Caramel Nut Fudge Balls

I made these for my sister's Christmas party last Friday. I thought they turned out so cute. They are very yummy, but very rich. I got the recipe from Paula Dean. The fudge has Velveeta in it. Weird huh? Then you dip them in caramel and I covered them with chopped peanuts. YUM!

Chocolate Cheese Fudge

Ingredients:
1/2 pound Velveeta cheese, sliced
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts
Two 16-ounce packages confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup cocoa

Directions: Melt cheese and butter together over medium heat in saucepan. Remove from heat, add vanilla and nuts. Sift together sugar and cocoa in large bowl. Add cheese mixture. Use hands for final mixing! Remove candy from bowl with hands and roll into balls. Add skewers. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Tonight we are going to my sister's house for dinner. We are having a 7 course meal. I am in charge of the appetizers. It is always fun for Ryley to go there. Her and her cousin, Abby, have a lot of fun playing dress up. Abby has all of these really cute dress up shoes from Costco. I thought that would be a great present for Ryley for Christmas, but when I went to look, wouldn't you know they didn't have them. I was totally bummed out. I think I will continue looking through out the year though. I think she got 6 pair for $18!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! I can't wait for Scott to open a particular present I got him!! And I can't wait for Ryley to see her presents. She got a tricycle that we have to put together tonight!! YEAH!!

Bad Santa Photos

Do any of you watch Ellen? It is one of my favorite shows. She is just so funny and always makes my day. So on her show she has people submit their bad Santa photos and then she shows everyone. Sometimes they are so sad, but so funny. Almost all of the kids are crying or giving Santa a weird look.
We took Ryley to see Santa last week and this was the photo Scott got:

I'm pretty sure this is the worst Santa photo ever!

Inch worm

I have an inch worm in my house. Kirye is inch-ing all over now. It is so cute. He has even started getting in to the dog food....just like Ryley did. Ew! I think I will definitely need to put the baby gate up soon so he won't fall down the stairs.

I went to the dr. with Kirye yesterday because he hasn't been feeling well. He had 3 teeth come in all at once and had a runny nose and was just not happy. So I took him in to the doctor because I suspected he might have an ear infection...and he did. So he is on antibiotics now. I am glad I actually took him in instead of just pushing it off like it was just a cold.

Ryley has been so funny lately. She is really in to changing her clothes. She likes to change her pants 2-3 times a day. It is actually quite annoying because there are clothes all over her floor and I don't know which ones are dirty and which ones are clean. It is funny because as soon as we get home from anywhere she will change out of her jeans and in to her "comfy" sweat bottoms or pj bottoms.

Does anyone watch The Biggest Loser? That is one of my favorite shows. It is so inspiring and I just love to see the transformations of the people. The finale was on last night and they all looked AMAZING!!! One of the ladies, Julie, looked so incredible. She went from 220 pounds to 121 pounds! I just couldn't believe how good she looked. And it is amazing how young most of the contestants were, but how the weight made them look so much older than they actually were.

Here is Julie's profile: http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/contestants/current_cast/julie/index.shtml

Maniac

This is my new favorite commercial. I have probably seen it about 5 times already and each time I end up laughing hysterically!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Okay, so for those of you who know me, you know I like to sing and dance around my house pretty much all day long (or even if you know me you might not know that about me). I'm sure my kids will always be annoyed by me when they are old enough to get annoyed.
Anyway, so I was dancing around my kitchen this morning singing, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and I started thinking about the lyrics: "There'll be parties for hosting,marshmallows for toasting..." I don't know about you, but I have never roasted marshmallows at Christmas time. Have you? Another lyric I thought was interesting was "there'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago." I have never told scary ghost stories during the holidays. Weird huh? Maybe they just needed to find words to rhyme so they put those ones in.

First Snow Day

Scott was throwing snow on Obi. For some weird reason he loved it.

















We had our first snow day last week so I thought I would post some pictures of us playing in the snow. It snowed a couple of times, but it is completely gone now. This week has been in the 40's. Today was in the 30's and I think it is supposed to get colder next week. Anyway, since the snow was all gone Ryley and I were able to go outside and play on her jungle gym. She just LOVES that thing. I am so glad we have it. We also picked up dog poop today since we could see it. It was so gross, but at least it was competely frozen and came up pretty easy. I filled a whole Wal-Mart bag full. I guess it had been a while!




Today our family went roller skating! Yes, you heard me...roller skating. It was totally fun and Ryley loved it, even though she was pretty much just walking in her skates. She had to hold on to the sides or our hands, but it was fun. I don't think I have been roller skating since middle school. We used to go to this slimy place where all the kids would hang out and meet their boyfriends. I remember they would always do the "hokey pokey" song and everyone would get in a big circle and look like fools. I can't believe how young I was when I was last at a roller skating rink.




This picture reminded me of the kid in "A Christmas Story." The little brother who can't get up when he has fallen in his overly padded snow suit. Kirye was sitting on the floor and then just slowly fell over and I don't think he could move after that.












Ryley climbing up her swing set.

Going down the slide, regardless of all the snow.

Thoughts

A few things I've learned recently:

**Don't empty the dryer lint with wet hands

**Whoever invented Dora the Explorer is my hero (not because I like the show, but because it will keep my 2 year old entertained for at least 20-30 minutes)

**It doesn't matter if I put my kids to bed 30 minutes late the night before; they will still wake up at 7am.

**I have really learned to appreciate my warm house in 25 degree weather.

**Don't let a 2 year old try to shovel the driveway...trust me, it will never get done.

**Every year I think I just might like to try eggnog, but every year I can't stand the stuff

**Driving 4-6 hours to Grandmas house is definitely worth it

**Staying up late on a Friday night is just not the same after you've had kids. The next morning comes waaaayyy too fast.

**Gymnastics really is worth the $30/month just to see how much fun Ryley has doing it.

**Even though it's only the day after Thanksgiving, it's smart to put up your Christmas lights. Now we have to try to do it with all the snow. At least this year we have a pre lit fake Christmas tree! I am so excited...no mess on the floor for Kirye to try and eat.