For the Troops Part 2

Christmas candy, chocolate, protien bars, beef jerkey & trail mix and burned copies of recent movies on DVD's.

Travel sized Bibles with a handwritten note in each and every one of them.

A handwritten letter to each soldier from Wiley's class.

Acts of LOVE

Stockings stuffed and ready for shipping!! Hoping these will bring a smile to the soldiers this Christmas.

Our next shipment will be a little something for Valentine's Day. 

Cake Pops for Dummies

Everyone loves cake pops!  They recently made their debut last year and now they are popping up in Starbucks, birthday parties, baby showers....basically everywhere.  But honestly, who has the time to bake a cake just to make cake pops? I don't.  Well I could probably squeeze it in, but there are a million other things I'd rather do than clean up a kitchen after baking a cake.  So here is a Cake Pops for Dummies tutorial. Super easy, super affordable and SUPER DELICIOUS!!

What you need:

*cookie sticks

*donut holes

*mini baking cups

*sprinkles

*chocolate or candy melts

*a teaspoon of Crisco

 Melt the chocolate/candy melts {30 seconds at a time in the microwave}.  Add a teaspoon of Crisco when it's melted and stir well.  Take a cookie stick and poke a hole in the donut.  Dip the stick in the chocolate then put it in the donut.  Put the donuts in the fridge for 5-10 minutes so that the chocolate can harden, this will ensure that the stick will stay in the donut.

 Reheat the chocolate.  Dip each donut in the chocolate, shake the stick a little so the excess chocolate drips off the donut.

 Sprinkle the sprinkles on the donuts!

 Place in a baking cup.

All done!  Don't put these in the fridge, I've heard it will cause the chocolate and sprinkles to bleed into each other. 

EAT UP!!!

For the troops

I LOVE MY FAMILY.  I'm not just talking about my immediate family but my entire crazy lovable extended family.  We are always there for each other, always supportive, and truthfully my cousins are more like my brothers and sisters.  I really think that when it comes down to it we are each others best friends. 

We have a cousin that was deployed to Afghanistan 5 months ago.  I had been meaning to send her a care package for months.  It's a sorry excuse, but life kept getting in the way or we just didn't have any extra money.  Well, I felt TERRIBLE when she surprised me with a flower delivery when I came down with the flu two months ago.  How sweet is that? She's all the way around the world, in a war zone, and she's sending ME flowers???  That got my butt in gear!  My parents and I put together a box of shampoo, snacks, lotion and Halloween trick or treat bags.  We were able to stuff 5 extra trick or treat bags in there so that she could give it to a few of her friends. 

The trick or treat bags got us thinking.  Wouldn't it be awesome to send her and her fellow troops a care package for Christmas too?  Luckily she is based at an Airfield and has a "desk job" at the Stability Operations Office.  This office serves as a liaison between the military and civilian operations.  I emailed her and asked her how many troops she works with and their names.  I also sent out an email to family here in the states to see if they would also like to contribute to this project.  The response was overwhelming!

A cousin in Colorado sent a check to help with shipping.  An aunt and uncle bought 33 bibles.  My parents went to Costco for snacks.  My brother is making 33 DVD's of Christmas movies. A cousin in Arizona is also sending a check.  Another aunt is going to Costco for stocking stuffers....I could go on and on.  And yes, as you just read we are sending them Christmas stockings!

I bought stockings the other night and wrote their names on it.  We are all getting together for our "Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving" dinner in two weeks (Thanksgiving is split between CA & AZ so it's really 2 days for our family).  After dinner we will stuff the stockings as a family.

Like I said I LOVE MY FAMILY!

If you're interested in sending the troops a care package this Christmas and don't know where to start here are a few links:

https://www.uso.org/Donate_OUCP_Search/?src=W107OUCP04

http://ustroopcarepackage.com/

http://www.give2thetroops.org/

My Sister aka Wonderwoman

I know I have mentioned my sister a few times

She's freakin AMAAAZING

Let me just tell you a bit about her..

She's 5 years older than me
She's my best friend

 She is married to one of the best guys out there

they are hilarious together
they still don't fart in front of each other!

They have 6 kids, 

YES you read that right 6 KIDS!!

Crazy ya... 

Now when you think someone has 6 kids you think

crazy, naughty, obnoxious rugrats...

But seriously, these are the best most WELL behaved kids you will EVER meet
I would GLADLY take all 6 any day

Their names all start with a K

We often refer to them as K1..K2..K3 and so on

I adore each and every one of these kids 

So Keep in mind that she has 6 kids...

She ALSO has 2 businesses!

She does nails out of her house. 

She does all different kinds of pretty nails.

 they are bomb

 Yes those are my hands :)
So if you live in AZ you need to call her!

The other business (and the reason for this post) 

is she makes BEAUTIFUL Custom Jewelry

She so perfectly named it "Six designs" (get six kids lol) 

 

 This one is mine :) I LOOOVE it! I wear it everyday :) 

They are super affordable and she ships every where....
Perfect for Christmas gifts!

So go check out her Facebook page here

You wont regret it I promise!!

(PS she didn't pay me to write this.. I wanted to share her amazing work)

Let the Craziness Begin!!!

Now that Halloween is over....

the holidays are HERE!! YAAAAY

Usually my AMAZING older sister takes on the Holidays

She always had the bigger house

and she knows how to do these things...

Well this year, they had to move to a small condo while they look for a house to buy...

Which leaves me having the only house big enough to fit everyone...

So this year I am hosting the following.... 

Thanksgiving

Our Cousins Annual Christmas party 

babygirls 2nd birthday party

AND 

Christmas x2

(once on Christmas Day for Mr. N's family and the following weekend for mine)

I'm a little worried that I will either completely lose my hair

or sleep up until January 1st (unlike most people when I get stressed I sleep LOL) 

and through all of this I have photo shoots almost EVERY weekend!

Even thought it should be COMPLETELY insane

I am sooo excited! 

I love having people over

I have an amazing family! 

And Babygirl is at that age where shes going to have fun! 

LOVE this time of year!!!!

Are you hosting any of the Holidays?? Any tips for a newbie :) 

(Christmas Last year... babygirl was so little!!)

Halloweeeeeen

Why can't witches have babies??

Because they have halloweenies.. hehe

When I was little I used to make my mom dress me up in a batgirl costume 

(not on halloween.. just random days)

and NOBODY knew it was me.. 

I was Batgirl....

So I couldn't resist making babygirl Batgirl too :) 

 Last year we didn't carve pumpkins because we were in California. 

So this was Babygirl's FIRST pumpkin carving!! yay

I love those two :) 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
And
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHONA!!!!