Why I LOVE being Harper's AUNT

Being an aunt has brought so much love, joy and laughter to my life. She is just the cutest thing ever! 
I love how her face immediately lights up and she smiles when I walk in the room...
I love all her funny faces. 
I love her high pitch sounds. {screams} 
I love her big bows...and how she's starting to rip them off her head. 
I love her open mouth kisses {mmm...melt. my. heart}
I love holding her in my arms as she falls asleep.
I love watching her learn new things.
I LOVE spoiling her to death!
I am so thankful for our little Harper Elizabeth! We are truly blessed. Here are just a few pictures from her first Christmas. 

 

Merry Christmas

I don't know about you, but this is just my favorite Christmas song ever. How can you not be in the best mood ever and have tons of Christmas spirit after listening to this?!? Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I hope you all are having a fabulous Christmas Eve with your family and friends.

100+ Followers?!?

So I was just sitting around wondering about this and thought I would throw it out there to all you blogging  pro's!

How in the world do some of you have so many followers?!? I understand I haven't been doing this for years or that my blog may not be interesting to people other than my family, but man...

If anyone out there would like to share some tips they would be greatly appreciated. :)

Shout out to my faithful 32...yall are the bomb.com!

Make Your Blog Mobile

I learned something so cool today and wanted to share it. Sarah over at Life {Sweet} Life mentioned that you can now change your settings on Blogger to make your blog mobile compatible. When you do this, it is SO much quicker (and easier) to read blogs from your phone. Here is a screenshot of what mine looks like:

It's very easy to do! Here's how you can do it if you'd like.

1. Go to draft.blogger.com.
2. Click on "Settings" in the middle of the page.
3. Click on "Email & Mobile" which is listed in all the tabs going across the top of the page.
4. Under "Mobile Template", click on "Yes, On mobile devices, show the mobile version of my template."
5. Click "Save Settings" and you're done! You're blog should now appear much quicker and easier to navigate when viewed on a phone.

Katie, The Travel Guide

Miss me? Ha! Just kidding. Here I am, fresh off the plane and what am I doing??? Blogging! Lol

Instead of just babbling about the trip, I decided I would share my favorite places...just in case anyone out there is planning their own trip to New Orleans soon. I know this would've been very helpful to me before, so maybe I can help someone out. Picture Warning in effect!

This Maison St. Charles Hotel was amazing! Very cool, historical rooms.

Don't rent a car...ride the streetcars. They get you everywhere you'd want to go. We did the 3 Day Pass and it was worth every penny of that $12!

Looking for a good restaurant?

Here are some of the place we ate and loved!

 Pretty Tasty Mexican Food...not the best I've ever had, but it hit the spot for me that day. :) Only bad thing...you have to pay for chips and salsa. {thumbs down}

Pat O'Briens... It got a 10 in my books

 What everyone says is so true! But instead of describing beignets as donuts, I would say they taste just like funnel cakes, but better.

 Super tasty little whole in the wall...Love it!

The line to this place was around the corner and super delicious! 

Need Ideas on what to do when you get there?

 Visit the French Quarter (duh) We went here everyday and saw new things each time.

 Stop and watch the entertainment in the Quarter

 Bourbon Street

 The French Market has fun shops and a little flea market

 the oldest bar in North America is way down on Bourbon Street. Its like 2 or 3 hundred years old

 Visit the cemeteries.

 House of Blues

 Take a carriage ride through the French Quarter

 Jackson Sqaure. Go inside of St. Louis Cathedral and check it out

 The Casino

 My favorite place. The Cats Meow. It's a big karaoke bar, but it plays the words all over the bar so that everyone can sing...not just the singer. I was like 5 minutes away from my rapping debut, but Sey said we had to leave. I had my song picked out and everything. Regulators, Mount up....

 Mississippi River

 Stop and listen to some good jazz music

Check out the artwork in Jackson Sqaure

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Well, just about 3 or 4 hours ago I debated doing this post, I thought to myself...It's just going to be the same things I love...3 days until our trip, My fam, Harper and Sey. (amongst some others) But, wouldn't you know in just a few hours I have fallen in love with a few more things. Enjoy

I'm Loving...Kari Jobe! Wow. I just happened to be googling the church where Chris Tomlin is performing next week and started listening to some of their worship music. Falling.In.Love. Like I think I might be visiting this church VERY soon just to be apart of their praise and worship. Anyway, as I "liked" Kari's Fan Page on Facebook, I noticed that she too is also apart of Integrity Records (as well as my brother-in-law)  Can we say small world! Looking forward to trying this place out asap. 

Here is a sample of the song that I am currently LOVING tonight! Pure-Kari Jobe

I'm Loving...The Sing Off. Another new love tonight. I've never seen this show before but it was pretty cool. Have you seen it? My fav NICK LACHEY is the host so that's reason enough to watch. :) The guys I saw performing were pretty amazing too. I am just fasciniated with beat boxing...and these boys were doing it singing Train's Soul Sister. I give it a 9 out of 10 stars.

I'm Loving...That I only have 5 more days of teaching before Winter Break! 

I'm Loving...My big boy Tyson who turned 10 years old yesterday! Mmm mm mmm, I just love him so much! He is by far the best pup ever (in case you've heard differently, it's a lie) :)

AND THE WINNER IS....

Oh What Fun Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

CAKE BALLS!

So many people have been askingme lately how I make Cake Balls. They were a big hit at my sisters baby shower and ever since, I've been giving out the recipe. They are really so easy, so I figured it would make for a good post.

What you need:
1 package of cake mix
1 container of cake frosting
6 oz of chocolate flavored confectioners coating disks

Just to be honest, I've only made these with Funfetti cake and frosting...and I LOVE them! You could also try these combinations out:

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Frosting
...really anything you like. :)

What you do:

Make the cake mix according to the directions on the box. When the cake is finished baking allow to cool. Crumble the cake into a large bowl using a mixer. Add in the frosting and mix it until its a play dough consistency. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Line a baking tray with wax paper. Use a melon baller as a scooper { or your hands} to form balls with the cake mixture. Place on wax paper. Once you have used all of the cake mixture, place the baking tray in the freezer for 1 hour. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl of the microwave, stirring every 5-10 seconds until smooth.

Remove the balls from the freezer. Using one toothpick, pick up the balls one at a time and dip in the chocolate. Use a second toothpick to slide the ball off the first toothpick onto the wax paper lined baking tray. Once you have covered all the balls in chocolate coating place the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate coating is set. At this point you can drizzle other colored frosting on the balls for decoration.

My experience has been that they get BETTER the longer they sit in the freezer. It's usually day two that I can't keep myself away from them. This post is starting to make my mouth water, they sound so good!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

My original plan was to wait until after New Orleans to do our Christmas cards. Then I realized by the time we got back, and I ordered them, they would be more like New Years cards...If I was lucky. So...I am looking through our pictures today to try to find one or two that will work.

The hard part is choosing from the thousands of adorable Christmas Photo Cards at Shutterfly.  

Here are a few of my favorites I will be choosing from.

To any other bloggers who haven't taken advantage of Shutterfly's promotion, go here for more information!  I'm being gifted 50 free cards from Shutterfly for writing and submitting this post.  For something I was going to do anyway, I just couldn't resist!  The promotion runs until the 15th, so there's still time left for any slackers one like me who hasn't ordered any yet :)

All About Me Christmas Addition

Oh my goodness...only 20 more days until Christmas! Thankfully, I got a lot of shopping done yesterday and then came home to wrap presents. Everyone's done except my sister and brother in law. {hint, hint!} ...and I still need to finish my love bug of course. :) The tree looked so pretty last night, so I had to take a picture. 

I was just reading a friends blog over at it's in the details, and decided to join in on the All About Me Christmas Addition fun. Thanks Katie! 

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I've never attempted to try Egg Nog, it disgusts me just thinking about it. Hot Chocolate for sure!

2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just set them under the tree? When we were younger, they were always unwrapped, but about 10 years ago or so he started wrapping them. :)

3. Colored or white lights on the tree/house? Definitely White.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put up your decorations? This depends from year to year. Last year, we had so much going on, they never went up. We always skip town as soon as I get out of school to go home, so if we don't decorate early enough, it really isn't worth the hassle. This year, we did it the weekend after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I've never been big on Holiday dishes, not Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'll eat some of it, but I definitely don't eat a lot or crave it like the rest of the world does. I am THAT GIRL who is always hungry later that night and mad that everything is CLOSED. {and no I don't do leftovers}

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Getting up at 5:00am so excited to see what Santa brought us! My sisters and I would wait with excitement in the hall waiting for my parents to get the camera ready. :)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Oh this is nice...My Grandpa told me on CHRISTMAS EVE! Bummer. But my mom told me Santa will always come as long as we believe...and yes mom, I still believe. 

9. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? We open our Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve and then our presents on Christmas morning. Except this year, we are going to wait a day or two after to make sure we can do it when everyone is there.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? My tree has white lights and gold beads. Most of my ornaments are browns, creams, and golds. {Picture Above}

11. Snow! Love or Dread it? A like a Texas type snow. It snows one day and is 40 degrees warmer the next day. I am NOT a fan of cold weather at all! But a day of snow is ok...no ice, just snow.

12. Can you ice skate? I sure can.

13. What tops your tree? A gold star.

14. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? My absolute favorite GIVING!

15. What is your favorite Christmas song? Anything Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Boyz II Men, Chris Brown, NSYNC...you know, the Classics. :)

16. Candy Canes? Love the Sprees kind! I don't really care for the original flavored ones

17 – Favorite Christmas Movie – Elf!

Do share your favorites!