Recipe of the MONTH - TURKEY COOKIES

Ok the recipe for this month really isn't too fancy, but oh so cute!!!! I made these for my preschool Thanksgiving party. They are perfect for a get together or for you and your kiddos to make around Thanksgiving time.

Ingredients:

2 rolls of Phillsbury sugar cookie dough
1-2 containers of frosting
food coloring

Directions:

1. Prior to getting the cookie dough out I made a print of Emma's hand on a piece of paper. I cut out her hand print and this was the pattern I used to create the turkey body. It is best to use a small hand print because the dough will spread as it bakes and get larger, so start small.

2. Flour your countertop and roll out your sugar cookie dough. Then lay your hand print pattern on the rolled out sugar cookie dough and use a knife to cut around the print. When you are done place the cut out cookie hand print on a cookie sheet. (I put a silpat done on my cookie sheet prior so that the cookie cooked a little easier). Make 5 -6 hands make sure not to fill your cookie sheet to much because the hand will grow!

3. Bake in an oven @ 350 for 10 minutes. Follow cooking directions on the packaging. I always cook my cookies for the lowest time allowed so that they are chewy.

4. Once your cookies have cooled mix your frosting to creat a super cook turkey.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my preschoolers and kiddos did. For school I had all the kiddos frost their own turkeys they had a blast!!!! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and remember HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE!!!!

Incognito Turkey

Last week for homework I sent a plan turkey home with each kiddo. The assignment was to save Mr. Tom Turkey who didn't want to be eaten for Thanksgiving. Each family was asked to help their preschooler disguise their turkey to look like something or someone else that way he wouldn't be eaten. Today all the kids brought their turkeys and I amazing with everyone originality. Below are some pictures of the turkeys brought, be ready to be amazed...

Here's the wall that they are posted on...

Emmitt's Alien Turkey...
Brock's Hunter Turkey...

Abbie's Super Model Turkey...

Emma's Princess Turkey...

Corbin's Darth Vadar Turkey...

These were so much fun to look at and Emma along with the other kids loved creating them. They were definitely a success!!!!

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon!

Today we spent a beautiful afternoon playing outside and creating our WINTER garden. We planted tomatoes, jalapenos, roman lettuce, basil, oregano, broccoli, and cauliflower. Hopefully we will be able to taste these yummy vegetables in the future months, but for now it was fun creating our garden together!

Getting the soil all ready for our vegetables...
Emma and Daddy getting the hole ready for our jalapeno plant...

The finished product: OUR WINTER GARDEN!!!!

The kids got out Emma's power wheel car and rode it around the backyard after we planted our garden. I just had to post this fun picture of them. It's days and times like this that I am so thankful for my FAMILY!!!! Just LOVE these two kiddos!!!!

Operation Christmas Child

This year we decided as a family to participate in the Operation Christmas Child program. Operation Christmas Child is a way to help millions of children throughout 130 countries receive a special gift during the Christmas season. The program asks anyone who wants to participate to fill a shoe box with items that a boy or girl would love. So as a family we decide to make 2 shoe boxes one for a boy (Logan's shoe box) and one for a girl (Emma's shoe box). We went shopping together and the kids had a great time picking out items to go to their boy and girl. When we got home we wrapped our shoe boxes, prayed together that the items would bring joy to the children receiving them, and we filled the boxes with all the items we bought. Below are so pictures of Emma helping me fill the boxes.

All the Goodies for the Kiddos...
A slinky and much, much more...

Our completed boy shoe box!

Emma and her completed girl shoe box!

This was such an amazing experience for our family. I love that the kids were so involved and had the opportunity to help another child.

My Latest Quilt Creations (Two)!!!

I have been a busy bee these last few weeks creating a couple different quilts. The first quilt is for one of the moms in my preschool class. She has two adorable boys already and is pregnant with her 3rd child which is a girl. They named her Grace and her nursery is purple with a safari animals theme. I created this quilt for her and I loved it! Each quilt I make is unique to the person I make it for and I think that is why this quilt and all my quilts I make are so special not only for the person it is for, but also for me to make.

My second (quilt) I made was actually not a quilt, but an apron. The Zoccoli family is a wonderful family that we know from church. Alisa and Mike have 3 boys, 1 of them takes drumming lesson from Justin. A year ago (maybe more) Alisa and Mike decided to become foster parents. They began to foster 1 child (a boy) when they found out that he had 2 other sibling brothers. They decided as a family to foster all 3 boys. Yes you read that right 3 MORE boys! This last year they decided to push for full adoption of the 3 foster boys and the courts granted them this. So in a couple weeks we will be celebrating with them and many other people the adoption of Kenny, James, and Isaiah. I made this apron for Alisa. All her 6 boys are older and don't need cuddle quilts so I made a family apron for her that represents all the family. I hope that she loves it as much as I do!

If you are wondering what's on the frogs heads they are wearing chef hats. haha!!!

Farm Day!!!

The weather has been beautiful here so before Halloween my mom, the kiddos, and I visited Mother Nature's Farm near our house for pumpkin decorating, hayrides, jumpy houses, and more.

A baby piglet.

Emma and Logan on the hayride.
Meme and Emma on the hayride.
Logan and me on the hayride.
Picking pumpkins to decorate.
Silly Scarecrows ...

Peek-a- Boo I see you!
Decorating our pumpkins.
Jumping around!

Preschool Halloween Dress Up Party

I haven't had much time lately and our blog has suffered, but I have a few minutes to devote to it so I thought I would do a couple posts. The week of Halloween I had a dress up Party at school for all the kiddos. They all looks so cute in there Halloween costumes! Moms were invited to join in on the festivities and here are a few pictures I took from that day...

A super FUN mommy/teacher moment!

I love being Emma's 1st teacher. It amazes me that I get the privilege to watch 6 incredible little kiddos learn and grow, but last night something really floored me. Emma was playing in the family room while I was making dinner(like she does every night) singing and laughing with Logan. After dinner I went to go play with her and Logan and that's when I noticed this...



Now you may be thinking ok what's so great about that, but this is a concept that I have been working on with the kiddos, putting objects in order from smallest to biggest and vice versa. This can be a tough concept for kids and many of my preschool have struggled with it. I have sent homework home to work on this concept and so on, but when I saw that Emma had put all her Princess Belle dolls in order from smallest to biggest I was so excited!!! It was something totally unprompted and something she did on her own with her own toys. I immediately had to have Justin look at it because I was so proud of her. It was just one of the smallest things that made me so proud to be her 1st teacher!!!

Tex-Mex Chicken

This recipe is from Justin's Men's Health Magazine, but I have to admit it is probably one of my favorite meals. We ate it last night for dinner and I decided it was definitely a recipe that should be shared, it has so much flavor and is just sooo delicious!!!



Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
1/2 c. fat-free Italian dressing (I don't use that much I just lightly coat)
1 can (16 oz) mexican-style stewed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
1/4 tsp. dried cilantro (I don't use this, but you could)
shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack Cheese (I use reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese)

Directions:

1. Place chicken in a 9X13 pan. Pierce chicken several times with a fork. Pour dressing over the top to coat chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the tomatoes (with juice), garlic, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro. Simmer for 20 minutes. Pour mixture over the chicken and cover.

3. Bake the chicken for 40 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion registers 160F. and the juices run clear (40 minutes is perfect in my oven). Sprinkle with cheese once out of over, cover to allow cheese to melt.

I like to combine this chicken with brown rice and green beans, it is soo yummy. I hope you all enjoy this recipe and remember HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE!!!

Disneyland 2010

We just returned from a wonderful week at Disneyland. We stayed at the Grand Californian located right on the Disneyland property. We had such a great time riding rides, eating great food, taking naps, and just enjoying our time as a FAMILY! Here are pitures of our trip...

The kids excited to be @ Disneyland.

The entrance to Disneyland, all decked out for FALL!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle @ night.

Logan and Dale @ 1 of the Character Breakfasts we did.

Logan and Emma with Snow White, Logan was totally flirting with her.

Sharing a bed @ night!

Meeting Tinkerbell!

Logan took this picture and I thought it was sooo cute!!!

Meeting Minnie Mouse!

Playing inside Minnie's House...



Daddy being silly in Mickey's House.

Meeting Mickey Mouse!!!

Riding Emma and Logan's favorite ride, the roller coaster in Toon Town.


Smile Kiddos.

Princess Emma and Knight Logan (he's hiding behind his sword).


Trick -or- Treatiing in Disneyland. Emma is Strawberry Shortcake.

Logan is of course Buzz Lightyear.

Meeting Jesse from Toy Story.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween costumes.

Breakfast @ Ariel's Grotto and meeting all the princesses.



Mr. Incredible and Mr. Logan.

Look who's a new toy. haha!

Logan's famous bubble gun!

Daddy and Logan on the Mickey's ferris wheel.

Meeting Mulan @ Goofy's Kitchen.

These last few pictures are just some more fun pics from our trip!