Connor Rocks!!

My little boy must love me...ALOT! Here is how the last 4 nights have been...in regards to sleeping at night:

Night 1: 6 hours straight

Night 2: 7 hours straight

Night 3: 8 hours straight

Night 4: 8 hours straight...and he is still sleeping and it is 10 am!!

Thanks Connor! I will never forget this! And when your old enough to read this...I'm sure you won't let me:)

Noah's B-day Party...Take 2

There are so many B-day's in July/Aug. in the Thatcher Family that we had a group Birthday! Molly, Noah, Grandma, Logan and Chris. So, here is Noah with his cake. We went to the store together and he picked out what cake he wanted. He picked out a Basketball cake. Now...I didn't have time to do the cute stars that I usually do for a cake, he got quick squiggles...don't judge me!! I was lucky to get it this far!
The boys and Logan
Happy Birthday Molly!!! She is now 5! Crazy how time flies by sooo quickly!
Jon and my little cutie pie...notice his cute onesie I made him:)
Birthday boy and Connor.

Stay tuned for B-day Party...Take 3. We are going to Houston this weekend to celebrate all the July/Aug. birthdays! Should be fun!!

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

I found this recipe on allrecipe and had to try it! It was REALLY good. Blogilicious:) (meaning blog worthy). I'll give you the recipe as it is written, but I made a few changes: I didn't bake the chicken, I sauted it in a pan and then add the cream to the pan and deglazed it to get all the yumminess off. Next time I wouold add some veggies to it. I added some fresh Parm. cheese on top. This part is up to you...the boys and I thought it was really "lemony" and Ben thought it was perfect. I might take out the lemon you add to the chicken and cut down a bit on the lemon you add to the pasta. Just a thought. Overall, Ben thought this was the best meal ever. Let me know what you think!!

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 (8 ounce) package rotelle pasta
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Squeeze lemon over both sides of the chicken breasts and season both sides using 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink inside.
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
3. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into cooked pasta, along with the cream and lemon zest. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

Hot Little Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

Yes...you guessed it! These came from Picky Palate. I love her recipes! I had try this one out. Its two recipes in one. Hope you enjoy! They were yummy! Now...I was in a hurry so the pictures are, well, they stink. They don't do the little guys any justice.

White and Chocolate Chunk Butterscotch Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
3/4 Cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Cups Chocolate Chunk pieces, I believe my bag was Hersheys
1 Cup white chocolate chips
1 Cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl; sift of stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients along with all the chocolate/chips. Mix until just combined.

3. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet placing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges just barely start to turn golden. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. Enjoy!!

About 3 dozen cookies

Hot Little Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

1 roll Pillsbury Pie Crust, thawed and cut into 12 2 1/2 inch circles (I used a cup to press out all the circles)
1 batch of your favorite cookie dough

1 egg white plus 1 teaspoon water
3 Tablespoons Turbinado sugar or normal granulated sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting on top

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place all 12 pie crust circles onto a baking sheet. With a small cookie scoop, place a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into the center of each pie round, pressing cookie dough down slightly without touching edges of pie crust. DO NOT overfill each pie, if too full the dough breaks through the pie.

2. Dip your finger in water and brush bottom 1/2 of the pie crust edge with water and fold top crust over to seal. Using fork tines, press to seal around edges. Continue until all crusts are sealed. Poke each little pie on top once or twice for steam holes. Lightly brush each pie with egg white whisked with a teaspoon of water then sprinkle with turbinado sugar (normal sugar is also fine). Bake for 20-22 minutes or until pie crust is just barely golden. Note that some of the cookie will escape through the pie crust, if this happens, just cut them in half and no worries. To prevent it, make sure you don't overfill your crusts.

3. Just before serving sprinkle with powdered sugar and even ice cream if desired. Make sure to enjoy these warm, shortly after out of oven!!

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When the Boys are Bored...

The boys were haveing a "boring" day and were playing in their room. I heard all sorts of laughter and strange noises so I check on them and find this...

They are putting cars in the long tube and watching as it falls in the dump truck. Enough said.

Pears and Dots

I finally finished my 1st quilt! Yeah me!! Thanks to the help of my friend Gwen (gave me the pattern idea and helped me do the binding) and my mother-in-law (who quilted it for me). I have always wanted to make a quilt and this one is for Connor. I love it!! Hopefully this will be the first of many. I have already found another one that I can't wait to make...that one will take awhile...but it is super girly, that way maybe none of the boys will want to use it:)

1 Month Old!

I can't believe my baby is already one month old! The time has already gone by so quickly! He is such a good baby (except for last week when he decided that he didn't want to go to bed until 1 or 2 am...we nipped that in the bud real quick;)

Here are his stats from his 1 mo. check up:

Weight: 9 lbs. 6 oz. 25-50%

Height: 21 3/4 " 50%

Head: 14 1/2" 25%

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Today is Noah's 4th Birthday!! I can't believe my little guy is all grown up! He planned out the whole day for us! It started with some sugar...lots of doughnuts. We went to our favorite place and he picked out all his favorites.
Then he wanted to make some cupcakes all by himself...from start to finish. He did a pretty good job! Not too messy either!
Next came the decorating. Beautiful cupcakes with tons and tons and tons of sprinkles. I mean tons of sprinkles.
Next up...T-shirts. He wanted me to make a t-shirt for him. So last week we went to the store, he picked out his t-shirt, his fabric and his design. We had fun making it. (Unfortunately this shirt is Cadens...when we were about to eat pizza...his dinner choice...he spilt garlic butter all over it. Hopefully it won't stain).
Then we had a photo shoot with all of his projects for the day. His real celebration b-day will be on Sat. when we go to G'ma and G'pas house and go horseback riding, splash park, open presents, eat the cake he wants me to make and sing. Then we will celebrate again in Houston in 2 weeks. The boy is not lacking for b-day parties!!!

Happy birthday sweetie! I sure love you and all the randomness that comes with you:)

Family Tray

I made this project the other day and I love the way it turned out! I got the idea on a blog that I just love...Livin' Life. The one she shows is a Christmas Cookie Tray. Just think of all the possibilities!! You can change out the paper for Birthday, Summer Time, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. These were so easy to make. If you have a Cricut (which I just got one:) Yeah!!) You can do even more!!
This was so easy to do. Just get an 11 x 14 picture frame, make a cute scrapbook page depending on the season and then frame it. Get 2 pieces of cabinet hardware and then screw them into the picture frame. You might want to make sure that the picture frame is wooden...

Its a fun, quick craft you can whip out in no time!

Lemon Buttons

I think by now you all know how I feel about "mini" things. I don't know why...but when desserts are mini I love them even more. So, here is another "mini' dessert. I love these! It was hard to not eat just one...I had to pass them on to Ben's work because I have a good 15 more pounds of baby weight to loose. I got the recipe from Mmm...Cafe. Enjoy!

Lemon Buttons

Muffins

1 yellow cake mix
Small box (3 1/2 ounces) instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
½ cup natural applesauce
¼ cup vegetable oil

Glaze
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Spray MINI muffin tins with cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, applesauce and oil and blend well. Fill each muffin tin half full with batter.
Bake for 9 minutes.
For the glaze, sift the confectioners' sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water.
Dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips.
Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour. These are to die for FROZEN! I know, it sounds crazy, but give it a shot, we actually prefer them that way!

Yeilds: About 60 mini buttons.

Brown-Sugar Glazed Bacon

I know...kinda wierd blogging about bacon. But that should make you realize how yummy this is! This stuff is like candy! Try it for your next brunch or put it on your burgers. So good! It came from Martha Stewart.

• 16 slices (about 1 pound) bacon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper; place a wire rack on top of each sheet. Arrange bacon in a single layer on the two racks. Evenly sprinkle with pepper and sugar.
2. Bake until bacon is crisp and browned, rotating sheets halfway through, 30 to 35 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels.

Connor's Birth Announcements

My fabulous Sister-in-Law, Whitney, designed Connor's Baby Announcements for me! She did such an amazing job and I just had to share them with you all! They all turned out so cute...I really couldn't decide which one I like the best! I think I'm going to order some of each and pass them out randomly!

So Whitney just graduated from college and is starting up her own business with making wedding announcements, birth announcements, birthdays...you name it, she can do it! Everything is totally custom and you get to choose everything! I told her I wanted

everything to be in chocolate and aqua and some dots (like his room is)...she came up with four incredible designs!

If there is something you want specifically...just tell her and she can do it! I wish I had her skills!

Anyway, check out her blog and give her some business!!

Whitney Gillis Design

Give me some feedback on which one is your favorite and what you think of them!

She Did it Again!!

My friend Ambyr took some more pictures of Connor when he was about 2 weeks old. She was using tons of fun hats and props from a friend of hers who makes them (yes, all those cute hats...you can find them here). Anyway...she took some AMAZING pictures. We had so much fun on the hanging one...you'll see what I mean!! So...come and have a looksy!! Thanks Ambyr!!

Ambyr Porter Photography