Yolande

Once Thanksgiving is over, I am in full Christmas mode and Kevin & I watch Christmas movies almost every night.
Some of my favorite movies to watch are Hallmark Christmas movies. They are so cheesy, but I just love them!!!
If I'm not watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, then I am watching one of these Christmas movies (we own all of these DVD's)

Here are 10 movies that I love watching during the Christmas season:
(I've linked all the DVD's...all of them are under $10 and free 2 day shipping!)

10. Polar Express (I love this movie & own it, but our girls haven't seen it yet)

9. The Family Stone (Dysfunctional Christmas.....fun cast)

8. Frosty the Snowman (this was my FAVORITE Christmas cartoon as a kid, now my girls love it as well)
 
7. The Grinch (Jim Carrey version)

6. The Family Man (We watch this every Thanksgiving night to kick off the Christmas season)

5. Serendipity (This movie started my love affair with NYC during Christmas. I NEED to go to NYC during Christmas. My sisters & I did go to the actual Serendipity 10 years ago when we did 9-11 relief and we got the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate. So good. Want to go back!)

4. A Christmas Story (This plays 24 hours all night long on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Every Christmas Eve night, we keep the TV on in our room so that we can watch it, even in the middle of the night.)

3. Home Alone & Home Alone 2
I LOVE both of these. They are a Christmas staple. I watch them EVERY SINGLE December.

 2. Elf....Such a great movie. It was almost my number 1. So many great lines in this movie.

1. Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation
This is my favorite Christmas movie. It never gets old. I laugh every time.

So, there you have it. My top 10 movies that I love watching during the Christmas season.

I don't know about you, but we LOVE strawberries.

Summer means Strawberry season.
Every summer kicks off with us making homemade strawberry jam.
Here is our part of our jam stash that we made this summer.
It lasts us all year & I make extra to give as gifts.

Jam Tutorial & Recipe HERE.

We us our jam for PB&J, but my favorite it putting it on buttermilk biscuits or English muffins!

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I also wanted to share 2 other yummy recipes that use strawberries.
Here is a super easy & simple salad:
Spinach & Strawberry Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

All you need is a bag of fresh spinach, a red onion (I used pre-diced onions because my eyes are SO sensitive to cutting onions!), a container of strawberries, a bag of sliced almond accents & a poppyseed dressing.

Wash & Slice up your strawberries and then throw everything in a salad bowl.
Toss with the poppyseed dressing & voila! You have a delicious & healthy salad!

This salad is perfect for summer & it is also a great salad to make for wedding/baby showers!

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Frozen Strawberry Pie

Here is what you need:
Graham Cracker Crust
3 oz cream cheese (about half a block)
1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 pint of whipping cream, whipped (I bet you could use Cool Whip, but I haven't tried that)
3 T lemon juice
1 1/2 cup strawberries, pureed (I use my blender)
In your electric mixer, whip 1/2 pint of the whipping cream.
In another bowl, beat cream cheese & sweetened condensed milk.
Stir in strawberries & lemon juice.
Fold in whipped cream.
Pour into graham cracker crust.
Freeze for 4 hours (or overnight)

I let the pie sit out for 30 minutes before I serve it (to soften it up)
Then, I garnish each piece with some whip cream & sliced strawberries.

(I usually garnish with more sliced strawberries, but I ran out!)
It is a yummy pie & tastes like strawberry ice cream, but not as heavy.
Enjoy!

When Grace was born, my first hope (besides for a healthy baby) was for a full head of hair.

Now as a rambunctious toddler, she has a moppy head of hair unless I clip it out of her face. 

Fortunately my recent VoxBox from Influenster came with three Johnson & Johnson products from their "No More Tangles" line. Until this point we had been using the baby soap that works for both hair and body, for both our kids.

It leaves Grace's hair softer and silkier, less tangled (obviously), and she smells lovely. 

My husband and I both prefer this shampoo now for hair washing over our previous hair and body product.

Since Grace's hair has little natural curl, I was curious how the "No More Tangles" products would work on other types of hair. I hadn't tried the detangling spray or the leave-in conditioner yet, since Grace's hair seemed naturally straight. So I invited over some wonderful Momma friends with older daughters. 

We had a "pool and hair party" to test all the Johnson & Johnson products, 

and (spoiler alert) every comment was positive.

After letting the girls splash in the pool, we suds them up with "No More Tangles" shampoo and conditioner.

 Aren't they cute?

After a full rinse in the pool, it was time to test the detangling spray on the two older girls. 

Then each Mom brushed through her daughter's hair. Both said they could tell a difference - the detangling spray made hair brushing easier. Each Mom said there were noticeably less tangles.

The sweet 3 year old in the orange t-shirt has more natural curl to her hair, so her Mom also rubbed some leave-in conditioner through her hair. She was impressed that her hair was softer and definitely less tangled again! Her cute daughter was also our hair model for a summer bow hairstyle. 

Thanks Johnson & Johnson for the hair tutorial! Check our their hair tutorial videos here: