Fun Easy Treat!

FOUND: Impressive treat that is easy, cute and sweet!

Check out what I found at the Decorated Cookie

She suggests making these for New Years party, I also think how wonderful these would be for a girls birthday party, carnival theme children's party, a princess themed birthday party, a baby shower, a bridal shower, etc. Oh the possibilities! Love it!
I also think what a fun activity to make with your kids! You could even do this with 2 yr olds (if you can keep them from eating themselves into serious hyper activity! LOL).

Directions for glittery marshmallows:
Skewer marshmallows or put on lollipop sticks.
Working with one marshmallow at a time, very quickly dip a marshmallow into the water, remove immediately, blot on a paper towel and immediately sprinkle with the sprinkles to coat. Let dry.

New Floor & Christmas Pics

Here are some before and after pictures of our new kitchen/dinning room floor. I took the "after" pictures before the trim and quarter-round was up so it's not really a true "after" picture but you can see the difference!
Also there is a slide show of Baby K on Christmas morning and a few days after. She LOVES her new chair and her baby dolls. The toy baby stroller is a new toy at GG's house and she sure had fun with that.

Sweet Pics

We finally got around to having 1 yr pictures taken of our sweet girl and some holiday pictures as well. Sadly daddy isn't in any of the pictures because he was called out of town for work. Looking forward to family pictures this spring after Baby E arrives!

ALL TIME FAVORITE COOKIES!!!!

Ok people - I LOVE baked goods. I have some favortie cookies. But I stumbled on a new cookie recipe a couple of weeks ago and it is now (and maybe forever) my

ALL TIME FAVORITE!

So soft, so chewy, so athesticaly pleasing, Yummy, yummy, yummy. I would compare the texture to that of a soft warm brownie, a turtle brownie.
So get your baking groove on and whip up this yummy cookie.

Turtle Thumbprints

Adapted from Better Homes and Garden
Posted on Foodgawker by Elizabeth's Edible Experience (thank you Elizabeth!)

Cookie Ingredients:
1 egg (separated)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (all used for rolling dough in)

Filling Ingredients:
16 chewy caramels, unwrapped (like Werther's)
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping Ingreds:
1/2 cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon shortening

Directions:
1. Separate egg; place yolk and white in separate bowls. Cover and chill egg white until needed. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat well. Beat in egg yolk, milk, and vanilla.
2. In another bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until well combined. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or until easy to handle.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a small saucepan heat and stir caramels, vanilla and whipping cream over low heat until mixture is smooth. Set aside.
4. Slightly beat reserved egg white. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in egg white, then in pecans to coat. Place balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
Using the back of a 1/2 teaspoon round measuring spoon, make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are firm. If cookie centers puff during baking (which they most likely will), repress with your measuring spoon. Spoon melted caramel mixture into indentations of cookies using a teaspoon.
Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. (If necessary, reheat caramel mixture to keep it spoonable.) 6. In another saucepan heat and stir chocolate pieces and shortening over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly. Drizzle chocolate mixture over tops of cookies using a fork and a quick back and forth motion as the chocolate drips.

Let stand until chocolate is set. Makes about 30 cookies.

Snap Shots

Here is a little slide show of some cute pics we have been able to take over the last month or two.

(If you think Baby K has the cutest winter hat on, click on the Sugarplum Boutique button on the right side of my blog - you can buy one too, lots of colors/flowers/bows to choose from & you can help orphans.)

Recently the memory in my laptop quit working so we are now a one computer home at least for a while. Honestly, I'm kind of liking it. I spend less time on the computer and more time doing other things. However, the downfall is that I keep forgetting to update our blog and I needed to transfer some pictures so I could share them with you!
Thanks for your patience!
More pictures to come. We had some professional pictures taken of Baby K and we pick them up Wednesday. They are one year old pictures (at 15 months but hey, we got 'em! LOL) and some shots of her in her Christmas dress.

As for our little family, we are doing great. preparing for Christmas festivities with friends and family. Preparing for Baby E who will be here in less than 100 days! crazy! And hoping for a beautiful snow the weather man is promising this week. Praying it is a beautiful snow and not a crazy blizzard.

Giveaway for Wichitans!

Shorty Smalls gift certificates
I have 4 to giveaway.

Here's the scoop:
They are only redeemable at the Shorty Smalls in Wichita.
Each Certificate is a $10 value and can only be redeemed with a min $25 food purchase.
Can only be used Mon - Thurs.
Expire 12/13/10 (so you have a whole year to use them!)

I have the certificates because I was given $50 gift certificate to Restaurant.com from Motherhood maternity when I bought some shirts this weekend. Problem - only restaurant anywhere close to us that is offered was Shorty Smalls. We are going to use one of the 5 vertificates I was able to get but it is far from our house and we just won't go that much.

So I am sharing my "good fortune?" with you. :)

How to win:
Leave a comment
first 4 people to leave a comment get a certificate
if less than 4 people leave a comment before Wednesday then I will divide the 4 certificates between those who replied. So it's possible you may get 2 or you may get all 4.

Isn't this exciting? Hee hee

Christmas Traditions & Controversy...

Oh my, Oh my...I have found in the past few days that people are really passionate about how they celebrate the "holidays."
So before I share some thoughts about what our family would like to set in place for tradition, let me just say - You do what is best for your family and we will do what is best for our family - K. :)
I really don't think any of my readers are going to leave heated comments about our way being "wrong" or "magic stealing" but on the off chance that someone finds this through an internet search - I say to them, "Relax! I'm not asking you to celebrate our way."

I once read an article that stuck with me. The author was saying that they couldn't bring themselves to tell their children that Santa (or any other fictional character) was real and also teach their children that Jesus is real and then later tell them the truth that Santa isn't real, but even though you can't physically see Jesus, He is in fact real. I agree with that. Even though I was raised believing both were real, found out the truth and it did not taint my belief in Jesus.
But I'm not sure I can teach my children that lying is wrong and then manipulate them to believe in a Jolly Fat man who drops presents off at our house and then later tell them I was tricking them to believe. I'm not mad or tainted because that's how I was raised but as a parent I cannot bring myself to do this, I just can't.

So after a couple of years of playing around with some ideas our family has decided we would like to celebrate Christmas in the following way. I have ordered two children's books about the story of who St. Nicholas was and how his story has moved on to become "Santa." We want our children to know that St. Nicholas was a good man, a real man, who loved God and Jesus very much and who used his good fortune to bless others around him. We want to teach our children that a fun way to remember what God & St. Nicholas would like us to do is remember the great love of God and to share our blessings with others. Ways we can remember these things are to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Read the Christmas story. Spend time as a family celebrating Advent with an Advent Calendar &/or a Jesse Tree (http://www.eriercd.org/jessetree.htm). I want to bake a birthday cake for Jesus with our kids on Christmas Eve and then eat it on Christmas day. Find ways to give to and bless others with time, talents, or money God has blessed your family with. And finally, we would like to play the "game" Santa with our family. Yes, "Santa" will bring our children gifts. Yes, they will know it is a game. Yes, we will tell them other families play the game by not telling their children it is a game and part of the game is to help their mommies and daddies keep the secret. We will teach our children that St. Nicholas would have wanted children to be kind of heart and to listen and obey God and their parents, so only "good boys and girls" will be given a gift in this game.
My husband and I will pray that our way doesn't ruin the fun of other families who like to keep the secret from their children. I'm sure we may encounter families who are not happy with our decision. I pray our children are able to keep the secret.

When I was searching for books about St. Nicholas I was reading reviews people had shared about the books. This is how I learned people can be very passionate about how Christmas "should" be celebrated. People either LOVED the books or they down right hated them!
One review I read the reader said something along the lines of, "Why are you people stealing the magic of Christmas? Let your kids believe in Santa and when they are older you can transfer the magic of Christmas from the story of Santa to the story of Jesus."
I found this comment SHOCKING! Like just tell them about Santa until their 9 or something and then switch the meaning of Christmas to Jesus later. PUKE! (Here I go - being just as passionate! opps)
I did find one book called The True Story of Santa, I don't know much about it but evidently it tells the story of Santa going to visit Jesus at the manger - WHAT?! One review read, "This is a great book if you want to LIE to your children about the true meaning of Christmas. Someone should tell this author what the definition of "true" is."
I'm telling you this is a subject many are passionate about!

I'm sure over the years our family traditions will grow and we will learn more about how God would draw us to Worship and Celebrate the birth of His Son - the most wonderful Gift of ALL!

If you are interested in the books I found here is a list. I have only seen these online and look forward to reading them and reviewing them when they arrive. I hope they are what I am expecting them to be.

The Legend of St. Nicholas: A Story of Christmas Giving by Dandi Daley Mackall
Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer
The Legend of the Christmas Stocking: An Inspirational Story of a Wish Come True by Rick Osborne

A giveaway for little girls (and big girls)

Want to win a cute bow for your little princess?
Check out www.sugarplumorphans.com to see how you can win. There is also a button for Sugarplum Boutique on the right side roll of my blog.
Kendra makes so many wonderful, beautiful, cute things - you will certainly have a hard time choosing. She can also do custom orders (but hurry quick to place a custom order for the holidays).
If you live in the same town I do then she is right here - if not you can order from her Etsy shop or Ebay - info at www.sugarplumorphans.com

God gave our little princess a lot of natural cuteness - but when we really want to sweeten her up we top her cuteness off with a bow. :)
Most of the bows (and hats) we have were purchased from one place - and the profit from the bow sale goes to help orphans overseas - how much of the profit? ALL of it! Why not buy a bow, love some orphans and top your cute sweet daughter off with more cuteness?

My Cute "Helper"

This cheesy grin was just too cute not to post. Silly girl.

Here are some pics I took this week. We have two little ones who LOVE to be in the kitchen if I am cooking or just opening the fridge or walking through. They want food - or to look at the food - but usually to eat the food if I will pass it out.
Who are these two little ones? Baby K and our dog Justice.
They can be anywhere in the house and KNOW that I am in the kitchen and appear at a moments notice. If I open the fridge, Baby K has to look inside - and I mean she HAS to. She does not like it if you won't give her a peek.
Here are some pictures of what happens if you need to leave the door open to take out more than one item.

It makes her whole day if I will let her climb in and out of the fridge like this. It doesn't happen often but she does get to every now and then if I am pulling several things out to prepare a meal.
It's the simple things.

Customer Service

The good, the bad and the ugly of customer service (well, actually I don't have anything ugly to report - just the good and the bad).
In a previous post I mentioned looking for a sweater dress from g*ap kids and how after finding it was sold out online and calling 4 different stores in a 3 state area I was able to locate the dress in the correct size and get an amazing price deal and have it shipped right to my door. Bliss - my family holiday photo dreams on the road to coming true.
Today, the dress arrived (I ordered it on Saturday so not too shabby of a time line, I was happy with that), SO excited I opened the box. There it was so pretty and bright and everything I had hoped it would be.............but wait - OH NO! It's the WRONG SIZE!!!! After confirming with the woman on the phone 3 times that they were in possession of and were mailing me a 12-18month dress I was sent a 18-24 month dress - and it is BIG! sigh.
I debated whether to even call the store. No one seems to have many of these dresses left and any store that does is completely out of the size I needed so really, were they going to have it? I thought I would call just on the off chance they might...
Horray! They DO have the correct size in stock (so they tell me, fingers crossed!) and felt badly that the wrong size was sent to me. So try #2 is in the mail and again I am happy with my customer service experience with the Lincoln, NE ga*p kids store.
Thank you gap lady!
SO that was the GOOD of customer service...

On to the Bad.
Ok, really this isn't that bad but I think some moms out there can relate and if you can relate do you think we can get the following changed.
Thanks to childhood obesity and the American health craze, fast food restaurants and other food establishments are now offering healthier options for our children. I am glad for this.
My complaint is why do they have milk now but only 2%? My toddler cannot drink low fat milk, its not healthy for her.
So if we are on a road trip we have to bring a cooler with milk in it or pay for overpriced pint of whole milk at a gas station. If we are close to home it is ok for her to go a meal without milk but it makes her happier and a better eater if she has milk with her meal.
How hard would it be for these places to offer whole milk, low fat milk and chocolate milk? Or if that is too much how about they offer whole white milk and low fat chocolate milk?
Are there other mom's who think about this issue? Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Victory!

I am so excited to announce that I woke up this morning to a perfectly clean shirt with NO GOLDFISH STAINS! :)
I kind of put the whole stain removing venture on hold for a few days after a few failed tries.
Thank you for all your helpful suggestions. I did not try all of them but only because I didn't want to buy a laundry room full of supplies.
I did buy Oxyc*lean Max Force stain remover - it only faded the stain.
So I got a bleach pen and worked very very carefully - and YES! IT WORKED!
Now Baby K's Big Sister shirt is restored to new condition! It's a great day!

Road Trip!

About 21 hours from right now (2pm on Sunday is when I am typing this) and I off for a day trip. A friend and I are waking up well before we would like to, driving in the cold weather, meeting up with other friends and we are going to enjoy the facinating, fun, funky company of

The Pioneer Woman

She is having a book signing in KC, actually she is having 2 signings in KC be we have the priveledge of going to the smaller of the 2 signings. I am really hoping this means our odds of one of us winning something fantastic (there will be giveaways!) should be pretty good.

If you haven't read Ree's blog, aka The Pioneer Woman, or eaten one of her delicious reciepes then you need to hop on the bus and check it out! She has a fun sense of humor, her writing will crack you up. She is carefree and confident and silly and honest and creative. I am looking forward to meeting her in person and seeing what she is like in real life.

Also I'm looking forward to a great day just hanging out with sweet friends and although I will miss my family and my little princess I will not miss cutting up food for others or changing diapers.

Thank you to my husband for helping make this road trip possible and thank you to my friend Jena for helping out too.

Here's to a day of being footloose and fancy free!

Searching and Finding! :)

I posted this earlier...I am amending it because the dress has been found and purchased at a discounted price and I am a happy shopper and would like to give thanks to the Manhattan, KS gap gal who was so kind on the phone and the Lincoln, NE gap gal who made my holiday family photo dreams come true! :) And a special thanks to Marie for the discount coupon that could even be used in addition to items already marked down, I saved a lot of dollars today!

I'm searching for this dress...
"Baby G*ap bright hoddie sweater dress"

There are out of stock online. They do not have it at the local BG store.
If you are out shopping the Ga*p friends and family 30% off sale this weekend and you see this dress. I need a size 12-18months. I would like Baby K to wear it for our holiday picture.

Sadness. I lost out because I was waiting to save some money. I may have saved more than I bargained for if I can't find the dress now.

The Life of a Sweet Princess...

Here are just some cute pictures of Baby K just being Baby K. :)

Here she is being my silly helper - we were cleaning out the lazy susan and reorganizing. She thought it was great stuff to have permission to take everything out!


Baby K is SO ready to be a big sister or at the very least to have a baby to love on! Here she is playing with a neighbor friend.


Today we enjoyed the nice weather with some friends at the zoo. I'm so glad Baby K loves her friends, loves outside and loves animals. We had a great time! (And to all of you who will see these pictures and wonder, "Why did you let her touch those dirty things?" I say to you, a little dirt never hurt anyone and we did wash our hands more than once.)

A Poll, Please Vote... :)

I have been giving some thought as to what would be a good Christmas gift for Baby K and I would like your opinion.
Baby K really likes to sit on chairs, she especially likes to sit in the rocking recliner downstairs and works her hardest to make it rock. I thought we should get her a nice little upholstered chair just for her. The foam chairs covered in cartoon characters are $20 plus dollars. The PB kid chairs are close to $100 and then I found the most awesome thing I could have found.....
Toddle Rock (click here to check out their site!)
They are located in Alabama and make the cutest upholstered rockers for toddlers. This chair should be good for her at least up to four years old! The best part is that cost plus shipping will cost us less than $80.
A store here in town had a little rocking upholstered chair (ugly and overpriced) and we did have her sit in it. She loved it, so I think she will enjoy sitting in one of these Toddle Rock chairs and reading her books (she loves books) and hopefully rocking her new baby doll too (her other gift she is getting).

On to the survey:
Baby K's nursery is light blue & khaki but soft pink does look nice in her room, and we may move the chair around the house so she can watch a movie or whatever so it won't always be in her room.
Please leave a comment letting us know what chair color you think is best. I'm having a hard time becuase I just think they are all SO CUTE!
(*please note the chairs below are in no certain order, it is just the order the pictures uploaded to my blog)
Thanks for your input.

#1: Soft Pink
#2: Tan Suede

#3: Oatmeal

#4: Pink/Brown Polkadots

#5: Pink Soft Chenille

#6: Pink Chenille (notice it is a little more textured than the "soft" chenille chair above)

Ideas for a baby room

Thinking more about a car/route 66 themed baby room for our little guy. My husband has an old GTO that he restored and after some inspiration from a couple of blogs I spotted here are some thoughts I'm playing around with for Baby E. I really like this bedding. I like the idea of painting the walls a light gray color (probably lighter than what is in this photo). My husband likes the idea of the "racing stripe" on the wall.
If we don't do a racing stripe on the crib wall maybe we will do something like this (imagine the black couch is actually the crib)


Here are some prints I found online that we could purchase and frame. We will probably keep the car theme pics to a minimum so it's not too much. Maybe we will hang a traditional Route 66 tin sign too, and possibly a red toy car somewhere for decoration.
Just a few ideas spinning around in my head.
I like this because I think it will grow with the little guy. It's not too baby themed. I'm not much for "cartoon" looking baby decorations.

Appreciation!

I am married to quite the guy, let me tell ya! We have been making a list of things we would like to get done around our house, things like wood flooring in the kitchen/dinning area and replacing the bathroom floors with ceramic tile. We have some ideas and products we like and we were in the process of prioritizing the "To Do" list according to what should be done before the new baby gets here.
On Friday morning I took a peek in the upstairs guest room that will soon be Baby E's room and remembered that the closet is full of office things and my husbands nice suits. I decided to send my husband an email explaining that the first thing on our list should probably be to finish the closet in the downstiars guest room (there are no shelves in there currently and no pole to hang clothes on) so that we can move the items from the upstairs closet down there and make room for baby. Very soon I got a text message from him saying this was a good idea and he had some ideas for the closet. Remember this was Friday morning.
Saturday morning he got up early, went to the store and bought supplies and worked away! He isn't done yet but he made some great progress on Sat and Sun and I imagine it won't be long before we have a very nice closet. I was surprised that he got to work on it so quickly, when I threw out the idea I was just thinking maybe before Christmas we should finish it, but this was a great surprise!
I just wanted to give my husband a BIG THANKS for being so on top of things, for being a hard worker and for using his time to make our home such a nice & organized place. I am grateful for him and very proud of his handyman skills!
You're the Best and I'm so glad you're mine. Love you!

Sad

Well, Baby K's very special "Big Sister" shirt has stains on it now! I could not be more mad about Goldfish Crackers!
I had her wear the shirt when we went to our sono for her little sibling. She only had it on for a couple of hours. There was a snack bag of goldfish crackers in her diaper bag, which I put in there on purpose for her to have if she was getting to wiggly during the sono.
I had NO IDEA she would be so messy with them, especially because there were not that many to eat anyway. I also had NO IDEA they would stain so badly. I have been scrubbing and scrubbing and I'm not getting very far.
The shirt was custom made and NOT cheap and took much convincing to get my husband to let me spend the money on this cute shirt. I am SO sad and SO mad!

I have hated goldfish crackers my whole life, really I have. I hate how they smell (and other crackers like them), I hate how they taste and now I hate how they STAIN!

I am hoping the stains come out. I want so badly for Baby K to wear the shirt in pictures with her new little brother when he arrives. I cannot stomach thinking about buying another shirt like it.

I am feeling guilty as I type this, knowing that children all over the world and even in our country are going to bed hungry tonight or who only have one or two shirts total in their posession and here I am going on and on about goldfish cracker stains on a special shirt that cost extra.
If you have any tips on what you think may work let me know.
The shirt is white cotton & has colored ribbon & embordery on it.

Sigh.

A New Find

Because I really needed to find ANOTHER food blog to love (LOL). :)
I found this blog via foodg*awker today. There are some yummy ideas and great pics I thought you might enjoy as well.
visit
http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/

if you want some yummy ideas.

On my mind...

In just 3 short days we get to have our sono and will hopefully find out the sex of our baby. I'm very excited to find out who this little person is inside of me & will be joining our family in just a few short months.
One of my favorite things about planning and preparing for baby is putting together the nursery. The calm quiet room I will snuggle with our child, the room my husband and I will go in so many times to check and make sure our little one is sleeping safely and soundly. The room that will later become a place of play and a place our child will call their own. I'm not so sure why the nursery is such an important part to me but it is and I love planning & preparing the room.
As I wait and dream about who this little one is I have done a little thinking and searching for what I think a wonderful nursery would be for a little boy or a little girl.
My husband is a fan of old cars, he has a 1974 GTO he restored and it is pretty cool. When I was searching for something totally off from nursery ideas I came across the blog of a photographer who had just finished a nursery for her son that was a Route 66 theme. There are some girly touches to the room because her daughter and son will be sharing the room. But I like the picture she hung and the classy ideas she had so I would like to use those for inspiration should we have a boy. Because the lady is a photographer her pictures are blocked and i could not post them myself but I can give you the link to her blog so you can see the pictures for yourself.
Boy Nursery Ideas

For a little girl I found this wonderful crib bedding set. I love it because I think it could grow with a little girl and not be too baby themed. I also like it because it is not pink. I love pink and love for Baby K to have pink things, however with little girls come LOTS of pink and it's nice to have some things that are not pink.
Mostly I just like the bedding. The curtains are not my favorite and I don't think I would want to paint every wall purple but you get the general idea.
Well, morning nap is almost over so I need to get off the computer and get something done. :)

One Week From Today...

One week from today is our sonogram and we will get to see our tiny baby and hopefully find out the sex of the baby. I am so excited to know who this little person is growing inside me.

On another note, I do think halloween dress up is fun but sometimes I think it's strange. I'm glad that one week from today hopefully I will not be helped at the grocery store or the bank by people dressed in costume. Maybe I'm a party pooper but I just find it kind of creepy to have a grown adult ring up my groceries while dressed from head to toe like a braveheart warrior or vampire.

So here's to November 6th! Should be a fun day!

Pet Peeve!

Ok people. I canNOT take it anymore. I have reached my limit and I just can't do it anymore. If one more small child dumps the dog's water bowl one more time I am going to lose my mind!
I can't stand it. EVERYDAY that dang thing gets dumped out and I have to clean up the carpet and change Baby K's clothes, at the very least her pants. On tuesdays I watch another little girl and that usually means I clean the dog water up at least twice on tuesdays.
The Fruits of the Spirit are being tested people - majorly tested - and by DOG WATER!
I can't tell you how many times I move the water bowl to the counter top, just in time. But then later I have to move it to the floor so the poor dog can have a drink and then I always get side tracked and leave it on the floor and every time the dang thing gets dumped. And it never gets dumped when there is 1/4 cup of water or less - no, always when it is full of 1 to 2 cups of water.
SIGH....

Today I am moving the bowls from the dinning room to our bedroom, near the dog kennel. Maybe this will work better.
If you think the solution is to just put the water outside, nope b/c then I spend 1/2 my day letting the dog in and out, in and out. And if I leave the dog outside she will start barking.

Honestly, I love my dog to pieces I've had her for years but this dog water dumping could lead me to finding her a new home and it's not even her fault. Ok, I'm exaggerating here but I am at my whits end and sick and tired of cleaning up the puddles of water!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Ok - vent over for now. :)

Some like it Hot...

Baby K likes spicy food. It cracks me up. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since I craved hot wings & other spicy food when I was pregnant with her. Last night for dinner we had omelets, Baby K would not eat her omelet bite for anything, and we knew she was hungry. Grrr....I did NOT want to make her something different to eat. She watched daddy put salsa on his omelet. She would not eat her own but kept grunting and reaching for daddy's plate. Daddy put some salsa on top of her omelet bites and yep....you guessed it...she shoveled it in my the fist fulls! The craziest part to me was that the salsa was Medium Salsa, not mild. She didn't even flinch and even asked for more.
She is a hoot!

A friend gave me a recipe this summer for some chicken burritos that have chipotle chilies in them - Baby K LOVES them!!!
Not long ago I made some mac n cheese for us to eat that had sweet corn & jalapenos mixed in. I was only giving Baby K noodles with no jalapenos, after a while she wanted to try some off our plates. She loved it, only occasionally panting, followed by a laugh. She thought the spice was funny? We would offer her a drink and after a small sip she would reach for more hot stuff to eat.

Baby K has also begun to notice that Mommy and Daddy like to dip their food in certain things: salsa, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, etc. She will often beg to dip her food as well & even at times refuse to eat if we won't dip her food.
Last week, I put a little bit of BBQ Sauce on her plate and she surprisingly picked up little bite of catfish after little bite and dipped each bite in the small puddle of BBQ sauce just like mommy.

My husband and I get such a kick out of watching Baby K grow and learn and develop more and more of her personality. She is a funny kid and we love her to pieces!

Taco Soup & Fried Ice Cream

Here is a link to the recipe for Taco Soup that I used last night.
Taco Soup Recipe
It makes a ton, there were 3 couples eating it and there are about 3-4 servings leftover.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe that I think made it even better
print off recipe and then add
1 (extra) can of diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 (8oz) can of tomato sauce

Its not going to make it too soupy, I promise. Before I added those extras there wasn't much broth to speak of.

Easy Fried Ice Cream:
For an added treat, my spin on fried ice cream for dessert.
Heat some oil in a fry pan to just warmer than medium heat.
Cut flour tortillas into strips about 1"x4"
Place a few tortilla strips at a time into the hot oil and turn when they start to brown (this happens quickly)
When both sides are just brown use tongs to place the hot tortilla strips in a mixture of cinnamon & sugar and coat generously.
Place cinnamon strips on a plate or in a container to cool while to finish frying the remaining tortillas.
These will keep in an air tight container for a couple of days (if you can keep yourself from eating all of them in one sitting!)
I like to warm the strips in the oven for just a min or two and then place 3-4 strips in a bowl, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle some chocolate syrup on top.
So Yummy!

Setting a date...

Today I have my check up with my OB. I will get to listen to this sweet baby's heartbeat, I love that part! But I am really excited today because we will set the date for the ultrasound and that means we will know when we get to find out if this little pumpkin is a boy or a girl (assuming the baby cooperates).
People keep asking us if we will find out the sex of the baby. My answer is, YES! I would go absolutely nuts if I didn't know and more than that I would drive my husband crazy. I can barely stand it when my friends don't find out. There is just too much anticipation for me. :)
I can't wait to find out who this little person is God has chosen for our family.
I'll keep you posted on when we find out. My guess is the first week of November. We shall see.

No No NOOOOO!!!!!! and YUCKY!

Ok, if you easily think things are gross, please stop reading this post.
Oh, I mean it.
I'm not easily grossed out and I will tell you after reading this article I wasn't sure I should have. Aren't you glad I'm passing it on to you? :)
This is an article I came across today while I was surfing the net for dinner ideas. I guess because of the article title is the reason it came up as a response to my search.
I would like to say one more thing before I reveal the article...
Questions: Will I do this? Do I want to?
Answer: No, No, Noooooo!!!!! and YUCKY!!!

Ok that said, here is an article that was published in a popular mainstream news magazine, the article is about people paying someone to cook, freeze dry & make vitamin capsules out of their placenta after the birth of their child. I guess it has some medicinal qualities.
Don't believe me? Read it for yourself.
Click Here to Read

Enjoy. Now I'm off to figure out what we are REALLY going to have for dinner, if I can even eat after that! :)

Amazing Recipe Finds...

I'm sitting here finishing the most divine cupcake I've eaten in a while! I just have to pass these recipes on to you.
The cake recipe can be adapted to make white, chocolate, fruit, and many other flavors of cake; the recipe tells you how. The cake is wonderful because it's not too dense and it's not too fluffy (falling apart & making a mess), you can use it to make wedding cakes or other layered cakes and not worry about caving.
Before I give you the recipe I tell you that you need to get a Wi*lton aluminum cake pan or if you have the money get a WilliamSo*noma Gold T*ouch pan both cook evenly and great and if you use them WITH Wi*lton bake even strips or WS's Magi-cake baking strips the cake will bake so flat and even on the top you won't have to trim or cut to level the cake.
I was asked to make a lemon cake for a bridal shower this weekend. I asked my friend Resa for a recipe since she made wedding cakes recently and she passed this amazing find on to me.
See step 22 for the lemon variation. Instructions also include how to adapt this recipe into other flavors of cake. I can't wait to try a champagne cake with berries! That sounds yum!
White Almond Sour Cream Cake
If you need to make a cake or cupcakes sometime soon - try this. You will most likely need to cut recipe in half it makes enough batter I could barely mix it in my kitchen aid, so half would be more reasonable unless you need a LOT of cake.

For the lemon cake I thought a nice Lemon filling between layers would be yummy. I found this gem of a recipe and it was easy & much cheaper than buying lemon curd at the store.
Lemon Filling

I'm frosting the cake with traditional cream cheese frosting as requested by the bride.
Let's hope I don't eat all the cupcakes before the shower tomorrow.

The sun is shinning and I'm enjoying the smell of lemon cake & cupcakes baking in my kitchen and the sound of quiet while my daughter is napping. Ahhhh.... what a day!

P.S. I just had to share that when I think of Resa I think of 3 things: What a kind person she is, her beautiful cakes, and the wild fact that she delivered her last baby in the front seat of car while her husband was STILL driving! She's amazing! Hope she doesn't mind me sharing that with you, I delete it if she asks me to. But seriously, she should win some kind of award for that craziness or make it on a discovery health program!

Just Because

she's cute. Just wanted to share this picture I took last week. This is a very common scene in our kitchen.

No Canned Pumpkin...

Evidentally I have been living in a hole. My grocery list for this week included canned pumpkin. I was shopping at a very large store, it is no where near being Thanksgiving yet and the shelf was completely empty. I was bummed.
At the register the lady asked me if I found everything I needed alright. Usually I say, "yep." But last night I said, "no, where is all the canned pumpkin?"
She told me there was some kind of pumpkin shortage going on, but didn't really know much about it. My husband then remembered he had seen a story on the news about it.
I found several articles about it, here is one
Pumpkin Shortage Article

Anyway, now I am on the hunt for canned pumpkin and when I find it I am going to buy several cans and hide them. LOL

I know it is easy enough to make pumpkin puree, but I tried last year and couldn't get a knife through the hard pumpkin. Those little pumpkins are tough little guys! I don't want to mess with it if I can just buy a can.

Pumpkin Patch

We spent a cold morning at the pumpkin patch. Baby K had a lot of fun with her friends looking at pumpkins and petting zoo animals. We also had lunch at the consession stand they had at the patch. Yummy fri*to pie and a hotdog. Not healthy but Oh So Yummy. :)

Eating with a Spoon...

Baby K wanted to try and eat with a spoon yesterday. She also learned to walk yesterday but of course she would not let me capture that on video. So here is a video of her practicing to eat with a spoon. The video is a link, blogg*er was taking too long to load it. :) Enjoy!

Eating w/ Spoon Video

What's New...

Baby K and Mommy just got home from spending 4 days with family. We went to visit so we could celebrate my Great Aunt's 90th birthday! There were lots of people there and lots of food and some really yummy cake. :)
We were also able to visit Aunt Janie twice at the nursing home and not have to share her company with the large crowds so that was nice. Baby K enjoyed time with her Great Great Aunt and was very sweet; sitting on her lap, sitting with her on the bed, giving her a hug around the neck and even blowing kisses. I'm so thankful for a little girl who loves others well (praying it stays this way!).
On the drive home my grandma asked me if we remembered to get Baby K's highchair (her Chicco travel seat that clamps to the table) - NOPE! Totally left it at my Aunt & Unlce's house firmly clamped to their table. Shoot. Well, I was not about to add another hour or two to our already 5 hour drive so my family is mailing the "highchair" to us and in the mean time I had to find a way for her to eat.
I bought a booster seat several years ago at a garage sale to use when friends have their kids over. It's for big kids but my husband helped me turn it into a make shift highchair and it is working well.

Daddy Date Day

Baby K and her daddy had a Daddy Date Day last Saturday, while mommy enjoyed a much needed day by myself. Baby K's grandpa has some old tractors and was part of an antique tractor show. Daddy and Baby K had a fun day. Here are some pictures of their day. Daddy took all the pictures so he's not in any of them. opps. :)

Our Sweet Daughter

In my excitement of making this card I wrote "Womack's" rather than "Womacks" - oh well spelling/grammar have never been my strong points.
Enjoy the news and ignore the typos!
Love
the Womacks

We emailed this card to share with family and friends. Before sharing with anyone we wanted to tell our close family first. I sent a copy of this to be printed at the drugstore in the town where my grandma lives (since she doesn't use email) and she went to pick up a new picture of Baby K. When she got there they said they never received an order from me - WHAT?! They have it now but she won't have time to pick it up until 7:30pm TONIGHT! So she still doesn't know.
My husbands parents didn't get the news until late either because their internet was down.
Kind of a blow to our excitement that the people we were most excited to tell couldn't even get to see the announcement when we intended for them to. Good thing the news is still exciting. :)

Thanks for all of the well wishes we have already received. Our children will be 19months apart and I'm sure we are in for a real adventure!

12 month Update

Baby K had her 12mo doctors appointment on September 11th. Here's what we learned.
Weight: 20.5 lbs - 41%
Height: 29.25 inches - 53%

At birth her stats were:
Weight: 6 lbs 3oz - 7%
Height: 19.5 inches - 38%

Lookin' good kid! :)

At this time Baby K has the following skills:
Eating - she can almost out eat me! She LOVES bananas and I am so tired of the smell of bananas, but she loves them.
Cruising - she uses her push toy to walk everywhere, kind of like an elderly lady with a walker only much faster! hee hee - she walks around furniture, holding our hands, etc. We are confident she has what it takes to walk, she is steady on her feet and has great balance but she just isn't that into it right now. Fine by me, she can stay a baby a little longer.
Words & signs -
She signs "More" when she wants something (usually food or drink) and she does occasionally say "Ma" when she signs more...it kind of sounds like "more" w/o the r sound.
Mama & Dada she can say but rarely uses them to get our attention, unless she is desperately trying to refuse a nap & wants to be rescued from the crib.
Up - she says this a lot, and always sticks her bottom lip out at the end of the "p" sound.
Body Parts - When asked she can point to her eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
No Thank You - She shakes her head no, so cute! Usually she does this when we are telling her no, b/c of danger or b/c she wants to play in the dog water (yuck!), not really prime times to giggle at her cute no head shake. So I taught her to shake her head "no" when I ask her to say "No thank you". See learning manners already!
Animal sounds (you can ask her what the following animals say and she will tell you) -
Cow - Moo
Duck - Ack Ack Ack Ack she LOVES to walk around the neighborhood lake watching the ducks, waving to them and Quacking loudly. It makes her mad that she is not allowed to pet them.
Elephant - this is her favorite sound to make! Basically, she spits. :) She presses her lips together & then blows air, it is so cute!
Snake - sssssssss
Gorilla - she says "Ahhhhhh" while lightly beating her chest with her hands.
Dog - she doesn't do this one. Ironically, we have a dog that she loves, we have tried and tried to get her to make the sound but she just stares at us and smiles like we are so silly. Hmmm...well, we probably do look very silly.

Other Loves:
Being with people
Playing with other babies, toddlers, big kids. If you are under 4 ft tall - you're her favorite! LOL
Books - especially opening & closing them, over and over and over again.
Wagon rides - best birthday gift ever. It has a seat belt and she loves to cruise the neighborhood and loves it even more when a neighbor kid will ride in the wagon with her or Baby A. She is certainly a people person!
Kisses - if you ask for a kiss you may not get one, but if you say, "Baby K, I love you!" she will always give a kiss. I guess it's her way of saying, "I love you too." I'm guessing she learned this because mommy & daddy are always saying, I love you, and then kissing her.
Justice - our dog. She lights up when she sees her. She is gentle to pet her and loves feeding her cheerios and dog treats and the occasional table treat if we don't catch it first. She loves to crawl in the dog kennel (I've been washing the blankets in there often b/c I keep finding her tucked in there with the dog or w/o the dog. If our child smells like a dog kennel please let us know. LOL)
In & O*ut - not the burger place, the action. She loves toys that require you to put things in & take things out. She could do this for hours. She loves empty boxes and baskets, she loves helping move laundry from the washer to the dryer - she loves to put things in and take things out, over and over and over again. She does this with the dog kennel too - crawl in, crawl out, crawl in, crawl out.

She has many other loves but this list is long and probably less entertaining to you than it is to her parents. :)

We are grateful to God for a healthy, beautiful, inquisitive, sweet little girl. Thank you for this special blessing. We love her SO much!

It happened today...

Since I was pregnant with Baby K I have been praying that God would shape her into a kind and compassionate person. I pray often that she will also have a gentle spirit and a giving heart.
We met our baby girl a year ago and she has been nothing other than a people person. She loves people, especially children and babies. She loves to hug and when other babies or children are around she will bring them a toy and put it in their face, as if to say, "Do you want to play with this?" I love it!
Today was the first time I ever saw Baby K refuse to share a toy. What?! I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew this day would come but didn't know it would come today.
Baby A is here today, because she always comes to play with us on Tuesdays. Both of the girls were playing on the floor nicely together when Baby A went to play with our new cookie jar shape toy.
Baby K let out a yell as if to say, "HEY!!!! NO!! THATS MINE!" and quickly crawled over to her friend and swiped the shape toy right out of her hand. Then she crawled over and started playing with the toy herself. Anytime Baby A gets anywhere near her toys Baby K yells and steals. We've had a lot of crying and yelling this morning. (all from the babies, of course. Mommy is calm and collected. )
Where is my sweet, sharing, toy sacrificing daughter?
We are working hard to be kind to our friend today. For now there has been no hitting and I'm hoping after nap time that sharing will be appealing again.
Just another sign that Baby K is growing up, forming opinions and that babies are born with a sinful nature.
More parenting, discipling and disciplining are on the horizon.

What is a swing set?

We have been doing a little thinking about swing sets. I don't think we will have one anytime real soon, but we don't have a big tree or a deck to hang a swing from so for now we have to walk down to the park and wait our turn for the baby swing. My wonderful engineer husband would like to design and build the playset our children will play on and in the end I think this will save us some money and we will have the special memory that Daddy made it, not just put it together but actually made it (with the exception of the actual slide and swings that will be attached). I think that sounds like a lot of love and hopefully a lot of hours of family fun time and children using their imaginations and getting some exercise.
Today we decided to drop in a new playground equipment sales place. I will say their products are HIGH quality and better than the kit sets you find at the chain hardware stores. Adam was impressed with the quality as well so you don't have to just take my word for it.
The smallest set, that would actually also be the best fit for our family, is currently "on sale" for $1299, regular $1700. Adam thinks he can build an equivalent set for much less.
The price of their sets pretty much jumps from the simple one we are thinking of to $3000 for the next low end set. And when I say low end I mean LOW LOW LOW end.
Mind you these are advertised as "Residential Playsets"
So in the catalog we find this - the set that costs $48,099 but is currently on sale for $33,349 (I'm sure they didn't want to ask $33,350 because that number might scare people!LOL)It is 32 feet wide and 48 feet long and this particular set is, "the undisputed leader in unbelievable residential play structures."
Unbelievable is right! Check this out... It's kind of like the Noah's Ark of Swing sets; honestly, you could put several Large Animals in this thing!
Now if this seems a little steep for your taste or just flat out too big for your yard, then let's take a look at the step down. You can get this next bundle of fun for the sale price of $25,599 (again, good thing they didn't round that sale price up a dollar, talk about sticker shock!), this is a bargain from the regular price of $37,049.
And I forgot to point out that the install price for the above set is $4,760. The install price for the set I'm about to show you is $3,655. I'm telling you, these are REAL deals people!
Ok, so here's your step down set. It's only 20.5 feet wide and 36.5 feet long.Who needs 4 tube slides in their backyard?! This is nuts people!

Birthday Pictures!

Here are 26 pictures of some 200 plus pictures we have from the past 2 days of celebrating. I have not edited these pictures at all but I'm sure Baby K's cuteness will shine through nonetheless. :)

Saturday afternoon (the day before her actual birthday) we had a big party with friends and family. We had cupcakes and Baby K wore her party OUTFIT! A special thanks to Kendra at Sugarplum Orphans for making a very special hair bow that even had a "jewel" on it! Also a special thanks to Brandi who made the most PERFECT special birthday bracelet (that will get a lot of use b/c Baby K loves it!) and thanks to the Doll family for gifting Baby K with the bracelet; you really should take a look at it in the pictures, sterling sliver w/ a cupcake charm & a rhinestone dangle! TOO CUTE! I got the birthday shirt from the internet and made the skirt for the low price of $4.60! There are so many people to thank for making Baby K's day SO SO Special but for now I will finish the thank you's with a Thanks to Ginger for the great cupcake cake pan! Thanks for loving our little girl, we are blessed with wonderful friends!

So we had yummy cupcakes and opened gifts. The weather could not have been more perfect. After friends left we had dinner with family and spent several hours just playing with Baby K and her new toys. She was LOVING it! I have video of her eating her cake but I'm guessing it will be Wednesday or so before I will get it posted.

Sunday we went to my grandma's house (Baby K's Great Grandma) and had a fun afternoon and evening spending time with my family. We sang Happy Birthday again, since it is actually her birthday, and let her dig into her cake - the GIANT cupcake.

We are so grateful for the blessing of our sweet daughter. Thank you everyone for celebrating with us! Baby K says, "Thank you," and she loves you and would like to blow you a kiss! :)

Party Day

Today is Baby K's bday party. I am busy frosting cupcakes and getting food ready and if I'm lucky I'll get a shower before the big party. :) Pictures will be posted later this weekend.
I spent last night making the cake and cupcakes and used a family favorite chocolate cake recipe that my mom made for us often. She didn't really make it for birthdays but just for a special treat. I think it's kind of special that i'm using it for Baby K's birthday cake.

The other party today is the K-State Party. Wish I could be two places at once. Football season starts today, it's a home game & Bill is back! Oh how I wish I could drive up for the 2nd half, throw on my purple and yell "First Down!" and "Touch Down!" Another day.

Well, I'm off to do more party prep. :)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! (it's really tomorrow but we will celebrate for days!)

Happy Mothers Car Seat

After reading and researching and asking moms and dads what they thought we finally decided on a convertible car seat. Originally, our thought was to get the Alph*a Ome*ga by safety 1s*t but our car has side impact air bags and we felt there wasn't enough on the seat to protect baby's head from the air bags should they go off.
Then we thought we would but the gra*co seat but learned it is only tested by US standards which is impacts up to 35mph. Everyone kept telling us to get a Br*itax. Listen people - those are expensive! We resisted. Then we learned that they are made in the US but they are made to the European standards tested to 55mph of impact. Humph.
After looking online we found a Bri*tax Roundabout for the same price as the other seats I mentioned previously. Nice! We ordered the seat online through Amaz*on from a company called Happy Mothers. The seat got here in a very timely manner and I opened it yesterday to find they sent the wrong color. Shoot.
Then we call the company, who says their hours are 10am to 6pm Eastern time (New Jersey). We call at what is 5:30 their time and get a recording that says they are closed, please call back during their regular hours. WHAT?! Hello, who decided to leave work 30 min early????? We have an issue!
Today my husband called in the morning. A very nice lady helped him and said they would send us a shipping label and send the shipping company to pick it up. We are to call Happy Mothers as soon as the seat is picked up and they will ship the correct color. When asked why no one answered the phone last night the lady said, "Really we close at 5pm but occasionally we are here until 6pm so that's why the recording says that."
In what world does that make sense? Sounds like they run on Island time or China time or something.
Results are still pending if this company is a place of their word. I will let you know if they make the black list or if they are reputable.

Oh becareful little eyes what you see...

Yesterday I was telling some friends that Baby K is so silly, she has started licking her plate after she finishes her meal. My friend says to me, "Oh no, how much time has she been spending around [my husband]?" I just laugh. Her husband has fed Baby K so many random things, chicken between her toes, lemon wedges, jalapenos, etc. She LOVES Mr. J and Mr. J loves her.
My friend goes on to say that her husband likes to teach kids two things, to lick their plate and to eat spray whip from the can. We laugh.
Just over 24 hours later while I was preparing a snack for my sweet baby and she was "cleaning the fridge" (she loves to empty the bottom shelf when the door is open), I set the snack on the table and came back to the fridge to find she had put the spray whip can in her mouth!
Just so you know, I don't think Mr. J taught her this. I think it just looked like a bottle to her. And also for your information she did not get any out of the can, it has been washed and placed on a higher shelf. And finally no, we will not be serving the spray whip to any guests.

Baby K Draws a Picture

Last night while I was writing some cards Baby K picked up a pen and started writing on a piece of paper. Smart girl! I remembered she has some cray*ons given to her from an art teacher. We gave Baby K a blank piece of paper and to start with just one cra*yon. She did pretty good and it was awhile before she started trying to eat her crayo*ns and we had to stop the creative process. :)
I hope you will enjoy these fun pictures of Baby K's 1st drawing. It is of course posted proudly on our refrigerator.

Playing Catch Up

My husband took all last week off, so we have been having lots of family time and now I'm playing catch up. I should have used the opportunity to have extra hands around the house to clean and do laundry and start the week off with a clean slate, but instead we had lots of quality time together and did a few chores that have been at the bottom of the list for a long time (cleaning out the laundry room storage! Thanks Husband!).

The 1st two days of vacation we spent in Omaha. We went to the Omaha Zoo, ate lots of food and tried to take in as much of Nebraska Furniture Mart as Baby K would tollerate.

I still have lots to do but I know there are some waiting to see pictures so here are a couple for ya until I have time to put up a proper post. :)

Picture and a Sneak Peek...

Here is a fun picture from last week and a sneak peek of my first attempt at Baby K's birthday invite. There are some changes I want to make and I will be adding a very recent never before seen picture to take up most of the space on the left. You will notice I put fake information on the invite as well since I am posting it here for all the world to see.
anyway...on with the pictures. :)

Stuck

I'm stuck. I've been thinking about what would be the best way to buy music and play music for my sweet baby.
Here is my struggle, small CD player or MP3 player & doc?
I'm not technical at all. I have a cell phone that is a year old. My computer is 8yrs old or more. I do not have an Ipo*d or anything like it. I had a blu*etooth for my old phone but my new phone won't pair up to it, so I don't use it anymore. Until I got married 2 1/2 years ago I didn't even have a digital camera. LOL

I want to have more music playing in our house for Baby K to enjoy. We do have 3 children's CDs for her and I play them in my computer sometimes (but it's old & running the CD makes it tired like 2 songs in so the fan kicks in and is SO loud you can't enjoy the music or hear it in the next room)

Baby K's birthday is coming up in like 6weeks. What should we get her?
Mp3 player? docking station - can we find good kids music to download? Where do you get yours? is it crazy to get a baby an Ip*od?
CD player? I'm for this b/c it's cheap! Well, kind of it's cheap, you have to buy CD's and then you have more junk laying around the house...

What are your thoughts?
What music do your kids listen to?
Any suggestions on music to buy for our sweet Baby K who I know would love to boogie if she just had some good tunes! ;)

Thanks for your thoughts!
This frugal non tech wife/mommy needs help.

Mommy, can I wear your shoes?

For weeks now Baby K keeps finding my shoes around the house and tries to put them on her feet. The funny part is she has only wore shoes a few times to church - like less than 5 times. She's a smart gal & knows these flip flops are for feet but is angry she can't get them on HER feet!
Watch this funny video.

Yummy Summer Dinner

I cannot take credit for this picture. It is from the blog Chaos in the Kitchen and there is a link to the recipe later in this post.

I've been trying some new things for dinner this summer. What I've learned about myself is that mexican food almost always sounds good to me in the summer and I have a new found addiction to cooking with Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce! I knew I liked those peppers but I am cooking with them every chance I get these days. The sweet, the smokey, the spice - glorious! :)

Last night I made Quesadilla Pie. Check out the recipe and know that you can fill it with whatever you would like. I used some leftover chicken we had, tomatoes, green onion & red onion, black beans, cheese, tomatoes & chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (because I'm in love with them! I'd marry them but Adam snagged me 1st! lol)

You can find the recipe and step-by-step pictures at
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/quesadilla_pie/



For dessert we had Quesadilla S'Mores.
http://chaosinthekitchen.com/2008/10/do-you-want-smore/
I found these through Foodgawker and have been wanting to try them. The recipe didn't list exact portions of ingredients and I WAY WAY WAAAAY over did it on the filling! Better luck next time I guess. So ours were kind of gross - Chocolate & Marshmallow oosing out the sides, all over my fingers in a sticky MESS!
HOWEVER, if made correctly (filled in moderation) I really believe these easy yummy treats are a great summer dessert and would be even better if served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Happy Eating!

Silly Baby...

Our daughter is funny! Here are some pictures of her and all her cuteness in the past few days.
Today Baby A is at our house and while she was playing in the exersaucer Baby K decided she wanted to play underneath it! Also today, Baby K pulled up all the way to her feet to stand under the table. She has done this once before but I missed it - today I caught it on film! And finally some pictures of her eating blueberries and yogurt but the best part is that she was sitting leaning back in her chair with her foot up all casual - then she started laughing when I started taking pics and laughing at her laid back approach to breakfast.

Yes, PLEASE!

I was looking up recipes for cookie bars tonight in hopes of finding something wonderful to get out of the rut of the recipes I've made dozens of times (hee hee pun intended!).
And I found this jewel.
At least I hope it's a jewel, the ingredients look more than promising! Check it out...
Sadly, there were no pictures.
Do I want to try these? Do I want these for my birthday (less than a month away now!)?
Yes, PLEASE! (although I'm thinkin' leave out the walnuts, what are they in there for?)

Coffee Bars
The rocky tops on these luscious bar cookies come from chocolate-covered coffee beans and crushed toffee bars.

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon Kahlúa or strong brewed coffee
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate-covered coffee beans, chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped English toffee-flavored candy bars

Beat 3/4 cup butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add brown sugar, beating well. Add egg yolk, beating well. Add flour, coffee granules, and salt, stirring just until blended. Using greased fingers, press dough into bottom of a lightly greased 13" x 9" x 2" pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Set aside.

Combine sweetened condensed milk and 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, and stir in Kahlúa. Pour mixture over prepared crust. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with chopped coffee beans and toffee bars while still warm. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill until firm. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into bars.

Yield: 3 dozen