Royal Icing Cookies

Something I've been wanting to try for awhile is making sugar cookies and using Royal Icing to decorate them.  I follow some blogs and instagrams of some AMAZING cookie decorators and thought it would be fun to try it...and my friend Emily has been making some too and they are so cute!  So with all that inspiration, Brynn and I baked another batch of sugar cookies (I think my first ones were a little too thin).

I don't know when I'll ever learn that baking cookies automatically means get the vacuum cleaner ready...we are going to make a big mess!  HA!

She loves the part where you need to add some flour...and it ends up EVERYWHERE!  HA!

And then...THIS HAPPENED...

OH.MY.GOSH.  Flour EVERYWHERE!  She said she would try to help pick it up...gee thanks Brynn!

She tried using her spoon and then her hands to put it back in the bowl.

I promise none of that flour was used in the baking of any cookies...

The next night my friend Jennilee and her hubby and girls came over.  The boys were going to hang out with the girls downstairs while we attempted making the icing (which is kind of a tricky part) and decorated some cookies.  SO MUCH FUN!

My fearless coach...she knows lots about decorating and was showing me the ropes.  I didn't even
know how to put those little silver icing tips in the bags and things like that.  

We made the Royal Icing and it turned out to be easier than I thought...not simple by any means, but we got the hang of it!

Then we labeled all of our different colors and types of icing...

So you use a thicker version of the icing to "outline" the cookie, and then fill it in (or "flood it") with a thinner version...this was our first attempt at outlining...HA!

But we gradually got better and better...here are a couple of our first cookies.

Millie and Brynn had fun playing (and eating) downstairs!

Even Lyla and Emory got to hang out with the big girls...

And here is a picture of some I snapped on my phone...

I definitely have a lot to learn when it comes to making and icing these kind of cookies, but we had SO MUCH FUN making them and I am really looking forward to making some in the future.  I would LOVE to make some cute 3's and Hello Kitty cookies for Brynn's birthday in March...Hopefully I have plenty of time to practice before then!  

My Little Martha Stewart

We have been in a baking frenzy around here!  Brynn LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  I try to let her do quite a bit to help, but definitely have to keep my eye on her!  HA!

She likes to help stir the eggs!

I rolled out some cookies and she liked playing with her dough like it was play-dough! HA!  She also LOVES to dust things with flour...

Making a mess...but oh so fun!

I got the Pioneer Women's cookbook for Christmas and Ryan has been wanting me to make her "Country Fried Steak" with mashed potatoes and gravy.  I think my grandma would be so proud!  HA!  

Sadly, I don't think it was even close to what my Grandma's would have tasted like (or the Pioneer Women's either).  It was good, but I need some work when it comes to this kind of cooking.

I made the Pioneer Women's breakfast burritos the next night and enjoyed those a LOT more...guess they were so good I forgot to take a picture.  HA!

Super Bowl FUN

I remember the Super Bowl before we had Brynn, some friends of ours telling us "you better enjoy watching, because you will never get to watch the Super Bowl as closely EVER again!"  HA!  They were SO RIGHT...but we still have lots of fun getting together with friends to hang out and attempt to watch the game (or at least the halftime show!)

Kids table...Marlee, Maksim, Millie, Scarlett, Brynn, and Ansley.
(and yes our Mizzou Christmas tree is still up...it gets to stay up all basketball season).

The guys watched the game upstairs, and the girls watched downstairs while watching most of the little kids.  But then some of the kids went upstairs, and it really didn't feel TOO crowded.  Ryan went to check on some of the girls and found Brynn and Marlee "having a sleepover".  HA!

Brynn thought she was BIG stuff!

Then later he found them in OUR bed with a Disney movie on...WHAT?

Look at Ansley's face...HAHA!  BUSTED!

Brynn also figured out how to take a selfie...


My camera roll looked like this...



I didn't watch too much of the game, but I DID see the halftime show...Bruno Mars was rocking it!  And of course the girls did a lot of chatting and visiting.  At one point my friend Emily's husband came downstairs and said "UHH...I SEE WHY YOU GIRLS AREN'T WATCHING THE GAME...YOU ARE TOO BUSY TALKING!"  HA!

Sleepover Fiasco and Emory's 4-Month Check-Up

Last Thursday Pam told us that Ansley had been asking if she and Brynn could have a sleepover at Pamaw's house.  She asked if Brynn could spend the night that night.  We said that was fine...and hoped Pam would get some sleep!  HA!  Evidently it took them till almost 11:00 pm to go to sleep!  WHOA!  Then the next morning around 7:30 I got a call from Pam.  She said they had an interesting night...Brynn woke up around 2:00 am AND PUKED all over Ansley!  OH. MY. GOSH!  I told her she should have called us to come get her, but she said it was fine.  Brynn didn't have a fever and was totally fine afterward, so maybe she just ate something that didn't sit well?  Either way, poor Pam and Rick had to give both girls a bath at 2 in the morning, and poor Ansley kept telling me "Guess what Brynnie did last night?  She did something kind of bad in the bed!"  HA!


I took Brynn to Wal-Greens to pick up some Pedialyte and some crackers that morning...she was so funny at the store (and yes, I let her go in her princess robe).  She kept saying "I just take this medicine if I need to frow up again?"


She was totally fine the whole day, and my parents had been wanting to take her to Frozen, so they all went to the movie after nap, and I took Emory to her over-due 4 month check-up.

She weighed 14 lbs - 45%
She was 25.5 inches long - 81%
Her head measured at the 51%



So thankful for a healthy report!

Whipping Up Some Baby Food

When Emory was almost four months old, we started making her some rice cereal and baby oatmeal.  Sometimes she seems like she really likes it, and then other times not so much.  Then Dr. Hoffman said we could start introducing some veggies or fruit.  

I never made any of Brynn's baby food, but this time around I decided to give it a try.  It has been so easy and fun!  The other day I made a batch of sweet potatoes...she LOVED them!  All I did was bake them and throw them in the food processor with a little of my milk...

I bought these baby food trays and filled them up with the sweet potatoes...

And once they were frozen, I just popped them out and put them in a zip-lock bag.  Then I just grabbed out a couple and thawed them and we were good to go!  YUM!

I know this next picture doesn't look like it, but her FAVORITE thing by far (and really the only "baby food" she's had are rice cereal/oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and avocados) is avocados.  They are awesome!  All we do is cut one in half, mash it all up with a spoon or fork, and she GOES TO TOWN.  She opens right up and she will eat an entire half in one sitting.  (I know that probably sounds like a lot, but it really isn't that much when it is all mashed up).

Good old mashed avocado...

Somebody also really likes sweet potatoes...


And since this post is about food, here is a picture I snapped on my phone the other day at school.  Brynn's teachers said it is so adorable to watch these girls each lunch...she said it's like little old ladies sitting there chatting and eating away.  They said they can't let them eat together every day because they don't always eat as much!  HA!

The ladies who lunch...

The other day I was even getting out Brynn's lunch and she said "no, I want peanut butter and jelly."  I said "oh, okay."  I don't usually make her one of those.  Then as I was making it she said "can I have one bread, and fold it over."  HA!  I started laughing and said "does someone at school eat one like that?"  She said "YES, Ainsley does!"  I was telling the little girls mom before school that day, and she said "oh that's funny...yes, she has a folded peanut butter sandwich every day!"