Our all time favorite cookie recipe.

These peanut butter cup cookies are one of my holiday "staples".  They are also my most requested.  I recently made them for a charity event at my son's school.  My boys were happy that I made an extra batch of cookies just for them:)

I use Betty Crocker's Recipe for peanut butter cookie dough:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 all-purpose flour

*small bowl of sugar for rolling dough

*TIP~pre make and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours (or even overnight) before rolling into balls.

While I'm rolling the dough, I'm giving it a good "sugar rolling". 

Don't forget to unwrap your chocolate prior to baking.  To determine how many pieces of candy you will need to unwrap, ROLL out ALL your dough FIRST before baking.  Then set the candy pieces in front of your little "helpers" to unwrap.  My youngest LOVES helping unwrap.  Ofcourse, he probably loves it more that he has a separate pile of candy for him to unwrap and eat as he goes;)

Once I am ready to bake, I pop the dough into mini muffin tins, then bake at 375 for 9 minutes.  As soon as I take the tins out of the oven, I push a peanut butter cup onto the tops of each cookie.  Then I quickly place the tin in the freezer to "cool" for 6 minutes.  Then I gently lift the cookies out of the tin and place on a cooling rack to help "set" the chocolate.  BE careful.  The chocolate will slide right off the cookie if you aren't too careful;)  Give these cookies a mininum of 2 hours before packaging, to ensure chocolate is set.

I LOVE making these cookies!!! They are so EASY! You can have everything ready before you actually start baking!!  Enjoy:)

Beautiful Towel Cake for Mother's Day/Showers/anytime, really.

Around Mother's Day this past year, I made a "Towel Cake" for a fundraiser at my son's school.  I was definitely nervous making this, as I've never made one before, and it turned out really pretty.  I didn't want to raffle it off.  ;)

PHEW!!!!  All done:)  I used corsage pins to keep the towels in place, and I had fun with ribbons and flowers.  I only wish my camera took better pictures, and that my husband's mountain dew bottle wasn't in the background!  That man some days!;)

A pretty cool 3-D floral card.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for me with hurting my neck and back.  Don't ask.  I have no idea what I did.  I just woke up with a kink in my neck and it escalated from there.  In the meantime, I have been stuck on the couch with an ice pack.  I've been going a little stir crazy, but was able enough to put this Floral Birthday Card together for my girlfriend's 40th birthday.  I really like the way it turned out, and since I couldn't shop for scrapbooking supplies, I had to settle for what I had on hand (eek, scary for me;)   Check it out:

This is the paper I had on hand...hahaha, I did make some mistakes and had to scrounge around for more.  It happens.  Especially when you have an idea but can't quite make the pieces connect;)  But then inspiration took over...

I started folding squares into fours, and then into a triangle...

Then I drew the shape I wanted to cut the flower edges into....

I cut out my shape...

...and OOPS!  There goes that flower!  Note to self, pay attention to the center of the paper when folding so I know where to cut...

That's better:)  I only ended up needing 6 flower shapes.

I next glue-gunned some buttons for "stamens"...

Then I free-handed a "vase" (while staring at my collection of vases)...

OH!  and then I realized I would have to "scrapbook" the inside of my card BEFORE I could put together the front of it.  I didn't want to smash any of my pretty flowers;)

 

THERE!  The front of my girlfriend's card:)  I did attach some pink ribbon to the "dear friend" tag, and located some artificial leaves to mix up the look.  It's very 3-D.  I love it:) 

It sure felt nice to be able to craft again!

Having a Peep party:)

So how do two Mom's stay out of trouble while their sons are having a playdate???  We bake:)  I am loving this idea of baking while our boys are at play.  I am having a blast looking up new recipes I've wanted to try.  Today's baking adventure~~PEEPS.  In the spirit of Easter, and in needing to make dessert for my niece and nephews, I found this very cool idea.  Did you know there is a PEEPS website too??? 

I am very proud of how my cake turned out, especially after having a baking disaster.  MY cake did not rise to the occassion.  It was most definitely NOT looking great, and needed a ton of frosting.

My POOR cakes!  I think you can tell what I'm talking about;)

This yellow cake is mine~~I feel all better, it's looks presentable now!!

AND here it is~~my PEEPs Easter Cake:) I love it!!!

Now what to do with all those left over PEEPS???

I KNOW!  Melt some chocolate and coat in sprinkles!!

And then go crazy and find some toffee chips for the rest~~YUM!!

I loved how my girlfriend and mine's "baking date" turned out.  And I know our boys had the best time too!!

Chocolate Bar Bouquet!!

Phew!!  I did it!  Today was a cleaning day, and believe me, it needed to happen!  My boys have been on Spring Break since last Friday, and we have acquired quite a mess since then!!  In between folding laundry and catching glimpses of my boys playing hockey outside, I managed to put together some really cute "chocolate~floral" bouquets for my awesome neighbors:)  I love how "bright" they turned out:)   

It all started with a trip to the grocery store last week.  I've been feeling pretty tired and worn down, and was going to skimp out on making Easter treats this year.  So I found a beautiful bouquet at the grocery store, of all places, to gift.  BUT as I was getting ready to check out, my oldest son looked at me with a very puzzled look and said "mom, can't you make that for less?"............WOW was he right!!  So I sent the bouquet back to the shelf and made a mental note of what I would need to make it for LESS.  Being that I am somewhat crafty, and had most of the supplies on hand,  all I needed to buy was a bag of Hershey's Easter eggs and some large Hershey bars.  YEP, definitely saved myself a heap of money on this fun project!

AMAZING what you can accomplish with a GLUE GUN...probably one of my favorite crafting tools:)

Here is my Easter Bouquet~~and my neighbors?? THEY LOVED THEM:) 

    

Easter Egg Wreath

We had a beautiful day here today!!  I believe Spring has "sprung"...and it's still WINTER!!!!  We never really had a "winter" though, with the temps being above average, and the snowfall being waaaaay below average.  But, for as much as my kiddos were disappointed in the lack of snow, I did NOT hear them complain one bit about today's 67 degrees.  I had a backyard full of kids this weekend, and managed to find some time to work on my Easter Wreath.  It turned out beautiful!  I loved making this wreath.  My little guy was telling me I should make them as Christmas gifts (hahaha)...but hey, I would like to get this as a gift, so why not???

  So cool!!!  And YES, despite living in an all "boy" house, I chose my favorite colors, purple and pink, to accent this wreath...afterall, I'm the one really enjoying it:)  I love it, and can't wait to make more.

I've been replaced by Yoda;)

It wasn't too long ago that I was the "hero" in my young son's eyes.  From taking out a splinter to making the best cookies, I could do no wrong;)  Fast forward 7 years to today.  It's a beautiful lazy Saturday, and all I want to do is sleep in.  But, alas, my youngest comes padding down the hallway to wake me from my slumber.  In the past, this lil fella would tumble into bed with me and snuggle.  But not today.  Today he wants me to get up and make pancakes.  Not even so much as a hug or a kiss or a quick cuddle!  I give in and trudge into the kitchen, only to catch the tail end of an imaginary conversation my lil guy is having with his plastic walkie talkie.  I ask him who he's talking to and he says:  " the coolest one in the galaxy Mom...YODA!"...which wouldn't be so bad, except he ended it with a "duh" and left the room.  This lil guy went from adoring me, to anything monster truck, to wanting to be a nascar driver.  But the force is strong with this one.  We have a new kind of Jedi in the house, and as it  turns out, I've been replaced by Yoda.  Let the Star Wars Phase begin.

Wow!  He's crafty like his Mom!