Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies (aka - bites of Heaven)

Are you ready to gain 10lbs of cookie sweetness?!? Because if you make these little guys, you just might! I made the mistake of "tasting" a warm cookie after taking them out of the oven...Samuel and I ended up eating more than one warm cookie - they were so amazing!

These guys are not gluten free, clean eating, grain free, paleo, etc...they are GOOD old fashioned sweets! The best things in life to eat are the things like my grandma and mom make - the good stuff we ate - and we turned out just fine! :)

I ran across this recipe on Pinterest (where else?). It popped out to me because it doesn't require any chocolate (to which I am allergic...I know, how do I live??). It uses Reeses Pieces, which I eat to pretend I'm eating chocolate (is that sad??).

Anyway. Here's the recipe. I found it at this cute little blog: InsideBruCrewLife.
I hope you enjoy!

sorry for the poor lighting, I took this right before stuffing my face before going to bed for the night! ;)

Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

3/4 c butter, softened
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar (I always use dark brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 T honey
1 t vanilla
2 1/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 c chocolate chips
1 c Reeses Pieces
1 c dried banana chips, broken

(I omitted the chocolate and the banana pieces. I've not missed them yet!)

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until fluffy.
    Add the eggs, vanilla, and honey, and beat again.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips, Reese Pieces, and banana chips (according to the blog, you can    
    substitute anything for these- pretzels, chips, etc...)
5. Drop by tablespoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
6. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes. (As with any PB cookie, do not overbake! I used 11 min)
7. Cool on pan for 3-4 minutes, then remove to wire rack.

This recipe made about 2 dozen cookies for me.

Be My Valentine...on a budget!

 

Happy Valentine's Week!! 

(I mean...look at those two darling boys! My heart is full!)

I LOVE Valentine's Day! It's one of my favorite holidays. My husband will argue with me that "no one can love any holiday more than Christmas," but it's true. Christmas, to moms and wives, (at least to this mom and wife) has become a holiday filled with lists, pressure, travelling, cooking, errands, decorating....STRESS STRESS STRESS. As much as I try to focus our Christmas on Christ, it's still an overwhelming holiday - am I right??

That's why I love Valentine's Day. There's no stress, no expectations, just red, glitter, hearts, candy, and sweet treats. My mom always made Valentine's Day special. I remember coming home from school to an adorable gift basket full of treats, wrapped in red, glittery, heart cellophane. I loved it and I still do! So, my guys receive Valentine's baskets in the same, perfect way my mom did them. Although, I don't think they appreciate the red and glitter like I do. ;)

This year, I made a few Valentines for Samuel to give to his best friends/cousins. I saw one cute idea on Pinterest and combined it with another cute idea from Pinterest...

perfect Valentine's for a little boy!

Who doesn't love these strawberry wafer cookies??

I found the printable for the "Wheelie Like You" tag here. Thankfully, because I didn't want to make it!

Instead of suckers, I combined the cars I found from the Dollar Store with a couple Almond Bark-dipped-and-sprinkled-strawberry-wafers. They turned out adorable and they couldn't have been simpler! I think the entire project cost about $10 - perfect for this mom on a budget ;)

ta-da! The kids loved them!

A Book Review

Julie Klassen has become a favorite author of mine. I would put her in the same ranks as Francine Rivers (Redeeming Love, Mark of the Lion Trilogy). Both women do remarkable amounts of historical research for each of their books, and both write in such a way that I become attached to each of the characters in their stories. Both are Christian women, and that is evident in their work. Their stories, though not overwhelmed with scriptural monologues, like some Christian fiction, point the reader to God.

Klassen, in The Dancing Master, points the reader to God's unfailing love as a Father. This story is set in the same time period as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Being an Austen fan, I was quickly caught up in the setting of The Dancing Master. Klassen beautifully illustrates her characters and paints a sweet love story between more than two characters. I found myself missing the characters once I finished reading this book - which was in a matter of a few days. I couldn't put it down!

I was so happy to have received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers for their blogger review program. I am happy to recommend it to anyone - you will not be disappointed!

Gender Reveal

Our Gender Reveal:

(I purchased ornaments and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

 The perfectly-sized boxes came from Dollar General. Easy and adorable.)

Boy or Girl? Pink or Blue?

It's a Boy!

Our Story:

I am not one of those women who can wait until the birth of my child to find out whether I'm having a boy or girl. I HAVE to plan. So, when we were presented with the option to find out what we were having at 13 weeks with a blood test, I jumped at the chance! Especially since we were able to find out right before Christmas.

I love showing off my babies (who doesn't?!). So, I was more than eager to announce the gender of this Harner baby in some creative way during Christmas. We celebrated two Christmases: one in-state with my family, and one out-of-state with my in-laws. Because of this, there were some secrets to be kept after we revealed to our first set of family, but no one seemed to mind keeping the secret! ;)

I will admit that I thought for sure I was having a girl. I was convinced. But, just to be safe, I purchased "boy" items as well as "girl" items for our reveal. I was too excited to wait to put together our reveal, that I prepared to assemble the "girl" reveal before we ever received the call from the doctor. I'm glad I didn't! :) :)

My sweet, sweet OB's office staff actually called me on the day the results arrived - one day before we thought we could find out. When they said, "it seems to be a boy," I simply said, "ok!" I had planned to surprise the hubs with the news on our Christmas morning, but he was sitting beside me in the car when I received the call!!! He knew from my reaction that we were having a boy - I was completely shocked. Even though he knew before Christmas, he still melted to see a sweet blue hippo toy hanging in another stocking on our mantle. ;)

I am so in love with the idea of having two little boys, now. I can still be queen of the castle, even if my castle is filling fast with superheroes, balls, trucks, blocks, and smelly boy shoes ;)

Brown Bear Birthday Bash

Samuel turned 2 in December! (Yes, I am just now editing the pictures and blogging...)
He LOVED Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle for about 2 months. It was the only book he wanted to read over and over and over... he would read it to himself, to his toys, to us - it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. So, naturally, I planned a Brown Bear Birthday Bash for his 2nd birthday.

I don't like to have BIG parties for birthdays. I think it's important to celebrate with family and friends, but to keep the celebration small and focused on things that make the child happy. I have a goal to have a birthday day for each of my children when they are old enough to choose what they would like to do with just Daddy and Mommy, in addition to a small family gathering. I want to keep it a day focused on them and not overwhelmed with 25 screaming children and 50 frantic adults climbing around ball pits, jumping houses, and whatnot. I don't want to associate birthdays with stress. ;) ...although I'm sure I won't escape having a crazy, frantic party or two.....

So, with that said, we kept this "bash" on the small scale. Our guest list was small, the decorations mimimal. We planned a few games and set up a photo booth. I planned it for 2:30 in the afternoon, so I wouldn't have to serve a meal (awesome for a low budget). Samuel had SO much fun. He tends to get overwhelmed with too many people, so our small gathering was just right for him - he was beyond happy to see his guests!

I spent about $40 on the decorations for his party. I found the Brown Bear themed decorations here at this adorable Etsy shop - SmashCakeandCo for $10.

The favor tags were too cute! I made Cocoa Rice Krispie Treats as favors. They were supposed to be in the shape of a bear paw, but ended up looking like brown blobs of...well, you know...SO I didn't photograph those too closely ;)

favor tags

 I adored this banner! I purchased red and white ribbon from Hobby Lobby and threaded each pennant onto it. It was so easy and looked adorable. I used the same ribbon throughout the party on other small details.

banner

The cupcake toppers made the cake table look so fun! I printed them and used double sided tape to attach them to colored card stock, and then taped them to these red and white paper straws I found at Hobby Lobby.

 

cupcake toppers

My biggest splurge was $20 on two photo collages I printed from Walmart. I chose my favorite instagram photos from Samuel's 2nd year and arranged them into two 11x14 collages, which I hung above his "gift opening area".

his gift opening area ;) (I'm obsessive)

we love this ornery boy!

Thankfully, my mom is amazing at making cakes (the most delicious cakes). So, we have beautiful cakes on small budgets because we get them for free! :) She found this design on Pinterest and did an adorable job replicating it!

cake

sugar overload

We had LOTS of cake for our small party. No one complained, though! ;)

Finally, I found the idea for the food on Pinterest. We had fruits and veggies of the colors in the Brown Bear book. Our guests pigged out on these! I left this party feeling healthy....with the exception of the 2 cupcakes I ate... ;) I resisted eating 3

food table

We had a pinata filled with Samuel's favorite candy: suckers...and this preggo mommy's favorite candy: flavored tootsie rolls. ;) We also had a photo booth - a plastic table cloth on the wall with some goofy props - this was a blast!

All in all, we had so much fun! Samuel was showered with love and gifts! I cannot believe he is 2. I feel like he's grown up overnight. I'd love to bottle up some of this adorable two-ness to savor on days he's grown and has morphed into a turbulent teen... ;) But I'll just soak up the sticky fingers and funny words as much as I can now. ;)

The Best Chicken Noodle Soup...ever.

Happy New Year...Happy Mid-January!

So much has taken over my life lately, that my blogging has fallen to the wayside (speaking of wayside, is it beach season yet?? I'm finished with cold and snow...). We'll catch up on my busy life later... ;)

For now, let's focus on this dreary winter weather and try to find an end to it! If not an end, at least a perk amidst the freezing cold.

My perk tonight was this Chicken Noodle Soup. I cannot even say enough about it. I'm dying over this recipe. I hope my hubs liked it as much as I did because it is now on my rotation of staple recipes. Plus, most of the ingredients were already on hand.

My two year old LOVED this! I scooped some soup out for him, leaving behind the broth (I wanted to avoid a huge mess tonight!) - so he had the veggies, noodles, and chicken. The chicken was his favorite. I love when he shares our meals instead of eating "kid" food - so this is keeper!

This is a Pinterest recipe - I cannot take credit for it. I will just share my new-found love for it.

You can find the recipe here.

A Few Notes:

• I omitted the white wine and just used an extra cup of chicken broth.
• I also only used 5 chicken thighs and found it to be PLENTY of chicken.
• I cooked the chicken for only 7 hours and found it to be perfectly tender. The smell was too tempting to wait another hour to eat, so I was ecstatic to find it done at 7 hours. ;)
• I would add more than 2 cups of noodles the next time, possibly 2 1/2 - 3.  2 cups didn't seem to be enough with the abundance of chicken.

Enjoy!

a rainy day book review

I am a Lynn Austin fan, so I was ecstatic to receive this book for free from Bethany House Publishers to review. I am also a Biblical Fiction fan - I'm overly intrigued with the culture and lifestyle of those times. I secretly wish I could experience is for one day. That's why I couldn't wait to read this book: Return to Me.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed with this book. It was not what I expected from Austin. Her characters always grab me and pull me into their stories - I usually finish Austin's books wishing I could read more about her characters. This book, however, left me struggling to connect to any of the characters. As another reviewer stated, I was frustrated with the characters. I felt they lacked dimension - I had a difficult time connecting with them.
I understand that this is Biblical Fiction based upon historical facts, but fiction should provide the liberty to add more dimension to the story while maintaining historical facts. I was bored. I trudged through this book in hopes of a spark in the plot, but the book trudged along a one-dimensional plot line for 200+ pages. When there would seem to be a spark in the storyline, it was resolved on the very next page, so there was no suspense at all in this book.
I would recommend it for insight into Biblical history, as it beautifully describes the rebuilding of the temple and the events surrounding it. But, as for entertainment, I would not recommend it. There was not enough drama/action/romance/activity, character development, or relationships to keep my interest. I simply trudged through the book so that I could give a honest review.