Easy peezy Christmas treats

Round pretzels as many as u can fit on a baking sheet. Set a Hershey's kiss in middle...be creative with flavors. Bake on 170 degrees for 3-6 minutes. Push an M&M onto melted kiss. Again be creative with flavors. I put in freezer for couple minutes to quick harden.

We did menthe filled kisses with mint M&Ms and Carmel Filled kisses with regular M&Ms. Tried cherry cordial kisses but didn't work to well as the center was to liquidy.

Grandma Brown's Holly Cookies

My dad's mom, Ann made these every year and we LOVED them. We couldn't wait to get to grandma's house to have a holly cookie. They taste similar to a Rice Krispie treat, but way better!

½ cup butter
30 large marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp green food coloring
3 ½ cups corn flakes
red hots

1. Melt butter and marshmallows, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and food coloring. Mix in corn flakes. Grease a spoon and drop spoonfuls of mixture on vegetable oil sprayed wax paper. Put red hots on and press so they stick.

2. Let sit until they have hardened.

Heart candy cane chocolates

I saw this on Pinterest but just had photo so here's how I make them.
2 candy canes shape of heart then melt choc in a squeeze bottle. Squirt choc in heart. Can top with crushed candy canes or any other sprinkle. Then drizzle with choc if desired. Put in fridge or freezer for few minutes to harden.

DIY Christmas card display

Take fishing line or very thin metal wire (for jewelry making) and tie drape rings with clips every 4-6 inches. I have been wanting to make a cool display for years and never got around to it. I had just taken these off some curtains I had in our old house last week and it hit me. So yeah for creativity!

Onto the good news...

Research started immediately for the perfect dog for our family. First on the list NON SHEDDING! Next sm to med dog leaning toward small... Not difficult to potty train... Gets long with kids...references from friends and family. We did online quizzes to match us up with dogs and cross referenced top results with references from friends and puppies and very young dogs that were in shelters foster or rescues. I felt we needed a young dog to train properly from the get go. A couple dogs came up 2 shih tzu poodle mixes called shihpoo and 2 Shih tzu yorkie mixes called shorkies. The shihpoos were in Marion and were 6mths old and the shorkies were in coal city and were 4 wks old. Lots of questions and paperwork I felt like I was adopting a child. Drove to my moms took grandma and great grandma with us and what do u know we fell in love. They were all making fun of me because I looked over every inch of the three we had to choose from. Checked out all the coloring. Did they stand straight. Ones bobbed tail looked weird. One was too light. I picked the shorted muzzle but didn't want the skinniest pup. Ones ears were longer ones higher on its head. My mom thought I was nuts. I am not taking this lightly. This is a big commitment. So here are some pics of our new baby who comes home July 23

We have good and bad news...

We adopted a dachshund Bassett rescue dog That a good friend fostered. She has an older niece but no young kids. Teddy tried a home and snapped at but didn't bite their children but they decided against it. We did a trial and the day we said yes he bit my friends 2 yr old. He has since bitten nieces nephews ups lady and last thurs a good friends little boy. He is very good with our family. Never bitten our children but we've established the pack order with him. We assume that he was probably abused by a 2-4 yr old child as its always that age group. Anyway it was a very difficult decision one that wasn't taken lightly but we are surrendering him back to his foster mommy. He I a very good dog but we can't take a chance on a serious bite on the face, eyes etc. Corynne is very attached to teddy and was very upset. We assures all the children we would work very hard to provide them with a special new dog who would be safe for our family and friends.

Special experience

It is such an honor for these young girls to be ask to dance with the pre professional dance company G2. It also shows great dedication. Josie is performing Fri, Sat, Sun for 2 wknds.

The G2 girls did a phenomenal!

Muffins with Mom

Calvin has a fabulous teacher who mixes learning with fun and crafts and love. Mrs Michelle is a great teacher! For muffins with mom the children made us some fabulous gifts and Mrs Michelle made us a scrapbook of the year in her class and personalized it for each child.

Josie Lane is blossoming

I felt this was a time where I had to make note of something really wonderful going on with Josie. 

Above you see her at age 1 and 2 in Dancing Dolls and Happy Feet classes.  She has always loved dance as most kids do when classes are fun and filled with dance, a fun teacher (Miss Kelley), lots of props and super cool songs. When Josie was 6 she auditioned for a part in GHDT's Nutcracker.  She got the part of  a unicorn and they had just opened Academy of Gregory Hancock.  I remember the first time going for auditions and they didn't have the floors down yet.  Josie had taken dance since she was one and decided to put the girls in a modern class, which was something wasn't offered at the Fishers Y.  She was the youngest in the class at AGHDT as they didn't typically take students till 8 but since she was in Nutcracker they went ahead and let her.  She had Miss Meredith Brown and fell in love with dancing that was more demanding, more technical but in her eyes still very fun!  I always told Miss Meredith she had the perfect blend of "sweetness" and "I know you can do this so get your but busy!"  She added ballet to her night of modern and was still taking classes from Miss Kelley too.  The following year she added a second night with Miss Melanie Eakman, who has the same sweet personality as Miss Meredith and the same get busy attitude!  Again, great teachers just solidifying that we made the right choice to add AGHDT into her dance life.  This year she made the choice to really beef up her dancing.  She takes 10 hrs of dance a week between 2 studios.  I am constantly checking in to make sure she is still happy and doing what she enjoys!  Someone ask me if Josie minds giving up her Sat for dance.  I said it's only the morning and she doesn't think twice about it.  In her eyes she's not giving up anything.  It's her passion...when she gets home from dance on Saturday's she's typically choreographing dances or doing dances she already knows all afternoon. 

Over the past 2 weekends Josie has done 2 dress rehearsals and 4 shows.  She did 7 numbers in each of  AGHDT's shows and 7 in each of the Wishes shows.  Ask her if she wish she did less!  Ask her if she is tired of dancing!  I can tell you what the answer would be NO WAY!  In both AGHDT's and Wishes shows Josie had a little solo in part of a dance.  I remember watching her in Miss Melanie's ballet thinking where did my baby go?  I couldn't help the tears from falling.  Where's this tiny little girl with feet so chubby that I could hardly squeeze them into her ballet shoes?  The answer is that in the past 3 years she has grown not only as a dancer, but as a young lady.  She is responsible beyond her years.  She knows her schedule, she keeps track of her own dancewear.   She practices.  And this is on her own.  I have never once said Josie you think you should practice that dance or work on this.  All while getting straight A's in school.  Now, onto watching her in her solo in Wishes.  She was a helper for the intermediate jazz class and did around 10 fouette turns in a row without stopping, falling or  hesitating.  If you know what a fouette turn is you will be highly impressed.  At this moment I felt immense pride.  I realized the week before she was growing up and now I choose to embrace this awesomeness and revel in the power, balance and strength that it takes to do these turns.  This is my beautiful daughter!  I AM PROUD

The saying goes "It takes a village to raise a child".  It also takes a village to teach one to dance.  It is so important for dancers to have many types of dance and we have found studios where that is possible.  I feel very lucky that all of you:  Meredith, Melanie, Martin, Gregory, Kirsten, Sara from AGHDT, and Diane, Kelley, Jere, (and I have to take a little credit since I've been her dance teacher too:) from Wishes have been a part of Josie's village! 



Solo in Miss Melanie's Lucy

This was Martin's Broadway Jazz Josie front right



Fouette Turns

AGHDT Showcase

Josie was lucky to become one of the first students at AGHDT when it opened. She was 6 at the time. This is the third showcase she has been in at AGHDT and tonight she had mommy and mamaw crying watching her beautiful dancing. Here are some photos of she and her dance friends, family and instructors. You will see a pic of three girls. This is Sasha, Josie and Avery. They have been together since the beginning. We take a pic of the three of them at each of of their performances and I love watching them grow!

Thanks to Gregory and all the fabulous instructors at AGHDT!

Importance of checking in

As our kids get older they aren't really in more activities but the activities just demand more time. With corynne her activities are more performance related so she will be in an activity thru performance then time to audition again. So after one is over she can make that decision as to what the next thing on her agenda will be. With josie she is in dance that is continuous so I make sure to continually check in with her to make sure she's still having fun and enjoying it. She's always very passionate about her love for dance and she shows it in how hard she works.

I've been around other families where the kids were busy several nights a week and I always said I would never do that. But, if your child is in love with their activity and work their butts off...how can you not support them?

My goal is for them to love what they are doing and for it to be "theirs" not "mine". I am here to support them not force them.

On that note I really really really hope Calvin never finds out that kids can be on football teams! I don't think I could take all the manhandling of my son:(

Recital costumes

Overnight zoo trip

Josie's 3rd grade got to spend the night in the dolphin aquarium. I was a chaperone and it was awesome! We got to tour at night the evening we got there and then nice breakfast provided by zoo and tour on our own next day. Got to be with another cool mom, josie and 4 other girls. Here are some pics from our adventure.