I know it's way past Christmas but for the family peeps out there, I really should do a Christmas wrap-up. Then I can get back to real life. Honestly I think it was feeling the need to do this post that made it take so long to do it. Yeah that dreaded Procrastination monster rearing it's ugly head. And tomorrow we'll slay it and get the Thank-You Notes done. Off with its head.
So.. where to begin?
Oh yeah, that amazing thing I was going to mention. So, Christmas Eve, we planned on reading the birth story, watching the movie The Nativity and making haystacks. So Clay reads the Bible story and talks about the huge sacrifice the Lord made and Cassie tells him that she's ready to give her life to the Lord. So we talk about what that means (now she has been talking about it with me for weeks up until this point, she and I had prayed about it some and discussed different things about salvation, etc.) so we talk about what that means, and she says she is ready to give her life to the Lord. So she gets on her knees with Daddy who prays for her and helps her to pray to the Lord, asking forgiveness for her sins and she professed her faith, and gave her life to the Lord Jesus. The angels rejoiced on the Eve of our Savior's birth as this little girl prayed her prayer. We got the best Christmas gift that night. We serve a great and wonderful Lord.
So we watched the movie and while we did I made haystacks. Few things say Christmas to me like haystacks. I love them. I adore them. I could eat thousands of them. So I made thousands. Yeah no comments about the whole weight thing. It was Christmas.
Anyways so I made half a table's worth of those and it turned out it was great since we had a lot of company the next couple weeks and everyone ate them.
Okay so every year I make something really unhealthy but incredibly yummy. In the past we have had pecan sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, homemade donuts, and this year? Monkey bread. I have never made it before but seen it done and LOVE it. Love love love it. I looked online and found what seemed like perfect recipes. I wanted to try two recipes - one that used vanilla pudding and one with butterscotch since those seemed to be the basis of all monkey bread recipes. I needed to do a comparison test of course. So I went to Walmart, got a bundt pan (they only had these slightly expensive ones so I only got one lol) and followed the recipes to a "t". You leave them in the fridge to rise overnight. So I went to bed dreaming of my yummy Monkey bread and when I awoke I found.....
The Incredible Exploding Monkey Bread
Honestly there were more than that that just spilled right out of the pans. I mean I even used the exact brand of frozen rolls I was supposed to. Was my bundt pan too small? Oh I don't know. But those brown chunks of butter, brown sugar and pudding mix was a tasty treat to nibble on. Anyways.. they got even bigger in the oven spilling stuff all over the pan I put underneath and it was smoky and crazy and since it was so big and dough-y they would never cook in the middle and half of them were dough. It was sad really considering my vivid dreams about eating amazing monkey all night.
We opened stockings before we ate. Gotta LOVE that about stockings, and after monkey bread moved on to presents. My Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins sent presents for everyone all the way from CA. It was amazing. We were and are very VERY blessed. I love watching children open presents and this year was no exception. The hard part is that I don't want to be behind the camera, end up getting caught up in the moment of watching them and being happy with them that I miss the picture. But here's a few:
Backpacks were a big hit this year. I missed Cassie getting hers, but here's Adric when he saw his
Gotta love when 4yos are in total shock! And he was SO proud he made me take a picture of him looking like a big boy.
Cuter than cute eh? And Frank getting his. I was surprised by just how much he did love this. It made me happy. He's growing up. He was so excited and said "MOM! It doesn't have any Spiderman, or any characters on it. It's not a little kid's backpack, it's a big boy backpack. It's AWESOME!" He loved loved it.
Aww that Frank. He's growing up WAY too fast. It was nice to see him get all giddy like the littles.
Another big hit with EVERYONE (funny how you never really know what is going to be a fan favorite. But this was with ALL the children. Even big Frank still plays with this weeks later) here is Adric getting his Mr. PotatoHead set LOL! Who would have thought Cassie and Frankie would love it so much?
The little dude feeling oh so proud in his new Power Ranger jammies.
This picture makes me laugh cause it looks like he's seconds away from kissing his muscle like his Daddy does. Frankie has been doing that. It cracks me up.
Uh oh Baby's waking up.. must hurry.
Cassie looking gorgeous in her new cool hoodie. She LOVES It and wears it every night. She told me the other night that it was perfect because she could wear it inside the house when she gets a "chill" she said lol. Okay Cass.
Ain't she a beaute?
Another big hit. The SPY glasses. He LOVESSSSS these and wears them when he puts the chickens away at night. He wears them all the time really. 
This is what you get when an 8yo opens a huge Star Wars LEGO set.
And this is what you get 2 hours later:
And last but not least, Clay's new pride and joy that we almost squabbled (cause we rarely actually argue anymore) well we ALMOST squabbled cause that thing was NOT going in my living room on the big blank wall waiting to be filled. But he LOVES it. Yes it says a lot about him LOL.
Okay just got the baby back to sleep. We had a GREAT Christmas. Clay's parents came the day after so more about that later. Off to sleeep.
It looks like you had a great Christmas! Isn't if fun to watch the little ones open there presents. It makes all the pre-Christmas craziness worth it. Have a great weekend!
Posted by: NicoleD | January 11, 2008 at 11:02 PM
I had the same results with the monkey bread recipes..glad it's not just me. I've finally resorted to buying it pre-made at Wal Mart and then just 'dressing it up' with more stuff like pecans and drizzled glazes at home.
Posted by: Lisa B. | January 12, 2008 at 04:29 AM
Oh how wonderful for Cassie! Reading about it made me all teary! What a wonderful Christmas present! (Oh, and you should give the Martha Stewart Kids Monkey Bread Recipe a try--no overnight rising to take over the fridge!). Have a great day!
Posted by: Aja | January 12, 2008 at 06:35 AM
So thrilled to hear the news about Cassie! What a wonderful Christmas present for your Jesus! Another thing to try with the monkey bread is doing it with the canned biscuit dough. That's what I used and it worked out fine (and yummy!).
Love in Christ,
Marci
Posted by: Marci | January 12, 2008 at 07:13 AM
Oh Kim, Praise the Lord! That is SO wonderful that Cassie gave her life to Christ!
Please let us all know if you figure out what to do about the monkey bread, I had been wanting to try that some Saturday morning.
The hoodie of Cassie's is adorable! My 10 year old horse crazy girl would LOVE it.
Glad you all had such a blessed Christmas!
Posted by: Becki | January 12, 2008 at 02:29 PM
CONGRATS and PRAISES about your girl! Woohoo!!!! How wonderful! Now about the Monkey bread--I just use those pillsbury rolls and put them in a "batter" of brown sugar and melted butter, throw them in a pan and bake. Something like that anyhow LOL! Super simple and they are awwwwwesome!!! It's a recipe I got from a lady I worked with back in the day. These things do NOT dissapoint LOL! I only ever make them to bring to socials, but they are always a hit! Let me know if you want the *exact* recipe and I'll dig it out:)
Posted by: Hollie | January 13, 2008 at 07:50 PM