Visiting with Santa

We had planned to go see Santa this past Sunday, but when Hayden came down with pink eye, we had to put those plans on hold.  We wanted to give him 24 hours of being on the eye drops to make sure he wasn't contagious.  Our new game plan was to go see Santa on Tuesday.  Monday night, Kevin called to say he had to work overtime, so we once again pushed our plans back.  Kevin wasn't able to sleep in Tuesday morning (like he needed to), so we went ahead and drove up to Santa Claus, Indiana and had a visit with Santa.  It worked out perfectly!  Hardly anyone was there!

Here are a few pictures from our little visit...

Santa wanted to chat with Hayden and Allie for a bit before we sat Krissy on his lap.  He sure is a smart fellow because Krissy wasn't scared a bit!  I thought she may be my crier this year, but she was happy as could be.

 Confession:  I didn't have the heart to tell Santa he was busting out of his shirt :-X 

I'll be doing some cropping before I print this picture...

Allie telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas...  "The kitty from Cracker Barrel" and she said she didn't want anything else.  Good thing Daddy got that taken care of for us!

Hayden telling Santa what he wanted.  "Bow and arrow, walkie talkies, a real phone (that's not happening!), and a sword that pops up (also from Cracker Barrel)."

Hayden signing the nice list - he signed Allie's name too.

They loved walking through the Christmas store.  Krissy wanted to walk through, but she doesn't have a great track record with being around breakable things, so we held her the whole time!

I couldn't leave without a piece of chocolate walnut fudge (my favorite kind!).  It was a bit dry, but will hold me over until I get around to trying to make my own!

And because the kids just happened to coordinate nicely, I decided when we got home I'd take the pictures for my last big project I needed to do.... my hospital door poster!  It was $10ish from Walmart and was ready in 1 hour.  I'd highly recommend them :)

Snow Day Pics

We have enjoyed all the snow that fell last week and this past weekend!  As I was sitting inside with Krissy (she was napping), I kept hearing screams and squeals of happiness and thought I needed to go out and take some pictures to remember the moment.  Kevin's shift got called off and he was able to take the kids out and burn off some energy!  Dad's sure are great, aren't they?  Here's a round of pictures from our first snow of the season!

CeCe enjoyed all the company!

She's such a pretty doggy!

Hayden and CeCe vs Daddy and Allie

Hayden got a cheap shot!

And my pampered kitty, snuggled in a quilt, watching everyone play from inside.

Lasagna Bake

Of all the recipes I've ever posted to my blog, this is one you MUST try (if you like lasagna that is)!  I made this recipe according to the directions a few weeks ago and Kevin and I liked it but weren't wowed by it.  It needed more sauce (I never say that about anything).   I was looking for dinner ideas on Pinterest and started looking through recipes I'd pinned.  I saw this recipe again and thought I'd give it another try.  Boy am I glad I did!  Kevin ate his at work and texted me saying, "This is AMAZING" - and I agreed.  I love lasagna, but hate how long it takes to assemble, how it dirties my whole kitchen, and it can get pretty pricey.

Another reason I love this recipe is I can get all my ingredients at Aldi = a cheap meal.... and actually we get two meals out of it!  This is originally a Pioneer Woman recipe (her recipe is called Sour Cream Noodle Bake), but I changed it up a bit.  Here's the link to the original.

Lasagna Bake 
Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds ground beef
• 3 – 8oz cans tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 12 ounce package egg noodles
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cup small curd cottage cheese
• 1 24 oz jar of traditional pasta sauce 
•  2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain fat, and then add tomato sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Cook egg noddles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine sour cram and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir.
5. To assemble, add half of the noodles to a greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, add half the jar of pasta sauce, then sprinkle on half the sharp cheddar. Repeat with noodle, meat, sauce then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.
6. Take out of the oven and let set for 5 minutes.  Serve with crusty garlic bread and green beans! 

Iced Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I was convinced by the picture that they couldn't be bad!  I have to admit that I love those cheapo iced oatmeal cookies at Walmart, so I could only imagine how good the homemade would be.

The recipe came from the blog Mother Thyme and the original can be found here. (Her picture and my picture - yeah, hers are prettier!)

Ingredients:
2 C old fashioned oats
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 sticks butter, softened
1 C light brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze:
2 C Sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Put oats in a food processor and process until coarse (about 10 seconds)
• Mix oats with flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.
• Using a mixer, cream butter and sugars
• Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla extract
• Gradually add in flour mixture until combined
• Use a large cookie scoop (about 2 Tbsp) and scoop out dough.  Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  I baked 8 cookies at a time on my largest cookie sheet.  They spread out, so make sure you leave plenty of room to do so!
• Bake 12-14 mins (12 minutes leaves you with a slightly crisp edge, but I like this kind of cookie more done and crispy/crunchy.)
• Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes!  They will fall apart if you try to move them any sooner.
• Mix sugar and milk together in a bowl.
• Quickly dip tops of cookies into glaze and let the excess drip off. (I actually used a butter knife and iced mine because my glaze was a little too thick - and I used 3tbsp milk - next time I'll try 4tbsp!) 
• Let the glaze dry and store in an air tight container!

My kids loved these cookies, and I also thought they were great!  It made 30 big cookies, so share with someone or put them in the freezer (I did both!).  

20 Highlights from my 20's

Today is my 30th Birthday!  I can't remember every single birthday from the last 30 years, but I don't remember there ever being snow on the ground during my birthday... so, thank you Mother Nature for that lovely gift!

My birthday really isn't that exciting to me anymore.  I still enjoy it, but I don't get too worked up about celebrating turning another year older.  Growing up, I use to wonder why my parents didn't make a big deal out of their birthday.  Now that I'm getting older, it seems silly to make a huge fuss about it.  I really have no good or bad feelings about turning 30.  I get a lot more excited for my kid's birthdays.

With that said, there were a ton of great things that happened to me in my 20's!  I feel like that's really when my life started.  Here's a list of 20 highlights (with some pictures) from the last 10 years in chronological order :)!

1. I met Kevin in 2004, 5 weeks before I turned 21.   
   
2. I took cake decorating classes in 2005, which led to a hobby I loved.  I took tons of orders over the last 10 years.  I've made many wedding cakes (including my own) and all my kids birthday cakes!
3. Kevin and I got engaged December 8, 2006.
4. I graduated college from USI the day after Kevin proposed.   
   
5. I got my first "real job" at Bank of Evansville.  I started out as the receptionist, and a few months later moved to a teller position.  I think I started in January of 2007.
6. I got married April 7, 2007.   We were the second wedding at our church's chapel, and the construction still wasn't completely done when we got married!
   
7. In June of 2007, I got baby Harry!  He was the ugliest, most pathetic looking kitten, but I loved him as soon as I saw him!   He's been the best kitty a girl could ask for. 
   
8. Kevin and I were enjoying being newly married, living together, riding his motorcycle, eating out for every meal (I never cooked - hard to believe!) and then life did a 180.  On August 27, 2007 I took a positive pregnancy test.  We had talked about how fun it would be to have a baby, but had NO idea what we were getting in to, or how fast we'd get pregnant! No experience in the world could have changed me like motherhood did. 
   
9. May 8, 2008, we had our first {BIG} baby, Hayden Dale. 10lbs 6oz of a little person I had no idea what to do with! 
   
10. I quit my full time job to be a full time stay at home mom shortly after Hayden's birth. 
11. We moved from our little 800 sqft house on Keck Ave to a house almost double the size in Newburgh.  We (Kevin, my dad, his dad, neighbors, and family friends) spent 3 months gutting and remodeling our new house.
    
    
    
    
12. In December of 2009, I found out I was pregnant again.  My little Allie Elizabeth was born August 5, 2010.  I never dreamed I'd have a little girl; I always pictured myself with all boys, so she was a little hairy angel in my eyes!
    
13. We got a crazy wild puppy named TJ in April of 2011.  I thought getting a dog was just the next step in having a happy little family, but I realized that I'm not as much of a dog lover as a cat lover.  We had TJ for 14 months and he was a great, mischievous, beautiful doggy.
    
14. I started my newest favorite hobby of sewing in January of 2012.
15. On September 20, 2012 we welcomed our third baby, another girl, Krissy Alexandra.  That first year with her proved to be my hardest as a SAHM, but I learned and grew so much.  I'm loving her big personality and huge smile!
    
16. April of 2013 I found out I was pregnant again.  Krissy was just 6 months old.  We knew we wanted a 4th baby, but hadn't planned on it happening when it did.  Looking back, I wouldn't change it for the world!  We found out this past summer we were having a baby boy - 2 boys and 2 girls.  I love the balance and can't wait to meet him! :)
17. In June of 2013, we got a new puppy named CeCe.  We traveled just over 3 hours to a little town by St. Louis to get her.  Even though I acknowledge I'm not a dog person, we still felt like we needed a dog after TJ's untimely death.
    
    
    
    
18. I was fortunate to be able to take three great vacations.  We went on a Carribean cruise for our honeymoon in 2007.  We went to Utah to visit my sister in January of 2008 when I was pregnant with Hayden.  We also took a family trip to Destin, Florida in 2010 while I was pregnant with Krissy.  
    
    
    
    
19. I made some fanstastic life-long friendships over the last 10 years.
20. I became an aunt to three little girls:  Addison, Eleanor, and Olive.  I know how much my kids have changed and impacted my life, so it was neat to see my brother and sister go through that too.   

When I turned 20, if you would've had me predict this list, I don't think I would have predicted a single thing right.  I probably would have listed places I wanted to travel, jobs and cars I wanted, crazy pets I owned, and been proud of a list of designer things I owned.  I didn't have much interest in finding a man to marry because I was "Miss Independant!", or so I thought :)  This life I'm living is nothing I would have expected for myself, but it's so so so much better, fulfilling, and at times more challenging than anything I could have ever imagined!  I'm making no guesses for how my 30s will be, but I'm excited to live the next ten years .... I type this as Allie is standing on our end table singing at the top of her lungs, Hayden is running around in his underwear, and Krissy is being her sneaky self getting into things she shouldn't be playing with.  Kevin just woke up from working a long night of overtime.  I'm blessed to have this wonderful little life :)  Hello 30... I welcome you with open arms!

Weekly Happenings Novemberm 30-December 6

How is it possible to have so much excitement wrapped up in one month?!  In December, I turn 30, we celebrate Christmas, we get to see lots of friends and family, AND we will welcome our new baby boy!  Seems like a great month is in store!

Here's some highlights from the last week!

1.  I went on a mini cooking baking spree!  After I finish this post, I'm going to be making my third new cookie recipe!  (The first two cookie recipes were posted this week.)  I also would like to start making some Christmas candies!  I love baking Christmas goodies!!!

2.  This past Tuesday I had to do my pre-admission bloodwork, get an ultrasound to check growth, and see the doctor.  The ultrasound showed the baby measuring 6lbs 6oz, but my doctor said the ultrasound lady made a note that she felt like she didn't get a good head measurement and he may be bigger than her estimated guess.  Doctor Cave also changed my induction date to December 26, since she won't be in the office on the 23rd.  I have mixed feelings about that date... I'm glad we will get to do our "normal" Christmas morning routine, but his birthday will be the day after Christmas!  Poor kid...  Oh I almost forgot the most exciting news from the ultrasound!  He has some hair!  At the last ultrasound they didn't see any hair, and I had accepted the fact this baby would be born bald!  I'm wondering if his hair will be like Allie's (a ton of hair), or if his will be like Krissy's old man hair (bald on top, but a ton in the back).   

3.  Yesterday we completed our 100th day of school with Hayden!  I'm hoping to do school 2-3 more weeks before we stop for a month long break.  Right now we are working on basic addition, handwriting, and long vowel sounds.  He has reading "homework" twice a week that he does with Kevin, and his reading skills are really starting to develop!  It's been fun to watch him learn!

4.  On Cyber Monday I purchased my last Christmas gift!  We have spent the week getting all kinds of goodies delivered to us!  We just got the last two gifts for the girls in the mail yesterday and I'm planning to wrap gifts in the next week or two after the kids go to bed. 

The kids LOVED playing in all my empty boxes...

5. Our elf on the shelf came back on December 1st.  Hayden named him Blue the first year we had him.  The kids are so excited to find where Blue's hiding every morning.  So many people's elves bring their kids presents.... and our elf is totally slacking.  Maybe I'll get something better planned for our next week with Blue... but if not, there's always next year!

Other fun things from the week:

• I got to meet my friend Amy for lunch!  She brought me my first birthday gift: a fun polka-dot scarf and personalized family ornament for our Christmas tree!  

  

  Our babies are about a month apart! 

   
  
  
• CeCe got to play in her first snow!

  

  She was waiting for breakfast, so it's not a great pic.... but she ran and ran through the snow, and sniffed and chased the snow.  It was cute to watch :)

• I got a cell phone.  I was due for an upgrade and Kevin was needing a new one, so I passed down mine to him, and got the 5S.  So far, I can tell the camera is better and it seems a bit lighter.  I think it will be a good phone for the next 2 years!  :)  I also found an adorable panda cover for it, and I heart pandas! 
  
  
  

Peanut Butter Cookies

Happy National Cookie Day!

I've been wanting to try this peanut butter cookie recipe for months.  I bought the ingredients months ago and just kept putting off making them.  None of my family loves peanut butter cookies quite like I do, so I kept holding off making them until they really sounded good to me! 

One of the reviews of this recipe said the cookies tasted like Subway's peanut butter cookies.  I can't go to Subway without getting one of their peanut butter cookies.  I love them, more than their chocolate chip!

So my thoughts on these cookies:

• They may be as perfect as a peanut butter cookie can get.  
• They are super nutty (lots of little peanut chunks in the cookies)
• The recipe makes a ton of cookies, so half it if you aren't sharing with anyone.
• These cookies reach perfection with the addition of a peanut butter chip (which can sometimes be hard to find), or a semi-sweet chocolate chip.  The only thing I didn't like about the chocolate is it took away from the peanut butter flavor.
• You don't want to over bake the cookies.  12 mins max, even if they don't look done!
• I preferred these cookies cooled (they were more chewy).
• They bake SO pretty!

The recipe is adapted from food.com and here's the link to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 lb butter, salted (2 sticks)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup extra-crunchy Jif peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup dry roasted salted peanut, ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses (about 1 cup, packed)

2 C peanut butter chips (or chocolate chips)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. 

With electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated, then add the peanut butter chips.(Sidenote: I thought the dough seemed a hair too wet, but it turns out perfect!)

Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time (I used my largest cookie scoop), roll into large balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Press each dough ball with back of dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design (you can skip this step if you want a thicker cookie). Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.  I actually put half the batch in the freezer and I'm anxious to see how well they taste once they are thawed!

Kevin, Krissy, and I loved the cookies, but my other two didn't want much to do with them.  Maybe as they get older they will love them?  This is definitely my "go-to" peanut butter cookie recipe from now on!

Chewy Sugar Cookies

I've been in a baking mood lately - probably because Christmas is approaching and I always get in a baking mood the month of December!  I have several cookie recipes I've been wanting to try, and with National Cookie Day approaching (Wednesday, December 4th), I felt inspired to try some of these recipes I've been hanging on to!

This first recipe is for sugar cookies rolled in sugar.  They aren't iced.  Kevin's thoughts of them were "I can't imagine a sugar cookie without icing being any better than this".  I agreed.  I have fond memories of eating slice-and-bake cookies sprinkled with sugar while I was growing up, and these blow the slice-and-bake out of the water.  My kids loved them too, but I expected that since they were colorful and sugary! 

The recipe is from Baking Away and the link can be found here.
Makes @ 30 cookies
Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup colored sugar sprinkles for rolling cookies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in colored sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

These cookies lasted about 24 hours at my house.  I preferred them cooled rather than warm out of the oven.  They may be a hair dry come day 2, so eat and share them on day 1!  My one and only little complaint is I wish they would be a hair thicker, but they are full of sugary and buttery flavor :)  Enjoy!