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!