such a silly girl

not many pictures of elle get taken these days. she is just too busy for the camera. when i get it out she takes off. but, the other night i was taking pictures of the onesies from sarah's shower and she wanted in on the action. she kept asking me to take her picture. and, i got some great ones.





she's such a silly girl. and a sweet and pretty girl too!

twin boys: crew + clyde

my close and dear friend, sarah, is due with twin boys in may. she and her husband, zack, recently moved to north carolina so this past weekend we had a shower for her, since she really couldn't travel past 26 weeks.

the shower was so much fun! sarah was showered with lots of books for the boys and gift cards for her and zack to use to get ready for their up and coming bundles of joy!

it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that sarah is having twins. i don't know why. its not like its so foreign that people have twins, i mean i do have twin nieces, but i guess when its someone you are close to and who you talk about hopes and dreams with, it just seems so surreal. i'm so excited for her and zack, but so sad that i won't be able to watch the boys grow up! i foresee lots of trips to north carolina in my future. i'm already saving up for a trip this summer!

you will see for yourself, but sarah looks dang good. i seriously thought when i saw her for the first time this weekend that she be waddling and so huge, but she is tiny! she looks better than i did with just one in the belly.







fun diaper wreath that greeted the guests. i'm going to do a tutorial on this soon.



adorable invitations that aaron designed!



dessert table. love how the jade, kiwi, and black all came together so perfectly!



sarah glowing and gorgeous!









of course, holly's cookies and cupcakes. what party's complete without them? they turned out so cute!







onesie decorating!









look at all those fun onesies. those boys are set! for awhile at least.



guest of honor and hostesses!

it was such a fun shower. sarah felt really honored! we do miss our friends but know we will see them again soon. for now, we will just pray for those sweet baby boys that they continue to grow and stay put for a couple more months!

and the winner is....

let me first apologize for drawing the winner 2 days past when i said i was going to. its been a crazy, busy week. good crazy, but crazy nonetheless!

i cannot believe how many of you responded to this giveaway. over 80 entries! so much fun!

the last, and only, time i did a giveaway i only had like 27 entries and tried the number generator on line and well, that just confused the heck out of me! so this time i decided to have aaron pick a name from a bowl! a lot more time consuming but a lot less confusing for this simple mind!

typed them all out, folded them all up and put them in a bowl...





and the winner is.......



silvy! your cookies will be headed to you this week!

thanks again for taking the time to enter the giveaway.

have a great week!

it's just been one of those days...

...one of those days when i have zero patience. zero. thankful for friends like jessica, that write real words on their blog. these words have been in my head all day...


of course it is. 
of course it isn't.

when i've been feeling overwhelmed.
when i get snippy with elle louise.
when i can't take the whining anymore.
when i want to cry because of the disorder of my home.
when i look at the seemingly endless piles of clean laundry that needs to be put away.
when i look at my calender.
when something doesn't go my way.



along with all that i really am so grateful for the busyness. my etsy shop has really taken off and its been really fun getting to sew with purpose every single day. i'm still in the newness stage of this venture and trying to figure out how to stay on top of it all and be organized is something that i have not quite mastered. but i know i will get there!

this morning as i was trying to get ready (ended up just wearing a hat), elle really wanted me to straighten her hair. so i did....



and i'll never do it again (ha!). she looks way too grown up! and, yes, i am way envious of her gorgeous head of hair.

elle woke up from her nap happy. praise the lord! i got an elle + ollie order finished and am headed to the post office shortly to ship it. just taking it one step at a time!

***cookie giveaway ends tomorrow! please enter if you haven't!

tasty tuesday {banana cookies}

i love anything banana except banana pudding. i'm frequently making banana desserts with very ripe bananas.

here is one that i've made a couple of times that i found on pinterest and is so yummy!


recipe {here}

cookie ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softenend
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 c ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
2 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

cookie directions:
preheat oven to 350°F.

combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl. beat until creamy, wiping down sides. add bananas, egg, orange zest and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; continue beating until well mixed. reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. beat until well mixed.

drop spoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. cool completely before icing.

frosting ingredients:
2 tbs butter
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs half and half (or milk)
1 1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
grated orange zest

frosting directions:
melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. add 3 tablespoons brown sugar and half & half. continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil (1 to 2 minutes). remove from heat. add powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla; beat until well mixed.

frost cooled cookies with hot frosting. if you let it cool it is hard to spread on cookie. you will probably have to reheat it a couple times. garnish with grated orange zest, if desired. let stand until frosting is set.

sorry, i do not have a picture of my finished cookies. pretty sure i took one with my phone and pretty sure elle deleted it.

happy baking!

***don't forget to enter the doughmestic housewife cookie giveaway. ends friday!

****and i'm linking up with 33 shades of green!

the doughmestic housewife {+ a giveaway}

very happy to announce my sister-in-law's new blog, the doughmestic housewife. it went live on tuesday and she already has a ton of followers. it's going to be a huge success, and why wouldn't it? her cookies are like works of art. at times, too perfect to eat!


here are some of her recent masterpieces:







and, of course, the most beautiful cookies and yummiest cupcakes she did for elle's birthday party:



so, now for the giveaway:

we want to spread word of the doughmestic housewife blog and what better way to do that than with a giveaway? holly is going to give away a sampler pack of 24 cookies to the winner!

five ways to enter:

1-follow the doughmestic housewife blog
2-follow holly on twitter, (at)hollyhighthomas
3-leave a comment on this post telling me what cookies you would have holly make for you
4-mention (link to) this giveaway on twitter
5-mention (link to) this giveaway on your blog

leave me a comment letting me know that you did one or all of these things! a winner will be picked one week from today and cookies will be sent to the winner sometime the following week (or delivered if you are local)!

happy friday!

the morning of elle's birthday

i forgot about these pictures until i went back to get the pics of the pancakes.

















streamers and balloons every where! turning two was so much fun!

pure determination...

tasty tuesday + happy valentine's day

the weather is unseasonably warm and i can't complain! i'm not a fan of the winter and the snow. i'm ok if it snows so much we can't go anywhere, but i hate when it snows just enough to be messy and annoying. it snowed yesterday, but today it was sunny and warm. what better weather for valentine's day?

we ate lunch with aaron today and after elle's nap we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and went to the park!



elle wore her "dad's sweetheart" shirt to lunch.



so much fun playing at the park. we haven't been in awhile, it seems like she loved it so much more this time than the last time we were there!



tasty tuesday recipe:



edna mae's sour cream pancakes
pioneer woman recipe

ingredients:
1 c sour cream
7 tbs all-purpose flour
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
butter
real vermont maple syrup

directions:
place iron skillet over medium-low heat, you want it to get very hot!

gently stir together sour cream, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. whisk eggs in separate bowl, add vanilla and stir to combine. pour egg mixture in the sour cream mixture. gently stir together. mixture doesn't have to be completely combined.

melt butter in skillet and pour the batter in the skillet 1/4 cup at a time. cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, flip over and cook for 45 seconds and transfer to a plate.

top with butter and syrup.



i made these the morning of elle's birthday. they were so simple and different than buttermilk pancakes. aaron's not a huge fan of pancakes (he really just doesn't like sweet stuff in the morning except for flavored creamer in his coffee) but he liked these. i am a huge fan of pancakes and really loved these! try them sometime!

happy

valentine's

day!

hope it's been great and full of love!

p.s. linking up with 33 shades of green!