Christmas Goodies

One thing I love about the Christmas season is, baking! When we were little, I loved helping my Mom bake. We would make treats to share with neighbors or something special to bake for our family Christmas gatherings. Mom was always coming up with new and yummy recipes.

Now that I'm a Mommy, I get to come up with new and yummy recipes! I believe that gifts from the heart are the best gifts this time of year. Something that is homemade and has thought put into it, is so special. Therefore, I've been a busy bee working in the kitchen making edible, homemade gifts.

Last year I made Cinnamon Honey Butter. Got the idea from my favorite blogger Mommy, the one and only, Darby! I didn't make any pictures last year, because, well, I had a 5 month old who needed my constant attention. This year was a little easier. I got my recipes from the new Southern Plate cookbook by Christy Jordan. My Mom introduced me to Christy Jordan and her blog, Southern Plate. Once we began reading her blog, Mom realized Christy had a cookbook. (This is not the current edition, but one that came out a few years ago. Spiral bound, and much smaller!) Mom ordered one for the both of us. I've loved cooking out of it. I got Mom the updated Southern Plate cookbook for her birthday in October.

While we were home for Thanksgiving, I finally got to look at the new cookbook. SO many new and wonderful recipes. I secretly wanted to take the book from Mom, but it was hers and I'm not an Indian giver! :) I did get 3 recipes for homemade Christmas food gifts from the cookbook. Two of them are what I made this year as gifts for people.

The first is, Peach Fruit Crisp. I've made peach, blueberry, and apple fruit crisp this year alone. LOVE me some fruit crisp. I don't know if it's because it's so stinking easy, or if it's just so stinking good! Either way, I love it!

Fruit Crisp Mix

1/2 cup flour (all purpose or self-rising)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oats (quick cooking)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

One 29 oz. can sliced peaches

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Place in an airtight plastic bag and seal. Package with the can of peaches and the following instructions.......(see picture for instructions!)

This recipe calls for peaches, but you could use blueberries or apples. Any fruit would probably be good, except for bananas! :)

The next recipe I made was Hot Chocolate Mix. Sadly, I have not tried this recipe first hand to know if it is as yummy as the fruit crisp. I really hope my recipients find this hot chocolate mix tasty. If not, they probably won't look forward receiving food gifts from The Blackman Bunch anymore!

Hot Chocolate Mix

1 lb. confectioners sugar

1- 8 quart box instant powdered milk

1- 6 oz. package powdered coffee creamer

1- 2lb. box powdered chocolate milk mix

1- HUMONGOUS mixing bowl (no lie! I mean BIG! Maybe 2 or 3.)

Sift (who in their right mind likes to sift anything?!) the confectioners sugar into a large bowl. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Divide into 1 cup servings and place in airtight plastic bags. Seal and attach following instructions.....(0nce again, see picture for instructions)

Side note.......I had to use my LARGE soup pot, large mixing bowl, and another medium sized mixing bowl. Maybe I did this wrong, or possibly copied this wrong from my Mother's cookbook, but wow! You'll have hot chocolate mix for the neighborhood! (Darby has a hot chocolate mix too. Maybe you won't need a 5 gallon mixing bucket for hers!)

Most of these goodies were made for Eric's co-workers and employees. I'm sure he loved carrying all these bags into work, filled with treats! Maybe he felt like Santa, passing out all these presents! Merry Christmas and happy eating!

And who wouldn't want to love on this little muffin? She sure is sweet!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Virginia loves our tree. We call it her Christmas tree. Her ornaments that she's allowed to touch, are at the bottom of the tree. She loves going up to the tree and saying, "trwee!"

This was the morning after Eric and I put up, and decorated the tree. Virginia had not seen it yet and this was her first experience!

Round 2 of Christmas card pictures went a little better than the first. Although, these pictures were just of Virginia, and not the three of us.

These pictures are just a taste of what our card will look like. None of these pictures made the cut, but I liked them anyway!

Our cards should be shipped to us by the end of the week. Hopefully you will get yours sometime next week! If you don't, send me your address and I'll mail you one! :)

Thanksgiving....2 Weeks Late (Don't Hate!)

When we take Virginia's picture, we tell her to say cheese. This is the result!

Making sure JimPa is doing a good job

I love my girl!

VB and LiLi

(p.s. My child does have pants and wears them, but it was almost 90 degrees Thanksgiving Day!)

I think Virginia was surprised by Sam's headpiece

V loves her Amy

Full of turkey and dressing. Now relaxing with Daddy

Look who has two new front teeth!

Her favorite thing to do at LiLi's.......knock the blocks over again and again!

Miss Addison Tew came to play while we were in Mobile. She and her family were down for Thanksgiving and we were able to get together.

Almost impossible to get a 16 and 9 month old to cooperate for pictures!

Sharing. So sweet!

We attempted Christmas card pictures. No luck. Will try again soon!

Happy Halloween (a few days late!)

Madame Butterfly

Miss Ladybug Haven, Butterfly Virginia, and Fairy Princess Molly Kate

We had pants for this outfit, but it was a tad bit warm, so we left them off! I like seeing those fatty thighs better!

Since my child is STILL not walking, it was very easy to get her picture. The others, not so much! (And, VB is the second oldest in this group!)

Attempt #1 at a "wings" shot

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Hello all and hello fall! I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but we're enjoying crisp fall temps here in Georgia! I've finally gotten to put Virginia in some of her "fall" outfits and she is of course, precious! I've also loved seeing her little rump stuffed into footed, onsie pajamas. It seems like that's all she wore last year when she was little. Now that she's bigger, those footed pajamas take on a whole new cuteness.

This past weekend we ventured home to Mobile. It's been a VERY LONG time since we've been home and it was nice to be there. During our trip, Virginia had her one year old portraits made. Although she's 15 months, I still consider her 1! We got the proofs back Monday and OH MY WORD! I really don't know how I'm going to decide on which ones to buy. I'm hoping Eric will say, "Buy them all!" I snagged this photo from the photographers website. Isn't she edible?

A sweet lady at my parents church made this dress for Virginia. She has no grandchildren and loves nothing more than to sew for our girl. So precious! We are very thankful to have such generous people in our lives. Have a great Thursday! Be back later with more updates on VB!

Tuscaloosa Getaway

This past weekend, we journeyed to the place where Eric and I met, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Eric took off Friday and we headed up Thursday evening to spend the weekend with friends and family. Our friends Jennifer and Jeremy opened up their home to us and we bunked with them over the weekend. We had a great time visiting and letting our girls get aquatinted. Sadly, I have no pictures of the girls together. I really need to just wrap my camera around my neck at all times to get quality shots.

Friday, we took Virginia to campus and got some great pictures. Too bad it was 100 degrees outside! Next time, we're going back when it's cooler!

Mommy's girl

Daddy's Princess

A very kind Penn State fan offered to take this family photo

She did not like touching the grass with her hands or feet. Wonder who she got that from? ;)

I believe we bought every Alabama shirt imaginable for Virginia while we were in town! She also lucked up and got her first Alabama cheerleading uniform. Isn't she just precious?

The red cheeks are a result of the HEAT!

While Eric and JimPa went to the game, Virginia and I got to shop with LiLi, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Jeff. What fun that was! Especially enjoying Yogurt Mountain for the first time! Yummy!

Sunday we stopped in Birmingham to have lunch with our sweet friends, Jason, Diana, and Miller. Sadly, no pictures from this meeting either. Maybe Diana took one that she could share, wink, wink! :)

We're glad to be home and in our own beds. Living on central time for a few days got my girl all messed up. Thankfully we're all back on schedule now.

Have a great Friday! Enjoy this video from Sunday night. Notice the new shirt...so cute! :)

I think her Daddy taught her to dance like this!

Hello My Friend, Hello

....Just wrote to let you know, I didn't abandon the blog! Our lives have been going at full speed this last month or so. On top of all the fun we've been having, I really haven't felt like blogging or even been inspired to. Sorry. I'm including a few pictures of Virginia that were made recently, not with my camera, but Iphone. Sorry for the low quality.

Busy Bee

As I was making dinner the other night, I spied this little muffin watching some TV. So sweet!

This was from last Monday on our way home from our first Mommy Matters meeting. Guess V played pretty hard in the nursery.

I'm hoping to have a guest blogger tell you about our recent Mommy/Daddy only getaway. He promised me he would do it. We'll see!

He's going to kill me for putting this on here! :)