Minty Smiles

Can I have a honest mommy moment here: Today was a struggle.  Not so much with doing the elf deal, but encouraging one of my girls to behave.  I'm not sure where the disobedience is coming from or why there is acting out, but its getting frustrating.  It makes me want to just stop doing the acts of kindness challenges all together because it just doesn't seem to take hold.
Now that that is out...I'm not going to stop.  I'm not going to throw in the towel.  I'm going to push on because even if it doesn't sink in now, I know down the road it might.  And I'm doing my best to teach my children what this season is all about.  SO thank you for letting me rant for a minute; I promise the rest of this will be fun.

So today, the elf did something special for this momma.  He got my mug and coffee ready this morning.  The girls thought it was so cool that he was able to be into our cabinets.  Sophee was cute when she told her daddy what all he got.  For some reason, she thought the K-cup was butter :-)

 Wasn't Bell so sweet :-).  It took the girls awhile to find his letter because it blended right in with the counter.  Though I almost pulled a Becky Burns and said "Open the eyes God gave you."  LOL love you mom!

The challenge today was for the girls to smile at everyone they see.  I know this may seem like something small and not a major deal, but one, there are still kind of young, and two, during the week they are sometimes limited to what they can do due to school.  A smile though can truly be a big thing though.  I can recall times when I've been having a bad day, and someone just simply gives me a smile and it makes me smile and changes my day!  Proverbs 15:13a says "A joyful heart makes the face cheerful."  I explained to the girls (though it resenates more with Sophee since she has accepted Christ) that when we have Jesus in our hearts, we have joy in our hearts and we should share that with others.  I decided to even take up this challenge and tried to smile more at people.

Day four of Advent comes from Luke 1:41-45 "When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"

Today's recipe could make a really cute gift for co workers, bosses, teachers, even friends!  Cream cheese mints.  These are so yummy and so easy!  You can even add food coloring to make them festive! Here's the recipe


1 Package of cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp of peppermint extract
3 dashes of food coloring of your choice
5 cups powdered sugar

Line two baking sheets with wax paper and tap down the sides.  Get a pastry bag and fit it with a closed star tip.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and peppermint extract until smooth.  Next, add the powdered sugar until you get a consistency of cream cheese frosting.  The peaks need to be stiff.  Add food coloring of your choices, just be cautious.  A little goes a long way.  Fill the pastry bag with your mixture and pipe out little disc.  You should get around 250 of them.  Let them sit for about an hour in the fridge or freezer.  They last about a month in the fridge and four in the freezer.
A cute way to package them is to put them in mason jars with a ribbon tied around it!

Have a wonderful evening.