Week Winnings December 19 - 25

• Little Pim DVD in Spanish
• You Might As Well Die by JJ Murphy
• Christ Centered Christmas EBook
• $50 coupon for bounce house (see if I can find something!!!)

Weekly Menu Plan for December 26, 2011

Monday - Red Robin (yum!)

Tuesday - Southwest Soup

Wednesday - Pancakes and sausage

Thursday - Ham and Bean soup

Friday - Date Night

Saturday - Inlaws

Sunday - Inlaws or Hamburger Helper

Hodgson Mill

Just received my goodies from Hodgson Mill! I had won a gift certificate for $25 worth of goodies. The one thing that gets to me on some of these giveaways is that you don't know whether you have to spend all the money or you can use it to pay shipping. In this case, I had to get $25 of items and shipping was NOT included. I was okay with it since I have been wanting to get some Hodgson Mill things after seeing the post anyways!!! Here is what I got!

Sweet cornbread mix, 2 - 2 lb whole wheat best for bread flour, Whole wheat pancake mix, onion ring batter mix, mushroom batter mix and 3 - 6 oz dehydrated blueberries

I can't wait to try them all!!! The kids and I have already tried the blueberries, VERY glad I got 3 of them as we have eaten about half of one so far!!

Week Winnings December 12-18

It was another nice week of giveaway winning! I didn't think I won much this week until I went back over my list! I am so happy to be getting things that I would like but don't have to spend money on either! I'm also excited to win another DVD for the girls! I am seeing how I might just win their gifts for next Christmas :) As I said before, my goal is to win all my Christmas gifts next year!

• Topsy's 3.5 gallon popcorn (caramel, cinnamon and cheddar! oh so good!!!)
• 4 pack Softlips
• Quest for Zhu dvd
• Beholders: Insight by Terron James
• The Lazy Gourmet cookbook
• 2 bars of Softsoap
• Caillou prize pack (train set, doll and firestation set)

Weekly Menu Plan for December 19, 2011

Monday - Burritos

Tuesday - Pizza

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes

Thursday - Spaghetti Bake

Friday - Taco Friday

Saturday - Grandparent's Christmas

Sunday - Grandparent's Christmas

Oh my!

I have been thinking of posting, I really have! It's so strange how fast your days go by with 3 kids under 3. At the same time, it is so slow too! They have been keeping me busy like crazy the last few days so the posting I want to try and do once a day doesn't seem to happen :(

Mymy has decided she is a big girl and has been even more independent this week. She is acting like a teacher and a mommy to her sister a lot of the days lately. She has "grown up" conversations with us and has been asking more and more questions about different things just out of the blue! Its been so great to see how much she is growing and makes me sad to know in less than a month she is going to be 4!

Lil Miss thinks she is as old as Mymy! She has been trying to do everything her sister does. We can't believe how much her vocabulary has changed in the last few weeks. She is saying so many more words and asking her share of questions. Monday evening, she decided she was "potty training" herself by just taking off her diaper and wearing her sister's underwear. She keeps going to the same spot and peeing though so that ended pretty fast. She is getting ready but I rather wait until she is more completely ready so its not as much as struggle. I can't believe how much she has grown in the last few months either! She is out of a lot of her "baby" clothes and gets so upset that she can't wear her onesies anymore.

Lil Sir has been a BRAT!!! He thinks he can do anything and everything like his sisters. He has been climbing EVERYTHING! His favorite of course is onto the dining room table. Many times a day, he will pull the chair out and climb up and be on the table before I even have time to get to him! He has been talking like crazy too! Of course, you can't understand what he is saying but he is all talk and makes you think you know what he is saying. I can't believe how much he is doing anymore either. He is following simple directions and will do so much more than my baby should be doing!!!! I want him to be my baby!!

Lil Sir is the only one taking naps still, as the other two have completely dropped theirs. Makes it a bit hard to get things done but its interesting to have time alone with just my girls so I won't complain. They are my loves :)

Well, I am going to try harder and harder to post at least once a day. I need to take more pictures too as I seem to never have my camera on me anymore like I used to!!

Weekly Menu Plan for December 12, 2011

I am blessed with being able to go to the inlaws' house this coming weekend which means I get a cooking break :) We have back up plan for menu items just in case we can't make it if something happens but it is still nice to know that I might have a little break :)

Monday: Spaghetti and garlic bread

Tuesday: Chili

Wednesday: Pancakes and Sausage

Thursday: Taco Night a day early :)

Friday: at inlaws' house

Saturday: at inlaws' house

Sunday: Family Christmas Lunch and Dinner

Week Winnings December 5-11

This week I didn't win as much has I have been. I think it might be because a lot of the giveaways have been higher total entries. I also don't think I entered as many this week either. It was still a nice week and I now have another Christmas gift to give to my kiddos!

• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Space Adventure DVD
• Revolution Worship Live CD
• $25 Gift Certificate to Hodgson Mill (VERY excited to get some mixes from them!!)

Batter Blaster Review

I have always wanted to try the Batter Blaster. Just the thought that it comes in a can and I don't have to deal with making it or a mess AND I mean it comes out of a can!!! LOL The price though was a bit too much to me to try. The cheapest I have found it was $4.79. Well, I won a free coupon to try it in a recent giveaway so I was so excited!! We decided today was a perfect day for pancakes so I went ahead and gave them a try!

To make the pancakes, you shake the can upside very well. Then you spray it onto your cooking surface. The first one to me was very weird because it was like putting whipped cream onto my griddle!!!

It didn't take it too long to form into a nice looking pancake though!

After I flipped it, it really started to look like a pancake! I couldn't believe how nice they looked!

They look even better with sausage and syrup!!

My disappointment in it was that it didn't seem to fluff up as much as my regular pancakes do. They were pretty thin but they were still airy and not tough or dense. The can says it makes around 28 4" pancakes. I didn't keep count but I know that the one can was enough to feed all five of us! The kids seemed to love it! Because of it being in the can, it was a bit easier to make shapes and designs. I think if it is a special holiday or celebration, we might buy another can just for the kids to enjoy.

Proof My Husband is A Geek

Yes, this is "light" for him on his geek radar but still he did it and was so proud!

Weekly Menu Plan for December 5, 2011

Last week we did okay staying on track for our menu plan. Some things change and also I find new recipes that just need to be tried instead ;) Another goal I have decided to try is making the main meal in the crockpot. I have done this before and am finding it quite refreshing right now. I am sure I will make it a goal in the future to have a full week or two of only crockpot cooking but for now, I'll settle for a couple of days!

Monday - Ham and bean soup, cornbread

Tuesday - Pancakes and sausage

Wednesday - Spaghetti and homemade garlic bread

Thursday - Biscuits and Gravy

Friday - Taco Night! (For us, this means either burritos, enchiladas or tacos. We have just dubbed it Taco Night and make what we decide that night!)

Saturday - Southwest Soup

Sunday - Sausage Rigatoni

Week Winnings November 28 - December 4

Wow, I would say another decent week :) I don't know how many giveaways I entered last week, but I'm sure it was a lot! You can't win if you don't enter! I am still hoping one of these days to win something "big" but to me right now, these are big in their own right!

• Free Letter from Santa
• 2 Free Coupons for 8th Continent Soy Milk
• It Works chin/neck applicator
• Coochy Shave cream
• Mobi TempTalk Thermometer
• ChicBoom Pink Flowerball
• 2 Free coupons for Gordon's and a Gordon's plate

Crockpot Southwest Soup

I belong to a group on Facebook called the Facebook Cookbook. Great group of people that share different recipes. Well, someone posted a recipe for Southwest Soup and it sounded too good not to try! The next day, I had all the ingredients in hand and I mixed it all up and put it in the crockpot. We had it cooking on low for about 5 hours, turned it to warm overnight (since I have a thing about it being on low or high during the night since things seem to have a way of burning on me!) then turned it back on low and we ate it for lunch and dinner! Let me tell you, dinner was amazing! The soup was great for lunch but something about it being warm and cooking 24 hours and man it tasted wonderful!

Southwest Soup

1lb hamburger, browned

1 small onion, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can rotel

1 can corn

1 can pinto beans

1 jar ragu double cheddar cheese sauce

Mix it all together in the crockpot and cook on low for about 4 hours and enjoy! Or you can let it sit longer if you wish, just make sure to watch it to make sure it doesn't burn! The flavors just get better and better!!!

My husband of course decided the soup needed a special picture taken!

Then he decided that just wasn't enough, so he added and "fanned" out the chips to make it look more fancy!

Oh the pictures just want me to make it again! I'll be adding it to my menu for this week for sure!

Best Ever Peppernuts

When I was little, our church participated in an International Bread Festival held once a year in November. We would all get together at the church and help make peppernuts. We would usually spend the day making them and rolling them into shape so they could be put on the cookie sheet and frozen to be cut and cooked later. With my family now, I love to make them together and now that the girls are getting older its fun to see them have fun helping to make them!!!

Today since it has been such a cold and rainy/icy/snowy day, I decided what better time to make peppernuts! The recipe is pretty easy.

Best Ever Peppernuts Recipe

Preheat Oven 350F Bake for 5-10 mins

2 Sticks Butter

1 Egg

2 T Molasses

1 1/2 cups Sugar

3 1/4 cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger

Mix them all together.

Roll them out. You can stop here if you want and put them on a cookie sheet, cover and put in freezer if you want. Sometimes doing it in two steps is nice when you don't have a lot of time! I find making them and baking them at the same time makes for some chewier peppernuts. When you freeze them, they are a bit less chewy and more like the traditional harder ones.

Cut into pieces about 1/2" to 1" depending on size you want! Try to keep them around the same size!

Place them on cookie sheet with enough of a space so they don't bake together.

It's always fun to have some help!

Place them in the oven at 350F and bake for about 5-10 mins depending on size. Its always good to start with 5 minutes and work your way up if they aren't completely done.

Let them cool for about 5 minutes then transfer them into your container of choosing.

Of course, its hard for the container to stay full!!

I hope you enjoyed one of our Christmas/Holiday traditions! I make them more than just Christmas time, but when it gets cold like this and with the lights and holiday all around, I just can't think of a better time for peppernuts!