How to Make Leg Warmers Out of Knee Socks

So I found a super way to make baby leggings. They turned out great, and it's an easy way to dress your baby and have great diaper access.

 I used ladies knee socks from Target.  They have tons of colors, and if you watch you can get them on sale or clearance. 

 Cut out the heel and the toe.

 Save the rest.

 If you are making these leg warmers for a baby you'll want to cut off an inch from the fabric that was in between the heel and the toe. If you are making them for a toddler you can skip the next few steps.

 Turn the fabric so that right sides are together.

 Sew the edges back together with a zigzag stitch. 

 Turn the fabric tube so that the right sides are facing out, then sew the raw edges together to make a mini tube. This will be the cuff at the bottom of the leg warmers.

 It will look like this when you're done.

 Slip the tube around the raw edge of the sock so that the zigzag edge and the raw edge match up.

Sew the two edges together

 Flip the cuff and you have a leg warmer!

Move over Jane Fonda. We have a new leg warmer fashionista!

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I finally got my icing piping kit.  Thanks Amazon!  This week was my dear friend, and former roommate, Kenze's birthday.  To celebrate we had a little shindig at our house.  I was put in charge of cupcakes.  I had Jeremy pick which recipe to do.  He chose the Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting recipe from yourcupofcake.com  That was fine with me, considering that my favorite shake to get at the Malt Shoppe is their hot fudge banana shake with peanut butter.  He did have one addition he wanted in the recipe though.  He wanted me to put Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at the bottom of them.  I did so, and they turned out amazingly!  See for yourself:

The thing that is tricky about making these delicious cupcakes is that you want to eat them all the time.  We just started a Nicholls's family health challenge that Jeremy and I are bound and determined to win, and we can only have 4 sweets a week.  Having treats like this around the home is no good.  We're holding strong though, don't you worry.  Here's the recipe from yourcupofcake.com:

Cakes:

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup oil

¼ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

¼ cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 340 degrees and line about 20 muffins tins with cupcake liners.

2.      In a large bowl, mash bananas (about three) using a fork to get rid of all large lumps. 

3.      Add oil, buttermilk and vanilla and stir well. 

4.      Add eggs one at a time, being sure to mix well in between each addition. 

5.      Slowly add cake mix and mix well. 

6.     Fill cupcake liners ¾ full (This is where my recipe differed. I put enough batter to thinly cover the bottom of the liners then added a full sized peanut butter cup.  Then I filled the liners with the rest of the batter to make it 3/4 full) and bake for 12-15 minutes (mine took a little longer) or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.  Be sure not to over bake them, and place them in an airtight container as soon as they are out of the oven. 

7.     Buttercream: Beat butter, cream cheese and peanut butter until light and fluffy (should take about 5 minutes).  Add vanilla and as much powdered sugar as desired (I used 5 cups). 

8.     Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

 Enjoy!

I didn't let any Christmas happen. I Grinched it up so hard I didn't even let it snow!

This year for Christmas we traveled down to St. George to spend it with my family. It was so fun to see everyone!

Christmas Eve night we had a delicious dinner, then we acted out the nativity as my dad narrated the story. Ellie got the role of baby Jesus, I was Mary, and Jeremy was Joseph. Brey was loving being the angel and shining his flashlight "star of Bethlehem."

After the nativity story we played bingo (Jeremy and I got a pineapple slicer and stationary) and Deal or No Deal (we won $75!). 

On Christmas morning we opened presents, ate a delicious breakfast, and spent the day hanging out with each other. Jeremy got the new Super Smash Bros on the Wii U, so we played a lot of that. Our nephew Brey kept asking Jeremy if we could pay the "fighting game." He loved that game!

Late in the week my family went skeet shooting. It's our family tradition to go during the holidays. Ellie and I stayed  home though. I figured she wouldn't appreciate the loud noises.

We had such a great time down south for the holidays. Ellie loved being with family and meeting some of her cousins.

Her cousins loved meeting her too. :)