A Chill Weekend

All the time I feel like I post about how busy we are and all the super awesome stuff we do. To be honest, AR is just as content to stay home and play so that's what we did for the most part this weekend. It was just a nice, chill weekend! I was off work on Friday so we did a couple fun things outside of the house but for the most part, we stuck close to home.

We're dogsitting so first thing Friday morning, we took Char Char for a walk along the trail by our house. I'm slowly trying to ease into the exercise thing so we did lots of stuff to stay active this weekend, too.

Ever since we went ice skating over winter break, AR has been begging to go back. They had open skate on Friday morning and the place was dead. We basically had the rink to ourselves, not more than 10 people there. There was a teenage figure skater there named Faith. She was so sweet to AR, who kept skating up to her and asking her questions. Love teenagers out there like that! They seriously are role models to little ones like AR and their simple interactions with them make a world of difference!

I used a scooter too this time so after about an hour, I was feeling pretty confident to go without it. Here's AR and I skating together. You can't tell in the video but she doesn't quite understand not to cut me off or we'll both tumble! I got a great arm workout as I would basically pick her up with one arm to keep us both from falling.



Now, here's Momma ice dancing... don't be jealous of my moves!



Early Friday evening, we went to my work to go swimming with AR's school. We saw old friends, we met new friends, and one of her new friends had this cool mermaid tail. AR was begging to try it the whole time we were there and the little girl was gracious enough to let her try it out.

We now officially have started her birthday list and guess what's on the top of the list?



After swimming, we headed to Main Street to meet up with Jenni and her family.  We met at Sugar Cubed which is a new candy store. They were having a s'mores night! My sweet girl, taking after her momma, picked a Reese's peanut butter cup to go on her s'more.

For $8, we got 3 s'mores and a special drink. We had the Capt'n Cutler's Cooler... blue sprite, lemonade, and Swedish fish. It was delish to say the least!

AR was diggin' the s'more, no matter how messy it was!

Okay then seriously we stayed home, or around home, the rest of the weekend! Saturday we loaded up the dog we are dogsitting and headed to a park in our neighborhood that we knew no one would be at. It's such a cute playground, tucked away in the middle of a bunch of houses so it's nice because we usually have it all to ourselves. It was almost 70 degrees so we decided we were going to spend the majority of the day outside if we could.

Of course, we had to do silly things with Char Char like put her in the baby swing, ride down the slide, and sit beside AR in the police car. ***No dogs were harmed in this trip to the playground. Both child and dog had a blast and spent the majority of the time laughing and barking at each other.***

We headed back home, played in the backyard some with both dogs then decided to get out our bikes. We had a bit of a crash and burn, scary accident but we both survived and aren't too scarred for life. After lunch and a nap, AR rode her bike while I walked to the 7-11 for a slurpee run. FYI-get the app and free small slurpees for the next 3 weekends! On the way back, we stopped at the playground in our backyard and she ran into some friends from school. Overall, it was an awesome, low-key, close to home day!

Sunday morning, we woke up and did some yoga per AR's request. She was the teacher and I was her student. Here we are in whale pose aka locust.

Saturday night I opened the freezer and saw a bag of chocolate chips. I decided to try my hand at making homemade muffins. After yoga, we made some using this recipe  plus we added some sugar sprinkles. They were AMAZING!!! Tasted just like Dunkin Donuts muffins, yum!!! Best part is that we have breakfast for the rest of the week. Thank you to our neighbor who let us borrow some vanilla!

Sunday was overcast and windy so we met up with some Jenni again at the mall so the girls could play and burn off more energy. AR had been asking for awhile to go to the playground. She got three this weekend so she should be happy! After that, we came home and she played in the backyard with the dogs while I made lunch and folded laundry. She's now quietly napping and when she gets up, it'll be time to start getting ready for the school week. Luckily, tomorrow starts National Lutheran Schools Week so it's pajama day-yah for pajamas on Monday! She asked me if I got to wear pajamas to work and I said, "I wish, baby, I wish..."

Peanut Butter Banana Bread...

...every week, my husband swears he eats a banana for breakfast every day. So every week, I buy 5 bananas and every week there's at least 1 or 2 going brown. Usually AR or I will sacrifice and eat the extremely ripe banana but Saturday, I had THREE sitting on the counter turning black. I had a huge jar of peanut butter too so I searched "peanut butter banana bread" and luckily, I had all the ingredients that the first recipe called for and it actually turned out quite tasty!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients 

Bread

 

1.5 cups mashed ripe banana (I used all three)

1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used Greek)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

6.75 oz all-purpose flour (about 1.5 cups)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

3/4 cup baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts (I didn't have this so I left it out)

Cooking spray

 

Glaze

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon 1% low-fat milk

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

 

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. 2. To prepare bread, combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat until blended.
3. 3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; cool.
4. 4. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar, milk, and 1 tablespoon peanut butter in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over bread.

I found the recipe here and apparently it was from:

Maureen Callahan, Cooking Light
OCTOBER 2010

 

It was super moist and I loved the glaze on top! I also liked using the yogurt instead of oil so I might keep that on hand as well. If I make it again, I'll definitely add the chopped peanuts and maybe even chocolate chips.

Chocolate Check-In Week 2...

...week 2 and I'm still going strong! Also increased my mileage from a mile per day to 1.25 miles. I know it's not that big of a difference but since I still have 14 weeks to the Hot Chocolate 15/5k so I'm trying not to burn myself out and to ease back into things.

Friday, September 6-130 squats and one messy mile (11:48) that I need NOT want to do but I kept telling myself it would be done in less than 12 minutes. Glad I pushed through the mental block.

Saturday, September 7-Matt went dove hunting at 4am!?! No worries, it was a gorgeous day out so AR went for a mile run/walk. When we got back, I did 135 squats while she ate breakfast. AR also started gymnastics today which meant I was chasing after her, holding her on the bars and jumping in the foam ball pit to get her out so surely, that counts as a workout, right?

Sunday, September 8-Work up to a hot, humid morning. AR and I went for another mile walk/run and then I did 140 squats while she ate lunch.

Monday, September 9-Walked/ran a mile with AR, rest day for squats plus sweated it out and chased after AR at the Zoo.

Tuesday, September 10-Did 150 squats, left work a little early to get my run in before I had to pick up AR...so glad I did this. I was already feeling bad and by the time it was AR's bedtime, I just wanted to lay in bed and not move. Luckily, I ran 1.25 miles in 15:31 so I'm glad I got it over with early.

Wednesday, September 11-Had to take AR to the sitter's this morning so while she ate blueberries and milk in Daddy's chair, I did 155 squats for her entertainment. Mid-morning, I realized I had workout clothes at my desk so I snuck in 1.25 miles in 14:08 before I left to go get AR. Amazing what a good treadmill can do! My shins are hurting so I iced them off and on all evening.

Thursday, September 12-I did 160 squats but took a rest from running today since I've ran 10 days straight. My shins are still sore so I iced some more but then I went to a college campus and I forgot how much parking sucks there and how hilly colleges are.

Totals for the Week
Squats: 870
Miles: 6.5

Challenge: Run/walk for 30 minutes at least 4 times this week. That should earn you enough calories to have a piece of chocolate!

As I've started back with running, I remember another reason why I love it (and also many reasons why I hate it...it's one of those love/hate relationships). Despite being 200+ pounds, having hips as wide as China and daily fighting off my love of peanut butter, that last quarter of a mile, I always turn the speed up and really push myself. I have quite the runner's kick if I do say so myself. During that last .25 miles and I'm watching the mileage counter increase, I just run as hard as I can and nothing else matters...not that I ate that extra cupcake or my jeans won't zip or even that my butt is getting wider but the second, in that last minute of the mile, I feel like I'm the fastest runner in the whole wide world and that, my friends, makes running "fun" for me.

What I've Done with Pinterest...

...sorry, I could NOT come up with a good title for this post and, of course, I don't have pictures. I've done some things on Pinterest lately and my mom has done a TON of things, I think I've got her addicted. I wanted to share some of the things I've done/made. Click on title for link back to original directions/blog.

Cake Batter Dip
1 recipe 18 oz cake mix
1.5 cups of plain yogurt
2 cups whipped topping
Mix together and serve with vanilla wagers, animal crackers or fruit.

This was a huge hit and it made a TON! I served with animal crackers but I think it would have been great with fruit. The yogurt in it made me think of a fruit dip.

Homemade Frozen Dog Treats
32 oz plain yogurt
1 mashed ripe banana
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
Mix together and freeze in ice cube tray. When frozen pop out and store in Ziplock bag.

I made this with the leftover yogurt from the Cake Batter Dip so I just split the recipe in half. Half the recipe was perfect for both our dogs. I would think it would get freeze burnt if you only had one dog. Of course, it totally cools down the day after I make them but Emma and Shad loved them. Well, what they tasted. They both inhaled it but enjoyed licking the bowl. Maybe for bigger dogs, you should make the cube bigger so they have to lick it and can taste it?

AR helped me make them, she's a great supervisor.

 I didn't get a pic of them inhaling the cube but here they are licking the bowl I carried them in.

Lazy Cake Cookies
1 box yellow or white cake mix
2 eggs beaten
5 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups mini chocolate chips or M&Ms
Mix together. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

O...M...G! This was so easy and so good. I'm ashamed so I won't tell you how long this lasted, or didn't last, in our house.

Freezer Meals
Just click the link to a whole LIST of meals you can freeze. My mom and I made the Teriyaki Chicken (haven't tried it yet, still frozen) and the Sausage and Peppers. I forgot Matt doesn't like peppers so I ate the majority of this one. I thought it was good except when you serve it over pasta, there isn't much "juice" so the pasta is kind of blah. I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to the other bag we froze of it.

I've tried a few other things but you can read about them here and here. Please share you favorite Pinterest recipes or crafts!

38 Weeks!!!

...I'm home from my 38 week appointment, chilling in the recliner covered up with a baby quilt and I'm happy. My doctor has decided that my BP is a chronic issue (although always low prior to pregnancy but it was high the first couple of visits) and since I haven't had any protein in my urine the last couple visits that she's going to let me go and not induce next week-woohoo!!!

Baby G's heart rate was in the upper 140s and my BP was 138/80. My BP has been lower this week and last night, I was super excited because I could see me knee!!! I'm still not dialated any but checking for it this week was WAY better than the last 2 times, maybe I'm getting used to it but I also wasn't nearly as nervous today as the last 2 visits.  It's supposed to be the LARGEST full moon of the year this Saturday so we'll be trying all those labor inducing wives tales.

Matt is happy I'm not getting induced because 1. we don't really want to be induced and 2. he's working on a big job at work so now he can hopefully help finish it. I'm glad I'm not getting induced but at the same time, I'd kind of built it up in my mind that Baby G was coming next week. I'm not totally uncomfortable, although pretty close, but I'll be happy when Baby G is in my arms and I can love on him/her. I would really like to take some time from work, like working some shorter days but I found out this week that it will take away from my maternity leave.

Random Thoughts
*As I'm getting close and I tell people that the baby could arrive any day, they all look at me and say, "But you're so small!" I laugh because only when I'm pregnant have I ever been called small!

*The new donut shop had peanut butter donuts as the donut of the day today! I was so excited and bought a dozen to take to work and no one was there to enjoy with me!

*Every week, I plan on posting a belly pic but as soon as I get home from the doctor's I usually get straight into my pajamas. I'll do my best to have Matt take a pic this weekend although I may not get out of my pajamas all weekend because, aside from a couple hours at work, I don't have anything planned.

*I'm down to 2 pairs of presentable pants I can wear to work. I no longer wear an underwire bra, it's just sports bras so that means only tshirts and I had to borrow some bigger tshirts from my BIL. I also got some from work too. So basically, I'm wearing the same outfit every couple of days at work. I'm hoping Matt will help me shave my legs tonight so I can wear shorts tomorrow because it's like eleventy billion degrees here.

That's all for now, please keep us in your prayers.

37 Weeks...

...home from my 37 week appointment. No induction scheduled at this time-whew! Blood pressure still borderline, when I arrived it was 142/90 which I was REALLY nervous and then the nurse took it right before I left and it was 142/82. I was super nervous about this appointment because I had NO IDEA what to expect, I was hot and I could hear the nurse coming to see me chatting with a pharmacy rep outside my room and I was getting totally irritated. If I'd had pants on, I would have totally opened the door and been like, "HEELLLLOOOO!!! Pregnant, uncomfortable woman in here, come check me and let's go!" But I didn't...

When she finally came in, the good news was that there wasn't any protein in my urine (despite the PB and graham crackers I'd had for breakfast) and Baby G's heart rate was in the 140s. I, on the other hand, had that borderline BP and super swollen hands, feet and legs plus I'd gained 5 pounds since last Friday and still no dialation (seriously, I hate checking for that). So unless I go into labor on my own or my BP spikes REALLY high (160/100) then I go back next Thursday for my doctor's appointment and she will probably schedule me to be induced at 39 weeks so the following Tuesday or Wednesday (May 8 or 9).

Random Thoughts:
*I feel better/yikes after this appointment. When I left my appointment last week, I had no clue how today's appointment would go. After leaving today, at least I feel like we have a game plan and being OCD, I like knowing a date. I feel yikes because my BP was higher than it had been all week so that worries me so I'll just have to keep close tabs on that. I loved hearing her say that Baby G's heart beat was good.

*As much as I DON'T want to be induced, at this point, I just want Baby G to be okay. After this weekend, I will start trying all the old wive tales to go into labor on my own so please leave any tips. The nurse said that eating spicy foods would probably just give me a belly ache (plus I don't even like spicy foods) and she'd recommend walking but not for me since that'll just make me swollen.

*I haven't mentioned it but one of those pregnancy symptoms no one tells you about is the excess saliva. Seriously, I choke on my own spit ALL the time, I drool at night and I even caught myself drooling when I had the fridge door open the other day! Weird...

So please keep Baby G and I in your prayers, we'd really appreciate it! Happy Friday everyone!

Showered at Work...

...on Wednesday, my co-workers showered Baby G! S/he is really feeling the love! These people got creative too. Here's an awesome diaper cake one lady made, it's 3 baskets and the top tier has baby wipes. One of the guys at work contributed to the cake too by adding in my favorite Reese's!!!

Amy and Holly made us some delicious sherbert punch! Lime sherbert, Sprite and Hawaiian punch-delicious!

Paula made the cutest diaper bike-LOVE IT! She also made one of my favorite desserts: Fat Man's Delight-yummy!!!

Amanda's mom crocheted Baby G this colorful blanket!

A group of them went in on a gift. Two of the guys didn't know what the girls bought so they were in for a surprise when I opened the gift specially from them and it was nipple shields!!! Luckily, we're all a close group so we got a good laugh out of it.

Seriously, there's like NOTHING left on our registries! The only thing we really need are a couple changing pad covers. We put a video camera on there and have enough gift cards so we're debating whether or not to get it. We need a few around the house items like a trash can (for the "baby's" bathroom because we never had one), ice cube trays (to freeze milk and homemade baby food), etc...

I can honestly say that I'm overwhelmed with all the love that's been shown for Baby G. This little baby already has so many people that are excited to meet him/her! Thank you to everyone whose showered the little guy/gal! We'll be sure to keep you all posted on our new chapter when s/he arrives.

Showered Part II...

...after my awesome morning shower, we headed up to church for the G-Fam shower. Matt's aunts, cousin and sister put it on. The food was also amazing and it was great to see both familiar and new faces at this shower. Our one friend is due with her first daughter today, she was having contractions 10 minutes apart and braved it out to the shower. As of Sunday afternoon, baby still hadn't decided to come.

The head table had this for decoration, his aunt made the birds which match the nursery and it's filled with all peanut butter eggs since I'm nesting! I thought this was super cute!

This is Grandma G intent on the word search game everyone was playing.

Yummy Costco cake!!! Lucky for me, leftovers came to my house!

Me with a boy outfit that says, "Mommy's Hunk 2nd in Command" and a girl outfit that says, "My Daddy Rocks"

Matt's aunt made us this AWESOME toy box!!! I sent her a picture of what I wanted and she worked wonders. This is the bottom of the box so you don't get the real effect but she wrote on the bottom, that's why it's flipped over. I'll post another pic once I have toys inside...I just have to clean them first! It's on my never ending to-do list...

And at the end of the day, this is what the nursery looked like! Packed to the brim!!! My mom and stepsis helped me sort and put things away so we'd actually have room for the baby in there.

It was a great day and I think I summed it up at the G-Fam shower by saying, "Matthew and I are truly blessed with this baby and this baby is already blessed to have each of you in his/her life." So many people are excited to meet Baby G!!! Thank you everyone!!!

Showered Part I...

...yesterday was a busy, busy day! I had my friend shower at my house in the morning and the G-Fam shower in the afternoon but first, Matt and I started our day with a quick trip to L&D! I was a bit swollen and "thought" my blood pressure was high. I called the doc who said to head to the hospital which we did. Once we arrived, my BP was totally normal. Moral of the story: don't go to Walgreen's to have your BP checked! Oh well, I would rather known all was okay than assume it was and it wasn't. So I was a bit late to my shower but my mom, Laura and Candace had it all under control. When I got there, my mom said, "This is such a fun bunch of girls!" My reply was, "Of course, that's why they're my friends!"

On Friday night, Matt was sent to get balloons for the shower. He got one pink and one blue one we were going to put on the mailbox. We all woke up on Saturday morning and wouldn't you know that the pink one had deflated...think that's a sign???

Here's my momma with the spread of food...she made monkey bread, my friend Laura made this amazing Pampered Chef egg casserole bake, fruit salad and sherbert punch (YUMMY!!!) and my friend Candace brought my favorite peanut butter donuts all the way from KC!

Here's most of the gals that came, some more trickled in after this picture was taken.

I finally arrived to a FULL HOUSE (I felt so loved!) and used my belly to balance my food on.

This picture cracks me up! I was so excited about diapers, isn't it funny how life changes so much?

This is my step-sister Jo and I with the quilt she made for Baby G.

My mom made FOUR baby quilts!!! One with puppy dogs for me, one for her house, one for my MIL's house and this one that will go in the nursery. If the baby is a girl then she'll trim it in pink.

I have such awesome friends. They all understood and weren't upset about me being late, they showered Baby G with lots of gifts and love and they all ventured out on a rainy day. Thank you everyone for coming out!!!

Monster Munch...

...so at my Game Night, I had high hopes of doing Halloween themed food but then I defaulted back to my usual...meatballs and chips/dip but I DID try to make Monster Munch. Let me tell you that the sauce is AMAZING...chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows and butter. LOL-what's NOT to love??? Okay on to the recipe:


Ingredients

* 2 bags (3.3 oz each) ACT II® Butter Microwave Popcorn
* 4 cups corn-and-rice cereal
* 2 cups tiny pretzel twists
* 2 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
* 1/2 cup Peter Pan® Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter
* 1/4 cup Parkay® Original-stick
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 cup peanuts, optional

Directions

1. Prepare popcorn according to package directions. Remove all unpopped kernels. Combine popped corn, cereal and pretzels in large bowl.
2. Melt 1 cup of the marshmallows, chocolate morsels, peanut butter and Parkay in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle marshmallow mixture evenly over popcorn mixture, tossing to coat.
3. Sprinkle confectioners' sugar over mixture, tossing to coat. Spread mixture in single layer on large piece of waxed paper; cool completely.
4. Toss the remaining 1 cup marshmallows and peanuts, if desired, with popcorn mixture before serving. Store in tightly sealed container.

Here's my finished product, not pretty but oh so delicious! And this recipe makes a TON! I had two HUGE bowlfuls. Matt was happy because he got an entire bowl to himself which he deserved because he spent Friday night cleaning the house while I worked. Thank you Pretty!

The only bad thing was that I had powdered sugar EVERYWHERE!!!

Thursday Tidbits...

...random thoughts for a random Thursday!

*While I love a good book, I hate finishing it because I hate finding a new one. I mean I'm loving the characters and the plot and then its done and I have to start all over again. What are your thoughts on this?

*I went an entire week without running and I'm paying for it. I suggest to NOT do this if you want to keep up your cardio and speed...just saying.

*I don't live in the town where I grew up. I sometimes miss going to the store and seeing at least 3 people you know, getting hugs from my friend's parents as a hello and knowing everyone around town. It kind of makes me sad that up here, it's like a big deal if I see someone at the store that I know and even then its usually someone that comes into my work and its just a polite nod.

*Matt dropped chocolate syrup on Shadow's head and didn't clean it up. It got hard and sticky so I cut it out, yeah...the hair on his head is patchy. Matt said, "All you had to do was get a wet towel and clean it off?" I gave him the evil eye.

*I am totally loving CLIF Mojo bars!!! It's like perfect for me...pretzels, chocolate, peanut butter...and probably some other stuff that's good for you. They're dangerous though because I could eat like 10 in one setting. What's your favorite "healthy" snack?

OH! And here's the before picture from Biggest Winner, taken April 27:

I think that's all the tidbits I have for now! Matt's planning us a date this weekend...I'm interested to see what he's got planned for us...any suggestions?

Sinfully Sweet Cupcakes...

...okay so I feel like a bit of a cupcake connoisseur lately after the cupcakes I've eaten and all the bakeries I've been frequenting lately. Oh well, you only live once, right? I've been so super busy with LOTS of things to blog about that I'm JUST now getting to tell you about these awesome cupcakes.

April 24-30 was National Infertility Awareness Week and aside from the facts I posted on my blog, I also participated by thanking my RE's office. I ordered 2 dozen mini cupcakes from Sinfully Sweet Cupcakes. The first dozen that I ordered were, surprise!, Peanut Butter Cup. It is a Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream topped with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I snuck one out of the box before I delivered them and OMG! It was to die for!!! Loved it:

The other dozen I ordered were Drama Queens. Chocolate cake topped with pink vanilla buttercream and sugar sprinkles. I didn't try one of these but it looked delish.

Currently, they are working out of a commercial kitchen and not allowed to do any business out of it. They have very reasonable delivery fees. I was lucky enough to have them drop them off at my work so I could deliver them to the doctor's office myself and they didn't even charge me a delivery fee. I paid $18 for the two dozen and it was definitely worth it, the one I had just melted in my mouth. I would definitely recommend them again and I hope they open a storefront soon! He said they're hoping to have a store open by the end of the year. OH! And they came in a box which is always a plus for me. ;)

Jilly's Cupcake Bar...

...after the race on Sunday, we headed to:

Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe

We all ordered brunch which was seriously to die for! I love all my new bloggie friends but my cholestrol does not appreciate all the yummy food places they've introduced me to! They had a cold bar and a hot bar then a dessert station. OMG! I was so stuffed when I left and it was all such delicious food!!!

Jen with her mini cupcakes she decorated-this is the G-rated photo

They had this PB Mousse Cheesecake thing and as you can see, I was thoroughly enjoying it!

You felt like a real baker making your own cupcakes and they even had Nerds you could put on them.

The new love of my life: PB Chocolate Parfait-OMG! DELISH!

The famous Jilly with her favorite cupcake the Turtle! She was telling me I'd better not post this picture-oops!

It was the BEST brunch and dessert EVER!!! Not your typical foods but like scrambled eggs with ham, cheese and broccoli (I never think of broccoli as a breakfast food but it was yum!). I will definitely be taking Mattie back there. My only complaint is that it was soooo good and it was soooo busy! Oh well, we survived and had a great time. My belly was VERY FULL!

Baby Cakes...

...last Friday, my friend Stevie and I went to the grand opening of Baby Cakes. The place was packed!!! I've been to quite a few ribbon cuttings and this one was by far the best attended, there was standing room only! First things first, we hopped in line to buy some PB cupcakes-they had chunks of Reese's on top so I was VERY happy. Some pics of our outing, the inside of the store:

Their flier about the grand opening and my mini PB cupcake:

They had a white chocolate fountain that was tinted pink. You could dip pretzels and marshmallows-YUM!!!

Then we met Harriet who runs "Goody Sax." She partners with the owner of Baby Cakes and she was giving away samples of this caramel, chocolate popcorn mix-YUM!!! I also bought a chocolate heart filled with PB that she made. It was kind of odd to me though that the grand opening was for Baby Cakes but all the free samples to eat were made by Harriet. Her contact in case you're interested (I really took this pic so I'd remember the name of her business!):

Now the main reason we went is because they were raffling off a free wedding cake. Yes, I know I'm already married but Stevie won't be hitched until April 2012! So I met her there so she'd have two entries BUT we didn't win. Get this though-I was ticket 609, she was ticket 610 and the winner was 608! Bummer!!! Oh well, at least we got a PB cupcake out of it!

Snickers (or Reese's) Cookies!!!

...so Sunday, Jen invited a few of us STL Bloggers over for a cookie party! I was so pumped, we were all going to make different cookies then head home with a big variety. Well, the snow came and the party got cancelled. My mom had come up and helped me cook them and she even made fudge for the girls! Mmm!!! So this week, expect a few cookie posts, ok?

So when we decided to do this cookie party, the first place I went was to the church cookbooks! The first recipe I picked was from the cookbook put out by my church in Cape and it just so happens that the recipe I picked was from my high school chemistry teacher! Here's a picture of the finished products which were Snickers and Reese's Cookies:
Let's discuss before I get to the recipe, shall we? The recipe is basically peanut butter cookie dough wrapped around a Snickers. My lovely hub who knows me so well went to pick up some more apple juice for me and brought home some minature Reese's with the suggestion to put those in the middle on a few. He's so smart (and knows the way to my heart-peanut butter!) because the Reese's ones were fabulous!!! It may have also been because I burnt the Snickers one if you can't tell (Snickers on the left, Reese's on the right). I think I burnt them because they were on the bottom rack. I even know they'd cook faster but I ALWAYS burn them. Note to self-just always cook on the top rack even if it takes longer. OH! Did I mention that my Mattie made up the dough for me? Yep, he sure did and then I just sat at the table and wrapped them up and popped them in the oven. Okay, enough commentary (plus I have to make more so Mattie has some when he gets home because his sis, my mom and I ate all the Reese's ones-oops!), on to the recipe!

Snickers Cookies by Bonnie Strack

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. firmly-pakced brown sugar

1/2 c. butter, softened, firmly packed

1/2 c. peanut butter (YUM!)

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

10 Snickers (or Reese's) brand fun-size candy bars

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mixing well. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, egg and vanilla, beating well. Stir in flour mixture until mixed. Shape about 1/3 cup dough smoothly around each candy bar, making sure bar is completely covered. Place 4 inchesapart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool about 10 minutes and transfer from baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 10 large cookies.

NOTE: For smaller cookies, cut bars in half (or buy minature) and reduce baking time accordingly.

Be sure to let me know if you make these!!! Happy Monday everyone!!!

Downtown Cape and My Family...

...last week was the end of the month and I was going through and deleting pics from my camera. I found these that I forgot to post from our weekend in Cape.

First up, the old courthouse. Minus the wires, I think this paints a good picture of the holiday time. It just feels like "home" to me.
We got to lunch early so we walked along the river (one of my favorite things to do). Here's a picture of the Emerson Bridge. Whenever I'm in Cape with one of my parents with nothing to do, I always suggest driving across the bridge...not that there's anything fun and exciting on the other side except Illinois!

Matt, me and the Mighty Mississippi

Shadie trying to get every last drop of PB...don't know WHERE he gets that from!?!

My pretty pretty princess Emma, I got lots of snuggles and cuddles with her that weekend.

And now THAT really concludes our trip to Cape!