Getting Dolled Up For The Holidays

So, two weeks ago we went to my mom’s for Thanksgiving. This past weekend we went to my mom’s for her Christmas party. In two weeks my oldest daughter will be here and we’ll be here and we’ll be back at her house! There’s nothing better hanging out at my mom’s! She’s got the best house to have a party in!

This past weekend was a bit of a dress up affair. That meant bringing more stuff than usual with me so I had to pack more than one bag. Usually the boys and I are able to fit all of our stuff into one bag. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get the boys suitcases of their own soon. In fact, my oldest son is getting an electric shaver for Christmas so I was also thinking about getting him his own “cosmetic” bag. What do you call that for a dude?

Hanging out with my brother. Mom's party is starting. Yay #Christmas

A photo posted by Mimi B (@mimibakermn) on Dec 12, 2014 at 11:28am PST

I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but do you take along several outfits to wear because you’re not sure what’s going to look right even though you’ve worn the same outfits numerous times? Yea, that’s how I felt at mom’s party. Dress with a scarf, without the scarf? Dress with the boots, without the boots? Dress with leggings, without the leggings? I was driving myself crazy.

I also had to make sure my hair looked half way decent because my mom’s stylist was coming to her party and he’d just done my hair the week before. And when I say, “did my hair” I mean, he cut it. I couldn’t let my hair go like I do every other day of the week because he’d probably cry if he saw the state of my hair. Yes, I may have taken a bit of time getting ready. lol More than usual.

Gotta love stocking up with the essentials! Just in time for the holidays!

A photo posted by Mimi B (@mimibakermn) on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:46pm PST

In the end, I ended up borrowing a necklace from my mom because I was sweating with the scarf on. Turned out I forgot socks to wear with my boots so I walked around barefoot. lol Thankful my mom is ok with me only being partially dressed up. Turned out not everyone who came to the party was really dressed up either. I guess I was in good company.

This is our second year going to my mom’s big shindig. She’s been having these parties for years, but being that we were always in Minnesota, we never were able to make them. It’s been so nice living in the area driving out there helping my mom out to help get the party put together. I think my mom has loved having us around for that. My youngest son does the cheese/meat/cracker trays and my oldest son does a lot of other manual labor.

Mom had an amazing turn out for her party. So many people brought a ton of food and my mom had so much fun catching up with everyone. Most everyone there was used to my brothers being around so were surprised to meet me. Last year I saw a woman I hadn’t seen since I was a young girl. This year I had a really cool experience.

One of mom’s old friend’s showed up with her daughter and grandson. Turned out my mom and I would spend a lot of time at her house when I was a baby. Back in 1993 I saw her and her mom when my girls were just toddlers. It had been 21 yrs since I’d last seen her. She introduced me to her daughter and found out she gave her daughter my first name as her middle name. How COOL is that?! I did apologize to her because only my family uses my given name. lol I was very honored in truth.

Most of the people who came last stayed several hours and after everyone left I cleaned up as much as I could so mom could rest. Then dad, the boys, and I watched a movie to end the night. It turned out be another success and I loved it. I can’t wait to get back at Christmas to spend a few days there again. Have I mentioned I just love my mom’s house?

Do you attend any fun parties during the holidays?

*This is not a sponsored post. Just sharing about mom’s party. In fact, the products you see in the photos are being donated to our church.

Jesus Calling For Adults & Children

Earlier this year, I asked on Facebook a suggested devotional. I had finished a Beth Moore study at church and wanted something to do until the next one started. Everyone kept recommending Jesus Calling. I had heard about it, but hadn’t looked into it. I kept it in the back of my mind.

Not long after that, an acquaintance at church started texting a group of us a devotional every morning. I enjoyed it and thought she was sharing so much insight. At one point someone asked her where she was getting her devotion from and she shared that it was Jesus Calling. It was so cool. She was getting it from someone else as a text and she was in turn sharing it with a bunch of us.
When Family Christian offered to let me review Jesus Calling and my son (and myself) to review Jesus Calling for Kids I was thrilled! I was excited to have a devotion the boys and I could do together and at a level we’d all enjoy. The boys have spent the last couple of months memorizing Matthew 5 with their dad and it’s been a cool thing to watch.

One of the things I’ve struggled with is finding time to do our devotions together. We all seem to have one thing or another going on. I know that we’re told that we can’t rely on the church and children’s programs to teach our children, it’s supposed to be us, the parents at home teaching our children about deepening their faith.

For both devotions, I love that they’re short and easily digestible. You can read the devotion in a few minutes and spend time in the Word afterwards. This gives the boys and I an opportunity to dig into the Word together. My favorite piece of these books is how positive and uplifting the devotions are. We are reminded to find our joy and strength in God. He is where we should always turn our hearts and minds.

If you are looking for a devotion that will digging deeper into the Word, give you time to study what God has for you, then you will want to add Jesus Calling to your nightstand. Add this also to your child’s reading list and they will be uplifted and encouraged in their walk with the Lord.

What is one of your favorite devotions?

The Perfect Dessert For The Holidays

One of the desserts I love for holiday get-togethers is cheesecake. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I even thought about a pumpkin flavored cheesecake. Can you just picture how delicious that flavor would be in a cheesecake form? So, when Eli’s Cheesecake hit me up to review their Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake, how could I say, “no.” I couldn’t.

The cheesecake was my contribution to the Thanksgiving dessert table. Only a few of us in the family are cheesecake fans, and we dove into the slices as soon as dessert was served. My brother and his girlfriend shared a slice. He was so funny because he took his first bite and all he did was make sounds like he was loving it. Kid you not. His girlfriend turned to him asking him if he was liking it. He just kept nodding and gave her the thumbs up. Next bite went in and another thumbs up. It was rather amusing to watch.

She and I were next with our bites. As always, Eli’s Cheesecake has a rich, creamy texture. The pumpkin flavor was spot on and you could definitely taste the spice. Now, for me, I wasn’t a fan of the spice. I do have to say for the record I’m the same way with pretty much every pumpkin spice recipe. I like straight pumpkin flavor. Now, if you like all things pumpkin spice, think PSL, then you will have to get your hands on this cheesecake.

If you’re planning on bringing a dessert to a party during the holidays, snatch up a cheesecake! Of course, they don’t only have cheesecakes. They have pies, cakes, and tarts as well. I’m most interested in trying their Apple Bavarian Tart. The apples look so amazing in it! Now, if you’re Vegan or have Gluten issues, they’ve got you covered on that front as well!

It's time for dessert! We're having @elischeesecake pumpkin cheesecake! #sp #HappyThanksgiving!

A photo posted by Mimi B (@mimibakermn) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:15pm PST

Do you have a favorite dessert for the holidays?

A Family That Plays Together

Are you a gamer? No, not THAT kind of gamer. I mean board games. We love board games. Ever since my kids were little we’d play board games as time would allow. As they grew up, we went from playing Hi Ho Cherrie-O to more complicated games. The transition was a fun one.

We don’t only do board games, the boys have a love for Chicken Feet which they learned from their great grandma. Pull out some Dominoes and it’s game on!

When we moved to Virginia to live with my parents, playing card games became the norm. Almost every weekend you’d hear my boys asking grandma and grandpa if we were going to get to play cards. If the extended family came over, you better believe at least one game was on the agenda.

My brothers introduced the boys to some board games that I don’t even remember the name to. So you HAVE got to believe that if the brothers are around, my boys will badger them until they give in. My boys have grown up to be big gamers.

When we lived in Minnesota (how often do I say that?) my youngest was in AWANA. He has the gift of memorization and remembers so much from the Bible. I had thought about entering him into some competitions, but we left before I had the opportunity. Then earlier this year I saw that the American Bible Challenge was on tv. I was SO bummed that it wasn’t on a channel we got with our provider. Yes, I was a sad panda.

A new game night came along for us when we were able to review The American Bible Challenge board game. Oh my gosh, you think you know things in the Bible until you realize you DON’T! There were questions about where you find a scripture in the Bible, who said something from scripture, putting 5 books of the Bible in order, and spelling words from the Bible.

We weren’t sure if it was going to be a “fun” game or too focused on doctrine. Does that make sense? I tell you what, we had such a great time! In fact, when we did the charades type challenge, we were laughing so hard. Buddy wanted to keep getting it to make Fred act out the challenge! For real, watch this video on Instagram. lol Honestly, I wish we’d had a lot more people over to play with us. Any time we have game night as a large group, we’ll be bringing this game with us.

Of course, no game night is complete without some good pizza. We made a homemade pizza. We don’t usually make our own pizza, but I wanted to add another fun element to our night. One side had pepperoni and the other side had pepperoni and mushrooms. Mushrooms are new to me and I’m putting them on everything. I wish I had a mixer because I would’ve loved making my own crust. One day, right?


You are going to want to add this game to your game shelf! With that in mind, enter to win a $25 Gift Card from Family Christian and you could put it towards the game if you want!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Football Fan In The House #HollyJollyHolidayGG

I think I’ve mentioned it a few times that we love football around here. I guess that would be putting it mildly at best. And one day, we’ll join all 3 of our teams with Fred’s 1 team. That should be and interesting time in our house throughout the football season.

I have a pipe dream of one day making one of our rooms into a football themed room. We’d have to find a tasteful way to combine the love of the Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburg Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings. With all of those colors, I wonder if that’s even possible. We’ll have a big screen tv to invite our friends over to watch a game or two. Who knows…like I said, I can dream!

We won’t have an entire room, but the decorating will start with Doodle’s room. This was his first year that he and his brother made Fantasy Football teams so it’s apropos that I start the decorating with him. He’s the Falcons fan. Where that came from I don’t know that I’ll ever know. I don’t think eve he knows, but he’s stuck like glue to them now.


For our Holly Jolly Gift Guide Giveaway, I partnered with Fathead…YES…Fathead! They sent THE coolest Falcons Fatheads! Here’s what’s funny, while we were at my parent’s last weekend we kept seeing commercials for Fatheads. My dad didn’t understand what they were. That of course means I’ll need to get him one for the pool room downstairs. Yea, I’m a cool daughter like that. Doodle kept saying how much he wanted the Princess Sophia Fathead. Wouldn’t it be epic if he came home one day and I had them all over his room. That would make my life just that much better. Again, winning with being a cool mom like that!

Now, I can see my oldest son would go insane and probably spend his paycheck on every Star Wars, Marvel, or DC Comics Fathead. No, I’m not kidding. He would go nuts. You’ve never seen a kid so passionate about something unless you talk to him about any of those categories!

And as much as my boyfriend and his son love their Pittsburg Steelers, they love soccer just as much. I’m not sure which one more. I know his son would totally go crazy over any of the soccer player Fatheads. I know Fred likes Barcelona, but I have no idea who M-boy likes. So much we’re still learning about each other.

If you could have a Fathead of anything you or your kids are fans of, what would it be?