Happy New Year!!!

Just wanted to say this really quick because things are so busy!!

I will get my Christmas pictures and New Years party pics up on the weekend, or even by tomorrow night!! Depends on how tired I am!!! I have a lot of things on my mind right now that I want to blog, but I haven't had time to sit and do it!!!

Tonight I will be at my daughter Kami's house for a New Years party. We will be eating all night, playing XBox Rock Band, Guitar Hero-World Tour, Dance, Dance Revolution (to work off some callories!), card games like Scum, Phase 10, Mad Gab and others. We always have a lot of people, food and fun!!!

Wishing everyone to...

Love ya all!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Every year my ward has Pixie Week. You are assigned another family to take small gifts and treats to. You leave the gift on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, then you run like crazy. We usually get caught on Monday or Tuesday, but not this year. I thought the cake might tip them off, but we actually made it the whole week and didn't tell the family it was us until the Ward Christmas Party. So, this was one of the treats we left. Merry Christmas everyone!

Chicken Little

My friend's son was turning two and loves Chicken Little. She asked me to do a little cake for their family dinner. This is a 6 inch, white cake with buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant decorations. The little glasses on his face were tough to get right.

Decorating and Parties

Well....Joe and I finally got the tree up yesterday! Woo Hoo!!! I kind of wanted it up before Thanksgiving, but it's been a little busy for all of us lately. I still have a little more to do, but it can wait until this weekend.

Later that night, we had Kami and the kids over for dinner and then went to our Ward's Christmas party. I have a great love of children and it's always gratifying to see their happy faces as they sing Christmas songs and their anticipation to see Santa.

Carlee was pretty grouchy before we went over to the church, but once she got there, she was fine. As the play started, she was singing her Faa-la-la-la-laaa's a little early!!

This was our Ward version of the Grinch and these were some of the singing trees.

The A____ family and the S______ family did a great job singing!!

Little Cindy Lou Who and her sister too!! They were so adorable!!!

After the play, we sang songs really loud so that Santa could hear them and come visit!! Carlee thought it was a little too loud!!

Carlee wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but Collin had no problem!! It was so noisy that we couldn't hear a lot what Collin was telling Santa, but I kept hearing "I want____and I want a laser tag gun and a ______ and a rock and roll guitar and a _____ and an airplane and a _______"!!! Oh my gosh!!! It seems like it went on a little more than it should have!! You can see a short video of it on my daughter's blog here. Then Santa gave him a bag of candy. Collin was pretty happy with that!! Poor Carlee couldn't have a bag of candy because it contained peanuts! We did scrounge up a couple of oranges that hadn't been put in with the other stuff yet.

Oh...if you go to my daughter, Kami's blog, check out my grand kids first school Christmas program pictures!! It was pretty cute and so are they!!!!

Strawberry Trifle

Thought I would post something a little less fattening!! heh heh heh!!!

This dessert is easy to make and oh so easy to eat!!!

You will need:

Angel Food Cake, cubed (store bought or home made)

Sugar-free jam (I used strawberry)

Fruit, (fresh or frozen) sweetened with Splenda (strawberries again)

Large box sugar-free pudding, made with package directions using skim milk (vanilla was used)

Cool Whip

Almonds (optional)

Now all you need to do is layer the items in the order listed, layering twice using half at a time.

These are really fun to make in clear individual glasses for parties also!!

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

I found this recipe online somewhere and I just had to try it!! It's similar to the Applebee's dip and I looooove that one!!! It was real easy to make and was very good! I think I'll make it for our New Year's party!!

1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1 cup shredded parmesan-romano cheese mix

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

10 ounces prepared alfredo sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4 ounces cream cheese

pepper (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and spread mixture into a small baking dish (8"X8" dish).
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese are bubbling and melted.
• Serve with chips or bread.

I bought some of those skinny baguettes, sliced them, butter them and then toasted them on a frying pan. They were sooooo good that way!!!

Happy calories!!!!

Baking Treats for Gifts

This year, instead of buying gifts for friends and family, I'm planning on baking goodies for them like cookies and small cakes or something else, not quite sure yet. I have been looking about at the gift in a jar recipes in which I think would be nice to give out. I've seen a few where you can make cake mix in a jar to something simple as tea or hot chocolate mix. Anyone else planning to make food as a Christmas gift this year?

I've added a new blogger to my foodie blog roll if you would like to take a look at it. It's Vanilla Pumpkin - Homemade Baby Food Blog. There are also some other cool bloggers on my foodie blog roll as well.