Surgery...1 year ago

One year ago, we were preparing for Josie's hand surgery to remove her extra thumb. Many of you know that she was born with a heart condition, but she was also born with two thumbs on her right hand.

We scheduled this purposely over Christmas break so that we could help Josie adjust to being in a fingertip-to-shoulder cast.




Her surgery scar has really faded and without looking back at her hand pictures, I tend to forget that she even had a special extra thumb.



I'm so glad to have the majority of Josie's major medical issues behind us now.

When I think back to everything we went through our first year home with Josie , I'm surprised she's as well adjusted as she is.

We can't wait to see you open gifts with two hands this year!!

Dear Santa...

We visited the Frederick Meijer Gardens to see Santa and their lovely Christmas trees/trains Tuesday night. Josie asked Santa for new underwear, a new t-shirt, and a rainbow shirt for Christmas.

Not exactly sure how she came up with those ideas...she cracks me up. I was just pleased that she wasn't afraid of Santa. Gotta love having a big sister around to make everything ok!!

My parents, my sister and nephews were also able to join us at the Gardens.

Can you believe Christmas is NEXT WEEK?? I’m not even close to being ready.

Anybody else feeling slightly panicked? Wasn't it just Halloween?

Life Updates & Sweet/Salty Treats

Chris's mom was transferred to a rehabilitation center in Ann Arbor Monday afternoon. Once she's built up her strength with physical and occupational therapy, they will schedule her valve replacement surgery. Keep those prayers coming. This has been a long month of hospitalizations and worries. She's so ready to be home again.

Chris did find out that his job and school placements will be changing. I won't bore you with the details, but he's just thankful that he STILL has a social work job in a school district that he loves.

Now, onto some sweet treats because we all need some pick-me-ups right now!!!

Call me weird, but I don't have a sweet tooth. Instead, I crave anything that has salt. Selfishly, I wanted to make a Christmas treat that I enjoy, so the girls helped me make chocolate covered pretzel rods this past weekend.

One of the cool things about this treat, is that you can customize them according to tastes and holidays with different colored toppings.

Supplies:

Pretzel rods (word to the wise...be sure to look over the bag to make sure they aren't all broken before you leave the store or you will have to go back and buy MORE)
White chocolate chips
Dark chocolate chips
Cookie sprinkles and/or crushed peppermint candy
Waxed paper and/or baking rack



General Instructions:

When melting the chocolate, melt 1 c. chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips) with 1-2 tsp. SHORTENING or vegetable oil. You can melt in the microwave or on the stove top, but be sure to stir constantly.

Coat your pretzel about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down. I rolled the pretzel rod between my fingers. I had thought I'd let the girls help me with this part, but I was worried about Josie and the temperature of the melted chocolate. I suppose I could have transferred the hot melted chocolate into a cool mug. Oh well.

Transfer chocolate covered pretzels onto baking rack or waxed paper and cover them with sprinkles.

If you want to drizzle chocolate onto them, let them dry completely or the chocolate will melt into each other. I failed to do this. Oops. They tasted good anyways.

To speed up the drying process (honestly we wanted them for dessert with our dinner) I stuck our pretzel rods in the freezer.



After they had completely hardened, we placed them in cellophane treat bags and tied each one with holiday ribbon and a tiny ornament.

In a few days, I'll be posting a recipe to make personalized hot cocoa. Emma is giving them to her friends and they turned out really cute. In case you are wondering, I do cram in several crafts each weekend. Don't even ask me about the mess I create each Saturday morning. Our best crafting sometimes happens in our pjs.

On the 12th & 13th Day of December...

We enjoyed a few good books.
We indulged in hot drinks sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy.
We hung the stockings next to the fireplace with care.
We dug out from this week's blizzard.
We cuddled under cozy blankets.

We also did 6 loads of laundry, changed the kitty litter box, cleaned out the refrigerator, went grocery shopping, did some marathon Christmas shopping and attempted to get organized for the last week of school before CHRISTMAS BREAK!

PS. On Monday night, the school board will be making decisions on school cuts. My husband's social work position is secure, but his job responsibilities could be vastly different. Keep those positive thoughts/prayers coming.

Holiday Apron & Fun Cupcake Ornaments

Time to break out those cookie cutters and your favorite holiday apron! Speaking of aprons, check out this little cutie!!


As much as I love to craft, I don’t sew. But one of my very favorite faculty members at my university has a daughter who is a very talented seamstress. If you'd like one of your very own, I've included an email link here. Be sure to put apron in the subject line.

While trolling through one of my favorite crafting blogs, I spotted a vintage ice cream cone ornament and inspiration struck to make a cupcake ornaments. Josie and Emma were able to help me with 2/3 of this project.

Supplies Needed:

Styrofoam balls
Cupcake liners
Glitter (I used white snowflake glitter)
Artificial floral berries
Twine or ribbon
White craft glue
Foam or paint brush
Hot glue gun
Wooden Skewers for handling glue covered foam balls

Step 1. Stick your Styrofoam ball into a wooden skewer and use a foam brush to coat the upper 2/3 of your ball with glue.

Step 2. Pour your snowflake glitter into a plastic bag and toss your glue-covered ball around the glitter.

Step 4. Place glittered covered balls in a drinking glass and let dry.

Step 5. Put a drop of hot glue in the center of your cupcake, cut a small ribbon, make a loop and press into glue. Press your floral berry (which is the cherry) in the center of your ribbon.

Step 6. Let your Styrofoam ball dry. When dry remove the skewer.

Step 7. Using a hotglue gun, place a few drops of glue around the cupcake liner and press your foam ball in place. Be careful, I found that the foil liner got REALLY SUPER hot quickly.


I decided to hang our cupcake ornaments on a miniature tree that I keep near my kitchen. If you closely at the picture, you'll see that I've tied my favorite cookie cutters onto this tree with tulle ribbon.


I also think these cupcakes ornaments would look cute tied onto packages of homemade Christmas treats. Now isn't this fun? Happy crafting!!