The Most Delightful Cookies

So many people are always asking me about my chocolate chip cookies. They ask me if it's a family recipe passed down or if it's a secret recipe that I won't share. It's always such a compliment when people ask me! But honestly, all of my "secret" ways are actually really easy.

First off... The best recipe is simply found on the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip package!

Here is the recipe for high altitude that I follow...

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter (2 sticks)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package MILK chocolate chip cookies

Grab a mixing bowl and mix together the flour, salt, baking soda. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and the two sugars.
Add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.
Slowly mix in the flour mix.
Add the chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes until golden brown.



Now here are the little changes that can make your cookies PERFECT.

*The butter should be at room temperature. If it's too cold, it makes it hard to mix and cream with the sugar. If it's melted down in the microwave, it's too runny. I leave my butter out the night before, or at least several hours before I'm ready to use it.

*Depending on how large the eggs are, you may have to add in more flour. The last several times, the eggs have been so big that I have had to add about 1/2 cup extra flour, sometimes more. The way you can tell that you need to add more flour is by touching the cookie dough. If at the end of all the mixing, you touch the dough and it's sticky... It needs more flour. You should be able to pinch the dough and not have it stick to your fingers.

*When your cookies are coming out flat, the first thing to check is if you have enough flour in the mix using the pinching test I just mentioned. The other thing it could be is your baking soda has gone flat. To test if your baking soda still works, get a little glass of vinegar and put a teaspoon of baking soda in. If it doesn't fizz, time to get new baking soda.

*Most people don't believe me with this trick, but I don't use the whole bag of chocolate chips. I use about 3/4 of the bag. And I only ever use milk chocolate. Never, ever semi-sweet. Why have semi-sweet when you can have the full amount of sweetness? :)

*I don't always follow the minute count of the recipe. I consistently watch my cookies. I make sure the edges are golden brown, but I pull them out about a minute early. Most people don't know that they still continue to cook on the inside when you pull them out of the oven and they are still hot. I pull them out a minute early and then leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes or so. Then I transfer them to the wire rack. If you pull them off the cookie sheet too soon, the bottom of the cookies will melt through the wire rack. Pulling them out a little early leaves the center of the cookie really soft and they keep for a few days longer. Within an hour of baking them, they go into a sealed container.

Hopefully this helps! Comment below with any questions or success stories!

Happy First Birthday, Baby Boy!

In 9th grade, Steven would always walk me to my 3rd period class. On the way there, we would ask each other get-to-know-you questions. I remember one day, I asked him, "Who is your best friend?" He said, "Well you don't know him, but his name is Colton." He told me all about how they grew up as close as brothers. I don't know why I said this to him (or really why I remember), but I said, "I really love the name Colton!" Fast forward 10 years, a wedding day, and one older brother... and this little Colton was born.

It's strange the feelings that come with being a parent. The stress, the worries, the happiness all seem more intense than they did before. How did I ever go to sleep at night without my last thoughts being these babies? And how did I wake up without thinking about them? I believe in soul mates in the romantic way of speaking. But I also believe in a different kind of soul mates; the kind where the people around you are meant to be in your life. I feel like children are the truest form of this type of soul mate. Whether they come to earth through your own body or someone else's, your children have a hold on the very core of your existence.

Last Sunday, the boys were wrestling around the room. Weston was trying to hide his trucks from Colton and Colton was trying to bite Weston's wiggling toes. There were squeaks and giggles and screams. Steven and I were laughing and I turned to him and said, "Do you remember when Sunday afternoons were so peaceful and quiet?" He said, "Ya, and I will be sad when they are quiet again." Babies grow into kids, and kids grow up. So I will soak them up while I can.

This past Saturday, we had a birthday party for Colton. We are so lucky to have so many fun, loving people in our lives! We had a Sesame Street party because that is literally his favorite thing.

Colton is such a fun little guy. He absolutely refuses to walk, although he can stand up and shoot a basketball into the hoop with no problem. He loves to play basketball and catch. His first word was "ball" and he says it so much that he will even say it in his sleep! He also says, "hi" "bye" and "dad" "ba-ba" and "up above". He learned the last phrase from singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Every week I take the boys to the library and they always sing the song with hand motions. Now whenever he wants to sing, he will do the hand motions and sing "up above". {Cue my heart melting} He loves to watch movies, and he is an avid reader. I didn't realize how long a 1 year old could sit and just look at books until he came along. He loves animals, big and small. He is always trying to sneak off to climb something. He is a fruit snacks lover and an all around great eater. He already knows where my candy drawer is! He is so friendly. I love watching him interact with other kids because he will crawl right up to them and say "hi!" and wave.

He was a mommy's boy for a while, but now he's switching over to the dad side (How does Steven keep getting so lucky!). He is full of life and happiness and light. His Grandpa Ken is always saying that Colton has a twinkle in his eye, and it's true! I just can't believe it's been a whole year already. I love you so much sweet little Colton!

ABC Felt Book for Colton's #1 Birthday!

I just love quiet books! They are so fun to make and it's so fun for the kids to look at. Colton's first birthday is this weekend and I barely finished his birthday present in time!

One of the fun parts about a quiet book is that you can add different textures to add to the touch and feel quality of the book. I used a lot of buttons in this book and jewelry wire for the guitar. 

Watch for another blog post this weekend about his birthday party details (Sesame Street!) and the cutest smash cake pictures you've ever seen!

Quilty Fun Anniversary Quilt!

One of my favorite quilting artist is Lori Holt. She's incredible! I bought her first book last year called Quilty Fun. It has so many cute patchwork quilt ideas! 

If you have read my blog before, you know that every anniversary, my husband and I make our gifts for each other. This past December was our 6th anniversary. The traditional gift for anniversary 6 is wood or metal. Well, I stretched that a bit and appliquéd a big tree on this quilt! It was a lot of work putting this together with a 2 year old and 6 month old, but somehow it came together just in time!

I used a lot of the different blocks from Quilty Fun and made it into my own. The house, the apples, the leaves, and the flying geese are all in her book. It was really easy to follow because it has pictures that go step by step. It's really great for visual learners! I hadn't ever done anything like this before and I was able to do it without a problem, which means you can too!

The apple cores are my fav! :)

I was able to use all my scraps and some of my Aunt Sue's stash so the whole quilt only cost me a few dollars for the backside fabric. Her book makes great use of scraps!

My handsome date! :)

Have fun quilting! 

Documenting Your Babies

So many people have been asking me lately what I do as far as documenting my kids' lives. I think for a lot of people it's daunting and overwhelming and just hard to do. Hopefully I have a couple of ideas for you that make it less stressful and more fun!

The first thing that I get done is the story book. I use Snapfish, but you could use any online software that has the capability of making hardcover books. The point of this book is to give the baby a book to look at that shows them how much they were wanted and loved in a way that's easy to understand. I give it the title of, "The story of {child's name}". I always start it out by saying, "Once upon a time..." because what good story doesn't start with that line? I use simple language that would be easy for them to understand and one day read.

I talk about what was going on before they were born, and when we first found out we were pregnant.

There's pictures of ultrasounds.

Every week from the time I am 10 weeks along I take belly pictures. Trust me, I hated them in the moment too! But I am so glad that I did it. It's fun to look back and see how fast the baby was growing.

I include pictures from the day they were born and pictures of them with their aunts and grandparents so they can see how many people they have on their team.

With Colton's book, I added a page about the first time Weston met him and how much they loved each other already.

I put in pages about their name sake, and what they were blessed with during their baby blessing.

I add a page about specific things that we love about the baby.

On the last page, I make sure to tell them that life is better because they are here and how much we love them. There is a blank page at the back of the book and both Steven and I write a letter to the baby.

I make two copies of the book. One I keep in the book shelf with all their other books and the copy with the letters in the back I keep in the closet for when they are older. I love these books! Weston's book is so loved that it has been taped together many, many times. On Snapfish, you can often get buy one get one free books, or even 60% off. So this is a great deal and worth every penny! The easy thing about this is that you don't have to have any extra materials besides your digital pictures.

As far as an actual scrapbook goes, I make one scrapbook that is a baby book. This includes pictures starting from the time that we found out I was pregnant until they are 3 months old. If you know me, you know that I am seriously holding back the reigns with this one! Prior to babies, I made SO many scrapbooks of just Steven and me. I love scrapbooking! But I do realize that one day these babies are going to be grown men and they don't want to take a thousand books around about their childhood. So for right now, the baby book is it.

I have a title page that introduces the book. Then the next page is the story of when we found out I was pregnant and telling those closest to us. Within the first couple of months of being pregnant, both Steven and I write a letter to the baby. It just talks about how excited we are to meet them and some of our hopes for the baby. I put these in an envelope in the scrapbook.

I include my belly pictures and I write each week a little about how I am feeling or any weird cravings or how big the baby is. I make sure to do a page about the nursery because I feel like I put so much time and love into the room. I want them to know how excited I was for them to come!

I try to include fun details like stats on what life was like the day they were born. For example, top headlines, gas prices, hit songs...  A lot of people tell me they get nervous about scrapbooking because they feel like they can't make it "fancy" enough. Scrapbooking doesn't have to be anything expensive or fancy. In fact, I feel like my scrapbooks are more on the plain side. For me, the important part is the journaling. I even set aside at least 10 pages where Steven writes. I want them to know what their dad was thinking and feeling too! And I even have grandparents write a little.

Each month of the first year they are born, I take a picture of them in the same location. The last two pages of the book have all these pictures in order so you can see just how much they grew in one year.

Other ideas are putting things like a tuft of hair from their first hair cut, how they got their name, and a family tree. 

Because journaling is the most important part to me, in between pages of pictures, I add my journal entries of when I had the baby. Anyone with a baby knows that it is pretty hard to find the time to sit down and just write a whole 10 pages of a birth story. You want to know my secret? A lot of times, I start by typing it on my phone. I am pretty fast at texting so I open a new note and I can write my journal entry little by little.

I also include a list of all the baby's "firsts", like first time crawling, first word, etc. 

The scrapbook is by far the longest time stealer. Weston's book didn't get done until right before Colton was born. It was a little easier to get Colton's done just because the two boys entertain each other, so for me two babies is much easier than one! People ask me tips for how to start a scrapbook... Here's what I tell them.

1. Gather all your pictures and items you want to add to the scrapbook in one place. This makes it easier to see how you want to organize everything and you won't accidentally forget something. Before I make any pages, I always organize the photos first so I can see what I'm working with. 

2. Look on Pinterest or through scrapbook magazines for ideas if you are feeling less than creative.

3. Get some fun new paper to spark ideas. There are always sales at Hobby Lobby or JoAnns and it's so fun to look at different scrapbook stores. 

Beyond these books...

I always feel bad not being able to have time to scrapbook all the cute things that happen or the major holidays and vacations. I came up with this method. Try and see if it works for you! Along with my 3x5 card method, I also do one journal entry every month for each boy. For example, since Weston's birthday is October 16, on the 16th of every month I write a journal entry about him. I write new things that he has experienced, things that he has learned, a funny story. It's usually a page, once in a while a page and a half. I haven't done anything with these yet. I print them and add them to a folder I have for each of them. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know that I won't regret having the memories written down. 

I know it seems like a lot when it's all written out, but it's actually only a couple of hours a month. It takes me about an hour to do the 3x5 card method each month and half an hour or so per baby for the journal. Have a new goal for the new year! Neither you nor your baby will regret it! :)