Five on Friday

Today I am grateful for..

1....two smart daughters who brought home excellent report cards-Becca made honor roll again!

2...a hot cup of coffee with peppermint mocha creamer on these cold, cold mornings.

3...Kenzie's music teacher and all the kids who did a great job with the holiday concert.

4...being able to squeeze in some time to start reading again-it has been way too long!

5...being able to squeeze in some crafting too!

Wordless Wednesday

The Poopy Game

I don't like playing the poopy game.

And what is the poopy game you ask?

The poopy game is what we have named the often times frustrating process of housebreaking the new puppy.

Said puppy is getting the hang of housebreaking. He goes to the door and whines when he needs to go potty. Which is great, right? But once outside he gets really distracted.

"Look a leaf!"

"Look a stick!"

"Look a car!"

Now I know he is just a puppy and everything is new and exciting but after wandering around the yard for 15 minutes freezing my butt off in the 20 degree (or below) weather is not my idea of a good time. If there is such a thing as ADD for puppies Tuukka surely has it.
This is the third Puppy I've gone through the housebreaking ritual with and I have never had this experience before.

So we head back in.

And within 5 minutes Tuukka is back whining at the door and we head back outside.

"Oooo look at the pretty flag blowing in the wind!"

"Oooo a leaf!"

"Ooooo there's Boomer, I'm gonna go eat his face!"

And so it goes on, in and out until he can't hold it anymore and now he's doing the poopy dance.

And finally he does his business.

Hopefully outside.

And not inside.

Right in front of the door.

Because I got sick of going in and out playing the Poopy Game.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Found this super easy and yummy cupcake idea here . Basically you cook up some chocolate cupcakes according to the package and a few minutes before they are done you stick a York mini peppermint pattie on top. Then continue baking for the remaining few minutes. In the original directions she made mini cupcakes so that the mini patties cover the whole top. I actually made full size cupcakes and sunk the patties in bit. That's all there is too it. You don't need any frosting! This is a big hit for my oldest who loves peppermint patties and doesn't like buttercream frosting.

Five on Friday

Today I am grateful for....

1. ...the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees.

2.... A nice warm cup of Cocoa with Baileys Irish Cream.

3... family snuggle time while watching Holiday movies.

4. ...Receiving Christmas cards from family and friends near and far.

5. ...kids requesting home baked goodies instead of store bought ones.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The holiday spirit is in full swing here in the Ciolino household. The tree is up, the decorations are up and cards are trickling in daily from friends and family. The only thing missing is the snow.

I like having snow for Christmas and other than a few flurries and a dusting a few days ago we've got nothing. It has been really, really cold though and housebreaking a new puppy when it is 20 degrees out and windy is not my idea of fun, but it has to be done.

Along with the Christmas decorations came the arrival of our elves Deenie and Jeannie. They have been up to their ususal antics- decorating the bathroom with toilet paper, trying to go fishing in the fishtank, playing yahtzee and causing mischief in the kitchen cabinets are just a few of things they have been up to since arriving December 1st. Yesterday we caught them watching movies (Elf-of course) complete with popcorn! They also brought the new Shrek movie for the girls.

I was finally able to convince everyone to sit for 5 mins. so that I could get a picture for our Christmas card. I was getting worried that I wouldn't get one done because a certain member of the family would complain every time I even mentioned taking pictures. But it is finally done and will be sent out soon!

As the days pass I have been working on a Christmas journal from Shimelle.com. I receive daily writing prompts and phototography prompts via email. It has been kinda fun to put together.

Wordless Wednesday

Advent Calendars

Every year since Becca was little we have done an advent calendar in one form or another. Our first advent calendar had pockets just big enough for a little piece of candy. When Kenzie came along I was able to squeeze two pieces of the Celebrations candies into the pockets. Then I was unable to find the Celebrations candies anymore. We have done some different variations including Lego and littlest pet shop calendars. Then one year I found a cute wooden calendar with little doors just perfect for little treats. When we got it home we realized that it had a 21 where 12 was supposed to be, but it gave it character and no one really cared.

Unfortunately we only had that calendar for a couple of years before Boomer chewed it up do to the fact that it smelled like candy. So that left us with no calendar. In the course of a year I forgot we didn't have a calendar and had to come up with something quick this year. Thanks to the wonder of the internet I came across a cute idea using paper rolled into cones, tied with twine to hang up and numbered. It was perfect because I had everything I needed on hand and it was quick to put together.

My only dilemma was how and where to hang the cones. The ones online had them hanging from sticks or tree branches from outside but that wasn't really going to work for me. The final solution was staring me in the face. The girls have their own small artificial tree in the play area that they decorate and that is where I hung all the cones!

The cones were made with a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper cut in half. Then I rolled each half into a cone and used a hot glue gun to glue it in place. I punched out some circles with a circle punched and stamped numbers onto them. I hot glued the circles to the cone. I punched a hole at the top of each cone. I tied twine around the cone and then stucked it through the hole at the top of the cone. Next I tied the twine in a loop so it could be hung up. That's it!

Wordless Wednesday