Cody's Birthday

Here are some pics from Cody's birthday. They didn't turn out great for some reason.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BETH & ANDY!!!!

I hope you guys have a great anniverary

My baby is 5 today. How did that happen? We have a busy night, but I will be back later to post some pics of his birthday party!

Caramel shortbread cookies (TWIX bars)

If you love Twix bars this recipe is for you. It really does taste a lot like a Twix.

Chocolate Carmel Shortbread (aka Twix cookies):
1 cup butter
generous 2 cups flour
generous 1/2 cup light brown sugar
12 oz chocolate, either milk or dark depending on your taste

caramel:
3/4 c butter
generous 1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 T light corn syrup
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you want, line the bottom of a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. (I never do. it just protects your pan from the knife and makes it slightly easier to get the cookies out.) Process the sugar, butter, and flour in a food processor until it starts to bind together. (stand mixer will work fine) Press into the prepared pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

while the crust is baking, make the caramel. Place the caramel ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan. Heat gently until the sugar has melted (I use medium heat.) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring, until very thick. Pour over shortbread and let chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until firm.

Melt the chocolate and let cool, then spread over the caramel. Let chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until set. These are easier to cut if they are at room temperature, so you can let them sit out for a bit before you cut them. Once the chocolate is set, they don't really need to be refrigerated any more. Be sure to cut them into small pieces because it's a very rich cookie. I usually do 42 (6x8) small cookies.

The only thing I would do different next time is maybe make the shortbread layer a little thinner. It is pretty thick and sometimes takes over the caramel layer.

I swear crafty pictures are coming. DH conned me into doing a ton of baking for his work yesterday so I didn't even get to walk into my sewing room.

Sugar cookies

I have always loved sugar cookies, though I hate the process of making them. I am good until they are out of the oven and then the thought of having to frost them just made me want to throw them away. I had never found sugar cookie recipe that was good enough to eat without the frosting.

Until now.

I tried this recipe the other day when I was trying to keep Cooper occupied. We took our our big bag of cookie cutters and went to town. He loved picking the shape and "helping" cut the cookies.

We baked the first batch just as hubby was coming home. He went straight for the rack and I said to wait and we will frost them when they are cool. Of course being him he dove right in and declared that we wouldn't be frosting them since they didn't need it. Never one to believe my husband when it comes to food (the man will eat anything pretty much), I decided I better check this out for myself. Low and behold the man was right. They were soft, chewy, with just a little crunch around the edge. And they weren't bland! I was in love.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. I forgot to take some when we baked them. I made another batch that I cut into circles and just used powdered sugar icing to pipe softball laces onto for DH's championship game. They were gone in an instant. Definitely give this one a try!

I have been busy in my craft room so expect pictures soon!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

I swear I am still around. It has been crazy busy around here lately. Between end of the season softball games (they lost, but still finished second), swim lessons, doctors appointments and sick kids I haven't had spare second to get anything done.

Both of the kids have been sick this week. Cody started on Sunday with a cough and then had a fever when he got up Monday. Luckily it was gone by Tuesday. He was not happy about having to stay home on Monday. Then Wednesday Cooper was miserable. He was just whiny and crying and just plain upset. It was a long day and night, but luckily yesterday he was back to his normal self. Hopefully no one else in the house will get it.

I did manage to get my christmas quilt basted. I found a new technique on You Tube that I was intrigued by. I don't know if I really like the actual basting part, but I love the use of boards instead of taping it to the floor. First of all because I don't have a space big enough to lay this quilt out and second because this pregnant body has a hard time getting up and down off the floor.

Here is the first part of the technique. You can find the other part on the side bar once you load the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

I started quilting it today. It is going to take awhile, but I think it will turn out pretty nice. I am hoping to get some time to work on it this weekend, but we have a lot of stuff going on so not sure how that will work out.

Boring

It has been boringly busy around here lately. Just the same old, same old.

Cody is loving school. I can see where we may have a few problems in the future, but I am grateful that he likes going every day.

Cooper is being Cooper. There is no other way to describe it. He has a very unique personality. Jeremy has been on vacation the past week so he has gotten the full on Cooper effect. It is hilarious to see those two interact.

I am just pushing through this pregnancy. It has been rough on me for some reason. I feel huge, tired, and miserable.

We have a very busy few days coming up. Cody had his first swim lessons today which he loved, tomorrow Jeremy has a dentist appointment and open house is tomorrow, Thursday is groceries, Friday is Cooper's swim lessons and setting up the yard sale, Saturday and Sunday are the yard sale (assuming it doesn't rain again), Monday is Jeremy's championship softball game and BBQ, Tuesday is swim lessons, and Wednesday is my doctors appointment along with the stupid glucose test again.

I will be ready to crash on Thursday!

I am still working away on basting the quilt. I think I am going to like this new technique, but I have to start the quilting in order to figure out if it is going to work out. Hopefully if my pregnant body holds up I will know by the end of the week.

Things here are moving right along. Cody is loving school and seems to be really excited to go everyday. I'm sure that will wear off after awhile, but it is nice to see him excited. He did get a little boo-boo today, but he didn't seem to mind too much. I am curious how he handled it since he HATES band aids.

Jeremy and I got to go out by ourselves last night. We were supposed to go to a Jeff Dunham concert, but I was so uncomfortable sitting there that we came home early. We did get to go out and eat which was really nice.

My parents came out to watch the kids. It was hard because I wasn't able to spend much time with them, but it is always nice to see them and the kids love when any of the grandparents come up.

Jeremy's softball team had their semifinal game today (finally) and they actually won. Even though they didn't do that great during the season they have made it to the championship game. Who knows when they will get to play that though.

Nothing much else going on here. I haven't had much time to do any quilting. I am trying a new basting technique with the Christmas quilt. If it works out I will share!

My baby is officially a Kindergartner. He was so excited this morning and was all ready to go in plenty of time. He spent most of the morning wearing his book bag and asking when the bus was going to come.

He even had to change shoes. He decided that the sandals wouldn't work and he needed to wear his fancy shoes (his sneakers, no idea why he calls them fancy shoes).

Here he is all decked out in his Iron Man gear. The bag looks so big on him, but he had to have it. Plus that size was the only one we could find that would fit his lunch bag and the folder he has to take.

Waiting for the bus. Surprisingly it was on time though the driver looked a little confused when he got here. Waiting for the bus is fine now, but I'm hoping by the time December rolls around he will be ok getting on and off by himself since I really don't want to have to bundle up a baby and stand in the frigid weather.

Cooper had some adjustment. He was excited to see the bus come, but didn't quite understand that Cody wasn't coming right back. For about the first two hours he kept asking when Cody was coming home. The nice thing was he actually took a really good nap which never happened when they were both home. He was a ball of energy when he woke up too.

He looks so small getting on the big bus. He could barely see over the window. The bus driver was really good though and seems nice.

He said he had a good day at school. We asked him what he did and he said that he didn't remember. Typical of him. Hopefully the teacher will send home some notes so we can at least have a clue of what is going on. I know he will never really tell us anything!

I did all right. It was a rough day all the way around. I was sad about him going to school, but very grateful that he was ready and willing to go. I would rather just be upset that my baby is in school then to be worried that he is a crying mess there.

The other thing that made today hard is some family stuff. My uncle Arnie died last Thursday and today is his memorial. I feel guilty about not being there because he was the uncle I was closest too. I know that the family understands, but it still makes it hard. He was a great person and while I am sad that he is gone, I am glad that he isn't suffering anymore and can fight with my grandpa in heaven about fishing and hunting.

When will I learn??

When will I learn to not start 10 projects at once???

Right now I am working on:

- the Christmas quilt. I have the top done, the back done and it is ready to be basted. Then it is quilting and binding.

- baby bibs. I have been looking for bibs that have terry cloth on the back because they absorb so much better, but I haven't had any luck so off to the sewing machine I go. I have one done except the Velcro and another cut and ready to be sewn.

- baby blankets. I have the fabric to do both mine and my friends, but haven't started working on them yet.

- car seat blankets. I have some fleece to make a small blanket to wrap around the babies legs when we are in the car this cold winter.

- a punch embroidery chicken wall hanging. I have maybe 1/32 of this done for my mom for Christmas.

- a crochet hook holder. My MIL wants a roll up crochet hook holder for Christmas. Right now I am in the planning stages of this.

Somehow I have to get all these done plus all the other pre baby stuff that needs to get done. Yeah I'm in for a busy few months. Hopefully my nesting instinct will kick in soon!

Be prepared for a sob fest post on Wednesday...my baby is starting Kindergarten.