Sunday Linky #37

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying your weekend. 

Thank you to everyone who linked up last week! 

There were so many projects and posts I loved, Here are some of my favorites:

Lisa, from Create Inspire Me, shred this amazing piece she refinished. 

Love these glittered gift tags from ShopGirl. 

Thanksgiving 2013

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We started our day out with an annual Thanksgiving church service, followed by a intimate thanksgiving dinner at our house, lighting hanukkah candles, opening hanukkah presents, and then lots of relaxing with the family (and playing with our new toys ;)

31 Weeks Pregnancy Update

How far along:

31 weeks and 3 days! Boy, I can not believe how fast the time is flying! I have 9 weeks left (give or take).

Making Hanukkah Cookies

My daughter kept asking me if we could make hanukkah cookies for a few days now, so I finally found a few hours free to make some. My kids love these cookies, even without icing! 

These cookies are soft and the icing dries pretty fast, which is great if you need to take your cookies somewhere. I first tried this recipe last year for hanukkah ( found here), ever since then, it has replaced my other rolled sugar cookie recipe because I feel it holds its shape so well and tastes to good!

Recipe originally from Allrecipes.com

Rolled Sugar cookies:

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of butter softened

2 cups of white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups of flour

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-9 minutes (depending on how thick you roll out your cookies.  Sugar Cookie Icing INGREDIENTS: 2 cups confectioners sugar 4 tsp milk 4 tsp light corn syrup  1/2 tsp almond extract food coloring Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2.	Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Use a piping bag to decorate the cookies.  CLICK HERE TO PRINT

Hanukkah Decor 2013

I put up our hanukkah decorations last night and the kids were so excited when they saw it all this morning! 

Just some brief overview on Hanukkah and what it is:

 In Hebrew "hanukkah" means dedication. The name reminds us that this holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.

Once the Maccabees had regained control they returned to the Temple in Jerusalem. By this time the Temple has been defiled by using it for worship of foreign Gods and sacrificing swine. Jewish troops were determined to purify the Temple by burning ritual oil in the Temple's menorah for eight days. 

But they only had enough oil left for one day in the Temple. (It took 8 days to make more oil) They lit the menorah anyways and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted for the full eight days!

Every year it is customary to commemorate the miracle of the Hanukkah by lighting a hanukkah menorah. The hanukkah is lit every night for eight nights.

Traditionally the Hanukkah menorah is set in front of the window (we tried it but with a curious 2 year old, it wasn't very safe.)

The large menorah is from pottery barn (last year) but they have it again this year and it is on sale now. 

My kids love to play dreidel!

The dreidel is also from pottery barn (last year) but they have it again this year on sale! 

I love that we are starting new traditions with our little family. I hope to keep it up each year, so one day they can keep these traditions with their families. 

Thanks for visiting, 

Sunday Linky #36

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! 

There were so many projects and posts I loved, Here are some of my favorites:

Suzanne, from Simply Suzannes, shared her beautiful thanksgiving meal from last year. 

Laura from the Turquoise Home, Shared how she made her gorgeous new pillow cover.