Drew's Sports Class: Soccer

Mark and I have Drew enrolled in a multi-sport class; 2 weeks of soccer, 2 weeks of t-ball & 2 weeks of basketball. Mark plays adult-league soccer twice a week plus we watch it on TV frequently so I thought for sure Drew would be super into playing. Especially if his dad played with him.

I was surprised to see his reaction to his first class - he wanted nothing to do with it. I was stunned. Here is a kid that runs out in the backyard as often as possible to kick around a soccer ball.... but then when it was an official class with other kids, he wanted no part of it. Say what?!

After much coaxing (and threats.. promises.. etc) he finally kicked the ball around and made it into the goal. If I can brag for a second (and since this is MY blog, I can), Drew is already very talented at soccer. He can dribble, kick, make it in the goal - he's a natural. (Gets it from his dad... not me.)

Stretching before playing

Not interested...

Needing a little assistance from Dad

Hmm... not quite getting the "no hands" rule. 

Putting the ball down in front of the goal

Kicking it in the net

Surveying the result

Wait.. let's try this again...

Dribbling..and..

GOAL!!!!

Victory lap

Next week we start t-ball. Mark and I already agree that we're not sure Drew with a bat is a good idea.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lepper Colony Etsy Shop

It is official - I am a shop!

I opened my Etsy shop last week and it has been going so well - I made 3 sales within my first few days!

I currently only have a few things on my site but I am bound and determined to fill it up with awesomeness as soon as I can.

I pinky-promise that I will not incessantly post updates on my shop or its contents but I couldn't help but announce it's birthday.

Feel free to stop by... here is the address: Lepper Colony Etsy Shop

And... here are a few items currently in there. More to come... Promise. I love holidays so there will always be holiday goodies available!

Thanks for stopping by!!

A Boy and his Camera

Drew got ahold of my old digital camera and the pictures he took were hilarious. I thought I should share.

First, I showed him how to use the camera

He learned pretty quickly...

The self portait series

Skyping with Gramma

More self portraits...

I actually took this one... Just in case you were wondering how
his arms were able to reach so far. Hee hee.

In my opinion, not too bad for a 2 year old, right?
Just some silly photos for you to enjoy.
Have a happy day!

Amy

Happy New Year!

I'm a bit late, but sincere none-the-less. Happy New Year!!

I've been seeing a lot of bloggers posting about their new year's resolutions so I figured, why not jump on the bandwagon?

Typically, every year I make a laundry list of things I want to accomplish in the new year. Last year's list was fairly attainable.. or so I thought. When I recently re-read it, I laughed & realized I had completed or achieved about 1/4 of the list. Even easy things like "read 3 books" was only met by 1/3 completion. Eek! So this year, I'm keeping the list short and simple.

Read More

Family Art Night 

Make Date Nights truly dates

Open Etsy Shop

Cook New Things

Drink more water

Silly... probably. Doable... yes!



Read More
I used to be quite the avid reader before my little sprout was born. I read tons of fiction and even some non-fiction (especially when we decided to start our family). I read one book this year for fun and realized how much I had missed it. I found myself easily blowing off TV to go read.

A few things I have on my list...

Photo Credits: Amazon.com

Does anyone have any good suggestions for books? Chances are I have not read it!


Family Art Night
When I was pregnant with Drew I was already planning family traditions in my head. I am a huge sucker for traditions and wanted to start them as soon as possible. I think they are important for kids while they grow up to have fun things that they can look forward to. Family Art Night will be once a month (to start) and will just be a fun night of some new art or craft activity that all of us do together. Our first project will be some Valentine's Day cards to send out to our family.

Photo Credit: Miscellaneous Pinterest

Date Nights
My mother-in-law has graciously come over one night every week since Drew was born and allowed me and Mark the opportunity to spend some time, just the two of us. For a while we were making efforts about going fun places but then it kind of turned into errand running or just staying home. Mark and I agreed that we should turn these nights back into "dates." I don't think we'll go as far to get dressed up or anything (maybe every so often) but definitely put the effort back into these special nights.

Just a picture of me and Mark... a very old picture.. Look how young I am! 

Etsy Shop
I mentioned in a previous post that I was working on a Etsy shop. I am still hoping to be able to get some inventory in stock soon so I can launch away.

Banners, Buntings and Garlands, oh my!

Cook New Things
What are we serving? Chicken or Chicken?

This wasn't on my original list but after reading the 7-day Challenge over at Dinner: A Love Story I decided to join in the fun & add some new recipes into our dinner repertoire. This week I already have 3 new things on the menu!

Photo Credits: Dinner: A Love Story, Skinny Taste

Drink More Water
This one is fairly self-explanatory. When we were training for our Ragnar races it was always super important that we hydrated before the race and, even though it made me have to use the facilities every 30 minutes, I always felt so much better when my body was fully hydrated. My company moved into a new office this January and it has a filtered water & ice machine and I am super excited about the ice. Is that silly? Yes... but it makes me want to drink water so it's cool.

 I wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy & Blessed 2013!


Amy

Christmas Cookies: Ginger Snaps with White Chocolate

One of the big holiday traditions in my house growing up was Christmas cookies. My mom would bake at least 10 different kinds of cookies and we would eat them through out the holiday season. It was always fun to have all the different options to choose from for assuaging my cookie cravings. (If you didn't know, I have a pretty sizable sweet tooth.) I love to bake but can never seem to get my act together to bake that many cookies. Plus, I am not sure I need that many cookies in my house or else it could be bye-bye waistline! (or maybe it is "hello, bigger waistline?")

Every year I am invited to at least one cookie exchange and this year, for the first one, I made Ginger Snaps with a White Chocolate Drizzle. I like ginger snaps because they are very "Christmasy" and also fairly simple to make.

I apologize for a lack of photos but I had this really cute & helpful sous chef assisting me and he was not favorable to me stopping to take pictures.

It is always better with help. Especially help wearing a cute owl apron.

 Baking, baking, baking...

 Cooling, cooling, cooling...

The finished product - how festive!

I have to say, adding a simple drizzle of chocolate to things makes it that much better. 

Plus, everyone is impressed by it! 

Ginger Snaps with White Chocolate Drizzle

Source Unknown

Ingredients

1 cup - packed brown sugar

3/4 cup - vegetable oil

1/4 cup - molasses

1 egg

2 cup - all-purpose flour

2 tsp - baking soda

1/4 tsp - salt

1/2 tsp - ground cloves

1 tsp - ground cinnamon

1 tsp - ground ginger

1/3 cup - white sugar (for decoration)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees; cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, oil, molasses & egg. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon & ginger. Stir into the molasses mixture.

Roll dough into 1-1/4 inch balls; roll each ball in white sugar before placing onto baking sheets 2" apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until center is a bit firm to the touch & edges are slightly dark. Cool completely on wire racks. 

Place waxed paper underneath the wire racks. In a plastic decorator's bag (or sandwich bag), melt white chocolate (chips or chopped bark) in the microwave on half-power for about 2 minutes, checking the chocolate every 30 seconds to avoid over-cooking. When chocolate is soft & melted, snip about 1/4" off the tip of the bag (or corner if using a sandwich bag) and quickly drizzle over cooled cookies. 

Let chocolate set for at least 10 minutes. Serve or store in air-tight container for 3-5 days.

Merry Christmas!

Best Christmas Movies Ever!

My husband and I agree that Christmas is one of the best seasons of the year. He loves the weather, I love sweaters and boots. The food is more fun. People are more pleasant. There lights and sparkles on everything. *Sigh* How can you not just love it?!

And there are Christmas movies. 

Many blogs I read are benevolently providing their readers with gift guides - I am not that resourceful so I am providing you with my list of the top 10 Christmas Movies... in my opinion. 

#10: White Christmas

I think this is almost necessary to have on this list just because it is the iconic Christmas movie. It is a good story, however. And the best part is that the housekeeper is also the Sister Mary Lazarus from Sister Act. Yesss.

 #9: Just Friends

Not technically a Christmas movie but it is set at Christmas time and is hilarious. 

Notable Scenes: Anna Faris eating a tube of toothpaste while on painkillers; the interaction between Ryan Reynolds' character and his brother; the mom. Funny stuff.

#8: Mickey's Christmas Carol

A childhood favorite of mine. My friend, Marina, and I must have watched this movie about a million times. The birthplace of Scrooge McDuck. 

#7: Home Alone

This is just classic - all the pranks young Master Culkin plays on the unsuspecting burglars - oh, so funny. This is Daniel Stern at his finest. Plus, I love Catherine O'Hara, too. 

#6: Holiday Inn

Probably one of my all-time favorite classic films anyway, but it also works as one of my top Christmas movies. Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire - so good. Notable scenes: anything with Mamie the housekeeper and her kids ("Is you name Miss Linda?). Quality film-making.

#5: Love Actually

Such a cute story - very touching and gives hope to the love-lorn everywhere. Plus Rowan Atkinson is in it. 

#4: Scrooged

If you haven't noticed yet, I like funny movies. This is a classic, funny movie. Bill Murray is so funny as the "Scrooge" character. Karen Kane is the best Ghost of Christmas Present that there ever has been. If you haven't seen this, rent it (or whatever the kids do these days... stream it? download it? Ugh, I'm old.) You won't be sorry.

#3: Better off Dead

OK, so technically not a Christmas movie BUT has some of the best Christmas scenes E-V-E-R! 

Example 1: Teaching the French exchange student about Christmas. Cha-ris-muus... 

Example 2: The mom. She dresses up as a reindeer. She gives frozen TV dinners as gifts. She makes jackets out of aardvarks. We should all be so lucky to have her for a mom. 

#2: Christmas Vacation

In my opinion, probably the 2nd best in the Vacation series after the original. 

Why is the carpet wet, Todd? I don't know, Margo. 

Drum Roll......

#1: Elf

SANTAAA - I know him!

Oh, he's an angry elf.

I'm singing, I'm in a store and I'm singing.

I'm just a cotton-headed ninny muggin.

Syrup in coffee - why didn't I think of that?

There is no Christmas movie better than Elf. 

Again - these are my opinions. When I told my list to my husband he was not happy that A Christmas Story was missing from the list. Or A Muppet Christmas Carol. I am not saying these other movies are not good - they're just not my faves. 

Enjoy your holidays - and check out some of these films - you'll be pleased. 

Merry Christmas!