Time Travel, Elf Ears, and Pancakes

So since we were in Texarkana with my family over Thanksgiving, we prepared for Bell to arrive there, since a helper elf  also had a gift for Bell to give to the girls.  Unfortunately I have no pictures of how Bell arrived (my sister videoed it so maybe sometime I will post the vid.) but I will tell you.  Bell arrived tapped to the front door of the grandparents house, with TARDIS Christmas lights strung up around him.  For those who don't know my little (its bigger on the inside) obsession with Doctor Who (my children LOVE it as well) the TARDIS is the Doctor's time machine and "Bell" just happened to find Christmas lights of it for their Christmas tree.  Bell also found Elf ears and hat for my car (Thanks BeBe).  Bell showed up with a letter as well.  I got the letter from Only Little Once and tweaked it a little.  Here is a picture of it

 The girls were so excited about Bell coming back this year.  They have been trying to guess what he is going to do each morning.  This morning they came to wake us up and let us know Bell was drinking the maple syrup (part of the elves four main food groups)  He didn't have a kindness challenge today since we got in last night and mommy didn't print anything out.  But starting tomorrow there will be a challenge.  I'll post about that tomorrow afternoon.

Since Bell was drinking syrup this morning we had pancakes for breakfast this morning.  I found a recipe that I really like to use.  I've tweaked it just a bit, to add holiday flavors to it.

2 cups flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ Tablespoons. baking powder
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons butter (room temp, soft)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp cinnamon (this varies depending on how much your family loves cinnamon)
1/4 tsp nutmeg

First take all your dry ingredients and whisk together.  In a separate bowl mix all your wet ingredients together.  Slowly pour in wet ingredients to dry ingredients, whisking until completely mixed.  Heat your griddle or pan to medium heat.  Use a tablespoon to spoon out your batter.  Spoon out 2 tablespoons of batter.  Watch your pancakes, and after about 15 to 20 seconds flip it and cook on the other side for the same amount of time (If 20 seconds has passed and little "bubbles" aren't popping on the pancakes leave for another 30 seconds.)  And last, enjoy your pancakes with as much (or little)  syrup as you want.

Now go put on some Christmas music, start decorating if you haven't already, and get ready for the best time of year!

Christmas Time!

If I haven't said it before, I will say it now....I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!  It has always been my favorite time of year always, but it has become to mean more to me now as an adult.  Maybe it because I see the wonder and joy on my girls faces during this month, or maybe its because I've grown more in my faith and understanding of the true meaning, or maybe a little bit of both.  Whatever it may be, this is a special time of year and I want to share some of that with all of you.
Last year we had our first visit from Bell the Elf.  The girls had so much fun seeing what he would do each morning.  My husband and I even made a video of him leaving with Santa, with the help from some of my high school bible study girls.  I also did lots of baking last year and enjoyed every minute of it.  My kitchen smelled amazing all month.
So Bell is back this year, but I wanted to do something a little different this year.  Bell will still do silly fun stuff, but we are going to focus on doing acts of kindness and the true meaning of CHRISTmas.  I had bible verses with Bell last year, but I wanted to do more.  So each morning the girls will wake up to find Bell doing something silly and with a verse and challenge attached to him for the girls to show love and kindness to someone.  I'm also going to have some other tags attached to him if the girls are disobedient the day before.
I found three great sites through pinterest with printouts and ideas for the month.   Here are links to the different sites:
Only Little Once ~ This is where I got my letter from Bell from
For the Love of My Home ~ This is a calendar for the month of December with challenges for acts of kindness
Watch Me Homeschool ~ Notes from Bell when the kids have been disobedient.

All three have wonderful ideas for you to do.  I'm so excited to officially start tomorrow with my two girls.  So I've said all that to let you know I am going to blog about what Bell does each day and what challenges the girls get.  Later today I will post how Bell showed up and what he did this morning.

And then at the end, I am going to post a fun recipe that I like to make during Christmas.  This could be something that I actually bake for my menu or just something fun.  Most things I post will be things you can order from me or of course something you can make with and/or for your family.  A lot of these can make great gifts.

So look for my next update later today for the Adventures of Bell the Elf!

I'm bad about posting....and Thanksgiving Menu

Yes.  I know.  I stink at posting.  I usually just update my facebook page, and that's usually all I have time for!  So sorry about that!!! 

Ok so Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  I have a new menu all ready for the fall!  Get your orders in before it gets here!
Don't you just love the smell and taste of Fall Flavors?  Nothing compares!  Well, Christmas flavors are right up there with them!  And those are coming out soon!
New Menu
12………24
Southern Comfort………………………….$22...…$42
A red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting
Awake My Soul…………………………….$26……$50
A coffee flavored cupcake with chocolate fudge in the middle and coffee frosting on top
Midnight Love………………………………$30……$58
Dark chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate blackberry ganache and blackberry frosting. Topped with a chocolate dipped blackberry
BR Midnight Snack ………………………...$26…….$50
A vanilla cupcake with Oreos and cream cheese frosting
Nuttin’ Better……………………………….$27…….$52
A chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter center and peanut butter frosting
4:22………………………………………….$28……..$54
Chocolate cupcake with Oreo in the batter, with a peanut butter center and peanut butter whipped frosting, plus an Oreo on the bottom
What’s Up Doc………………………………$24……$46
Spiced carrot cupcake with chai tea frosting
Pecan Delight………………………………...$32…....$62
A brown sugar cupcake with pecan pie filling, baked in a pie crust topped with whipped cream frosting.
All American…………………………………$30…….$58
A brown sugar cupcake with apple pie filling, baked in a pie crust and topped with whipped cream frosting
Paradise………………………………………$32…….$62
A pineapple cupcake topped with coconut frosting, with toasted coconut on top with a pineapple flower.

The Great Pumpkin Pie……………………..$32…...$62
A pumpkin pie cupcake baked into a pie crust with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon on top.
Pumpkin Hype……………………………….$32…..$62
A brown butter pumpkin cupcake with whipped frosting on top drizzled with caramel
Nutty Banana…………………………………$28…...$54
A banana nut cupcake topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting.
Appledoodle…………………………………..$26……$50
A snickerdoodle cupcake with apple pie filling, topped with caramel buttercream
Sweet & Salty…………………………………$30……$58
A mocha flavored cupcake topped with salty caramel buttercream drizzled with salty caramel.

September-November Specials
Butterbeer………………………..$32………$62
A cream soda and butter infused brown sugar cupcake with butterscotch ganache and butterscotch buttercream.
The Sweet Tator…………………$26………..$50
A sweet potato cupcake with marshmallow frosting on top.
Sweet Mornings………………….$24………..$46
A cinnamon roll cupcake with cream cheese frosting on top.

Pies:
Apple Pie: $22
Pumpkin: $18
Pecan: $20
Dark Chocolate Pecan: $24

Coming up in my next post will be my greatest challenge yet:  My about to be 5 year old's cupcake cake...she wants a TARDIS.  Pray for me!  LOL.  Alright then.  Allonsy!