Cookie Copy Cat

I rarely stray from my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's just easier to make something you already know how to. Plus, they bring back memories of my teenage/college years with friends and trying to win over boys' hearts with a plate of cookies.

Jeff says that cookie nonsense didn't work on him. I'm not sure how I snatched him then, 'cause he got a lot of cookies. 

But in an attempt to avoid making six dozen cookies with the Young Women for our activity, I found a super cute, teeny, tiny Mini M&M's Chocolate Chip cookie recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod {Maria happens to be a former coworker of mine too}. The pictures are what convinced me to make them. Don't judge my copy cat pictures with Maria's. We tried them out for YW and they were such a hit, I made them the next night for my family. I usually decide, hey, the house is quiet, no one is bugging me, I think I'll not only make some cookies but take some pictures of them at 11 o'clock at night when there is zero natural light to work with.

These cookies were kind of pricey for the mini M&M's considering I'm not a food blogger with an endless supply of goodies in my cupboards {or heck, any edible food lately}. And I wasn't sure if semi-sweet mini chocolate chips would work so I got the regular sized milk chocolate chips. Note to self, buy the expensive, cute mini chips even if they are semi-sweet. But man were they easy to whip up and so fun to bake because I didn't spend three hours making batch after batch after batch like my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe. It makes a ridiculous amount of cookies. 

They really were teaspoon sized balls of dough. Super tiny and super cute! 

I love the pop of color the mini M&M's gives them.

I will definitely make these again. Now who's going to come and help me eat all of these?

Forced Family Fun

Every once in awhile I decide I can handle the whining and questioning looks and force my family to have a little spontaneous fun.

And every once in awhile my spontaneous idea turns into some actual fun and a "Mom/Kay that wasn't such a bad idea" compliment.

So a few Sundays ago, I packed up the kids {one of whom was wearing pink sandals and the other one was still in his church clothes... but who cares!}, husband, and dog in the truck, grabbed some water and a few crackers and drove them up behind the Bountiful temple to a trail I'd seen. Everyone but Blu was a bit skeptical about this whole hiking thing. It's just not something we do. We prefer to drive on trails.

Blu was pumped to be outside running around in the trees and finding the stream to splash in. The kids did great too. Cole found all of these big sticks that he insisted on carrying. Pearl looked for acorns that squirrels had left behind. We found a lot of them and they are now sitting in a jar on Cole's dresser. Both kids walked the entire way up and back by themselves! It was a miracle! 

At the end of the trail - or is that the beginning of the trail - there was a pond area where all the water from the stream had pooled. Blu drug this huge tree into the water. I'm not sure why a normal stick wouldn't work. 

Jeff taught Pearl the fine art of catching skeeter bugs. 

Cole ran through the stream until his pants were soaking wet {he went home in just his underwear}. Then stood there with his hands down his pants.

And me? I cherished the moment with my family.

Oh. And the fun didn't stop on the trail. When we got home, we roasted hot dogs over our new fire pit...still in our underpants. Then walked over to the neighbor's house, in our underpants {did I mention they happened to have with visitors over too?}, snatched an ice cream sandwich and ran home. 

Still in our underpants.

Diaper Baby

We've only had Cole's new big boy bed sitting in the garage for oh, at least two months.

We were just too lazy and too cheap to fork out enough money to buy the kid a mattress for it. Or too jealous that we are still sleeping on a taco bed we got 10 years ago when both of the kids now have nicer and more comfy mattresses than we do {and beds... we spoiled them with the Catalina bed from Pottery Barn Kids}.

Well thanks to a deal at Costco, we came home with a new mattress. Cole was so excited to finally have his big boy bed! He helped Jeff build it, handing him all the necessary tools and making sure he was right in the way at every step. Which was complicated by the fact that his room is so incredibly tiny that they could barely build the thing in there.

We basically have two choices for where his bed goes. Either covering the air vent on the outside wall {which has no insulation in it making it really cold in the winter}, or against the inside wall of the room leaving about a foot of space between the foot of the bed and the door. I opted for the inside wall.

Someday, we'll have a bigger house. 

But for now, I love his big boy bed! I think it fits perfectly in his room with the wall colors and decor. Even if it's a tight squeeze with the floor's play space.

And have you seen Wreck It Ralph? If you have then you'll know the two main characters tease each other with some funny names. 

Like Diaper Baby for example.

Diaper Baby has become the latest terminology in our household to describe anyone who is whining. Which seems to happen a lot lately! The day I finally got around to taking a few pictures of Cole's new big boy bed, he was definitely more of a "Diaper Baby" than a big boy! He never naps but after being threatened with timeout for the rest of his life and then being placed in the arm-hold timeout {my new favorite technique... I just hold Cole in my arms while he tries to kick and flail his way out of my death grip until he gives up} until he was begging to lay down, he finally fell asleep. 

He looks so innocent.......

Art Center

Pearl loves art.

The only problem with this blossoming talent is her floor also likes art. As in, markers, crayons, papers, scissors, bits of yarn, and stickers all over the place.

It drives me totally bonkers!

Well, with the beginning of the school year and art supplies in full force everywhere you go {I am a sucker for new school supplies}, a more talented, creative, and organized Mom than me was bound to come up with the perfect solution to our little "pick up your art bin NOW!!!!" problem.

Behold, our new Art Center.

There's a place for markers. And colored pencils. Scissors and glue sticks. Stickers and pencils. And all those random bits of paper that used to be all over the house.

I'm not sure who loves it more, Pearl {because she can finally see what art supplies she has} or me. 

Who would have thought an $8 over-the-door shoe organizer could be so magical?

Big Owie

A few weeks ago we had a big owie at our house.

It involved a trip to the ER and some glue.

I'm honestly shocked something like this hasn't happened sooner.

I was just getting out of a meeting Downtown when I decided to check my phone just in case someone had called. I always put my phone on silent when I'm in meetings or in the office... you know, because it's the courteous thing to do when you work in a rat maze of cubicles. To my surprise I had three voice messages, a bunch of new emails, and a whole slew of text messages from Jeff, the daycare, and a couple of coworkers still in the office. I half jokingly told my coworkers who were with me that Cole probably fell and cracked his head open.

Um. Yep.

And when the daycare couldn't get a hold of me they started calling Jeff. He was already at my office when I got back. He jokingly started yelling at me and my coworkers, "He has a TBI! Do something!" I was more impressed the man knew what a TBI was than anything. (A TBI stands for traumatic brain injury)

Cole's teacher told us that he was running by the playground, tripped in the rubber mulch, and hit smack dab on the steps of the playground. It was bound to happen at some point. The kid trips over his own feet every time he runs. All the kids were pretty excited to have Jeff and I there to listen to their accounts of what happened. Cole kept telling me, "Me tough. Me no cry Mom!" The pouty face was all an act for my picture.

Since Jeff had a bit more flexibility with his day, we decided he would take Fern boy to the ER to get his battle wound checked out. It was pretty deep, but luckily wasn't bleeding. The docs ended up using this special glue to hold it together instead of using stitches. Thank goodness! No pain that way and no return trip to have them removed. They said it's actually pretty similar to super glue, just a little less irritating to the skin. 

After the ER, they went to McDonald's - Cole's choice - for lunch and ice cream then back to daycare for a few hours until his regularly scheduled well child checkup. Ironic. 

A day later and Cole was acting like nothing had even happened.

Until, in his crazy running around and jumping on everything, he smacked his head right on his owie again. Poor little guy.