A few Halloween Recipes

I was in charge of hosting this months bunco, so I decided to go with the Halloween Theme. 

I found some fun recipes and thought I would share since they were a hit with the bunco girls!

These were from Real Simple magazine and were delicious! I made mine with light cream cheese and the cookies are surprisingly low fat.

And these little ghost were a hit! Fun and easy to make. All you need are nutter butter cookies, white chocolate and mini "morsels". I got the recipe from Taste of Home.

I know I do too many of these...

But I can't get enough of these little laughs!!!! I had to share :)

James' Blessing Day

On 10-10-10, (didn't even do that on purpose!) we blessed our sweet baby James.

Haws did a great job and gave him a beautiful blessing. We were so happy to have so many friends and family members there. Jared and Thor even flew in for the occasion! The only thing that would have made the day even better was if Dana and Chase could have been there, but my hard working sister couldn't get the weekend off.

I was so busy that morning I failed to take a picture of James by himself in his blessing outfit! So we had to do a photo shoot later that week. 

We went to my parents house after for a delicious brunch. The food was so good! Thank you to everyone who helped! It is so nice to know that James is loved by so many wonderful people.

We actually got these shoes from off the top of a baby cake! Score :)

 Love this face!

 This is the beautiful Blessing Blanket my Aunt Nancy knitted for our family. She is so talented!

Waking daddy up from his Sunday nap.

Dad was more worn out than James was!

Couldn't get everyone in the picture, but here is some of the crew.

Thanks to all for making it a special day.

Big Boy Stroller

James has graduated from his bassinet seat for his stroller into the normal seat. He enjoys his walks even more now that he can see everything. He will just sit and babble and look all around, but still falls asleep about half way through. My baby is getting so big already!

The Mobile

I got a mobile before James was born. It was one of the first things I bought for him when I was pregnant. I waited to set it up until a few weeks before my due date only to find it was missing a piece. I was so bummed, but tried my luck at taking it back to Babies r Us. It was way past the 90 day return policy, but they said they could refund me the current selling price which was about half what I had spent... another bummer. So I decided we could live with out a mobile and I would wait to see if James would want one. James loves looking at things and every time I was at a baby store I would look at the mobile, but never wanted to spend the money. Then my mom went to Utah to see Dana and came home with this...

But this is not just any mobile. It was specially made by Dana so that James will recognize her and Chase when they come to visit. Check out the pictures she has attached to each animal...

She is hilarious! James does love his mobile and I am sure it is because he gets to look at Dana, Chase, me and my dad when he is under it.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls Cookies

 We made these last Sunday and they were delicious. I got the recipe from Taste of Home magazine and made a few changes. Turned out great! 

• 30 Servings
• Prep: 1 hour Bake: 10 min./batch + cooling

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1-3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 8 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and 1-1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 tablespoon honey and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape a heaping tablespoonful of dough into a 6-inch log. In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; roll log in cinnamon-sugar. Loosely coil log into a spiral shape; place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat, placing cookies 1 in. apart. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar.
• Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. In a small bowl, melt baking chocolate; stir until smooth. Drizzle or spread over cookies. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 2-1/2 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 1 cookie equals 170 calories, 7 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 38 mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, 25 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 2 g protein.

Like father like son :)

James is 3 months!

This little "big" guy is 3 months old. 

Everyone says it goes by fast... it really does!

He is getting more fun everyday and is doing more everyday. We just love him so much.

There is nothing like a baby giggle or a smile to make your day :)

Some things he has been doing this past month:

• He smiles all the time now. I love when I go to get him out of bed and he looks at me with a big smile, pulling his shoulders up to his ears and tilting his head like he is flirting. It is adorable.
• He holds his head up like a champ. He has always had a strong neck, but now when he looks up from tummy time, he can look side to side.
• He has rolled over from front to back AND back to front. This made me a little nervous when I went in at 5am to find him swaddled and laying on his stomach with his face near the bumper. Needless to say, the bumper was removed and the swaddling at night has stopped. I was afraid he wouldn't sleep well with out the swaddle because he is such an active sleeper, but he seems to be doing just fine with out it.
• He recognizes me  and Haws and in a room full of people, he will find us and follow where we are going with his eyes.
• He talks all the time and makes bubbles with his saliva and gurgling sounds
• He still spits up big time. I think I will be wearing a burp cloth for a long time. Maybe I can somehow make it fashionable??
• He can sit up in his bumbo chair. He is over it after about 10 min. Much to confining for him. 
• He loves to kick around his legs. He can move himself a few feet just kicking them around.
• He has taken his pacifier a few times at night but is never consistent. Most days he hates it. Luckily he loves to suck on his hands and that is how he sooths himself.
• Speaking of hands... he has noticed that they are there and will sometimes just stare at them while he open and shuts them.
• He has also realized he can grab other parts of his body... but I won't get into that here :)
• When feeding, he grabs for anything he can. He pulls on my shirt, squeezes my boob or tugs on my hair.
• He is staying awake for longer periods during the day. He is very good at entertaining himself and will stare at different things in the room. He likes new places and noise. That is a good thing since we go out a lot and there is often noise.

This is the onesie Ellen gave him.
And below is James with his "lovie" Izzy the Monkey. He loves to cuddle with and chew on him.

I just want to document one of my own accomplishments. I am back to work and have started doing pilates again. It feels so good and I have a new respect for my clients who I torture often.

The first couple of weeks I could do pretty much everything that I tried except for a roll up. It was so hard! I am happy to say that at 12 weeks postpartum I have mastered the roll up once again :)