Friday Things
1. My little matching elves! Joseph love, love, LOVES his little brother and if Dominic is snoozing, Joseph feels the need to hover and oversee the situation (which usually leads to an end of said nap). And yes, Dominic’s hair is still ridiculously spiky, so insane!
2. Does anyone have a recommendation for a baby proofing product for lever-style door handles? We have one of these on our basement door and they most definitely do NOT keep Joseph from opening it.
3. Before I had Dominic, I had grand plans of organizing every room of my house during my “maternity leave” since I had tons of recipes for you made ahead of time and wouldn’t be “working”. HAAAAAAAA. (I’m sure anyone with two little ones is laughing at me right now, and deservedly so!)
4. Love this story about Lowes hiring a disabled vet AND his dog!
5. Did you get a new iPhone 7 Plus? I have the 6 Plus and am trying to decide if it’s worth an upgrade now, or to hold off until next fall when there’s supposed to be some anniversary fancy pants phone. I’m hearing awesome things about the 7 Plus camera, so I’m tempted.
6. I made a chocolate babka this week that might be my most favorite thing to come out of my kitchen in MONTHS. I’ll be sharing it with you next week, and unfortunately for the rest of my family, I’m 100% certain my husband and I will have polished it off by the weekend.
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7. Do you have any special Christmas traditions? I always love hearing about what other families do around the holidays.
8. Tell me what your favorite Christmas cookie or candy is… sometimes I feel like I’ve tried them all, but I KNOW there are so many out there that I still need to make!
9. What’s your go-to Christmas movie? I love so many of them, but One Magic Christmas reminds me of Christmases as a kid, when we would watch it often… and of course, Elf!
10. TGIF! I hope you have a cozy pre-holiday weekend!
I make Chocolate Mountain Tops every year. They are a family recipe. Last year my aunt told me no one at their house would eat them, so I didn’t need to bring any. I had some at my birthday party and my cousin told my mom that they were her favorite cookie! What? My sons bus driver was so excited when I gave her some. I also make rum balls and buckeyes. I am going easy this year due to my twelve pound weight gain and only ten pound loss over the past year. My clothes still fit and I’d like to keep it that way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PJO6-ZK2lI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4bxqGwSbHc
When my kids were small, we made a Christmas ornament each year. We put up a kids’ tree early in Dec and have always decorated it with their ornaments – ones they’ve made and ones they’ve been given and some things that were not even ornaments (eg small stuffed animals). One of my favorites was when we made a garland out of gingerbread men cut out of sandpaper and decorated with puffy paint. When they set up housekeeping, they’ll now have a few ornaments to start their own tree.
Favorite Christmas movie is Christmas Vacation
Enjoy your littles! They grow way too fast. Brothers
I love the photos of the boys, that includes your fur boy. I love your photos. I’m going to try and make your Italian walnut pillows today. This isn’t a Christmas recipe but, I made your Guinness beef stew this week. It was amazing! Happy holidays!
Our youngest left our house for a walk one Sunday morning at 5am. He was 17 mo. old and we had just moved to a new home. After a neighbor returned him ( he was jogging). We placed one of those slide locks on the door way up high out of his reach. No more weekend walks!!! Lol
These pictures are spectacular. Your sons are so beautiful, God bless them! I cannot wait until your chocolate babka recipe! I’m excited to make it for your family. Thank you for your awesome posts!
I don’t know if you like chocolate mint, but these Andes Mint Cookies from Decor and the Dog (http://decorandthedog.net/decorandthedog/2013/12/20/andes-mint-cookies) are fabulous. They are an unusual method for cookies and are made more like brownies and make a nice rich chewy cookies that have a great mint flavor from just the Andes mint melted on top.. They look great with some Christmas nonpareils sprinkled on the melted mint too.
I also love these Cranberry Streusel Shortbread Bars from Fine Cooking (http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/cranberry-streusel-shortbread-bars.aspx) are delicious, pretty and easy. King Arthur’s Almond Cloud cookies are great too if you like almond. The other cookie I always make for Christmas that Mom made every year too are Russian Teacakes (or snowball cookies, or mexican wedding cakes, or whatever other names they go by!), but we always hid a Hershey kiss in the middle!
Changing to a knob may be your best idea for now. We are having our first grandchild shortly and having new doors in, but decided on standard knobs.
I got the iPhone 7 plus as soon as it came out and use it for ALL the pictures I use on my blog. I don’t bother getting out the Nikon anymore….so I would say it’s worth it to get the 7 plus!! ?? (yes I am really lazy hehehehe– my phone is just so easy to use for pictures!)
The boys are so cute in their matching pj’s. We still haven’t made any Christmas cookies this year but plan to next week..unless a crisis happens.
My grandma used to Sands Cookies (not Sandies). They were similar to a sugar cookie but the batter was whipped for a long time and the end product made the cookies melt in your mouth! They also had almond flavoring!! My sister and I loved these cookies!! My son had hair similar to Dominic’s hair when he was a baby! Now it is really thick and great hair but when he was a baby I tried everything to get it to lay down and nothing worked!
We use these https://www.walmart.com/ip/Safety-1st-ProGrade-No-Drill-Top-Of-Door-Lock/17654519?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1274&adid=22222222228001113897&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=54704277551&wl4=pla-90034845911&wl5=1027674&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112561823&wl11=online&wl12=17654519&wl13=&veh=sem
The boys are adorable. And that picture of your furry boy . . . love it! All 3 boys are great! That Lowe’s story is pretty special. So glad that a company supports our veterans and understands the value of a good employee – both of them! My favorite Christmas movie is hard to pick, as I really like It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and White Christmas. It’s really a toss up, but It’s A Wonderful Life would get my vote if pressed hard enough. I’d like to try your Italian Walnut Pillows again (I made them this summer for the cookie table for my daughter’s wedding). They tasted fantastic, but I think my texture was a little off . . . still not sure why, so I think I need to make them again. But pizzelles and Italian knots are 2 of my favorites at Christmas. Just love making them and then eating them with a nice hot pot of tea. Nothing better on a cold night. Have a great weekend, Michelle!