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Christmas Goodie Jars

I made these as gifts for our family this year. One is a cookie mix and the other is a cocoa mix. I got the recipes from allrecipes.com and made the labels myself using photoshop and some digital scrapbooking kits I already had. The cocoa has a chocolate dipped candy cane attached. The jars we bought were from personalizedgifts.com and they are etched with the words: Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Love - The Becker Family. I love how they turned out, and I hope everyone enjoys them.

It's a BOY!!

21 Week Belly Picture and Ultrasound Photos of our precious baby boy

19 Weeks

A Few New..

Ah Oh!


Our First Big Girl Panties!

Eating All By Myself!

Highlights of this Month - - November

I made three posts today so please be sure to scroll down the page if you'd like to see them all.

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18 Weeks Pregnant

Thanksgiving 2009

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North Carolina Trip

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OBGYN Appointment - 16 Weeks

I had my 16 week appointment this afternoon. I saw Dr. Brewer this time and everything went well. I gained 2 lbs since my appointment one month ago which makes my total gain 3 lbs so far. I discussed with the doctor my desire to have a VBAC and she said that it was definitely a possibility and I would be a good candidate as long as everything goes well with the pregnancy. I am really hoping everything will go smoothing and I will get to have a successful vaginal birth. We listened to babies heart beat, which she found almost immediately. It was around 160bpm. We scheduled our next appointment for December 15th at 3:15pm followed by an ultrasound at the hospital at 4pm. I will be exactly 21 weeks. We will be able to bring a VHS and CD-R so we can get video and photos of everything. I am very excited!

Halloween 2009

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Halloween Cookies

We are making these today to give to our family members that we visit tonight.



details

* Prep Time: 25 min.
* Bake Time: 11 min.
* Refrigeration Time: 30 min.
* Decoration Time: 15 min.
* Difficulty: Moderate
* Yield: Makes 20 owl cookies.

ingredients

* 1 roll (18 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1/3 cup cocoa powder
* 20 whole cashews
* ¼ cup chocolate frosting
* ¼ cup vanilla frosting
* ½ cup M&M’S® Brand Peanut Chocolate Candies
* 2 cookie sheet pans
* Plastic wrap paper
* Resealable plastic bag

directions

* 1. Divide the sugar cookie dough in three pieces. Knead the flour into one piece of cookie dough until smooth, set aside. Combine the remaining two pieces of cookie dough and knead in the cocoa powder until smooth, set aside.
* 2. Roll the lighter colored cookie dough into a 1-inch round log about 10 inches long, and move it off to the side. Roll out the chocolate cookie dough on a lightly floured surface to a 10 x 4-inch rectangle. Place the light colored log of cookie dough on top of the chocolate rectangle. Wrap the chocolate cookie dough completely around the lighter colored log. Pinch edges to seal and roll the log smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
* 3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the cookie log into 1/4-inch slices. Place 2 slices, side by side, on sheet pans. Press a cashew into cookie at the point the slices touch. Repeat with remaining cookie slices. Bake for approximately 8-11 minutes, or until cookies are just beginning to golden. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
* 4. Spoon the chocolate frosting into a resealable bag and snip a small corner from bag. Using the photograph as guide, pipe eyelashes and use white frosting for a dot to secure candies. Add the M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies for eyes.

Bathtime & A Visit from Friends

Baking Cookies

Lydia was mommy's big helper today making cookies. She enjoyed every moment I think, even the Mariah Carey music we listened to while we made the cookies. :) Here is a photo journal of our special afternoon.

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BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2/3 cup butter, softened
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup mashed bananas
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together, and set aside.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.

New Lydia Photos

Here is our big girl - 20 months!

20 Months

Lydia turned 20 months old on Monday. I can't believe how fast our little girl is growing up. I got some cute pictures of her last night with Daddy. I'll try to get some nice, more professional looking ones taken sometime this week.

A New Addition

Puzzles & Words

LYDIA'S WORDS & SOUNDS:

1. Wow
2. Bath
3. Moon
4. Get
5. Go
6. That
7. Mole
8. Pooh
9. Poop
10. Elmo (Mo-Mo)
11. Mom-Mom
12. Daddy
13. Pop
14. Cool
15. Moo
16. Duck
17. Cut
18. Meow
19. Jay Jay (Jay Bird)
    
20. Num-Num (Food)
    
21. Help
22. Yeah
23. Hey
24. Hi
25. Woof-Woof
26. Ummm
27. Hot
28. Baaa (Sheep)
29. Ba-Ba (Bad)
30. Coo-Coo-Coo (Rooster)
31. Two
32. T (Three)
33. Tickle Tickle
    

Devastation

I woke up last night to the first of many loud "CRACKS" at 2 am. I heard a loud crack like a gun going off and then a crash. It was so loud I thought the fridge must have fell over or something. I ran upstairs to see the kitchen was fine so I opened the back door to see half of my tree laying on my deck! Throughout the night I kept hearing the loud cracks of wood. Such a sad sound.. This is what our yard and tree looked like this morning when we woke up.

Here is one huge branch that fell onto our deck, there is another hanging off the roof.


This is below the deck, in front of our shed.