Wedding Pics...

So a while back, I was so excited that I was able to wear my maid of honor's dress from my wedding to the renaissance fair. At the time, I wasn't able to show any of the pics from the actual wedding, but I found some!! So here they are...

This was the seating display that my maid of honor painted for us. It was so cool, I have to say. We had decided that each table would be a country, so she made us a map. The bride's room was the "Maiden's Den", dance floor was "Dancing Waters", and the entrance was the "Kingdom of Entree". It was really neat! We still have it!

This was the wedding party. The groomsmen all wore tuxedos at the church, then changed. All of the swords are actually Henry's. We were going to display them someday, then we had kids... someday just hasn't happened yet.

This is our cake. I love, love, love, love this cake!! It was as delicious as it was stunning! Each stone and tree was made individually with sugar. The rope bridge was authentic and the castle towers were perfect. I actually came across the amazing talent who created this on the web. She was just starting out on her own and she did not disappoint. Unfortunately, upon finding the picture, I tried googling her to say "hi" and once again thank her for her amazing work, and she seems to have stepped away. Well, wedding cake wonders will be missed! Thank you, Dottie!

Well, that was my little tour down memory lane. I hope you enjoyed it! I will be back soon with some more updates. I promise!

Goodbye, Memere...

Last night I got a call while shopping with my mom. It was Henry (Chef Hubby) calling to ask me to come home immediately. Earlier in the day we had gotten a call saying that his grandmother was diagnosed with pneumonia and wasn't eating well. She's been in the nursing home for about 2 1/2 yrs and has always been as strong as a horse. It seemed to be another hump to get past. Until about 4 hrs later, when the phone rang again. Unfortunately, she was gone.

I met Memere when we first started dating, about 8 yrs ago. She was the type of person who told you how it was. She was strong, giving, honest, and very protective of her family, especially, Henry. He had lost his mom when he was only 10 and was practically raised by his grandparents. She made him the man is today.

We took care of her for about 6 yrs before she was unable to live alone. She was diagnosed with alzheimers and was legally blind, but ultimately it came down to a fall. It was heartbreaking for Henry to have to place her in the home; he felt as though he were betraying her. She always said that she never wanted to go and prayed everynight for the Lord to take her home.

I don't have the written skills that my husband has, and this may seem choppy, but I just wanted to honor a woman that gave me the greatest blessing in my life.

Thank you Memere for everything. Thank you for giving me a caring, generous, loving, hardworking, absolutely amazing man! I never knew the true Claire Norcross, but I know that were the most important person in Henry's life. I know that you are the reason he holds himself to such high standards and doesn't let anything stop him from doing anything. You gave him the backing to always go for what he wants and never be afraid to fail. You believed in him and loved him and I can only hope that we are able to leave as large an impression on our children.

You are now with your husband, daughter, parents, brothers and sisters. You are finally at peace. You will be missed deeply. We love you, Memere.

Little Girl's Christmas

So we went to the Christmas Tree Shop today to try to find some cute stocking stuffers, but Phoebe found something for her room that I couldn't refuse...

It's a 32inch pink christmas tree. It was 12 bucks and came with the pink beaded garland, a TON of pink ornaments and even the little pink star tree topper. She's in heaven!! As you can see, she found all of her pink toys and placed them underneath, because it's their "new home". hehehe

Little Girl

Muffin Tin - Christmas Theme

I've been so stressed lately, trying to get everything done. Unfortunately, then I try to conquer it all at once and never actually make any head way. The other day I popped over to Her Cup Overfloweth and saw the Muffin Tin Challenge of the week... Christmas! We do muffin tins all of the time in our house, but haven't participated lately due to time or lack of creativity, but I was up for this one! I put the gate up to keep the kids on one side of the house and I told them I was making a special lunch. They didn't try bothering me once!! Gonna use that again... lol!

Anyway, this is what I came up with:

Ham cut into stars, grape "ornaments", carrots (reindeer food)

tree and star marshmallows, snowmen, cinnamon sugar gingerbread man waffles

Oh well, it was fun, they loved it and I actually settled down a little. Phew... for a minute anyway! Back to the run around today. Wish me luck!

Cherry Garcia Truffles...

From back to front:

Cookie Dough Truffles in milk chocolate coating

Carrot Cake Truffles in white chocolate coating

Homemade Marshmallows dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in crushed graham crackers

Cherry Garcia Truffles in dark chocolate coating

So I found that I love making truffles. They are so easy and I'm starting to get pretty good at it! Last year I made cookie dough truffles from a recipe that I got from Taste of Home magazine. It was so yummy and a serious hit! This year I decided that although it was pretty amazing, I needed to make it even better.

I decided that I love Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream and seeing as though it has been in the top 10 since it came out, a lot of other people must really like it too, right? Well, I took the perfect cookie truffle recipe and added some dried cherries and cherry flavoring, dunked them in dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate and OMG... it was awesome!!!

Here is the recipe:

Cherry Garcia Truffles

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
1-1/2 pounds dark chocolate candy coating, chopped
5-7 drops of cherry flavoring (not extract)

In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour, alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips. Shape into 1-in. balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip balls in coating, allowing excess to drip off; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. If desired, re-melt remaining candy coating and drizzle over candies. Store in the refrigerator.

Note: I used a candy making kit to melt the chocolate so I didn't have to worry about it hardening, but last year I used a crockpot on high to melt and then put it on low to dip. This allowed me to dip all of the truffles without having to remelt the chocolate.

Almost Done...

So I made it through the Holiday Open House!! We had so much food and not so many people. I don't know what happened. I think it was a big flaw in our invitation send outs. Chef Hubby sent some invites inside with Christmas cards that he sent out, BUT then when I went to send out the rest, he wasn't sure exactly who he had invited with the Christmas cards - ugh!! So anyway, we will have a new system in place to remedy this problem prior to next years event!

Come back soon though to see all of the stuff we made!! I will have lots of recipes and pics of the items. Everything was so yummy!! I was going to do it today, but I've wanted to eat it all so I've been avoiding it today. I hope that I have more will power tomorrow! Wish me luck... you have no idea how much stuff I am talking about. Chef Hubby even made a homemade (edible AND palatable) Fruit Cake. He used dried fruits instead of candied and to keep it super moist used a spray bottle filled with Brandy to mist it after it cooled. mmmm

OK... gotta go to sleep so that I don't attack the goodies - AAAaahhhh!!