You need to do small area's???

So Rick has been working on painting our house and adding new wood to make it look more modern.  Since he has been outside working on the house most nights when he is home, I thought I'd help out with the carpets.  He is a freak about having clean carpets.  We put new carpet in when we bought the house 10 years ago.  I didn't listen to him and went for a lighter color and it has been the death of us ever since.  A few years back I bought him a carpet cleaner for his Christmas gift.  So I took his baby and decided I would help out and clean the carpets.  WELL I had him give me a brief how to you know through the window when he was working on the house.

So I went to town soaping the floor's up then all of a sudden something wasn't right.  YUP Rick came in at this moment to have a nice surprise of me breaking his carpet cleaner.  I yes I broke the belt on the machine.  Which meant I had to buy a new one which took FOREVER to come in.  So all the items in front room got pushed to my dinning room / office.  So over a week I was left with soaped up floors and a crowded work area.

I finally got the belt on and LEARNED how to work the machine.  Work ONLY in small area's rinse and repeat!  Front room is done and my work area is decluttered .. lol.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Leaving on a bus ... Camp Stache

Monday AM I got the boys up early, we dropped Caden off at the boys and girls club and went to meet up the youth group at church.  Cole is so excited this is the 2nd year he gets to go to the Kidz Camp with our youth group at church.  They leave on Monday and don't return until Friday!

We were so blessed this year was a tight year and they gave him a scholarship so I was able to pay a reduced rate.  Monday I dropped him off at the church, were we registered and he left on a bus with all the kids.  This year it's called Camp Stache so all the kids got mustache's!  He received his care package yesterday, I'm so excited to hear all about camp and if the package was a hit.  More to come I'm sure!

We All Need Something Sweet .... S'More Cookies

On our last day this week of cookies on parade we feature a fun cookie I made to put in a summer camp care package I put together for Cole (you'll see that next week).  Since he is at camp I wanted to do something camp like.  I went on the search and found these S'More Cookies on Foodbeast.

These were pretty easy to make and they looked so pretty coming out of the oven.  They smelled so great, I didn't take a bite but Caden my little taste tester had to make sure what I put in Cole's box was good.  OR I should say he said it's NOT FAIR Cole get's all this what do I get? LOL so of course some had to stay home to share with Caden and enough to take to my women's group too since we have a birthday girl in the group.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash of cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups miniature chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
• 2 Hershey bars, chopped (I used 4 bars)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes (My oven runs hot so I was 6-7 minutes), and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of Hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes (again mine was 2-3 minutes) until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

I just love how the marshmallow was toasted!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

We All Need Something Sweet .... Lemon Melting Moments

Onto our second sweet treat made for the staff and volunteers at The Boys & Girls Club.  I must say I've been so blessed that they let the boys into their summer program at a price I could afford weekly for both boys.  They really blessed me more then words could ever say.  Since I don't have the extra money, I do have the ability to bake and make treats, so I can bless them with treats to fill their bellies.  

I saw these really pretty Lemon Melting Moments on Itty Bitty Kitchen.  These cookies were so simple to make and did they make a wow moment for the girls at the front desk when I walked into the club.  They told me they didn't even want to bite into them at first they just picked them up to stare at them and how pretty they looked.  Very simple and oh so pretty!

Lemon Melting Moments:

• 1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a large bowl cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy on a medium setting, roughly 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and  incorporate the vanilla and lemon zest, scraping down the sides as you go. Sift the flower and cornstarch into the mixture and beat on a low setting until just combined.

Take small portions of the mixture and roll into balls, continue until you have 25-30. If you want them to be as even as possible, roll out the mixture until it forms a log then use a clean knife to section into 30 pieces.

Place them on a baking tray lined with wax paper, gently press on each piece with a fork until it has left an imprint. You can also press on them gently with your fingers, if you do not wish to leave an imprint.  They don't expand so you can keep them closer together on pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. let them cool completely.

Filling:

• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• juice of one lemon

For the filling beat the sugar, butter and lemon juice on a medium setting until incorporated. Use the back of a spoon, or a knife to ice one side of the cookie then sandwich them together (I used a pipping bag so much easier, plus it was prettier). Try to find two which are similar sizes.

Can be kept for up to 5 days in an air tight container, that is if they last even the day.

I played around with the recipe a little bit to make it work, I had to add a bit more so what amounts you see above are what I found worked.  You may have to add or take away some butter and/or the powder sugar but this is what worked for mine.  

I hope you give them a try they were so pretty and smelled great.  I didn't taste any but the ladies at the front desk of the Boys and Girls Club said they really did melt in your mouth and were super yummy!!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

We All Need Something Sweet .... Watermelon Cookies

We had a family reunion this weekend and I love to bring things that aren't the normal run of the mill item.  I came across these Watermelon Cookies on That's What Che Said.  She used a store bought cookie but when I ran to the store and QFC had a small sugar cookie roll for $5.99, I thought I'm better off making them from scratch so that is what I did.  I found a rolled sugar cookie mix on All Recipes.  

I started with the sugar cookies, they have to rest several hours (or best case over night).  I got up at 5am before work on Saturday and got it mixed up and in the fridge to wait until I got off around 9:30am.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour

(or overnight).

This part is what you do if just making sugar cookies:

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

This was a simple sugar cookie recipe, I did add the Green Food Coloring to make the mix green.

Ingredients Needed:

Sugar cookie dough

1 can of Hot Pink Icing

Mini-Chocolate Chips

Green Food Coloring

Start off by opening your cookie dough (or make homemade dough), putting it in a bowl or on a cutting board and add green food coloring (I prefer Wilton's Food Coloring Gel).  Knead with your hands and add more food coloring until it's as green as you want it and thoroughly colored.  Roll dough and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.  I found it easiest to roll dough and take a circle cutter then I took a pizza cutter to cut circles in half to make a watermelon slice shape. Bake at 400 degrees F for 9 -10 minutes.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.   Add pink icing and mini-chocolate chips for the seeds!

These were a HUGE hit with the kids, and I made enough so I could bring to the Boy's and Girls Club.  I try to bring them a sweet treat every Monday for what they do, those volunteers are amazing!!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Wonder Years they are ...

Last Friday Rick and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary  It has been a whirl wind life.  We were friends for 2 years, my mom said that is the man you'll marry.  I thought she was crazy told her no he is just a friend.  She was right we dated for 2 and then married!  We went to Miami for our honeymoon, because it was so darn cheap (YUP didn't think about hurricane season .. duh). It was a nice place to visit the one time.  We came back to find I was pregnant with our first son Cole!  We then went on the buy a bank-repo house, we got the keys on Christmas Eve.  I was 6 months pregnant and happy to have the new house!  1 month later we actually got to move in due to the work that had to be done to make it livable.  3 years and 3 months later we had baby #2 Caden!  Mom says he is my sweetheart because I wished so hard for a girl.  

We have gone through many different jobs, and our fair share of ups and many downs.  I'm happy to say I'm happy were we are and I'm happy with myself.  I'm not at my goal but I'm so darn close and it's been one heck of a journey to be happy to have pictures taken of us.  

We celebrated with a movie (Grown Ups 2), which I thought was going to be a total Rick movie but I actually enjoyed!  We then had a Restaurant.com coupon I picked up for $2 for a $25 GC at a local Italian restaurant.  It worked out perfect the boys were at the boys and girls club until 6p so we hit an early movie. Then the church next to home had a VBS 6p to 8p that allowed us to hit dinner and not have to pay a babysitter!  Talk about happy dance!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

Our Date Night:

Yes he never smiles in photos.

They made me a special steak and veggie meal! Love them!

Here's some pictures of us:

He's loved me thick, to thin, to thick to thin to thick and back to thin :)