Cookie swirls

We have had a lot going on in our house the last couple weeks and sometimes, instead of going over some scary things we have to face in our future, you just need to take a break and make some sweets. So this post is a light hearted post about how to make some delicious cookies! 

Cookie Swirls

2 boxes of cake mix (any flavor) I personally love yellow cake and chocolate together!

4 eggs (2 for each box)

4 teaspoons of milk (2 for each box)

2/3 cup of oil (1/3 for each mix)

Add one cake box mix into a mixing bowl, and add eggs, milk and oil.

Do the same for the second box of cake mix.

Mix well, until this yummy batter looks like this!

Do the same for the second box. Pretty easy so far, huh?

Then cover them both with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Believe me, you will want to do this. Otherwise, the batter is too delicate to work with.

This is a little girl who is waiting anxiously for some cookies! "Mommy, take a picture of me!" How could I resist?

After 30 minutes, scoop a teaspoon and a half of one batter and roll into a ball. Set aside.

Now, do the same with the second batter.

Then combine the two and roll into one big ball.

Place a couple of inches apart on a cookie sheet. I could eat these like this! But lets bake them...

 

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes and they come out looking oh so good!!! 

So, if you need something sweet in your life that is decadent and worth all the work, these cookies are for you. Here's the recipe written out. Enjoy and until next time.

Cookie Swirls

2 boxes of cake mix (any flavor) I personally love yellow cake and chocolate together

4 eggs (2 for each box)

4 teaspoons of milk (2 for each box)

2/3 cup of oil (1/3 for each mix)

In a mixing bowl, add the cake mix, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons of milk and 1/3 cup of oil. Mix well until there are no clumps. Do the same with the second box of mix.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then take a teaspoon and scoop about a teaspoon and a half of batter and roll into a ball with your hands and set aside. Do the same with batter #2. Then roll both balls into one big ball and place onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cool completely. Makes around 15 cookies.

Challenges

Our life here is pretty easy. We have great kids who are healthy and growing like they are supposed to, happy and well adjusted. So when something difficult comes along in our lives, it often hits us harder than it should. About a year ago, we started noticing that our son's left eye was going in a little further than it should. Our kids are rarely sick, so we were never in the dr's office for me to ask about it. I decided to wait until his 3 year old checkup to ask since it wasn't that far away. The nurse practitioner saw him that day and we did ask and she assured us that we had nothing to worry about and advised us to just wait. I'm not sure what we were supposed to wait for and looking back I should have asked more questions, but I have grown to trust the people we take our children to for their health and prosperity. I didn't really think anything of it.

A few months later, I noticed it hadn't changed much and he was about to start school. I knew that he would go when he was 4 years old to get the hearing and eye tests, so I asked his teacher if she could see if he could go even though he was a year younger and get it looked at. She had the nurse look at it and decided that there was no concern, he was doing well in school and didn't appear to be having a hard time seeing. My daughter was to have her well check a couple months later, and I decided to ask the new pediatrician that we were going to about it then. I wasn't happy with the answers I had received so far, but I didn't necessarily think it was that big of a deal to need to be drastic and take matters into my own hands. At her well check, the dr looked at his eyes and said that they were moving together which was the big deal and since we were only 4 months out to his 4 yr old well check, we could wait until then. Which we did. Finally, it was his day to really talk about it. It had been a year and nothing had changed. The dr referred us to an eye dr and we went a few days later. We were told that his left eye was having a hard time strengthening and his right eye, which has perfect vision, was doing all the work. His left eye was essentially getting lazy. He needed glasses and to wear a patch a couple hours a day until further notice. I asked how long is further notice and the answer was until we say it's better. Meaning this could be a very LONG process. If nothing gets better, then the answer is surgery.

This information took me and my husband by complete surprise! I felt incredibly guilty for noticing the problem and not dealing with it sooner. The eye dr told us that if you catch it early, you have a chance of fixing it sooner. So to my husband and I, we felt like we had wasted an entire year that we could have been fixing this problem and instead we put it off. We were upset with some people along the way that told us to put it off. The entire thing was devastating for us. We felt for our kid, who by the way, took the eye test with no tears or worries, told us he could sit in the chair by himself, was super excited to hear that he would get glasses and will gladly tell you that they are "to help me see the wittle wetters (little letters)". So really, this was an issue my husband and I were having. Not our kid.

It's been a couple months and our child has taken it like a champ. It really showed my husband and I how to put things in perspective and go with the flow more like our 4 year old. He showed us that even amongst a shock or hard thing to think about dealing with, can be easy, not a big deal, and kind of fun!  Every night at patch time, he gets excited, claims he's Nick Fury, grabs his eye pad and enjoys the down time. I don't want to take away from anyone that has dealt with or is dealing with far greater things in life with their children. My husband and I have been reminded multiple times and shown the humility of our situation in comparison to others. We are so grateful for a God that has walked through this with us and helped us see that this, in retrospect, and in the grand scheme of life, is a minor bump that is easy to take and fix, even if we don't like it. Most of all, we have seen God's grace, humility, laughter, and greatness in our 4 year old son, who has taught us that you take life as it comes and move on. Thank you, X, for that! Thank you for showing mommy and daddy to chill, to let it go and keep our perspective about things in life. Its never easy to hear that your child isn't "perfect", though we know none of them are. Its never easy to think that he may need glasses for the rest of his life or even surgery, but OH MY GOSH! If thats the worse that is happening right now, then THANK YOU LORD for this life we live. Please understand, that in writing this, I am making fun of my husband and I and how we sometimes take life too seriously and how we are not by any means saying that our problem is the worst you can deal with. We understand there are far more parents in this world that deal with far more, and they are in our prayers. I thank God for teaching us new things daily and how to take things in stride and not let life get us down. We are here to live and to serve Him and I am thankful for that opportunity and to see Him more and more in our brave, courageous, and strong 4 year old! Oh and X, you are so handsome with glasses!

Happy 2nd birthday, Halloween style!

This is how busy we are and how so not altogether I am sometimes, that I blogged about my son's 4th birthday and I totally forgot to blog about my daughters 2nd birthday back in November! Oops. So, here its, the makeup blog to celebrate my brave, adventurous, energetic, sweet little girl. Her birthday is on November 5th and her birthday just worked out that we could have it the weekend before on November 1st, so my husband had the idea to have a halloween party and have the kids come in costume! We had a blast! I decorated with pumpkins and had a pink/orange pumpkin princess sort of theme. We had lots of fun orange foods and the most gorgeous princess cake!

We had an awesome set up with a bowl of little tangerines, a platter with yellow bell peppers, carrots and cauliflower to look like a candy corn, along with veggie dip. We had rice crispy treats with black and orange sprinkles, yummy cake balls, wheat thins and dip with the dips being held in hollowed out small pumpkins! They were so cute. Then I got a couple small pumpkins and used fabric paint to write her name and '2' on them and then placed them on candle stands.

I don't think we have ever had a more precious cake! My sister in law does all of our cakes and she out does herself every time! www.arayofcakes.com This cake was beautiful and sparkly! I couldn't cut into it!

Seriously, could she get any cuter?

We loved celebrating her! 

And for fun, this is what we went as for Halloween! Batman, Captain America, Superman and Super girl!

We loved having our friends and family over to say happy birthday to this beautiful little girl! We loved seeing all the costumes and having a fun halloween/pumpkin party for our daughter! I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful, beautiful, independent little superhero! Happy Birthday, O!

A superhero 4th birthday

How in the world do I have a 4 year old now? It seems like just yesterday he was a baby. My first born, who I still look at as my little one and not at all what he has become, which is a handsome big boy! He is so energetic, sensitive, wonderful, funny and one of the coolest kids I know. He loves superheroes, planes, helicopters, legos and games. He is a protector of his sister, a smart boy who loves to learn and a kid who has a heart for others. We could not be more proud to celebrate our Valentine baby this year. Valentines day changed for us 4 years ago and its no longer about dating my loved one, its about enjoying our gift to one another, and that's our little man! We had to have a superhero party because isn't that what every little 4 year old wants? So we decided that we would rent a bounce house...and not just any bounce house, a superman one. The kids loved it! And ours loved jumping in it before and after the party!

We decided to have a brunch which included:
Super fruit: blueberries, raspberries and strawberries served along side yogurt covered pretzels

Thor's hammers: cheese with pretzel sticks

Pigs in a cape: 

Fantastic cake balls, courtesy of www.arayofcakes.com

Eggs and Ham Unite: which was this awesome ham, egg and cheese biscuit that I made. (recipe at end of this post!)

Power punch: which was pineapple juice, orange juice and sprite. (recipe at end of post)

And of course, no superhero party is complete without a superhero cake! Courtesy of www.arayofcakes.com

Seriously, if you need a cake! She's the best!

The table was amazing and I had so much fun planning things for this lithe guy to have the best 4th birthday ever!

For party favors, I found these awesome totes and filled them with batman rings, spiderman masks, superhero erasers and bracelets!

I can't wait to watch this kid continue to grow and become such a polite, respectful, amazingly fun, hilarious, smart BIG boy! I have to say, that when we first found out we were having a boy, I was a little freaked out. I grew up mainly with my mom and sister and I had no idea what I was going to do with a boy. I now know more about superheroes, cars, star wars and legos than I ever thought I would...but my heart could not be more filled with joy and I am so happy that God intended for me to be a boy mom! I wouldn't trade it for the world! Happy birthday X!

Power Punch recipe: 

1 46 oz can of pineapple juice

1 can of frozen orange juice which I thawed beforehand 

1 2 liter bottle of Sprite! 

I put a cup of ice in as the party started so it would stay cold! I also doubled this recipe which was perfect.

Ham and Eggs Unite: 

1 1/4 Cups bisquick

1 pint of half and half

4 eggs

a good amount of salt and pepper

diced ham (however much you like. I used about a 1/2 lb of deli sliced ham that I diced up)

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

Bake in a mini muffin pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I actually made this mixture the night before and left it covered in the fridge. The next morning, you just spray a pan and you're ready to go!

Cooking

Now that the chaos of the holidays is over, sickness in our household is diminishing and things are starting to get back to normal, I feel that I can now blog. Its been a while, but sometimes with the day to day being so hectic and busy between thanksgiving and new years, its hard to find the time. We did survive the holidays and new years, and the weddings, and events and school programs, etc....see, BUSY!

So back to life. I love to cook. I have loved to cook ever since I went off to college and found myself inspired by my first small, run down kitchen in a duplex I rented my sophomore year. Plus, when you're on a budget, ramen noodles, pasta sides and spaghettios can get tiring and boring. I started making casseroles on a Sunday and eating off of them most of the week and trying something different from week to week. I really enjoyed it. Then came the holidays when I was at home or at a boyfriends family house, and I loved to help and pitch in. I started watching Food network and reading about cooking and collecting cookbooks. I felt passion and a yearning to want to learn more. 

Then I got married and as I started caring for another, my skills expanded quite a bit. I was cooking new things and trying new ingredients that I hadn't before and really learning to love it all. This only blossomed as I brought children into this world and now I feed 4 of us daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Staying home has only made these skills better.

Today is our 6th anniversary, and tonight, I am cooking up a mushroom stuffed beef tenderloin. I tried this recipe out 5 years ago when we first married and I remember thinking, I don't want to mess this up. I read and reread that recipe like 50 times trying not to make a mistake. And it took me forever to cook, because I was slow cutting and just not having the hang of my kitchen skills at full scale yet. Tonight, I am making it again. I haven't tried because I remember the process being so tedious and taking forever. But, I reread the recipe a couple days ago because my husband requested it, and to my surprise, it looked easy! I love it! I love that over the years, what once terrified me and seemed to daunting, I look at now and say, "oh i got this!". 

For Christmas this year, we even wrote a cookbook. My husband threw in a lot of grilling and smoking recipes and I did most everything else. We had some family recipes that we got from people and put those in as well and then had it professionally bound and shipped to us. It looked great and I was so proud of it. I loved it so much, that I have already started gathering recipes for book #2. 

So for those out there who are starting to learn to cook, or have some inspiration to do more, my advice is keep at it. The more you cook, the better you get at it. I have been cooking now for 10 years and I am so impressed with where I have come. I have to look back to what I used to know how to make to now, and I am pleasantly surprised by myself. That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes! In fact, a couple weeks ago, I had some melted butter and onions on the stove and I went to change clothes and brush my teeth, thinking I had time, and when I returned, they were burned. I haven't burned onions in years! So it happens. And you will make mistakes, but don't let that ruin your desire, passion, curiosity, whatever it is, to stop trying. I raise a spoon to all the foodies out there! Good luck, keep cooking and maybe someday I'll start sharing recipes on here too! Until next time...

A whirlwind of change

I know it has been awhile since I last blogged! Things have been so busy this summer and of course, we had to save the most excitement and busyness for the end. We are moving! A couple of months ago we decided that the housing market was excellent and decided just to browse houses and see what we could find. Eventually, we found one that we loved and made an offer and less than 3 days later, they accepted the offer, my house was show ready and people were walking in and out of my home from 9am-9pm!

Lets start there...have you ever tried to sell your home and have it staged and then live in it on top of that? We did for a brief period when we lived in Georgetown. But we ended up moving to Dallas about 2 weeks after we had staged our home and so the home was "empty" for the most part with the exception of furniture and so on. We had and still do have our two dogs, so we vacuumed a lot but that was about it. Now? 2 kids, 2 dogs and one tired mommy later, we sold our home. This is after we lived in our car for like 3 days. It was too hot to go outside and we had periods where we could be home even if they were small. We did a lot of park time and went to the grandparents house a lot too while people browsed our house. Our kids went to bed late, their schedules completely out of whack and me, exhausted from keeping the house close to spotless while still living in it with a 3 1/2 yr old and a 21 month old!

After only 3 days on the market our house was sold and that drama ended. Our kids though, I have to brag...were excellent. They embraced the chaos and the changes with us. I decided that if we were going to do this and they were going to have to accept it, that we better include them early on. So, we talked daily about how we were moving into a bigger house with 2 playrooms and how we were going to paint their rooms different colors and they could choose (our son chose blue and to decorate with superheros and our daughter chose a turquoise), and we even let them pick out there own duck tape so that we could mark their boxes with them (he chose batman tape and she chose rainbow tape). They haven't complained or argued. They helped me pack boxes (and still are) and are excited about the changes.

Now, we are 3 days out from having to be out. About 7 days out from being in the new house and almost packed. We are so excited about the new house. We are looking forward to more room and space for everyone. My husband will have his office and a media room now the "man cave", I will have the spare room to make it into whatever I want to (guest room, craft room, a room for me and my drums...hey, maybe I'll put my computer and a bean bag up there and retreat at night and on weekends to stream netflix...kid free!!! LOL), and the kids get a downstairs play room (that is not our living room which is our current issue) and an upstairs landing/gameroom/playroom.

My husband always says that our kids do so well because I do well with them. Maybe this is true, so lets explore it for a second. It could be that my kids are just champions and good sports, but they really have been great these last few weeks. I have included them like I said earlier in everything I am doing such as holding the box while I tape it, picking out the tape and making sure I tape it well, and being so understanding when I am packing up their toys knowing that "we can play with these in the big house, right, Mommy?!" Right, you are X man. I have been patient with them in the midst of all this too. I am not saying that there were not days when they were both tired because of the 3 nights in a row they went to bed late or wanted mommy to just sit down and play and stop for a few minutes. In each scenario, I did just that. I held them when they needed cuddles and were tired, I stopped packing despite the work that needed to be done and I played on the floor with them. I listened to them when they needed me to listen and pay attention. As a result, I got these great children, who knew that when mommy had her tape and marker in hand, that I needed some time to "work", and they let me have it.

I cannot stress enough to new parents or veteran parents, how much of a difference it makes during chaotic times, to listen and to react to what our kids are saying. I know there are things to do around the house that NEED to be done and I know that I still have more boxes to pack, but when your kids have been so understanding and flexible with all the change, its nice and only fitting to listen to them too. I also started packing the day after we got an offer. I wanted to pack every day some or a lot so that when push came to shove (which will be in about a day and a half) and there is a meltdown from one or both of my kids, I can stop (and afford to stop) and pay attention, listen and solve the problem. I planned time for my kids in the midst of the chaos and I am so glad I did. In short, I am not saying I am super mom....no mom can do everything...but we can do a little of everything daily or weekly or whatever the time frame allows. Honestly, I think I just have the best "lets go with the flow" kind of kids. Anyway, until next time....when I will have pictures of the house and let you know how everyone is dealing with the changes of sleeping in new rooms and living in a new house. Oh and did I mention in the middle of all this, my son starts preschool? Yeah...so more on that next time. Until then...

Intro to geek world

Today, more than ever, geeks and nerds are becoming the cool kids! They are becoming the ones that everyone wants to be like and more importantly, the geeks and nerds who had to hide parts of who they were are now expressing themselves more due to the fact that its becoming mainstream. Geeks are now allowed to be geeks and they are actually cool for it! Magic is amazing, super heroes are the thing and owning your Harry Potter world or SyFy world is now considered to be pretty awesome. So with all the geeky things around us, I thought I would share my geek side, how I became more of a geek and how I married a geek who has taught me so much that I actually own the fact that I have a little geekyness to me.

Growing up I had a gameboy. I liked it and had three games I played...yes, only three. Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers and Tetris. I beat Tetris and loved it, I got to like level 5 of Donkey Kong and quit because I couldn't get past it and I never fully beat Super Mario Bros. This was the extent of my geek side and gaming. But then years later, I met this really cool, geeky guy who would later become my husband. I have to admit, that I wasn't sure about everything he loved at first, but I came around to some of it. Lets start with D&D. I had to ask what that meant. He had a couple friends that he would play with periodically when we met. I had to ask and get some explanation about this game. I didn't get it. But....I would try it. So we got together, me and him and a couple friends and I gave my whirl at it. That wasn't really for me. I guess I figured I was more of a visual person and imagining in my head was not fun. But he appreciated me trying and I had fun the one time.

Then a few months later, I realized that he really did love playing video games. I thought, he really loves this and if I am going to get to spend as much time as I want with him, it might be a good idea for me to learn how to play and then maybe I could play with him. I wasn't even sure that he would like this idea. I kind of thought, that he either wouldn't want a teammate or that girls weren't allowed to play. Thats what I thought at that time...that girls weren't really supposed to be super into the shooting games, so I didn't even know how to approach this subject. Then one day we were at lunch and I just asked. "Hey, so I was thinking, could you teach me how to play video games?" At first, there was silence. I thought, this was a bad idea...RETREAT! RETREAT! But before I back peddled out of it, his silence became an enthusiastic hell yeah! And I all of the sudden became super cool. His silence was from shock. He never thought that would be my thing. So began our love for co op games. I started on Halo and I was bad! I was terrible. I couldn't walk and turn at the same time. I never shot anything and I died a lot! I mean A LOT! I started by hiding while he shot everything and then when there was one guy left, I would go out and kill. That was fun!

Then, we started Halo 2. I got better. Halo 3 was much of an improvement and then came Halo ODST. And I had kind of figured out my mojo at that point. I didn't like doing missions. I didn't like finding the object or doing the objective, I just liked to shoot things. By the end of Halo ODST, I had unexpectedly and not intentionally, out ranked my husband (we were married at this point). Another side note, his grooms cake was an xbox with the game Gears of War on top. That was the game that I truly loved. In the middle of playing through the Halo series, we started Gears of War. I was Dom, he was Marcus. I loved it. I still do. We played Gears of War 2 and then Gears of War 3. Just in case this post inspires any of you to go play these games, I won't spill the beans on why I quit after Gears of War 3...but needless to say, that game has run its course with me. We've played Rainbow Six Vegas which I love and also out ranked him at one point. And then we began Borderlands and Borderlands 2. By far, these are my favorite! And the best part is, I was able to be a girl character!! Gaming has become a part of us and something that we do now for fun. Its a great stress reliever and I love that it really bonds us. We have to play as a team and coordinate and have each others backs. I love that the most about playing with him. He even bought me my very own controller. Its the Gears of War Xbox controller. I love it!!

Moving on to movies. I'll only go into Harry Potter. "Harry Potter? Never seen it"....that was my response in the beginning. He was like, "You have to watch it!" Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix was about to come out and I hadn't seen any of them. He of course had read all the books up to this point. The seventh book had not been released yet. So on my time off from work I watched the first four. They were ok, but I really didn't get the hype. I went and saw the fifth movie and then the sixth and then the seventh. But then he asked me to read the books. I remember when the last book came out. He got it at midnight and stayed up all night and the next day reading it. I didn't understand that craziness. After I had my first kid and he started taking some long naps, and I started having more down time, I finally picked up book one. And loved it! So I read the rest one after another and I loved them! After each book, I watched the movie that went with that book and thus began my love affair for the series. I have now reread the books several times and any time Harry Potter is on TV, we stop and let it play. My kids at 3 and 1 1/2 actually can tell you who Harry Potter is if he's on TV.

And since we are talking about TV, lets talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Another show, I didn't watch and wasn't all that into. You mean vampires? Really? Thats not really my thing. Oh how wrong I was. Spike is so my thing! I watched every season with my husband and loved it! I have even watched them over and over again. I have not seen Angel...but its on the list. I did watch Firefly, not really my thing, but I get its cool. We've watched Freaks and Geeks and love the awesomeness of it. We are huge Big Bang Theory fans (which who isn't these days) and I love Grimm which is a kind of fantasy show.

All in all, I found a part of me that I didn't know existed. A part of me that is totally geeky but that I am proud to know. I love that I met a man who wasn't afraid to be a nerd and now owns more nerdy t-shirts than anyone I know. I am thankful for someone who said, "I'll teach you to play video games! This is awesome!" Who had patience with me when he had to save me in the games more than he actually got to play and for someone who encouraged me to read more and find different genres that might be fun. I am outing myself as a semi, self-proclaimed nerd. I pride myself on the fact that I can call myself a gamer chick. I love that I have my own controller and I have gotten a flawless, up strum only performance on the bass guitar on Rock Band. (another side note, we have also done the 50 song consecutive set....yes we totally stayed up all night long to do it. This was before we had kids....ahh the days back then). Anywho...I love that I am a Harry Potter fan and that I was able to fall in love with the series. I am also having fun with my son these days and his super heroes. I like that I know the characters now (after getting a crash course from husband one night after my son went to bed because I couldn't name half of the heroes in the coloring book...but thats beside the point). I am proud to be married to a geek and I am proud to be one myself. And more importantly, I am proud, that I get to raise my kids to know that whomever they want to be...cool, geeky, nerdy, athletic, the jock, the cheerleader, dancer, princess....whatever, that they can be a combination of everything or only one thing and still be true to who they are. They can own it and we will support it and make sure that they are proud to be who they are. 

Own your geek side, because its a pretty cool thing! 

And here's the grooms cake at our wedding: