Red Velvet Cookies!

There is something about Cold-Snowy days that make me want to bake. Tonight I made Red Velvet Cookies complements of Bakerella!

All you need is:

1 Box red velvet cake mix

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes

Someone got a hold of the batter!

 Cool Cookies

 To assemble, spoon a small amount of frosting on the flat side of one cookie. Take another cookie and press together until frosting is flush with the edge.

Reba!!!

We got tickets, we got tickets, we got tickets....Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!!!!!

It pays to be a Reba Fan. I was able to pre-buy tickets that are not even on sale to the public until Friday! Sweet!!!!

This is going to be an amazing concert!!!!

Weekend Recap!

Friday Evening: I left work early and went to Jeff City for awhile to do some shopping. I was looking for stuff for our trip to Mexico. I had no luck. I was looking for a new swimsuit. While places did have them out already, the designs were ugly!!! One thing I did find that I have been wanting for awhile is a cookie jar in the shape of a cupcake. I love everything Cupcake!

After shopping I picked up some Pizza Hut for Andy and headed home. We later went over to Kevin and Kelly's for awhile to hang out while the kids played and burned off some energy.

Saturday: I had to work...Again! Afterwards Hunter and I didn't do much that afternoon. But that evening we headed to Holly's where she hosted a It Works Body Wrap Party. To sum it up, there are wraps that you can put on various parts of you body that will shrink you fat cells. I thought, hey it is worth trying once! I had mine done to my stomach, and within an hour I had lost 3 inches. Pretty incredible! The results can last for months. There is also whole other lines of lotions and vitamins that they offer as well. I found it very interesting and will try it again, probably on the thighs!

Sunday: We went to a pancake breakfast hosted by the Argyle Fire Department. Hunter chowed down and ate a lot. Later on we had visitors at the house. Aubrey and Laney came over while Kevin and Kelly went to a funeral. Hunter and Aubrey played fantastic together. (People may have a point when they have their kids close together so they have someone to play with).

Well, while they played me and Laney cuddled. Isn't she so cute?

That evening, we headed to Andy's brother's house for the Super Bowl. They had a large crowd and it was a lot of fun. Usually we are playing cards and not paying too much attention to the game, but for whatever reason we were really into the game this year. I didn't care either way who won. All I know is I ate way to much, good thing we weighed in on Friday :)

Biggest Loser Success!

On Friday, we had our first official weigh in at work for the Biggest Loser. There is $220 in the pot every month. Pretty motivating don't you think? Well after a month, I was down 10.2 pounds (7.02%). Not Bad! Best of all....I won the pot!!! I was the smallest one participating, and I won!!! Of course all the men wined about going by the percentage lost because they would have to lose 20+ pounds to beat me. Well, that is the only way that is fair. Sore Losers! I took my winnings all the way to Jeff City and did a little clothes shopping. Of course when you got free cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can't find anything to buy. Life sure has changed when you spend the winnings on diapers and groceries!

Snow Day = Cookie Day

Being snowed in today, Hunter and I decided to make cookies. I love to make and decorate cookies, but I was never really getting it right. That was until I discovered these two blogs: Bake at 350 and University of Cookie. They have cracked all the secrets that I have always wondered about baking, cutting and decorating sugar cookies. This was our process!

Tip # 1: Roll your cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Less Mess!

Tip # 2: Cut out your shape of choice. Then place in freezer for approx 5 minutes. This will help hold the shape of the cookie when it bakes. 

Bake your Cookies!

Aren't they pretty?

Make your Royal Icing. Here is a fantastic recipe! Click Here!

Put icing in piping bag

Outline all of your cookies! Let them sit for about 30 minutes so your border will be solid/strong.

With left over icing, you need to thin the icing with water and place in squirt bottle.

Flood your cookies with the thinned icing. Use a toothpick to help spread the icing!

Then feed to your eager two-year old!

Wordless Wednesday!

Pending Weather

Ok, we are offically under a Blizzard Warning. Apparently this is the first time in Mid-Missouri History of this happening. Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency...the National Guard has been put on active duty...Wal-Mart is out of bread...and I have enough Milk to last about 8 weeks. I don't know if I am a pessamist, an optimist or just in denial....But I will believe it when I see it. Seriously they are ranging from 6-22inches of snow. Really??? I ran to Wal-Mart on my lunch break to get diapers and you would have thought it was Black Friday! People were E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!! Is this Armageddon and no one has told me. Everyone is freaking out!! I feel like I need to take all my water and canned goods and lock my family in our closet and pray. What does everyone else think?

One more thing...If I get one more friend request on Facebook from Old Man Winter I am going to sick Summer on his ass!

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening: We were going to attend the Homecoming Game in Vienna, but changed our minds at the last minute. Andy's cousin Derek was up for Homecoming King so we wanted to go to support him, but then it dawned on us that we had a two-year old...a very active two-year old at that. Hunter probably would have enjoyed the ballgame for awhile, but he eventually would have wanted down to run around. I could just see Hunter bolting onto the basketball court chasing after the ball and me running as fast as I can to try and catch him. So we just bummed at home and spent some quality time together. Congratulations to King Derek!

Saturday: It was a busy day. I worked in Rolla that morning. Afterwards, I had to go to a Strategic Planning Meeting for out insurance department in Cuba. It was a really great meeting, so my Saturday wasn't completely ruined! I then headed to a scrapbooking party in Vienna. I got quite a few pages done. In the meantime Andy went gigging, so after scrapbooking I went to the fish fry.

Sunday: We went to Andy's grandma's house for Soups and Sandwiches. We celebrated Andy's grandpa's birthday who past away last year. A bunch of us began to play Trivial Pursuit 80's edition. Now listen...I was born in the 80's so my knowledge about that decade is not the greatest, other than I LOVE the music! But that doesn't mean I know the original name of Duran Duran!!! Ask me stuff like: Name all the Golden Girls, What does DJ stand for on Rosanne, Who sings "Girls Wanna Have Fun." Needless to say, my team lost! That is three hours of my life I will never get back!

Giddy-up Horsey!

This morning when I was dropping Hunter off at the babysitters house he walked right in the door and started playing with another boy. They both had these little plastic horses that they began to play with. They both began to stick the horses between their legs and gallop around saying, "wee, wee, wee" (that is supposed to be a horse sound). As cute and funny as it was to watch them attempt to ride a 4 inch plastic horse, it got even better when they both decided they didn't need the horses anymore. They proceeded to gallop around holding onto their "packages" saying "wee, wee, wee."

Ah, the innocence of two-year-old-boys....Priceless!

Digital Scrapbooking Continued...

Here are just a couple of the pages I have been working on for Hunter's scrapbook. It is a work-in process. I have many pages that are unfinished. I am very particular, so it seems to take me awhile. Hope you like what I have come up with so far.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Recap

Friday: Nothing...Boring!

Saturday: I had to work that morning and then that evening Andy had a guys night out of gigging and going to the local Pub. Hunter and I hung out at home and rented movies off of Netflix. I let Hunter have the first choice, not to my suprise he chose Thomas the Train. Oooo, yay! After that was over Hunter went to bed and I watched The Last Song with Miley Cyrus. It was pretty good. I love me a good chick flick now and again!

Sunday morning we bundled Hunter up and took him out in the show. He wasn't a very big fan of sledding. But he did enjoy throwing snow at mommy! Here are a few pictures I took of the fun!

We wrapped up the evening by going to a funeral visitation for my sister-in-law's grandpa and then after wards we heading down to Donnie and Shanda's for our weekly Sunday dinner.



Digital Scrapbooking!

This is my new obsession! I have always liked to scrapbook. But I have never had the space to do it. I always relied on my scrapbooking parties I would go to to get a little bit done. But it always entailed bringing along tubs of paper, stickers, photos, etc. then it took you half the time to get set up and organized to start scrapbooking. But no longer! Creative Memories has developed a program called StoryBook Creator. It is awesome! If you are like me, I rarely ever develop pictures, I just have them all stored on my computers. This is a way to do everything digitally. The program gives you a lot of free background paper, stickers, fonts, embellishments, etc to work with.  Plus there are weekly freebies on there website that you can download as well. Unlike the traditional way of scrapbooking, you can use all of these over and over and over again! How great is that? You can purchase additional digital paper, stickers, etc online and just download directly to your computer to use instantly.

Another great thing about the StoryBook Creator, is that it acts as a Photo Editing Program as well. There are so many things you can do with your pictures without having to purchase an additional expensive program. It literally is a one stop shop.

Below are just a few examples from CM's website of what it possible with the  StoryBook Creator.

As you can see the possibilities are endless. And if you don't think you are creative enough to come up with some designs and layouts, they even have pre-designed layouts as well. Where you literally just insert your pictures and type anything you want to put on there.

And once you have created your pages you can have them printed in a bound book or just print the size sheet that you want for your album. I use the 12 x 12 pages. To develop your page thru Creative Memories is 3.99 for a 12x12 sheet but it you develop 10 or more it is $3.49/sheet. That is cheaper than an 8x10 at Wal-Mart and the quality is excellent!

No, I am not a Creative Memories Consultant. So I am not trying to sell anything, I just truly love scrapbooking digitally. Best part, I can take my laptop anywhere and scrapbook! How awesome is that?

If you are interested in scrapbooking digitally you can contact my consultant Lisa Garro.



Cruel and Unusual Punishment!

Notice Hunter's stance after he finally breaks free! Priceless!

Wordless Wednesday

The Two-Day Haircut

Hunter has needed another haircut for awhile, which I have been dreading terribly!!! Ever since the child turned 2, he refuses to get his hair cut. Let me tell you, this kid can put up a fight. The last two times I took him to the hair salon, it turned into a kicking-screaming fight to get the job done. I would practically have him in a head lock while poor Judy cut at quickly as she could. This had never been a problem before, he would practically fall asleep as Judy would comb his hair. Those days are apparently long gone.

Anyway, Saturday I decided to tackle the job myself and spare Judy the drama. Well, it turned out just like I expected....kicking, screaming and crying was had by Hunter...and I! Needless to say I ended up only getting the back of his head cut, the rest of his hair remained long. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of it. So day one of the haircut was a failure.

Sunday morning while Andy was home, we decided to give it another try. This time I thought it would help if Hunter watched, and even help cut Andy's hair. While he was intersted in helping with Daddy's, he still had zero interest when it came to cutting his own hair. At least this time I had Andy there to help tame the beast, which was still a kicking and screaming battle. We tried bribing with juice, M&M's, and suckers. Nothing! He still wanted nothing to do with it. Getting cuts in while I could, I got a little carried away and cut it much shorter than I wanted. But in the end we ended up with a buzz cut and sucker sprinkled with hair. Yummy!

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening: We went to my cousin's son's 1st Birthday Party. It was a good time catching up with a lot of friends from High School. Most of us live in the same town but don't see each other very much. It is fun to see where we are all at after 9 years....oh my gosh, it has been 9 years???? Anyway, we're are all married, some of us have kids, some are expecting. Things have changed since the years of hanging out at the VQS and road tripping.

Saturday: Hunter and I attempted to clean the house...I can't say we were very successful. It was also Day One on my attempt to cut Hunter's hair (I'll elaborate more later). That evening, a few of us road tripped to Cuba to eat at Frisco's restaurant. They have the best Hot Wings! Afterwards, Andy and I went to a card party where I refreshed my memory on how to play 6 handed pitch. Girls vs Boys!!!

Yes, you see that right! Final Score: Girls 34, Boys -29

Sunday & Monday: Hunter and I hung out around the house doing laundry, watching movies, coloring, playing with Lego's, reading books, etc. Wow, what did I do with my time before having Hunter? To be honest...I think I took a lot of naps!

Wordless Wednesday

I Believe in Miracles!

I just got done watching today's episode of Oprah that I DVR'd. I need someone to talk to, and with Andy and Hunter in bed, I will talk it out on my blog. My vision is still blurred from the tears in my eyes. Let me fill you in...

This is Chris and Lori Coble:

3 1/2 years ago, Lori (along with her mother) piled her three children -- 5-year-old Kyle, 4-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Katie into her van to headed off to the mall.

On the way home, Lori became stopped in traffic. Shortly later a big rig loaded with 40,000 pounds of cargo slammed into the back of the van.

All the children were rushed to the hospital. One by one, each of the three children passed away. Leaving Chris and Lori to morn the loss of ALL their children.

Months after the accident, they decided to try and have more children. For medical reasons, the Cobles had to do in-vitro fertilization. Nearly 1 year after Kyle, Emma and Katie died, Lori gave birth to TRIPLETS!!! One boy and two girls!!! Jake, Ashley and Ellie!

If that doesn't give you goosebumps, then nothing will.

How amazing is that? My heart aches for this couple. I could never imagine losing Hunter. It makes me physically ill to even think about it. My world would be crushed and empty without him. 

"They'll never replace Kyle, Emma and Katie," Lori says. "But the joy is back in the house. It's back in our hearts. They fill our lives again with love and happiness and laughter."

Tissue Please...

A Bedtime Story Brought to you by Hunter

Weekend Recap!

Friday Evening: Holly, Liberty and I went to a friend's baby shower in Westphalia. All the guest were friends of the mommy-to-be. There were a lot of new babies attending as well. It was fun to have open conversations about babies and motherhood. After returning home, Hunter was already in bed so Andy and I watched a Netflix movie thru our Wii.

Saturday: I had to work that morning at the bank. While we were there we got to playing with Kara's iPhone and using the fatbooth app. Oh my gosh, that is so funny! Check out the picture of me! I am posting it on my refrigerator and pantry! Try finding something to eat when this is staring back at you! "Put back the chips Kelly"

Anyway, that evening, Andy and I went to a birthday party at Hooks. I have never been there since they added onto the bowling alley. It was a fun environment, with a great menu and good music! I am pretty sure we will be going back!

Sunday: I was a total bum. I had zero motivation!!! The dishes and laundry were screaming my name, but yet I still couldn't manage to lift a finger. So Hunter and I spent the day cuddling and watching movies! Got to love those kind of days. We did manage to get out of our pj's and go down to Donnie and Shanda's for dinner. Yum!

Shake Weight

I am sure you all have seen the commercials for a Shake Weight. I initially found it pretty ridiculous, but the more I thought about it the more intriguing it got.
"Shape and tone your entire upper body in just six minutes per day with the Shake Weight dumbbell. Designed specifically for women, the Shake Weight dumbbell is based on a completely new workout technology called Dynamic Inertia, which ignites the muscles in your arms, shoulders, and chest. As you hold the Shake Weight, it pulsates back and forth, challenging your muscles while you hold it. Scientific studies indicate that the Shake Weight increases your upper body muscle activity by more than 300 percent compared with traditional weights. It's the fast, easy, effective way to work out your upper body."

I was reading reviews online, and there were overwhelming good reviews out there. It is funny to read the negative comments because they were mostly from people who thought it was battery/electrical powered. I guess they thought it shook by itself and you just held on tight. It is exercise people, it is going to require a little more effort than that.

I've started to see the Shake Weight in Wal-Mart, but I just continued to walk past it time and time again. That was until today....

IT'S PINK PEOPLE!!!

SOLD!

I'll let you know if it really works.

Christmas Morning!

Hunter was very much into Christmas this year! I made sure there were never any presents under the tree until Christmas morning. So when Hunter got up and came in the living room he instantly spotted all the gifts and dove in. Santa brought him Lego's, books, shoes, Thomas the Train toys, flashlight, Hot Wheels Cars, etc. His favorite gift by far and his toy rifle (Talk about a miniature Andy). It was so much fun to watch him open his gifts, get excited and yell "Wow". I am so grateful for the wonderful year we have had...I am truly blessed!

Wordless Wednesday

Biggest Loser 2011!

Its that time of year when people dust off their scales in hopes that a New Years resolution will motive one to lose weight and get in shape. I on the other hand have the motivation of the warm beaches of Mexico calling my name. In a month in a half I will be boarding a plane to Cozumel, Mexico! And to say the least...my bod is not quite bikini worthy! So I joined a Biggest Loser competition at my work. Today was the first initial weigh-in.

Starting Weight: For my eyes only!

Everyone puts $20 in a pot every month. The person to lose the largest percentage of weight for that month wins the pot. So instead of there just being a winner in the end, there will be one every month.

My Goal: 15lbs

This will put me below the weight I was before getting pregnant with Hunter. But like all you moms out there know, just because the scale may say the same number does not mean that everything is proportionately back to the way it was pre-pregers! Nothing is ever the same! This is a hard realization that I have to keep reminding myself.

Non-the-less, I enjoy the competition and I am anxious for results.

Wow, I hope this optimism last!

I'M BACK!!

Hello!! I'm Back!!!

Knock, Knock...Is anyone still out there?

We're Still Here!!!

Check Hunter out! He is a whole year old since last time I posted! Boy is he ever a two year old!

I've got a lot of catching up to do to make up for the last year of being absent. But now that I finally have highspeed internet out in the sticks, I have no excuse but to keep you all updated on our Not-So-Average/Funny Farm way of life!