Author: Melissa

What Makes a Man Sexy? I could not possibly agree with this more!!

Last week a Bible Study, my friend made these AMAZING homemade cinnamon buns. Which I begged her to post the recipe on her blog, so that I could share it with you guys!
Wait, give me a minute… I'm remembering… yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

If you are feeling crafty and you know anyone having a baby soon, this is a great tutorial – baby closet dividers!! How adorable are these????

Jo-Lynne has a great post this week called The Best and Worst Baby Products. Even if you're not on the market for any baby items, its fun to readher reasons why she hates Diaper Genies with a passion.

I have a review over at Reviewings this week. Check it out!

and I thank you. From the bottom of my exhausted little heart.

No one has thrown up for 24 whole hours. AND everyone slept last night. For TEN hours. Even me.

It was heaven. I am continually amazed at what a full nights sleep can do for my outlook on life!!

For the THIRD time in TWO weeks, the stomach bug is at our house. It made a surprise appearance around 2:30am in Grace's bed.

And Colin still won't sleep and is screaming all night.

And I am just so, so tired.

On Monday I was in a bind. Husband's meeting went late and I was supposed to go to a dinner. I thought I was going to have to miss it. But a friend ran over – in her pajamas – and stayed with my kids. And I was able to go have dinner with the ladies in my Bible Study, which was such an incredible time of fellowship and encouragement.

On Sunday I read the sweetest post by my sister, who wrote a love letter to her whole family, instead of just a mushy post to her  boyfriend. Then my husband offered to take all three kids to a party for his work BY HIMSELF so I could stay home and rest. (I didn't let him, but the offer blew me away!)

On Saturday my Husband stayed the kids (and made breakfast with them!) so I could go to a bible study at my church and enjoy the company of some fantastic Christian women who were such an encouragement to me. That night we turned off the tv, Husband built a fire in our fireplace and we all curled up on the couch reading books and talking. And I felt love beyond measure for my sugglily little family.

On Friday my next-door neighbor came over to tell me that she had the next 4 days off for a little mini-vacation. And she wanted to come over to my house and watch my kids for me for a morning. On her vacation.

On Thursday I had an unexpectedly free morning so I met a friend for coffee. We spent the whole time talking and laughing and - briefly – forgetting we had to pick up our kids from school. (Whoops!) Then we met our good friends for dinner. I went to bed overwhelmed with thankfulness for the rich friendships we enjoy. 

On Wednesday I got a call from a friend asking if Husband and I would like to go out on a double date. AND they had a sitter already lined up for us both. Just as I was sad that Husband and I were doing exactly nothing for Valentines' Day. AND my sister got her offer accepted on her first house, which made us so excited and happy for her. You'd think it was us buying the house!

And it all began on Tuesday I got an email from a old friend with the subject line "I miss my friend" telling me she loved me, missed me and was praying for me. It made my heart melt.

Just last week, I was feeling isolated and alone. Now I'm reminded how many people I dearly, dearly love. The Best Valentines' Week Ever!

for more what i learned this week, go here!

We were watching Gracie's favorite tv show, Barefoot Contessa (Yes, her favorite show is a cooking show on Food Network. And, yes, she is four.) She made these cookies and Gracie was begging me to make them. Being the fantastic mom that I am I said, "Sure! I'll make chocolate cookies if I must. For the kids."
These cookies. Oh, these cookies. These cookies are SO YUMMY!!! The texture is absolutely perfect – they're like cookies you would order in a coffee chop. They're huge — I only put 8 on a cookie sheet — which makes them an extra special treat!!

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt I would use regular salt – I don't like Kosher salt in baking
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped I used a 12oz package of white chocolate chips and there were PLENTY of chips.

Preheat oven at 350.
Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and add the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.
Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15-minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Last Tuesday we(me) decided that we(me) needed to bite the bullet and stop letting Colin nurse at night. He often wakes up at night and screams. If I nurse him he goes right back to sleep until 7am. If I don't nurse him, he just screams. And I have to lay there listening to him scream. So in the interest of getting sleep, I usually just feed him and go back to sleep.
But I've known for awhile that him needing to be nursed in order to fall back asleep was going to come back to bite me.
And I've known we were going to have to do this eventually.
And, with the encouragement and prayers of my Bible Study ladies, I decided to just do it.
Now is the time. He is 25 pounds, after all, and clearly does not need the extra nourishment. He is almost a year old and should be past this.

So, last Tuesday we started. He screamed from 1:30am-3:00. The next night he screamed from 12:30am until almost 2:30. (By "scream" I mean "screaming and yelling his head off as loud as he can, eventually only going quieter because he is getting hoarse.")
Then the next night he slept!! SUCCESS! Whew! That was worth it! That wasn't so bad!
Yeah, right. The next night he was up for over two hours! And the next night. And the next night. And last night.

This is torture. I don't know how else to describe it. It is physically painful for me to hear him crying like that and do nothing. I've cried laying there listening to him. I've come so close to caving in. So close. Standing outside his door with my hand on the doorknob, trying to rationalize going in… The only thing that stops me is the thought that if I do go in, he will have cried all those nights for nothing.

I pray this ends soon. I'm just not sure how much longer I can do this.

I love peanut butter. I love chocolate. Put them together and HOLY COW, I’m in food heaven! I don’t think my kids have ever even experienced the joy of a Reese’s Cup… because I steal them out of their Halloween candy.  Ahem.

Anyway… Reese's have always been my gold standard of peanut butter and chocolate. I’ve tried more gourmet versions, but they never seem to capture the perfect taste and texture of the simple Reese's Cup. There's either too much chocolate, so you can't taste the peanut butter, or the peanut butter isn't the right texture or they've tried to be too gourmet and lost the purity of the idea.
But when I was in the grocery store the day after Valentines’ Day and all the Valentines’ candy happened to be 75% off, who am I to not venture out and try new things? (I mean, can you really go wrong with 75% off chocolate?) So I picked up these:
 
Oh, my goodness. Ohmygoodness. Oh. My. GOODNESS!
These are just about the best thing I've ever eaten. The flavors are amazing and the texture… perfection! With creamy milk chocolate and crunchy gourmet peanut butter, the whole thing just melts in your mouth. I dare you to eat one without sighing in contentment. These are officially my new favorite candy. While I still harbor a deep abiding love for dark chocolate – especially with nuts! – these little milk chocolate with peanut butter squares have captured my heart!

I love them so much that I want to share them with you! Leave me a comment on this post before Friday, March 20 and I will randomly pick a winner who will get a bag of these little beauties! (I promise I won't open it and eat any before I send it to you!) You don't even need to have a blog, just an email address.

Good luck!!

COMMENTS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations K! You may not be thanking me when you become addicted like I am! 🙂

Today we hit the Philadelphia Premium Outlets. Where I finally caved.

I finally brought myself a pair of Crocs. I've been fighting it and fighting it, despite the rest of my family's love affair with this particular footwear. I've tried them on mutiple times, but they usually make my feet look like boats. But today I found these at the Crocs outlet:
 
Guess how much they were? Guess! $2.50!!! THAT'S RIGHT! $2.50!! Plus, for $9.99 I got Ellie these:
  
I love me them outlets!

Then, I was walking into a store and who did I run into? Sarah from Genesis Moments! Who was there with Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife. How fun!! Clearly, we have lots in common… no wonder we get along so well ;-)