Yesterday

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately.  I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet.

Yesterday, the babe said Momma for the first time.  Momma. Put a fork in me, I'm done.

That's all.

 

Tulips and BFF's

Sometimes all a little lady needs is some time at the tulip farm with her BFF.  These girls were destined to be the very best of friends before they were even born.  That is, if their parents have anything to do with it :)

Oh hey!  Yeah, this is just us being cute and making it look easy!

All the girls!

Someday they will be 16 and I will still be forcing them into these shoes for a photo.  Yeah, I'm gonna be that kind of mom.

Our wonderful friends- the Tulip family :)

Okay, she was pretty darn cute from the front side... but I think this is even cuter!

These three were obviously having a very serious talk.  Solving the worlds problems I'm sure.

One last one of my babe.

 

Maybe someday I'll let her pick her own friends- but right now I think I'm doing a pretty good job of picking them for her.

 

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Oh my!  We had another beautiful weekend here in the Northwest.  Since we're all about taking advantage of this sunshine while it lasts we decided to spend Sunday at the Portland Zoo.  Checking another first off P's list.  There are so many opportunities for "firsts" with the babe and I feel like it's my job to make sure she experiences as many of them as possible.  That being said, we were ready to show her each animal and catch all of her reactions in pictures.  Most of the animals, however, had a different idea of how this was going to go.  Apparently when the sun comes out the animals take naps... inside... in spots the visitors can't see.

Presley figured if the animals could sleep, so could she.



While she was snoozing we got to check out the animals that were up from their naps.  A giraffe.



A zebra.



A lion.  Really such an amazing creature.  Could you imagine seeing this bad boy in the wild?  I mean, those teeth!  Yikes.



Finally!  Our little lady was awake and ready to see some animals for herself.



The polar bears were out and about playing in their pool.  They really are so cute and so huge.



He gave us a little shake.



Taking a peek through the rocks.



Whoa, there's a polar bear in there!



Meet the newest Junior Zookeeper!



Another perfect Sunday in the books.  Glad we got to spend it with Nana, Papa and Mooma!

Love it, Leave it

Love it.

Our new season ticket seats for the Blazers games.  Even though it's not so easy to make it to the games these days, these seats may make it a little more of a priority :)  Now let's just hope we have a better season next year.  Lunch with great friends and catching up.  Realizing the Mister has three weeks of vacation time to burn before mid June.  Purchasing the champagne for a good friends bridal shower next weekend.  Finding the perfect shade of coral baking cups for baked mac and cheese.  Taking 10 minutes to paint my nails.  Even though they'll surely be chipped and gnarly looking in no time... they look good for the moment.  Breakfast with good people and their adorable babe.   Meals out with the little ones aren't exactly a relaxing event, but it's always fun to get the two babes together for some bff time.  Hanging out in the 80 degree weather at the Portland Zoo.  P's first trip to the Zoo was a hit.  The sun may have made our little lady and all of the animals a little sleepy but a day in the sun with the fam is always a good day in my book.

Leave it.

The babe crawling over to me, climbing up to the standing position at my chair and fully chomping down on my big toe... and deciding it's funny so she better hang on for a while.  Ouch!  Better stop sitting indian style in my chair.  Baby girl getting her first runny nose.  Luckily it only lasted a couple days.  Blowouts.  If you have a babe you know what I'm talking about.  Gas prices.  The Mister passing his sore throat along to me.

Caught on Instagram this week...

Smiles at the Zoo.  A fresh coat of paint.  Snack time at work.  Top Ramen and champagne.

   

   

It's Friday, Dance!

If the babe hears music of any kind she starts up her signature dance moves, arms up wrist wiggling and hip swaying.  She definitely gets her moves from her Dad only it doesn't take her a few jack and cokes to bust them out.  Mooma and P were hanging out at work (not a lot of work getting done these days) and the little lady was in the mood to groove!

Happy Friday!

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Sweet Life: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

First recipe post!  Those people that know me, know I love to bake.  So- you'll probably see a lot of posts with recipes for sweets on this bloggity.  The Mister requested peanut butter cookies this weekend... and today I finally got around to making them.  When I was searching pinterest for a recipe I found this one for peanut butter chocolate chip shortbread cookies.  That's a mouthful!  I love, love, love shortbread so I gave it a whirl.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp (1 stick)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup Reese's chips

The original recipe called for 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips.  I switched it out for the above chips.  I like to live on the edge.

Mmmmm.  You just can't go wrong with peanut butter.

-Cream the butter and peanut butter.  Incorporate the vanilla.

-Whisk the flour, powdered sugar and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter/peanut butter mixture.

-Gently mix in the Reese's chips and mini chocolate chips.

-Dump your dough out onto a piece of wax paper and shape into a log.  I didn't have any wax paper so I used plastic wrap.  I feel like this is easier than using wax paper anyways.  Sidenote- see those flowers in the background?  I got flowers from TWO manly men in ONE day!  Shout out to the Mister and the babe's Guncle for making this gals day!

-Stick your dough in the fridge for a couple hours.  I didn't have a couple hours to work with so I just put it in the freezer for an hour.

-Once the dough is chilled slice the dough in about 1/3" pieces.  It may crumble a little, just smash (yes, that is the technical term) it back into one piece.  No biggie.

-Bake at 325 degrees for about 12-14 minutes on a Silpat lined cookie sheet.  Let the cookies sit for a minute before you remove them from the pan.

And here ya have them!

These cookies really are delicious.  Melt in your mouth goodness!

I can't wait to eat one (or five) of these tomorrow morning with my coffee.

Sweet Sunday: Family Day in PDX

Normally a weekend around here consists of lots of sports watching, cleaning and catching up on laundry.  We aren't exactly the couple that spends exciting weekends out on the town with all the cool kids.  Most of the time I don't even take a shower on Sundays!  There's something about the sunshine coming out that makes you want to get out of the house and get moving!  The Mister decided we needed to take advantage of the good weather and find something to do outside on Sunday.  The zoo sounded like fun... but Packy the elephant was having his 50th Birthday celebration this weekend so we knew it would be a... well... zoo.  I crack myself up.  Anyways, that idea was out, battling crowds doesn't excite me, especially not with the babe in tow.

We decided to go to lunch downtown and hang out at the waterfront.  We ended up taking a nice long walk around the loop which gave us a chance to do lots of people watching.  Those peeps definitely do a good job of keeping Portland weird.  There was a little fencing in full costumes a la "Role Models" as well as a gal walking a dog while a cat rode on her backpack.  Mmmmhmm.  And they call you the crazy cat lady, Mom.  :)

Not a bad view!

We even found a clean(ish) patch of grass to lounge around on for a while.  This didn't last too long since the babe wanted to get out on that grass and play with goose poop which would inevitably end up in her mouth.  Not gonna happen.

P's new favorite thing to do it to point, at everything she's sees.  Did I mention she grunts when she points?  Lots of pointing and grunting going on around here these days.  This picture kinda makes me giggle.  Sing it with me, biiig guy on a littlllle blaaanket.

Who can resist baby toes?  I sure can't!

That's my smiley girl!  Please ignore my awful roots!  Momma needs a dye job!  I think my hairdresser was drunk the last time she did my hair.

Back to the car after a great afternoon in the sun!

Days like this make letting the laundry pile sit untouched fine by me.

Just Because: Baby Kisses

I've been saying "kiss" about 80% of the times I give the babe a smooch hoping that she would learn to kiss on command.  Welp, it happened!  Sometimes you get a whack on the face- she can get a little saucy.  But the rest of the time you get a big, wet, opened mouth kiss!  I can't get enough.  Last night she was even willing to perform for the camera :)  Atta girl.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40561261 w=400&h=300]

 

Word spread like wildfire and now every family member she sees wants a kiss too.  It's hard work being that cute.  Can someone help a sister out and get her a little lip balm?

A Babe and Her Walker

Last week P finally realized she can get around in her walker.  Baby girl is cruisin' around like a champ now.  Since the sun decided to shine down on us today we went for a walk to the park.  There's something so funny/cute about a baby walking along the sidewalk in a walker... like she knows exactly where she's going.  Shout out to Mooma for the new tennies!  P's toes thank you as well :)

Ahhh, sun on the face feels so good!



Okay Daddy, it's time for us to have a serious talk.  I'll meet you over at the rail.





I'm coming, I'm coming.



Thanks for the pep talk Daddy.  I'm gonna take this ramp like a pro.  Just you wait.  One flying walker coming right up.



We had you going didn't we Mommy?  Don't worry!  Obviously I wouldn't try to jump the ramp with out my safety gear on!!



Let's just do some more running around.  I've gotta break these new kicks in!



Try to keep up Daddy!

Love it, Leave it

Love it.

Sunshine!  You know you live the Pacific Northwest when something so simple as sun shining makes you as happy as can be.  Cadbury caramel eggs.  Yum.  Taking the babe to the park to cruise around in her walker in wide open spaces.  Sleeping in on Sunday.  Since the little lady has some pretty "interesting" sleeping patterns getting to sleep in is pretty much the best thing ever.  Spending the day downtown walking the waterfront loop.  Watching the babe interact with the waiters/waitresses at restaurants.  She has some major love for them!  You've never seen such gigantic cheesy smiles.  Baby kisses.  Love every sloppy second of them.

Leave it.

Dancing in my underwear with the babe then realizing the new neighbors probably saw the whole thing.  Welcome to the neighborhood!  People knocking on our door when the babe is asleep.  One of these days I'm just going to let my ferocious chihuahua eat their feet off like he would so love to do.

I'll leave you with a snap the Mister caught.  I'm not sure why I love this photo so much but I do :)

Sweet Life: Frosting Colors Made Simple

How awesome is this frosting color chart!?!  This would have made making the many frosting colors I've made over the years SO much easier!  The best part is that each color can be made from regular food coloring (red, yellow, blue and green) from the grocery store.  I saw this chart in Food Network Magazine and I'm so excited to try it out.  I'm thinking this will be perfect to make frosting for the babe's first birthday bash sweets!  I'm loving the ombre trend in cakes right now and this would help out so much!



Each color recipe is for one cup of white frosting.  You can check out each color individually here.  Happy Friday and happy frosting!!

diy: J.Crew Inspired Baby Leggings

The only good part of my babe growing up so fast is that she'll be able to fit into Crewcuts before I know it.  They have a limited amount of baby clothes but nothing special.  Once those kiddos hit size 2 the cute factor explodes.  I was checking out one of the many emails I receive from them and stumbled upon these.  Adorbs!  Unfortunately, the babe is wearing 12 months leggings these days so they aren't an option for her.  Boo!  I decided I'd pick up a pair of leggings and try to make a pair inspired by the Crewcuts style.

I picked up a pair of jeggings that were on clearance marked down to $3.49 from $18.  These are a little different from the inspiration pair, they have ruching up the ankle.  They looked like they were on the long side- exactly what my long legged babe needs!



I started with a couple of squares of chiffon about 1 1/2" by 1 1/2".  I didn't measure, just eyeballed it.  They don't have to be perfect, the next step makes it hard to make a mistake.  I cut out squares and rectangles because it was easiest.  I've made flowers for P's headbands with fabric circles.  Either works great.  I cut three more squares, each one smaller than the one before.



Next step is to melt the sides of the fabric.  I used a tea light candle.  Just hold the edge of the fabric near the flame and it melts into a nice sealed edge.  This is where the magic happens and the sides curl up into a petal type look.



After I had all five petals finished with sealed edges, I just stacked them up!



Looks like a flower to me!  I hand sewed all five petals together and worked on a second flower.  After I had two finished flowers I hand sewed them onto the leggings.  I chose to put them right at the top of the ankle ruching.  My plan was to add more, but they looked pretty cute with one flower on each side.  Such an easy little project, only took about 20 minutes.  Since I already had the chiffon the project only cost $3.49 to complete!  Can't beat that!



The possibilities are endless with these little flowers.  Perfect to add to basic spring pieces for the babe!

Love it, Leave it

Love it.

The babe learning how to get around in her walker.  Like a boss.  Celebrating my little brother's birthday.  Celebrating the Mister's birthday with a laid back evening.  Just the three of us and a tiny cake.  Going to the Portland taping of Wheel of Fortune!  I love me some Wheel!  A beautiful, sunshine filled, Easter weekend.  Spending the day at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm Saturday morning.  Next year will be so fun for the babe to hunt eggs!  Easter day filled with family and delicious food.  Adult egg hunts that started out with the Mister tackling my Dad.  Finally getting around to making slutty brownies.  Well worth the wait, chocolate chip cookie, Oreo and brownie yumminess!  Maybe I'll post the recipe this week.

Leave it.

Dinner time.  When I win the next massive Mega Millions I will hire a personal chef first thing.  I love to cook up healthy meals for the babe... not so much for the Mister and me.  Rain.  Yes, I mentioned sun above but we're still getting lots and lots of rain too!  The same tiny human that has some sleeping issues doing her business in the tub.  Nuff said.

Working on an Easter post as well, but here's one of my favorite snaps from our morning at the tulip farm.  Props to the Mister for catching one of my favorite photos of the babe to date.