Spring break and chocolate cake

This past week I've been living the dream. No work and all play. Well I guess taking care of an almost one-year-old boy is a lot of work, but it's been so fun. I have loved snuggling up with him in the mornings and chasing him around the house on all fours. He is learning so many new things and I wish I could see just what his little mind is thinking. I can't believe that next week he'll be one! It's crazy how fast that year flew by. So before I start blubbering here, I better change the subject.

Spring break has been awesome, too short as always, but full of family, and relaxation. We started off with a trip to St. Louis and enjoyed the beautiful weather and spending time with our loved ones. We took walks, played frisbee golf, ate delicious food, and just relaxed.

All these beautiful pictures were taken by our brother-in-law Alex, who is starting a photography business in St. Louis.  Check out more of his talent at alexjoelphotography.com

When we got home my sister Kasey moved in with us to stay for three weeks while she finishes up a class at Judson. It's always fun to have Tia around! We got to visit with cousins and see my mom and enjoy some dinners out.

 Throughout the week Jason and I read The Hunger Games and got way into it. We loved the book and went for a date night to see the movie. And on Friday I baked a cake. Having time to do that was refreshing. I felt like I was back up in our tiny upstairs apartment where I used to bake so much. I miss the big kitchen window up there and all the natural light it lets in. But still, it felt really good to bake. Of course this recipe is from my new Joy the Baker cookbook. I'm still enjoying that so much. I've made three recipes from it so far and can't wait to try out more.

Lately

If I have to grade one more stinkin' paper I'm going to scream.  But the reality is I have to grade lots more papers, so it might get a little noisy in here.  But not really cause I'm not like that.

The plus side of grading is that you sometimes get a really funny paper, like this!

Did I mention that I can't wait for spring break?  Or any kind of break?  That's what I'm doing now...taking one.  Jason left me an empty house this afternoon.  He took Kole and went to BWW with the guys and then they went to Woodfield.  Am I sure he went with the guys?  Yeah okay.  


Anyways it's so weird to have an empty house.  I keep thinking Kole is going to wake up and start crying any minute.  But he's not here.  So I'm left to my own devices which this afternoon have included peppermint tea, thin mint girl scout cookies, chocolate milk, Kashi cereal, and salt & vinegar Pringles.  Can you tell that I'm preggo?

I just have to sneak in a picture of this cute face!

At this moment I want to quit grading and go get my new, extraordinarily wonderful, bursting with excitement book of riches and magic.  This is also known as my Joy the Baker cookbook that arrived in the mail yesterday.  Can you tell that I'm excited?  It would only take me about 20 minutes to throw on my apron and start whipping up some delicious treat.  But I know once I start there is no stopping me...and today I just don't have that much time.  Sad.


This morning I DID make Joy's orange strawberry almond pancakes with an orange maple glaze.  Kole ate three of them!!  You don't need to know how many I ate.  But they were delightful.  I wish every morning could be a pancake morning.  


Well here are some other cooking/baking endeavors I've been up to lately.  The reality is, I don't really have time to put up all these recipes, so if something looks good, let me know and I'll shoot the recipe your way.

Arroz con pollo

Ham with sweet potatoes, pineapple and marshmallows

Peanut butter almond banana bread

Chicken almond stir fry

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

Check these out.  I can't take any credit for these babies.  I found the recipe on Joy the Baker.  I've been wanting to try these forever.  They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty.  And they look absolutely ridiculously awesome.  I'm really going to have to make these again.  For the full recipe check out Joy the Baker.

You start off by chopping and melting bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate

Then natural peanut butter gets mixed with powdered sugar

You layer the brownie mix and peanut butter and kind of swirl them together

You lay pretzels on top and bake.  This is what you get!

Our Family Christmas

Here's a look at our Christmas celebrations this  year.  We were able to celebrate twice.  Once in Wisconsin and a week later in St. Louis.  It was the best Christmas yet, mainly because we have a cute, little boy to share it with!  It was so fun to watch Kole around our families.  He also had a really great time tearing into wrapping paper and pulling ornaments off the tree.  When we got home fro St. Louis we even found two of mom and dad's ornaments in his diaper bag! 

First here's a look at our Wisconsin Christmas.

Christmas in St. Louis.

Some of December

Kole's first Christmas!  This is from a nativity set he got.  I thought this was a super cute baby Jesus.

Kole is becoming a master eater...I'm proud

We had a cookie exchange at work.  This was my contribution

This kid loves walking all over the place.

Our mini tree is high up on a table for its own protection...otherwise I'm pretty sure all the ornaments and lights would be ripped off by now.

This is my Christmas gift to Jason.  There's a heart on the cities where we lived and now live.  

I had fun painting some bows on Christmas presents.

The annual card wall.  It has grown since this picture.

My grandma made all of us cousins one of these NOEL decorations.  It's my favorite and Kole loves to touch it too.

Baking day

Spritz cookies

Creme de menthe squares

Toffee squares

more bars

sprinkles!!

Jason and I got to go on a date in Lake Geneva.  This ts the ceiling of the restaurant where we ate.

My handsome husband