Christmas Faves

Hi!
So I didn't take a bunch of photos during all of our holiday festivities but I did take a few of my favorite moments!  Check 'em out :)

I had been wanting to make Whoopie Pies ever since we tried one in Charleston. So I found this mix at Target, and my mom bought me a Whoopie Pie Pan at Williams-Sonoma! They were sooo scrumptous!

Our Charlie Boy letting us know that he's a present too!

Bobby and his girl!

My Mom sent me this little Christmas Evergreen through ProFlowers. I thought it would be the perfect table centerpiece for Christmas Lunch!

 My little cousin Sarah enjoying a Reddi-Whip treat!

Sarah was so excited about the shirt I made for her she wanted to wear it right away!

 We found the most fun pop beads for our nieces! 

We started creating necklaces, bracelets and rings right away!

Abby and Tristin wanted to model their new shirts too!

So glad you like them, girls!

My cousin Nikki's little girl, Bella got a purse full of hair ties.  I think she likes them ;)

My cousin Miranda's little twins! Cutie little Eli!  And Owen with his Grandpa! So sweet!

Surprise! Katy Jo and I got the same PJs for Christmas presents! 

Great minds think alike... :)

I hope you captured some great moments during the holidays!
Thanks for looking :)

Baked Potato Soup

Hi Friends!
How was your Christmas? Ours was great! We've spent the last few days visiting with family and friends as much as we can before the New Year begins.
As promised, I'm excited to share my mom's recipe for Baked Potato Soup with you! It is one of my favorite meals and we have it every Christmas Eve. I look forward to the meal all year long...

Ingredients

6 Large Baking Potatoes
2/3 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Flour
6 Cups Milk
1 Pound Cooked Bacon, Crumbled
8 Ounces Sour Cream
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 bag Oyster Crackers

Directions

Bake the Potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour, turning over after 30 mins.
Scoop out potato pulp and place in bowl.
In stock pot, melt butter and flower, slowly add potato and milk until thick.
Right before serving, add sour cream to soup.
Top soup with cheese, bacon and Oyster Crackers.

*Add milk if soup seems to thick.
** I would have taken a picture of the soup in the bowl with all the fixin's but I was so excited to eat it that I forgot :)

Buffalo Chex Mix

It's Christmas Eve! (and I'm blogging... I should be wrapping gifts, cleaning my house and baking...oops)
Every year for Christmas I make a different flavor Chex mix to give to the guys... This all started when I first started making Chex Mix Muddy Buddies and then realized that a yUmMy snack would be a great gift for my Papa and Uncles!  I was probably about 18 then... every year since I have continued this tradition and also added many more to the family and friends to make the mix for...  So this year I found the recipe for Buffalo Chex Mix.  Bobby orders Buffalo Chicken Pizza anytime we go to a pizza restaurant! So I thought this would be perfect!
Here are the ingredients it calls for...

I ended up adding more of the saucey stuff and more hot sauce because it didn't taste spicy enough...

After you're done mixing it all together, put it in the microwave for 4-5 minutes then lay it out on paper towels to cool. Isn't it pretty :)

After starting to make little packages of the Chex mix I decided it wasn't enough for everyone that I wanted to give it to so I ended up making a second batch.  This time I got a spicy ranch packet instead of regular and Bobby said it was better that way!

Here they are all packaged up and ready to be handed out!!!

Tonight we are continuing our tradition of eating Baked Potato Soup! My favorite!!! I hope to be able to add that recipe to the blog soon!!!

The Wizarding World

of Harry Potter!!! 

I'm so excited to tell you that last weekend we visited Islands of Adventure in Orlando which means we got to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! Lately, we have been in the Harry Potter mood after renting The Half-Blood Prince and heading to the theater to see The Deathly Hallows.  Both movies were SO good, it just made us that much more excited!  

The park was very busy and the lines to get into The Wizarding World were eXtReMeLy long, as well as the lines to get into the shops.  I only went into HoneyDukes, the candy shop. I really wanted to go into Olivander's Wand Shop but I couldn't even find the end of that line!  So without further ado, here are some of the pics I took at the park...

The Hogwarts Express

Butterbeer! It's Delicious!!!

Fritz and Heidi after riding The Flight of the Hippogriff.

Bobby and I on The Flight of the Hippogriff.

Here are more pics from The Wizarding World!

Here are some of the pics from the rest of the park!

The Nutcracker

This weekend we traveled north to see my cousin, Katy Jo, perform in her final Nutcracker. She has been in dance since she could walk, so this is a performance she has been practicing for for a very long time. She had 3 parts in the show; Clara's mother, a snowflake and the Rose Queen. The Rose Queen costume was gorgeous and Katy Jo made all of us there watching very proud!

I was relieved when I noticed other people in the audience taking pictures. I figured out how to work my camera so that I could get good pictures without a flash.  Here are some of my favorites from the night!

Katy Jo as a Snowflake

Katy Jo as the Rose Queen

Katy Jo and her proud Brother, JT

Katy Jo and her parents

Me and Katy Jo-on her toes!

Although the highlight of the show was my Beautiful Cousin... the rest of the show was really great too! Here are some more pics that I took of The Nutcracker!

It's Christmastime Pretty Baby...

Happy Holidays Friends!

Last weekend we finally had a chance to be home and get some things done around the house! So we decided to get into the spirit of the season with some Christmas decorations.  Our friend Ryan, a Christmas Lights Professional, came over to help Bobby put lights up on the house.

Don't they look good! (Since then, Bobby put red and white lights on the other tree in the yard too.)

I decorated the mantel. I know it is a little less festive than a regular holiday mantel but I want the focus to be on the cards we receive!

Even though I didn't put my frames on the mantel for this season, I still wanted to use them :) So here they are, just relocated to foyer!

Of course, here is our skinny little tree! My favorite part about it is the big bow at the top!

Tonight we are heading to see my cousin, Katy Jo, performing in her final Nutcracker! Be looking for a post about that soon :) 

Thanks for reading.

Happy Holidays!

Break a leg, KJ!