M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are colorful, chocolate filled, little gems.  I love them.   They are thick and chewy and that's just the way I like my cookies.  The first time I had one was a couple years ago.  My sister in law made them, and I realized the recipe she made was one I pinned and wanted to try.   Hers were amazing, and mine turn out consistently great every time I make them.  Since I don't frequently have mini M&Ms, I forget about them and how much I love them. 

The batch makes about 28 cookies for me.  I haven't changed the original recipe at all.  It is from a site called Picky Palate.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all purpose Gold Medal Flour
• 3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4  cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 or 1-1/2 cups Mini M&Ms

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream your butter and sugars until well combined. Add your egg and vanilla mixing to combine. Add your flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. Add chips and m and m’s stirring to combine.
3. With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet. Enjoy!

Valentines Weekend Review 2/14/16 - Valentine's Day

Sunday, the 14th, I made the kids a cute birdy Valentine breakfast.  The kids opened Valentines (from Kevin's parents) and we took some time to hang Hayden's new bird feeder (a gift from my parents after his baptism).  It was a very low-key day spent in our pjs! 

I did meal prep throughout the day for the dinner I had planned for the evening.  Normally we get a sitter for the kids and Kevin and I take an evening to ourselves, but we have had several date nights lately and I was looking forward to a family date night.  As I was putting the finishing touches on dinner, I made all the kids and Kevin go to the bedrooms while I set the table with Valentines decorations and our first course.  We had boys escort the girls to their seats.  Everyone ooh'ed and aaaah'ed over the three courses I made.

On the menu:  Salad with mixed greens, cucumber, carrots, and ranch.....  Beef tips, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli..... Chocolate fondue with pineapple, strawberries, rice krispie treats, brownies, pretzels, and marshmallows.  We had pink pina coladas (the kids were virgin drinks) and water to drink.  It was such a special evening at home and I think the kids will remember how much fun it was!  I think I enjoyed this Valentine's dinner more than any others in years past, so we may have started a new family tradition!

Most of my supplies (napkins, hearts, table cloth) came from the Dollar Tree!  Kevin gave me the roses the day before.

Krissy loved the chocolate fondue so much she actually drank it with her straw! hahaha

After we did dishes and put the kids to bed, we crashed on the couch! 

Hayden's Cedar Chest

As soon as Hayden decided he wanted to be baptized, I began to start thinking about a gift we could give him that he wouldn't outgrow and he could keep forever.  My parents gave me a gold cross necklace when I made the decision to get baptized and I remember being so surprised by the gift and loving it.  I wanted him to feel the same way, but jewelry didn't seem like the right way to go.  I remembered how much I wanted a cedar chest when I was growing up, and that's what sparked this project.  The idea grew into a plan and I recruited some of the best woodworkers around (Kevin, my dad, and a family friend named Steve) and my vision became a beautiful, hand crafted, labor of love, reality. 

These are the 9 cedar boards that were picked out of a lumber yard by my dad.  They don't look like much right there!

When the wood was purchased, I'm not going to lie, it wasn't what I expected it to look like.  Steve told me the wood needed sanded.  That made sense.  I thought I was going to the shop to help finalize plans, but I got lucky enough to help start the sanding process!  The before and after pictures of the wood were amazing to me!

These were the plans that were drawn up... and Allie signed off on them :)

Kevin and my dad and Steve spent two solid days building this.  The craftsmen ship is really something for them to be so proud of!  Kevin kept sending me picture updates!

This was the end of day 1.  It was really coming together!

The last day of work, Kevin and Steven put finishing touches on it.  Kevin added the 7dark button holes on top so he could remember he got it when he was 7.  :)  The pictures don't do it justice.  It's so much prettier in person!

We kept it a secret from Hayden the whole time it was being built!

He says it's his favorite gift ever!  He wants a lock on it so he can put special things in there and "the babies won't get it".  Guess that's typical big brother thoughts!  We have a few more little things to do to it, but I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Valentines Weekend Review 2/13/16 - Hayden's Baptism

The Saturday, the 13th, I spent the morning and afternoon dabbling in one of my favorite hobbies (cake decorating).  We had plans for Hayden to get baptized that evening and I thought it was only appropriate to celebrate with cake.  My parents came by that afternoon to drop off a baptism gift that my dad and Kevin had been working on for Hayden (next post).

He made the decision to get baptized about 4 weeks ago, but we wanted to wait for a Saturday Kevin was off work, and this was the soonest we could do it.  It also gave Kevin time to work on and finish his gift from us!  Throughout the week I kept asking Kevin if he wanted to practice what he was going to say and he kept acting like I was over-planning, but I knew he'd get nervous when the time came...and I was right!  We did do a run though of what he was going to say a couple times and you wouldn't have known he was nervous.  He did great and said everything he planned to say.  After Hayden got baptized, he came back and sat with me and kept saying, "I'm so excited!"  The church gave him a little packet with a new bible and papers.  He kept flipping through his grown-up bible during church.  At one point he stopped and looked at me with those big hazel eyes and a big smile on his face and said, "I'm going to read it every day!"  Most of our closest family and friends were there to celebrate with us, and we all went to dinner afterwards at Hayden's favorite spot, Olive Garden.  It was a perfect evening!

There was one other baptism before Hayden had his turn.

Here's a video clip of the baptism!

 

The couple in the center of the picture are the ones that taught Hayden's baptism class.  They came over after church to congratulate him. 

"Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  Matthew 4:19

Valentines Weekend Review 2/12/16 - Father Daughter Dance

The days leading up to and the actual Valentines Day were perfect!  I couldn't have thought of a more perfect way to celebrate "love" than all the ways we were able to celebrate it this year!  Parent/kid date nights, Hayden accepting Jesus into his heart, and a fun, festive Valentine's dinner to wrap it all up! 

Friday, the 12th, Hayden had an unexpected snow day, so we were happy to have him home all day!  I baked while the kids played and watched movies.  Kevin took half a day off work, so he could take Allie and Krissy to our church hosted Father-Daughter dance that evening.  The girls look forward to this all year long!  I gave them baths, did their hair, put on their dresses and sparkly shoes, and waited for grandparents to come by and see the three of them off.  They had O'Charley's for dinner and were at the dance by 6:30.
The boys and I planned on having a date night too. A family friend had a family member pass away, so before we started our date, we had to make a stop at the funeral home.  I made some treats for the family and we dropped those off.  Hayden suggested Chinese for dinner and I'm always up for that!  Austin loved his food, and Hayden was a bit more picky, but still enjoyed his.

Kevin got both of the girls heart necklaces to wear to the dance.

 Both girls had crowns but Allie didn't want to wear hers.  We also left her glasses at home too since we had an accident with them earlier in the week!

The food tray I delivered to the funeral home.

Austin working on cleaning his plate :)