traditional gingerbread cookies

#2 on my Christmas bucket list 

Traditional Gingerbread cookie making is always a hit at my families house! They aren't always the most flattering cookies as we get carried away with lots of icing & decorations but they taste delicious!!  

 Since I had Dominik along for this years cookie decorating my pictures and decorating skills were lacking but here is what I did get.

Gingerbread Recipe

2/3 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups white flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

mix all together and bake at 350 for 8 minutes

Icing Recipe

1 cup maragine

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

cream butter + margarine together, add vanilla

gradually add sugar at a medium speed.

add milk on high and mix until light and fluffy

cover with damp cloth 

Gingerbread cookies for days... 

9 months

Finally I got this picture together. 

Was an amazing moment when we found out we were pregnant! I had a great pregnancy and loved being pregnant. Now we have been blessed with a beautiful healthy baby and are loving every minute with him. 

1 month old already

Age: 1 month

Height: 21 inches

Weight: 8lbs 11oz 

Milestones: Dominik was strong from day 1 but we definitely notice he is getting stronger and stronger when lifting his head. His smile was a huge milestone!

He will also react to loud noises and will turn his head to where voices are coming from. 

Sleep: Dominik is getting better every night at sleep and falling asleep on his own. He sleeps in his own crib and often needs us to sing him songs to fall asleep. We have had a few great nights where he wakes up every 4 hours but an average night is every 3 hours. 

During the day he likes to fall asleep when he is all snuggled up on someone. 

Best Moment: Just cuddling and snuggling up with him. We love all his facial reactions (will try to capture some). 

Worst Moment: When I thought he had an eye infection but it was just a blocked tear duct. 

Daddy says: "going to work" 

Health: Overall Dominik is a very healthy baby boy, we thank God for that everyday!!

Tummy time: We are trying to get some tummy time in every day. If he is in the right mood he loves tummy time on his new mat. 

Tummy time mat 

Exercise: We try to get out and walk everyday. Once settled in to the stroller or carrier Dominik tends to fall asleep instantly.  We are so happy with our stroller and carrier, I highly recommend them. The BECO is great for long walks as it has great support for the back and hips. 

Bob Revolution SE stroller, Britax Bsafe carseat, BECO Soleil carrier 

Holidays: 1st holiday for Dominik was Halloween. He dressed up as a little bear  

Road Trip: 1st big road trip and sight of snow on the Coquihalla 

There will be many more stops there in the future hiking the mountains with Daddy 

Puppy love: He likes his babysitter and best bud Cypress

Soother: I went as long as I could without a soother...but he seems to want one so I got the Soothie which he seems to love. 

Soothie

Smile: we saw his first smile at 2 1/2 weeks. A few weeks later we managed to capture his SMILE!!! we love him. 

25 days of Christmas bucket list

I decided to make a Christmas bucket list....to get in the Christmas spirit! 

1. Send a letter to Sinterklaas 
2. Make our traditional gingerbread cookies & post a blog with the recipe
3. Send Christmas cards out to friends and family
4. Donate to a favourite charity
5. Find reindeer antlers for our dog Cypress and take a picture 
6. Shop and fill a stocking for baby Dominik
7. hang Christmas lights around and inside the house
8. Set-up nativity scene and Christmas tree
9. Download some new Christmas music and play it around the house
10. Do something nice for someone else that they will really remember 
11. Find a new tradition to start 
12. Have a festive Christmas breakfast
13. Drink hot chocolate and drive around looking at Christmas lights 
14. Make treats for neighbours and friends
15. Buy a new Christmas ornament and hang on the tree
16. Buy a Christmas book and read it to Dominik
17. Snowshoe with Dominik
18. Throw snowballs at Cypress and video it
19. Watch Christmas cartoons with Dominik 
20. Start the tradition of new Christmas pajama's to wear on Christmas Eve 
21. Cuddle up with blankets by the fireplace drinking homemade hot apple cider 
22. Watch Home Alone & National Lampoons Christmas Vacation back to back 
23. Read the Christmas story in the Bible
24. Enjoy a great Christmas church service 
25. Spend Christmas morning with my little family 


I've already crossed off sending a letter to Sinterklaas
Picture below on the front of the card and the inside letter read: 
(paw print drawn) - Woof woof. Love Cypress
Dear Sinterklaas,  Even though I am only 12 days old, I have been very good this year. I promise to sleep through the whole night without crying. Love Dominik

It's a BOY!! Baby shower

Dominik's baby shower blog

IT'S A BOY!!!

hosted at my parent's place by my Mom, sister & best friend. 

I couldn't resist but help with some of the decor & popcorn bar 

I took a picture of this in the beginning stages of setting up and forgot to take a picture once fully set-up.

"ITS A BOY" - cricuit cut letters glued onto white paper cut into triangles

-taped triangles onto ribbon and hung

CHALKBOARD - DIY chalkboard (blog to come)

to add to the blue theme my sister and I got some blue paint chips and cut them into 1 inch strips and folded them over using a tiny piece of tape then strung them using thread 

freshly popped drawing by my Mom

POPCORN BAR ~ 4 different kinds of popcorn (recipes below)

white baskets lined with blue napkins and 2 scoops all from the dollar store

For each recipe I made 3 bags to fill the baskets to the top.

I cheated and used microwave popcorn...

For each recipe be sure to cool popcorn completely prior to storing the popcorn.

Cheesy Garlic Popcorn 

1 bag of popped microwave popcorn

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp garlic powder

3 tbsp parmesan cheese

dash of salt

Pour popped popcorn into a bowl.

Melt butter and pour over popcorn, continually tossing. 

In small bowl mix garlic powder, parmesan cheese and salt then pour over popcorn.

Toss to mix. 

Hot and Spicy Popcorn 

1 bag of popped microwave popcorn

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Pour popped popcorn into a bowl.

Melt butter and pour over popcorn, continually tossing. 

In small bowl mix chili powder, paprika, garlic powder then pour over popcorn.

Toss to mix.  

White Chocolate Carmel Popcorn

~ recipe posted on previous blog. 

See http://egraynotes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/thanksgiving-dinner.html 

Cookies and Cream Popcorn 

1 bag of popped microwave popcorn

1 row of oreo cookies 

1/2 cup white chocolate bark or white chocolate chips 

Pour popcorn into a bowl.

Melt white chocolate in microwave, continually stirring every 20 seconds until completely melted.

Drizzle over popcorn, tossing to coat as much popcorn as possible. 

Sprinkle crushed oreos onto the popcorn.

Toss to mix. 

 

"Things you should know about babies"

some great advice received! 

Punch with rubber duckies