Celebrating the Holiday Season

Our Christmas and New Years was spent quietly at home, enjoying good food and each other's company! I hope you all had a nice season over the break as well .

I made my first cinnamon raisin swirl sourdough loaf for the boys to enjoy for breakfast while they were home from school. It was a big hit!

For Christmas morning first thing of course we had to open presents! The boys got a good variety and even a few gifts from family out of state. They also dug into the candy from their stockings a bit before we sat down for our traditional breakfast.

I tried a new recipe for cowboy biscuits that turned out perfect, plus some homemade sausage gravy. So good!

Our dinner was simple, we do Mexican food for our Christmas. Nick requested shredded fiesta chicken tacos so I made that plus guacamole. Yum!

The rest of break at home was spent mostly in our PJs and relaxing. We did have some warm weather one weekend so we actually went to the park with Jacob while Brad rode his bike! We got snow just in time for Christmas. 

For NYE we always have an assortment of snacks and finger foods while the boys sip bubbly cider and we watch a family movie.

After eating, the boys played together upstairs while we watched some shows, then at midnight we all watched the ball drop in Times Square together. Then off to bed!

Now it's a fresh start of a new year, and I can't wait to see what this one will hold for us .

Winter Solstice

December is coming to a close, and we got a few inches of snow for the first day of winter! I've been catching up on tasks inside, and hosted a small holiday party for my work friends.

This Pothos has been part of our family since Bradley was born! I've propagated it many times, and he just got a fresh trim.

Several inches of snow on the ground!

Some festive goodies for my work party.

After the party I got my dining table all polished up and redressed for Christmas dinners 

I hope your Christmas was happy and warm! My next post will have a few pics from our quiet holiya at home.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

This super easy recipe cuts out the steps of measuring and adding flour/sugar etc because it has a shortcut! That shortcut is using a box cake mix. I've made a few different cake mix cookies and this one is at the top for taste and texture. The cookies come together very quickly, and after baking and cooling they have a great crunch while still being soft on the inside.

I originally got this recipe from my mom many years ago, and I have tweaked it a bit to suit myself.

1 box yellow cake mix

1c peanut butter

1/4c veg oil

2 eggs

2 tbs water

(optional) 1c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients (add choc chips at the end if using). Use a small scoop or two spoons to drop approx 1tbs dough balls onto a nonstick baking sheet 2" apart. Bake approx 15min or until edges are dark golden. Cool on wire rack before storing, cookies will harden a bit.

This makes at least 4 dozen 2" cookies, and they store well in a cookie jar on the counter!

Girls Weekend in Canada

Last weekend me and my friend Jess took a little time off to hop over the border for some Canadian fun! We spent a couple of nights at the cutest little BnB in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was cold but clear so we were able to walk around the touristy spots and enjoy the fun and sights.

Originally we were booked for a secluded cabin in the Poconos, Pennsylvania however just a few days before the trip the host canceled our spot unexpectedly!!! We decided to stay local and still take advantage of our planned time off. Buffalo was a bit too pricey for what was offered, so I was happy to see the affordability of the Canadian side!

Less than an hour away and we were there.

We had a king suite with a 2 person jacuzzi tub all to ourselves! Breakfast was in the beautiful dining room each morning, and only 1 other couple was there with us.

We got there Friday afternoon so after grabbing some Nepali food (momos and biryani rice) we went down to Clifton Hills. We parked the car and just walked around for a few hours enjoying all the stores and seeing the Falls from the other side. We had fun riding the Sky Wheel!

After doing that we grabbed some much needed hot beverages and walked around the area.

They had several cute kiddy rides and experiences, so we opted to do an interactive fake Ghostbusters ride where you shoot the ghosts, and we also did a 4d ride for Toy Story. I would definitely come back here in warmer weather with the family to do more things!

That evening we snacked for dinner. The next day we headed to the Outlet Mall to window shop and check out all the neat stores they had there. For lunch we found this themed diner called the Flying Saucer restaurant so we had to eat there! I got a foot long hot dog, and it was so delish!

After lunch we rested in our room for awhile to wait for dark, then we did the Festival of Lights drive by the Falls and saw all the beautiful displays.

Right by the falls, the spray was freezing over everything and made it very icy!

We grabbed a pizza on the way back and ate dinner in the jacuzzi with some wine! The next morning was a nice breakfast and chatting with the BnB owner before packing up and heading home. I was home just after noon and refreshed from the fun time with my sis!