Meet Fancy Bunny

Jay decided that this year for Christmas, he wanted a pet bunny rabbit.  He has been VERY consistent with this idea for months.  He never once faltered and said he wanted anything else for Christmas.  I was all for him getting a nice stuffed "pet" bunny...but Santa had much bigger ideas!  

Santa found a local 4H breeder that was selling baby Mini Rex bunnies.  And y'all...they were SO cute!  They were born October the 14th, which meant they would be ready just a few weeks before Christmas.  Luckily, Grandma helped Santa out and kept the baby bunny at her house until Christmas Eve.  (Santa had waayyy too much going on at the North Pole to properly socialize a baby bunny!!)

So Christmas Eve, this showed up at our house:



Santa even left a trail of carrots from Jay's bedroom door to the bunny cage in the living room:



Christmas morning dawned and Jay was one happy little man!!  Ha ha I don't think he even cared about his other presents.  (Until he got to the swing set from Nana and Papa, but that is a whole different story!)  Grandma asked Jay what he was going to name his bunny.  Jay thought about it for a few seconds and said Fancy!  Ha ha and Lord only knows where he came up with that, but it certainly fits! 

 So without further adieu, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family:

Fancy Bunny

   

She really is a cutie!  She loves to frolic and hop around our house, and she even tries to play with Dutchess!  She is a bit of a priss, and definitely has a little bit of an attitude.  Her favorite spot is under the Christmas tree, so she will probably not be too happy when we take it down.  And, most importantly, Jay absolutely LOVES her!!   

Oh Christmas Tree

Much to the Hubbs' dismay, I LOVE real Christmas trees!  And the bigger they are...the better. 

This year, our ceilings are two feet shorter than they were in our last house, so it was difficult for me to pick out a tree, but we managed to find a really great one!  We usually buy a Douglas Fir, but this year they all looked awful, so we ended up with a Noble Fir.  I liked it so much, that we might get the same kind again next year!!

Jay had a blast running around through the trees, and using stray branches to "sweep" up pine needles. 

Here is our tree tied to the top of our car:

We got the tree inside, but once we got it into the tree stand...it was too tall.  So we had to cut off a few inches from the top.  Oops! 

Jay was very excited to decorate the tree!  With the exception of the lights and bows, he decorated the entire bottom portion of the tree by himself. 

  

  

I made all of the stuffed ornaments for Jay's first Christmas.  I wanted our tree to be safe for him to play with!

This is the tree on Christmas morning:

I know some people are big into themes and their trees have to be *just* so, and that is all well and good...but I am not that kind of person!  :0)  Every ornament on our tree means something to our family.  They have been made by a loved one, or were gifts from people that mean a lot to us.  Jason's aunt showed me how to make the bows. And the star on top of our tree used to sit on top of my Grandma's tree.  To me, our trees will always be perfect! 

I am proud (or should I be embarrassed?) to say that this is the first tree that we have ever had that was not a dried up mess by Christmas day!  Hooray!! 

Blueberry Syrup

Are you looking for a yummy breakfast idea for New Years Day?  Make some buttermilk pancakes, and give this blueberry syrup a try, you won't regret it!  Ha ha of course, I will even eat this on toast...so if you're too tired for pancakes, you can still enjoy this recipe.  I like to make it ahead of time and then just reheat it when we go to eat our pancakes.  It stores great in a mason jar for up to a month!

Ingredients:
1 pint of blueberries
1 cup sugar (or try 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup honey for a yummy variation)
1/4 cup water
a dash of nutmeg--just a little bitty pinch to enhance the flavor
a dash of salt--again, just a tiny pinch of it
**you can also add in about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, but if you do, use all sugar.  For some reason the vanilla and the honey just don't do well together.**

Directions:
Place ingredients in a saucepan
Cook over low to medium heat
Crush berries against the side of the pan slightly until berries get soft and mixture gets nice and syrupy--usually about 10 to 15 minutes
Taste and add more sugar or nutmeg to taste

Mmmm I'm getting hungry just thinking about this stuff!  I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we do!! 

Quicky and Easy Pecan Caramel Candies

One of my family's dear friends, Susan, pulled this recipe out of a magazine years ago, and we have been making it ever since.  It is SO fast and easy, and I have never come across anyone that didn't like them.  You can make them ahead of time to take to church functions, or to put out as part of your holiday buffet.  They also work great in a gift basket with a bunch of other yummy goodies, or as a hostess gift.  I like to put them in a mason jar decorated with ribbon--or with stickers if Jay is helping.   

Ingredients:
63 mini pretzel twists
1 13 ounce package of Rolo candies--unwrapped
63 pecan halves

Directions:
line 2 baking sheets with foil
Place pretzels on foil about 1 inch apart
Top each pretzel with 1 piece of Rolo candy
Bake at 250 for about 4 minutes
You want the chocolate softened, but to still retain its shape
Remove from oven and immediately press a pecan half gently into each piece of candy
Allow to cool and refrigerate

Seriously, give these a try!  They are really good, especially for something SO easy and quick to make! 

Don't Miss The Lunar Eclipse Tonight!!

Did you know that there will be an extra long Lunar Eclipse tonight!?!?  (Thank you Christine for letting us know!!)  Jay loves the moon, so we are very excited!  Ha ha we will actually wake him up tonight just so that he can see the eclipse! 

Tonight for the first time since 1638, the lunar eclipse will fall on the winter solstice. The significance of this is that the eclipse will be longer than normal. The Earth will be directly between the moon and sun for about 72 minutes tonight, from 2:41am - 3:53 am Eastern Standard Time. This is going to make the moon a rusty orange-red color for that time. It will be amazing! 

If the skies are not clear in your area, NASA will be streaming live video of the eclipse from their website.  But either way, I definitely recommend checking it out!! 

The North Pole Express

 Jay has a bit of a thing for trains, so this year we decided to take him on the North Pole Express.  There is a local train in our area that really goes all out for Christmas!  They decorate the train inside and out, and the kids are encouraged to wear their pajamas for the train ride.  They get to sing Christmas carols, listen to a reading of The Night Before Christmas, and Santa even comes onto the train for a visit!! 

I tried and tried to get Jay to wear his train pj's, but he wouldn't!  He insisted on wearing his alien space ship ones.  Ha ha I tried!!  Here is Jay waiting in line with his hot cocoa:

They do this live stage performance thing before you ride the train, and honestly, we could have done without it.  Ha ha Jay asked me the whole time when we were going to go onto the train!

My boys heading to the train!  You walk through a tree lined path to get to the train, and they even have a snow machine.  :0)

The inside of the train:

Jay LOVED the train ride! 

The Hubbs and Jay looking out the window:

Santa!!  And Jay made sure to ask Santa (again) for a bunny rabbit.

We had a lot of fun, and Jay definitely loved the train ride!!  We also played in the North Pole Village when we got off the train, and it was kind of neat too.  Jay tried his first piece of funnel cake, and watched a real blacksmith at work.  :0)   



'P' is For Pie

This week we will cover:
The letter 'P'
'P' is for Pie
The number 16
Pentagons
The color Pink
Opposites

Monday: The Letter 'P'
-color a Letter 'P' coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Letter 'P' on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of Letter 'P' memory cards (one with a Letter 'P' on it, and the other with a picture of a Pie on it)
-go through the Letter 'P' section of Starfall
-have a Letter P Picnic (If it is cold, have it in your living room floor.  :0)  Eat all sorts of yummy 'P' foods like Peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, pancakes, pasta, popcorn, peanuts, peaches, pears, pink lemonade, pickles, pretzels, pumpkin cookies, etc.)

Tuesday: 'P' is for Pie
-color a Pie coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this and this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-bake play dough Pies.  (Use your play dough to "bake" up all sorts of creative pies.)

Wednesday:  Bake a Pie Day
With Christmas fast approaching, most of us have a baking list a mile long!  So today, spend some time with your kiddo baking a pie--or several pies.  You can freeze them until you need them later this week.  :0)  But be sure to cut a slice or two for you and your kiddo to enjoy today too!! 
-watch this, this, and this
-talk about opposites and find some opposites in your house

Thursday: The Number 16
-color a Number 16 coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Number 16 on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-print a Pie coloring page and cut the Pie into 16 slices.  Put the pie back together and count the slices as you go (you can also just cut a construction paper circle into pieces and use that instead)
-'P's in a pie game (cut 16 letter 'P's out of magazines and newspapers--try to use larger sized ones.  Place them into an empty pie pan.  Take the letter 'P's out of the pie pan one by one and glue them to a piece of construction paper.  Count them as you go, and then count them again when they are all glued to the paper. Write the number 16 somewhere on the paper, and then hang it on the wall.)

Friday:  The Color Pink
-watch this
-make the color pink (mix red and white paint together to make different shades of pink)
-use your pink paint to paint a Pink Pie on some construction paper
-while you are on the subject of colors, talk about black and white--they are opposites after all  :0)
-play the I Spy Something Pink game (look around your house for things that are pink)

I hope that you guys had fun learning the letter 'P' this week!  Remember that there will not be a new lesson plan until January 2nd, so be sure to check back then for 'Q' is for Quarter.  As always, if you have missed a previous lesson, you can click on the ABC Lesson Plans tab at the top of the blog to find them.  I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!  Happy Holidays from my family to yours! 

Our Gingerbread House

I saw this gingerbread house kit at the store for like six bucks and decided to give it a try.  At the time I thought "Oh how fun!" and the kit said it was easy...Ha ha I should have researched a little more before taking it on!!  The icing they included in the kit did NOT work at all, so it became a gloppy runny mess.  But Jay still had lots of fun eating the candy and we managed to get some of it onto the house...

Thankfully, The Hubbs put the walls up for us, so they stood up to all our decorating attempts!

Jay really did have a blast putting it together!  (in case you can't tell from his chocolate stained face!)

Ha ha and this is our finished house:

I know...we are definitely not pastry chefs...

But I can say that all in all, it was fun.  And I have learned that next time I need to buy a different type of icing to use as the glue.  One that actually works!  And if I am really smart, I will have our family friend Susan come visit, Susan has won contests with her gingerbread houses!!  So next year, if I post pictures of some astoundingly beautiful gingerbread house...you can thank Susan! 

Pecan Pie Mini Muffins

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but when I married The Hubbs, I had NO idea what an awesome and fantastic Grannie I was inheriting!!  She is a true southern lady, and she is always ready to feed a crowd, which is great because she is seriously a stellar cook!  This is one of her recipes.  She serves these as a breakfast, but honestly, they are a bit sweet for my morning palate...so I typically eat them as a dessert.  They are great warmed up with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream or just served with a nice dollop of whipped cream--the real stuff not the plasticy tasting cool whip.  Mmmmmm!! These would make a wonderful and easy addition to a holiday buffet, so give them a try!   

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Pecans--finely chopped
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup butter--melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, pecans, and flour.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, and vanilla.
Pour the butter mixture over the flour mixture and mix together with a spoon.
The mixture will be pretty thin, and that's OK.
Grease and flour a mini muffin pan (or use some cute muffin tin liners).
Fill each muffin tin half full with the batter.
Bake at 350 (or 340 if you are using a dark or nonstick pan) and bake for 20 minutes. 
This recipe makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen little mini muffins

These also freeze quite well, so you can make up a batch ahead of time and just defrost them when you are ready!  Enjoy!

'O' is For Owl

I hope you had fun learning the letter 'N' last week!  I am glad that we made it through without any bruised fingers!  To say that Jay loves hammering nails is an understatement...  This week is all about Owls, and I couldn't have planned a better day to start this week off if I had tried.  Today was my Grandma's birthday, and she LOVED owls!  :0) 

This week we will cover:
The letter 'O'
'O' is for Owl
The number 15
Pentagons
The color Pink
Opposites

Monday: The Letter 'O'
-color a Letter 'O' coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Letter 'O' on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of Letter 'O' memory cards (one with a Letter 'O' on it, and the other with a picture of an Owl on it)
-go through the Letter 'O' section of Starfall
-make Ornate 'O's (Cut a Letter 'O' out of construction paper and use stickers, glitter, buttons, and all sorts of other things to decorate)
-make cheeriO garlands to hang in your yard for the birds or to decorate your Christmas tree with
-print out this Opposites Book and read it with your kiddo

Tuesday: 'O' is for Owl
-color an Owl coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this this and this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-go over some Owl fun facts
-make this adorable paper plate Owl
-work this cute online Owl puzzle or try this Owl puzzle
-print out this and this to make an Owl out of heart shapes

Wednesday:  Family Day
-My grandma, Jay's great grandma, loved owls.  So today we are going to go put some flowers out for her.  Jay is also going to color this to take with the flowers.  But you can do any number of fun things!  You can watch Winnie the Poo (with Owl in it of course) you can go bird watching, sing 'O' Holy Night, or just spend some time together as a family!  But whatever you do, have fun!!
-try to eat a letter 'O' themed snack today (oranges, olives, oatmeal, etc)
-talk about opposites and then look for things in your house that have opposites (the door open and the door closed, the lights on and the lights off, the water cold and the water hot etc)

Thursday: The Number 15
-color a Number 15 coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Number 15 on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-CheeriO Counting (get 15 cheeriOs out and count them.  Group them into three groups of five, one group of ten and one group of five one big group of 15 etc.  When you are done counting your cheerios string them onto a piece of string or yarn to make a fun necklace!)

Friday:  Pentagons
-color a Pentagon coloring page
-have your kiddo trace the pentagon on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Pink construction paper and hang it on the wall
-talk about Pentagons, count the number of sides
-play this fun online Opposites game

Can you believe we have made it almost half way through the alphabet!?  I hope you and your kiddo are learning, but more importantly, having lots of fun!  If you have missed a previous week, you can find it by clicking on the ABC Lesson Plans tab at the top of the blog.  And be sure to check back next week for 'P' is for Pie.  Yummy!!

My Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies

My mom made these cookies all the time when I was growing up, and they are wonderful!!  They stay moist and soft, and have a great peanut butter flavor.  Give them a try, you'll be glad you did! 
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Cream butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
In a separate bowl, sift and combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine well.
Steal a finger full of dough and eat it--just because it is SO yummy--I'm bad I know, but try it...seriously.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place them a few inches apart on a baking sheet.
Use a fork to flatten and make a criss cross shape on the dough.
Bake at 375 (or 365 if you are using a dark or nonstick pan) for 10 minutes.
Be careful not to over bake because these get crunchy in a hurry--which I suppose is great if you like crunchy cookies.  :0)

And for some added umph add a Hershey's kiss (unwrapped) to the middle of each cookie after you make the criss cross pattern on them. They'll be a special treat for sure!  Enjoy!

'N' is for Nail

Ha ha, I know that Nails are a bit unorthodox when it comes to ABC lesson plans, but what can I say...we have spent the past six months renovating our house.  So Jay is all too familiar with nails.  :0) 

This week we will cover:
The letter 'N'
'N' is for Nail
The number 14
Crescents
The color Gray
Right and Left

Monday: The Letter 'N'
-color a Letter 'N' coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Letter 'N' on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Gray construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of Letter 'N' memory cards (one with a Letter 'N' on it, and the other with a picture of a Nail on it)
-go through the Letter 'N' section of Starfall
-color this fun Letter 'N' worksheet
-make Noodle 'N's (Use pipe cleaners and penne pasta noodles to make letter 'N' shapes.  You can even make a noodle necklace to hang your noodle 'N' on!)
-take a few moments to go over right and left again (Just talk about things as you do them, like putting your right arm in the sleeve and then your left arm, putting your right show on, and then your left shoe etc)

Tuesday: 'N' is for Nail
-color a Nail coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Gray construction paper and hang it on the wall
-sing this Noisy Nails song
-Nail 'N' (use real nails, or nails cut out of construction paper to make the letter 'N')
-does your kiddo have a tool set?  If so, get out the hammer and nail part of it and play away!
-take a moment to go over right and left again

Wednesday:  Building Day
 -Today is all about fun! Here are some great ideas:
Build a birdhouse and let your kiddo help you nail it together
Are there any houses or buildings being built in your area?  If so, take a trip to watch the workers build   for a while
You can also check to see if there are any Habitat for Humanity houses being built near you.  If so, they   are always in need of people to bring lunch or snacks.  So see if you and your kiddo can sign up to make a special delivery!
-do the Hokey Pokey (that's what it's all about after all) The purpose of this is to help your kiddo learn right and left, so go slow, spend extra time, and even repeat things.  Use things like right hand, left hand, right leg, left leg, right foot, left foot, right ear, left ear, right arm, left arm, right elbow, left elbow etc. 


Thursday: The Number 14
-color a Number 14 coloring page
-while you are coloring, watch this, this, and this
-have your kiddo trace the Number 14 on their coloring page with their finger
-glue your coloring page to a piece of Gray construction paper and hang it on the wall
-How many days are there until Christmas!?  Did you know that on Saturday there will only be 14 days left?  Have your kiddo count them on the calendar!
-build a Lego tower (use legos and see if you can make a tower 14 legos tall!)

Friday:  The color Gray
-talk about the color Gray and how there are many different shades of Gray
-use black and white paint to make several different shades of the color Gray
-use your Gray paint to paint a picture (you can paint nails, mountains, cars...anything!)

I hope you had fun learning the Letter 'N' with us!  If you have missed a previous lesson, you can find it at the top of the blog under the ABC Lessons tab.  And be sure to check back next week for 'O' is for Owl.