{partners in crime}

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Looking for a new Hot Chocolate recipe? This is the one for you! It is oh so good!

Nutella Hot Chocolate (www.thehungryhousewife.com)

Ingredients

1 cup milk (I use skim)
2 1/2 Tbsp Nutella
1 Tbsp Cocoa
Tiny pinch of salt

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, whisk all ingredients together until well blended and hot.

Shop with a Cop

On Saturday Dan and I headed to the city of L. in order to volunteer for Shop with a Cop. About 30 kids attended the event. The reason for this event is to help kids that have been identified in the community that might be struggling financially. It also is to build good relationships between the youth and officers.

We first went out to eat with the kids at Bob Evans and then we went over to the local Walmart to do some shopping. Each child was allowed $150 shopping spree. They first had to get things that they needed such as coats, gloves, boots, etc. Then they could get one toy with their left over money. Dan and I were in charge of two children ages 2 and 3. They were super cute!

This was after breakfast. The kids got to ride in Dan's police car over to Walmart. They were very unsure about this and once all the officers put their sirens on the tears started to roll :(

Getting ready for a group picture!

All the kids and the police officers.

Getting ready to shop till we drop!

Doing their shopping :)

Dan and I both had a great time. Both kids were really good even though there was a little bit of a language barrier. We left knowing that two kids were going to have a great Christmas that may not have otherwise. This is a great program and I'm grateful I got to be a part of it.

A Year of Dates : December 2011

For December Dan picked a "Stay at Home" date. Good thinking, since we are hurting from buying Christmas presents. Here's what we did.

Build a Gingerbread House

For this date we went to Sam's Club and purchased a $10 gingerbread house kit. It came with everything we needed! SWEET!

While working on our creation we drank Nutella Hot Chocolate (recipe to come) and munched on S'mores made in the microwave! I didn't even know this was possible!

I was worried that I would get annoyed with Dan during our time together while making our gingerbread house. I'm an extreme perfectionist and working with someone else on a project and things not looking "just right" can be hard for me. I'm working on this about myself. Anyways, surprisingly we got along great and made a lovely house together :)

Gingerbread Kit

Opening things up and setting out all the pieces.

Dan decorating!

The sides of the house all decorated!

Building our house!

All finished!!! TADA!

"May I see it Mom?"

"YUM!"

Enjoying Nutella Hot Chocolate and S'mores!

After making our gingerbread house I couldn't help but wish we had gotten one for Elliott and Mallory. They would have had a blast making these!

Why I Love my Husband...

It has not been Dan's day...

He went to the grocery store to get some things I needed to make Christmas candy...

When he returned home he sent me a picture of all the sweets telling me how fat he was going to get...

When I looked at the pic I noticed a few things wrong...

I specifically asked for Baker's Chocolate. The kind that comes in blocks and you can melt it down... he got chocolate chips thinking they would work just as well. Fail #1! Also, I asked him to pick up candy canes thinking he would get the regular peppermint kind... he got some other favor. Fail #2!

Needless to say he was not a happy camper when I told him he was going to have to return these and pick up what I actually needed...I'm thankful I have someone who puts up with me :)

And this is why I love my husband :)

Tennis Balls Anyone?

We definitely don't get in the holiday spirit at our house. What for? Dan works all the time, I work all the time, we aren't home for the actual holiday, and we have ZERO kids (except for Remi of course)... so why waste the energy decking the halls of our little home.

Call us what you will... Scrooge, Bah Humbugs, Old Farts... but that's just us :)

However, this evening our furry child finally figured out that something special is happening around our house as I wrapped these guys!

Remington has been going nuts knowing these are in the house! He loves his tennis balls!!! Hopefully he's good and he'll get them for Christmas instead of a box of coal. (insert evil laugh here)

If any of you readers out there have old tennis balls you want to part with... I know a big dog that would put them to good use :)

Body Rock?

Anyone heard of the in home workout craze called Body Rock? I just discovered it a week or so ago and I can't wait to jump on the band wagon! Mainly, it is a blog the consists of in home workouts that uses very little equipment. You are basically just using your own body as your gym! The reason I'm excited about it is because the workouts are mostly just 12 minutes of cross fit! In other words they are hardcore, but short and sweet. Anyone can fit that into their schedule, right!!! I'm hoping to fit some Body Rock into my weekly running schedule and see what my results are...