Christmas weekend was a blast!

So for my Christmas weekend recap I'm linking up with From Mrs. to Mama for the Show me Christmas link-up...

Our Christmas weekend started Friday night with the arrival of Grandma and Papa!  We were so excited for their visit, they were here for almost 3 full days.  The prince LOVES spending time with all of his grandparents, it's such a joy to see him with them and how happy they all  are when together.

For Christmas Eve, I spent the morning cooking a nice brunch for the hubby, prince and my parents.  I decided on doing brunch because the hubby had to work until 11am and I wanted to make a nice breakfast for everyone to enjoy, so by putting breakfast off for a few hours the hubby then got to enjoy it with us.

So for brunch we had whole wheat brown sugar banana bread pancakes...  

Recipe courtesy of "how Sweet it is", get it here.

Delicious and very filling...  perfect for Christmas Eve morning  { smile }

Along with cooking brunch I also spent some time baking  { LOVE }

I found a recipe for some cupcakes that I thought would be perfect for Christmas...  

Peppermint Mocha cupcakes = delicious!!

Recipe courtesy of Bakers Royale, get it here.

More to come in a future post about these { PERFECT } cupcakes, I promise!!

We took these { PERFECT } cupcakes to Mom Woods' house for a yummy dinner of pizza followed by the Christmas Eve service at the First Baptist Church of Darrington.  

It was then time to get home so I could get to work on my last sewing project...  

Tutorial courtesy of Make it Perfect, get it here.

"Peek-a-Boo" toy sack { FILLED } with cars!  I was so happy with how easy this project was, I will definitely be making at least one more of these.

Christmas morning came at about 6:30am...  and there were lots of presents for opening followed with lots of smiles and even a few tears...

These would be the tears I mentioned...  Grandma was so very happy with the Shutterfly book I created for her and Papa all about the prince.  I will definitely be doing more of these for gifts in the future!

Here's a looksee at all of the great gifts I got this year...

A glass bowl for my KitchenAid mixer { LOVE }

A Silpat and new cookie/bar sheet { another LOVE }

The slicer and shredder attachment for my beloved KitchenAid mixer.

And a microwave, a gift for both me and the hubby.  We've been without one for almost four months now..  a BIG thank you goes to my brother and Claire for this AMAZING gift!

Christmas day was made perfect by all of the wonderful family and friends that we got to spend the entire day with...  

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, too!

Now bring on the new year!!

Christmas Eve has finally arrived.

Can you believe that it is FINALLY Christmas Eve?  I swear each year goes by faster than the last, but I'm not complaining because I love celebrating this holiday with my family and friends, especially the prince!!

And seeing as how it is Christmas Eve this Keep Calm seemed most fitting { smile }

So here are a couple of pictures of what I've been up to the last few days, most specifically a photo of the yummy-delicious baked "fried" chicken I was raving about here.

Like I said it's delicious!  Both hubby and prince approved.

Also hubby approved is this wonderful recipe that we had last night for dinner with my parents...

These are Chicken enchiladas in a green chili sour cream sauce...  another yummy-delicious recipe.

Seeing as I gave the print out of the recipe to my mom, if you wanna try these you'll need to get the recipe from Joyful Momma's Kitchen...  here.

And lastly...  my first attempt at sewing a binding to something...

{ OUCH! } my fingers sure got poked a lot... like A LOT!!

But it was well worth the pain and I can't wait to see my mom's reaction when she opens her gift tomorrow.

One more thing...

Photo courtesy of Bakers Royale, get the recipe here.

I'm gonna be making some of these for tonight, Peppermint Mocha cupcakes...  

do you know how difficult it is to find peppermint Andes mints?!?!  Well, let me assure you it was DIFFICULT, cause I never actually found any.  So I'm putting in some Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark instead, surely it will be similar...  if not better { smile }

Okay!  Now get back to your holiday weekend and enjoy loving your family and friends!

Merry Christmas

and 

Happy Holidays

from my family to yours!

And finally getting to my projects...

I have a number of handmade gifts that I need to get done before Christmas, preferably, and I always end up leaving them for the last minute!  

Seriously!  Last year I was sewing the little seat cushions for the Prince's play table and chairs at 9:00pm on Christmas Eve!

So I guess to have started MOST of my projects for this year a whole week early, TODAY, means there's hope for me to get them done before Christmas Eve, right?!

Here's a peek at what I'm working on today...

A few sewing projects for gifts...

And a little something else I'm trying this year...  I can't tell you too much or I'll spoil the surprise for those receiving this gift.

What projects have you been working on?  And are you done yet?  { smile }

Have a wonderful end to your weekend!

DIY projects to do BEFORE Christmas...

The countdown until Christmas morning is ON!!  Can you believe that in a mere 17 days it will be Christmas morning?!?!  And that means I have even fewer days to get all of my projects that I'll be gifting to loved-ones done!!

Today the Prince and I woke up an hour earlier than usual... and I've already straightened up the kitchen and have butter sitting out to get it to room temperature for the cookies I need to bake before Sunday at 11:00am for the cookie exchange; I've straightened up the dining room table { aka sewing/craft central }, and I'm now sharing some of the projects I'll be working between now and Christmas. { smile }

For some special little-ones in my life, I'll be personalizing some mugs for them.
{ kinda like these }

Photo courtesy of Design Mom.

I first saw these on Pinterest and then was taken to the great tutorial that Design Mom put together, here.

This next one is for my Prince. { shhh, don't tell him }  

Even though he may or may not have had a hand in helping me select the fabric for these bags...  and as I sit here typing this he keeps saying Carter and pointing at the picture.

  Next year I'm definitely going to have to be more sneaky if I want to surprise him, but for this year I'll just have to hope he forgets about them before Christmas...

Photo courtesy of Make it Perfect.

These storage bags will come in very handy for storing all of his choo-choos and cars.  And even better the hubby and I will be filling the one for cars with a bunch of new cars. { smile }

This cute "Peek-A-Boo Toy Sack" was created by Make it Perfect, you can get the tutorial here if you would like to make one or some, too!

Next come the ornaments I found that I thought would be great for our new tree.  And best thing is the Prince can help me make them!

Photo courtesy of Homemade Grits.

Salt-dough ornaments!  

You can do so many different things with these ornaments to personalize your tree.  They would also make wonderful gifts for family and friends, best thing is that they only take 3 ingredients...

{ water, salt and flour }  

Here's the tutorial if you would like to create some ornaments this year.

And just for fun, I'll call it a present for myself... can you believe that when I sew or create it's always for someone else.

Photo courtesy of Craftaholics Anonymous.

Some pretty appliqued ruffle pillows, I'm leaning towards doing them sans-applique.  I have some wonderful fabrics that I picked up recently that are just begging to be used for this project. 

Here's the tutorial if you should want to make some for yourself, too!

Ok now it's time that I get to work on all of these projects...  not to mention the projects I couldn't tell you about because the person/people receiving them would know what they are getting for Christmas!

What projects are your working on for the holidays?  I'd love to hear about them all!