sweet treats

I have been wanting to post this recipe for some time now. Look at these!



They are so good! Trust me...I'm pregnant!
I got the recipe from Tasty Kitchen.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

•2 cups Butter, Divided
•¾ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
•2-¾ cups Granulated White Sugar, Divided
•1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
•3-¼ cups All-purpose Flour, Divided
•3 whole Eggs
•½ teaspoons Salt
•½ teaspoons Baking Powder
•4 Tablespoons Milk
•3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract, Divided
•2-½ cups Mini Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips, Divided
•1 Tablespoon Shortening, Such As Crisco

For Brownies:

1 c. butter
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare 13X13 baking pan by laying a piece of foil in the bottom and up the sides. Spray with cooking spray or butter the foil.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a medium saucepan; add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla; beat with a spoon until combined. Add flour and baking powder; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. (I always remove my brownies from the oven when a toothpick inserted 1 inch from the side of the pan comes out clean or almost clean.) Allow brownies to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

For Cookie Dough Filling:

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and cream together. Add flour and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in an even layer on top of cooled brownies. Chill before adding chocolate glaze.

For Chocolate Glaze:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. Crisco shortening

Melt chocolate with shortening and stir until smooth. Spread over chilled cookie dough layer.

When I made these the second time, I skipped the foil part and just buttered the baking dish with perfect results. I made these as written, but did the chocolate glaze layer a little differently. I made a ganache by meting the chocolate chips with enough cream to get it to spreading/pouring consistency. Anyway, they really rich but good!

A couple of weeks ago we stopped to get donuts after church.



We really wanted donuts from Spaldings...a fantastic hole in the wall, non-chain donut shop, but the line was out the door when we drove past. Instead we got Krispy Kreme and their "HOT" sign was on and they sucked us into getting a dozen instead of just 6.

Grubby little hands were all over them!


Warm donuts....yum!


Apparently, they were close your eyes good!

tears and cheers...

That is what they called it today when I took Xavier to school for his first day of Kindergarten. I have a Kindergartener!!! How did that happen?? Xavier was so excited this morning when we woke him up for school (now I wonder how long that will last?). Here he is posing with Daddy before he left for work.



It was dark, cool and rainy this am so all pictures were taken inside. It was as if it had turned fall overnight. I am sure that it was a fluke, but after the hot and humid weather we just had, it was a bit odd.

I packed his lunch with some of his favorite things



(and a surprise note from Mom of course).He took a cream cheese and olive sandwich, doritos, fresh peaches and ...



a special treat of chocolate chip/m&m cookies that we just baked the night before. I asked Xavier what other people ate for lunch, whether they brought lunch of bought lunch. I asked him if anyone asked him what he brought. He said "Yes, Mrs. Parker asked me what I was eating and I said a cream cheese and olive sandwich!" I guess the teacher then said "You like that?" and he answered yes that it was his favorite! I know it is a bit odd but I love it too:) To our defense, of course he likes it...why would I send it, especially on the first day, if he didn't???

Xavier posed for one quick picture before we left for school.



A quick funny. As I was finishing packing his lunch Xavier and Dax were on the couch reading books before we left. Xavier came over to me and said "Is it OK if I just tooted in my uniform"? Keeping as straight of a face as I could, I answered that yes, it was OK. Then he asked. "It is not going to stink now?" Umm, no honey, I think you will be just fine.

Off to school.




I reminded Xavier that once he got up the stairs that he had to go all the way to the end of the hall. I got an "I KNOW that".....
 

All right Mr. Getting Too Big For Your Britches!! He hung up his bag and found his seat right away.



Mrs. Parker gathered a few students and put them to work sorting supplies right away.



  Bye Mom!!



The tears were not coming from him:) I will admit that I did cry....but if someone was going to do it I was glad it was me and not him!!

Dax was anxious to get out of there and get to our "date" at Panera "Dread" so he could get his grubby little mitts on this



a cinnamon crunch bagel...

which he thoroughly enjoyed!



When we picked Xavier up he told me and I quote "Kindergarten is AWESOME!" Now I call that a successful first day!

wrapping up summer....

The boys had a great swimming summer this year. We had a pool pass that we took full advantage of and both took lessons and made improvements! In addition to learning some strokes, Xavier learned to do a handstand...



and to dive at Grandma and Grandpa Noe's pool...


and to go off the high dive!!
 

He has been going off the low dive for 3 summers now but I could not believe it when he said he wanted to try the high dive. I said OK, thinking that he would get up there and pretty much chicken out but he proved me wrong. Once he went off, there was no stopping. He is just jumping though since he just learned how to dive...I put my foot down on that one for this year:)

Dax went from being really uncomfortable putting his face into the water, to this
   
And he will now go all the way under.

He really thinks he is swimming when he does this patented move...
 

Even if he can't really swim, who can resist this face??


The best thing to come out of the garden this year has definitely been the flowers.







The sunflowers were short lived but pretty and the zinnias have done especially well.



A big shout out to my friend Sallie, her husband Charles and their daughter Sophie for letting us have a plot of land at their house and for putting up with my crew traipsing over there under the pretense of gardening. The boys do not share in the same interest in gardening as their mother...they mostly just stepped on things!  So much so that Xavier asked to have his own plot at the house next year so that he could grow his own things and not worry about stepping on them:)

it needed to be done...

The boys were in desperate need of haircuts. It had been months since they had one and they were looking very scraggly. Steve took them this afternoon for a trim.



Dax looked so cute with his long hair but he really couldn't see anymore.

These are a few of my recent sewing projects. All of them were gifts and some of them were way overdo!!:)

nursing cover


dress


sibling set


I am loving the applique on the little boys shirts. It is so hard to do cute things for boys so I get really excited when I come up with something that works:)

in case you were wondering

super hero mania is still in full swing at our house!!!



These were taken after a full day at the aquarium a couple of weeks ago. Xavier's "girlfriend" had a b-day party at the aquarium and in addition to the tickets and party, the birthday girls mom paid for all the kids to get their face painted too! There were tons of options but once the boys saw the super hero ones....they knew exactly what they were going to get.





They thought that they were the coolest things ever and the they are still talking about what a great party it was. Stacey the party ROCKED!!! Thanks again for such a great time for all of us!!

a little fun on the fourth

To celebrate the 4th of July we got a few fireworks for the boys this year. They were SO excited but didn't even really know what to expect. We did the fireworks on the evening of the 3rd. While we waited for it to get dark the boys ran around catching fireflies.



They started off with some "snap-its" and loved the noise they made when they threw them at the ground.



Time for the "big" stuff:)







On the 4th we were invited to a cookout and fireworks at our friend's house. In addition to fresh berries and jalapeno poppers (similiar recipe here), I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. It was festive and good:)





Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 stick Butter
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoons Almond Extract
1 whole Egg
1-¼ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and extracts on medium speed until well combined. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides combined. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg. Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until combined.

Put the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch round cake pan. Smooth the batter into an even layer and bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes. Cool for 4 hours before cutting. Store in a cake carrier or simply wrap the cake pan in cellophane.

I pretty much made the recipe as is except maybe added a few more chocolate chips...I used the mini ones and baked it my springform pan and it came out of the pan perfectly!

We had a very nice holiday weekend!

4 + 1

As most of you know by now we are expecting our 3rd baby in late December... bringing our family of four to five:) Here are some photos Steve took right before we announced to family and friends. I was 12 weeks here.



Here are some pictures of #3 at 13 weeks. Incredible, I tell you. Even though I have been through this before, it still takes my breath away. 




The boys are really excited and are SURE that it is a boy baby (even though Xavier keeps referring to it as her). Here are some possible names they have come up with: Sparkles, Ham & Cheese, Batman, Sam, Alfred.... As it stands, I will not be finding out the gender but Steve is determined to. I really don't have a problem with him knowing other than it would be so much more fun to not know together. Any of you that know Steve, knows that he has one heck of a poker face and so it will not be difficult for him to keep it a secret:)