The Newest Addition to Our Family.....Reagan Todd

Well Chet and I are officially parents to Reagan Todd. He is a black lab and so stinkin' adorable! My mom bred their dog, Chloe, and we had Christmas last weekend in Texas. So we flew him home on Tuesday. I say we, but Chet flew with him and it was an experience (seems like it always is :-)).
Chet had to fly to Missoula which is 2.5 hours away from home, because he couldn't make it to Kalispell. He landed at noon but our luggage didn't make it until the 3rd flight at 6:30pm. So he rented a car and waited over six hours, in Missoula, and then started driving home and I had ot meet him at the Kalispell airport to drop of the rental and we were home by 10:30pm. It was a very long day for Chet and Reagan. Of cours,e he was the center of attention at the airport when he was sticking his head out of the dog carrier and he only whined for 15 minutes on the plane. He's the best!
The day Chet and Reagan made it home is the same day our guests checked in at the B&B and I was still working at the school. Reagan didn't like his crate and we couldn't let him yipe all night or else he'd wake up the guests above us. So he slept in our bed.....yikes! I know what you're thinking and I know it's bad but once our guests check out of the B&B then we'll stop that. Well....that has happened four of the five nights. But he is slowly getting better.
He LOVES the snow, and gus (my in laws dog). He's adjusted very well and we are both so in love with him. Having a puppy is a lot more work than I expected but it's so worth it. Now that I'm on Christmas break from the school I can spend more time with Reagan and my love, Chet.

A Homemade Christmas -- Gifts

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 We decided to combine our experience and knowledge of homemade gifts for this post.

We both really really really enjoy crafting and making gifts for people. It’s not always easy to figure out a homemade gift for people, but here are some ideas. Not everything is homemade, but pieces are.

BBQ Kit – BBQ Spice Rub (Nick made this), Store Bought BBQ Sauce, Homemade Candied Pecans, Jiffy Cornbread Mix

Handmade Ornaments – Courtney made some really cute pinecone ornaments and fabric covered ball ornaments.

Basket or Tin of Goodies – These are great for coworkers. Just find a cute tin or Christmas plate and fill with yummies and wrap up cute. Like these: Baking Gifts

Cookie in a Jar – These are great during the holidays because so many people receive a lot of sweets, so with a cookie in a jar, they can wait to make the cookies when they are ready for something sweet again.  These Cowgirl cookies are great; I(Courtney) tried them a few years ago.

Mason Jar Décor – I did this when I was bored over a year ago and I currently use it for straws and it sits on my kitchen counter. It can be used for make-up brushes, as a vase, as a decoration with sticks, or a pen holder to name a few.

Photo Album – Create a photo album on Mixbook.com (my favorite) or blurb.com

Scarves (Corynne’s Domain) – My mother-in-law got me in to knitting and then I started crocheting and I love it. It’s a great and fun hobby! And it makes for great gifts. I’ve made tons of different things and sold baby sets, beanies and headband ear warmers. I have tons of my stuff on my old blog and pinterest. Here’s a link for an east winter beanie: East Winter Beanie Link

And here’s a link to the baby sweater’s I’ve made: Baby Sweater Link

Also, check out Corynne's previous blog about the teddy bear she made: Teddy Bear

Candles (Corynne’s Domain) – My friend Esther got me in to making candles and it’s also a great hobby. I don’t have a set recipe to give you, but I highly recommend you trying to make candles. This and crocheting are two of my favorite things to make and give as gifts. I bought supplies from my friend and she taught me how to do everything and I’ve made at least 12 candles already. Personally, I’m obsessed with candles and they can be expensive, but making your own is much cheaper and you get to choose what color you want and what scent.

If you wrap a small piece of twine around the candle it looks really cute, but just be sure to remove the twine before the flame reaches it. Last weekend at our mom's house the twine caught on fire and luckily we found it before the whole coffee table went into flames. Eek—safety first!

We will have some more ideas after Christmas (we cannot share now, because family will know their gifts—eek!)

Hope you enjoy these ideas.

- Courtney and Corynne -

A Homemade Christmas : Baking

We are going to have a short series about all the homemade Christmas things that you can do, from gifts and wrapping to baking.  I'm starting with baking!

I decided to do my Christmas baking a little early this December. Next weekend we will be visiting family, so I won’t have time to bake then and after that, Christmas is right around the corner. I absolutely love baking and there are certain special desserts that I always like to make around Christmas time. Some of the recipes have been in the family for a really long time, but there is always something new that I add.  I did a lot of baking in one day and my feet were soooo tire by the end.

Now you might wonder what I do with all these desserts, well we give them as gifts! Nick will take some to work, I will take some to work and we might give some to neighbors and friends. And we save some for ourselves. Here is a list of everything I baked. I included a few recipes below and if there are other ones you would like, just let me know.

1. Oatmeal Carmelitas – family recipe
2. Neiman Marcus Bars – family recipe
3. Lemon Bars – family recipe
4. Pumpkin Cookies – these are made from a package!?!  I hate to say that, but they are that good! I use the Betty Crocker brand and I put cream cheese frosting between two cookies to make a sandwich. YUM! I used this cookie mix - click here!
5. Banana Bread – this is homemade and I use the recipe in my Betty Crocker Cookbook, it has buttermilk in it, which I think adds good flavor.
6. Cracker Toffee with Chocolate – this was a new recipe found here and it is absolutely amazing. Recipe here!
7. Pecan Pie Chocolate Bars – This is also a new recipe that I found in Southern Living September Issue.

By the way, the Oatmeal Carmelitas and Neiman Marcus Bars are always a hit!!!

Here are some of the recipes –

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Crust Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal

½ tsp salt

1 ½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ cup melted butter

Filling Ingredients:

12 oz pkg milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 jars caramel ice cream topping

6 tbsp flour 

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 330

Mix all crust ingredients together. Press ½ into bottom of 9 x 12 pan. And bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Remove crust from oven. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Mix caramel with flour, pour over chocolate chips and nuts. Sprinkle with remaining crust crumbs.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into bars when cool.

Neiman Marcus Bars

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

¾ cup melted butter

3 eggs

1 – 8 oz package cream cheese softened

1 lb powdered sugar

½ cup flaked coconut

½ cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325

Combine butter, cake mix and one egg, stir together. Pat mixture into greased 9x12 pan. Beat remaining 2 eggs, then cream cheese and powdered sugar. Stir in coconut and nuts. Pour over mixture in pan.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes until golden brown.

Cool to room temperature and cut into bars.  

Lemon Bars

Crust

2 c flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 cubes butter

1/8 tsp salt

melt butter, add flour and sugar. Chill 15 minutes

Filling

6 eggs

3 c sugar

2 TBS lemon zest

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup flour

Whisk together eggs and sugar. Add other ingredients and pour on top of refrigerated crust mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes (may take longer). Sprinkle powder sugar on top.

Surprisingly a lot of these sweets freeze well, so I will put a few pieces in the freezer and pull them out on Christmas Eve.  The ones that I have froze before include Neiman Marcus Bars, Carmelita’s and Banana Bread. 

It's Crocheting Time Again....A Teddy Bear

My mother in law told me last winter that crocheting and knitting is a winter hobby and at the time I said, "No, not me. I'll do it all year long." Well....that changed very quickly once summer came. You can't beat the summers in Montana. So my crocheting bag went away, but now I have to say my mother in law was correct because now that it's winter I've started back up again. In Montana, the winter days are very short. It doesn't get light until 8am and it's dark by 4:30pm. :-( I'm debating if I should take some Vitamin D pills.
A friend of mine had a boy in September and I wasn't able to make it to her shower, but i finally finished crocheting a teddy bear and gave it to her last month. this was my second time crocheting a teddy bear and it turned out pretty darn cute.
I never thought in a million years I'd be crocheting but it's so much fun!!! You should try it! Just go to Wal-Mart and get a crocheting hook and ball of yarn and try it out. there's so many ideas all over the internet and pinterest of course. If you're interested in the pattern just message me.

It's December!

Wow! Christmas will be here soon, well in 22 days to be exact. I love this time of year for so many reasons.

1. The smells like Christmas trees, cinnamon candles and goodies.
2. Buying or making presents for people. I love finding the perfect gift for each person.
3. Seeing family!
4. Decorating for Christmas—there is so much more in the house and it's a nice change for a while. 
5. My birthday is this month and my wedding anniversary! Busy month for my hubby.
6. The festive attitude that most people have, I feel like people are more cheerful during the Christmas season.
7. I could go on and on, but lastly, Gift wrapping--I love wrapping gifts. And finding new ways to make them look cute.

So I want to tell you a little more about gift wrapping. 

This year I decided to go with a more rustic gift wrapping and I am pretty darn happy with it. I just use the cheap brown or white paper bags that come in a pack of 13 for 6.99 (and I had a 50% off coupons from michaels - Yes!). Then for rectangle gifts, I bought some brown construction rolls at lowes. I wouldn't recommend buying that paper. It is really stiff and hard to us and the tape doesn't stick very well. But I am sure there is plain brown wrapping paper somewhere out there. The ribbon is colored raffia. I made the gift tags in photoshop, printed them on card stock, cut them out, punched a hole and added string. I just write the persons name on the back. If you don't want to use gift tags, you can use a sharpie marker and write directly on the paper.  I am really happy with the way the gift wrapping turned out. Let me know if you need some tags, I can post a generic template or email one to you.

Here is another idea for gift wrapping. This was a baby shower gift for a boy. I used the brown paper again with twine and some denim scraps. Definitely unique!

Also, funny thing to share. We now have an attic in our house and it's great because you can access it through a closet on the 2nd floor, you just open the door and walk right in, no ladders, just plain simple, I love it! BUT it gets really really hot up there! Apparently we need more insulation because I lost a few candles to the heat! Yikes! I never thought about my candles. Now this one in the picture can barely stand on its own and is crooked, very interesting. Note to self, don't put candles in the attic when its 115 degrees outside. Now I know!

Hope you enjoyed reading about gift wrapping. Let me know if you try anything fun!

-Court

A New Job is a New Chapter in Life

Well as you know Chet and I innkeep and manage Cabin Creek Landing Bed and Breakfast. Winters are very slow at the bed and breakfast so I decided to get a full time job and last Monday was my first day at Marion school as the special education para educator. The great thing is Marion school is only two miles from the B&B so my commute ( wouldn't even consider it a commute) is very short and easy, which is a blessing because having to commute to kalispell (25miles from us) is difficult in the winter because of the road conditions.
I didn't really know what to expect coming in Monday morning and I was just given a schedule and they said go. It was a little hectic, but by Friday I was getting the hang of it. I help students in 2nd, and 5th - 8th grade. It's a very small school of only 110 students for K-8th. 
I think it will be a great experience in the education field and it gets my foot in the door. We are still innkeeping and managing the B&B, and during my Christmas break for school we will be very busy at the B&B with guests. 
In less than two weeks we will start another chapter by adding one more Todd to the family: a puppy. Stay tuned to hear our stories and see pictures of our soon to be lab. We can't wait!