Tried and true

I love Christmas. I love the foods, traditions, magic seen through my children. It's just an amazing time. But it can also be stressful, especially with how much cooking and  baking needs to happen. I find this is not the best time to try new recipes. I wanted to share a quick list of tried and true recipes that I turn to at this time of the year. I will usually try a few new recipes but not on an important night, that just spells out disaster.

For dinner:
-We usually have prime rib either on Christmas or New Years. It's super easy and crazy delicious. I used Pioneer Woman's prime rib recipe last year and it was great! You can find the recipe here
- I love ham so ham is usually part of our Christmas dinner at some point. I really like the one from Mel's Kitchen Cafe in which you cook the ham in a slow cooker. So delicious! You can find the recipe here

Breakfast:
-There is a recipe for caramel pull a parts that I use religiously and I usually make it for Christmas morning, however the recipe can only be found in the first Our Best Bites cookbook, not on their website. Suffice it to say, it's amazing and my kids gobble it up.
- I really like this baked french toast by Pioneer Woman and my kids loved it just as much. You can find the recipe here

Dessert:
There is usually numerous parties in which you need to bring a dish and dessert seems to be the most popular category. Here are some of my favorites:
-These candy cane cookies are amazingly delicious. My kids request these ones to be made for Santa every year. You can find the recipe here
-I tried this peppermint ice cream last year and I was so happy with the outcome. I made mine with the Andes mints and it was so good! You can find the recipe here
- Now this caramel corn isn't just for Christmas time and we tend to make this all year round but it is so good while you sit and watch Christmas movies with your family. I speak from experience. You can find the recipe here. The perk with this caramel corn recipe is that it can be made in the microwave in under 10 minutes!
-I tried these the other night for a girls night and to say they were a hit is an understatement. I had husbands requesting them! These brownie batter truffles are so easy, no bake and come together amazingly. You can find the recipe here

So do you have recipes that you get excited to pull out each year?

Another one under my belt...

On Thanksgiving morning I ran with some friends in the Hobbler Gobbler 5k. Last year, while I was getting the turkey ready I watched everybody run this race (it's directly behind our house) and I thought to myself how much I wish I could do something like that. This whole year has been about me doing something that I never thought I could do (running). As my 2nd 5k of the  year I really wanted to be able to beat my last time. 

The Hobbler Gobbler route is very difficult with 5 steep hills throughout the course. I did better than I thought I would beating my practice time by 2 minutes and coming in a little faster than my first 5k. Considering that my first 5k was flat, I find this to be very exciting! The run was so much fun and I can't wait to do it next year, although next year I plan on running the 10k! 

 Before the race began.

 Blake ran the kids k after we were all done. It was so fun!

 Here I am finishing, feeling great. It helped that the last part was downhill.

I ran it in 36:20, which is by no means super fast, but it is good for me. I was just happy I didn't come in dead last and that I finished.
I also found out that I got 22nd in my age group, which I thought was good since my age group is quite young. The first runner to finish did it in 16 minutes! Now the training starts for a 10k in April!

Running through my head

Our book club selection last month was The Happiness Project. I had heard great things about this book, so when it was picked I was super excited. Not that I feel I am unhappy, but like the author talks about, sometimes life is just passing me by and I'm just watching it.
There were so many things I completely loved about this book but there were also things that had nothing to do with my life.
One thing that has been sticking out to me since I read it, that I think of nearly every day is this: The days are long but the years are short. I felt this particularly true in my life right now. My children are still young, there are still days I wonder if I'll make it through all the whining, crying, fighting and constant need of my attention. But then lately this statement has run through my head and it's helping me to live in the moment.
I look at Blake and wonder how I have a 1st grader, when did that happen? And as soon as you have a kid that starts school, time moves even faster. Before I know it, he'll be grown and living his own life.
But there are days with Lexie that feel are never going to end. Mostly because she needs a TON of one on one attention and hates for me to be doing anything but giving her my undivided attention.
But I need to remember that there will be a day that I no longer change a diaper, fix a sippy cup, buckle a child into a high chair, lay a baby down in a crib. I will look back on that with such nostalgia and wonder where the time went.
So although the days are long (and sometimes seemingly endless) the years are short and I am trying to remember to live in the moment and enjoy each stage as it comes.

Yee Haw

If you ask Kalli what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you a cowgirl. So I found it fitting to go for her birthday dinner to Texas Roadhouse where I knew they'd sit her on a saddle and sing to her.
I'm pretty sure this is the highlight of her birthday. Can't you tell how much fun she had?
Happy birthday to our sweet four year old!

An observation on hair- by Kalli

I was sitting next to Kalli at church last week and she was quietly playing on the magna doodle. 

She turns to me and says:

This is Repunzal's hair :

 This is Kalli's hair

 This is Lexie's hair

 This is daddy's hair. 

I couldn't stop laughing. I thought that was very perceptive of Kalli.

Happy birthday Joe. Even though you are low on hair you are not low on love in this house. We love you, hair or no!

One of the best parts of the day...

Kalli the ballet (and tap) dancer

 Kalli started her ballet/tap class last week. I feel she has entered the age where she needs something that is hers and she's not really a sports girl. The class is small, with only 4 other girls, and they all have to wear a pink leotard and pink tights. They look incredibly adorable in their little dancing outfits. Kalli loved every minute of it. It's nice for her to have her own activity and have a place she can call her own.