Jessie,Chris and Hadley come!

Jessies version of Shreks Gingerbread man. pretty good!

I put jessie to work! fun work

Ellie and Hadley trying to bond. Hadley was sick so they didnt stay around each other much.

Jessie, Chris and Hadley came in town on Saturday to babysit for us while we were gone, we got lucky enough for them to stay a few extra days. they had a few papers to write, and I watched Hadley while they did a little sight seeing, she slept the whole time, i got lucky! it was sad to see them go, hopefully they will come again soon.

dessert-a-holic

I have an addiction: I'm a dessert-a-holic, I'm sure its no secret to anyone who knows me but i can't fight the urge to bake and when i bake i usually eat. i ate 12 snicker doodles the other night. i wanted to vomit, but didn't because i was sure they wouldn't taste as good as on the way down. then the next day I made monster cookies (my favorite) I only had 2 and froze the rest (so last min i can have my favorite cookie of course, all cookie-holics do this right?) but made up for it by making chocolate chip pumpkin bars, with cream cheese frosting (i only had 1, saved a few and gave the rest away) but the next day i ate 2 more cookies (it could have been more, whose counting?) of the leftover monster cookies (they are better the next day) and stared the bars down all day. i was fine, i didn't need dessert. then my diabetic husband decided at 8:30 he needed a dessert and my choices of what to make were: chocolate souffle, peanut butter cookies or cheesecake. "surprise me" he said so i pulled up a PB cookie recipe and found yet another weakness, the best cookies ever!

It seems like I have become partial to chocolate chip cookies, i have a few really good recipes and they are always satisfying, sugar cookies, snicker doodles and Peanut butter cookies always seem to disappoint, they are never as good as I want them to be, and sugar cookies take to long for how long they last! but then I found Martha Stewart's recipe for snicker doodles.. YUM! so i tried her peanut butter ones! best ever!! she says to cook for 18-20 min and rotate halfway through, but reviews said 9-15 min and that worked good for me. i dipped half of them in milk chocolate, gotta add the chocolate right? they melt in your mouth, no joke. try them. and make em big~

Peanut Butter Cookies
8 T butter
3/4 C peanut Butter
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C dark brown sugar ( i used regular and it worked just fine)
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1 C flour
3/4 t baking soda

350 for 14 min (i checked them at 10)
take out when golden brown and cool on wire rack almost immediately to keep the soft yet crunchy taste.

just another day

we made cookies and Kailey insisted we wear aprons and do silly faces. Jordan is hilarious. I made the best snickerdoodles from Martha Stewart's website. they were so good i ate a dozen. no joke. i wanted to puke after but they were so good, i didn't want to ruin the taste! i suggest trying them! but only bake of 8-9 min that way if there are leftovers they still stay soft.

Snickerdoodle Cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. (I used one 14 X 20 and was able to get all 20 cookies on one sheet. Place about 3 inches apart and they won’t bake into each other.)
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter, shortening, and sugar on medium for about 2 minutes.
Add egg and mix until combined.
Add the flour mixture and beat until combined.
In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.
Use a small 1 1/4 inch ice-cream scoop to form balls. Release in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and roll until covered. When coated, you can shape them in a nice round ball and place on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies begin to crack. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

here is my other child, who patiently awaited being served. By patiently i mean he dumped his food in his cup and then put that on his tray and splashed around. But you can't tell he's being naughty by his face. He has the cutest smile!I just cant get mad at him

And here is another great dinner super fast and super easy and very pretty!! chicken and Cheese Enchilada's. Best ones we've made!