Peanut Butter Cookies

Nothing is better than a fresh baked cookie right out of the oven.
Growing up we loved to bake. I did not meet my Grandpa who was a baker, but enjoyed hearing the stories of living and growing up in the bakery from my mom. Every Sunday afternoon we would figure out something sweet to make. My mom still had several pans and instruments from Grandpa's bakery. I asked mom if I could borrow her PB Cookie press from Grandpa's bakery. Knowing I am such a sentimental sap, my mom told me I could keep the cookie press-- and I am so excited to have it in my collection now.

One day this past summer, Jeremy brought home a few PB Cookies his boss had brought in. They were amazing, chewy, nutty goodness. Since Jeremy's company decided raises were not an option that year, I asked him to beg and plead for the recipe in lieu of $.

Peanut Butter Cookies- Amazing recipe given to my husband in lieu of a raise

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 16 T. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 cup dry roasted peanuts, ground to resemble bread crumbs

1. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
2. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with an electric mixer stopping to scrape down the bowl as necessary. Beat in the peanut butter until fully incorporated, then the eggs (1 at a time), then the vanilla. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture. Add the ground peanuts and stir gently until just incorporated.
3. Working with a generous 2 tablespoons each time, roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2.5 inches apart. Press each dough ball twice with a dinner fork dipped in cold water to make a criss-cross design.
4. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown around the edges, but not on top, 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back on top to bottom halfway through the baking time. cook the cookies on the backing sheets until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Creeping - 8 Month Update

My adorable little muffin of love is on the move. I can't beleive she is now 8 months old! How did time go so fast? How did she figure out how to grow so fast? How did we ever have a life without her?

What is Kathryn up to? Well, she is very busy. She is loving feeding herself. Especially paper products. When it comes to food however, she prefers non-baby food over baby food. She loves reading at eating books. She loves playing with and eating toys that are above her age group. She does not like sleeping in her own bed. She does not like bottles. She does not like to be left home without mommy, but is getting better. She loves the kitty(And I think she wants to eat her). She adores her older brother and sister. She often feels left out if she is taken upstairs before they are. She loves bath especially with brother and sissy. She is rolling around and likes making snow angles in the blankets(blanket angels). She likes to growl like a dinosaur. She can sniffle with her nose and just look plain cute. Just this morning she pulled herself up on her knees and was trying to shuffle forward. What was she after? A bit of cracker she had been previously eating. But so far she only knows reverse, but she will pick it up- right?

I love this baby! I LOVE HER!

School lunch

Leila has been asking if she can take a school lunch. I have to admit, I am enjoying making her lunch every day, and then seeing what she ate of it when she gets home. I even decided a few weeks ago to try to make a big batch of cookies or something so she can have something homemade in her bag. She has had a steady supply of juice boxes(something that is a very rare treat in our home). She got a Tinkerbell lunch bag for her birthday, and she was so excited. The excitement must have worn off with her new request.

Apparently, she has really been thinking about lunch. Last night she came in several times with different ideas and requests for several things school related. She was up until almost 10(bedtime being around 7:30)- this 6 year old girl really has a lot on her mind! I think Jeremy was asleep before she was. On her last trip in to see us, she supplied us with a school lunch chart. I wish I had a scanner to scan it in to show you. She has the lunch lady and the register, the different parts of the lunch line, different kids choosing their items(you can tell they love lunch because they all have smiles on their faces), and different options for lunch. I told her if she has school lunches she won't get any more homemade goodies. She said to me: That is OK Mommy. School lunches are much better than homemade. So, time will tell what we decide, but I think she gets a lunch tomorrow for sure from all the thought process she used to make us that nifty chart.

Bathing Babies

I blogged earlier about bathing and feeding and kissing boo-boos as my favorite activities with my babies. I need to qualify the bathing part. I love bathing my BABIES. My toddlers/ preschoolers- not my favorite job. Those who have ventured upstairs in my home can attest to our third bathroom at being teeny tiny. The architect who came up with our house plan did a great job at giving us four bedrooms upstairs with a result of a very small bathroom for the kids. All I can say is I am glad I was not a teenager in this house- and I hope we move before our children are teens because sharing this bathroom will totally suck.

So, one reason I don't like to bathe my older kids is I tend to yell a bit much, and my kids tend not to listen a bit too often, which results in my yelling more and them not listening even more. When the two big kids enjoy tub time it can get quite loud and this kind of noise in a small room is a bit difficult for me to handle on most days. So, bath time after my babies are not babies any longer is turned over to Dad. And Dad does a great job with it.

Since Leila quit soccer early, we had a fun evening of us girls together. Leila and Kathryn took a bath together.

I think Kathryn felt like she was the luckiest baby alive to be in the big tub with her big sister. Honestly, the relationship between my children is amazing. I love that they have each other to love and play with. I can't imagine their lives without each other. I am so happy to have the family I have.

Just Kick It

We are having a fun year for soccer. Leila decided it wasn't her cup of tea, so her soccer season ended early, but Nathan is enjoying it. For both of the kids the best thing about soccer was playing with their cousins. Annalina and Joseph are rock-stars in our house. I can get my kids to do just about anything if they think A & J will be there, or have done it before, or worn it... very fun to have cousins so close in age. I hope they will always have life-long friends.

The coaches do feel the need to split up our boys. They are just too excited to play with each other, and despite our telling them you do not "tackle" in soccer, they just don't seem to care.

The girls on the first day wouldn't stop holding hands. When playing the game where the team tries to get the ball from one of the other kids, Leila and Annalina teamed up and hugged each other with the ball between their legs and kept the ball safe.

Cousin Cuddles

The other day we were at Mom and Dad's when Zach came home from the baby sitter. He was so excited to see Kathryn. He wanted to hold her and waas quite insistant that he do so. Kathryn was thrilled that Zach would pay attention to her. Look at these cute little redheads!

Tadpole Larvae

I was so excited for a fun home grown science experiment. Leila saw some little thing swimming around in a garbage can full of water at my Mom's. She asked Grandma if she could take some home thinking they were tadpoles. We had a cute little jar with holes punched in the lid. Leila was fascinated and Nathan was too. She named four of them: Zippy, Wiggly, Mark and Nathan(she originally named Nathan Kathryn, but thought it looked more like a Nathan.). We fed them some baby cereal. Some of them stopped moving and laid on the bottom of the jar(but not the four she named.). She loved these little tadpoles. She spent hours talking to them, showing them around the house. She even introduced them to her teacher who stopped by for a home visit. Leila was probably fantasizing about bringing them to school for show and tell. And in her heart, they were like a new pet.

Funny, we noticed a mosquito laying on top of the water. I thought that was strange since I hadn't seen it before, but maybe I just missed it. I left it in there- I hate mosquitos with a passion. Recalling nights when one would buzz in my ear and feast on my arms. And the grossness of they way they leave big bloody marks after I would squish one that was likely my own blood.

Beth called me the next day with some very bad news. Her boys had taken some home to watch the transformation of tadpole to frog. She reported that these were not tadpoles. These were mosquito larvae. EEEW! I get the creepy crawlings even now writing about it. I thought my drama queen would fall to pieces as certain death was now in Zippy's, Wiggly's, Marks and Nathans future, but we told her what they were, and what mosquitos eat and she didn't bat an eye about getting rid of them.

Jeremy threw them in the neighbors yard. I hope they died and won't come to pay us a visit. Mom ended her mosquito breeding complex by dumping out that water too. Beth's boys were grossed out and disappointed too, but we are all much smarter in terms of larvae.