BAKING SPREE!

I have been on a baking spree for the last couple weeks or so (although, baking has been a part of me for most of my life--I've always been the cookie maker in my family.)  I have been enjoying reading other baker's blogs online and looking at recipes.  Maybe I'm enjoying looking at recipes and pictures so much because I can't eat them right now (my diet).  I have also been loving looking at cookbooks.  Cookies seem to intrigue me the most for some reason.  

In my search, I have baked many recipes over the last few weeks.  (My family is SO lucky!)  Who knew there were SO many different variations on the chocolate chip cookie.  The number of different recipes are endless.  The one I tried today is from Food Network's recent Ultimate Recipe Showdown.  It is called Radical Rob's Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup baker's sugar (superfine)  although I used regular sugar 
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag (2 cups) milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix sugars until well combined. Melt butter in the microwave and add to sugar mixture. Stir until well combined. Add vanilla and eggs and stir until well mixed. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined and NO MORE! The dough will be stiff. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Stir until just combined. Avoid any extra stirring to avoid tough cookies. Line cookie sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop dough onto sheets with a small ice cream scoop. Flatten the dough slightly with your hand and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges and tops of cookies are just turning brown. Cool on wire racks.

 

These cookies are really yummy!

Why three pictures?  I just wanted to show you what a great job Kevin does taking pictures.  You see, I tried to take some pictures of the cookies while he was at work and they all looked horrible.  How about I stick with cookie making and he stays the photographer.   Today I also made up a recipe using puffed rice cereal and some Honey Smacks cereal.  I made them like rice crispies with melted marshmallows, and I added some broken up pieces of graham crackers some non-melted marshmallows and some chocolate chips, thus making them S'mores Treats.  They are good, but a little dry.  Next time I would up the amount of marshmallow and/or cut the amount of cereal. 

 

On a different note, could there possibly be any hair on a baby more cute than this?---Sam was not a happy camper at the time, but darn his hair is just SO cute with the little curls out to the side, reminds me of Scottie, his was the same way, except I think he even had a little more and it was a bit more curly.  We got his first haircut at about 16 months and I just can't cut this baby Sammie's hair (granted he just turned one, but some people think I should cut his hair now.)  These pictures don't even quite do him justice so you can see his curls.   

A Little Hot Wheelin'

This morning as Scott and Parker headed to school, Taylor sadly said, "Now who can I play with?"  I told him there was always me and he said, "you're no fun, you never play with me."  Now isn't that a blow!  I think I provide things for him to do a lot, but he was probably right, I don't actually get down on the floor and "play" like I used to.  So, although I had plenty to do, I decided to play with him and he wanted to play with cars.  Now a few months ago as I've been trying to clean up the way-too-many toys in our house, I boxed up the seemingly hundreds of Hot Wheels that we have, because none of the boys were playing with them anymore.   I'm really trying to dejunk all the "stuff" that seems to be everywhere. 

Recently the boys have all the sudden gotten in to playing with cars again and could only find a few (that I'd missed cleaning up).  They asked me where they all were and wanted to play with them.  I was hesitant to get them out again, but since that is what Taylor decided he wanted to play, I got out the big box and we started going through them.  Taylor wanted to find all the police cars.  Then we started sorting them by color and wondering which color there was the most of.  Looks like BLUE may have just taken RED. (I counted.) 

This was not easy to do as Sam needed to be right in the middle of it all.  We put Sam in his high chair and quickly finished sorting the cars so we could get a quick picture.  Here's Taylor and all the cars and Sam NOT HAPPY to be locked up!  Hopefully Taylor doesn't think I'm so NO FUN, at least ALL the time!

A Quick Funny by Taylor

I know that I haven't posted in a while, and I actually have a ton of pictures of the kids to post from a little trip we took to St. Louis for Spring Break, but I just haven't had time to do that yet.  But I wanted to write a quick funny that Taylor said while we were sitting in the car waiting to pick up Parker from school.  There are always a few songs on some CD's of mine that Taylor loves to listen to over and over.  One of those songs is a good ol' flashback favorite of mine from the days of yore.  I have to say that I'm not really a country music fan, but there's been a few songs from that genre that I have loved, one being If You're Gonna Play In Texas You Gotta Have a Fiddle In The Band, by Alabama.  I have the song on a CD of songs Kevin and I have complied that we have bought the singles to which we have loved, mostly from the 80's and 90's.  While we sat waiting for Parker, we were listening to this great (brings back some major stake dance memories and really dates me) song by Alabama.  Following are the lyrics for your reading pleasure (be sure to sing it in your head as well):

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
I remember down in Houston we were puttin' on a show
When a cowboy in the back stood up and yelled, "Cotton-Eyed Joe"!
He said, "We love what you're doin', boys don't get us wrong
There's just somethin' missin' in your song"
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
So we dusted off our boots and put our cowboy hats on straight
Them Texans raised the roof when Jeff opened up his case
You say y'all all wanna two-step
You say ya wanna doe-si-doe
Well, here's your fiddlin' song before we go
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band

Yes, back in MY youth stake dance days, this was a really popular song and when it would start playing everyone would grab a partner and start square dancing!  But back to the funny thing Taylor said in the car.  Out of the blue he said while listening to this song that he LOVES, "Mom, when the cowboys wake up, do they always hear this song?"  He also said, "When can we go to Texas to hear the cowboys sing this song?"  As if that wasn't enough to really crack me up, (and I tried my best to answer his questions) Taylor added when the song got to the part I've highlighted above, Well, here's your fiddlin' song before we go, "Mom, Where are the cowboys going?" (It took me a minute to even figure out where that one was coming from as the song played on and I asked him where that came from and he said, "it says here's your song before we go, where are they going?")  Silly Taylor, except that he was dead serious!  

I'm telling you this little Taylor of ours is quite the thinker.  I wish I could remember all the funny questions he asks me, usually when we're driving in the car.  I will try harder to remember them AND write them down as I did this one.

 

Rough Em Up Cowboy T!  (Taylor loves to dress up!  One day I looked over at him and hadn't even realized he was sitting on his "horse" with his boots and hat on and ropin' his horse!)

More Birthday Fun

We finished celebrating Sam's birthday tonight with some friends over for dinner and Family Home Evening.  Our friends have two girls, ages 12 and 9.  It was a fun evening.  The boys were extremely wired and wild.   I think it was partly due to the fact that it has rained a lot all day today and they have been stuck in the house.  Sam seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting and once again reveled in birthday cake.  We got a lot more really cute pictures that will be hard for me to decide on the best ones to post.  Sam wasn't sure what was going on with the candle on the cake and everyone around him trying to get him to blow.

He knew exactly what to do with the cake once we set in down in front of him!

After taking a few minutes to really get in to the cake, he decided to just go for it and picked the whole thing up to take a big bite!

How fun would it be to pick up at cake and just suck all the yum out of it!

We had forgotten to put his birthday hat on, so I snuck it on real quick, but he did not like having something on his head and kept trying to get it off, each time gooping his hair with more and more green icing.

"Can we do this every night, Mom?"  Sam wonders.

"Want some, I'll share?"

 

"Anyone?  What, no takers?  Come on, try it!"

"I love cake!  This is the best day!"

"Come on, at least give me a hug!"

All cleaned up and ready for presents!

He must have run this little walker around the room a hundred times! 

Happy Birthday, Sammie!  We love you!

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME!

We begin with Mommy having a silly idea first of all to start Sam collecting turtles and then to make a birthday cake with some sort of turtle.  Where do I get these crazy ideas and someone, please stop me!  Turtles are not as popular and easy to find as I thought.  Why turtles?  Well, Taylor collects frogs and there are tons to choose from in all varieties, especially stuffed ones.  The bedroom that Sam will be in with Taylor is also green, so I thought turtles would be a great idea and Sam has one stuffed turtle that is cute as heck. 

So I began searching for a cute turtle cake.  I did lots of research online as well as in stores.  All I came up with was a few ideas and no skills to go on.  You'd think I'd just abandon the idea then, but no, bought all kinds of stuff to try copying a cute turtle I'd found onto a cake.  Before doing it right on a birthday cake, I decided to try it on something else first, so I whipped up a quick giant chocolate chip cookie and frosted part of it white, then drew this turtle on with icing. 

So while I think he's pretty darn cute, it just wasn't turning out the way I'd wanted.  I want professional quality but I am totally NOT a professional.  I'd say I'm not even an amateur cake decorator (although someday I'd really like to take a couple classes!)

I then decided to try and make a turtle shaped cake using cupcakes.  And again, this idea was not coming together the way I'd imagined.  For some reason, I continued, even though I was not having fun and really just wanted to dump it all.  So here's the little turtle I made for Sam using some cupcakes.  Again, nowhere near professional quality.  What do I expect?  And furthermore, do you think Sam even cares?!  : )  While the turtle turned out fairly cute, I wasn't about to try to do this for his real big cake that we'll be having for a little party/family home evening for him tomorrow with company, but this worked well for our little celebration this evening with just the boys and they enjoyed frosting their own cupcakes with gobs of frosting while Sam devoured this turtle.

Sam started grabbing the plate from me before we could even really get a picture of just him and the cake without his fingers in it.  It was cute. He just sat there with his finger in it for a minute or so as if he was really enjoying the feel of it.

Then he just took that one little lick and sucked on his fingers for a couple minutes.

It didn't take long until he was fully enjoying the whole experience!

"Do I have anything on my lip?"

 

There are just too many cute ones to decide, so I'm posted a bunch of them!  How cute is this?!! I'm telling you, that smile will just melt your heart!

"Now I think I'll taste the plate!  Yum, it's pretty tasty, too!"

Could he be enjoying this more?  While Kevin cut off a bit of his head on in this picture, I just can't resist the exhilaration on his face.  THIS is living!

"Green--YUM!"  Gotta love the hunk of cake on the forehead.

"Look, I ate the whole thing!"  I really didn't clean up all that much cake, which means I think he really ate a lot of it.

After that he quickly just wanted to be done with it and get down.  Here he is after some major wiping down and a quick bath.  I was going to say I'm sorry, but I'm NOT sorry--I just might have the cutest baby-ever!

I'm feeling a little sad (just a little) that my baby is growing up, especially knowing this is my last and thinking about the different stages he's going through that we won't go through again in our home.  On a bright note, we won't have to buy formula anymore!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMMIE!  We love you!  (Note, we did take some pictures of the other boys enjoying decorating and eating their cupcakes, but this blog is already SO long that I will forego those pictures for now.)

Just Gotta Get It Done!

I keep not having enough time to blog, but decided I just need to get what I can done for now and do as much as I can or else I'll really get behind. 

Last weekend I was able to go to Utah to be with my brother (my parents were also there from Idaho).  My brother got to baptize his daughter, Emma, and bless his baby, Logan.  We also got to enjoy seeing them sealed together in the temple.  I had a great time and it was an enjoyable "break" from being Mom.  (Thanks Kevin for making it possible for me to go--you're a great Dad AND Mom!)  I stayed with my parents in a hotel and we had a great time hanging out for the weekend.  This is the only picture I had my dad take with his digital camera and send to me.  At least I got something to document the trip.  (My brother is a goofball and can't take a serious picture to save his life! : )

This week has zipped by for some reason and now my sweet little baby turns one on Sunday (where did the last year go?!) and it's also the start of spring break for the kids.  Gotta find some fun things for them to do, or I'll go crazy!

I am just not sure if there could be a cuter, happier little smiley face!  What a Babe!

Taylor's a pretty cute, happy smiley guy, too!  Funny, same smiley pose--these pictures are a few months apart.

Parker had his kindergarten music program early last week.  It was fun.  They performed some great songs that they (and we) had been practicing for months now.  The songs were all about learning the sounds of letters, such as "I put the penny in the gum slot, see the gum go round, I get the gum, you get the wrapper, cause I put the penny in the gum slot"  Then they sang it many different ways, "Pi, put the penny pum plot, pee the pum po pound, Pi pet the pum, pou pet the prapper, puz Pi put the penny pin the pum plot...." And so on with lots of different changes to the first sound of each word.  They also did a cute version of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Down by the Bay, among others.  We sang all the songs lots and lots in the car over the last few months.  (Phew, glad that's over with, just kidding!--Some of those songs can sure get stuck in your head!)

 

Smile, Parker!

At least he knows how to dress!  (What do you expect, this was while I was gone for the weekend!  : )

And finally, for now, Scott had a fun assignment at school.  They had to write a little story using all of the spelling words for the week.  I thought this turned out a cute story.  I will underline the spelling words:

 

As a reward for achieving our goal of finishing our State Assessment Tests, my friend, Madison, and I agreed that we should go see a movie.  After seeing a poster for a movie called "A Chicken With Whiskers Riding a Rocket we bought two tickets.

The movie theater sold popcorn in four bucket sizes:  small, medium, large and bushel.  After buying our popcorn, we stopped at the candy machine.  We couldn't decide whether we wanted to eat popcorn or candy first.  I declared, "I would rather eat the popcorn first and then the candy."

As we were finding our seats, Madison tripped and spilled the popcorn.  We quickly gathered it up before the movie began.  The preview was boring.  It was about a man wearing an apron over his clothing as he made brackets by heating metal to 2,000 degrees.

The movie finally began....it was great!!  I would tell you the ending, but it's a secret, you'll have to buy your own ticket.

The author of this story is Scott.

Good job, Scott!

That's about it with us for now!

Scripture Lingo

This is one of those "great lines" that just needs to get written down. We were reading scriptures one morning as a family and Parker is doing really well as he is learning to read in sounding out words. On one of his turns to read he was reading 2 Nephi 9:23 "And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith....." So as he got to the word baptized, he stalled and wasn't really trying to sound it, so I whispered in his ear as a hint to the word "to be dunked in the water", so he read, "And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be dumped in the water......" He took me literally for every word, I thought he'd just realize I meant the word baptized. We all could not help but get a good laugh out of that one.

 

SCOTT IN SCOUTS

Last year in Scouts, Scott participated in the Pinewood Derby for the first time. Here's a picture of him with his car. He had fun at the Derby, but he did not win, in fact, his car pretty much came in last place in every race.

 

This year, recently, Scott also participated in the Pinewood Derby. He had a lot of fun. His car did really well and came in FIRST in a lot of the races.

 

Oh yeah, Scott's car came in First Place for the whole event! Go Scottie!

 

Scott also received his Bear patch at the Blue and Gold Banquet on Saturday. He worked really hard for it, especially in the last few weeks so he could get it in time for the Blue & Gold. Good job, Scottie!