I just adore our Christmas card this year.  I took pictures of the boys playing and love how it turned out.  

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.  I've taken a little break from blogging over the past week to spend time with family.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas with lots of wonderful memories and joyous time spent with family.  

Today I will be helping kids in my oldest son's preschool class make these cookie dough snowballs.  Since the school is a nut-free zone, I am using sunbutter in place of the peanut butter.  At home I use peanut butter.  It's less expensive and my favorite flavor.  These little cookie dough bites are delicious and have lots of healthy stuff in them too.  

Cookie Dough Snowballs

• 1/2 cup creamy sunbutter, almond butter, or peanut butter
  

• 1/4 cup, plus 1 tbsp honey
  

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  

• 1/4 cup, plus 1 tbsp coconut flour
  

• 3 tbsp ground flax seed
  

• 1/4 tsp sea salt
  

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips or carob chips
  

• coconut
  

1.   In a large bowl or mixer, mix together the raw almond butter, honey and vanilla until creamy and well blended.

2.   In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut flour, ground flax seed and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well to combine.

3.   Use your hands to knead the dough to thoroughly combine. If it's too wet, add a bit more coconut flour. If the dough is too dry and doesn't hold together well, knead in one teaspoon of water. Fold in the chocolate chips or carob chips.  (You can do this in the mixer too.)

4.   Then, scoop out tablespoon-size portions and roll into one-inch balls using your hands to create a bite-sized treat.  Separate balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm.  Then transfer to an airtight container to refrigerate.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer.  

5.   To make snowballs, roll cookie dough balls in coconut before freezing. 

Ever find yourself in a "sticky situation"?  We keeping finding ourselves in this one.  Our little redecorator has been having a fun time in the bathroom sink and the bathroom cabinets adding his own messy design. One of his favorite color choices is red, as in red toothpaste smeared across white cabinets and white rugs. He likes to add other colors to his design too.  A favorite is Daddy's white aftershave gel smeared across the blue counter.

We’ve found ourselves in this “sticky situation” several times over the past month so we’ve learned to shut the bathroom door. Our little redecorator has two older brothers who don’t always remember to do this though, so we still find ourselves in a "sticky situation" more often than we would like.  We have even resorted to rubber banding the cabinet knobs in an effort to keep the bathroom redecorator at bay.

Wet Ones is giving us the opportunity to share all of the Sticky Situations we have found ourselves in and tips on how to deal with them through their Facebook Contest!  Submit your funniest or creative ways you deal with all of your "sticky situations".  Simply log on and share your story and tips, and you can be entered to win an iPad Mini or Six Flags Tickets!  I just entered, it doesn’t take long at all, here’s the link to enter.

I have some giveaway winners to report.

The winners of a Shutterfly photobook are:
#3 Tiffany
#21 Susan

The winner of a tube of Safeskin is:
#57 Tiffany

The winners of Purex plus Oxi are:
#111 Sonya
#746 Debra

There are several Huggies and Pampers coupons available to print and a nice CVS diaper deal this week.  





Print: 

• $3.00/1  Huggies Little Movers Slip-On  Coupon

• $1.50 off any one package of HUGGIES Diapers 
• $2.00 off 1 HUGGIES Little Movers Slip-On Diapers 
  
• $2.00/1 Pampers Coupon
  

You can buy Pampers and Huggies diapers at CVS this week for $10 a pack.  When you spend $30 on Pampers or Huggies or a combination of both, you get $10 in Extra Care Bucks to spend on your next purchase (with a CVS card).  Combine this with 3 of the printable coupons and you have a nice diaper deal.  

Thanks For the Mommas

There are two new adorable collections from Kidorable. 

The Dora Collection is full of color and imaginative details, bursting with flowers as butterflies flit about.  A girl you love will have plenty to admire as she pretends to be her favorite character. 

The SpongeBob Collection is a strong blue and yellow undersea theme, full of TV’s #1 animated character’s sense of fun and adventure.  Kids love holding the umbrella’s custom jellyfish handle as they chase sea creatures with SpongeBob and Patrick. 

Check out the new umbrellas, rain boots, and rain coats.  

I am giving away a Dora or Sponge Bob umbrella (winner's choice) to one lucky reader.  Use the rafflecopter form to enter.  

My Shutterfly photobook giveaway is ending soon.  Hurry and enter to win.  

Here is our menu from last week since I will probably never be organized enough to plan a week ahead.  I hope you find some inspiration and I would love to know what you are having for dinner.  (I need some inspiration too.)  Feel free to share your menu ideas or links to your favorite recipes in the comments.  


Monday:  Swiss steak over noodles, bacony brussell sprouts (very good)
Tuesday:  Takeout pizza
Wednesday:  Homemade Italian chicken strips (delicious), cranberry sauce, cous cous
Thursday: Spaghetti (recipe from the can of Dei Fratelli Italian Sauce), homemade breadsticks
Friday:  Steamed broccoli, Piggies in blankets, sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar
Saturday:  potluck at church for Lady of Guadalupe Festivities (I took Chicken Tortilla Soup)
Sunday:  pizza, casserole made from leftover spaghetti (We watched "Miracle on 34th St." and had a pizza party)

We had piggies in a blanket the other night for a quick kid friendly meal before going to see Santa.  The boys loved them of course.  

I was looking for the least expensive crescent rolls and these were on sale.  I felt a little better about buying unhealthy canned rolls since these have unbleached flour, no artificial preservatives, and no hydrogenated oil.  

Ingredients:
2 cans of crescent rolls
1 package of little smokies sausages

Separate cresent rolls and cut in half or thirds.  As you get towards the end, you may need to get three piggies out of each crescent shape.  Then wrap the roll dough around each sausage.  The boys enjoyed helping make these.  

Follow the baking instructions on your package of crescent dough.  We baked ours at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.  

I needed something quick for dinner the other night and I had chicken breasts in the fridge so I came up with this recipe and it was delicious.  I would much rather make my own chicken strips and fry them in a healthy oil then buy the processed frozen variety available in the grocery store.  I will be making these often because the kids and the hubby loved them and they were so simple.  

Ingredients:  
3 or more chicken breasts, cut into strips
flour 
milk
1 egg