Chubby Hubby

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know we did! If you haven't had enough sweets yet, here is another one that is A-to the-W-to the-E...awesome! Although, if you are like us and have tons upon tons of cookies, candy, and cakes in the house, you can hang onto this recipe for another time.

I am currently munching on dried mangoes to try and offset all these sweets I've consumed recently. Didn't the doctors tell you that fruit totally cancels all that stuff out?! No? Mine either...total bummer. In my mind, it makes me feel better :)

Ok my peeps...here we go!

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I made some 'chubby hubby' truffles a few weeks back, a delicious spin on a peanut butter ball.

I am a lover of all things chocolate and peanut butter. If you are too, you are gonna love these!

{Warning: Side effects include (but are not limited too) a chubby hubby, a chubby wifey, and chubby kiddos. Consider yourself warned.} 

Chubby Hubby Truffles

{Photo and recipe credit--Brown Eyed Baker}

 Makes: about 18 truffles

1½ cups pretzel pieces

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

Pinch salt

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 cup milk or semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

1. Put the pretzel pieces into a resealable plastic bag and crush into very small bits (a rolling pin works great for this).

2. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and salt. Stir until all of the ingredients are completely blended and smooth. Add the pretzel bits to the peanut butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the powdered sugar and mix until completely combined.

3. Line a small baking sheet with wax paper. Using a small cookie scoop, or about 2 teaspoons worth of peanut butter mixture, gently shape into a ball with your fingertips. Place the ball on the wax paper-lined cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining peanut butter mixture. Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.

4. When ready to dip the truffles, microwave the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening together in a small bowl at 50% power in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted and smooth.

5. Working one at a time, dip one peanut butter-pretzel ball into the melted chocolate and use a fork to roll it around, ensuring that it is completely coated with chocolate. Let any extra chocolate drip off and place back on the wax paper-lined sheet. Repeat with all of the peanut butter-pretzel balls.

6. Return the baking sheet to the refrigerator and again chill for at least 30 minutes. Garnish with a drizzle of melted peanut butter and crushed pretzels, if desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

5 days left...and a birthday

Yep, you read it right...only 5 DAYS LEFT until Christmas!! Busy, busy, busy...

--We received about a full foot of snow in the past couple of days!--

--Wrapping presents all pretty and festive--

{Speaking of presents...Thank you Cabela's for keeping Josh's Christmas gift a complete secret... Can you make it more obvious?! At least he knows he is getting what he asked for! haha}

Oh, and I made some sugar cookies with Superman today.

I can't end this post without giving a 'shoutout' to my favorite sister-in-law!

{Also, my only sister-in-law, but that's besides the point.}

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!!!

We are so, very thankful that God put you into our lives!

Have you seen this?

I couldn't have said it better, Mike.



Christmas Party

My family had our Christmas party on Saturday night!

We all had so much fun with games such as....

{Throwing marshmallows into a bucket}

{Trying to get a pom pom attach to your vaseline covered nose}

{Transfer M&M's to another plate with only a straw, then make a smiley face}

{Get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth, without using your hands}

{Stack the metal nuts with a wooden dowel}

{Unwrap presents with snow gloves}

It was so nice to sing and play Christmas hymns, praising our Saviour for sending His Son so many years ago...

We also set up a photo booth...and maybe had a little too much fun with it! :)

8 Days until Christmas!!

So tell me... {Granny B.-- Part 2}

If you missed part 1 here is the link! >>> So tell me... {Granny B.-- Part 1}

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9. What were you doing in your life at my age (21)?

I got married at age 21!

10. How did you meet Grandpa?

I was with my sister and her husband. We passed by his dad's house, when e stopped he come out to the car. Love at first sight. 6 weeks later we were married!!

11. How did Grandpa propose?

He sure didn't get down on on knee. He just said we were getting married!

12. What are some hardships you have faced in your life?

Well there are many. There was a time when all we had to eat was pancakes and apple sauce. Another time when I come home from the Hospital with a new baby and the power man came to turn off our electric. Talked him out of it till we could get some money. When I was pregnant with Sharon {my mom} we went all summer without electric. No Fridge!!!!

13. How old were you when your first child was born?

I was 22 yrs old when I had my first child.

14. Do you have any special memories of when your kids where little?

With 7 kids there is lots of special memories. They played really well together!!

15. What was mom like growing up?

She was a very mellow person. Listened to orders most of the time. When she was little she would come up to us if we were sitting down and throw her leg over ours and stand there on one leg. We ask her what she would do when she went to school cause she couldn't throw her leg on her Teacher :-)

16. Any recipe or food that is your speciality to make?

Biscuits and gravy/chocolate gravy. Pinto Beans and corn bread!!!!

17. Do you have any advice to give to my generation?

Yes I sure do. The most important thing is to know Jesus as your personal Saviour. Serve Him no matter what the cost may be. Dig down deep and get your feet planted upon the Solid Rock, which is Christ Jesus. The Author and Finisher of our FAITH!!!

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I can certainly agree with her biscuits and gravy {AND chocolate gravy} speciality. Whenever the family gets together we always make that for a big breakfast! We have all grown up on it and LOVE it!

Thank you Granny for answering all these questions! It's been so fun to read all the answers!

Nutcracker



This was my first time going to see 'The Nutcracker' and it was so much fun! I have never heard the story of the Nutcracker, so it was really interesting to read about it and see it acted out! Loved the whole thing, totally up my alley....

Our Pastor's wife came with us and joined in on the fun!

Beautiful Theatre

'Intermission'

Since we don't get to the 'big city' too often, we managed to get reservations for a late-night dinner at my favorite restaurant before heading home

'The Great Wall of Chocolate'....mmm hmm...delicious!



Fails

I was going through the pictures on my phone today and found several funny 'FAILS' such as....

It's never a good idea to chop up chocolate on a hot-out-of-the-dishwasher cutting board.

This was suppose to be a microwave chocolate mug cake....that decided it wanted to be a volcano instead.

Found Julian like this a couple weeks ago.....caught him red handed! Little stinker must have been trying to climb up the baby gate and it fell on him! Actually, at first all he was doing was lying there, not sure what do. Funny boy

Stitches last December...definite f.a.i.l.

Have you ever wondered what would happen when you leave a crayon in the hot sun? Well, wonder no longer.

'Open other end'...whoops! Now, you can't tell me you've never done it! :)

Femininity: A lost art

God has been bringing my attention to this topic recently.

Femininity, where has it gone?

Many women {myself included, at times} grumble about how the men in our lives need to be more like gentlemen. Yet, we fail to examine our own lives. Are we being the feminine women God created us to be?

I am guilty of not allowing the men in my life to be gentlemen. For example:

--Has a man ever offered to open the door for you?

--Has a man ever offered to carry something heavy for you?

--Has a man ever offered to let you go ahead of him in line?

--Has a man ever offered to assist you with some kind of project you are working on?

Did you allow him to be a gentleman and do those things for you, or {like me at times} say, "No, thanks."

With the way our world has gone, we are taught {by the world, I might add} that women can do things themselves. We don't need men to depend on. So, just a simple thing like a man offering to carry a heavy box for you, when we deny his kind offer it's like saying, "No, I don't need you, I can do it myself." Wasn't he just trying to be a gentleman? Yet, we didn't allow them to be.

If we deny their help and insist we can do everything by ourselves, no wonder chivalry is uncommon. What is the point of men to keep offering if we keep denying?

We don't need to be as rough and tough as men. We were not created to be as rough and tough as men. I realize that we all have different personalities and not everyone is the 'curls and makeup' kind of women. Yet, we can still be feminine and let the men in our lives be gentlemen, the way God created us to be.

Like I said in the beginning, this is a topic God has brought to my attention. I just want to encourage women to make that conscious effort to allow the men in our lives to be gentlemen, thus producing a more lady-like manner. We might be surprised at how gentlemanly the men in our lives are!