Last week Anabelle and I managed to catch a bug going around and both had bad colds. Fever, coughing, sore throats- the works! Being pregnant, I am a much bigger baby when I get sick b/c I am frustrated that I can't take any medicine to feel better. Also when you are already uncomfortable from being pregnant, it's just no fun to add in the uncomfortableness of being sick too. Fortunately I am feeling better and it didn't last too long. Poor Anabelle also got hit pretty hard with a fever that lasted about 4-5 days and a bad cough. After a trip to the doctor and lots of rest she is also finally feeling better. We are crossing our fingers that John won't catch anything and we will all be healthy for Christmas.
It's interesting how you can try so hard to be consistent with your children and set up routines and ways of doing things in an attempt to curb normal 2 year old attitude problems and a week of being sick throws all of your good effort out the window. It's just hard when they are so pathetic and not feeling well to not give in to their every want. What person doesn't want to lay on the couch and watch TV while being waited on hand and foot when they are sick- 2 year olds are no different. The difference lies in how you are once you are back to feeling better. Most of us realize that you can't watch endless TV and boss others around, but strangely our daughter hasn't made that connection yet. So this week has been a fun one for myself and John as we try to reign in our little dictator. Of course the craziness of the holiday season only makes this more challenging.
Being sick put me a little behind on my usual holiday activities and so this week I have been left to play catch up. Luckily I had most of our Christmas shopping done, with lots of gifts being purchased on-line this year. Once everything arrived I had a lot of wrapping to get done. I still have a lot of wrapping to complete tonight, but here is Anabelle inspecting the gifts that are already under the tree. It has been a tough lesson teaching her not to open, rip tags off and climb on the gifts. I am hoping everyone gets what they are supposed to and it's not broken :)
It's interesting how you can try so hard to be consistent with your children and set up routines and ways of doing things in an attempt to curb normal 2 year old attitude problems and a week of being sick throws all of your good effort out the window. It's just hard when they are so pathetic and not feeling well to not give in to their every want. What person doesn't want to lay on the couch and watch TV while being waited on hand and foot when they are sick- 2 year olds are no different. The difference lies in how you are once you are back to feeling better. Most of us realize that you can't watch endless TV and boss others around, but strangely our daughter hasn't made that connection yet. So this week has been a fun one for myself and John as we try to reign in our little dictator. Of course the craziness of the holiday season only makes this more challenging.
Being sick put me a little behind on my usual holiday activities and so this week I have been left to play catch up. Luckily I had most of our Christmas shopping done, with lots of gifts being purchased on-line this year. Once everything arrived I had a lot of wrapping to get done. I still have a lot of wrapping to complete tonight, but here is Anabelle inspecting the gifts that are already under the tree. It has been a tough lesson teaching her not to open, rip tags off and climb on the gifts. I am hoping everyone gets what they are supposed to and it's not broken :)
Another item on my to-do list that I was behind on was baking. I wanted to make sure I was truly feeling healthy before baking so as not to pass on any germs. I also was a little disappointed b/c I intended to let Anabelle help out with lots of the baking-she loves to help cook. But due to her lingering cough I didn't feel that it was a good idea to have her help. So I have been baking after Anabelle goes to bed each night. Aside from the usual chocolate chip and oatmeal butterscotch cookies; I like to make several different treats to send to John's work and the neighbors. Over the years I have come up with a few of my favorites to make that are easy and yummy. This year I decided to take some photos as I went along and share the recipes with you. I know it's nice to sometimes have a quick go-to treat to take to work or a party and you might be looking for something new to try so here you go.
Pretzel Turtles
Preheat your oven to 350, line your sheet with aluminum foil (I forgot to do this) and lay out pretzels on a baking sheet.
Place a rolo candy on top of each pretzel, and then put the cookie sheet into the oven for 4 minutes.
When they get out of the oven take a pecan and smoosh (technical term) it into the melting rolo.
Once they are all done stick them in the refrigerator to cool. Eat them up-yum!
Oreo Balls
Take a whole package of oreo cookies and grind them up in the food processor (I have done this by hand before and it works but it is a pain)
Then add 1 package of softened cream cheese to your cookie crumbs and mix it all together to make a dough- use your hands it's the easiest way :)
Once your dough looks like this, put it in the refrigerator for a little bit.
After about 20 minutes, take it out and roll it into little tiny balls. I got 90 out of one batch. Then put them back in the fridge for another 20 minutes.
While they are in the fridge, melt one bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave. Then using a toothpick, take the oreo balls and dip them into the chocolate. Placing them on a wax paper lined baking sheet when done. I find that you can only get about half of the oreo ball dipped without risking losing the ball into the chocolate. Since the tops are left without chocolate I like to take the leftover white chocolate and scoop it into a ziploc bag, then cut the tip off and drizzle the chocolate over the tops of the oreo balls. I think this makes them look fancier and more like truffles. After this step put them in the refrigerator for a while to harden up. Try not to eat them all in one sitting- they are so good!
If anyone has any other good easy recipes to share, I'd love a new one to add to the repertoire. Hope you are having fun getting ready for Christmas at your house!
