HolidayRecital2010.mp4

Here is Audrey (age 6) and Charlotte (age 4) performing their ice skating routine in the Holiday Show on December 18, 2010. They started skating in October. Cutest two minutes ever. Merry Christmas!

HolidayRecital2010.mp4

Here is Audrey (age 6) and Charlotte (age 4) performing their ice skating routine in the Holiday Show on December 18, 2010. They started skating in October. Cutest two minutes ever. Merry Christmas!

Land of Sweets--Gingerbread House

My 2010 Gingerbread Cottage...

My favorite features are the little snails (made out of gumdrops, hard candy, and pretzel antennae) and the row of gumdrop mushrooms...

I used a cake board for the base which made decorating all four sides easier and makes moving this wintery candy scene a breeze.

The gumdrops are made into mushrooms simply. taking a knife or scissor, hollow out a small hole in the bottom, then insert the smaller gumdrop into the stem. They are held into place on the cakeboard with icing and make a yummy border.



The snowman and wreath are made from candy. The sidewalk pavers are made of chocolate rocks, purchased at Walmart. Everything is edible except for the peppermint swirl signs, which are cupcake decorations.

The house itself was bought preassembled, but the rest of the scene was homemade. One pound of white icing and smarties later and Voila!

Merry Christmas, Katie

Farm Girl

My Charlotte. I love the sundress with the wellies AND the hiding her face in her hands because she knows I am trying to get her photograph.

Christmas Crafts

These great handmade reindeer gift tags came in a set from www.orientaltradingcompany.com

The set was $5.99 and made 12, enough for my four older kids to get to make three each. As with other felt crafts, we found the stickles (glitter glue) to work the best. We chose to use these as ornaments for the kids tree instead of gift tags.

What a fun easy craft!

Land of Sweets: Snowed in Caramel Apples

Snowed In Caramel Apples

apples, wooden sticks, water, caramels, coconut

pour one small bag coconut into a mixing bowl

spray wax paper with non stick cooking spray and set on platter or pan

melt caramels (approx 1 lb) with 2 Tbs. water on low heat until completely melted.

put a wooden stick in middle of each apple.

dip apples into caramel, allowing excess to drip off, then roll apple gently into coconut bowl. (be careful, the caramel is hot).

place apples on waxed paper (previously prepared)

place platter in refridgerator for one hour.

(These also look GREAT cut into wedges and arranged on platter for a dessert or holiday table)

**At halloween time, these look great rolled in crushed oreos or candy corns instead of coconut. To make them more Christmas-ey, roll them in crushed peppermint bark...

Vegetable Beef Soup

Today's guest post recipe comes from Emily in the Kitchen. www.emilyinthekitchen.blogspot.com Enjoy!

Vegetable Beef Soup--Perfect Winter Meal

Ingredients:

1 pound beef stew (I like to cut the beef stew into smaller bite size pieces; kitchen scissors are perfect for that job)

3/4 package of frozen soup vegetables (or pick the canned vegetables that you would like: corn, carrots, butter beans, green beans, green peas--all work great)

1 peeled Russett potato, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 onion, diced

1 jar of regular spaghetti sauce

2 beef bouillon cubes

3/4 cups water

2 bay leaves

Directions:

Here's the hard part--put all into a crock pot, turn on low, walk away for the next 8 hours.

OK, if you can't resist, go ahead and stir one or two times and inhale the delicious aroma, but not too many times...every opening of the crock pot means 10 more minutes needed for cooking!

Take bay leaves out prior to serving.

I enjoy a bowl or two with Ritz crackers on the side. But a buttery grilled cheese would be tasty as well. Warms the heart and soul. Thank you, Katie, for allowing me to share a part of my kitchen with you!

Thank you Emily, for sharing this great crockpot meal with us!

More about Emily:

"I recently just started blogging 3 months ago and have fallen in love with the community of bloggers. It is like the best house party I could ever have, just no need to put the toys away and do it all in my pj's.

I started Emily in the Kitchen purely selfishly, I love to cook! Feeding our family of 4 children is part of my job being a stay at home mom. I plan our weekly menu and use many recipes via the internet. What better place to "store" all of those finds but a blog? Emily in the kitchen was created.

This recipe is actually Big Guy's dish; he has perfected it over the years. The crockpot is everyone's friend. Who wants to constantly be watching a pot on the stovetop? That's what a crockpot is for.

You can read more about Emily at her blog, "Emily in the Kitchen" at: www.emilyinthekitchen.blogspot.com

NEW GIVEAWAY WINNER

The first winner drawn was a no response so the random number generator picked a new winner. The winning comment number was #4: Madonna M.

Madonna, please email at homeschoolfam@gmail.com by Saturday to claim your prize and tell me what scent of candle you want.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway!

Love and Merry Christmas,

Katie

Gluten Free GIveaway

First: have you checked out if you won my give away last week? The winner has until Tuesday to contact me, or a second winner will be determined! So check out the giveaway post I did yesterday morning!

Second: Here is another great giveaway going on. Go to http://www.lisasglutenfree.com/ Her Dec. 12th post gives the details on how to enter her giveaway to win a wonderful gluten free gift tower, and just in time for the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

Katie

Christmas Crafts

Here is the Christmas ornament craft we did this week. They were very easy, cost $1.33 each and were super cute.

I purchased these Felt Santa Kits from Michaels. These are the cutest Christmas ornaments and all pieces come pre cut. Each package cost $4 and included pieces for 3 ornaments, making them roughly $1.33 a piece!

The only glitch we had to this craft was the glue. I used two different craft glues, including my fave martha Stewart craft glue before finding one that actually held the felt together (stickles). The stickles glitter glue worked great and of course, the kids loved using it so it all turned out well.

The end results were 4 of the cutest homemade ornaments ever, and some very proud homeschool crafters!

Christmas Candle Giveaway Winner!

My first giveaway ended on Friday night! I used the random number generator on random.com to pick a winner.....drumroll please...the winning number (comment) generated was comment number 1~ so...

Congratulations to Carrie at Meant to Be Mom!

you are the winner of the Christmas Candle giveaway! Please email me at homeschoolfam@gmail.com within 2 days (by this tuesday night) and send me your mailing address (cannot be a p.o. box) and which candle scent you would like!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway, leave comments, and be part of the fun!

Land of Sweets

Don't you just love holiday baking?

paper roll Nativity

I saw this great craft over at http://www.catholicicing.blogspot.com/ and had to share it!  What a cute nativity set for little hands to make.  Instructions and images are free and can be viewed here:

http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2009/12/diy-printable-nativity-for-kids.html

I can't wait to print these out and make them here this month!

Feature Friday: A few of my favorite Cookbooks...

Next week we will have a new guest blogger from the kitchen blog "Emily in the Kitchen". I am excited to see what she is preparing for us here at Wonderland Kitchen. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite cookbooks that would be perfect to get for gifts for the cooks on your list, or better yet, Yourself!

1. One Pot Cooking by Sarah Edmunds.  I found this cookbook in a secondhand bookshop 8 years ago and it is faithfully used every month here in my own kitchen. My favorite recipes from this book? The bacon and sun dried tomato risotto (perfect and easy to make for company), Asian beef noodle soup, and the Thai -style chicken soup. (And who doesnt love a delicious meal that, since it is cooked in one pot, leaves you with minimal clean up?)















2.  Favorite Brand Name Simple 1-2-3 Cooking for Kids:  My kids love this cookbook as the big color photos of both the ingredients and the end product help them to follow along easily when they are helping me in the kitchen.  Our favorites from here are the Fantasy Cinnamon Applewiches and the Cubcakes. Fun!
















3. Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker and Soups: This cookbook, which offers 536 recipes is an absolute lifesaver at our house during the busy tax season months.  If you are not a fan of utilizing your crockpot to cook family meals, I challenge you to purchase this cookbook this year and give it a try. For me, nothing is easier than getting a delicious soup or stew ready in the morning and knowing it will be ready to eat that night when we are. My favorites? Too many to name, but the appetizer and soups sections are amazing.















4. Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Hammond and Rominger  While my kids do not eat a special diet, I decided I wanted more options for them for healthier foods and snacks. This cookbook contains more than 150 recipes that are all wheat-free, gluten-free, nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and low in sugar!  My husbands favorite lunch dish is from this cookbook; the turkey rice salad.  Also, the rice wine cucumber dish is also a family favorite of ours.















5. Martha Stewart's Cooking School:   I got this as a Christmas gift last year. It is my favorite book out of my 150 plus cookbooks I own and my new "go to" gift to give whenever someone is getting married, or if single, buying thier first house. I consider myself a good and experienced cook but am amazed that I learn something new every single time I pick this up. It is 505 pages of Martha know-how and superb color photos. For me, it is an every kitchen "must have".

So, let me know, what are some of your favorite cookbooks?

A Christmas Giveaway!

IT'S A CHRISTMAS GIVE AWAY!

Yeah, Yeah, I know...I dont have hundreds of followers (yet), but that doesn't mean I can't spread some Christmas cheer!  So I am doing my first giveaway here at Wonderland Homeschool.

 So, would you like to receive a beautiful 16 ounce Heritage styled Christmas candle from Gold Canyon Candles?  They smell amazing and the winner of this giveaway will get his/her choice of  the following scents:

*Mrs. Klaus' Kitchen
*Cinnamon Garland
*Sugar Cookie
*Holiday Wreath

This size, 16 oz (as pictured above), is a beautiful jar candle that will burn 120-140 hours.  If you want to know more about Gold Canyon Candles, you can visit my website there at www.mygccandle.com/katiesullivan  (They are a family owned company and are known for their charity work and their Prayer Child Foundation)

The candle will be shipped directly to you via UPS. SORRY, ONLY CONT. 48 USA States for this giveaway!

HOW TO ENTER:
1. leave a comment (1 chance)
2. become a follower (1 chance)
3. become a follower of one of my other blogs and let me know (2 chances)
      http://www.wonderland-kitchen.blogspot.com/
     http://www.katies-kettle.blogspot.com/
4. join the Wonderland Kitchen community on FB and let me know (2 chances)
5. mention my giveaway in a post and link back to my blog (3 chances)
6. tweet about my giveaway (2 chances)--each tweet
7. put the wonderland homeschool button on your blog for 1 month (5 chances)
8. put the wonderland kitchen button on your blog for 1 month (5 chances)
9. put the katies-kettle button on your blog for 1 month (5 chances) (someone give me the prolific blogger award already, haha)
8. vote for any of my blogs via the "picket fence" button in the sidebars...one chance each vote, per blog,per day! (You could earn thirty chances this way!)

This giveaway will run from Dec 1st through Midnight Friday December 10th. 

Winner will be chosen by random means. Winner will have 2 days to email me thier mailing address  and which scent they would like or new winner will be chosen. Your candle will be delivered the week of Dec 13th via UPS!  YOU MUST LIVE IN THE CONT. 48 UNITED STATES TO ENTER THIS PARTICULAR GIVEAWAY.

Good luck, thank you for reading, thank you for following, thank you for your friendship, and Merry Christmas Season to you and yours!

Blessings,

Katie