You are here: Home / Archives for 2010

Christmas Party

November 23, 2010 By 2 Comments

This year MomSelect sent me a box of the newest and best toys to try out and show other moms.  We decided to throw an early Christmas party with the great items.  Included in my kit was a

PLAY-DOH Mega Fun Factory playset

A PLAY-DOH Shape and Spin Elmo

2 Build a Bear Small Fries

Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes

3D Sneaky Puzzle Singin’ Sea Creatures

PlayMobile First Day at School set

We gave the kids a chance to play with each of these new and exciting products, do crafts, eat some  yummy holiday treats and even spend some time with Santa and Mrs. Clause. The kids had a chance to hear “The Night Before Christmas” and play “Santa” says.  We also had a snowball race and played Christmas Bingo where there were prizes to be won!  I think that the kids all had a blast.  I know that many of them did not want to go home.

I think that this party was a huge success.  Emma had a great birthday with great toys to play with.  The kids loved the puzzle and play-doh play sets. And the moms enjoyed seeing all of these great toys out of their boxes!  Thanks to MomSelect for another great opportunity to share a party with friends  and family!  I know that the kids all loved it!

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Christmas Countdown 2010

November 23, 2010 By 1 Comment
Santa Claus with a little girl
Image via Wikipedia

So as many of you have noticed I fell off of the Christmas countdown wagon yet again!  I have been having some personal medical issues but am hoping that I will be posting again, daily.  Thank you all for making sure that you have stuck in there and kept on watching to see what is new in the world of Christmas.  This Friday is the official start of the Christmas season and of course the biggest shopping day of the year.  Black Friday ads are already online and the secrets are already out!  So for today, a post of fun…A few questions to answer for you.  I guess you will get my answers as well… Please play along.

  1. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
  2. What is your favorite Christmas Movie?
  3. What is your families most precious Christmas tradition?
  4. When do you put your Christmas tree up?
  5. How early is too early to turn on your Christmas lights?
  6. What was the best present you ever received under the Christmas tree?

OK so here are my answers:

  1. My favorite Christmas song is the “Christmas Shoes” by NEWSONG.  I cry each and every time I hear it.  It makes me remember how blessed we are this and every Christmas to have each other.  I also love the classics with Bing Crosby and the gang!  “Santa Baby” still makes me feel cute and in a fun mood.
  2. My favorite Christmas movie is a tough one.  I am not sure that I can pick just one.  I love “It’s a Wonderful Life” because it again shows that all we need is one another.  I also love the original “Miracle on 34th Street”.  This is the movie that I must see Thanksgiving night.  It is a child who has no faith who sees that things are not always what they seem to be.  “Love Actually” is a movie that I usually watch this time of year as well.   I love British film and this movie met all of my expectations.  As far as some funny Christmas comedy, “Scrogged”  takes the cake.  It is a non traditional story with a whole lot of laughs.  So as I said earlier… how can I pick just one.
  3. I think that my most precious Christmas tradition is Elmer the Elf.  He has blessed the children in our family for almost a century.  Elmer works for Santa Clause himself.  He watched the children in the family and reports back to Santa daily.  If you are good he leaves a few small trinkets through out the Christmas season.
  4. We usually wait with our tree until a few weeks before Christmas.  We always get a real tree and if we put it up any sooner it would die before the new year.  My mother-in-law has an all white and silver tree.  It looks so beautiful but I cannot copy… so I have my miss match tree and it looks beautiful!
  5. I stand strong in the belief that the day after Thanksgiving is the EARLIEST you should turn on your Christmas lights.  Now I know here on the east coast the weather has been warm so I can understand if you have put them up so that you do not have to do it in the freezing cold weather.   On the other hand… this in no way means that you should be lighting those lights before we celebrate Thanksgiving.
  6. I would have to say that the best present under my tree was a shadow box that my husband made for me.  All of our children were in there and the things we like to do together.  It is a special thing that will live with me forever.

So there you have it.  I have shared… now it is your turn…

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Grandma’s Magic Cookie Bars

November 8, 2010 By 5 Comments

Another favorite in our family are magic cookie bars.  They have a special grandma touch that makes them extra gooey!  Magic cookie bars are sure to please everyone young and old!  Here is what you will need to do to make Grandma’s Magic Cookie Bars:

Ingredient:

1/2 Cup of Butter

1 and 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs

1 and 1/2 (21 oz.) cans of condensed milk

2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 and 1/3 Cups of flaked Coconut

1 Cup Chopped Nuts

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for a glass dish)
  2. Melt butter
  3. Pour the butter into a 13×9 inch pan
  4. Add crumbs over the butter
  5. Pour the milk evenly over the crumbs
  6. Layer remaining ingredients evenly
  7. Press down firmly with a fork
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until you notice a slight browning of the magic cookie bars.
  9. Chill in the pan over a cooling rack
  10. Cut into bars and serve

One thing to note is that this recipe calls for more condensed milk than other recipes.  It makes the magic cookie bars extra gooey.  If you wish to have a drier bar only use 1 (14 oz.) can of milk.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe.  I know that we love them each and every year!  I would love to know how they come out!

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown, Fun Recipes, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Recipe

November 7, 2010 By 6 Comments

Christmas Countdown 2010

48 Days Until Christmas

Here is one of my personal favorite cookie recipes.  Peanut Butter Blossoms taste great and  add a great look to your cookie plates.

IMG_5532.JPG
Image by Justin Masterson via Flickr

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 Bag of Hershey kisses
  • 1/2 cup of Shortening
  • 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup of Sugar
  • 1/3 Cup of packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp. Milk
  • 1tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

Steps for baking Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

  1. Preheat you oven to 375 degrees
  2. Beat the shortening and peanut butter together until blended
  3. Add 1/3 cup of Granulated sugar and 1/3 cup of brown sugar to the peanut butter/ shortening mixture; beat until light and fluffy
  4. Add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla; beat well
  5. In a separate bowl stir together 1 1/2 C. flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt
  6. Gradually beat dry ingredients into wet mixture
  7. Shape cookie dough into one inch balls
  8. Roll cookie ball in granulated sugar and place on an un-greased cookie sheet
  9. Bake Peanut butter blossoms for 8-10 minutes until light brown.
  10. Immediately press Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie
  11. Cool on a cooling rack

Let me know how they come out this holiday.  I love to hear new adaptions to old recipes.  I was thinking about trying Hershey Kisses with Caramel.  Also check out Hershey’s website for great holiday crafts, cookie recipes and more!

Becca

Santa Hat cookie recipe

Cookie Banking Tips

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown, Featured, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Christmas Countdown 2010

November 6, 2010 By 2 Comments
Christmas cookies (Left to right, top to botto...
Image via Wikipedia

50 Days Until Christmas 2010

So here we are!  Welcome to the 2010 Christmas Countdown.  I am so excited to be sharing the holiday season with you for the third year in a row!  This time of year can be busy and stressful but we will get through it together.  Here is a taste of what we have in store this year!

  1. Cookies:  Every day I will be posting one of my favorite holiday cookie recipes.  Nothing says Christmas like cookies!  I am hoping the husband can get a rate that cookie system up and running in the next few weeks.  Remember that many cookies freeze well.  It is not to early to begin baking your Christmas cookies!
  2. Homemade Holiday:  This year we are doing something extra special. Stay tuned for this exciting, money saving tip.
  3. Christmas Budget:  I know it is that B word again!  I think that it is important to know how much money you will have available to you this holiday and try to spend only cash.  Times are hard and digging a deeper hole is not advised.
  4. Christmas Movies:  If you are wondering when your beloved Christmas movie will be on… Stay tuned to Ask Becca!  I will let you know what will be on and when.  I know that I hate missing “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street“.   As soon as I hear about it I will let you know!
  5. Christmas Traditions:  I know that every family has their own traditions and I would love to hear about them!  I think that it is important to celebrate your traditions and perhaps steal a few to make your own.
  6. Fun:  We all know that with Christmas comes fun times.  Parties, caroling, the Christmas at Church and day trips for the family.

This is not all.  It is just a sweet taste of what is to come in the next 50 days!  So off we go… 50 Days of Christmas really means 48 Shopping Days remaining.  Have fun and remember when you need a laugh, idea or break… stop by and say hi!

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Hurricane Grill and Wings

November 5, 2010 By 5 Comments

I am so excited that Hurricane Grill and Wings has come to the area.  Although their new location in Hartsdale is about an hour away we will still make the trip!  Here are some things that I love about Hurricane Grill and Wings:

  • Of course the wings are great!  Why else would they include wings in their title?  I can taste them already!
  • It is a family friendly atmosphere and the kids love going to the Hurricane Grill and Wings!  They have a great kids menu and Abby loves the Grouper.  With a price of $4.95 you cannot go wrong!  That includes your kids drink as well as a side.  There are healthy sides such as applesauce, salad and even celery sticks.  Of course they have french fries as well but I love it when my kids pick the healthy options.
  • I love the rewards program.   If you sign up online you get $10 off the bat for your first trip!  You also will earn one point per every dollar spent.  But wait… there is more… there are double points on your first visit and double points on Mondays.  Once you hit $100 on your rewards card you get $10 off of your next visit.  It is a wonderful way to go out and still save some.  I know with the holidays coming we will be going out on shopping trips and I will be stopping at the Hurricane Grill and Wings!
  • The Salmon Caesar Salad.  Nothing is better then a generous hunk of salmon on a salad… I love it!
Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Main Tagged With: , , , , ,

200th Post!

November 4, 2010 By 3 Comments
Holly, attributed to the Drummonds, MacInneses...
Image via Wikipedia

I wanted to take a quick moment to say that this is my 200th post.  Thanks to all who have been so supportive of Ask Becca over the past few years!  I feel like there should be so many more posts.  Life gets in the way of blogging so often.  I know that many of you understand where I am coming from!  Having three kids, 2 girl scout troops and a house to keep up are all time consuming.  Then I have my baby (askbecca.com) and my newborn (bipolar Kid Connection).

There are only 2 more days until I kick off my Christmas Countdown!  I am super excited and motivated to be sure that I post each day!  I usually get really crazed as the holidays get closer and my writing falls off.  I am committed to assuring the the 50 days of Christmas Countdown will be a complete success this year and I am hoping that you will all stop by and join in the holiday fun!

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Main Tagged With: , , , , ,

Target Great Holiday Toy Sale

November 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Illinois Target Store
Image via Wikipedia

54 Days to Christmas!

Today is the big day.  With 54 days to go until Christmas Target is starting their sale prices early.  Starting today, Target stores will be offering great deals on toys.  Beginning November 2, 2010, which is today, you can examine all of the great deals in their Target Toy Book.  It is a clear sign that black Friday is just around the corner!

In looking at the Target Toy Book I am deciding that Christmas is closer than I think.  There are some great toys in the Target Toy Book, I just want to shop around some and make sure that they are good deals.  I am pretty sure that I am not alone in thinking about my budget this year!  I did notice that there are a lot of coupons.  I guess this is so that they can put the item in the Target toy book and not give everyone the discount.

I am not even sure what the kids want this year.  They are not excited about  any toys!  What toys do your children want this year?  What items do you all see as being hot sellers?  I would love some ideas!

Check out Black Friday Ads.  Shop till you drop on black Friday and Get ready for 50 days of Christmas beginning this weekend on November 6, 2010!  My 50 Days of Christmas Countdown is sure to help make your holiday special yet again this year!

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Christmas Countdown Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pumpkin Carving

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Last night we had an evening of complete Halloween fun!  As I stated yesterday we were going to watch Scared Shrekless.  We also planned a big event in our house… pumpkin carving.

I have to admit that each year it is something that the kids look forward to.  We even had grandma and pop-pop over to join in the fun.  I had dinner ready when daddy got home and we were carving pumpkins by 7:15.  We scooped and scooped.  By the time it was 8pm no pumpkins were carved!  So I missed Scared Shrekless and carved pumpkins all alone.

I am sure that the kids will remember that we “carved” pumpkins this year.  Their memories are never what we think they are.  I missed the kids sorting out seeds with me.  As I sat at the table at 1am picking pumpkin seed out of pumpkin goo I began to wonder why we did not choose to do pumpkins last weekend like I had wanted to.

So here they are.  I did ask the kids what shapes they wanted to pumpkin faces to have before carving.  Rather then buying pumpkin stencils this year I just cut out some shapes and held them on as I carved.  It was great and best of all free… other then the pumpkins that is.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Family Fun, Main Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Scared Shrekless

October 28, 2010 By 1 Comment
Shrek the Halls 2007
Image by ♭ Nocturne ♬ ♪ ♩ via Flickr

I am so excited… I saw an add on Tuesday night while watching “Parenthood” that there is a new Shrek special!  I know that the kids love Shrek the Halls… OK you got me… I love it too…  so I am very anxious to see what Scared Shrekless is all about.

It seems as if Halloween is Shrek’s favorite holiday (this is not a surprise… he likes to be scary from time to time).  So what will happen on this Halloween?  Rumor has it that that they will return to Lord Farquaard’s castle.  Oh and did I forget to mention that the castle is now haunted?   The best part is that they will be telling scary stories and the last one to become Scared Shrekless will be the winner this Halloween.

So who do you think will win?

  • Shrek
  • Fiona
  • Donkey
  • Puss in Boots

I personally think that Shrek will be scared Shrekless first followed by Puss in Boots, Fiona and last will be Donkey.  He is the one who we would least expect bravery from!

Be sure to tune in to NBC tonight at 8/7c to see the all new movie Scared Shrekless.  It is Halloween ogre-style and I am sure that there will be laughs and scares all around!

Becca

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Main Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts