Summer Treats

About two months ago, my dumpster-diving KitchenAid (don't worry, we bought our own accessories) gave up on me after a particularly large batch of cookies. And while a baking sabbatical is good for one's waistline, too long of a sabbatical can wither the soul. I'm hoping to save up for the kind of mixer that should last me until Kieran goes off to college; in the meantime, I have been scouring through my recipes and pins for desserts that can be made with a food processor or a good ol' wooden spoon.

First off, I made this berry pie a couple of different times. I just love all the colorful goodness in this one.

Then, I made Chef in Training's Banana Bars with Brown Butter Frosting a couple of times. The frosting? To. Die. For.

One of my favorites since college are these carmelitas. I like to make them with Mexican food – they sound like something you'd find on a menu at a Mexican restaurant, right? I also made this homemade caramel for the recipe, too!

Finally, I was really wanting a doughnut the other day, but, as a rule, I try to never buy them unless it's for church. And I abhor deep frying. All that mess and wasted oil … ugh. But I searched on Pinterest and found these Dirt Bombs (great title, right?), which are, essentially, doughnut muffins.

As I was mixing them together (in my food processor, of course) I had this feeling of déjà vu, and I realized that I had made almost this exact recipe before, when I made The Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs. Either way, they are yummy with your morning coffee! …Oh, and speaking of PW's recipes, I have had her lemon bars on the brain for quite awhile now. I just need for this heat wave to break so I can get to baking again!

Even if you don't have all the tools you would like, I hope you can get your bake on this summer, too. What are some of your recent favorite dessert finds?

P.S. I simply cannot forget to mention this homemade hot fudge! It's great to have on hand to bring to a get-together. Just grab a carton of vanilla ice cream (or make your own), and you're ready to go!

A Two Year Old

A two-year-old is so many things.
A tiny discoverer of butterfly wings.
A hugger of teddies, a sweet sleepy head.
And someone to dream for in bright years ahead.
A special new person who right from the start,
has a place in the family and a course in your heart.
And just when you think you've learned all the things
that your dear son is, and the joy that he brings,
a hug or a grin comes with such a sweet surprise
that love finds you smiling with tears in your eyes.

What a big day we've had! We started out the day driving to a special hair salon for kiddos, where Kieran got his second real haircut (I try to stay on top of trimming it up, but it was time to get it cleaned up).

After that, we walked over to Scratch Cupcakery, where the adults enjoyed cupcakes, and Kieran enjoyed a cake pop--perfect for little hands.

Next, we headed over to the mall and enjoyed the indoor playground, since it was such a blustery day.

This evening, it was party time!

We enjoyed Kieran's favorite meal of homemade spaghetti and meatballs and, of course, more cake.

And there were presents!

This boy is a tractor fanatic!

We love this boy so much and had a wonderful day celebrating with him. As I said on a facebook post the other day, he is big at heart, and we love him to pieces. He is quick to share kisses and hugs and all kinds of love. His vocabulary is explosive, his affection for anything with wheels and an engine has remained strong, and sometimes he has so much energy that he is literally bouncing off the walls. We look forward to seeing him grow in stature, and we pray that he will one day grow in knowledge and in love of his Heavenly Father.

Kieran as a newborn, at his first birthday party, and today, at his second birthday party

It's the Final Countdown

Friday the 16th I got to see Baby again! I am going to a new clinic now since I am on the path to try and deliver normally (i.e., not have a c-section). While I do miss my midwives, the doctors seem super nice so far and have been really supportive of our decision. On my second appointment there, I had my glucose test (I passed!) and an ultrasound to check the position of the placenta. Not only has it migrated even farther away from the cervix (which is what they wanted to see), but I got to see my baby in 3D and take home some much-loved pictures.

The umbilical cord was in the way the whole time, blocking my view of his or her little face...but it was pretty funny to see that I have a mustache baby! :)

Since these are print outs, not digitals, it's kind of hard to see due to the contrast.

I think that these 3D shots are kind of cool and somewhat weird at the same time. But I am sure that any parent is glad to have any pictures of their babies in utero.

We are getting close to the final countdown here, as I will be 30 weeks along on Tuesday!

Me and Baby #3 at 28 weeks

We are also in the final countdown for summer. We had fun going to the Iowa State Fair again last week, enjoying our usual sights and foods and trying a new kind of funnel cake (I am a funnel cake traditionalist), the much-celebrated maple bacon funnel cake. It has been a busy summer, and Jordan has been working a lot, but I am trying to make as many memories as I can before we become shut-ins for the winter! Tonight, we are finally going to put together Kieran's tricycle and take him to a nearby "lake" to try it out. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks we will also be going to see and ride the trains as Kieran seems to be obsessed with trucks, tractors, and anything with wheels. I would also like to visit an orchard or two, as we had so much fun last year, and K will be able to participate so much more this year. Even though it is super hot this weekend, fall is just around the corner, and I can't wait!

I just had to sneak in a picture of my curious little man!

A Month of Gifts: Day Twenty

Lately, I have been reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts. As Kieran enters the last month of his first year, I decided to list some of the gifts we have celebrated since that wonderful March day as a sort of countdown to his very first birthday:

46.  Silliness. Let's all take a break from being adults for just a second and pretend to be a dinosaur, play a game of indoor tag, or read a book upside down. Of course, you don't need my permission. :)

Punkins

We had the opportunity to visit Jordan's sister, Sheila, and her family in Michigan this past weekend. We really enjoyed the time with family and the time away from home. I just love being an aunt, and I wish that I could have known my nieces and nephew when they were Kieran's age! Jordan's family has been a huge encouragement to me since I was "grafted in", and I am truly blessed to have such amazing in-laws.

The trip included a lot of firsts for Kieran:

• his first night away from home since he came home from the hospital,
• his first road trip (as well as our first extended car ride with a baby),
• his first visit to an orchard,
• and his first pumpkin!

And what a little punkin' he was!

We had the chance to pick out our own pumpkins and we saw fresh apple cider made from an antique cider press. We drank fresh apple cider and had homemade doughnuts--apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice--yum! It certainly was brisk outside, but it felt amazing to do something so autumnal. :)

We also stopped and visited our good friends, Scott and Janelle. Kieran definitely had fun playing with their son.

I strongly believe that it is important to make the effort to visit friends and family at their home. If you always expect someone to come to you, then they are experiencing your life, meeting your friends, and connecting with your world. At home, we are in our element and most comfortable to be ourselves--to share our lives. It is well worth the effort!

I Pinned It...And I Did It, Too!

I am sorry to disappoint you, but it seems I must go along with the masses and include a post about Pinterest. There is some symbiotic relationship between blogs and Pinterest, as of late, where blogs inspire pins on Pinterest and Pinterest inspires posts on various blogs. There are a few projects (out of the massive amount of possibilities on the site) that I have undertaken, and I would like to share them with you.

Freezer Meals

I started out by pinning this post from Mama and Baby Love. After seeing her take on the idea, I did some research and found recipes on other sites, as well. With the upcoming addition to our family, I thought it might be a good idea to try my hand at readying meals in advance. My friend, Bekah, and I went on a good-sized shopping trip and spent most of a Saturday making freezer meals. What we ended up deciding on, since it was our first attempt, was to make several slow cooker meals, one casserole, and several quarts of spaghetti sauce with meatballs. We had so much fun!

Here are the results of our shopping excursion.

Half of this will make it to my mouth, eventually! :)

Bekah and I were feeling pretty accomplished at this point.

I am not quite sure that I would do this again in the same way. It was fun and helpful cooking with someone else, but doubling and sometimes quadrupling everything turned out to be complicated at times--especially when it came to countertop space, mixing bowls, and the like. But it was a good learning experience, for sure, and a fun time of just hanging out. Since then, I have doubled some of the meals I make in the evening and frozen the second batch. In the future, I think it would be fun to start a freeze-and-share group with several other girls! In case you are wondering what we have made, here are the majority of the recipes we used. We also used a couple of brisket recipes Bekah had, but I do not have those in my file, yet.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

When I saw this, I just had to try it! We had made homemade liquid detergent before and did not like the results. This was a powdered version, and it piqued my interest.

Recipe and photo are courtesy of Being Creative (to keep my sanity).

We have been using it for a couple of months now, and we love it! Our landlord had to replace our old washer and dryer with a new, front-loader high-efficiency unit, and it still works well. When friends of mine threw me a baby shower, I thought it would be cute to surprise them with samples of this laundry soap as a thank you.

Cupcakes in a Jar

My church also threw me a baby shower, and I was looking for another homemade thank-you gift I could make for the ladies. I stumbled upon (no, actually, I searched within Pinterest) this little number from Cakies.

Red velvet cupcakes in a jar! 

I found the printables for this and the laundry soap on various sites.

It was such a fun idea, and I had a blast--although I stayed up way too late layering cupcake and frosting!

"That Was Totally...Wicked!"

I thought that maybe I should mention that the day before we left for vacation I made a trip to Des Moines with some friends to see...................................Wicked!

I had friends who had seen this and really loved it, and I so wanted to go to a professional musical, since I feel like I got shafted by seeing Rent in high school (no one told me the story line on that one). It was amazing! I was familiar with the story and had been listening to the soundtrack, but, truly, nothing beats live performances. Theatre will always live on because it delivers something cinema never can--a magical feeling that you are actually getting caught up in the story.

Anyway, my favorite songs, "Defying Gravity" and "For Good", were just as spectacular as I expected, if not more so because of the live sound.

The song, "Popular", was not my favorite of the night. In the soundtrack, Kristen Chenowith interpreted the song more melodically than this actress did. She went for flirty/ditsy/annoying, which works, but wasn't my favorite. 

Of course, I cheated and took these pictures off of Google, so they're not even the Civic Center cast--I wouldn't be rude enough to actually be taking pictures during the show. :) It was so much fun to dress up, go out to eat, and "take in a show", like it was something I did everyday!