Teacher gifts, and new do's.

Time to get a start on some fun, and of course crafty, teacher Christmas gifts! Pinterest gave me lots of ideas, so off I went to pick up some supplies to make some cute personalized mugs. Hopefully the teachers haven't be bombarded with many many mugs over their years of teaching LOL.
Some ceramic or porcelain mugs, oven safe and no decorations. Ceramic or porcelain paint markers..I have heard it also works with oil based sharpies, but haven't used them. Craft stickers in letters and shapes are nice too.

Mug 1...for Mrs. Gill. At the triplets school the Kindy kids get to go into the library for 30 minutes every morning before class starts and listen to the fantastic Mrs. Gill read a book to them. We have heard so much about these books and how funny Mrs. Gill is...the trio actually freak out if we do not get them to school in time for story time LOL. When I saw this mug idea on Pinterest I couldn't believe how perfect it was for Mrs. Gill.

I free handed the figure and the books...unfortunately when I used my homemade stencil I didn't take into account that the traced figure would look a little plumper than I had wanted it to. Jason assured me it still looked great, so I didn't wipe it off with a wet towel and start over.

Some books.

A superhero.

Is this not perfect...but I still love it, and hope Mrs. Gill does too!

More teacher mugs. This was so fun...hopefully they hold up. You bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, then the paint shouldn't rub off. I don't think they will be dishwasher safe...but a little hand washing with soap and water is supposed to be OK.

Xan man got a little haircut today, the lady was nice enough to style him up with a little colored gel too. He, of course, LOVED it.

Looking pretty fly...

Cutie.

Giving me a little Dean :)

Poor kid, I hope his teeth start growing in soon Hahaha!

Ugh...do not give me Bieber.

It has been forever since I posted a recipe...this year has not been a good one for the diet. This one is "Skinny" and fantastic! 

Crock Pot Sazon Pork Chops with Peppers, Olives and Potato.

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 center cut bone-in pork chops, trimmed of excess fat (with bone about 32 oz)
1 1/2 tsp sazon (I used the "Skinny" homemade recipe...below)
1 tsp ground cumin
black pepper to taste, to taste
2 tbsp all purpose unbleached flour (for gluten free use sweet rice flour)
8 oz yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup alcapparado (or green pimento olives)
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
2 dried bay leaves

 Directions:
 Rub the pork chops with crushed garlic, then add sazon, cumin, black pepper.
Sprinkle the flour over the chops and add to the slow cooker.

Top with the potatoes and peppers. Pour the tomato sauce and 1/4 cup water over the pork.

Add the garlic, alcapparado (or olives), 1/4 cup cilantro and bay leaves.

Cook until the potatoes are tender, for me that was on LOW 6 hours.

Transfer the pork chops to a platter and remove the bay leaves. Add the remaining fresh cilantro to the sauce and stir.

To serve place 1 chop on each plate with 3/4 cups sauce and vegetables.

4 oz pork, 3/4 cup veggies & sauce is 267 cals and 11 grams of fat.

 Sazon... Ingredients:
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground annatto seeds (achiote) or turmeric
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper

 Directions: Combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container.
1 1/2 teaspoons of this mix equals one packet of commercial sazon. 7 cals for 1 1/2 tsp.

Zoo lights!

I think the big move for Lily's school BFF is coming soon. Poor Lily came home crying with this artwork from her BFF.

Poor little thing was in a mood...she was flipping like a switch from weepy to grouchy. We thought a trip out to the Zoo for the lights was a good idea. We don't make a point to hit the Zoo lights every year, this actually is only our second time going...our first was FIVE years ago. It is usually too damn cold, and of course when you are freezing and uncomfortable nothing is worth it LOL. This years trip was pretty much on track with that, in fact we were in an out in less that 90 minutes LOL. Next time we attempt this someone remind me to really dress for the cold, maybe then we could hang out and enjoy ourselves.

I was trying some out of auto shooting with my camera...flash just ruins Christmas lights...but it is hard for this newbie to get good, clear, pics. It would help if my kids would learn how to hold still at the same time.

I loved all the different lights and colors everywhere. Even if I was freezing my patootie off.

The girls are so cute....cold, but cute LOL.

Jason bought us all a hot chocolate, next time remind me to make my own and just bring it, it was way too spendy for such weak and crappy cocoa...but at least it was warm. We froze in line for 30 minutes to ride the little train for all of maybe 10 minutes...totally not worth it, we will be skipping that next time we do the Zoo lights LOL.

We were driving through a tunnel of lights...kinda cool.

I was hoping to get a card worthy pic, no such luck...looks like we will be driving to find some snow this weekend. Always love snow pictures!

This light set was pretty neat...and big.

Brr we have had enough lets get the heck out of here.

See you in a couple years Zoo lights.

Jericho wanted to fly to bed...our little boy is getting bigger every day. Very bitter sweet.

Getting into the spirit.

Percy, our fun little Elf is back...YAY...let the forgetting to move him, and jumping out of bed at 2am to rectify that, begin.

The kiddos were so excited to see him. Our always polite Xander told Percy that is was so nice to see him again, and Lily told him a couple of jokes LOL.

We got festive today and decided to get our tree and decorations up. My kids are actually old enough and big enough to really help this year...when did that happen?
Lily was extremely excited...bouncing happily all ove the place. A little funny...she was touching the garland and said "don't forget to put up the garlic." Jason told her "it's Garland baby girl, I put garlic in our food", Lily comes back at him with "you say tomato I say tomato" LOL!

Of course they spent a good 20 minutes playing in the box.

My silly crew...so fun!

Jericho and Xander took turns "locking" each other in.

Let the decorating begin.

They need a little more work on spacing...but overall they did a pretty good job.

Our cute little tree...hopefully our next (perhaps forever) house is bigger and has room for a big tree.

Lets hope Jericho can be trusted this year to not touch and/or break everything.

I love Christmas!

Xander finally got his real glasses. This is the other pair he picked...I think the red ones are still his fave, but he looks cute in these too.
The kid has lost a heck of a lot of teeth over the last couple of weeks LOL.