Here are some pictures from the Sunday before Christmas...all dressed up in Christmas attire! I am not feeling very bloggish, so let the pictures speak for themselves...Clayton, Granna, Big Clayton, Ca-Ca, Mommy (me) and Daddy (Mark)
Memaw, Granna, and Clayton celebrating Granna's birthday together...
Granna's birthday falls on the week of our Christmas musicals every week, so her birthday always gets slighted a little bit! Clayton and I tried to get her a b-day cake at walmart and write on it ourselves. It didn't turn out as great as I'd hoped. I wrote on it on Friday night with this cake markers...when we woke up on Saturday morning, it had bled really badly! Oh, well...Here's what we had...
Clayton and Granna with Granna's cake...
Here's a bite of cake...make sure you open WIDE!!!
Yumm...I love cake!!!
Clayton giving Granna a sweet look...
Clayton with Memaw...
Funny Memaw and Clayton pic!
Clayton giving Memaw a "kiss"
The 2nd part of the Clayton "kiss!"
Clayton and Big Clayton riding on the 4-wheeler. She loves riding on it. She hits the top part and says "go, go" when she wants to go faster.
Clayton swinging on her new swing set!
Big Clayton sliding down her new slide after he waxed it for her.
Clayton sliding down her slide on her new playground!
Clayton hanging out in her new playhouse that Big Clayton gave her as an early Christmas present!
Before we went on our annual Christmas outing with the Griggs family, Clayton thought she would try a new move...she dumped some "cerie" (cereal) as she calls it...on the floor. She had been picking it up...until she decided that it was more fun to climb under the bistro table and all of a sudden we hear "hep, hep! I tuck, I tuck!" So funny!
We had gotten this little Dora chair for her...and we gave it to her early so that she could use it...she was getting so much stuff anyway...
Clayton posing for a picture and pointing at the horse-drawn carriage at the Haltom City Christmas Tree Lighting that my kiddos sang at...
Clayton out in the front yard...just hangin out!
Clayton's 1st time on a carousel...she picked the giraffe!
Smiling for the camera as they went around...
Mark letting everyone know how fast the carousel was...it definitely made Starla and Mark sick!
Clayton "driving" through the Prairie Lights on our Christmas night with the Griggs fam. She and Keldan had just as much fun not being in their car seats in the car as they did actually looking at the lights. 
Clayton posing with a blow-up Dora at the "midway" stop in Prairie Lights.
So, yesterday we went to Texarkana to see SANTA. We knew from the beginning that it would not be a pleasant experience...and we were prepared for that. We told the photographer that we would "sit" Clayton on Santa's lap, quickly get out of the way, and she needed to just take the picture!!! We told her that taking a time to get her "adjusted" and become "friends" with Santa would NOT work...so just take the picture because she would cry and it would not be pretty...but we were okay with that!
Well, we got up there, Clayton started clinging to Ca-Ca and would not go to Santa...so Santa suggested that I sit beside him, and she could just sit in my lap. And that is what we did. Like many of my friends, we didn't get a smile...but we didn't have tears either! This Santa was really nice and calm...and his beard was real. He didn't want us to upset the other children behind us, so Clayton just sat in my lap...we took the picture...and it was OVER...
We went on Saturday to see our favorite photographer in the whole wide world, Emily! Clayton absolutely LOVES her. She has been taking Clayton's pictures since she was 2 months old. She is amazing, and like I said, Clayton LOVES her. She actually kicked Mark and I out so she could get some good pictures without us "being in the way." And here they are...
Emily had a little reindeer beanie baby that Clayton was reaching out for...
I really love this one...she looks so stinkin grown up!
Pretty funny...
Okay, I loved this outfit but had NO idea that Clayton wouldn't be able to sit with her legs together when she was getting her pics taken!
These are her Christmas Build-a Bears, but they are actually moose!
These pictures I love...even though Mark calls it her "Grinch" outfit!
She had a blast climbing on this step!
She would not put her feet on the bottom step...no matter how hard we tried!
So, the last twenty four hours, I have been trying to do a little Christmas shopping so that I am not totally stressed out next weekend when school is out. We did a little Christmas shopping after church this morning...can't say that is was extremely successful, but every present is a small victory! Clayton is finished...but we've been buying stuff for her along the way since her birthday. We've gotten my dad's gift and Mark's mom's gift...and Keldan's birthday gift...AND...that's about it!
I decided to have a wild idea last night. Clayton is with my parents until Tuesday because Chay's kiddos have croup and she can't watch Clayton tomorrow...so I thought, we should "make" stuff for our neighbors! Since I am only working part time, we decided that we really couldn't afford the normal $40 gift cards to various places that we usually do...so I decided that we (Mark and I) were going to bake stuff!
Here's what we made: Peppermint Fudge, Peppermint Brittle, Cake Balls, Melt Away Cookies, and some awesome "white trash" that you make with peanut butter captain crunch...after about 2.5 hours in the kitchen we are through and the kitchen is clean...thanks to my wonderful husband!
Here are the recipes if you are interested?!?!
Peppermint Fudge (so easy!)
1 pk. white chocolate chips
1 can of white pillsbury frosting
1 tsp. peppermint extract
4 drops of red food coloring
1/4 cup of crushed candy canes
In a sauce pan, melt white chocolate chips on medium heat. Add frosting and continue to stir. Take off heat and add peppermint extract. Stir it well. Put it in 8 x 8 baking dish. Then, put one drop of food coloring in each corner of the pan and swirl it with a butter knife. Finally, sprinkle with crushed up candy canes and refrigerate until firm. Cut into little squares and serve!
Peppermint Brittle (Mark made this one...we burned it the 1st time and had to "redo")
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of crushed candy canes
Put sugar and corn syrup in microwave safe bowl for 3-4 minutes. Stir and put back in microwave for another 3-5 minutes (until light brown...the original recipe says 4-5 minutes both times, but I am here to tell ya...you will end up with scortched brittle if you do that!!!) Stir and add vanilla and butter and stir...then microwave for another 1-2 minutes. Gentle stir in baking soda and then pour onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and use a spatula to "press down" a little. Let cool...chop it up and enjoy.
Cake Balls
1 package cake mix (I used red velvet for the Christmas color)
1 container of frosting (I used white and put red food coloring in it)
1 package of almond bark (either white or milk chocolate)
Prepare the cake mix according to box. Cook it in whatever kind of pan you want.
When the cake is done, crumble it (while kind of warm?) in a large bowl.
Stir in the frosting (I used the mixer!)
Put the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours so that it can firm up
Use a melon baller or scoop of some sort to make the balls. You don't want to make them too big.
Then put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so.
Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave
Dip the balls in the chocolate using a toothpick and place them on waxed paper.
After they have dried, you can drizzle the opposite color of chocolate on them...they look amazing and taste awesome!
You can use any combo of cake mix and icing!
Melt Away Cookies
1 cup butter, room temp
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
colored or granulated sugar, if desired
Cream butter until light and fluffy; beat in salt, and both extracts. Gradually blend in confectioners' sugar and then flour. Chill for about 1 hour. Shape dough into rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter, then cut in 3/4 inch lengths. Place ends up, on ungreased cookie sheet; press lightly with the bottom of glass covered with a damp cloth. Add colored sprinkles if you want. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.
"White Trash"
3 cups of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch
2 cups of Rice Crispies
2 cups of Salted, Dry Roast Peanuts (or whatever kind you like!)
2-3 cups of Marshmallows
1 pk. white chocolate bark
Put all of these ingredients except the bark in a big bowl. Melt the white chocolate bark in the microwave and pour over all of the dry ingredients. Then lay it all out on wax paper. You can either put it in a long "clump" or do it my the spoonful. After it "sets" you can break it up into bite size pieces and serve it in a fun Christmas container.
And there you have it...what Mark and I did tonight. It was fun! I am glad we did it! So, now I've shared my 1st year of Christmas baking recipes with you...
What kinds of fun things to you bake for Christmas?!?! Anyone?!?
