Chocolatey Pretzel Treats

These are so easy to make!  My kids had fun helping with them and we all loved them, they make a great snack!  We did these over Christmas so we used the Christmas color M&Ms but you can use the regular kind or whatever holiday colors are out at the moment!

All you need is:
1 Bag of small pretzels
1 bag M&Ms (I used peanut ones, I accidentally grabbed those instead of plain but they worked great)
1 bag hershey kisses, or hugs (I also tried the cookies & cream kind and they didn't work out as well as the plain chocolate)

Heat the oven to 170 degrees.  Place pretzels in a single layer and place kisses on top of each pretzel.  Bake 4-6 minutes until the chocolate feels soft.  Do not over do it though, you don't want a chocolate puddle!  Press M&Ms into the center of each treat.  Allow to cool and then place in the fridge for about 10 minutes to set.

Herb roasted turkey

This was my first turkey EVER!  I was so nervous but it turned out perfect, so moist & not dry at all!  It had wonderful flavor too :)  I will definitely make this again!

12 lb whole turkey (Mine was 20 I just had to cook a little longer)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups chicken broth or stock

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven  to 325 degrees.  Clean turkey (discard giblets and organs), and place in roasting pan with a lid.  (I did mine in a roaster)

2.  In a small bowl, combine olive oil, melted butter, and seasonings.  Using a basting brush, apply the mixture to the outside of the uncooked turkey.  Poor chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan and cover.  (I also injected mine with the mixture)

3.  Bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until the internal temp of the thickest part of the thigh measures 180 degrees F.  Remove bird from oven and allow to stand for about 30 minutes before carving.  (Since I had an extra 8 lbs on my turkey, I cooked an extra hour and just kept checking the temp til it hit 180)

I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com but after reading reviews, changed it a little to my liking.

Turkey Veggie Tray

 Found this cute idea on Pinterest!  This was an easy project, cutting up the veggies was really the hardest part lol.  And it's a fun project for the kiddos to help out with!  Mine got a kick out of it!

Here's what we used:

1 bag celery

2 bags of the cut up broccoli & cauliflower

1 bag mini carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 cucumbers

1 cheese ball

For the face I just used pieces of an olive for the eyes, and a red bell pepper for the head, and the yellow bell pepper for the beak.  

I also put some ranch on the side for those that prefer that over the cheese ball and a bowl of olives on the side too :)

Christmas Card Ideas

Here are a few of my favorites from last year that we used on our Christmas card!

Ventriloquist doll costume

I thought this was a fun idea and it was creepy without all the gore. 

My hair was a lot more ratted out and wild in the beginning of the evening but flattened down a bit by the time I got home and took this pic. Still, overall I am really pleased with how it turned out :) 

The makeup is actually really easy, the hardest part for me was getting the contacts in because I don't normally wear contacts lol.

What do you think? What would you do different? 

Trick or treat footprint craft

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was a cute Halloween craft :) Eli is so ticklish, it was hard to paint his feet lol.

Halloween decorations are up!

Well, most of it lol.  I still have spider webs to put up and the outside is not decorated yet.

I just received my console table for the entry way and put it together yesterday and I love it!  It's so fun to finally have areas to decorate for each holiday!  You can get it here: http://www.seventhavenue.com/janikka-console.pro?omSource=SLI& :)

My wall in the dining area is still very bare, I might hang a big spider web there.  But for now I am pretty happy with how this looks!

I have never had a staircase I could decorate, it is so much fun!  Maybe now I'll have a Halloween party!  We used to have one every year and it's been a few years since we have, now we have plenty of room!  Too bad we don't know very many people here though.

Easter Wreath!

Check it out!  I'm pretty proud of myself, I was able to start AND finish this during just one of Eli's naps :)  After making the Christmas deco mesh wreath this one was easy since I already knew what I was doing.  I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby, loves the speckled eggs!!  

I didn't take pictures step by step but youtube has some great tutorials if you just search for deco mesh wreaths :)