Monkey Bread recipe

Monkey Bread

2 tubes of refrigerator biscuits
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
Divide each biscuit into 3 balls.
Coat each ball with sugar mixture.
Arrange evenly in bundt pan.
Melt butter and pour over balls.
Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes
Serve warm.

Some Christmas highlights......

The little tree I bought two years ago for my
Nana H - she had just moved into the nursing
home. It was given back to me after she died.
I decorated it with old glass ornaments from my
Nana and Poppy and put it on the kitchen table.

John- cooking his specially marinaded chicken
for fajitas on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning chaos!

Family.

Christmas crafting

Not as much as in years past, but still, I made a few things..........

A 12x12 mosaic made for my Dad and his wife, Linda.
I used the pictures I took in their garden this past summer.

A smaller mosaic for my sister, JoAnne.
With pics from her garden.

A dozen loaves of Applesauce Raisin bread.
Very loosely based on a recipe from my Great-Aunt Carol.

I made over 20 of these mini flower arrangements
this year!

Cute as a button tree ornaments.
My nieces- Ava and Zoe.

Top 12

Sorry pics are so dark- it was a gray day when I took them. I have a tree full of ornaments - 95% of which are handmade or from rummage sales/garage sales. Even though I already have too many, I just can't resist checking out the boxes of ornaments for sale at every church sale or flea market I go to. I usually find a couple more to add to my collection. These are just a few of my favorites......

A star- made by John back in 2nd grade.

I just got this one this past year- Santa's Ho-Ho-Ho down.
The reindeer spin around a fiddle playing Santa.
It reminds me of my Poppy H who loved to square dance.

A Disney one- I have lots of Disney ornaments.
Flounder and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid.
These were from McDonalds about 20 years ago.

I remember the day this picture was taken.
We were walking around Allaire State Park- Tim
took tons of pics. I was pregnant with Griffin- the
look on John's face, you could almost think he
knew trouble was coming! ;o)

Tim and I bought this ornament at the Caldors
at Monmouth Mall right after Christmas, 1985.

Hallmark's Baby's First Christmas ornaments.
L to R - Riley, John, Griffin

Again with Disney.
Again from McDonalds.
These are Bernard and Bianca from
The Rescuers.
I always hang them close together.

Riley made this in pre-school.

My Aunt Pat made this as a favor
for a Christmas party we go to every year.
Counted cross stitch goose. She also made
some with sheep that year and she made sure
I had one of each but I haven't been able to find
the sheep for years.. :o(

A clothespin person made by John.
He had a little table in our old apt, and a
bookshelf full of craft supplies. He would
just sit and make things for hours. He was
four or five when he made this.

I bought this one a couple years ago at a church sale.
It's a little hard to see but it's a old-timey
sewing machine stitching up a Santa suit.
It reminds me of my Nana K who had a machine
like this one and used to sew things for my
sisters and I. I remember her asking me to
thread the needle because I had "young eyes".

Another little guy made by John.

It's been a while....

We're still here- just busy with the holidays and life. Tonight Griffin and Riley are having a last minute sleepover with a friend and planning an all night video game session. As it was a spur of the moment opportunity, we were caught with no decent sleepover junk food in the house so I had to search through the cabinets and get baking. It always surprises me how much food is in this house when there is "no food in the house". I made them cookies, a cake, popcorn and iced tea. Sounds like a lot but we're talking three teenage boys here. So now they're happily munching and crunching while killing zombies on the X-box , John's gone out, Tim's gone to bed and I have nothing to do for a change. Time to blog! To make up for my long absence- three entries in a row!

I have been crafting, shopping, wrapping, decorating inside......

And outside.......

The Miser Brothers with Jingle and Jangle
on our roof. Tim cut these out and painted them
about four years ago. They're from one of our
favorite Christmas specials.

Heat Miser

Cold Miser

Artsy-fartsy out of focus of
our Christmas lights.



We have been going out plenty also. A couple big family parties.
A few nights out with friends. Shopping with my Mom, crafting with
some Homeschooling Moms, visiting with my sister, driving to and
from appointments, being treated to a night out and a play!
Busy,busy,busy.

Me and the Big Guy himself.

We've taken up a new hobby!
The boys LOVE ice skating. Part of it
is the company as we are going with a few of
our favorite fellow homeschooling families.
Griffin is a natural- going backwards and doing
spins within hours of putting the skates on for
the first time. It's harder for Riley and I'm so proud
of how hard he is working to improve. Our goal is
to go skating at Rockefeller Plaza next year.

Physics made fun

From last week-
Faraday's Christmas Physics lecture
at Rutgers University.
Highlights-

A man on rollerskates zooming around
powered by a fire extinguisher.

The bed of nails.

Exploding things.

Imploding things.

Going out for dessert after.

4H- cardmaking

Making holiday cards to be given out to local nursing home residents.

NYC pics

From this past Saturday-
My Mom took me into the city as my early Christmas present. We took an early train into Penn station and walked to the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Van Gogh exhibit. We had a nice lunch, went to Rockefeller Plaza, lit candles at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, checked out the Christmas windows, had a celebrity sighting......

Me and the Naked Cowboy.

More pictures here.

Our Thankgiving......

Family

A jigsaw puzzle

A bountiful table

A fire in the fireplace.