Double-Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies. I love. them. so delicious. They even turned out pretty as I usually have a hard time making my cookies look pretty while using real butter. At least I think it is the real butter that makes them look weird. Paper thin flat with lumps called chocolate chips. So here's the recipe:

1 bag (24 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups )

1 cup butter or margarine softened.

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package (6 oz) white baking bars (white chocolate), cut into 1/4- 1/2 inch chunks(i used white chocolate chips)

1 cup pecan or walnut halves (I left these out as I feel nuts ruin a good cookie)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips in 1 quart sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature, but do not allow chocolate to become firm.

2. Beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and melted chocolate until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips, white baking bar chunks and pecan halves.

3. Drop dough by level 1/4 cupfuls or #16 cookie/ice cream scoop about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set. (centers will appear soft and moist). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

This one's for you-

It's been awhile, I am staying busy with mundane things yet I am finding myself little bored, therefore not much to write about. With the heat wave this week we have been keeping low and staying cool inside. Our biggest change is that Dane is really on the move now. He hasn't mastered the art of crawling but has perfected the army crawl on his belly, and he has become quite proficient at it. Who knows maybe he won't crawl? He is no longer interested in toys but rather cords, outlets, knobs, shoes and things not normally played with. You should see how fast he can go when there is a cell phone on the floor! We have a low drawer on one of our end tables that he loves to open and close. It has become our first point of discipline as he slams his fingers shut in it routinely and there is nothing to really childproof it except to be taught to stay away. Surprisingly my mainly verbal method has worked so far. Smart little fella, though I know it won't always be this easy.

Here are a few pictures for the family.

Father's Day - after Andy changed out of his dress clothes. Dane is all snazzed up from his baby dedication earlier in the day.
It is so funny to watch him scoot up to the jack-in-the-box and turn his head trying to get the right angle to lick the knob.

What are you supposed to do.

What are you supposed to do when the dish guy or any service guy comes to your house. Do you awkwardly follow the greasy guy around making sure they aren't casing your house? Once you show them to all the TV's do you stand or sit behind them and wait making them nervous as they work or do you leave them be and figure they will come find you when they have a question. I could follow him around and witness to him "Sir, how is your relationship with Jesus Christ?" "Do you know where you are going when you die?" Sometimes I feel bad for hovering near by but I don't really want to leave him alone upstairs so I fake straightening up, try to make a little conversation but I don't really want to interrupt him while he is working because I really do want the TV fixed correctly. Then I will run a quick errand to another room of the house and then come back and check up on him and try to ask questions about what he is fixing and how it will help etc. What's really bad is when they are waiting for the dish to do all it's checks and booting up and it takes like 10 minutes of waiting in awkward weird silence. Maybe it would be better to show him the TV and go to another room. But then I would wonder what he is actually doing up there. I better go shower and get dressed before the dish guy gets here for the 4th time in a week. And I will leave you with a picture of Dane since every good post needs a picture right?
This is what he does when the dish guy has his back to him. (jk)

Flag Day

Six years ago today I was married to the love of my life. We have made so many fun memories together and I can't wait for future memories to be made. I couldn't have picked a better mate for myself. God knew exactly the person I needed to balance me out and Andy is perfect. Not that he doesn't make mistakes but he perfectly compliments my weaknesses. Besides that he is an amazing husband when I was working he used to make me breakfast most every morning that is only part of what he does for me. He is always so thoughtful. You are the best husband ever! I love you! xoxo

Worst Dog Ever

Magnum and I have a love hate relationship. He always loves me and I hate him sometimes and love him sometimes. The thing I hate the most is his stinky dog breath and stinky dog self and his fur that falls out creating more cleaning for me. I do love that he is a protector and really sweet if I am crying.

So it is important to get him groomed occasionally. Well yesterday was the day. We bit the bullet and paid $25 for him to get all cleaned up and as much hair as possible removed, ears, breath, the works. He was looking pretty good.

Today not 24 hours later we went for a walk to the park. We are walking around like normal Magnum off of his leash. Next thing we know Magnum finds this old wading pool with a murky muddy puddle in the middle of it so he walks over to check it out. Andy tries to get him to come back to us as he is walking through the puddle. No big deal we can wipe his paws off it may even wear off by the time we get home. Well then all of a sudden walking isn't good enough. His animal instincts kicked in. He just had to rub his head in it, then roll on his back, then on his side, then the other side. He got up the dunked his head in again. Then a few more times of rolling around until he was entirely covered in muddy water. I was pretty aggravated but all we could do is shake our head and laugh. Magnum your the worst dog ever. He got a hose bath when we got home.

What about breakfast at...Jennifer's

I love breakfast. It is my most favorite meal of the day. Especially when it is a yummy breakfast like pancakes or omelets or waffles not just cereal and toast. So tomorrow my niece is coming over to hang out. She has had a rough week so I am going to whip her up some Oatmeal Pancakes with Strawberry topping to start off our day. It's been awhile since I have made these but they are oh so yummy.

Oatmeal Pancakes
6 servings
prep: 15 min
cook: 5 min


1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 table spoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Make strawberry topping; keep warm. Beat remaining ingredients with hand beater or wire whisk just until smooth. (for thinner pancakes, stir in additional 2-4 tablespoons milk)

Spray griddle or 10 inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat griddle to 375 degrees or heat skillet over medium heat. For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter from cup or pitcher onto hot griddle.

Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn; cook other sides until golden brown. Serve with topping.

Strawberry Topping
1 jar (12oz) strawberry preserves
1 cup quartered fresh or frozen (thawed) strawberries
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Heat all ingredients over low heat, stirring occasionally until butter is melted and mixture is hot.

Baby Legs and other stuff

I was recently challenged by a friend to make a pair of babylegs . She found this amazing 10 minute tutorial on how to make baby legs from adult sized knee socks. So I rummaged through my drawer and found a pair of knee socks that I have hardly worn because I bought the wrong size, went downstairs and whipped up a pair of these adorable baby legs. The first time took longer than 10 minutes just like the first time through anything takes longer, but I am sure these can be easily made in no time flat. I can't wait to try again and maybe make some for Dane, like maybe and army print or a cute blue stripe. What do ya think? I forgot to take a before picture to prove these really were socks but the first picture I tried to piece together the cut pieces to show the shape of the sock.

Below is a picture of another one of my projects I made a few months ago. I made this nursing cover by copying and improving upon one of my shower gifts. I also took ideas from my sister in laws Modest Mommy cover. I have only made 2 of these but was very happy how they turned out.

Tagged

I have been tagged a couple of times from this game. It's a fun tag game that I really wanted to participate in, but the first time I was tagged was the day all of my pictures were wiped away. I was super organized with them all it neat little folders too. If you can't tell I am still frustrated about this matter. When we went to re-download Picasa 3 all of our pictures showed back up. So does this mean all our pictures are still on our computer somewhere hidden or is Google Picasa just that amazing? I still want our pictures back in the My Pictures folder, on my desktop, just how I had them.

So here it is my 4th folder, 4th picture according to Google Picasa.

This was taken at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London. The picture is so annoyingly blurry. But in my hand I have a blow dryer that was loaned to me by my friend Josie, so I thought I would pull it out from time to time and have it's picture taken with different things we saw. In this picture I am trying to be Selma Hayek's hairstylist.

Here is the game:

Open the 4th picture folder on your computer.

Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog.

Explain the picture.

Tag 4 people to do the same!

I am tagging:

Karen

Nicole

Kaitlin S

Kelly

*sorry for the center alignment. It is stuck or something and I can't get it off.

7 months

My little guy is getting big so fast. I am trying to enjoy every moment with him, though he is getting more vocal about his likes and dislikes. He is getting around much faster by rolling and even a little scooting across the floor. I have even seen him on his hands and knees a couple of times, though briefly. He has learned to babble and has been practicing all his new sounds quiet and loud. One of them happens to be the 's' sound. It is so cute to watch him in a whispery voice going 'thssss' 'thssss' maybe once he has teeth the lisp part will go away. Someone has told me that putting a baby in a different environment will stimulate growth and development. Last week while we were in Colorado he learned to wave for ni' night and goodbye. Right now it is an entire arm flop but definitely a wave. He did a remarkable job sleeping through the night the first 7 nights we were gone but that next night he was up every hour just to be held. We finally put him in bed with us, he eventually stopped crying but was wide a wake. Next thing we know at 3 am he kept hitting Andy and saying psssst, pssst. tap, tap, tap, pssst, pssst, pssst. We both busted up laughing. The little guy had something to say. I think it was "hey dad, I'm not tired."

home again home again...

We are back from our trip to Colorado. We went to Breckenridge for a week with my family and in celebration of Andy and Melissa's graduations and for some much need relaxation. But first we celebrated with Melissa at her 'graduation' party. Does that cap and gown look familiar? She homeschooled and got her GED so we thought we would wrap up Andy's cap and gown for her gift.
We had a good time. We did a lot of relaxing. One day we took a hike up Mt. Royal. The trailhead started in Frisco. It was a bit strenuous since it was 2 miles straight up hill. It was rewarding with the view at the top, however not all may agree. Dane did pretty good on his first hike though he was a bit aggravated and hungry for a while and it sounded as if he was calling all the grizzly bears. If you have heard his little bear cub noise you can imagine what it sounded like. He then napped the entire way down. Dane did marvelous on the drive home to Iowa, we were a bit skeptical since the ride out wasn't the best. The trip home took an extra 2 hours since we left from Breckenridge. We only stopped 3 times and one of those times was to trade out vehicles at my parents house. The boy gets bored easy and with that in mind I was entertainer for a good part of the trip.
And today Dane is working on attention detox. We did sleep in late this morning but I am just not exciting enough for him today.


* I must note the last 2 or 3 pictures were taken by the great photographer my sister. My battery ran out half way up the mountain. Thanks Melissa!