Happy Valentine’s Day

Amy

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ok, so a friend gave me this recipe this summer.  From the first time I made these cookies, I was in love.  They are soooooo yummy!  I’m not usually a fan of nuts in my desserts, but these cookies are amazing!  I made them at Christmastime for my family, and they were gone by the end of the night.  I made them on Sunday for the Super Bowl party as well and we had a couple left over (I doubled the batch).  So, here’s the recipe:

{source}

1. Gather up your ingredients

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.  Soften butter slightly.

4.  Cream the sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and butter. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

5.  Add flour and baking soda. {FYI: Add anywhere from 1/2- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda. The more you add the fluffier the cookies will be. I prefer to add the minimum for a gooey cookie.} Mix ingredients well.

6.  Add white chocolate chips. I use almost a 12 oz bag. Also add chopped nuts at this point. Mix well.

7.  Bake at 350 9-10 minutes.

The key to these cookies is to remove them from the oven when they still look undercooked. When you can just see the edges beginning to get brown is the right time to remove them from the oven. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you try to remove them.

These cookies are seriously so yummy!  Let me know if you make them and how they turned out! 

Amy

Super Bowl

So we had a huge party at the house for the Super Bowl.  And wouldn’t you know, I didn’t take one single picture.  I was crazy busy allllll day long.  I made about 5 appetizers and 5 desserts, cleaned the house like a mad woman, and took care of the baby all right by myself.  Scott had friends in town and played golf.  I was a little stressed on Sunday, needless to say.  The party started at 6:00 and of course at about 5:55, Emily decided she was hungry.  Argh!  So before I had to run upstairs to feed her, I did snap a couple shots of some of the food.

{football brownies}

 

{I made the cupcake stand and all of the food had those cute cards that I whipped up in Photoshop.}

{Believe it or not, this was the very first time I had ever made cupcakes.  I truly don’t think I’ve ever made a cupcake in my entire life.  Weird.}

All in all, it was a great time with great friends.  But, I think I’ll only do it again next year if I can either hire a babysitter or a maid before the big day. 

Amy

 

Emily – 3 Months

Holy cow!!  Is my baby girl seriously already 3 months!?!  Time flies.  It’s funny because I feel like 3 months sounds like a long time.  But when I look back on our delivery day, time in the hospital, and some other events that took place within the first month, I feel like that was a year ago!!  It’s weird.  Emily had professional pictures taken on Saturday (which I am super excited to share when we get them)!  But, in the meantime….here are some not so professional pictures I took last Thursday (February 3, 2011), on her 3 month birthday!

 

 

Here are Miss Emily’s 3 month stats:

Height:  Not really sure.  She didn’t have a doc’s appointment this month.  But, we can definitely tell she’s getting longer!

Weight:  I’m guessing my girl is clocking in at a good 13 or 14 pounds.  She was 11 lbs 6 oz at her last appointment a month ago.

Head Circumference:  Again, no idea.  We’ll get an update at her 4 month appointment.

New Developments:  Emily you are now wearing a size 1-2 diaper.  The size ones fit you pretty good, but the size 1-2 fit you great.  Boy oh boy have you discovered those hands!!  I am so amazed at how alert you are.  You pay attention to us when we walk in a room or walk away from you.  You follow us with your eyes.  You definitely don’t skip a beat.  You are grabbing things now.  You like to play with your burp cloths.  You grab them and put them up to your face.  The other day, mommy was wearing a scarf and you were just pulling and tugging on it.  It’s really amazing to watch you grow and learn new things every day.  You are still “talking” up a storm.  You coo and make the funniest noises.  You have recently started blowing spit bubbles with your mouth.  It is too funny.  You are also sleeping in your crib like a big girl!  You have been sleeping in your crib for a few weeks now and you are doing great!  Mommy really thought the transition from our room to your crib was going to be a tough one, but it really wasn’t.  It didn’t phase you a bit!  You are such a good baby.  Mommy did some research and read some books and I have you sleeping like a champ now!  You are a pretty good napper (you nap in your own crib, too) and you sleep great at night.  For about the past 2 weeks, you have been sleeping from 9:00 pm until 7:00 am.  AMAZING!!  That’s 10 hours!!  Holy cow!  We are so blessed that you are such a good baby and sleep so well.  You continue to smile at us and just bring us so much joy.  I cannot get over how cute you are and how much love I have for you.  You have definitely made mommy’s life complete.  I love you.

Valentine's Day wreath

Wow!  I cannot believe it's already almost Valentine's Day!  I swear it was just Christmas!!  I am not complaining that time is flying though.  I am ready for SPRING!!!  I am so sick of this cold weather.  And I live in Florida!  I feel so bad for the people in truly cold climates.  Yowza! 

Anyway, I worked on a little Valentine's Day project the other day.  I realized I don't have any V-Day decorations.  I had a flag for outside and that was it!  So I decided to make a little wreath.  Nothing special.  But, I saw this wreath the other day on Tatertos & Jello:

Cute, right!?!  I already had a wreath form, but it wasn't heart shaped.  I looked for one on my next trip to Michaels but they didn't have one so I decided the one I already had was good enough.  It was just a flat wooden form.  It'll do!  So I grabbed some red yarn and wrapped that bad boy up!

Then I glued on some cream colored felt.

{front}

{back}

Then I used my Cricut to cut out some black vinyl letters that say "LOVE" and placed them on the felt.  I used a little extra glue on the back of the letters because vinyl doesn't exactly stick to felt like a charm.  I used some pink felt and a cute scrapbooking brad I had on hand to make a little flower.  Then I used some ribbon I had on hand to tie to the top and hung it on my door!  It turned out cute!



Pretty easy and pretty cute!  Doesn't get much better than that!

Ok, baby's awake from her nap.  Till next time.....