December 22nd: Melted Frosty Cookies

Work Christmas Party...Woooh!

I love anything that involves sharing baked goods.

I was uber excited when I knew I could try out a new recipe.

In all my life I have never made Gingerbread cookies...can you believe that?

It could have to do with the fact that I don't like gingerbread cookies.

But every year I feel the desire to make them...and this was the year to do it.

And to tell you the truth they aren't half bad.

Yum Yum Yum!

This might become a tradition!?!

Anyways since the snow is now melting I thought melted Frosties were the cutest idea.

How adorable? You know you want to make them now!

They were super simple to make and decorate.

First find your favorite gingerbread recipe, and bake away.

Melt white chocolate, and spread onto the cookie for the melted snow.

Use chocolate frosting for the coal, and a sprinkle for the carrot nose. 

(I was out of orange so I had to use yellow)

I cut up Reese's for the top hat.

And now you have an adorable Melted Frosty!

The one below is my favorite...Look at his little smile!

I hope my work enjoys!

Merry Christmas!

December 21st: Christmas Cards Displayed

Every year I display my Christmas cards,

but I just set them all up on a mantle.

Not to interesting, and they seem to fall down a lot.

Pinterest has a lot of great ways to display them, but my house is very small and limited on space.

Yesterday I came up the greatest idea.

We have an archway in the entrance to our house, and I have never hung anything there,

but I thought this was a really good place to display

 all the Christmas Cheer that has been delivered to us.

I used kitchen yarn and clothes pins to hang all the pictures up.

I relocated our reusable chalkboard frame for the centerpiece.

I love it!

Only thing I'm worried about is...after the holidays I know I'm going to want something to hang here again...any ideas?

Do you see your Christmas card?

Thanks everyone for the Christmas cards, 

because obviously I wouldn't be able to do this without them!

December 20th: Snow Day!

It is officially our first snow day of the year.

Yay!

Cameron was very excited when she found out that her world have been covered by snow.

Happy Day in the Brogren house!

School was canceled, but her school program was still a go.

Santa made a special visit to her school, and she was able to chat it up with St. Nick himself.

She once again added another toy...a dinosaur this time.

I sure hope Santa has a big bag!

Not only did Cameron get to join in some Christmas cheer, but so did Mommy.

Peter offered for me to go and get my nails done in some Holiday Cheer.

I LOVE IT!

 The Holiday is quickly coming upon us...only 5 more days!

HO, HO, HO!

December 18th and 19th: Reindeer Cookies

Christmas shopping complete,

Christmas sweets are being baked...

and holiday cheer is coming back into our household!

Tomorrow Cameron is participating in her school Christmas program...

and I am baking cookies for her classroom.

Reindeer cookies seemed like the cutest idea for the little ones.

They were so simple to make, and I feel they came out pretty cute.

Only downfall is that they have red hot noises instead of red m&m's.

I was very disappointed when going to buy holiday m&m's...the only choice in holiday m&m's was a 8 lb. bag. Why do I need an 8 lb. bag?

Ugh!

So I went with red hots, which I don't like and I'm pretty sure most kids don't like.

Plus side, they turned out cute!

Thanks for stopping by

"Through Betsy's Looking Glass".

Happy Baking!

This page was shared with Adorned from Above, Its a Blog Party, and Sew Can Do.

December 17th: Coffee

We can all agree that the recent events of Connecticut

and even here in my own hometown have caused some heavy hearts, 

and some hugemongo stress in our household, and in most likely yours.

I'm in high hopes that we can all pull together and see what is right and what is wrong!

But today I am determined to focus on the good,

such as the magnificent coffee that my brother*in*law roasted for us.

Yummy!

I am so in need of a roaster now...

how awesome is it to wake up and drink a cup of coffee that you roasted yourself?

Thank you Kirk!

Your little spark of happiness brought joy to Peter and I's day.

And I hope you and Danna had a wonderful anniversary.

December 15th and 16th: Sadness and Joy

While December is normally such a happy time, 

we also remember the sadness that has hit us recently.

The tragedy in Connecticut has made me squeeze my little one just a little bit tighter, 

and give a million more kisses.

This morning at Church I came to realize that these children were taken cruelly from this world,

but have gone on to such a happier place.

Each and everyone of us has to enjoy every precious moment that our children give us.

And that is just what I did this morning.

My daughter, niece, and cousins were all in the Christmas Program at church.

They did such a wonderful job, 

and each one of them were cute beyond words.

Thank you Amanda for leading the children is such a wonderful program!

December 14th: Sugar Cube Houses!

Every year my amazing family gets together and makes sugar cube houses.

It is an awesome tradition that we participate in each year no matter how old we get.

We compete for the biggest, most unique, most silly, or even the pinkest.

Each house gets an award!

Sadly I have a job with inconsistent hours and I couldn't make it this year,

but my hubs and daughter were able to get there, and make their houses.

This was my daughter's first sugar cube house, 

and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

Cameron's award was the "Pinkalicious Award"...I think it was perfect.

Thanks Jackie for always taking the time to put this together for us.
I know Phil was up in heaven enjoying it all!

December 13th: Did you receive your Card?

Mostly everyone should have received their Christmas card.

Well, who I sent them to...obviously I'm limited on who all I can send them to.

If you haven't yet, you should soon.

I'm too excited so I'm gonna post it anyways.

I had to center around Santa in some way this year.

Cameron is all about the belief in St. Nick...it is so heartwarming.

And thank you so much for everyone that has sent us a card so far.

I love it so much to come home and see a card in the mail.

I especially loved the birth annoucement/Holiday card. Such a cute combo.

Thank You Everyone,

And Happy Holidays!

December 11th and 12th: Catch Up!

I know what your thinking 

"she promised to do a daily post for the entire month of December".

I failed!

I missed yesterday.

This wonderful (sarcasm) 24 hour flu that is seeking out predators finally found me.

Yesterday was not good, and I felt that in hopes of not spreading it I kept confined to my room for the entirety of the day. 

What if it could travel through the internet through some weird "cyber viral flu thing"?

Oh no, my inner geek is shining through.

Well, luckily it was only the 24 hour bug...I am back to my normal self, and happy to say that I 

welcomed my morning breakfast.

There did happen to be one plus side to yesterday...

a hilarious video I found online.

I normally hate it when people post things on facebook for others to watch, because

truthfully they don't end up being funny, or they are just so 

stupid I feel degraded after watching it.

But here I go posting my video that I found to be hilarious.

I literally laughed for probably a good 5 minutes after the video was over.

This is my first time trying to link to a video so I'm not sure this will work.

Here is the Link.

If that doesn't work, go to Youtube, and type in Wisdom Teeth: aftermath, and it will be the first available choice.

Okay, I know this post is kind of lame, but give me a brake I was sick yesterday.

Tomorrow, I promise, I'll be back to my "A" game.

Happy Youtubing!

December 10th: Creamy Chicken Bacon Pasta

Good news: Cameron seems to be feeling better!

And luckily I have no bad news to share. Yay!

Most of the day yesterday I was hungry for something thick, rich, and totally not healthy.

You know you have days like that.

So I searched and pinned many things on Pinterest, and finally made a decision.

A Creamy Chicken Bacon Pasta.

Yummy!

It was extremely simple, but so delicious!

It is a must make.

Here is the link to the wonderful mastermind behind this recipe.

Be sure to pin her page, and check it out.

You won't be sorry you did.

And I am excited to announce I just got done making a Christmas surprise for all my loved ones,

but sadly I can't share it here until after Christmas, because of course you will all see it.

UGH!

All bloggers can confide with me...the temptation is so strong.

And for a final note, I'm mailing out the Christmas cards tomorrow.

Check in your mailbox!

December 9th: Sick Baby

I have come to realize that not only do good days follow with greater things, but

also the bad.

Cameron woke up last night at 2 am with the confirmation of a sick

little girl all over my shirt (if you get the gist).

We know somethings wrong when she sleeps past 6 am, 

and not only did she do that, but she slept until 11.

Poor baby girl!

Francis left Cameron a note of encouragement.

I decided to take advantage of the time alone by cleaning the living room, and dining room.

I was so excited that I had accomplished so much so early on a Sunday 

that I texted photos to my husband

bragging about what I had succeeded in doing today.

I know your thinking, really how is this such an accomplishment, but whenever

I decide to clean Cameron decides to help, Ugh! 

Such a big heart, but not such a big help.

This was my first mistake...I feel that if maybe I hadn't of bragged about this 

I might not of had a problem.

I'm allowed to think this, right?

Just a little bit ago she fell asleep for a short nap, and I mean short.

I ran to the bathroom once her last lash fell, and started to take a shower, 

that's when I heard a pitter patter of feet.

What do you do in a situation like this?

Do I get out soaking wet, hair not washed?

I decided I would brave the disaster of what could happen while I was in the shower.

Bad decision # 2!

I came to find that the living room now was occupied by an audience 

of stuffed animals watching Max and Ruby.

Cameron had felt that they were hungry and 

had dumped a bag of chips on the floor in front of them, as well.

And you would think this is all that could have been happened in just a short 15 minutes, but NO...

she had succeeded in giving her doll, Kit, a makeover, to top it all off.

Uhhhh!

It's all okay...I am going to take a deep breath and just keep on going.

P.S. I promise to get back into my crafting and baking once school is over.

December 8th: Birthday Boy

6 years ago my favorite nephew was born.

Today we celebrated his birthday, and he is turning into such a handsome young man. 

 And if you can see the cake next to him, it was wonderful, and it looked really cool.

It is made to look like a basketball out of peanut butter m&ms.

Such a great idea.

You could do this with almost anything.

A flower, a beach ball, and so many more cake ideas.

His mother did a really good job.

Along with a fun time with my nephew and family, 

I learned of lots of other great news.

My cousin is now engaged to a wonderful girl,

and my friend found out he is having a boy in about 20 weeks.

Great days always come with great news.

I love it when you think that it can't get much better, but it does.

Cameron surprised me by writing her name for the first time today.

I was so proud of her.

Even though I not quite sure what the random squiggle in the middle is!?!

 

And to finish off the day a friend gave me a flower today for no apparent reason.

How sweet!

Thank you Vikki!

I know you're probably thinking this is just a bunch of random blabber,

but when great things happen I can't not share it.

(I know Double Negative, such terrible English for an English major)!!!

So finally, let us turn back to this morning, about 8 am.

Cameron had found that Francis the Elf had gotten into our cookies we baked.

Uh oh!

She thought it was so funny, and then she proceeded to finish the cookies off.

Well that's it for my randomness.

Hope everyone had just a great a day as we did.

What awesomeness happened in your life today?

December 7th: School Photo

I was uber gitty yesterday when I found out that Cameron's first school pictures had arrived.

Today I immediately went out and picked them up. 

And they turned out wonderful!

 Now all I need is some ideas on how to display her school pictures year to year.

How do you display your child's school pictures?

I want to be able to see all of them year to year.

Any ideas?

December 6th: Francis the Elf

Yesterday was a hectic day, and I am just now getting around to yesterday's post.

Cameron's elf finally arrived!

She was so excited when she found it this morning.

She picked the perfect name...

"Francis the Elf".

I was originally hesitant on the elf on the shelf, but everyone seems to be doing it,

and I see how excited they are about it, especially my lovely nieces.

I knew I had to join the elfish games once Cameron asked when her elf was going to arrive.

Francis arrived and she started screaming with joy, 

because that meant that he had just come from Santa's workshop.

It is as if we have a celebrity in the house.

Yay for Francis!

Do your children have an elf at your house?

December 5th: 2011 Christmas Card

Today is one of those days where

you feel like going home and shutting the door.

And I truthfully didn't expect today to be a stressful day.

Peter and I both had the day off,

we planned some light Christmas shopping,

a short Santa visit, and

finally back home to watch some "Arthur's Christmas".

How can that be too bad?

Well, as many of you may know, with children, the snowball effect can happen at the drop of a hat.

It was one thing after another,

 and I feel Cameron was at the point of purposely trying to get us to pull our hair out.

But I took a deep breath and just kept on going.

And that's when my husband pulled into Hazel Hill.

He tells us all to get out and pick out whatever we want.

I was just as excited as Cameron.

Husbands (significant others, whoever) they seem to have a small radar..."she needs chocolate" it quietly whispers, and they know.

And for those of you who have not experienced the essence of Hazel Hill, it is a store filled with 

so many kinds of chocolate...I feel like I'm at Wanka's factory.

You have to make a trip there if you are ever in Topeka.

After our indulgence in chocolate I knew we would all be okay.

Everyone was a little bit happier!

Okay, now onto the main point of this post...our Christmas card from last year.

Last year I wanted to test out my own photography skills, so I took the photo myself, and it turned out good, but a true professional would of course had better lighting, background, etc.

And of course I had to make a sign that said "Joy"!

You obviously know by now that Christmas for me is such a joyful time, 

and I just want to spread the joy.

For the finished card I put glitter all around the edge.

I attempted to take a photo of it, because I love how it turned out, but

the glitter kept reflecting off the camera.

So, that was a no go!

Well, that's it for today.

I hope all of you are enjoying the oncomings of Christmas as much as we are.

Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite kind of chocolate is.

I personally am all about the salted caramel chocolates.

December 4th: 2010 Christmas Card

Our 2010 Christmas card still stands to be my favorite photo.

My lovely friend captured the perfect moment of Cameron holding a cup of hot chocolate.

It is absolutely adorable as she peeks over the rim of the cup about to take a sip.

Cameron was 14 months old in this photo,

and I was ecstatic with how well she did with the photo.

I loved it enough to have it hanging in our living room all year round.

And once again this is a photo of a photo...if only I had a scanner.

Thank you Belinda for your awesome photography skills!

I can't wait to see everyone else's holiday photos.

Check back tomorrow for last years (2011) Christmas photo.

Do you love cocoa?

If so, do you add, cinnamon, peppermint, marshmallows, etc?

December 3rd: 2009 Christmas Photo

I'm sure many people do this. . .

they peruse through the internet searching for good ideas for photos.

I know I do!

I'm not trying to sound like a high and mighty photographer or anything, but

I feel a lot of our photos come out pretty decent,

or it could completely be a mothers eye viewing her precious daughter.

It is probably more the latter. 

A majority of the time it has to do with... 

1. Borrowing other's awesome photog ideas

or

2. The awesome effects available (Picmonkey, instagram, and many more).

So as I promised I wanted to share our previous Christmas card photos.

I thought I would start with 2009, our first Christmas card.

As you may have read in previous post I absolutely LOVE Christmas.

It just makes everyone so happy...

and Christmas cards are just another way to spread that Joy!

This is Cameron when she was just 2 months old.

I love it!

And truthfully it looks grainy and all, because I took a photo of a photo.

Woops!

Anyways. . . I have searched everywhere for the original card, because I know I had extra, 

but sadly I can't find any so this is what we are left with.

Well, check back tomorrow for our 2010 Christmas card. Think Hot Chocolate!

Do you send a photo with you Christmas card, a detailed letter, or a simple heartfelt message?

December 2nd: Scarbella Scarf

My original plan for today's post is going to be put on hold for one more day,

just because I had a wonderful surprise today.

My lovely neighbor showed up today with 2 beautiful scarfs for Cameron and I.

I was ecstatic!

I had actually seen these on Pinterest just the other day, and I stopped to look at it,

but when I realized you have to know how to knit, that's when I moved along.

I thought this was the sweetest thing that she took the time to make these for us. 

I can't wait for it to get a little colder so I won't look like an idiot in 60 degree weather with a scarf on.

Scarfs are most definitely one of my favorite accessories.

Thank you Jolene, we love them!

Do you loves scarfs as much as I do?

December 1: Christmas Surprise!

Last night Peter, Cameron, and I 

spent the evening decorating our Christmas tree, 

that we cut down ourselves.

It was such a fun experience picking our own tree, and 

making sure that we didn't pick one inhabited by birds (which we almost did).

Next year we will be sure to do this again, 

even though it was a little more pricey, the experience was worth it.

As I was saying we decorated the tree,

and this was Cameron's first year as a "Designated Lower Half of the Tree Ornament Hanger".

She loved opening each ornament, and discovering what was inside the bubble wrapping.

And truthfully I was just as giddy.

You forget what ornaments are there to surprise you.

And I have to say that the most exciting ornament was one that I had forgotten about, 

that we received from my brother, and sister in law last Christmas.

My sister in law had made herself.

It has Peter and I's wedding invitation inside.

I had totally forgotten about it, and I got so excited when I saw it.

I think it is so neat how you can see random words from the invite that reminds you what it is.

Such a great idea Amanda, thanks!

Is there an ornament that you have that has a special meaning behind it?

Christmas Fever!

Okay so tomorrow is the first day of December, 

and I have decided that I need to get back on the blogging train.

I'm setting a goal for myself, in hopes that I will blog more.

I want to make a post once a day, and I 

promise to try not to bore your eyes out.

Oh, and this is just for the month of December...

there is NO way I could succeed in blogging everyday after December, because school will have 

started back up again.
I thought December was the perfect month since I'm in between school, 

and it's also such a happy time of year.

Anyways,

we have had some ups and downs in our house lately. 

Sickness, struggling in school, work overload, etc.

But I knew with all the downs, the ups had to come at some point, and I'm finally starting to see them.

First off, every year I make our Christmas cards,
and I have so much fun doing them.
But I seem to forget all the headache that comes along with making, sealing, writing, etc.
Until it comes time for the next years. . .and it all flows back.
Why do I do this every year. . .because I'm so happy with the result
when it's all said and done.
I love the Joy that comes along with Christmas, and
Christmas cards are just a simple way of spreading that joy.
I absolutely LOVE coming home and seeing an envelope sticking out of our mailbox.
I run over an rip it open excited to see what it is.
It makes me so happy to know that someone took the time, and thought of me.

Well as you may have guessed, we did do our annual Christmas photo,
just the other night.
And let me tell you. . .it was as expected!
 Photo below explains!

I came home almost in tears.
Should I be this upset over such a small thing?
No, but I came home, and started looking through the 50 or so photos we took, and
I actually found about 5 that I really loved.
We should all remember that it will all turn out for the best!
And it did.

Our Christmas photo will be posted next week, after I mail out the Christmas cards.

Do you send out Christmas cards?
And do you also get excited when you receive Christmas cards in the mail?

Turkey Time!

I have sadly been away from the blogging world for a few weeks.

I have either been studying, working, nursing 2 sick people in our household, and then becoming sick from the 2 sick people, etc.

It has not been fun, to say the least.

But Cameron, and Peter are finally feeling better, and I am hopefully on the upward slope to feeling better, ugh, we will see.

Now on to what Cameron and I have been up to lately.

The other day Cameron and I were reading a few books on Thanksgiving, in hopes that she would better understand yet another holiday.

Her first choice in turkey literature was "Fancy Nancy and her Thanksgiving Banquet".

It was such a cute story, but what Cameron picked out from the book was Fancy Nancy's headband.

The artist had drawn an adorable little turkey headband on Fancy Nancy, and Cameron asked if she could wear one on Thanksgiving too.

How could I turn down a request like that?

A cute crafty headband is always a must.

I thought it came out really cute.

I found feathers a Hobby Lobby, and just hot glued them onto the back of a headband that she had.

We then used a cute craft bottle cap for the turkey face, and goodly eyes.

I left out the beak, and gobler. 

I tried a few things, but they kept looking cheap, or weird.

So I decided to just leave it like this.

She seemed to be satisfied with the finished product,

and that is all that counts.

And I also have to brag about this adorable outfit she is wearing.

We are low on the funds here in our household lately,

and we have been trying everything to save a little.

Everything she is wearing is either from clearance,

or from a half price store.

It didn't cost over ten dollars.

I was really satisfied with our latest finds.

What I am thankful for:

(obviously this does not cover everything)

1. I am thankful for everyone in my family. Doesn't matter if you are my daughter, sister in law, 2nd cousin, or great aunt, each of you shares a special place in my heart. And I love you all!

2. I am thankful for my health. And I might want to start working out, or I might be rethinking this.

3. I am thankful for smiles. Each and everyday something negative happens, or is heard, but the smallest genuine smile brings my hopes back up.

4. I am thankful for chocolate! I know your thinking "really. . .chocolate", but come on. . .it's chocolate.

Thanks Dan. . .you always know when I need chocolate!

5. And lastly I am thankful for my faith in God. I may not be at church every Sunday, but he is with me every step of the way.

And thanks for stopping by

"Through Betsy's Looking Glass".

And have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Merida Costume

Halloween is here,

and so is Cameron's costume.

Cameron wanted to be Merida this year after we saw the 

adorable movie, "Brave".

If you haven't seen it yet, you need to.

We thought it was so cute.

My amazing mother once again pulled through with this perfect costume.

We searched and searched for a Merida pattern online, and in the fabric stores.

No luck there.

We then went through pattern books looking for something similar.

Once again no luck.

My mom had the genius idea to search for out of date patterns online.

For example, through ebay, etc.

My mom found a dress almost exactly like Merida's dress.

And it only cost a few dollars, the pattern I mean.

Awesome!!!!

After hours of her working on this wonderful costume we have Merida.

And my hairstylist told me about this awesome new stuff, called Hair Chalk.

Perfection!!!!

It goes in easily, and the hair still feels like hair, not hard crusty hair!

Only downfall was that it got everywhere, but it easily comes out with a wet wash cloth.

Happy Halloween,

 and

Thanks for stopping by

"Through Betsy's Looking Glass".

This page has been shared with The Gunny Sack, Sew Can Do, Krafty Kat, and its a blog party.

Halloween Hershey's Kit Kats

I was so excited yesterday when in the mail I received

a box of Hershey's Halloween themed Kit Kat's.

I have still not gone out to buy my Halloween candy yet, 

and I wanted to do something fun, and new this year.

This was the perfect solution.

They have a delicious white chocolate taste, and 

the bright orange color makes it so fun to devour.

This family approves!

Thanks Hershey for the chance to try this fun new candy!

This post was 100% my own opinion,

but was sponsored by Hershey's.