Pretending I'm Martha Stewart!

So, Dan won't be home until in the morning.  And at some point last night he mentioned that he HOPED he would be home on Saturday. I didn't even acknowledge the fact that not being home on Saturday morning was even a remote possibility.  I might have even stuck my fingers in my ears and started singing a "I cannnn'ttttt heeeeaaaarrrrrrr  yooooouuuuuuuu!"

I've been busy this week.  Having the kids at home has been nice even though we haven't really done anything.  Peter mentioned a movie and I had even thought about that but when I checked what was available, I knew there was nothing that all three of us would be happy seeing and we just ended up staying home.

But, we've been making and baking!

We went to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of craft stuff:

I would show you what I made but someone that reads this blog regularly (hello mom!) is going to be the recipient of some of the cute things we made with all this stuff. 

We've also been busy baking. Yesterday we made fudge!

It's the super easy kind with just condensed milk, chocolate chips and vanilla.  Next year and I may get wild and make real fudge that requires butter, sugar, eggs, etc.  But then again, I may not!

We also melted chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel and made pretzel rods! 

Yum!!!!

And finally, we made chocolate chip cookies!

I used my sister-in-law's recipe and it is so good.  The edges are crispy but the insides are chewy.  These are the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  You take the regular Toll House recipe and subtract 1/4 cup of flour and increase both sugars by a 1/4 cup.  And then bake for 10 minutes.  The centers will still look undone but take them out anyway.  They continue baking after you bring them out of the oven.  And this goes for any chocolate chip cookie.  If you wait until they look done until you take them out, they will end up way over done.  And that's my Martha Stewart tip of the day!

And today, I'm getting ready for a little Christmas Eve party we are going to have.  We will go to my brother's church tomorrow night for a Moravian Lovefeast and Candlelight service and then my family and my BFFs family will come back here for appetizers and some Christmas cheer!

I'm trying to get some of the food prepped today so I don't have quite as much to do tomorrow.  Enjoy your final moments of Advent.  Our long awaited guest is almost here.  And I mean Jesus  - not Dan!  :) Although I'm really looking forward to seeing him too!