Snowflakes!

Now that the kiddos are bathed and in bed, I'll post what we did this afternoon. I couldn't stand the Christmas decorations up anymore. It's just too sad to see them all over the place now that Christmas is over :(. December comes and goes so fast. I feel like I blinked and missed it this year! So I took everything down, boxed it up, and we made snowflakes! We are going to make more to put up in the windows in other parts of the house. Today we made a garland for the dining room window. Now I need to find stuff to fill the voids in the house where the decorations were. It looks so bare! I'll go hunting around the house tomorrow.

For the boys, I only folded the paper twice. Otherwise it's too hard for them to cut through the thicknesses. Aaron still needed a little help, but I think his turned out great!


Dallin's too! Every snowflake is unique.





We added glitter and glue, then strung them up!



The 6 pointed snowflakes are the ones I made. I just folded the paper like this and drew designs on it from a pattern I saw in one of my craft books. Cheating, I know. BUT they turned out better than any snowflakes I've ever free handed! lol.


I also made a 3-d snowflake for the sliding glass window. I posted directions on how to make this in another blog post a couple of weeks ago.

Salt Trays

Not many plans for our New Year's Eve night. Derrick got home from work, still feeling under-the-weather from having the stomach flu, then had to leave again for a flag presentation he is making at a funeral service this evening. I thought I'd keep the kids busy. Aaron got the stomach flu, surprise, surprise, so he wasn't feeling too hot, but seems to be doing better tonight.

I kept it simple. Cookie trays with salt. That's it. They drove their cars around in it for a long time, then used pencils and made pictures (Aaron) and wrote names and letters (Dallin). Just shake the tray to start over. And yes, there was salt all over the floor! :) When they finished, I just bagged the salt for next time.

Then we played "The Ladybug Game". Dallin's favorite one from Christmas. I found it at Target for $4! It is a very cute game. They are headed off for baths and bedtime soon, not staying up 'til 12:00.

Grilled Chicken Salad

Grilled Chicken Salad
Not a recipe as much of as an idea. We make these all the time. Talk about a healthy dinner!

Our two FAVORITE marinades are the ones pictures. Weber's White Wine and Herb, and McCormick's Mesquite. Tonight I used the White Wine and Herb one. Just marinate your chicken (breasts cut into strips, or chicken tenders), grill, slice and put on top of your favorite items in a green salad! When we use the mesquite marinade, I'll throw some crushed Doritos on top instead of croutons. It is so good! I can't grill worth anything, so Derrick handles all of the BBQing around here, he does an AWESOME job.

Shortcut Stroganoff

Shortcut Stroganoff

We had the Elders over tonight for dinner, so I made a crowd pleaser. One of the Elders even asked to take some home for lunch tomorrow, so we sent them both home with leftover containers. This makes enough to serve 4, but I doubled the recipe tonight. I found this recipe on the Campbell's soup site 5 years ago, but of course have modified it. To see the original recipe, click HERE. Here is how I make it...

1 lb. ground turkey
2 T. dried onions
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup
2 cups beef broth (I use beef base found at Costco (pictured), bullion or beef stock works too)
1/2 c. water
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
3 c. corkscrew pasta or egg noodles


In skillet, add onions and brown turkey. Cook until juices evaporate. Add soup, broth, water, Worcestershire sauce and pasta. **I like a stronger broth flavor so I usually double the ammount of bullion or beef base that the container/package recommends for a 1 c. serving. Just a hint.** Heat to a boil. Cover over medium heat and cook 8-10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stirring occasionally. Remove lid and simmer on low until sauce begins to thicken. If sauce thickens too quickly, and the pasta is not tender yet, add more water 1/2 c. at a time. This has happened a couple of times. 1/2 c. of water usually does the trick.


Serves 4

Hashbrown Casserole (Funeral Potatoes)

The best recipes seem to photograph the worst :) I think everyone has had these before, just different variations. I think I counted 4 different types at my Grandpa Gene's funeral. My grandma said, "Funeral potatoes, well that's appropriate". lol. These are very basic. I don't use sour cream, because I don't like it, but I am not the norm. You could always add a scoop into the soup mixture. I don't usually cook in foil pans, but we made dinner tonight for a family in our ward who was in a bad car accident right before Christmas. We made BBQ chicken wings and salad to bring, along with the potatoes.

1 (32 oz.) pkg. hashbrown potatoes (cubed)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
crackers, chips, bread crumbs, whatever you have on hand
dried parsley

In large bowl mix first 5 ingredients together. Add 1 1/2 c. cheese to mixture and stir. Pour mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese and crushed cracker/bread crumbs. I used a mixture of pringles. Original and cheddar cheese flavor. Sprinkle with dried parsley.

Cover with foil and bake @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes or until top begins to brown.

Chicken Florentine

This is a major family favorite. We love this recipe. We've tried it with ham (the recipe called for it), or chopped turkey bacon inside, but honestly it doesn't add that much to the flavor. The main flavor comes from the wine reduction. The origional recipe came from Weight Watchers. It is a very low calorie dish. Like many recipes, we've altered it and I think this has more flavor than the origional.

3 chicken breasts.

1 pkg. chopped spinach (frozen or fresh)

olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. poultry seasoning or dried thyme

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

3/4 white cooking wine


Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise so that you can roll them easily. If they are thick, pounding them slightly will spread them out.

In skillet heat 1 T. oil. add garlic and saute. If using fresh spinach, cook in oil on med heat until reduced down and shriveled. Set aside.

If using frozen (I always use frozen), thaw to room temp over night or in the microwave. Drain juices out in a colander, lined with paper towels. Press down with your hands on the spinach to drain thoroughly. If you don't get all the juices out, that's o.k. Add to the heated oil and garlic mixture and cook until heated through and the leftover juices evaporate. Set aside.

In the same pan (spinach removed) add 2 T. olive oil. heat. Spoon spinach mixture onto the center of each chicken breast, dividing evenly between the 6 breast halves. roll and secure the ends with toothpicks. Place each chicken breast roll into heated oil. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add more or use less to your liking.

Brown on each side (med-high heat). Pour wine into the pan. Cover and reduce heat to med. Cook for 8 minutes. Remove lid, turn heat up and cook until the wine has reduced down and thickened with the pan drippings slightly. This gives it more flavor on the browned chicken.

Remove toothpicks and serve! If any wine is left in the pan, pour on top of each chicken breast. Sometimes we have leftovers, other times it evaporates out. Either way it's good!

The key is getting the wine reduced and the salty flavor to come out.

12th Day of Christmas Craft!

Reindeer and Santa Snacks!

It's Christmas Eve and there is still so much to do today! Wrap gifts, make food for tonight (we are going to a friend's house for dinner), and clean up the house. BUT... our snacks are taken care of :). We made everything and it's ready to go. Just put the glass of milk in the refrigerator. We'll get back late tonight, so after the boys open their new pjs, they can set out the snacks and go to bed. They don't mind going to bed anyways, but on Christmas Eve, they are especially antsy.

While I was taking care of Kaylee, Derrick and the boys made these cute little Santa Lanterns. Derrick came up with this and I thought they turned out really cute. Derrick is a man of MANY talents. They've made these little lanterns for other occasions too. Last year he made Jack-O-Lanterns (Chinese Lanterns) with the boys. They were really cute strung across the living room!

The boys helped make M&M Cookies for Santa.



Then they made some snacks for the reindeer. They mixed oats with sprinkles...



then filled up a little cardstock "popcorn" box! I cut out the box with my cricut machine.

Dallin asked if we could leave out some carrots for the reindeer too, so last night while Derrick and I were out on a "hot date" lol, we grabbed a few carrots.

Merry Christmas!

Love, the Nelson Family

11th Day of Christmas Craft!

Embossed Foil Pictures

This idea came from a box of Christmas craft ideas from Usbourne books. Over-all I haven't been all that impressed with their books, but I do like some of their "Things to Make and Do" items. This box came with 50 cards, and over the past 2 years, I've probably done 15 of them. So it's hit and miss!

The card was for making foil ornaments. Since our tree isn't lacking in the ornament department, we did foil pictures and framed them in construction paper.

First take a piece of foil, spread glue on the NON-shiny side and fold foil in half. Put your foil on top of a magazine for cushioning. Then draw with a ball point pen! We used an embossing tool, but it works the same. You can trace around cookie cutters, or just free hand images on there.

It's hard to photograph, but I think you can see his little gingerbread image coming out. You can cut around the images and hang them on the tree, or just put it on the refrigerator. Ours are decorating our sliding glass door.

Aaron is adding stickers to his construction paper frame.

Tomorrow will be the 12th day of Christmas Crafts!

We will be sharing our Santa and Reindeer snacks with you!

10th Day of Christmas Craft!

Potato Chip Can Santa!

While Aaron took a MUCH needed nap this afternoon, Dallin and I made this cute little Potato Chip Santa! We didn't have exactly enough peach felt, so it was a little patched together, but when we put the cotton balls on, you couldn't even tell! Also we didn't have a jumbo craft stick, so we used 2 small popcicle sticks for the arms.

Dallin did really well with his hot gluing skills...

...and photography skills. He is always asking to take pictures of the family.
You can see how the peices are patched together, but it still turned out great!

Kaylee thought Santa was funny!

9th Day of Christmas Craft!

Fingerprint Reindeer

I saw these in the Family Fun Magazine last year, but didn't get around to making them with the kids. So we did them this year! The site suggested using an inkpad, but since I don't care for stamping, I don't have many inkpads. So we used acryllic paint.

Using thumbs, make the reindeer bodies. Add heads with fingers dipped in paint.

Add legs, antlers, and eyes using q-tips, toothpicks, or a small brush.

Draw reins with a marker to attach each reindeer to Santa's sleigh! Blitzen is leading Aaron's sleigh, and Rudolph is leading Dallin's.

Obviously a sleigh isn't needed. I just cut one out with my cricut and used some scrapbooking paper to cut out a Santa. The card that is used as an example on the Family Fun Site is really cute and only uses the reindeer!

8th Day of Christmas Craft!

Snowflakes and Stars

My babies are all sick today. Second time the boys have had a cold/cough in the past 2 weeks. Kaylee isn't as bad as the boys, probably due to the fact that she nurses. So they are taking it easy today and watching movies on the screen/projector in the living room. Right now they are enjoying "Star Wars: Clone Wars". So we won't be crafting today, just watching movies, reading stories, cleaning, and getting ready for the holidays while the kids take it easy. BUT...I do have a craft idea.

We made these snowflakes last year after a friend of mine in Kodiak posted a link on a forum of the one that she made. They look complicated, but are SO EASY! Here is a link that shows step-by-step instructions on wikihow. I used it, and made several for our livingroom window in January. I cannot stress enough how simple and beautiful they are!!!

I also have instructions to make your own barn stars. Click "projects" and then click on the barn star. I love these and have them all over my house. Mine are metal, but I am going to make some cardstock ones too!

I wanted to add, that both of these pictures were downloaded off of the internet. I didn't make either of these. I couldn't find the picture of my 3D snowflakes from last year, and since I've never made barn stars before, I don't have my own pics yet, but will soon!

7th day of Christmas Craft

Candy Cars

I couldn't find Lifesavers ANYWHERE except for the Storybook Life Savers that we already bought for the kid's for Christmas morning. So I used gummy savers, chocolate candies, and leftover Halloween candy. The boys made race cars instead of the typical candy train. Here is a link for a candy train, and one for a little race car made from a gum package. I put the hot glue on, and they placed all of the candy. They both have "fire" coming out the back and a chair for Santa.

Homemade Tortilla Chips!

I made some pico de gallo and guacamole tonight (Stephanie...yours got us hooked. When I ran out of pico, I needed more to share with Derrick! lol). After finishing it, we realized we didn't have any chips, but we did have corn tortillas, so I looked online at a couple of recipes, and here's what we came up with. They turned out really good and are a nice low-fat alternative to store bought ones!

8 corn tortillas (yellow or white)

1 T. olive oil

2 T. lime juice

kosher salt

Cut tortillas into triangles. 4 triangles each. Lay on a baking sheet. Lightly brush with oil and lime juice mixture. You could use a mister, but I broke mine, so I brushed it on. Sprinkle with salt (we use Kosher). Bake @ 350 for 7 minutes, turn pan, cook for another 7 minutes or until LIGHTLY golden and cunchy.

6th Day of Christmas Craft!

Beanie Antlers


We read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" this afternoon. I had the boys each pick out a stuffed animal to read the story with us. Then we made an antler to go on the top of each animal to match the poor dog in the story. Here is a link that gave me the idea: beanie reindeer antlers. They thought it was pretty funny. We only had green pipe cleaners, so that's what we used! Just tied them on top and used wire clippers to make the smaller sections.

5th Day of Christmas Craft!

Little Elves

We made these little elves this morning and added a photo of each child on top. They are so funny! Aaron totally freaked when I put a picture on his. He didn't want to finish it anymore and didn't like it, lol. So we finished the other two and Aaron will do his when he gains composure later.

I used my cricut paper doll cartridge, but here is a link for elf templates! After making a paper elf, just add a photo and you're done!


Last year we went to www.elfyourself.com and made a family of elves that danced. It was hilarious. I was glad to see that they are doing it again!! The kids liked watching it over and over. Then when friends came over we'd elf them too and the kids would all die laughing!

Check it out and make some yourself! Click here to see the Nelson Family Elves 2008.

4th Day of Christmas Craft!

Bead Wreaths

The boys made bead wreaths yesterday to hang on the tree. You don't have to use beads. You could use fruit loops, pasta, or anything with a small hole like that. We used wire, but you could also use yarn to string it up with!

We had a TON of beads. Derrick bought a bag for the kids. Then a year later forgot he bought that bag when he and the boys made me a bracelet and necklace for Mother's Day, so he bought another bag. We've found many projects that use beads! :)