In our 5 years of marriage, we've had our ups and downs like any marriage. The one thing we've always done for each other is randomly come home with 'I love you' presents. No real reason for the gift. Just to day I love you and appreciate you.

Last night I decided I wanted to get him something. He never asks for anything, and he's pretty content with what he has and only ever buys video games. I wanted to get him something he needed but also something he would feel is actually a gift.

I bought him a new laptop. The one he was using had a cracked screen from when Dechlan dropped it on the tiles in our kitchen. Also it was a small Netbook. That alone is a turnoff for me. I went to Future Shop with no real luck. Believe it or not, I found one at Walmart! Good price too! It's super powerful and has everything he needs. I bought a gift bag and a card.
**On a side note, My husband and I don't really get cards for each other. They never say exactly how we feel for each other. They're usually corny and lame. I found one today that said everything I felt and it was perfect. My husband even loved it. I was shocked.

 Anyway, he was very very happy about it. He couldn't believe I had gotten him a laptop. He is thrilled with it. He called me sneaky because he had no idea what I was doing today. I took Dechlan out for a few hours and we had lunch and did our thing.

He was so happy that he made dinner tonight and cleaned the condo!!! I guess I should buy him surprise gifts more often! He says it was the card that made him decide to take on the household chores. I need to buy a stack of cards, clearly!

This will be my last post of the year, So







HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY WONDERFUL READERS!!

Hard to believe that 2011 has come and almost gone. This year has gone by so quickly.

I find New Years Eve kind of boring. I'm not really a social butterfly. I don't like going out in big crowds or partying. I got in a ton of partying when I was a teenager. It's not my thing anymore.

Every year, my husband and I stay home and we watch movies, drink wine/beer and have appetizers for dinner. It's nice to just be home with my family. This year we've decided to watch The Lord Of The Rings Extended edition blurays that I got Nick for Christmas.We will enjoy Taquitos, Sausage Rolls, Mini Quiche and Nachos. Lots of wine is chilling in my fridge as well as sparkling wine. I love wine <3

New Years Day, we always do a big breakfast and relax.



What are your NYE plans?

This year I decided I wanted to make cake balls for my in-laws and our family friends. I spent all of Saturday baking. Cake balls were much harder than I had anticipated. They looked and tasted great though!

Here's how I made them:

1 box of cake batter of your choice (I used vanilla and tinted it red with food colouring)
1 can of icing of your choice (I used french vanilla and tinted it red as well)
3 boxes of semi sweet baking chocolate
1 box of white baking chocolate (tinted red)

Bake bake according to package. Let cool for 10 minutes. crumble the cake and mix in 3/4 of the contents of the can of frosting. Mix until combined. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper. Make small balls using a melon ball scoop. refrigerate for another hour. Melt semi sweet chocolate in a double boiler. Insert a skewer into the cake ball and dip into chocolate**. Place them on the tray and refrigerate until set, About 30 minutes. Once they are set, melt white chocolate in a double boiler and tint whatever colour you would like. You can also just ass sprinkles top the freshly dipped balls if you would like. Let the cake balls set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

**If you have a hard time dipping the cake balls in the chocolate (like I did near the end) You can add the chocolate to a piping bag and cut a hole and top the cake balls that way. No one will notice that you didn't dip them. Once they are set, you can dip the bottoms into chocolate.

I bought little tins and put tissue paper down and then put all the cake balls into cupcake cups and put them in the tin. They look like little chocolates.

They last in the fridge for 3 days. They can be frozen as well.

Enjoy!

                          Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah!


The last 2 days have been so hectic that I've forgotten to blog. I was so busy on Saturday baking away. I think I spent 5 hours baking. I made Gingerbread men (I'm terrible at using cookie cutters. My gingerbread men we a bit disfigured), Sugar cookie snowflakes (With the help of my 4 year old they actually turned out pretty nice), Cake balls and Gingerbread cupcakes.

Christmas Day was exhausting but really amazing. We woke up at 7 and opened gifts. Dechlan was really thrilled that Santa really came for him. We were due at my in-laws for breakfast at 9 so we all got ready and gathered their gifts and headed to their place. After an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs (My husbands family make the best scrambled eggs. Even my husband that doesn't know much about cooking makes pretty amazing eggs), sausage and back bacon. In my mind that is a perfect breakfast. We then opened gifts (again). My Christmas was made right there. I only asked for one thing this year and I got it. I got a Tassimo Brewing Station. Dechlan loved opening gifts and passing them around to everyone. He was such a little helper. Once he was done all his gifts he thought it would be okay to help everyone open theirs before they even got it.

We all did great with gifts. We all got what we wanted. Well, that isn't quite true, Dechlan asked Santa for a real, live bunny rabbit and he didn't bring him one. He was a little sad. But he seems to have forgotten it today.

Around 2pm, we headed over to family friends for Christmas dinner. It was lots of fun and we ate SO much. Turkey, ham, sausage stuffing, roasted veggies, YUM! There were so many goodies for after dinner too. mini cheesecakes, cookies, cake balls, cupcakes, Christmas pudding and macaroons. You know you're part of a British family when you have more goodies than actually real food.

Last night we all just sat around feeling very satisfied and exhausted. Dechlan passed out pretty hard just after 7pm. Nick and I watched one of the movies I got for Christmas and then read until I got a little silly for exhaustion and passed out. Today, we are all still quite tired. Early night tonight I think

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate.

T'was the week before Christmas and this mama realised that she hasn't figured out what to make for Christmas. I'm known to make cupcakes but this year I want to make something new. I'm not sure what I'm going to make! I will be making red velvet cake balls as gifts. I'm thinking Friday I will make the cake balls and keep them in the fridge until Sunday. I've never made them before so if they don't turn out, I still have time to fix it or make something new.

I might end up making gingerbread cupcakes to bring to Christmas dinner. Who knows. I have a few days to go through my cookbooks and blogs I follow to find something.

I'm really excited that Christmas is 1 week away. Dechlan is even more excited than anyone. I can't wait to see his face as he opens his gifts.

Dechlan woke up with a cold a week ago, He is rarely ever sick so this has been so hard on him. He is finally back to sleeping through the night and can breathe for the most part. He's still super stuffed up, but he will be better in a day or two.

The day after he woke up with a cold, I woke up with a cold. My cold, like his, came out of no where and went from mild to bad to worse within 48 hours. I've barely slept and feel like death. I've finally gotten well enough to be able to get out of bed and get stuff done. I've tried everything, nothing is helping. I'm praying that I'm better before Christmas Day. If not, Christmas is going to SUCK!

Anyway, I thought I would pop in and explain why I'm not blogging much this week. I'm going to give Echinacea tea a shot. Fingers crossed I'm better by next Sunday!!

Dechlan is 4 years old and he hasn't really understood or even really cared about Christmas. He's really gotten into it this year. He doesn't quite understand the whole Santa thing but loves Christmas anyway. He has really gotten into the Christmas tree decorating. We even got him his own little tree and he decorated it. He really loved it.

You never fully appreciate Christmas until you have a child, or atleast that is how it was for Nick and I. I have always loved Christmas, but having a child has made it even more amazing. It's been really special for us.

Dechlan has really gotten into Christmas. He loves the movies, the decorations and even baking with me. What has really been cute is hearing him hum along to holiday music. It's the cutest thing ever hearing him sing Jingle Bells. He says it's his favourite. It's just amazing hearing him sing the songs.

It gets more and more amazing every single year with him. His first Christmas was at 3.5 months old. He opened 1 gift, decided the paper was better than the gift. Then he proceeded to fall asleep. It was absolutely amazing.

His 2nd and 3rdand 4th Christmases were spent trying to get him to just open ALL the gifts and convince him that he could play with the toys a little later. Hopefully this year he understands that. Either way, Christmas is always amazing for him.

He is the only Grand-child for my Mom and Nick's parents so he gets spoiled to death. I have to admit that we spoil him as well. That's the great part of having one child, you can spend so much more on the child.

I just love the Holidays with my little family. I'm so thankful for them. You really do make my Christmases the best and brightest.

Dechlan is very rarely sick. He has only been sick once before today. He woke up this morning with a stuffy nose and it has progressed to coughing.

Dechlan is always on the go. He never sits down. Today, he hasn't really done anything. He's been snuggling and watching tv.

My poor boy. I hope he wakes up in the morning feeling better. I hate seeing him so lethargic.

I love Christmas. I'm always happiest in winter in general. I love snow and everything that comes along with it. I especially love holiday movies. Unlike my husband, I can't get sick of Christmas.

I love curling up on the couch with hot cocoa and watching a movie with my family. Everyone has movies they watch every single year. Movies that really make Christmas special. My family has favourites too.

Dechlan's favourite holiday movie is Frosty The Snowman. He doesn't seem to get sick of the movie. It was one of my favourites when I was younger. He's really into Christmas and everything that comes along with it.

My favourite holiday movies are Elf and The Polar Express. Those two are must see movies for me every year. It doesn't really feel like Christmas without those two. Dechlan watched them both this year and thought they were pretty awesome. It's so amazing to share them with my child.

My husband only has one movie has needs to watch. He loves Scrooged. I'm not a big fan of Bill Murray but even I like that movie. It's a great story. I don't think Nick get into the Christmas spirit until he sees that movie.

What are your favourite holiday movies?

I've been wanting to go back to work for a little while now. Not because we need the income but because I wanted something to do with my time. I've been feeling kind of bored lately. Dechlan is so independent. And he will be starting school soon.

My mother has been selling Avon for quite some time now. I was buying Avon through her and she would send it out to me. I finally decided it was time I started selling Avon myself. I met with a rep and got all signed up. I put in my first order and I got it today.

I'm still getting the hang of it, but I think it's going to work out well for me. If/when we move, my business can move with me. I love Avon. So if you know anyone that is interested in buying or even selling Avon, just give me a shout at carolyn.l.walker87@gmail.com

I thought it was time for a makeover. New name, new theme (What do you think? There will be a new one in the new year).

The blog is no longer called Backyard chit chat. The new name is Blogging over coffee. What do you think? It seems fitting since I usually blog over my morning coffee.

I'm really loving my new template!!

In my recipe search for holiday goodies, I found a recipe that I just HAD to make. It's called Peppermint Bark. It's chocolate on top of chocolate topped with candy canes. I love chocolate and I love candy canes.

The recipe was super easy. So here it is!

Peppermint Bark:

6 ounces (170 grams) semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons vegetable oil (flavorless oil)

6 ounces (170 grams) white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/3 - 1/2 cup (80-120 ml) crushed candy canes

Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles.

Melt the semi sweet chocolate with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Then, melt the white chocolate with the remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate and tilt the pan so the chocolate is in an even layer. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Remove the Peppermint Bark from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil. Peel back the foil and break, or cut, the bark into small irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Makes about 25 pieces. Preparation time 45 minutes.