Not Meant to be a Baker

First of all, may I just say that I'm on a roll with blogging. I don't think I've blogged this frequently in a long time.

Okay, funny story (clarification: may only be funny to me). Last night at 9:45 I decided it was a good time to bake some gluten-free cookies. (For those of you who are unaware, I have Celiac Disease and have to eat a 100% gluten-free diet. ) Not sure what possessed me to do such a thing, but I pulled out all the ingredients and went for it. There is a really great company that has a gluten-free all-purpose flour, and I had some in the fridge.

My college roomies can testify to the fact that I am a horrible baker. My cookies have ALWAYS turned out completely flat, unless I'm using the slice and bake kind. I haven't really attempted making GF cookies from scratch, but for some reason I was feeling especially optimistic last night. I really thought these were going to turn out all fluffy and gooey. How very very wrong I was. This was the result:

I was minorly disappointed when that is what I saw in the oven. However, they weren't burnt and I knew they would be edible anyway. I started scraping them off the pan and stacking them on a plate. They didn't really stay whole and rippled up as I scraped them off, so I pretty much just had a bunch of globs.

It was getting pretty late at this point, so I covered the plate with some foil and went to bed. It was nice to fall asleep to the smell of cookies! :) In the morning, I uncovered the plate and noticed that they were crumbling apart as I tried to pick them up (yes...I may have had a few bites with breakfast). So I just went with it and started crumbling them into a tupperware dish.

My solution: a GREAT topping to ice cream! I threw the tupperware in the freezer and now I can just put some in a bowl, heat it up for a bit in the microwave, and eat it with some vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Disaster thwarted.

Out of Control!

We planted our garden on Mother's Day. Here are some "Then" & "Now" photos. It's pretty much out of control. We've already used some squash & zucchini in a stir-fry dish. YUM! I'm so glad we decided to try this! Not too bad for first timers.

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, Honey!! I hope you enjoyed your day today as much as I did. It was a great day hanging out as a family, and it just doesn't get any better than that in my book.

This is the man I love with the little munchkin I love:

Aren't they so cute together?

Today we went on a walk around our neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. Sophie gave her daddy his first Father's Day present from her, which included some of his favorite things. Then we were off to church and afterwards we headed out to my parents' house for the afternoon. They just got back from 3 weeks in Alaska, so we brought the food. Let me just say, the ribs were delicious! You did a great job preparing and cooking them, Matt!

I love how Matt makes Sophie giggle. He can get her to laugh so hard that she has to stop to catch her breath, and that just makes my heart happy.

I love that he is already teaching Sophie all about plants and wildlife and instilling that passion in her. She's going to be one smart cookie.

I could go on and on, but mostly I just want to say: Thanks for being such a wonderful father and for how much you love our little girl. We love you, Matt!

Meet Meike

We have a new addition to the family. Her name is Meike (pronounced mee-kah). She's a Dutch Shepherd and is very sweet.

So, without further adieu, meet Meike.

I'm not much of a dog person, but I think I like her. I know that first statement may be surprising to some of you, given my undying affection for my Rudy, but he was the exception to the rule. Rudy was not your typical dog, and we immediately bonded. Having Meike around has made me miss him even more, but I'm not holding that against her. Maybe some day she'll win me over like he did. Not just yet, though. She's still a pup and does pup-like things, so it will take time. I am impressed, however, at how gentle she is with Sophie, so I guess she can stick around.
Welcome to our home, Meike...you have a lot to live up to, but I promise you'll be loved and will love it here.

Car Seat

I'm posting today so I can win a contest. In order to get another entry for this contest, I have to blog about it, so here goes. (I don't normally do this kind of thing, but it's a GREAT prize!!)

So...I love car seats by Britax. I think it's a great, safe, reliable company and their safety ratings are always the best. They have a new car seat called the Advocate, and it looks like another top-notch product by this company. Needless to say, I want to win this car seat!!

I found out about this contest at The Mom Buzz.

My "LOVES" of the day

1. I LOVE meeting up with friends who simply bless your soul. I had the WONDERFUL occasion to get together with one of my college roomies, Jen, yesterday. She was back home visiting her family, so we chose a convenient meeting point and shared lunch, browsed a few cute shops, and played in a park. (Sophie slept the whole way there and the whole way back. The best naps she's had all week.) The weather was a bit dreary, but we made the most of it, and it was so great to see her again. Sadly, I forgot to take my camera out of my bag the whole time, but she got a few cute shots while we were at the park, so I'll link those as soon as they become available on her blog.

2. I LOVE new babies. I had the chance to swing by and see Miss McKinley Anne again today. She is just so stinking cute. Lauren and I got to sit and chat and have some heart-to-heart time, and that was much needed as well.

3. I LOVE what a friend in college wrote on his blog today about his son and the Lord's love for His children. Go there. Read it. Be blessed.

4. I LOVE my family. I love my sweet husband. I love my darling daughter. I am blessed beyond measure. And I LOVE, as Brad so eloquently stated, that we, as a family, are immersed in the depths of God’s love.

Sophie's Wishlist

Does anyone else love Wishlist.com as much as I do? I love it for several reasons.

#1. My brother and sister-in-law use it for Oskar & Poppy. They are very picky about what they allow in their home for the kids to play with, so I never have to second guess if they'll like I'm buying them for Christmas or their B-days.

#2. I use it to keep track of the things I find on-line that I like for Sophie. I find myself thinking, "Now where did I see _(fill in the blank)__?" I don't have to question that anymore, because I'll just bookmark it and the website does the rest for me. I can go back later to see if I still like it...sometimes my mood changes. :)

#3. It's SUPER easy to use once you get it set up.

#4. I'm finding that I'm becoming very picky about what toys come through our doors as well. We're not fans of cheap, plastic, "made in China" products. I don't want this to be a "be-all-end-all/you must get Sophie these toys" website, but I'm hoping it gives people an idea of the kind of things we like. (Is that wrong? Part of me feels guilty/selfish about that. It's a tricky thing, but we basically did the same thing when we registered for our wedding and baby shower, right?)

Anyway, you should go check out Wishlist.com, and if you want to see what I've got on Sophie's wishlist, click here!

McKinley Ann

My dear friend, Lauren (who was my matron of honor in my wedding), had her baby girl on Monday, June 1st. Meet McKinley Ann! She is BEAUTIFUL!

The girls!

Congratulations Lauren & KB! We are so excited for this new chapter in your life and Sophie is thrilled to have a new bff!

To check out their new blog, click HERE. They have posted some absolutely gorgeous pics!