a little bit of time

i wish i had more time to blog and bake and shop and hold my baby and be with my husband and family and rest. but -- this is a fun and busy time of year! and the free time i do have goes to snuggling, not blogging. i read blogs, i find recipes and look at sweet pictures, but putting one together myself just isn't easy sometimes. so - if there is anyone out there that actually reads this, i'm sorry. i'm trying.

i have a little bit of time right now, so here's a little update.

we put up our tree! i LOVE it. i have really pretty pictures of the mantle and tree, but not on this computer, so here's one from my phone.

she is kind of obsessed with hats lately. when we found this in our christmas decorations she was really excited about putting it one. she just plays like normal, only in a santa hat!

also - i'm on a baking rampage! i took about a week break after thanksgiving, but i couldn't wait much longer. on my list of things to make:

this weekend my 10 year old niece and 5 year old nephew are coming to town. we are going to make and decorate christmas cookies from scratch! i can't wait!!

i'm also going to make this before they get there. i hope. for some reason i'm craving a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. and i found this website that gives the cheesecake factory's recipe. hello!

this might look kind of strange, but TRUST ME - it's the most amazing stuff you will EVER put in your mouth. just make it and eat it. and eat it and eat it and eat it. you'll be mad at me. it's so good. caramel puff corn. enjoy.

hopefully i'll be back soon. i'll definitely be documenting this weekends baking extravaganza!

thanksgiving prep

oh man! i love love LOVE thanksgiving. i love the fact that i'm off work. i love that i get to eat crazy amounts of comfort food. i love spending time with my family. and i love that i get to decorate for christmas the next day! this year i'm super excited for a couple of reasons.

1- our family is going to gatlinburg! my mom rented a beautiful cabin in the smokey mountains and we get to spend 4 wonderful nights enjoying the mountain air, relaxing in a hot tub on the wrap-around porch, hiking, eating, playing games and just being with my family!

2- going to g-burg means 4 straight days with these wonderful people


this is my little brother and his fiance. johnathan and darcy (or as i call them, jo & darc) are getting married next may. they are both really busy, so even though we all live in lexington, we hardly get to see each other. jo is an amazing chef at a local restaurant. darc serves there a few nights a week, but also has a 9-5 job. it's always so great to hang out with them. jo and i are 6 years apart and have always gotten along great. we "get" each other.

3- speaking of jo - he always makes our thanksgiving meals. and they are always A-MAZ-ING! i can't wait to eat his food all weekend long!

4- i get to make the desserts! i love to bake. love to make pretty sweet treats, and (not to brag) i'm kind of good at it. i've been making things lately, trying to test out what i want for thanksgiving day. lately i've made:

paula dean's gingerbread pumpkin triffle

this was SUPER easy and looked beautiful just like the picture. click {here} for recipe

joy of baking's pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting

i'm not a huge pumpkin fan, so i decided to add chocolate chips. they were yummy! and the cookies were nice and soft. i'd call them a muffin-cookie. click {here} for this recipe.

tasty kitchen's oreo cheescake cookies

i have to be honest - these did not turn out as good as i thought they were going to be. still very yummy. i was just expecting more... recipe {here}

and better homes and garden's maple pumpkin cheesecake. this one came out of my better homes cook-book, but i found a scanned version of the recipe here. this cheesecake is amazing and one pumpkin dessert i really, really love. i've made it the past 3 thanksgivings.

shaun of course loves them all. and darc and my mom are big pumpkin fans too. but jo and i really aren't. so, next i'm going to try a pecan pie. pioneer woman has an amazing recipe that i want to try. i love how she titles it "pie that will make you cry". she definitely has me convinced to try it!

she also has me excited to make these - bacon onion cheddar biscuits


i know, not a dessert. but can you imagine waking up and having these for breakfast?? or even with our thanksgiving meal??

man! i'm getting hungry!

so - what are you making this thanksgiving? any amazing recipes i should try?

i'll be back soon to show you some ideas i have for the table setting. another thing i'm excited about this year!!

fun find on etsy

i just found the cutest thing for C's room!

as you may remember from the post about C's room, i have a little bird theme going. well, just recently we moved her furniture. her crib was in a corner and both walls were exterior walls. with the temperatures dropping and only 1 vent in her room, i am trying to figure out how to keep her warmer at night without sweating shaun and i out! so, i rearranged her furniture.

to make stuff on the walls make sense, i had to move things around. now, i have one wall that is pretty bare. it's the wall her crib used to be on. but - i think i've come up with a solution and should have it resolved after i visit IKEA this weekend. i'm going to purchase a few of these shelves.

they are picture ledges. we got some for our master bedroom a couple of months ago and i really love the concept. very easy to install and fairly inexpensive. (duh - it's IKEA)

ok - but back to the title. since i have a little bird theme going on in her room, i could NOT pass up these little cuties -

aren't they precious? they are easy-to-apply vinyl stickers that come in a variety of colors. and only $5!! honestly, i'm not big on decals, but in a little girls room, i think they could be really cute and fun. i can't wait to get them and add them to her room. i plan on having a couple sitting on her new shelves! they come from an esty shop called elaphannie and they are the small ella vinyl decal.

i'll be sure the post more pictures once i have the shelf and birdies up!

and check out this shop. there are TONS of cute decals!

christmas cards from shutterfly

i'm crazy about stationary. i love cards, of all kind. thank you notes, birthday cards, christmas cards, you name it. so, i'm already thinking about christmas cards. i can't help it, i love stationary!

and then yesterday a co-worker sent me this:

"If you have a website or a blog get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly"

huh? what? i'm in!

every year shaun and i take pictures and put them in our christmas cards. we usually just buy cute cards and then slip the picture it in, but i have always drooled and dreamed about beautiful cards from a place like shutterfly. but it's christmas, and we love buying gifts, so i save money. but this year will be different!

i've already looked through all their card choices and chosen my favorite 3. when looking through the cards i had a few things i was specifically looking for. the card had to say christmas, not happy holidays. i wanted a fairly simple design so the picture or pictures would be the main focus. and i want the card to be christmas colors. to me that is mostly reds and greens.

ok, here are my top 3:

#1-

simple design and i love the rustic look. and i like a big picture for the family and then small sides pictures for kids.

#2-

i know, it's got more than the "traditional" christmas colors in it, but i really love that MERRY is at the top.

#3-

i love the simplicity of this one. and i'm a big fan of monograms, so i get excited to see a C on that ribbon.

so, which one should i choose?

what are some of your favorites? check out shutterfly {here} for all their cute options for christmas cards. or, check them out {here} for other cute ideas like calendars.

and if you're a blogger and interested in receiving 50 FREE HOLIDAY CARDS from Shutterfly, click {here} and find out how.

thanks Shutterfly!

*click on pictures to go to the exact card on shutterfly's website*

my little pumpkin

this past weekend it was "fall", but it was hot! dang. i'm not one to wish away the seasons, but why can't it be a little chilly?

we went out to a local pumpkin patch. we had made plans to go a few weeks ago but decided to postpone it because it was 85 degrees outside! well, this past weekend it was 75. better, i guess.








she kept talking to these little goats calling them "buddy!" that's what we call kona.



and a few cute pics of the bestikids



and a successful picture of us both looking at the camera and smiling! not at the pumpkin patch, but i just wanted to share.



happy fall everyone!!

embarrassing = funny

i'm thinking about starting an embarrassing=funny section of my blog. originally i wanted this blog to be full or crafts and recipes i have tried, but i'm beginning to realize that its kind of hard to take pictures of everything i bake. but i was thinking, "i do embarrassing things all the time." so, i think i'll start sharing the funny ones.

this one is for cami.

yesterday as i was walking out of the gym a guy around my age was walking in. when i saw him i thought "hey, there's brad!" but then i thought "wonder why brad's here. must be using kevin's guest pass." and then i thought "why the heck is brad in lexington?"

finally i realized it wasn't brad, but some guy that looked JUST like brad.

then the "brad look-a-like" smiled at me, held the open the door and said, "hey"

then i realized i hadn't taken my eyes off of him during this whole conversation i had just had in my head. literally. never. stopped. staring. at. him.

i was so sure he was brad.

now i'm embarrassed.

but i wish it had been brad b/c that means that cami would be here too. and it means that i wouldn't have been "checking out" some random dude about to go work-out.

sorry dude. i thought you were someone else.

family pictures

i had a friend take some pictures of our little family after C's 1st birthday. i'm really, REALLY pleased with them and wanted to share.

enjoy!












if you like her work, check her out. she's awesome and VERY patient.

{www.caradeephotography.com}