Insta- Friday!

It's Friday of a long weekend... Hooray! Who's excited about extra time spent with family and getting stuff done? This Mama sure is! Here's what our little family was up to these last two weeks...

I definitely tried to snap a picture of this sweet sleeping girl

but the minute I peered over the crib her eyes popped open!

 



A perfect way to spend nap time.

 



Proof that she's not all sugar and spice!

 

Lunch at the Tea Room with Grandma... LOVE.

 

All packed up and off on a Road trip with my girl to visit

dear friends!

 

She's a road trip pro... slept the whole 3 1/2 hrs!

We started driving during nap time... genius.

 

Making friends! So fun to see her play with big kids...

and she LOVED the "Bee Bee!" [baby]

 

My very dear friend, Jen and my girl... a precious memory!

We had a very relaxing weekend in a quiet little town.

 

A girls night with friends since childhood... so fun!

 



Tiny baby Chucks from Grandma & a vintage jumper

from her Great Grandma... so sweet!

 

 

Have a great weekend y'all!

 



Crazy good brownie deliciousness...

Anyone else need a little chocolate this week? Well, these brownies are way more than a little chocolate. These brownies might just turn your day completely around, or at least be a ridulously good ending to one! I watched Pioneer Woman make these on her Food Network show, and oh-my-goodness... I was drooling. I brought these to our small group and they were devoured.

Here's the lineup...

"Knock You Naked Brownies"                                                    Pioneer Woman

1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix (I Used Duncan Hines like PW)
1 cup Chopped Pecans
1/3 cup + 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk
1/2 cup Butter (melted)
60 whole Caramels
1/3 cup Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

First you'll preheat the oven to 350 and get to unwrapping those caramels! 

Grab your mixer and toss in the cake mix, pecans, 1/3 of the evaporated milk, and melted butter.

Press half of that mixture into a 9x9 pan and bake it for 10min.

Meanwhile... get those caramels and the other 1/2 cup of evaporated milk over a double boiler. I don't have one of those, so I just put a glass bowl, slightly larger than the small pan of boiling water. It'll take a while for all the caramels to melt... just keep stirring and thinking about the deliciousness you're about to experience.

When it's all smooth and melted, pour it over the first layer of brownie and sprinkle your chocolate chips all over that.

Roll out the second half of the dough and using the flattest, largest spatula you've got, transfer it onto your caramel. I just sort of pinched it together until it created a smooth, flat layer.

Bake for another 20 min and then let it rest at room temperature for an hour or so and then refridgerate it for another couple hours. Sprinkle it generously with powdered sugar and use a hot knife to cut and serve!

{unfourtunately, these were whisked away and eaten before a

pretty picture of a single brownie could be taken }



Lovebug's 1st Birthday {Part III- Our Sweet Girl}

We were so very blessed to have 55 people come to celebrate our Sweet Girl! We couldn't imagine our lives without her and she's brought so much joy into our little family! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl.

 

Insta-Friday!

It's FRIDAY! I feel like with a little one running around, I get excited for the week's end... Bri can spend time with us on Saturday and Friday night we have dinner with my family, and it just feels nice and slow and relaxing. So here's what we've been up to this week...

I worked on making a very large pile of ruffled goodness for my baby sister's

classroom... corregated border? No thank you! I'll post some pictures when her room's all done!

Spray painted an old wire basket for some MUCH needed toy storage...

I'm drooling over THESE, but not at that price tag!

Baby girl LOVED the racecar cart at Home Depot... makes my life easier

since I'm pretty sure we'll be there a LOT as we get all the house projects done!

Date night with my hubby... seriously one of the best meals

of my life... seriously.

Finishing the day with Cinnamon Roll cake and a jar of milk...

perfection.

Tired Mama = easy peasy and super yummy french bread pizza.

I'll write up a post about this soon!

Spontaneous Sunday afternoon date with my Love... wonderful.

Building industrial shelves at girl's night... so FUN! Stay tuned for

how these turn out!

Grilling out on a rare cool evening! It's been so hot here in

Missouri this summer!

Our new bed arrived... and baby girl has decided it's pretty comfy!

Have a great weekend y'all!

Lovebug's 1st Birthday Party {Part II- The Food}

Every good party must have good food right? Well this Mama LOVES breakfast food, and I knew that doing brunch would be easy to do too!

 I talked about the cake in {Part I.} Sweet Lovebug is the only one who enjoyed that delicious butter-cream delight... well, Bri and I might have helped her out later that night.

 I had seen berry and donut kabobs on Pinterest, and knew that they were definitely going to be a part of the party. We {my awesome parents} bought all the strawberries and blueberries at Costco and the donuts came from Lamars... the best donuts in the world, 5min down the road here in Greenwood.

Since I have a crazy sweet tooth, and the best bought cinnamon rolls you can buy are also a short drive away at Neighbor's Cafe, I sent my dear Gramma to get a few dozen for the party, since she's there every morning anyway.



I searched and searched for the best breakfast casserole and THIS was the winner. It was definitely a crowd pleaser since we made 4 casseroles and there was NONE left when we went to clean up!

We couldn't forget the littles at the party, so I set out Lovebug's cereal jars along with cups... although most of the littles were too busy eating off their parents plates full of sugar! Smart kiddos.

The drink bar was filled with mason jars wrapped in turquoise baker's twine with happy pink and yellow striped straws... more on that in {Part I.} My mason jar drink canister was bought at Target for $25! It's filled with Pioneer Woman's Iced Coffee... YUM! That recipe is HERE. I put out a jar of sweetened condensed milk and cream for the coffee... delicious! We also served Milk & Juice for the littles, and non-coffee drinkers. It was obviously a success as well, since there wasn't a drop left and I made TWO GALLONS!

All the paper plates and napkins were bought at a local party store, and Target. I ordered the straws, twine, and striped Happy Birthday sporks at Shop Sweet Lulu!



In {Part III} I'll share the photos of the party and our sweet girl!







P.S. I'm linking up to the parties on my sidebar!

A Great Summer Salad Recipe...

I'm always looking for a light, healthier recipe this time of year. It's been a refreshingly cooler 90-something for the last few days and goodness gracious, this girl is ready for Fall! Until then, we'll be eating lots of burgers with fresh fruit and potato salad, and lots of recipes like this one...

Here's what you need:

(ignore the green peppers- I've since realized that they are pointlesss... use jalapenos!)

Southwestern Chicken Chop Salad                                 Lauren's Latest {modified by me}

Salad:
2 cups cooked chicken (cut up into small chunks)
2 or 3 large jalapenos (seeded and diced)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can sweet yellow corn (drained)
2 roma tomatoes (seeded and diced)
2 large romaine hearts (chopped)
1/2 bunch cilantro (finely chopped)
2 just under ripe avocados (diced)
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
Dressing:
1 cup organic sour cream (it has a much better consistency!)
1/2 tablespoon spicy ranch seasoning
1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning
Splash of milk

First you'll get your chicken tenders cooked. I just put a bit of EVOO in a skillet, season both sides of the chicken tenders with S&P and cook them over medium heat for 4min on each side. Otherwise, you can just buy a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store.

Then I set to chopping all the veggies... there's something cathartic about that I think. I usually leave most of the ingredients seperate, just in case we've got someone picky over for dinner. I put the romaine in one large bowl. Then add the beans, corn, tomato, jalepeno, cilantro in another. I leave the chips in another bowl, and the avacado gets chopped up last to avoid browning. You can, of course, just mix everything up in one large bowl like the original recipe, but that means it all needs to be eaten pretty quickly too... soggy salad, no thank you.

I just mix up the sour cream, seasonings, and add milk to get the right dressing consistency. The original recipe called for mayonaise... but I am anti-mayo. It's just the way it is. Why the weird globby white sauce in a jar? Anyways... I've never heard any complaints about my version.

Serve it up with extra chips on the table and some yummy salsa! Enjoy the rest of the hot summer months y'all!

Insta-Friday!

Happy Friday! Not too many pictures were taken this week... I was just too busy soaking up the days with my sweet little toddler. 13mo and she acts like such a big girl... Sigh.

Afternoon cuddles with my girl... never gets old.

Drooling over her Birthday Party pictures. That post Here.

MORE painting. Hopefully the master bedroom will be finished soon... as in this year?

 LOVE our new house but will it ever be fully furnished/finished?

Hannah the Mama. Someone please stop time! She insists on wearing the Tutu... ALL the time.  

Have a great weekend y'all!