The day-2-day living blog & in the land of mom blogs are hosting a New Years Eve Blog Hop! Ring in the New Year with New Friends and readers! Thank-you both for hosting this fun and great hop!
New Year Blog Hop
Welcome to New friends! I wish everyone a Happy and prosperous new year!
OrganizHER by Mead Giveaway winner has been drawn by Random.org. The winner is: #1 Teresa B. She said:”I would like to try the meal planner magnet. It would make my busy day a lot easier.”
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I would like to wish Happy Holidays from Mommies and Beyond to your family! May the blessings of the season be yours!
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Hello New friends and Happy Holidays!
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It was a busy day. Everyone had plans from singing for a church program, going to the movies, laundry, and more. I was going to be shopping for the last minute Christmas dinner items and eggs for cookie baking. Once nap time was over and the shopping was complete, K and I began to have a little holiday kitchen fun.
We mixed and measured and giggled as we set out to make Christmas cookies and maybe try one or two new recipes too!
Preparing cereal to make Reindeer food!
As you can see, he dressed himself today. I was not complaining as he was staying in the house today. At least he remembered under clothing and his socks actually matched!
To my surprise, we did not spill anything on our new dinette chair or the floor. However, he spent a good amount of time talking about eggs, touching them, holding them and even kissing them, lol. I had to ask him to stop kissing the eggs. He wanted me to know that he loved Humpty Dumpty and he was kissing his favorite character(the egg). He recited the nursery rhyme several times. It was cute.
We ended up making Peanut Butter cookies instead of Christmas cookies.
Peanut Butter cookies
We made Peanut butter cookies, mini Peanut Butter Cookies and then we used our Wilton Christmas Cookie baking pan. The pan is shaped like Christmas Cookies. You simply add your cookie dough and then you have Christmas cookies without the time and mess of cookie cutters. We experimented with the pan by using peanut butter cookie dough and mini chocolate chips. As suspected, they did not rise but they turned out to be cute and we had a lot of fun making them!
We wanted to try out at least one new recipe. We have been admiring the photos of the Betty Crocker 2010 Holiday Trends.
Cupcake Poppers
Sweet Swirl Marshmallows
Reindeer Feed
Vegan Sugar Cookies
I wanted to try at least one of these Betty Crocker Recipes with Mr. K. I will make the Vegan Sugar Cookies during on next session of holiday baking.
I thought that he would enjoy making the Reindeer Feed!
Reindeer Feed:
Ingredients
6 cups Rice Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal
1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips (2 cups)
1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy canes (14 miniature, unwrapped)
Directions
1. Line cookie sheet with foil or waxed paper. Place cereal in large bowl.
2. In microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla baking chips uncovered on High about 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until chips can be stirred smooth. Stir in half the crushed peppermint candy.
3. Pour over cereal; toss to evenly coat. Spread mixture in single layer on cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle with remaining candy. Let stand until set, about 20 minutes. Gently break up coated cereal. Store in airtight container.
Tip: To make feed bag, cut two 6 1/2 x 5-inch rectangles from a piece of muslin-type fabric. Using a hot glue gun, run a bead of glue on edge of three sides of one rectangle. Top with other rectangle to form pocket. Turn pocket inside-out. Roll down top opened edge to create a cuff.
Being that I just returned from the grocery store, I decided to play a little bit with this recipe. I had a bag of mini chocolate chips but I did not have the white vanilla baking chips. I had the Chex cereal and for color, I added Fruity Pebbles. I had candy canes but it surprisingly turned out to be a fruity flavor rather than a peppermint. Our recipe looks a little different but it taste great!
pretend smile as we continued to prepare Reindeer food!
Mini Chocolate Chips to melt
Two cereals mixed and baking sprinkles added
Melted Chocolate Chips have been added to coat cereal.
Once our Reindeer Feed has dried, We will add it to little Holiday bags and add homemade Scrap Christmas bows!
We even made a fun and quick dinner too!
Fun and Silly Dinner
To keep in with our baking theme, we made homemade macaroni and cheese with ham, velveta cheese, and shredded cheese to top. Then baked it. The children loved this dinner idea.
BTW… As you can see in the photos the mess we made was tremendous. Yikes.
We had so much making this Reindeer Food recipe. I am going to share the original Betty Crocker Reindeer Feed recipe and create a batch for our friends and family for Christmas!
Visit The Betty Crocker Red Hot Holiday Trends and Holiday recipes today!
Crazy Hair Miss. J.
Miss. J woke up to learn that a Snow Day was called…No School two days in a row! I guess her hair must have been shocked.
Mr. K's gonna build his first snowman!
We first collected the items that he would like to use to make his snowman!
K's First Snowman
His snowman was not rolled but he was built as a sand castle would be built. He has a mini pumpkin for a nose, A black cowboy hat that Mr.K got from his first time at the fair.(mommy got a pink one!) Green Legos for eyes and a blue tie-Dye fleece scarf. This snow man looks like he is singing the blues!
Sugar Cookies and Denny's Homemade Icing!
Mr. K was very excited about baking cookies!
A Paisley Cookie designed by Miss.J.
Miss A., Miss J., and Miss A enjoyed baking cookies. We were our running errands and Christmas shopping all day. When we arrived home, Denny had a nice dinner prepared and a cookie baking surprise awaiting. He already had the dough mixed and chilled. Once dinner was over, he surprised us with a family Cookie Baking experience! We all had a fun and messy time!
You can download and print the PDF file of these adorable Christmas trees to add to your holiday baking. Read here to access the link to print your Holiday Baking Craft!
Thank-you to the All Sorts Website and Jurianne Matter.”
These fun and great Mead products would make an excellent Holiday gift for the children in your life. There are many titles to choose from:
Mead has introduced a new line of learning tools perfect for school readiness and preschooler readiness. The Mead Early-Learners tools are organized according to four educational and skill associated stages.
Stage1:
Fine Motor Development(pencil control, drawing, visual skills, pencil grasp, cutting skills)
Including Fun home activities to develop fine and perceptual motor skills. This is an area that we have been working to improve with Mr.K.
Stage 2:
Letter and Number Formation 
Including Fun home activities to encourage proper letter formation.
Stage 3:
The Learn to Letter tablet is a primary writing tablet developed and tested by handwriting experts. It features narrow line width for optimal pencil control.
Children can Practice activities to build vocabulary and storytelling skills.
Stage 4: Helps children to learn proper spacing between letters. This is a great book to help young children to learn how- to properly begin writing on a sheet of paper and how-to stay in the margins of the paper. This Stage 4 tablet would be a wonderful gift or summer activity to help children to improve their handwriting.
Stage 4 books offer Some tips to refine letter formation skills and sustained writing.
Mead Early Learners Tools We were really impressed with the educational tips and special features of the Mead Early Learners products. I liked that each tablet contained information on how to improve your child’s skills and handwriting. For instance: Educational tips included teaching your child paper stabilization tips, posture pointers and even the proper way for your child to grasp the writing utensil.
I liked the raised ruling of the paper. It is easier for the child to learn to write between the lines when they can actually both see and feel the lines. It is easier for a child to understand proper placement of the letters on the lines. In stage 2 of the Learn To Letter with guidelines tablet, the directions and raised ruling show the child just how to form the letters. There are even practice sheets that guide the child to form each letter by steps. The guide shows the child what line to form first and where.
These are wonderful learning tools. I would happily purchase additional MeadOragnizHer products and Early Learners activities tablets. I have found these products helpful in becoming an organized person. I think that the Mead Early Learners products are wonderful. I am excited that my children enjoyed working with these tablets. I would recommend these tools for your home organization and for your childrens educational development. Visit Mead to learn more about new products and educational tools. You can also connect with Mead via Face Book.
* You can purchase the Mead Early Writing & Activity Books at the Mead online store in time to get this great gift loaded onto Santa’s sleigh. In fact, there is a special shipping promotion to save you on your holiday shipping.
Free Shipping with any order of $60 or more at the Mead store.
Due to a website glitch…The winner will be drawn on December 20, 2010 by Random.org . The winner will have 48 hours to reply to the email notification of winning. If at that time, the winner has not replied, a new winner shall be chosen.
Mandatory to enter: Visit Mead and tell me what Early Writing & Activity Books You would love for your child/children to win!
For Extra Entries(1 per task) to win the Mead Early Writing and Activities Books:
-Good-Luck and Happy Holidays!