Pretzel Rolls and Button Cookies

If you don't know this already, I'll say it again...I am obsessed with Pinterest!
Some of my recent pins include pretzel rolls and button cookies.

I borrowed took hostage my MIL's KitchenAid mixer to make the cookies but decided to take advantage of the mixer and make the pretzels rolls, as well.

So, yesterday I gave the pretzels rolls a try.

On a scale from 1-5 with 5 being difficult, they were about a 3. The recipe itself was super easy to follow with simple ingredients... they were just invloved and time consuming. I had to mix the dough and let it rise for an hour. Then roll each individual roll out and let them rise again for another 30 mintues. After that I had to boil them for 30 seconds on each side in a water and baking soda mixture.

But let me tell you, they were DELISH and very much worth the time! So good!

 

I ended up using them to make chicken and swiss cheese sandwiches. Yum!

Then this morning I starting making button cookies for my SIL's baby shower that is this Saturday. It's amazing how much easier making cookies is when you have a mixer!

The cookies were super easy. I found a simple recipe on allrecipes.com which only called for 4 ingredients: butter, sugar, flour and vanilla.

Batch #1 is finished. I still have a purple batch and a peach batch to go.

 I don't think I am ever going to give the mixer back to my MIL!  :oP

Toddle Along Tuesday—Baby Names

Ohhhh, picking baby names. Something that is fun to do by myself, but not fun to run by the husband.
With both kiddos, I would say that about 99% of the time, Nick shot down any name I suggested. There were times where I thought he only did it just to piss me off...not because he didn't like it.

There was always a reason he didn't like a name...some were valid, others were not! :oP

Ian — Said it reminds him of Enus??? What!? I don't even know what to say to that.
Gretchen — He would always say it in a whiny voice. Not sure why?
Nicole — Thought it would have been like we were trying to name our girl after him.
Hailey — shot down with Hannah but he suddenly liked it when talking about names for #2. He's pretty sold on baby #3 being Hailey if it's a girl but now I'm not to sure about it.
Delaney — I LOVE this name. He pretty much hates it. Not too sure why. I'm gonna work on him with this name though if baby #3 is a girl. :o)

We finally agreed on Hannah with baby #1. It was a classic name that was coming back and we both loved it! Middle name was easy--We used my middle name: Danielle

With baby #2 we had some issues. The first name we picked out was Greyson. We both love the name...we still love the name. But the more we thought about it the more leery we got about naming our son Greyson with having the last name of Loving. I won't go into detail but you can read more about our dilemma HERE and HERE.

Colson was another name that Nick originally shot down before we had agreed on Greyson. But now that Greyson was no longer a contender, I brought up the name again. I found out that Colson meant "son of Nicholas"! It couldn't have been any more perfect and Nick agreed! And we loved that Colson was a bit different but that it still had a solid nickname of Cole. Again, middle name was easy--We used Nick's middle name: David which alos happens to be my dad's name and Nick's grandpa's name.

If we do have a baby #3, it will be hard to find more names that we both love...but I'm sure we will. :o)

Linking up with Growing Up Geeky for this weeks Toddle Along Tuesday!

This Mama Needs New Shoes!

The weather is nice.

I refuse to wear socks anymore unless I'm walking on the treadmill.

I think a trip to DSW is in order for some new shoes! Right hubs??? :oP

Will He Ever Walk?

When Colson started crawling at around 7 months of age, I thought that he would be walking before Hannah did.

Hannah started walking 2 weeks shy of 14 months old. She was a passive thing. She did (and still does) things when she wants. She never really cruised the furniture like Colson does. One day she just decided that crawling wasn't her thing and that she preferred walking. She went from taking no steps on her own to walking across the living room. It was the strangest thing.

When Colson started pulling himself up at 10 months of age, I really thought he would be walking before he was even 1 year old. He seemed so ahead of Hannah!

So now here Colson is, at the same age Hannah was when she started walking, and the little booger still will not walk on his own.

Do I think he would be able to walk on his own if he just let go? Definitely! But he's just perfectly content with cruising the furniture and then crawling to go across the room. The kid cruises so fast, half the time he is barely even touching the couch...but he at least has to touch it, even if he's not 'holding' on to it. It's like a security thing. If we hold his hands to walk across the living room he either plops on his butt or lifts his legs up so he is just hanging. The boy refuses to walk on his own or even try to walk on his own.

I know he'll walk whenever he feels like it, but the kid could totally walk on his own right now if he would just let go.

Just let go!!!

I just can't figure out a way to get him to let go and still stay standing up. It's like—hands off couch—sit down on floor. There is no trying one or two steps. Its just an immediate reaction to sit. Ugh!

Colson, you would be having much more fun outside if you would just walk...

I'll give you ice cream...

Our Little Peanut

Last week, I packed away all of Colson's 9 month pants...not because they were too small but because he's 13 and a half months old. It was time to move on up to the big boy clothes! :o)

But as his little butt waddled away wearing 12 month rolled over pants, that he was still stepping on and walking out of; I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe, packing away those 9 month pants was a bit premature.

*sigh*

I haven't pulled his 9 months pants back out...mostly because the weather has been beautiful and I have been putting him in shorts. But those, too, are size 12 months. Do I seriously need to go out and buy my 13 and a half month old son size 9 months shorts?

I love the fact that he is our little peanut but a part of me can't help but worry. At his 12 month appointment the doctor assured me that he was fine, but that if I wanted to bring him in for a few weight checks before his next appointment, that I could do so.

So, to not be the overly worrisome mom, I decided to only bring him in once for a weight check and split the difference between his 12 month and 15 month appointment.

This past Thursday our little peanut weighed in at a whopping 20lbs 2oz and measured 28.25 inches. That is up just over half a pound and a quarter inch from his 12 month check-up. Not really what I was hoping for but I guess I just have to keep telling myself that a gain of anything is a gain and that he is eating and is happy and healthy otherwise.

And just to give you a visual of his numbers since he was born, here is his growth chart:

Everyone keeps telling me that he will have a growth spurt. They have been telling me that for a few months now. I try to believe them but with every dot on his chart, I begin to worry a little bit more.

Wordless(ish) Wednesday | Crazy Beautiful Weather

We have been having crazy beautiful, not typical Indiana March weather.

Like, in the 70's, crazy beautiful!

We have been enjoying every second of it!

Linking up with Jenni From The Blog and The Paper Mama.

Spring To-Do List

With the arrival of Spring comes the ever annoying to-do lists.

I cringe at the thought of all that I want to get done before it gets too hot outside. Some things I can do by myself, other things I need help with, and a few things involve only the hubs (sorry Nick).

Sadly, a lot of these to-dos were on my list last year, however with a newborn, most things were not tackled.

1. Stain the windows.

Yes, we have lived in our house 3 years and our windows are still not stained. I guess that is what happens when you help build a house. Towards the end you are just eager to move in so you tell yourself "oh, we'll do that after we move in." but then you move in and you conveniently (at that time) forget those things. Then 3 years later...CRAP, the windows still have to stained.

2. Hang Colson's closet doors.

Along with the windows, closet doors were on the "let's do that after we move in" list. We managed to get Hannah's doors hung but Colson's room, which used to be the office, were never put up. I think we might be missing a part to hang them? I'm not sure. All I know is that we will get them hung within the month. (hint hint hubs)

3. De-clutter the kitchen cabinets.

I have so much crap crammed into our kitchen cabinets that it is starting to make me crazy. I desparately need a whole day to myself (who wants to watch my kids???) to concentrate on reorganizing and de-cluttering the kitchen.

4. Build mud room bench.

Source: bhg.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: alifesdesign.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I really really want to build a mud room bench. I think it will make the room more functional and organized. Shoes won't be all over the place and the kiddos can use the bench to keep a coat and put on their shoes.

5. Build laundry riser.

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: theshowandtellblog.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

My back is tired of bending over to get the laundry out of the machines. If I have to do laundry, I want a riser. End. Of. Story. :o)

6. Clean garage.

2 car garage. Only 1car will fit. Enough said.

7. Stain our fence.

The idea of doing this makes me regret even putting up a fence. But we needed one for the kiddos and I love the privacy. I just wish that the fence staining fairy would pay our house a visit so I wouldn't have to think about staining it any more.

8. Replace our master bathroom sink.

We have a double sink in our bathroom but ever since we moved in we have only been able to use one side. The other side was said to have a crack in it. So we ordered another one and it has been sitting in our garage for 3 years. Yes folks, 3 years. That's actually kind of embarrassing. But with our basement currently under construction and an added bathroom going in down there, the plan is to take out the broken sink, cut it in half and use the good side down there. So I am convinced that our sink will get replaced in the near future.


There are other things on my list but these are some of the ones that I would defiitely like to get done. Here's to hoping they actually do get done.

Vacation Part 6—Final Days

Here are the last of our vacation photos (that I am going to post anyways).

They are just some random ones so I will let them speak for themselves.

We can't wait to go back!!! We really did have a blast!

Vacation Part 5—"Sea Stars"

I know I have only been posting vacation photos lately and I apologize for the slight overload of them, but honestly I am having a slight blogging block.

Hopefully I can get inspired soon to write some 'real' posts.

Until then, enjoy some more vacation photos. I promise there is only one more vacation post to come!
__________

The awesome thing about our hotel was that, right off of the dock, were quite a few starfish. You could clearly see them hanging out on the seafloor.

We knew Hannah would love to see them up close so Nick and Aunt KK jumped in to get a few for her to look at. Hannah referred to them as 'sea stars' which I thought was super cute! :o)

And no worries...all of the sea stars went right back to their home in the ocean!