A few of my favorite things

I have three words for you-
girl.
scout.
cookies!!!

Yes, it's that wonderful time of the year again. So far, I've only eaten two boxes of my favorite Samoas and have enjoyed every last chocolatey caramel bite.

I love this time of year when Spring is sneaking out here and there. Shades of green are peeping through the grass and fresh dew is beginning to greet us in the morning. Goodbye frosty windshields! 

Another one of my loves-all things homeade and crafty. Especially when it comes to first birthdays! Spoiler alert-here's a super special sneak peak at E's first birthday bling. :-)

Just the other day I happened upon this amazing collection of fun, colorful Eric Carle themed birthday gear on big time clearance at Target, and like gum drops falling from the sky I was hooked. Theme=ready, set, go! We love Eric Carle's children's books and artwork, and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is our favorite.

See these tissue paper pom poms? They are SO easy, quick, and inexpensive to make-plus super cute to boot! My mom treated us to a nice afternoon visit this week and we had ourselves a creative "Martha Stewart" afternoon making these. It's safe to say that this mama is over the top excited for her little boy's very first birthday, is up to her ears in crafty caterpillar madness, and enjoying every minute of it. :-)

Oh the colors of Spring, crafts and cookies-just a few of my favorite things!

At the Park

On Saturday afternoon, after a fun outing to our old stomping grounds in Raleigh, we found a treasure in our own backyard- "Noah's Ark Park." This bout of beautiful Spring weather made for the perfect park afternoon, and we loved discovering something new here in Wilson!

 

Yes, it's a real, rainbow colored Ark-how fun!

 

We hung out at another park prior to finding the right one, haha, but had a great time walking around the lake, watching the ducks and swinging on some swings. Like his mama, Evan really enjoyed the swings!

 

Unfortunately, he wasn't so much a fan of the slide. That's okay buddy, we've got-a-lot-a park practice ahead of us!

 

I'm so glad the groundhog predicted an early Spring. It's my favorite time of the year, and I can't wait for more easy breezy days like this one. Only in North Carolina can we get a 70 degree day in February....I can't complain though, we're enjoying the sunshine and soaking up every moment of this early Spring preview! :-)

Go Dino Go!

Que the music, lights and action! "I'm walkin' with my friendly dinosaur, oh what fun just listen to him roar!" It's the new soundtrack of our living room, and I have to admit it is catchy. :-) Baby toy-1, Pandora-0.

A work in progress, one step at a time...

 

He is so proud of himself!

My little valentine

Loc-a-motion lovin

Toy huggin

Darling with the green dino

 Pull-up pro

 Cuddly cruiser of mine

Evan is now 9 and a half months, and a daily joy to our hearts. He is full of smiles, and-this just in-kisses! Just a day shy of Valentines day, my little boy learned to kiss, the best way a baby can of course-mouth wide open! He is just too cute for words sometimes. Hence, this patchwork of pictures. :-) Enjoy!

Osh Kosh B-gosh!

I love Osh Kosh overalls.They are sweet, timeless, and adorable-plus, it's just fun to say "Osh Kosh." :-) I was over the moon about Evan's new blues, and even more excited to dig up these pictures of Chris and I in our own Osh-Koshers.

 

 

 Check out them genes! ;-)

 

In the kitchen

My kitchenaid was given a work out this week with these new recipes! :-)

First, easy apple tart with homemade pie crust, courtesy of the next Food Network Star Melissa Darabian. Bookmark this one ladies! While practice makes perfect, I'm happy to say my first try didn't turn out half bad, and was greeted with great reviews. *Lesson learned-best served fresh out of the oven, warm and ooey gooey good. :-) Post picture, I made a whip cream topping with some cinnamon to garnish. Maybe next time around I'll tackle the crumble topping. Maybe...

Next-melt in your mouth, take that Quaker Oats, homemade granola bars. I'm so excited to eat these for breakfast this week, and feel like this is a must have mommy recipe. Because I needed to re-use the dish for Rice Crispy treats, I went ahead and cut the bars out and pre-packed into snack sized, ziplock bags. And voile, breakfast is served! *Lesson learned-adding a little extra honey and butter goes a long way in the texture(more chewy, less crumbly). Also, I substituted a 1/2 of rice crispies with the Oates and really enjoyed the result.

And last but not least, the cake boss' special recipe for Chocolate chip cookies-simple and delicious! In spite of his loud Italian heritage, I heart Buddy the cake boss, and was super excited to catch him on the Rachael Ray show last week. A little piece of "Carlos Bakery" in my own kitchen! This is a clean, classic, tried and true choco-chip cookie recipe, and makes enough to freeze for later(love love love it when that happens). *Lesson learned-who knew you could taste the difference between light and dark brown sugar? Okay, just me? Blush.... Also, if you've run out of baking soda-or vacuumed it all up as I did-you can substitute baking powder by using 3x the amount baking soda required.

I have to say that Yankee Candle can't touch the sweet smell of golden chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, or fresh apple pie with a pinch of cinnamon swimming in the living room air. There's nothing like a warm stove, clean kitchenaid, pink measuring cups and a favored, flour crusted apron to make my afternoon!

Recipe sources:
Quick cinnamon apple tart
Homemade granola bars
Buddy's chocolate chip cookies