Ho Ho Ho

Ho! Ho! Ho! 

Merry Christmas!

Well, we are now gearing up for our second Christmas with Elouise. Who would have thought it would go by so quickly?? Elouise is a blast now. Not to say she wasn't fun before, but every day, she is getting more and more of her own personality! She is walking, saying Mama and Dada, talking on the phone, wearing her necklaces, etc. I think it is so funny that my daughter will take any bow out once she discovers them in her hair, but as soon as she wakes up in the morning....she looks for a necklace to put on. The girl LOVES to wear necklaces. She is precious! Recently, I went shopping with my mom to Kohls, and we were having a tough time getting Elouise to be patient with us while we did some shopping. Low and behold, once we stopped in jewelry, the girl was in her element. She loaded herself up with necklaces galore! Everyone walked by and said, "Ah, look at that baby with all the necklaces." I say everyone, but I'm pretty sure the people in charge of the jewelry were thinking that I better plan on paying for it all or putting it all back in it's precise place. (Although, I'm not really sure that there IS  a precise place for anything at Kohls! Oh well, they have mega sales so I'm a customer!) 

This is the first Christmas that we don't have to travel! We are able to stay in our area and celebrate this wonderful holiday. In holidays past, we always had a 4 hour drive from Idabel to Edmond. That's if Josh was even in town! Thankfully, Josh now works for Chesapeake and is home ALL the time. It's kinda fun learning how to be married all over again. All we have ever known is him traveling constantly. Now, I have turned into QUITE the housewife. I have dinner ready at 530ish (emphasis on the "ish"), try to clean the house during the day, take care of the grocery shopping, the baby, the dogs, YOU NAME IT. I am still learning though! Not gonna lie - Pinterest has helped me get some good recipes, cleaning tips, etc. So fun! (And addicting)

Okay and now I'll leave you with a delicious recipe that I got from www.tastykitchen.com. This is the Pioneer Woman's Blog. They're called....

KNOCK YOU NAKED BROWNIES. 

Ingredients

• 1 box (18.5 Ounce) German Chocolate Cake Mix (I Used Duncan Hines)
• 1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
• ⅓ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 Jar or squeeze thing of Caramel Topping
• ⅓ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark!)
• ¼ cups Powdered Sugar

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, chopped pecans (I omitted these in my recipe), 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until totally combined. Mixture will be very thick.
Press half the mixture into a well-greased 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside.
Then, pour caramel over brownie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.
Turn out remaining brownie dough on work surface. Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for several hours. When ready to serve, generously sift powdered sugar over the surface of the brownies. Cut into either nine or twelve helpings, and carefully remove from the pan.

*Adapted from the standard/classic “Knock You Naked Brownies” recipe. These brownies don’t really knock you naked…but almost.