 347- December 16

Tessa was in New York City all week and I loved this shot she took of the Statue of Liberty.

Day 348 – December 17

Loving the light hitting my banister – yes, we actually saw the sun a few times this week!!

Day 349 – December 18

We are loving having Cali home and the family game playing has begun.  The boys arrive on Thursday. Hopefully there will be lots over the next few weeks!

Day 350 – December 19

Wishing you and your family a Merry and Bright Christmas!!

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Finding 50 – Days 337-343

For this week’s worth of pretty I wanted to share pictures of my holiday decor with you.  Every day I planned to take photos but it was just too dark.  If you don’t live in the NW you might not be aware of how much rain we have been getting.  There was an inch and a half on Thursday and then I think two inches yesterday.  It’s a swamp around here!!  With rain comes gray skies and no sun which means no natural light in my house.  No natural light makes photo taking difficult.

As a result, I have had to resort to using some of my pictures from last year.  I did take pictures of what’s new this year but I apologize for the quality of the photos.  I had to turn my ISO up super high, open up my aperture as much as I could to get a half way decent photo!  Sun please come back!!!

I hope you enjoy a little tour of my home and holiday decor!

Days 337-343 – December 6-12

Welcome to my home.

The front entry way…

It’s even prettier at night with all the candles a glow.

The living room tree…

Over the piano…

The dining room buffet.

Now onto the family room and my Joy tree.

The family room mantle.

I downloaded the great print from Eighteen(25) for free, printed it at Costco and framed it.

Our collection of nativity sets.  Jim and I made the wooden one and it is complete with a set of Clark’s tooth marks from when he was teething.  The other two came from Argentina and Chile.  We picked them up while visiting the countries where our boys served missions for our church.

And upstairs there are a few trees too.  One in each of the kid’s rooms.

A patriotic tree in honor of my Eagle Scout boys!

A bright colored tree in Cali’s room that reflects her fun and crazy personality and free spirit.

My dancer daughter Tessa’s tree….

Hope you enjoyed my little tour.  If you have photos of your holiday decor posted on your blog please leave a link in the comments.  I’d love to come over for a visit!

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Gift Wrapping Ideas

Brown paper packages tied up with string….these are a few of my favorite things!

They really are.

I decided to go simple this year with my Christmas wrapping.  I had a collection of brown kraft paper gift boxes as well as bags.  I also had a roll of brown wrapping paper.

I’ve been having fun lately with some of my stamps on some fabric projects so I decided to use the stamps on my gift wrapping too.

For my nieces and nephews I just stamped the first letter of their name on the box and then tied it up with some cute twine I had from The Twinery.

A couple of the boxes had writing on the top so I just covered the top of the lid with scrapbooking paper.

The brown paper I wrapped a few of the gifts in actually had a design on one side so I just turned it wrong side up!

Remember those cute felted flowers I have been making for my girl’s to give to their friends?  Well, I just kept on stamping.  I had some white cookie bags from the local cake decorating store so I used my stamps on them too and they made the perfect packaging!

Of course everything looks better tied up in string.

A few of my gifts went into brown bags so I stamped some holiday cheer onto them and added a bow made out of some fabric.

My sweet friend Meg dropped this gift off for me the other day and it became the inspiration for my gift wrapping.

How cute is the little bird she made out of scraps from a sweater she is repurposing!?

How are you wrapping your gifts this holiday season?

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How to Make Felt Flowers

Felt Flowers are a fun cute, inexpensive and easy to make gift idea.

Easy Felt Flowers

Each year my girls and I like to make a handmade gift for their friends. Now, I know a few of Tessa’s friends read my blog so girls, if you don’t want to see what you are getting for Christmas this year, don’t read any farther!  You know who you are!

This year we are making felt flowers. 

Supples Needed

• Wool Felt. This felt is sold as yardage. It is not the felt squares you buy in the craft section.
• Hot Glue
• Buttons
• Pins or Barrettes Depending on whether you want to pin them to clothes or wear them in your hair

How to Make Felt Flowers

I just cut out the felt using the template provided in the tutorial and used my hot glue gun to put them together.

For some of them I added leaves for others I didn’t.  I also used old buttons I had in the center of a few of them.

I glued pins to the back of them so they could be pinned on a shirt or jacket.

Or they could be added to a belt for a fun touch.

Or it could be worn in the hair and even glued to a headband.

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Chocolate Peppermint Drops

Peppermint meringue drizzled with chocolate.CourseCookiesCuisineAmericanKeywordpeppermint meringuesPrep Time20 minutesCook Time20 minutes0 minutesTotal Time40 minutesServings24 cookiesCalories45kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 2 egg whites
• dash of salt
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 C mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 C Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Instructions

• Beat egg whites until foamy, add salt and cream of tarter
• Beat until soft peaks form
• Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff
• Mix in vanilla, chocolate chips and peppermint chips
• Line cookie sheet with parchment paper
• Drop batter by teaspoons onto paper
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 300 degrees
• Store in an airtight container – remember they don’t like moisture!

Nutrition

Calories: 45kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 8IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg

Chocolate Peppermint Drops was originally written by Leigh Anne Wilkes at https://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/chocolate-peppermint-drops/.

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