OMG!

Well as you can see it has been quite some time since I have posted - 2 years and almost 3 months to be exact!!!!

Soooo much has happened in that time as you can imagine and yes my sister did have that baby......

A gorgous little boy whom she called Xander.  Of course he is now over 2 and is such a little character! All of my nieces and nephews living so far away is probably the hardest part of living in a different state as I miss so much of them growing up.

Above is one of my favorite photos of my sister and Xander.

And this photo is hilarious!

Emma rang me and told me how they had gone to visit friends and

how the kids had gone to feed the pet pigs!

Now Emma kept talking about the pig by name -

"Teacup"

Xander went to feed Teacup, Teacup was hungry and started to run over to Xander

in excitement for his food.

As you can see Xander got a bit of a fright and took off and Teacup

ran after him.

Now when you listen to a story where the pig is called

Teacup, you naturally picture a miniature pig, of which they call

Teacup pigs.  And as an aunt of course I was

amused by the story.

Then Emma sent the photo through!!!!

Hilarious - poor little bugger no wonder he was scared -

This is definitely NO TEACUP!

I'm going to be a new aunt today!

As I write this my sister is being induced.  I so wish I was there with her.
I was their for the birth of her second girl and it was such a great experience.

This will be her third baby.  Above is my 2 nieces Tilly and Bella.  This shot was taken in March 2011.
My sister had been on the phone and could hear the girls giggling, she didn't take much notice, the
thought was at least their not fighting.  Anyway she could still hear them giggling a few minutes later
and thought she should check on them.   This is what she found!  Tilly decided that Bella needed
sunburn cream before she went out to play.  LOL.  What a caring sister....

Love this shot!

Anyway good luck today Emma and Gus.  I know the sex is a surprise, but whatever it may be
as long as it is healthy.  You guys make beautiful babies!



Apron = Love

Wikipedia says - An apron is an outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body. It may be worn for hygienic reasons as well as in order to protect clothes from wear and tear.

I love aprons! There are so many pretty ones around these days. A friend of mine sent me an email on aprons yesterday that I would love to share.


THE APRON


(Notice that a "Medium" is a size 14 - 16)






Remember making an apron in Home Ec? Read below:

The History of 'APRONS'
I don't think our kids
Know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing
Hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..
And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow,
Bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.....
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill To thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...








If you are interested in making an apron Tipjunkie has a great post
with links to 50 free apron patterns.

Yummiest Chocolate Chip Biscuits

December Challenge attempt was these Choc Chip Biscuits

The recipe was so easy and will be made forever more in this house.
Todd who is the big choc chip biscuit eater in this family has given them the big Thumbs up!

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

barely adapted from Anna Olson, Food Network Canada
Ingredients:
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
3. Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)
5. Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes. Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely. Makes approximately 3 dozen. Try not to eat them all.




Pinterest original site

for Biscuit recipe

was Apple A Day.

November Pinterest Challenge

Well as you can see, the blogging has been on the backburner over the Christmas period, due to lack of time. The monthly pinterest challenge wasn’t blogged about but it was done. So to bring up to date here is my November pinterest challenge…………..

Peanut Butter and Jam (or Jelly to the Americans) Cupcakes

Now these cakes were sooooo rich, but yummy. I think if I made them again I would just leave enough for 1 helping then freeze the rest and bring out in a week or so as they are not something that everyone kept going back to as they were so heavy and rich. I gave the rest of ours to friends and their kids loved them!

I sourced the recipe from the site The Girl Who Ate Everything, whose original source was from the site How to Eat A Cupcake.

Now as usual their photo and my photo are sooooo different that if I wasn’t telling you they were the same cupcake (they are I promise) you would not know. Actually after looking at the original photo’s I noticed she has made hers in the little cupcake liners where I used the large muffin cake liners, so that’s probably why we found ours so rich they were too much cake in one eating! So note to self – when making these again use the smaller liners.

My icing is very different looking as well, I think the heat here really affected the outcome. But like I say they were very yummy and I will make them again.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes


6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
strawberry or grape jelly

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Insert 24 liners into a medium cupcake pan.

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well. Mix in the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix well.

5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake! Cool cupcakes in the pan. Once cupcakes are cooled you can either pipe the jelly into the center using a decorating tip or just use an apple corer to take out the center of the cupcake and fill with 1-2 teaspoons of jelly. Decorate with frosting below.

Peanut Butter Frosting

3/4 cup smooth
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons milk
mini NutterButter cookies for garnish

Combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar along with the milk, and beat until well combined. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes using a decorating tip or a ziploc baggie filled with frosting with the corner cut off. Top with a teaspoon of jelly and garnish with NutterButter mini cookies.