Cheyenne's 4 year old interview

What is your name?  Nanners

What is your mom's name?  Doylenn

What is your dad's name?  Adam

What does your mom do all day?  Clean

What does your dad do all day?  Works

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? To the store
What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite toy? My doll house
What is your favorite fruit? Cupcakes
What is your favorite cartoon? Team Umizoomie and even Blue Planet too

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cupcakes

What is the grossest thing to eat for lunch? The Santa lights
What is your favorite thing to wear? All of the things that I got in my closet
What is your favorite game? Hide and seek
What is your favorite snack? Cupcakes

What is your favorite animal? Zebras

Which do you like more, hunting or fishing?  Fishing
What is your favorite song? Christmas songs
What is your favorite book? Miss Piggle Wiggle
Who is your best friend? Harlee

What is your favorite cereal? The ones that I ated last year
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Run around and play
What is your favorite drink? Water

What is your favorite season? Christmas
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Susie
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwhich
What do you want to be when you grow up? A vet

Where is your favorite place to go? This place

What is your favorite restaurant? Applebees

What kind of party to do want for your 5th birthday? Bugs, I mean rainbow horse one

If you could move anywhere in the world where would you live? Right here
What kind of party do you think Harlee should have for her birthday? I think Harlee should have a deer one
What pets do you have? A kitty cat
What is your favorite butterfly? The ones that are just soft, I mean a moon moth, Moon moths are really true and they live out in night, only in night

Polka dots or stripes? polka dots
Do you like showers or baths more? Baths
If you could have any super power what would it be? I got superpower and its see through power.  I have a true power, I can see through my hand.
Who is your favorite person in the whole world? My mom is
What do you hope to do before you next birthday? Color pictures

What would you buy if you had $1000? Cookies
What are you really good at?  Coloring pictures
What is your favorite sport?  The sport that we just goed to
Where do you wish you could go on vacation? At Sarah's
What is your favorite thing to do with friends? Run around

If you could have one wish what would it be? Run around forever
Who is your biggest hero? Harlee
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate dipped fudge
Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself?  Oh, decorating our house. Even setting up the Christmas tree, and even decorating it, even the ones that makes music. 

All photography in this post is the work of Crafty Honey Badger Mia at Snow Capped Dreams Photography.

Elfie is back! And she still isn't a spy for Santa!

Tonight our elf on the shelf will appear in our house just like in thousands of other homes.  But unlike in thousands of other homes this elf is not a spy for Santa.

Millions of children get the threat of you better be good or Santa won't come.  I've done it.  But it doesn't do anything to improve behavior.  It is just another empty threat, because let's get real,  I'm not going to give my kids nothing but coal for Christmas.

And if Santa was real, he wouldn't either, because he, like Jesus, has harnessed the power of forgiveness.

Our elf is a bit mischievous but not terribly so. Our elf is here to learn to be good and to teach forgiveness.  The girls have to forgive Elfie for being wild and a bit naughty.

The girls can play with Elfie and enjoy her.  I would be silly to get them a new toy and tell them to never touch it.  I want to set them up for success, not failure. 

There is no naughty and nice list.  We have nice girls in this house and only nice girls. Sometimes they make mistakes but so do I and no one threatens to take my Christmas presents away. Jesus has forgiven me and Jesus has forgiven them.

And so has Santa.

 

Santa sent a letter carefully explaining that the naughty and nice list is just something people do for fun.  I didn't want to make 98% of the world out to be liars, well actually you are liars but we don't need to get the kids involved at this point.

Santa is also friends with Jesus and they know all about grace and forgiveness.

And seriously how can your elf be naughty and then it reports back to Santa about your children's naughtiness? Just doesn't make sense!

And maybe just maybe Elfie can teach the girls about love and forgiveness. Because Jesus is the reason for the season and Jesus loves and forgives us,  Every.  Single. Day.

Thanksgiving Yarn Tassel Garland

Tis the season to eat TURKEY... Fa La La La La, La La La La! 

Have family coming for Thanksgiving dinner? Feel the home needs a little more of a festive touch? This a great last minute decoration to add an extra seasonal flair to your home on Thanksgiving. Simple but totally cute! 

Gather up a wrap base of your choice, yarn, and scissors and follow the arrows! Lets do this! 

Using a square piece of cardboard or lid to a tupperware wrap yarn of choice around and around until you reach how thick you'd like your tassel. I did 30 wraps. The size of wrap around base can be however short or long you would like your tassels as well. The tupperware lid I used was 4 3/8 long.

Once you have your yarn wrapped around, take about a 3-4 inch piece of yarn and tie a simple knot on top side of wraps as in photo. Take your scissors and cut along the bottom of your wraps turning them loose to look like in the next photo. Cut another 3-4 inch piece of yard and tie your yarn into a tassel shape forming the ball on the top. 

Repeat until you reach desired amount of tassels for your garland. I strung them onto another piece of yarn but anything you have that would form a garland you can use.

There you have it! Simple, quick, and cute seasonal garland.

Homemade poultry seasoning

The only time I use poultry seasoning is when I'm making a big pile of stuffing.  And those dinky little bottles they sell it in are ridiculous.  I need a ton of them.  Two years ago I was doing my pre Thanksgiving grocery shopping and the store was out of poultry seasoning.  I went to another store and it was out as well.  I decided to make my own.  After looking at a few recipes out there I 'made' my own.  I like mine a tiny bit more sagey.

1/2 Cup Sage

1/3 Cup Thyme

1/4 Cup Marjoram

1/8 Cup Nutmeg

1/8 Cup Pepper

If you have all finely ground spices just put all of it in a jar and give it a good shake. Mine were not so I put them all in my magic bullet and let it grind em and mix em up. Then I dumped it all in a jar.  Easy as pie. 

Flashback Friday - How to clean a pack and play

 Welcome to Flashback Friday! Today we have this popular post on how to clean your pack and play.  I wasn't expecting it to get near this much attention but hey, lots of us have pack and plays and they all need cleaned.  Enjoy.

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Awhile back I saw a you tube video about how to clean your pack and play.  Okay, I'll file that idea away under 'things I don't need to know right now.'  My pack and play is NOT dirty.  I have had it almost 5 years and it still looks perfect. 

Wait.

Seriously, almost 5 years?

In the tub it goes.  Fill it full of hot water and a half cup of homemade laundry soap and a half cup of Melamagic (cleaner by Melaleuca).  If I didn't have those cleaners, I would use a half cup of any all purpose cleaner and 2  cups of store bought laundry soap.  Let it soak for a couple of hours.  This is how dirty the water got from my 'not dirty' pack and play.

Pretty gross if you ask me.

After I pulled it out of the tub I set it on a towel to dry.  The brown spots on my towel where out of control gross.  So I put in back in the tub, same as before. The water was just as dirty AGAIN! After it was done soaking for the second time I took it outside and rinsed it with the hose til the water ran clear and then set it on a towel to dry. The towel stayed clean that time.

Next time, I'll just rinse it the first time.

Biscuit & Gravy Casserole

What more do I need to say? Its biscuits & gravy.... as a casserole! A comforting breakfast favorite all combined into one dish. Fast, easy and that classic flavor we all love. Give it a try!

Crank your oven to 375 and lets do this!

Biscuit & Gravy Casserole

*This makes a large 13x9 casserole, feel free to half the recipe*

2 Cans flakey biscuits

2 Pounds jimmy dean sausage

4 Cups country gravy (Thick)

1 Onion, chopped

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 Tablespoon butter

Pre-heat your oven to 375. Caramelize your onion in butter and garlic, add sausage and cook. Prep 4 cups of country gravy weather its from a packet or homemade from your sausage grease prep right around 4 cups. I prefer my gravy to be thick but of course whatever your preference will work!  Pop your  biscuit cans and cut them into pieces of 4. Layer half your biscuits on the bottom layer of a greased casserole dish. Bake bottom layer of biscuits until they begin to get golden so your bottom layer is cooked. Once brown stir your sausage and onion mixture into gravy. Allow to simmer for a couple minutes. Pour entire mixture over your bottom layer. Take other half of biscuits and layer the rest of them on top of your casserole. 

Bake for 10-15 Minutes or until your biscuits on top get brown.

*Tip* This is an easy recipe. Too much sausage? gravy? no problem... make it work for you. This is the basic layout of how to make a slam dunk breakfast great for feeding family visiting during the holidays!! 

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Chicken Delight

This is one of my favorite recipes for three reasons

1. My kids eat it.

2. It's delicious.

3. It's so super quick to make.

4 chicken breasts

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 medium onion, diced (purple or white is fine)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup salsa

1 can diced green chilies

8 oz cream cheese

Dump everything into the crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours (until the chicken is cooked).

Before serving stir everything up and shred the chicken breasts.

Serve with corn chips or heated tortillas and  shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.

This would also make an amazing appetizer...except no one would want to eat anything else, and that just might be a problem.