Front door redo

 As you can see my front door was clearly in need of a makeover... So I had a free evening and wah lah!! Just in time for christmas. Only took one pint of semi gloss paint, a foam roller, a small brush a litte painters tape and batta bing batta boom. Although something to keep in mind when you are painting your front door you need to leave it open to dry. This is something I didn't think about when I started. It was a very interestin task keeping the kiddos inside while the door was drying.

Holiday Cookies

Browned butter and cinnamon frosting on Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Regular old oatmeal chocolate chip cookies turned gourmet with the addition of a little drizzle of browned butter with cinnamon frosting yum!!!

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup (1/2 of a 12oz package) chocolate chips

Cookie directions:
Soften butter and cream with sugars. Add egg and vanilla beat well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt baking powder and soda. mix dry ingredients with butter mixture and mix well. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips last. Drop tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12min or till lightly browned.

Frosting
1/2 stick butter (1/4cup)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp milk

in a small sauce pan heat butter over medium heat until golden brown stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add vanilla powdered sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Add just enough milk to make and icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle on warm cookies

I am a potty training genious!!!

Yes I am bragging a little bit.... deal with it.

Ok I'm sure you're wondering what in the world would make me make such a bold and outlandish statement. Well... I am very proud to say that I have sucessfully taught 2 children to go potty in the shockingly short amout of time of 1 1/2 days each.

I'm sure you're all wondering how I achieved this amazing feat and I certainly can't take all the credit (I'm trying hard though) I had lots of help and advice from lots of sources. I mainly talked to my husband's aunt Diane (thanks Diane) that potty trained almost all of Steven's cousins. She had alot of really good advice for me and then I got an e-book about the 3 day potty training method.

Jace and I rocked the 3 day potty training method around christmas time. All you do is pump them full of liquids and put them in underwear. (crazy I know) It took him one whole day of accidents and the morning of the 2nd day it just clicked and he was pee trained. We did so well that this week I decided it was Nellie's turn to give it a run.

We started Tuesday and things went even better than they did with Jace! She had only a few accidents the first day but its mostly where she starts in her underwear and we run to the potty and then she finishes. They actually say thats a good sign that she is them learning how to controll their bladder. She even stayed dry through nap time!! We didn't stay dry the first night but it she got it the 2nd night and I tell you my friends (beaming with pride) we haven't had an accident since.

The best part of this whole thing is...

NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! YAY!!!!!

I'm totally up for training other people's kids but its gonna cost ya... ;)

Nellie's last picture in her diaper

Diapers... you will NOT be missed

Yes its been a while...

Sorry guys I know its been a while since we've posted... Steven changed the password on his blogger account and Its taken me a while to figure this new one out. Ok so I really just wanted to share a little piece of inspiration I got the past couple weeks.

I just recently finished a great book called "how to bake a perfect life" By Barbra O'Neal, and overall I was very impressed. I've actually looked at this book several times over the last few months every time we have been at Target. I finally decided I needed to buy it and read it and I'm so glad I did. It was a great story, easy to read, and it even came with hidden treasures... recipes. The book was all about how a woman dealt with difficult times in her life by baking bread. I have been left so inspired... seeing as how this is a very difficult time in my life this was perfect book for me. Couple this great inspiration with the

great baking book for christmas, thanks Scott and Penny I think I have a great combination here. I've already made some great Whole wheat and oatmeal bread that was absolutely fantastic (especially as french toast yum!) The only thing I'm wishing now was that I had a kitchen aid to help me with my mixing. I'm hoping for one for my birthday or christmas this year (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)I think I'm definately on to something here... baking my life better...

Super Bowl

Hurray I am finally getting to use one of my christmas presents!! My wonderful husband gave me the cake ball book for christmas and I have been dying to try every single one of them out. (i need and excuse to make the Owls. they are just so friggin adorable) But I was so happy when I found the football one just in tme for our superbowl party and they turned out so cute! I'm still working on the dipping process, (I can't quite get them from the spoon onto the wax paper with out severely messing them up) so these the bottoms aren't actually covered in chocolate but I think they will still be good. I'll have my superbowl party guests take a vote. Hurray go me for being festive

New Pictures

So I got some amazing new picture frames for christmas and I was trying to find pictures to put in them but I wasn't able to find any I liked. So I looked at my children and noticed that they were both dressed and had their hair recently combed so Hello Photo Op!!! I took them out into the back yard and got some really cute shots. Yeah I was pretty excited about it too. And now all of these pictures are up on my wall in my adorable new frames. Thanks Santa