12 Days of Christmas: Day 8

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday!

Today, I'm going to share something to the point for Day 8 of my 12 Days of Christmas!!! I'm loving the season even more when my family is Healthy! No snifflies or upset tummies to compete with the Joy of the season!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! Hope you all are enjoying your day!

It feels like my day has never ended! LOL. I went to bed last night at 6:30, woke up to a phone call at 8:30 pm that kinda made me irritated, so then I couldn't get back to sleep. Finally decided to lay down at 3:45 am, but hubby is sick and his snoring kept me awak, and then at 4:45 am, I am still awake and baby Jack decides he is too. So then I need to feed him a bottle, and by that time, I just didn't have a chance to get to bed. Thank goodness for that 2 hour nap! Draggin' today though...hopefully can get to bed early tonight

Anyways, we are on day 7 of our 12 Days of Christmas and I have the CUTEST santa pictures to share with you! We took the kids to the mall yesterday as is tradition and visited with Santa. The kids were very taken with Santa and were just so darn cute! Love family traditions and being able to capture them on film each year! Hope you enjoy & have a fabulous day!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 6

Hello Everyone!!! Happy Sunday! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? LOL...I wish I could say I was, but I'm thinking the Vikings are not being aired today because they play at noon, and they aren't scheduled on any station...so boooooo to my Sunday game day!

Oh, well, it gives me a great opportunity to share with you Day 6 of my 12 days of Christmas!

So one of my all time favorites are the movies we watch during the holidays! I have my favorites with the kids, my favorites that remind me of growing up, and then my favorites because they are absolute classics! So I'm going to share a few of my faves with you all today!

My ALL TIME favorite!

These are movies I can't go a holiday season without watching... These are the ones I watch with my kids each year...

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Hello everyone! Happy Saturday!

Can't believe next week is Christmas already! Absolutely crazy! Time is flying by and we don't even have snow yet! It snowed yesterday, but didn't get anything to stick! Booo!!! LOL

Anyways, I'm on day 5 of my 12 days of Christmas. Today I want to share with you one of my passions of the season. I absolutely LOVE looking for a special holiday outfit to wear for my family. Even if it's only a new pin, dress, sweater, or a pair of socks...doesn't matter, I absolutely LOVE shopping for it! This year I also discovered Polyvore, which is a site to help you visualize the perfect Christmas Attire! If you haven't checked out the website, you should, it's so fun to be a "fashionista", if only for a day! LOL...You can find the link to my "Closet" here...

Vintage style Christmas

Vintage Holiday by heather-rolin featuring longchamp tote bag

Comfy Cozy Christmas

A Comfy Christmas by heather-rolin featuring kate spade tote

Glitz & Glam Christmas

Splashes of Red by heather-rolin featuring kitten heels

12 Days of Christmas: Day 4

Hello everyone! Happy Friday!

Welcome to my Day 4 of my 12 Days of Christmas...Everything about the Holidays scream music. It's the theme to any movie on TV or commercial. It's in an elevator ride or mall or car on any given radio station. And to me, nothing screams Christmas like listening to your favorite songs or hymns!

For me, my favorite song is What Child is This...but I also love Away in a Manger and Do You Hear What I Hear...I could listen to them over and over again. Which I do, every year on my City on a Hill CD that I've had for the past 10 years! I've even effected my oldest son, since he is now obsessed with this CD and has been for 2 years! LOL...So if you don't have this CD...it is a MUST in my opinion!

City on a Hill

Happy Holidays!!!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Hello & Happy Thursday! Today I'm sharing with you day 3 of my 12 days of Christmas FAVORITES!

I'm so excited because we are finally getting snow! It may not amount to much, but it is so pretty to look at during the holidays! Call me crazy, but I'm a HUGE snow lover. So my 3rd favorite thing during the holidays, is a winter wonderland! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying that God will grant us a white christmas!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!!!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Hello everyone!

Happy Holidays to you all! Hope you are enjoying the season and finding time for family, friends, and remembering the true meaning of Christmas!

This year, I discovered something new. Something INGENIUS! And something so addicting! If you haven't yet discovered it, you will. My new favorite thing is Pinterest. This is a site that can't be discribed quickly. So what I will share with you is a few of the Holiday Treats that I made this year with my family with recipes I found on Pinterst!

The first is a Sweet N' Salty treat using pretzels, Kisses & M&M's, the recipe is found HERE. Holiday Pretzel Treats

Bite-size, Holiday Shaped Pretzels
Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug
M&M's candy

Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 170F. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.

2. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.

3. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons.

(Picture from Source)

My next treat is Candy Cane Blossoms, recipe found HERE or on a bag of candy cane hershey kisses.Candy Cane Blossoms

1 bag Hershey;s Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons milk
Red and Green colored sugar

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)

2. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Yields approximately 35 cookies. (Picture from source)

12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

Hello everyone! Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful start to your Holiday Season! We've been super busy, but still enjoying each other and the true meaning of the Season!

Just wanted to quickly pop in and share with everyone our Christmas Tree of 2011...Each year I collect new orniments that are special to me, but I don't do that until after Christmas is over, so I can get in on the fabulous discounts! LOL...So here are some from last year! I absolutely LOVE a Christmas tree, so I figured I could start of my 12 days of Christmas with one of my favorite things! Enjoy!

The snowman is an orniment I got for my son. We get an orniment for the kids each year and label the name and year on the back, so that when they are older and have their own family, that they have orniments to start them out.

The sleigh is a handmade orniment from a friend that I cherish.

The reighdeer orniment is one handpainted by me and is in a set of 4. I made one of santa, a snowman, a house, and this one. I really love how they turned out! Wish I had more patients to create more to hand out as gifts each year! Maybe when the kids are older! The glass Santa orniment is also part of something I handpainted, with a snowman, but the snowman this year took a fall and is no longer with us! LOL...The joys of a 2 year old running around cleaning house with a broom! Oh well, I can always do another!

Danza's Birthday Cake!

Hey everyone! I haven't been keeping up with my blogging. Sorry, the fall is just a busy time for us here in Minnesota! Hunting Season was upon us, with no luck. Then it seemed to be the ickies sickies season here at the Rolin house. We are doing much better now, but now the Holiday Season is upon us once more and we are getting ready to celebrate with our families.

Even though I'm busy busy, I've made a resolution to keep up with my blogging in 2012! Crazy that that is the year already! Wasn't I just in high school? Instead I turned the big 30 a couple of weeks ago! Just absolutely craziness!

Anyways, what I would like to share with you all today is a Chocolate Marble Cake I made for a friend of mine who's daughter is turning 4 years old today! She showed me a picture of what her little girl wanted and it was a pretty busy cake, and she required the color purple as that is her favorite color. I didn't have the picture to reference, but I had a good idea of what she would like, and here was what I created for her! I carved her initial out of cake using a cardboard stencil I made, frosted it and then covered with fondant and border.

Here's a really great recipe I found for Marble Cake...so moist and delicious!

Marble Cake {Adapted from Martha Stewart}

Makes one 9-inch Layer, {Triple Recipe for 3 layers}

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
¼ cup milk
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ cup hot water

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9" cake pan with parchment paper and spray with baking PAM; set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, {fitted with the paddle attachment} beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined, scrap down the sides of the bowl, beat another minute. Add vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour. Add ¼ cup of milk at the end. Set aside 1/3 of the batter.
5. In a bowl, mix cocoa and 1/4 cup plus 2 TLB. hot water until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the reserved cake batter; stir until well combined.
6. Pour white mix into bottom of cake pan in one layer, and pour the cocoa mix on top for the 2nd layer. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cake from pan and cool completely on the rack.

Anyways...I'm off to go deliver the cake! Have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Heather R.