Josiah

You get two in one day because it's been a while since my last post!

My best friend Leah is living in Mississippi right now. To be specific Pascagoula, Mississippi try and say that three times fast! Hopefully it will be a very temporary move because I miss her terribly! About a month and a half before she moved she gave birth to her son Josiah. I am his Nina, or what I like to say godmother. I was there for his birth and let me just say it was by far the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life. God is so good! I cried and was so in awe of her strength and determination seeing that she did the whole thing without any medication! YEA! Because she lives so far we asked her to find a way to keep us updated on her and the baby and she started this website.

http://josiahp.shutterfly.com

He is getting so big but I love to see how much he has changed. From this...

To this!

How can you not just melt when you see this little guy! I can't wait to hold him again!

Kitchen Aid Mixer of my life!

Okay so the holidays are behind us and the new year is in full swing! I baked quite a bit over the holidays and put one of my wedding gifts to good use. I have a love for baking and so does my mom! She bakes a mean sour cream and coffee cake! My best friend and her family got me a red Kitchen Aid mixer for our wedding! When I brought it home of course the first thing I do is take it out of the box and set it on my counter right? WRONG! It was too tall! It would not fit! I was soooo sad! My Dad had built a box-like structure for my hubbs and I to use for our sand ceremony (again for the wedding) that I asked if I could have specifically to put in my kitchen for my mixer! What do you know, it worked perfectly! ps... I didn't even have to paint it! ha!

Here is a picture of us at the wedding pouring our sand on the "table/stand".

This machine is AMAZING! I absolutely LOVE it! It is so far and beyond a hand held mixer. I want to use it all of the time. If you are a baker and are thinking about ever purchasing one, as Nike would say, "Just do it". It is a great investment and it can be used for so many other things besides mixing!

My husband's favorite cookie is...the Sugar Cookie but I think I may have changed his mind. I ended up making some Snikerdoodles for a family gathering I was having at my house and they were a big hit! Here is the recipe if you want to try them out...

You will need:

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1 cup of Sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (which is actually a powder, not a "cream")

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use way more than this)

Beat your butter for 30 seconds then add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of your bowl. Beat in your egg and vanilla until those are combined. Beat in all or as much of the flour as you can with your mixer the rest stir in by hand. Cover and chill your dough for about an hour or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Combine your sugar and cinnamon (again I use more than the 2 tablespoons and 1 tsp. cin. the recipe calls for) Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in sugar mixture to coat. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased (I always grease, Pam for baking is the best) cookie sheet. Bake 10-11 minutes or until edges are golden, cool and eat!

Hope you enjoy them, they are wonderful!