Making my list and checking it twice

Christmas Eve is a week from tomorrow! Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I have! I have! I'm just waiting on a couple of things to be delivered to my doorstep so I can wrap them and send them off, but that's it.

I've learned that Christmas with a 5 year old is so much fun! He's counting down the days and is so excited to see what Santa will leave under the tree. Here are a few of the things at the top of his list............

Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash - This is funny because he's never been a boy big into cars, but he's been begging for this! In fact, I heard him tell a friend today "I'm getting Criss Cross Crash for Christmas!"

Imaginext Air Craft Carrier - We've had a number of Imaginext toys before and they've always been wonderful, so I expect nothing less of this one.

Despicable Me DVD - We saw this in the theater and I honestly thought it was better than Toy Story 3. Brady thought so, too. :)

Star Wars Lego book - Brady has checked this out from the library numerous times and I think he would be completely crushed if Santa didn't bring it. Good thing Santa bought it weeks ago!

My Little Basketball Player

Brady started playing basketball this year and his first game was this past Saturday. He loves it! It's so funny to watch all of these little kids (4 and 5 year olds) play. We have some awesome kids on our team, too. I know a lot of you are baseball fans and I like baseball, but I love basketball! It's so much more interesting to watch. Maybe it's because I grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and was raised a huge Duke Blue Devils fan. We love our basketball in Durham!

Isn't he cute?????

The Pleated Poppy

I just love Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy and today she's showing us her Christmas decorations. You must go check them out!

Here's a sneak peek..................

She's my total blog crush!

Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie

My husband loves chicken pot pie and was on me for ages to make it. Well, I tried a number of recipes - everything from using puff pastry to a recipe with a million ingredients ( I swear!). All of them were very time consuming and never tasted exactly right.

Finally, I turned to my faithful friend Paula Deen and she supplied the best recipe ever! It's so quick and easy that I can even make it after work during the week (as long as I have the chicken cooked and shredded ahead of time). Best of all? My husband loves it! Enjoy!

Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup instant biscuit mix

1 cup milk

1 stick melted butter

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup

Salt and pepper, optional

1/2 cup frozen green peas ( I add more peas and carrots)

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots

2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

2 cup chopped cooked chicken breast (I shred mine)

1 cup chicken broth

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a greased 2-quart casserole, layer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas. Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers. Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

S'Mores Kit

Wouldn't these be a cute gift for that friend who has everything?




From Twig and Thistle

Peppermint Pretzel Wands

How adorable are these? They just may find their way on my baking list for next weekend!

Peppermint Pretzel Wands

Yield: Makes about 2 dozen.

Ingredients
· 10 oz. vanilla candy coating
· 9-oz. package of large stick pretzels (about 8 1/2
· red and green mint candies, crushed

Preparation
Melt candy coating in a microwave-safe 2-cup measuring cup on high power (100%) one to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth. Dip each pretzel into candy coating to cover half of pretzel. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Stand each pretzel, coated side up, in a glass until candy coating hardens.

Thanksgiving at Disney World

We spent our second Thanksgiving in a row at the Happiest Place on Earth, thanks to a wonderful Christmas present we received. If you know us, you know we're huge Disney fans and love to go! We didn't think we would be able to this year, so it was a huge blessing to be able to take Brady on one last vacation as an only child. Next time, Beckett will be along for the ride!

We stayed at our favorite resort, Pop Century!

The weather was gorgeous - 78F and sunny almost the entire week. Everything was decorated for Christmas and in true Disney fashion, absolutely magical. It was hard to be in the holiday spirit with palm trees and such warm weather, but that's just why I couldn't live there full time. I like a little seasonal weather throughout the year. But for our vacation, it was perfection! Brady even got to swim!

We made it a very laid back trip since I'm 6 months pregnant. I sat on a lot of benches and ate a lot of snacks while the boys rode rides that I couldn't ride. My doctor just didn't want me going on Space Mountain. I can't imagine why! Ha!

We did a few different things this time, including playing mini golf at WinterSummerland. We played the Winter side, which was a Christmas theme!

The boys eating ice cream in Epcot

And playing a crazy game of Twister! (I did not particpate in this! )

It was a wonderful, wonderful trip and I can't wait to go back with our little family of four.