Mild Winter

My favorite Christmas present of all time. When Joseph started preschool, one of the aspects I was excited about was the handmade presents for the moms. I have received two or three items with his handprint, but this little tree was wrapped, and framed with a beautiful teal and orange color pairing. I absolutely adore it.

Wanted to share this yummy smoothie. It's called Banana Nut Winter Smoothie. The recipe calls for vanilla yogurt, but I love using plain yogurt with honey added for sweetness. Plain yogurt just has a tang.
And when freezing your bananas, take the peel off first. In case you can't read the recipe, here it is:

1 frozen banana

1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (love this part)

1 tsp honey (optional)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Blend in a blender!

Holiday baking and festivities begin next week, and I am very excited. Plus, I am contemplating tackling this Jolly Elves craft, but I will probably flake out. It would mean buying a hot glue gun, because I don't have one. I found the idea at WHATEVER, which is a blog that I go to daily, and she has lots of fun holiday activities to do with kids. Although her kids are older than mine and most of my peers, her blog is oozing inspiration.

Enjoy your weekend!

Whew

I just noticed that the date of my last entry was November 18, I didn't want to go that long without posting. But working the holiday, family functions and organizing the preschool Christmas party kept me occupied.

I feel a sense of relief now that the Christmas party is over. I had fun preparing for it, but planning it was a little stressful. I wasn't quite sure what was required of me - a lot of trial by fire. I was afraid the other Language Lane families would come after me with pitchforks and sickles if Santa didn't show, or if the ballons were flat by the time of the party, or if 400 candy canes weren't enough, or if Santa didn't have a real beard. But whew, rest assured that everything went fine.

Here are some pictures from that night.

David came in the middle of his shift to watch. Here, Joe is watching the older class.

Mr. and Mrs Claus were awesome. They enjoying dining at Cheeseburger in Paradise, so I gifted them with a gift card as a thank you.

I had to coax Joe off of Santa's lap he was loving it.

Now it's time for oven pizza and watching my favorite Christmas movie: ELF!